Barack Obama Broke the Internet

 

So, in case you missed it (because who doesn't love up-to-the-minute updates about the healthcare?) Healthcare.gov launched recently and Barack Obama (by the way, have you ever Googled "Obamacare"?  It's scary-- see one of my favorites above).

Apparently there's been mixed results in terms of how effective the healthcare.gov website has been, from some people saying that 130K people have signed up for healthcare, to people saying that unique visitors declined from 15M to 4M in the first two weeks due to poor website performance.  The real numbers are probably lower than that, even though some states are definitely farther ahead than others. Obama has been quoted saying that "nobody's madder than me" about the failures of the website. I do like this article from BusinessWeek though about the allocation of money to develop this site. The site cost $394M, of which, $88M went to a Canadian development firm called CGI. However, it seems wrong to blame it all on the developers. Anyone who has ever worked with the government can attest that most of the repositories, data sources and tools are laughably outdated and impossible to work with.

Overall, it seems like it was just a failure in expectation setting. After weeks of folks claiming that this was going to modernize healthcare and the high price tag, having glitchy back end systems are a huge let down-- especially for an administration that, at first glance, seemed to truly understand technology and how to connect people in effective ways. I have no doubt that they have an inordinate amount of people working on it now, but it may be too little too late.

Gross Gets All Up in ICahn's Bizness

Oh snap. I love it when investing rockstars decide to duke it out on Twitter. It's better than those celeb-feuds. Does this mean we can start referring to Gross and Icahn as "frenemies"? Or do they just hate each other.

Things I Learn on Imgur...

If you haven't been on Imgur before. You should go, it'll guarantee that you're never a productive member of society ever again.

The weird stuff you learn on the internet man. This, according to an Imgur account, is one of the most intriguing YouTube movies...

I want to know how they judged that.

Have You Ever Googled "Evil Starbucks"?

Well I have. And if you haven't, I highly suggest that you do and then look at the images that Google fetches back to you (stop trying to make fetch happen?). Because there are a lot of awesome pictures out there. I've included some of my favorites here.

I was just curious because I recently read this article about how Starbucks is charging customers in China about 30% more than they would at a Starbucks in Chicago. "Starbucks has been able to enjoy high prices in China, mainly because of the blind faith of local consumers in Starbucks and other Western brands," Wang Zhendong, director of the Coffee Association of Shanghai, told CCTV.

 I had a couple of thoughts here. True, China's profit margins are at about 32% compared to about 21% in the US, but let's be honest, Starbucks is just one of a line of big, American companies that have recently come under fire by the Chinese government. The fact of the matter is, even if the profit margins differentials weren't that big, the Chinese government (which controls a lot of the industry and production in the country) has it in their best interests to shut down the big (foreign, mostly American) companies that are coming in and stealing their market share. The problem that they're going to run into is that, increasingly, Chinese citizens don't trust the quality of food products in China (the number one thing that my relatives ask for when my family goes to visit are American vitamins from Costco, because they know that our FDA is much more strict than China's) and that American products are increasingly seen as a status symbol.

The consumer fear can be dampened (and is decreasing) as China's government begins to crack down on unhealthy or unsafe production practices. However, the second part, the increasingly popular perspective than anything American is awesome and a clear status symbol of how you're tiny, shoebox apartment is better than your neighbor's, is a harder battle to wage. (That's right, I've read all the GoT Books. I know how this lingo goes.) So, for those who think this is an unjust thing of epic proportions, nay! I say unto you. And this is why:

• They compare the price differential to a coffee in Chicago. Seriously people, in Chicago you can still get a nice, luxury apartment for less than two grand a month. Can you do that in San Francisco? Conversely, have you ever tried to buy a coffee in San Francisco? I'd like to see those differentials before I'm convinced that the American government is trying to subvert the Chinese government through coffee
• Starbucks is a luxury brand. Even in the United States. We have Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds that also serves completely safe, equally caffeinated (though maybe not) coffee but people like Starbucks because it offers that intangible feel (cafe spaces, free wifi, a "experience") that they like. Even compared to other coffees in the states, Starbucks is expensive. Luxury brands are expensive. More expensive than other brands. That's why they're called luxury brands. This happens regardless of country. Okay, horse beaten to death
•  If the demand wasn't there, they wouldn't price it like that. This is just economics people. I didn't need to go to school for this. The more people want it, the higher the price goes until there is an equilibrium where each increase in cost (and therefore profit) does not positively impact demand (okay that equilibrium part I needed to go to school for). But the point stands

America's Mood Map

I took this awesome quiz today and it said I belonged in South Carolina, which I think means that I'm friendly and conventional. That's not a surprise. What I want to know is, what if I'm friendly/conventional and butting up against states that are "relaxed and creative"? Should I be more of a green/orange color? Do I just hate that other state because state-mood colors don't mix?

If I'm friendly and conventional, I'd probably be against segregation.

Things I Learned Today...Part 7655.3

 

• At my school, there's a whole branch of research called "hedonomics"-- contrary to the popular study of economics that permeates pretty much all of my school, hedonomists define their study by saying, "Whereas economics studies how to maximize wealth with limited resources, hedonomics studies how to maximize happiness with limited wealth"
• They found that sometimes less is better depending on the perception. Whereas people almost always assume that more is better, depending on the perception (a high definition TV at the store when it's next to another HDTV or at home next to nothing, a full, small cup of ice cream instead of a normally filled, medium cup of ice cream) can distort your perception, leading you to buyers remorse or regrets later
• Additionally, when people thought strategically between how much reward they wanted before undertaking a task, they were able to better plan optimally for their rewards, ultimately leading to more happiness in the long run
•  At my school, there's also this sculpture in our courtyard (a courtyard we call the summer garden) and it's basically a barren tree with a bunch of rocks in the branches (see above). I always thought that this was some sort of sad, pathetic and/or angry symbol of UChicago as a whole ("where fun goes to die") but recently found out that the artist who made this piece grew up in rural Europe-somewhere (that's a real place, look it up) where it snowed all the time. Each winter, the snow would be so heavy that it would roll rocks down the mountains where she lived and push them into the trees below. When the snow melted in the spring time, the trees would all have these massive rocks in them. She made this work as a symbol of her home. This story made me feel better about my life
• I should never go shopping in October or April. April because most people get their tax refund checks then and the retailers jack up prices/decrease the number of promotions to capitalize on that. October because it's a retailer's reprieve between back to school sales and holiday sales, so they're unlikely to offer good deals during this time as they're trying to stay in the black
• 5s-es are selling better than 5c-s, which Bloomberg keeps reporting like it's some sort of genius idea. So you're telling me that in a crazily image-driven, status-symbol-centric culture like China (for the first time the iPhone releases are being simultaneously released in the US and China instead of through a phased rollout), people like the more expensive option? No way!
• Jeff Bezos (of Amazon) might be the best or worst leader ever. I never knew that he had such quips as, "If I have to hear that idea again, I'm gonna have to kill myself." On the other hand, he has a shadow CEO that follows him everywhere, so....that's.....interesting.

Zombie Spaceship Wastelands

I finished Patton Oswalt's book of the same name quite a few months ago now, but this concept of Zombie, Spaceships and Wastelands keeps bouncing around in my brain.

Knowing what I know, I should technically be a spaceship, but I don't think I can handle the isolation. I don't have the desire for destruction in me to be a Zombie, and I think I have some of that hopefulness that needs to be inherent in a Wasteland.

I think too many of my peers are Zombies and Spaceships. Zombies are aggressive-- they don't take no and they're unapologetic for the chaos and destruction that they inflict. They are stereotypically the embodiment of the selfie/ "me" culture. (See hilarious commentary on old-timey selfies here.) Spaceships really don't like being part of this bigger society, and they would much rather forge it on their own. I think this is fine actually, but it leads to a very isolationist lifestyle, which I don't think is super healthy. I am all for people being more introverted, but I think that spaceships take it to an extreme, and they are inherently running from the things that they can't fix or change instead of trying to change them.

Being a Wasteland isn't actually great either though. You're often in limbo-- stuck in the in-between where you aren't sure and moving forward it sometimes the same thing as moving back. Call it the problem of my generation-- moving up isn't the goal anymore, making it big quick is more often than not the aspirational story, but everything is becoming so much closer, competitive, smaller-- that you see your opportunities shrinking. You've been told your awesome most of your life, but real life is not so nice. But you're hopeful. It's a paradox and although I'm not entirely comfortable with it, I'm still thinking about it.

Why AmEx Has Gotten It Right

I'm not going to lie. I've always been a fan of American Express. It's a great company, a good place to work, they do exciting things, I respect their CEO. They actually do care about their customers as much as they say they do. The cafeteria isn't too terrible. It's a convenient commute from where I like to stay to the 3WFC... the list goes on and on (and, apparently, some of these things are more important than others, but it's funny that this is my list of reasons why I love Amex).

Today, BusinessWeek reported that Amex doesn't really care about mobile payments from a mobile phone. They're gonna give mobile payments through a little piece of plastic that holds all your pertinent information that is so small and light that it can fit into essentially any pocket.

Yeah they're doing it through your credit card. Shocker. The cool part is that they're going to offer you the ability to pay for cabs through membership rewards points that you can accrue through your credit card purchases. Tap 'n' go has always been a very convenient feature with the Amex Blue Cards, so this is an excellent way to capitalize on existing infrastructure. Which brings me to the top points of Amex Being Awesome:

1. Not investing into crazy amounts of new infrastructure when the existing infrastructure will do just fine
2. Tapping into a network that makes sense for day-to-day life. I mean, it's nice that (the now failed) Isis is giving away free Jamba Juices, but I don't need a Jamba Juice. I do need a cab. Especially in New York, I'm going to be using a lot of cabs. 
3. This encourages their members to burn their points in smaller increments (making it seem like less of a hit from a points-monger perspective) but to potentially do it more frequently. This is awesome because it reduces their float allocated to rewards points and increases customer satisfaction ("Hey! Look at how useful my points are! They are a real thing! There isn't a loyalty/reality gap!")
4. And finally, bridging the gap between the new and the old. Mobile payments has struggled not in small part because tapping against your phone against stuff to pay for other stuff is weird. Particularly with older generations (not a small part of Amex's main demographic), this is a hard gap to get over-- it's almost like learning how to do something you're very used to in a completely new way. By offering credit cards (old things) with new services (new things), it helps a user acclimate to new uses for common things-- things they're already used to, which can prime them for more innovative usage later.
5. Doing things this way usually results in more adoption, faster. This generates positive PR which they can leverage for their next big thing.

Good job Amex. Proud of you.

INTC and More Money for Me

Some people are Intel haters... For fear of vertical integration or just falling behind (re: Sandy Bridge or Cyclone) but I still see a bright spot for Intel. In business school we often read about the rise and falls of companies in their respective industries, and, almost like morbid stock analysts, we actually kind of cheer when a company falls from grace (when Apple's stock price dipped earlier this summer, I can't tell you how many people gleefully informed me that this was "the beginning of the end" to which I responded that the stock price is still in the hundreds.. as in, more than one hundred). But why are we so mean? Is it really even mean-ness? I think it's more the fact that when companies fail, it just makes for good reading fodder later.

Someone at HBS will write a fun back story for us about a business school student who suddenly thought about some underlying, fundamental problem. His name will be something generic, like Chad, and these ideas will suddenly come to him. His professors or connections will magically be able to offer time and resources, and he'll learn that what he learns in class at business school is applicable after all!

But I digress. Intel has always been known to be buttoned up-- pretty up tight-- the khakis and blue shirt uniform in a hoodies and jeans-type world. Their two-in-a-box leadership pitted two specialist leaders together in a partnership to guide their teams toward goals. They lead by challenging. It's a far cry from the meditation rooms at Google's office. Regardless of whether you agree with their leadership style, no one can argue that they don't know chips.They're good at it. They've done it for a long time. A lot of the industry still depends on them. They have been slow to adopt the new ways of thinking that have been pushed forward with the mobile generation.

They're going to be successful because, honestly, they're so big that they have a lot of gas left. If they don't introduce their Broadwell chips to some amazing reviews/innovations (this means no more delays), then they'll eventually run out of gas. But they're really cheap right now, and I can foresee an uptick when they finally introduce their new chips. In the long run? They're probably a sell. They don't have a ton going for them and they're not diversified. BUT they have the resources to innovate. Time will tell if they decide to capitalize on their current resources.

MBAs-- Taking Over The World

"MBAs Have Overtaken Law and Medicine Degrees"

It's official... MBAs are taking over the world, and ironically, the more of us there are, the less valuable we are. That's just economics.

Sad face. I hate it when fundamental forces of nature work against us. So much for spending a metric ton of money for no reason.

Things I Learn in School....

Lesson #18475740.3

Before he was a billionaire, Soichiro Honda was a hot mess.

Excerpt: "Soichiro Honda, an inventive genius with a legendary ego, founded Honda Motor Co., Ltd., in 1948. His exploits have received wide coverage in the Japanese press. Known for his mercurial temperament and bouts of "philandering", he is variously reported to have tossed a geisha out a second story window, climbed inside a septic tank to retrieve a visiting supplier's false teeth (and subsequently placed the teeth in his own mouth), appeared inebriated and in costume before a formal presentation to Honda's bankers requesting financing vital to the firm's survival (the loan was denied), hit a worker on the head with a wrench, and stripped naked before his engineers to assemble a motorcycle engine."

**I don't know why they put "philandering" in quotes. I really don't.

Booth Takes #1 Again...Or #2... Not Sure

It's weird times at school right now. More awkward than when Kendrick Lamar claimed to the be the king of New York (Jay-Z is just sitting court side I'm sure, laughing). More awkward than when you run into your ex and maybe you are friends or not friends and you're not sure what to do and you want to act cool but you're actually so distracted by everything else in your life that you're definitely NOT acting cool, but whatever. It's awkward. Awkward like when you need to sign your offer letter and you're getting to the point of, short of using the excuse "lady problems", you're running out of reasons why you have commitment problems and can't bring yourself to sign.

Why, you ask? Well, beyond the fact that half the student population is made up of second years who suddenly care a lot less about class but are now taking more advanced level classes...and beyond the fact that a quarter of the aforementioned population is also freaking out because they're not sure what they're going to do after they graduate (no job offer) and another quarter has offers and are pissing everyone off flaunting them and the other half are "re-recruiting". (NOTE: "Re-recruiting" has many definitions in business school, ranging from "I didn't like my job so I'm going to drop my resume to everyone who will take it in hopes that I can find something else" to "I'm not going to sign so I can look at other opportunities, and by "look at other opportunities" I mean, "drink my face off, stop going to class and sleep with everything in sight"".)

Forbes put us at #2 this year (based on ROI on how much we make vs. how much we spent to go to school), and The Economist put us at #1....based on pretty much the same metric. I don't wanna be "that guy", but I do want to say that someone's math must be wrong if we can't agree on this (there's also a lot of disparity within the top 5 between these two sources). The bigger question for me is, why do we care? Well, contrary to the belief of a lot of my non-bschool friends, who believe that this is all one giant pissing contest (which it is, to an extent), I'm (as in, me, personally) very invested in our rankings because it often determines how my friends and me will find jobs. Some companies place parameters on recruiting, saying things like, "we recruit the majority from the top X schools" or "we ONLY recruit at the top 10 schools". Which is, harsh, but as a company you really have to draw a line in the sand somewhere. We'd all like to believe that you can start anywhere and go anywhere, but there are real limits that are set-- be in the top 25, 20, 10, 5 to get yourself a leg up. These numerical allocations probably ultimately just cloud our judgements, but they happen every day.

Ultimately, these rankings are about as useful as a Starbucks in Salt Lake City (mormon joke!)/ a Black Angus in India (vegetarian joke!)/ soap on Haight Street (hippie joke!) or pepper spray in Canada (Canadians are so nice they make the rest of us look bad). All prospectives should really look at the programs and make a decision for themselves. I'm just scared of what these rankings are going to do for already-inflated egos.

I Miss You

As I write this, many of my friends are gathered in a church downtown. A Gothic church, with cloudy skies and a heavy drizzle that seems intent on making everyone reconsider the varying shades of gray that Chicago can fade into. They're there to say good-bye to one of my friends. A friend of ours, who unexpectedly passed, has had a surprisingly large impact on even the toughest of us.

Because of confidentiality reasons, we have been urged not to discuss it, but the loss still lingers-- quietly, in the back of everyone's mind. Although I was not the closest person to him, I do remember when I first met him. He wore pretty much the same hoodie every day, and had a smile that seemed to cut across the pettiness and cliquey-ness that can so easily penetrate any group of friends. I struggled his name the first time around-- and I remember he explained his nickname to make me feel less silly, foolish, and less overall like a bumbling idiot. He was very, very smart. And I respected him a lot. I miss our impromptu chats.

I couldn't really bring myself to go to the memorial, honestly. The idea of seeing all of my friends who also knew him all gathered in one place for the same reason seemed like I was finally admitting that it was true. That maybe in some way I was betraying him by admitting the truth. So I'm sitting at home now, having a more private memorial. I like to think he would've appreciated this-- being a techie himself, I can't think of a way more poetic to say goodbye. Instead of burning wishes or scattering ashes or shooting a boat with a fiery arrow like the Vikings, I'm immortalizing his being in tiny little bytes-- things that are broken down into 0s and 1s-- send quietly sending them into the abyss. These little morsels are nothing in the flood that is created every millisecond, but he was great to me even though he was just one person-- so this is fitting.

It's easy to pretend that maybe he's just doing other things-- and that's why I won't be seeing him around as much anymore. To make excuses that he's still around but just not here, not where I am, right now. But that he'll be back. Maybe tomorrow. I'm not sure how long I will wonder when I'll see him again before, suddenly, that small part in the back of my brain will remind me that he's not here. After this, it makes me realize more than ever how much more I need to focus on the today. The here. The now. The people around me and the people I want to be around me.

I think in the past year, I've really tried to force relationships that are too one-sided and have given up on relationships that I should've given another try. Like the first day I met him, I'm reminded of how important it is to enjoy the random people that are presented to you in life. He always gave me perspective-- seemingly unflappable-- he was the steadiest guy I knew. When I first found out he was gone, I felt angry. This was not the type of thing that happens to young people. Dying was something that happened to old people. It violated the rules I had set up in my mind. But I need to cherish those that I care about. We need to treasure the time we have together.

I miss you. I'll probably think of you every time it rains.