Big News

December 29th, 2008 | By Conor | 13 Comments »

I believe my last blog entry was mid-September. I can (and will) blame the delay on business school and how incredibly busy it is. I can count on one closed fist the number of free days I had in the past three months. Liz and I had dinner together just about every night, but otherwise our time together was severely limited, which, by any measure, is totally lame.

We are making up for lost time this Christmas break, mostly with me following her around the house and talking to her and nudging her while she is working on her laptop so she can’t type. In short, I have become a twin of our yellow lab, Emma, with the glaring difference that one of us chooses not to wake the entire household by slurping loudly from the toilet at 2 a.m. (You don’t know thirst until you’ve leapt from your bed and dived open-mouthed into the bosom of the toilet to drink its sweet, sweet nectar.)
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Conor’s rejected campaign slogans for VP of the First Year Class

September 14th, 2008 | By Conor | 7 Comments »

Scorp elections have arrived!

Scorp is the NYU Stern government student body - though the name itself, Scorp, tends to conjure up images of a super-villain.

One imagines Wesley Snipes, in that breathy, tax-evading voice of his, grunting “Scorp… I knew you’d show your undead face around here sooner or later…” and Scorp, who would have some kind of javelin-sized piercing through his lip, would say something unoriginal (“Say your prayers to that ridiculous God of yours, Blaaaade!”) and then throw something pointy at Wesley Snipes.

But that’s not what NYU Stern Scorp is. And I should know. I’m running for VP of the First Year Class and it’s pretty much a prerequisite that I understand that Scorp is in fact Stern’s Student Government and not an undead vampire.
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Self-Assessment Tests and How to Fool Them (and in the process, yourself)

September 5th, 2008 | By Conor | 3 Comments »

As first year students at NYU Stern, we have a course called Teams and Leaders. It is not graded. I believe it is mandatory for all students, meaning nobody placed out of it by virtue of being a kick-ass teammate in their previous employment.

Now, let me say that I think the concept of Teams and Leaders is a good one. It pervades virtually every field that we will find ourselves working in, unless you’re going into a uniquely individualistic position, like Junior Vice President for Swimming the English Channel or that monkey that we launched into space.

And I am sure that we are learning a lot. But it is a different kind of learning, where we are learning about ourselves and life. Which makes it sound like a yoga class, but far more practical (yoga people, don’t even start with me). In fact, I think it may turn out to be one of the more valuable things we do this semester.
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Pre-Term Ends (you may now use the restroom)

August 31st, 2008 | By Conor | No Comments »

Pre-term ended on Thursday, and the mood at Stern during the final gathering in Shimmel Auditorium was jubilant.

Thinking about it now, there was not a whole lot of reason for jubilance. One could even argue such jubilation was, let’s say, slightly irrational. (Three sentences, three iterations of the word jubilant. I’m on fire.) However, because I was amongst the throngs who were jubilantly (that’s four) celebrating, it looks like I am going to have to take a long look at the man in the mirror and come up with an answer/change my ways.

As I see it, there are a few interpretations for the mood.
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Pre-term is kind of like an iceberg…

August 26th, 2008 | By Conor | No Comments »

We are just days away from the end of NYU Stern Pre-Term, and I gotta tell you, it is pretty much a blur at this point. The day is mostly constructed of various presentations. These presentations have, in my opinion, gotten more practical as the days have gone on. Interestingly, however, there may not be a direct correlation between the utility of the presentation and class attendance to these presentations.

Now, I may be speaking out of turn here, but if you ask me, which you didn’t, the secret to ensuring that people show up to these presentations is making them – and I quote – “optional.”
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Pre-term: On cultural differences and four cheese sauce

August 21st, 2008 | By Conor | No Comments »

On the first day of Pre-Term for Stern, we gathered, 400+ of the new class of 2010, in an auditorium named after somebody named Schimmel. Or Kimmel. Both people apparently donated enough to have auditoriums named after them, and I’m pretty sure I am not the only one to confuse them. I’ll tell you this: if I’m ever thinking about dropping a few million to dedicate a new wing on a b-school, I’m sure as hell not doing it if people are going to confuse my wing with that school’s already existing Quonor Drennan Wing.

It was great to see the Class of 2010 in full force. Everybody seemed pretty psyched to be there, there were endless introductions, and those who had met once before were likely meeting for the first time in a venue that did not have “$3 Boilermakers” chalked on a blackboard outside.
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