Aviraj's Tumblr

HO-LEEE WOW. Lucky guy. Twice over. He should've bought a lottery ticket that day.

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:29:11 +0530

Train track inspector almost gets hit. Twice.

via johnbiggs.posterous.com via @satishd

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Warren Buffett on How to Pick Where You Work

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:10:34 +0530

Go to work, if possible, for an organization or an individual that you admire. I mean I offered to go to work for Ben Graham because there was nobody I admired more in the business than him. I didn’t care what he paid me.
But I knew I wanted to work for Ben Graham. And I knew I would jump out of bed every morning and be excited about what I would do and I would go home at night smarter than I was in the morning.

via imperfect.posterous.com

Agreed.

The question he was originally answering was “What should we do if we don’t know what we want to do with our lives?”, which was posed to both, him and Bill Gates. It’s interesting how different their answers were. And Buffet’s answer speaks volumes to me. I don’t say money is insignificant — I’d be the last person to say that today, given how important it is for me to make and save money at this point in time. But it is equally important to value the learning in an experience than just go where you get the most money. If you think long-term, that knowledge will earn you a lot more than you can imagine making elsewhere. This might be a simple, oft-repeated thought, but it is very powerful.

A selection of students from my MBA class at the Leeds School of Business had the opportunity to apply for a trip to Omaha for a personal meeting with Warren Buffet in January 2010. He’s a finance guy and I’m not. I knew he’s awesome and all but I have absolutely nothing to do with finance. So I figured the trip may not be completely worth my time and money and hence did not apply. Yes, BAD DECISION.

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And three hours later, the Kheer is ready

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:54:37 +0530

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New Home. New View. New Snow. New Awesome.

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:35:34 +0530

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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CAUTION: Lion Spray

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:17:54 +0530

WTF?!

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Boulder + Bikes = Awesome a.k.a. The Boulder Bike Story

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:09:03 +0530

This is the Boulder Bike Sory.

I saw this video a few days ago and couldn’t help reflecting on why it means a lot to me.

Here it is in brief — my bike has been the best investment I have made since moving to Colorado. There’s no question about it. Facts first: I have lost 25 pounds within 4 months of moving here (I bought my bike 10 days after landing). Now, anyone who knows me well enough, will know that that’s significant. I had been gaining weight continuously for over 3 years, so this is definitely a big thing for me. Heck, when I went rock-climbing, I was shocked I could even lift my own weight.

But then it’s not just about the weight. I feel so much more awesome after my daily bike ride. Yes, my ride is only for commuting reasons, but that’s what I find awesome about it. I’ve surprised even myself when I sometimes skip the bus to get somewhere and prefer a 4 mile bike ride instead. My friends know that I had been dying to buy a bike to commute to work for over a year when I was in Mumbai. But it was clear — if the cars on the road did not kill me, the pollution certainly would. A good biking experience was one of the significant factors in my decision to move here. Not kidding. And Boulder has not disappointed. I just love how bike friendly this town, in fact, most of Colorado is. As you would’ve seen in the video, 95% of roads in Boulder have a dedicated bike lane or bike path or both. All buses have bike racks and cargo storage. It’s super impressive.

Bottomline? Boulder is awesome.

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Hot Dog. For real. (via @garrytan)

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:17:59 +0530

via hiphop-o-posterous

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Fastest football (soccer) goal ever

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:42:30 +0530

via zee.posterous.com

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Doing the right things. And doing them right.

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:36:39 +0530

I’ve been thinking a lot lately.

I am here in Boulder, and I am getting an MBA. How do I feel about that? Well, school work is kicking my backside but I have never been any happier, professionally, than I am today. I know I will never be a champion in Corporate Finance or even Marketing Management class, but I am being the best that I can be. And that is thanks to the one thing I keep telling myself.

I am not here to study. I am here to learn.

And I am learning a heck of a lot. The number of influential people that I have spoken to, met, listened to and learned from in the past 4 months is incredible. Then there’s all the blogs that I read. My blog reading patterns have changed since I started business school. Apart from all the tech blogs that I used to read, I’ve started learning a lot more from the ‘behavioral’ blogs I’ve discovered. I’ve been reading these blogs for a long time now but by ‘discovered’ I mean I have started perceiving them differently. My three favorite blogs right now are those of Garry and Sachin from Posterous and Learn To Duck by Micah Baldwin. I learn so much from just reading what they write, I now consider the three of them as my personal mentors. This is also probably the reason behind my reduced blogging - I am now trying to add value to my readers through personal experiences, just like these blogs add value to me. Observing these people, their actions, their words, their work is a lot more fulfilling than breaking my head over, say, Johnson & Johnson’s marketing problems. Don’t get me wrong, I am not discounting the value of solving these problems, but these solutions will not take me where I want to be. Again, my perspective has changed over the past few months. For the better, I would say.

I have also been thinking about opportunities. There are opportunities out there for everyone and we must train our eyes on them. But, you know what is better than finding and grabbing an opportunity? Creating one. That leaves you with the best chance of being the one to grab it. I have realized that I am a lot better at creating opportunities than waiting and grabbing. As a result, I am closer to where I want to be than I have been before. That hints to me that I am walking in the right direction. My good friend Avneesh, who is also my harshest critic, often tells me that I am doing the right things and I am doing them right. I admire this guy and, even though I have a few good reasons to disagree with him, I respect what he says. Besides, an ego boost always feels nice, no? :)

Despite all the depression that school work is bringing on with itself, I am quite happy with my life right now. The hopeless optimist that I am, I feel good about the pain. I am the only person that can shield myself from that depression. After all, success at business school is a lot less about skills and knowledge and a lot more about attitude. Heck, success in life is a lot less about skills and knowledge and a lot more about attitude. It’s a rough ride, but I am getting there.

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Inside.

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:34:17 +0530

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Kung Fu Baby!

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:25:03 +0530

Hattip zee.me

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It really is getting too much

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:58:49 +0530

via someecards.com

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Snowstorms are awesome.

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:28:54 +0530

Even if you have to go to school.

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I want to have twins just to get them these awesome t-shirts

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:09:15 +0530

via gizmodo.com

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Um, sounds like a plan.

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:42:37 +0530

via someecards.com

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Finals = Done.

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 06:56:27 +0530

Phew!

We finally got done with our first set of finals this semester. And they were painful. Yes. That’s the only word that I can think of to describe them. My classmates will not disagree.

I’ll tell you this — the A session finals brought all of us ‘high-flying MBAs’ back down to earth. Everyone’s emotions were running high, whether they were through screams, tears (no kidding), caffeine binges, or (hilarious) Facebook status updates.

As for me, I don’t think I performed well enough. Accounting troubled me a lot; enough to make me hope for some kindness from my professor. To be honest, I’ve learned a lot of lessons about my study patterns and how I should adjust to these new circumstances. Hopefully, I’ll be able to incorporate these lessons into the B session so it doesn’t hurt my overall first semester grade too much. The good news is that I’ll have Marketing in the B session which is definitely my strong suit. The bad news is that I’ll have Finance — numbers again!

My class certainly knows how to blow some steam. MBA ‘11ers gathered in full force at The Foundry last night in an effort to forget the past 2 months (hehe, just kidding). It was definitely a relief to see so many smiling faces after so long.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to Monday. We didn’t have classes on Thursday and Friday. A lot of my friends are using this extended weekend to go on hiking/camping/mountain-biking trips or just some general out-of-town R&R. It’ll be good to get back to the grind on Monday.

Over ‘n out.

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Isn't this a pretty sight?

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:22:47 +0530

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An early, early morning phone conversation

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:00:16 +0530

So this awesome friend of mine called me from Bombay early this morning.

She: Aviiiiiiiiiiiiii

Me: Heyy

She: Guess what? I just got my first paycheck!!

Me: Oh really? damn cool.

Me: Wait, didn’t you already get your first paycheck months ago?

She: Arre, I left that job before I got paid na.

Me: Ohhh.. okay.

She: What time is it there right now?

Me: 4:40 a.m.

She: That’s okay, you were anyway going to wake up.

Me: Umm…

She: Acha now I gotta call everyone else and tell them. Byeeeeee

Oh, her randomness so cute :)

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Dedicated to my MBA friends preparing for the finals {{Make sure you print this out before executing}}

Aviraj's Tumblr

HO-LEEE WOW. Lucky guy. Twice over. He should've bought a lottery ticket that day.

Warren Buffett on How to Pick Where You Work

And three hours later, the Kheer is ready

New Home. New View. New Snow. New Awesome.

CAUTION: Lion Spray

Boulder + Bikes = Awesome a.k.a. The Boulder Bike Story

Hot Dog. For real. (via @garrytan)

Fastest football (soccer) goal ever

Doing the right things. And doing them right.

Inside.

Kung Fu Baby!

It really is getting too much

Snowstorms are awesome.

I want to have twins just to get them these awesome t-shirts

Um, sounds like a plan.

Finals = Done.

Isn't this a pretty sight?

An early, early morning phone conversation

Dedicated to my MBA friends preparing for the finals {{Make sure you print this out before executing}}

A typical MBA class