Things That I’ve Learned

Last night my parents and I hosted a small group of Mal’s friends at 1107 for her 23rd birthday. This is the invitation that I wrote to the guests:

Hey All You Upper East Siders! Gossip Girl here with a pop quiz: Which private school teacher’s bday soiree at her former Fifth Avenue residence will have Manhattan’s most exclusive guestlist celebrating until the sun comes up? Gossip Girl spots a Blair in her name, but a Waldorf this lifelong Lion is definitely not.

Only the fortunate few can score invites to this darling diva’s bday bash. Wanna get past the velvet lobby? Careful B. Hell hath no fury like a private school teacher scorned.

Lucky for you, this host with the most is asking you to be her special guests. But throw on your fanciest garments, boys and girls, because this swank gala is strictly denim-free.

Sometimes you need to step outside, clear your head, and remind yourself of who you are. And where you want to be. So who is this furtive femme demanding your presence? That’s for you to decide.

And who am I? That’s one secret I’ll never tell.

You know you love me.

xoxo,
gg
05.03.08
1107 5^th Avenue
8pm
Attire: Formal

They say a picture’s worth a thousand words, so in typical Stuchin family style, thousands of words were spoken and no pictures were taken. My parents and I each gave toasts celebrating my sister’s spirit and character. It was a wonderful night and it was a pleasure to spend it with such a warm group of people. Mal, you may have jokingly said “you know you love me,” but of course we do. And it was a joy to celebrate 23 years of Mallory with others who feel the same way. Happy bday, sis.

“I looked for a woman who could bail me out of a third-world jail,” Jeff Bezos said on Tuesday night at a chat held at Stern. “Because I can’t stand to be around people who aren’t resourceful.”

This delightful insight into the mind of the Amazon founder was one of the many that Jeff Bezos shared during his chat with a few hundred Stern students and alums on Tuesday night. Bezos covered an array of mostly Amazon.com-focused topics. Here are a few points that were on particular interest to me:

• On organic growth: Bezos talked about the need to be patient in growing business units like electronics, which was initially introduced in 1999 and has only recently become one of the strongest performing units at Amazon.
• On measurement: Bezos kept mum on individual sales figures by media, noting that Amazon’s policy is to release figures only by business unit. They keep books, music, and movies all in one unit, which is the clearest the company’s largest revenue producer, but I’m quite interested to see how those three groups have performed individually over the last 10 years, and particularly over the last 5. CD sales, as Bezos mentioned, are dying, and movies will eventually get there, too. I think, however, that it’s going to take several more years of technological improvements both with video compression and with bandwidth availability in order for consumers to embrace the concept with the same zeal that they have embraced mp3.
• On failure: Bezos cited the failure of A9, the search engine whose existence I remember only because it had sweet mapping software, as a great learning experience and as an example of the company’s staying consistent with their promise to try bold new ideas. His best line: “Companies are rarely criticized for the things they fail to try; but they’re often criticized for the things they try that fail.”
• On the future: Bezos gushed about Kindle, the e-book reader that has generated getting great reviews and nearly made me want to get one, despite my continued resistance to e-books. Consistent with his approach to everything else with Amazon, he described the years of research his team poured into coming up with a device that would embrace the potential of cloud computing for data, while not losing any of the appeal of a medium - printed books - that has stood the test of 500 years of use. Anytime a design has resisted change for 500 years, he suggested, it’s probably a pretty good design.

For more coverage of the event, check out the excellent post at FutureThinkTank. They’re professionals, I just talk about what I’m learning.

(09:25:36) Keshav Lall: im dominating softball
(09:25:37) Keshav Lall: 2 games
(09:25:43) Keshav Lall: and im 18-18 in the field
(09:25:48) Keshav Lall: 5-8 at the plate
(09:25:56) Blake Stuchin: you keep track of your fielding statistics!?!
(09:26:01) Keshav Lall: usually no
(09:26:04) Blake Stuchin: hahaha
(09:26:06) Keshav Lall: but this year soooooo many balls have been hit to me

During one of the early episodes of Idol this season, Simon asked annoyingly adorable Brooke White if she was “always going to be this nice?” In a very pleasant way, I’m feeling that way about Stern.

This weekend is Stern Previews, which is basically like Prefrosh weekend for b school. Last night’s kickoff was a cocktail reception held on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange, a killer venue for a party and a pretty sweet reminder of Stern’s amazing access to NYC. About 250 showed up and virtually everyone I spoke with seemed eager, interesting, and bright. Plus there was this admissions counselor who was a dead ringer for Andy Bernard. Word.

For the last two days in a row, I’ve seen the same woman curling her eyelashes while seated on the subway. It’s bad enough that that thing looks like a small samurai weapon in the wrong hands, but how is this not uncomfortable when the 6 train is shortstopping its way along Lex? This reminds me of that scene in the John Waters film Pecker when Eddie Furlong sits next to a woman dryshaving her legs on a public bus in Baltimore. Speaking of John Waters, New York Magazine’s recent feature on him is particularly good. Unlike say, its reporting of other things.

This was in my elevator’s mirror when I got home tonight. What is it? That’s right - it’s a 1989 Topps Atlee Hammaker card.

Random? Yes.

Awesome? Totally.

You know how the NFL has those flex games in the schedule to ensure that the Sunday night game late in the season is always the best matchup of the week? The same should be done for Gus Johnson. Gus Johnson is the best announcer in sports, and just about every blogger, columnist, and blogger-slash-columnist whose work I care about agrees with me. Unlike the expected blandness that we get from most announcers, Gus Johnson’s genuine enthusiasm is a joy to hear.

Thankfully, Gus is covering the Davidson game tonight, and by the looks of it the Wildcats are going to win, meaning that we’re getting a full dose of Gus Johnson Excited Voice. But for future Tourney games, why not book him on whatever the biggest game is of the night, and if that game turns out to be a dud, make him watch the better game on satellite and have him scream while calling the feed? Texas-Stanford getting close? Call in Gus Johnson!

He can even do spot duty. When Western Kentucky pulled close to UCLA in the second half last night, Gus could have been there. When UCLA finally put the game away, return to the regular announcers. Or just keep Gus. He’s better anyway.

Absurd? Yes. Awesome? Kinda.

When I went to summer camp, I used to send letters to my parents in Access Capital postage paid Business Reply Envelopes so that I didn’t need to put a stamp on them. My parents taught me that we could write off the cost of my postage that way. I was 10 years old and training for a lifetime as a value player. Also, it meant I got to keep my totally sweet Elvis stamps.

The three people who read this blog have encouraged me to be more expressive about myself and not merely my penchant for writing javascript while listening to retro Britpop. Even if Duran Duran’s newest album is quite good. But I digress.

This fall, I’ll be returning full-time to school to pursue an MBA at NYU Stern. Many things have changed since I entered college eight years ago. I’ve changed. Communication has changed. Blackboard has not.

Two weeks ago, I went to a happy hour organized by a group of my future classmates at The Fat Black Pussycat. The awful choice of venue notwithstanding, it was great to meet so many new, seemingly eager people. People were so excitedly talking about their interests and career goals. Not surprisingly I didn’t meet anyone interested in technology or web-based services, but I loved being surrounded by so much optimism.

By the time I enter b school, I will have been away from college for as long as I attended it, but I’m still not entirely comfortable with the idea that I’m sort of a grownup now. And while I’m also not entirely comfortable sharing real thoughts on a blog (it’s just so laughably emo to me), I’m embracing what’s ahead. Even if that means my friends probably aren’t hanging out with high school girls anymore.