Alex Bain's Blog

Hunger : Steak dinner :: Starting : Sailing

I've never been in a regatta, but I've had sailors explain to me how the start of a race works:
They tell you the time the race is going to start, and the point where it will start, and you try to get your boat going at such a pace that it will be going full speed and crossing the line just as the start happens. If you're at all over the line, there's a penalty. There's no penalty for being behind the line, but you have less of an advantage.

It occurred to me last night at Abe & Louie's that eating steak is a lot like sailing. Let me explain:
When I know I'm going out to a nice steak dinner, I think about it all day. I know I'll want to pig out, so I try to make sure I'll be suitably hungry when I sit down. If I get too hungry, I get cranky, and can't resist the bread, then I'm not able to properly enjoy my steak. I consider this the equivalent of a sail boat crossing the line early.

If I'm not hungry enough, I either overeat, which is slightly unpleasant, or I have to live with the public shame of not finishing my meal.

Last night I "came in a little too hot" and took down half of the bread basket waiting for my salad as my body had subconsciously slipped into "survival mode". I still had plenty of hunger for my wedge salad smothered in bleu cheese, but I was losing steam by the time the steak and sides came out. In my defense, they were kinda slow to take our order, and I had tried to time the whole operation to the minute :-)

Cats : Animal lovers :: Roto baseball : Sports fans

As much as I love sports & as much time I have spent on my own fantasy sports teams, I find that other people's fantasy sports stories are almost never interesting (my brother the exception that proves the rule). Well, I'm one week into being a pet owner, & I love it. Furio takes up a lot of time, & the temptation is to share stories with the people I care about from the things that take up my time. I have to bite my toungue with the cat though, & remind myself that no one cares. Everyone knows that cats are adorable and a little dim-witted, & mine is only special to me, Lisa, & Lisa's family (b/c they're crazy for cats). One positive thing I've picked up from having a cat is a renewed desire to take risks. Furio throws himself around my apartment in a fearless manner. It's admirable, & I can't even imagine all the lessons he's already taugt himself in his adventures.

Flavored club soda : No soda :: Legal contingency : Accounting

One thing I definitely learned in my Financial Reporting & Controls class this semester is that there's a lot of grey area in accounting. For example, if a company's being sued, and they're likely to owe money, they need to estimate the future loss and carry that liability on their books. Who estimates the loss? That's not an exact science. This is just one example of tough calls in accounting.

Well, I've written before about my pledge to not drink soda, & about how I drink club soda as a replacement. Well, can I keep my pledge if I drink FLAVORED club soda? Tricky grey area. I say yes, but only if I determine that the beverage is closer to seltzer wate than soda.

HBS : Busy :: Vegas : Crazy

When I first moved out to SF in 2001, I quickly learned that it was cheap & easy to get to Vegas from there. I had friends who went several times a year.

I'd ask what was so great about the place & the common response was: "Vegas is crazy!"

I couldn't get folks to add color to the comment. I knew it had bars, gambling, lights, food. Not much else that I could use. Sounds fun, but not crazy.

Then I go & I see that your life goes upside down when you're in Vegas. I'm a guy who goes to bed by 11, but out there I'm up untill 6 AM. People dress flashier. Money's a little looser. The devil's in the details.

Similarly, friends in b-school always told me that you don't know what it means to be busy until you go to get your MBA. What the heck does that mean? I've had hard jobs, tight social calendars, errands to run. How could HBS be so different?

It is. The key is that everyone here feels like they're getting away with something, & that it'll only last 2 years, so every day counts. I need to use every minute that I'm not in class efficiently, b/c there are none to spare. Juggling class/girlfriend/family/old friends/HBS friends/job hunting/exercise doesn't sound unusual, but there's a feeling here like you're missing so much if you let up for a minute.

I guess I'm saying HBS is a lot like Vegas.

Mobile categories

Here are a few new categories to which I'll contribute from my mobile phone from time to time:

• Favorite song lyrics - Sometimes I come across something so goofy, I have to share it, for example Busta Rhymes:

"Just so wak you make people start cursin
Flows contradict worser than the King James version"

• Analogies - I think of these all the time. Sometimes they're spot on; sometimes they're intended to be funny, for example:

Takeru Kobayashi : Eating :: Babe Ruth : Baseball

• I can't believe I'm here - I'll grap a quick pic with my cameraphone (which I hate using) if I find myself in some place I never thought I'd be (e.g. Red Sox World Series Game, 2004)
• I can't believe what I just saw - Again, I'll grab a quick pic if I see something unbelievable, like the time I saw a fellow HBS admit get knocked out with one punch at a Boston bar, when he'd done nothing to provoke the aggressor. On second thought, posting a pic of an unconscious friend is perhaps insensitive.
• The Most Interesting Thing I Read Today - The authors of Marginal Revolution do this, and I really like the idea. I'm stealing it. I haven't done much reading today, so I don't have a good example.

I'll type out and submit the post from my phone, and perhaps come home and add links or other details after the fact.