1. I graduated on the 23rd of May.

2. I moved on the 26th of May.

3. I started work on the 1st of June.

4. I am updating my blog after nearly 3 weeks on the 10th of June.

5. Estimated website revamp/launch is July 9th.

I’ll fill you in on the details when I have a little more time. Expect a post by weekend end.

I guess a lot is to be said about how people spend money in this country, just look at the government: they preach conservation and modesty to help mitigate the credit crisis, but are forced to take massive loans to cover their economic stimulus plan. It’s ironic when someone is giving you financial advice AND is spending money in which 40 cents of ever dollar is loaned. That,however, is not necessarily a bad thing if they, and by they I mean us, can pay it off.

So who ultimately is to be blamed for the coupled crisis we are in? Well, the general consensus is: all of us.

This article talks about our behavior with respect to spending and using credit cards. And the results aren’t looking good. It seems that the average American has a great deal of difficulty being able to control or understand spending habits and management of money. Iv’e taken a lot of class since I have been in school, but none really taught me about financial management. I learned a ton of things in financial engineering- money time flow, payback periods, etc. but apparently they forgot to talk about the context in which these concepts are used and exist.

Perhaps school needs to evolve. Instead of teaching people about the arts, or fluid mechanics, maybe we could just use a class on LIFE 101. How to get a mortgage, how to recycle, how to use and not abuse credit cards.

I really am starting to believe that the home ec class I took in high school had some merit, other than free food. Maybe “the educated” need to be educated in a manner more tailored for real life. What do you think?

Link to the Article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090512/us_time/08599189736200;_ylt=AntcEcthHgyjMHA27TyUSWQDW7oF

So without further ado, I’ll post the photo- give it a gander and a thought, then you can read what the context was.

I was walking to an interview in SF, and it was about 15 minutes from the BART station. Sometimes I never realize how cool of  a city SF is until I just get out there and walk around aimlessly trying to waste time. I could have entered the freeway from here and walked back across the Bay Bridge if I chose.

The crazy part about this story is I actually ran into the company one of my professor works for along the way to the interview. Mr. Michaelian, my design professor, was probably horrified and confused at the prospect of one of his students showing up to his work. Anyways I got a tour of the place and a little luck for the interview and was on my way. Miguel and Derek will appreciate that.

I have been walking by this building, through Cory, and to Etcheverry for 2 years now on a daily basis. And not once, until three days ago did I notice, or care to notice, this sign and how cool and true it is. Illogical Engineering is a correct description of what goes on around here. We think of things that can’t possibly make sense, study and research and prove it to be true. Go Engineering Go.

Speaking of walking through Cory hall, look at these stairwells. Does anyone notice that they are colored ridiculously. The pink hallway is so pink, that even the two tone white has a shade of pink. I am not sure if I am traveling to class, or walking through a JUSTICE music video. Although I think I’ll film that video anyways. Try walking through that place listening to D.A.N.C.E and tell me how bad-ass you feel.

Upp..class is out I’ll update in a bit.

Okay back in my Engineering Ethics class, perhaps the best class I have taken at Berkeley. No Joke.

I know a bunch of people must have these word magnets plastered all over their fridges, but how many arbitrarily put them together and get a sentence like this? I don’t think any single person can come up with this type of hilarity – it’s a group effort. It takes many iterations, and eventually will become a sentence so ridiculous it can become neither more ridiculous or sensible.

Something about that second line that gets me every time.

Quote of the Day

Oh Niket, you are treating objects like women now?

Think about it. Haha, very good one James.

Did I even mention I have a proper website now? Try looking up niketdesai.com.

It looks cool, but that doesn’t mean I am cool.

–nd

]]> http://niketdesai.wordpress.com/2009/05/08/the-odd-things-one-might-encounter/feed/ 0 niketdesai IMG_0136 IMG_0132 IMG_0133 IMG_0134 IMG_0122 http://niketdesai.wordpress.com/2009/05/04/we-are-all-smart/ http://niketdesai.wordpress.com/2009/05/04/we-are-all-smart/#comments Mon, 04 May 2009 04:19:34 +0000 niketdesai http://niketdesai.wordpress.com/?p=50 ]]> Today’s post is dedicated to all the people that have creative minds, but not necessarily the capacity to transform what is in their minds into a tangible medium.

I was reading all about John Frusciante today, and that guy is just awesome.  He is the guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and he knows all about converting things in your mind into real things. Just listen to his music. He has a quote that I truly believe that all of us should live by, and I am trying to do so now:

“There are people who are scared of losing stuff,  but you don’t lose anything for any other reason than if you just give up on yourself.” – Frusciante

So today, I will post up some of the little artwork things that I like to mess around with. My Creative Alter Ego : Brown Ink.

Here is some of my doodlings and thoughts on each piece.

This is an homage to northern california. In the same sense that LA has a lot of pride, so should the SF Bay Area.

This is my favorite piece so far, and is my business card. I am poking fun at the engineering disciples and pointing out that although I am quite open minded to do many things, I know my limits. And electrical engineering (and all those geniuses/or crazies that pursue this field hats off) exceeds it.

I thought it would be really cool to put MLK on a bill, and the key thing was to make sure it was modest. My grandpa used to mail back and forth with MLK and I still have one of his original notes. Pretty cool. Anyways, the idea behind this doodle is simple – just read the line.

I’ll update with more things I like to conjure. I hope to make an apparel line at some point down the road, something that isn’t really for money as much as it is to be an outlet. If you are interested let me know (just one of the many things I hope to do…)

Alright I’m out of here. Congragulations to the new Bears that just recently got into school here. You are in for a real treat.

-nd

I start everything I do pretty early.

Messing around a little bit with photoshop. Sharks won tonight which felt great. I have some updates coming up on the website development, some jobs I have been applying to, and some more tech news pieces that we should look at.

Part 1 (1987-1990): Trying to cause as much havoc as I could for my parents, and apparently none for anyone else.

Part 7 (2006-2009): Perhaps the one fatal flaw, and mark, of an engineer is the tendency to quantify everything. Only to run into things that can’t be counted and fail horrendously when it matters most.

–nd

’nuff said.

–nd

The article reporting article is by the Associated Press, and I saw it first on Yahoo! Tech news (though I was tipped off by Matt Pies). Link is provided below!

Article Linked Up Here

For most of us that would not know why any of this matters, let’s quickly debrief what these companies do:

Oracle: Has a core competency in developing and integrating database management software at many levels and focuses. They are a company that literally helps other companies function.

Sun Microsystems: Is a major vendor of computer hardware and a software developing company. The Objected Oriented programming language named Java is a claim to fame.

SO  What?

Well the combination of the two companies has created a potential monster combatant in the tech hardware/software industry. With the cost of the deal as the upfront entry toll into the hardware industry, Oracle is now set to do some major damage by integrating their software competency with Sun’s established computer hardware business clientele.

Oracle is trying to have it’s clients deal with them exclusively.

Even though Sun was losing money on a general level, Oracle argues-and hopes- that it can streamline operations of the two companies and start generating a significant revenue stream in the next two years.

____**_____**_____

I am not an industry analyst, and thus I get no money for my opinion on acquisitions like the suits you see on MSNBC, but I think it’s a pretty good move – and here’s my (albeit possibly flawed) reasoning.

1. From what I understand, Oracle had enough cash on hand to not be completely handcuffed during the acquisition.

2. Sun Micro had roughly 2.6 billion in debt, which lessens the impact of the deal on Oracle.

3. As is, the price being paid right now (even at the 42% premium for the $9.50 shares) will be much less than if this merger took place just 1.5 years ago. If the market actually bottoms out in the next 5-6 months, and begins to climb again- this could be a steal.

4. I could be wrong on this one, but I believe that the electronics and computer sector has either stabilized or seen improvements relative to other markets.

____**_____**______

This seems to be  a trend actually.

I also just read that Pepsi is attempting to buy out the remaining shareholders in it’s bottling and distribution companies. The idea was to create a more complete company that minimized the use of sub-companies to carry out operations.The general plan was to improve operations as a whole, something done much more easily with complete, or more complete, control.

Seems like they could use some IEOR majors (heh) to help optimize the companies operation.

I’ll update with more-and find corroborating links for my reasoning in due time. Need to pay attention in class.

–nd

I’ll sum it up, but here is the link if you want a good read:

http://www.slate.com/id/2216162/pagenum/1

On a basic level, we the people are growing some technologies much too fast for the infrastructure to keep up. This article uses YouTube as the example. Youtube has an enormous bill to upkeep the bandwith to keep all the videos we upload and watch everyday. So much so, that the sites equally ridiculous traffic levels do not justify the costs.

This seems to happen a lot. Think about the internet, a system developed and upkept by the government. As it was released to the commercial sector it grew at rates exceeding 5000% a month. The amazing this is, the government and whoever else was helping the system had this in mind. They laid out the infrastructure for the internet at levels they never thought it would reach….

Surprise Surprise. We hit it and now its increasingly harder to keep up with the pace. The same thing happened to YouTube. It blew up so quickly-no one could figure out a decent way of storing all the data, other than simply buying more bandwith and server storage. But, when you are losing money who cares about these videos right?

You can read the article about all the advertising information, but my point is more general. Are we prepared to ultimately pay for the services we take for granted?

We get so damn grumpy when something that used to be free ends up costing us a nominal amount. Think about the amount of pleasure and convenience YouTube has given us, and yet we groan at a modest fee…I’d call that a steal.

Instead, I got a huge shipment of fail. I literally cannot put into words my agitations with the Sharks’ play during this game. But I’ll save you from my in depth analysis (already posted elsewhere). Instead let me just show a couple of pictures to put a description on the game. (Images are from shipmentoffail.com- which is a hilarious site).

People keep telling me how good the sharks are, why don't I believe them?

This was just hilarious.

Alright those two will do.

Anyways, I got the oppurtunity to try Blue Label yesterday. It was good. But I don’t know if my college ‘get drunk’ style really appreciates this liquor. When I was drinking it the best part was the chill of drunk that went down my body. Hahaha, some people would be like mmm this tastes delicios, or wow I can really appreciate the amazing complexity but smooth flavor of this blend. I was like, damn this is getting me hammered.

Here’s to the game on Sunday. Late.

-nd

For the rest of you that would prefer to pickup a good Hemmingway short story (hmm I’d probably go for that too…) I realized what industry I wanted to enter today. Two fold actually. Firstly, is the energy industry. I hope to make the greatest impact on the correcting the wrongdoings to this planet by getting into the field that  most directly impacts it. Perhaps it won’t be in the glamorous fields of alternative energy- maybe it will be working for a company that rewires the infrastructure that wastes so much energy. Think about it. You can buy a Prius, but you ain’t saving shit. Just some money on gasoline I suppose. If you really want to set the planet on the right course it will cost money, money, resources, time, and did I say money already? There is no free lunch.

On the other end of the spectrum, I would like to be an advertising/media/current culture/ business/ analyst type that will have fun, creative, and challenging campaigns to run. That is what I think at my age I can do best and will motivate me most. Energy is my overarching goal, and I think that whatever I end up doing in the media industry I can guide towards better treatment of our habitat.

I was talking over the WWYB.com idea with some schoolmates and have gotten some good responses. I think I will most certainly pursue this when I get enough programming experience (which I hope will be quite soon).