I saw a video on AOL earlier today showing a young woman not older than I am walking around the streets of New Orleans looking for her husband, the father her four children. It totally breaks my heart.
It's so easy for us to get overly focused on our day to day problems and imminent deadlines. But always keep in mind there are always others much worse off than we are.
My accounting professor showed us this ad in class today. We laughed so hard he played it a second time. Enjoy!
Something happened this past weekend that gave me closure on something that's been on my mind for quite a while. As many of my readers (and some of my classmates who read this blog) are aware, I spent a good deal of the summer struggling with the fact that I was wait listed by Darden before eventually accepting the reality that I was going to be spending my next two years at Kenan-Flagler.
On Saturday, as I recovered from the first week of classes, I was able to finally put my finger on something. For the first time I was able to verbalize what it was about attending Kenan-Flagler that made me uncomfortable. I felt it did not "make sense" for me to attend Kenan-Flagler. Let me expound on what I mean by this. I have classmates that intend to concentrate on areas such as sustainability and entrepreneurship, areas that Kenan-Flagler has excellent resources for. It totally "makes sense" for them to be here. Similarly, there are other students that have family or connections in the Chapel Hill area and it completely "makes sense" for them to choose Kenan-Flagler. For me, I was unable to come up with a clear reason to be here other than that Kenan-Flagler is a better business school than Yale SOM and that I am much better off earning my MBA for the next two years as opposed to staying at AOL and taking the risk of getting laid off. I use the words "make sense" in quotes because, for whatever reason, these two words clearly stuck out in my mind that afternoon as I contemplated the results of my school application process.
The next day I was in church listening to the pastor talk about following Christ. As he does every Sunday, he places certain key points on a projection screen. The first bullet point was:
Following Jesus involves doing things that do not make sense.
While I do believe in coincidences, I don't believe it's a coincidence that the words "make sense" were on my mind on Saturday and that on Sunday the pastor used those exact same words on the Power Point slide. I guess now that God has given me the confirmation he intends for me to be here, I need to stop thinking about Darden, about what could have been, and make the most of my 21 months at Kenan-Flagler.
I saw an item on the local news last night about AOL agreeing to refund former New York customers for continuing to charge the monthly service fee even after the customer had canceled. This reminded me of something I have almost forgotten about.
When I left the company in June, I was told my personal AOL account would be stripped of its employee status and I would join the ranks (what are we at now, 22 million?) of paying AOL members. In the more than two months since this was supposed to have taken place, I have yet to be charged one cent on my credit card.
AOL is a terrific service indeed.
Today's New York Times has an article on how capitalism and technology are helping to bring changes to the lives of people in Africa.
"But when African nations began to privatize their telephone monopolies in the mid-1990's, and fiercely competitive operators began to sell air time in smaller, cheaper units, cellphone use exploded."
In other words, when telephone companies are operated by businessmen and not governments, the motivation to make money creates an incentive for businesses to expand the network and lower prices.
"Although only about 60 percent of Africans are within reach of a signal, the lowest level of penetration in the world, the technology is for many a social and economic godsend.
One pilot program allows about 100 farmers in South Africa's northeast to learn the prevailing prices for produce in major markets, crucial information in negotiations with middlemen.
Health-care workers in the rural southeast summon ambulances to distant clinics via cellphone.
One woman living on the Congo River, unable even to write her last name, tells customers to call her cellphone if they want to buy the fresh fish she sells."
These are just a few examples of how new technology, made possible by the free market, are serving as a "life improvement multiplier" to improve the lives of poor people. The food distribution infrastructure improves as fishermen and farmers have better channels to sell their products. More reliable communication helps healthcare professionals save lives and improve longevity.
"Hamadoun Touré, development director for the International Telecommunication Union, said the economic blessings of cellphones were magnified in the developing world."
I found out today that NBC anchorman Brian Williams and I share one thing in common, we have the same therapist. There was an article in the New York Times today about Williams' entrance into the blogosphere with the "The Daily Nightly," a blog written by Williams and his staff that inform readers about some of the "off camera" happenings and decisions behind NBC Nightly News.
""I said to my wife," he added, " 'I don't have a therapist. I have my blog.' "" Williams managed to to very succinctly identify what I consider the most compelling reason ordinary folks like myself decide to start blogging. We do it for theraputic reasons and use our blogs as an outlet to air some our thoughts (at least the publishable ones) that even some of our friends don't know about.
One week from today classes will begin for undergrads as well as graduate students in the non-professional schools. Already there are signs everywhere of the impending influx of students. Last Tuesday, I stopped by my favorite hang out and the place was crawling with 1L's (first year law students) in town for orientation. Classes at the School of Public Health begin this coming Monday and those at the Medical School have already begun on the 15th.
I am curious as to how the bar scene on Franklin Street will change after the school year officially gets rolling. Last week one of my professors jokingly predicted it'd be impossible to take a step on Franklin Street without tripping over a drunk undergrad with a fake ID.
Posts
All Comments
