Thursday, November 25, 2004
Progress Report
So, back in September I posted about how my former flatmate Future ThinkTanker is now just plain ThinkTanker. Future ISConsultant is now just plain ISConsultant. And Future Ambassador always had a longer timeframe for that, but since graduating she's been avoiding the job search in Malaysia, Pakistan, and now India. I'm sure she'll get rid of the "Future" modifier sooner or later too.
In the last week and a half I've had two rounds of interviews with a management consulting firm in London, for a position in their Toronto office. The interviews were surprisingly fun. I'm waiting to hear back to see if I've made it to the final round. I also have an interview scheduled for Tuesday with another strategy consulting firm, for a position with either their Toronto or London office. And I've narrowed down the list of PhD programs of interest from three or four to one. It's in California. I realised that the only places I'm interested in living next year are London, Toronto and California. Or maybe Montreal.
Which still leaves a lot of consulting firms I could apply to, so I'm trying to narrow down that list by eliminating any companies that, for instance, reportedly only served jalapeno poppers as a vegetarian option at their recruiting event last year. (They also happen to pay less, but still.)
Even though it's gloomy and Novembery, England is lovely and green right now. And enchanting. On my train trips to and from London I look out the window at the green hills and I sigh with contentment. I'm starting to feel more rooted here, and I don't know if I'm ready to move back to North America. Instead of worrying about it, though, I'm telling myself that I'll wait until I have job offers to make this decision. There are no bad options. I don't feel the need to whip out any O.R. techniques. Yet.
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Reading is destiny
I don't really subscribe to the concept of destiny. Lately, though, I've been thinking that geography is destiny. If I weren't so tired I'd expand on this (it doesn't have anything to do, or not much, with the recent American election), but instead I will note the following findings:
- There are about 3400 webpages agreeing that geography is destiny.
- 7800 pages concur with Freud that anatomy is destiny.
- 1850 pages or thereabouts agree with Waking Life that dream is destiny.
- According to Google, the five things most likely to be destiny are intelligence, character, strategy, geography and biology.
Though lately I feel a bit like I'm living a Milan Kundera novel, reading probably isn't destiny. Still, the texts that have grabbed my attention recently suggest more sources of destiny.
Policy is destiny: The Mystery of the Coca Plant That Wouldn't Die -- in Colombia, spraying pesticide on coca plants has not only apparently accelerated the selective breeding of Roundup-resistant plants, accidental (and I'm tempted to put that in quotation marks) spraying of legal crops has made growing those less lucrative crops riskier and thus even less popular with farmers. But the article's a great read.
Conversation is destiny: Useful Phrases -- useful because they are bizarre, which generates better conversations when travelling. (from the series KEVIN DOLGIN TELLS YOU ABOUT PLACES YOU SHOULD GO IN EUROPE .)
Chemistry is destiny: "Practical Applications of the Philosopher’s stone. For drunks." -- scienticians testing a method to make cheap vodka palatable (via The Perfect World)
Methodology is destiny: The Secret Sins of Economics (via Marginal Revolution) -- actually, "Methodology is destiny" is a cheap and innacurate characterization of this very lucid pamphlet; alas, I'm tired and it's the best I can come up with.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Free advice
Go read Sarah, because she's like me but way more interesting. Working on applications to consulting firms and PhD programs is leading to intense dissatisfaction with my accomplishments thus far, except my inner critic isn't as entertaining as Guillaume.
Or you could go read about steps towards fighting AIDS in Africa, from the new medicine journal at the Public Library of Science. Or investigate whether the low US dollar makes buying (and shipping) from Amazon.com cheaper than buying through Amazon.ca or Amazon.co.uk. Hurrah for the Canadian dollar's current Purchasing Power Parity. (If you do order from Amazon.com, be sure to log in through A9 first for a further pi/2 discount.)
I'm spending the weekend in London, starting with this concert, which inspires no discontent at all. And no (further) telling you what to read, either.
