http://www.jasoncook.com/ foo bar blog: life's variables, globally declared. en-us 2006-01-28T00:09:00+00:00 http://www.jasoncook.com/archives/000261.shtml I’m thinking I should take up blogging, again. Some things seem too precious not to share. Case in point: Yesterday, I saw a man in a coonskin cap. I wanted to laugh, but this guy wound up being the scariest-looking dude I’ve ever seen on the streets of Cambridge. He was tough enough without the hat. For starters, he was real weathered-looking. Like a big mean sailor. Something about him conveyed (and quickly) that this gentleman had already “been there, done that” when it came to speedy resolution of conlicts. Pub fight, street fight, prison fight — check. Fists, beer... Jason 2006-01-28T00:09:00+00:00 http://www.jasoncook.com/archives/000259.shtml It’s stating the obvious, I know, but for the record, this blog is officially on hiatus. We’re still in Cambridge, though student life seems eons away. (I’ve joined the commuting masses, instead, and am now part of the Google team in London.) Life is good, though. For all three of us. Bye!... Jason 2005-10-22T10:44:59+00:00 http://www.jasoncook.com/archives/000256.shtml After 8 long days in the hospital, my wife Azure and our newborn daughter have finally come home. Despite some shaky moments, they are both fine and healthy and beautiful, and I am the happiest dad on the planet.... Jason 2005-07-29T12:00:00+00:00 http://www.jasoncook.com/archives/000255.shtml A few incoming MBA students have asked for advice on moving to the UK. About year ago, I asked the very same question to Frank Leahy, who then wrote a helpful blog entry (two, actually) about Moving to England — What Do I Bring and Getting Stuff There. Herewith a few more details that I can add — these being oddball points, mostly tailored to Cambridge MBA students: Cell phones: For starters, they call ‘em “mobile phones” here, and yeah, you’ll need one if you hope to socialize much. You need a GSM phone, however — if you’re a T-Mobile... Jason 2005-07-04T13:10:08+00:00 http://www.jasoncook.com/archives/000254.shtml LEDs replacing cigarette lighters? That’s what wound up spinning through my brain as I watched the Kaiser Chiefs play at the Queens’ College May Ball. Not as firestarters, mind. I’m talkin’ cigarette lighters as rock-ballad accoutrements, i.e. glowing objects to be held aloft whenever the band plays a song you like. Because that’s what happened last night, thanks to the whole cameraphone / digital camera scene. Stuck towards the back, I could spot each and every viewfinder that popped up above the crowd — they looked like little glowing blue things, jumping and hopping to the music — until, poof,... Jason 2005-06-23T01:35:24+00:00 http://www.jasoncook.com/archives/000247.shtml I tend to update this page on Saturday mornings. Maybe that’s because it’s the one day I stay seated through my morning cup of coffee, tethered by the teensy hangover which will come knocking anytime I hold up my wine glass for even a single refill. So be it. Friday nights are good, here. Last night I was happily back at Magdalene, even though the season of Formal Halls is over. This was a pizza-and-chips affair, instead, with the other Magdalenes who are in the Judge. It’s a small group — there’s four of us MBAs in college this year,... Jason 2005-06-18T14:00:00+00:00 http://www.jasoncook.com/archives/000242.shtml There’s a correlation between sunny weather and Pimm’s consumption, in these parts. Correlation, yes, and causality, too. Of course, I’d never heard of Pimm’s before landing in Cambridge. I’d likewise presumed that the locals hadn’t experienced sunny weather — I mean, how else does one explain the Brit tendency to don T-shirts and miniskirts when it’s still freezing out? Turns out the sun does sometimes shine in the British Isles (every second Saturday in June, 11am to 3pm, weather permitting) and last weekend, Azure, Alanna, and I found ourselves reaching for some sunscreen. And then reaching for the Pimm’s. Pimm’s,... Jason 2005-06-11T16:26:31+00:00 http://www.jasoncook.com/archives/000241.shtml Jason 2005-05-07T21:15:02+00:00 http://www.jasoncook.com/archives/000240.shtml I’m not sure if it’s a ‘skill’, a ‘knack’, or maybe an ‘art’ (by this point), but I can say that my procrastination abilities have become quite well-honed at B-school. Case in point: we just wrapped up our MCP project. The MCP is a full-time effort (and then some); there’s no classes in April because of it. While every group scrambled to finish on time, my group’s project was especially back-loaded; lots of analysis couldn’t even get started until last week. Goes to figure, then, that I’d decide last week was also the perfect time to ‘tag’ my entire iPhoto... Jason 2005-04-27T13:15:00+00:00 http://www.jasoncook.com/archives/000239.shtml Seems England can’t completely shake off winter, much as I can’t free myself from this particularly nasty cold. It’s brutal, really. Cambridge was grey and drizzly all of last week; meanwhile, I was shuffling across the cobbled streets doubled-over and coughing, like some Dickensian pauper doomed with the consumption. Well, not quite that bad. In fairness, there have been intermittent bursts of Spring, about. (And I, in truth, am largely on the mend.) The oft-truant sun swung our way a few weeks ago — staying long enough to push up yellow daffodils and scatter cherry-blossoms all across Cambridge. Our garden... Jason 2005-04-16T01:30:00+00:00 http://www.jasoncook.com/archives/000235.shtml Unintended consequence of the Cambridge MBA: Bond movies aren’t the same, anymore. Actually, 007 hasn’t mixed the martinis quite right for some time now. The whole franchise slipped past ‘tired’ to ‘exhausted’ with The World Is Not Enough. But this is beside the point. No, what happened is this: I hung out with Britian’s previous ‘M’ (James Bond’s boss, remember?) for the better part of an hour, chatting about his old job and present-day geopolitics. The requisite dash of intrigue was provided early on, when our MBA class was told to show up for a guest lecture — but wasn’t... Jason 2005-03-05T15:58:19+00:00 http://www.jasoncook.com/archives/000234.shtml The week before last was exams — a one-two punch of Corporate Finance and Organizational Behavior. I was swaying on my feet the moment I stumbled out of Cambridge’s Small Exam Hall, but then Az and I went and saw ‘Million Dollar Baby’, which pretty much knocked me out for the whole weekend. (Okay, so the boxing metaphor is corny, but damn if it isn’t apt as hell.) I’ve barely recovered. Lent term began promptly on Monday morning, which means I’m now fully back in business (school), and once again filling my cranium with executive-class knowledge. Take, for example, this... Jason 2005-01-23T14:25:44+00:00 http://www.jasoncook.com/archives/000232.shtml About a month ago, I finished Susanna Clarke’s “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell”, though I didn’t really put the book to rest for three weeks after. It’s a massive tome; I wasn’t about to re-read it from the start, but the book demanded immediate re-visits, first a page here, then a passage there. And so it stayed atop my nightstand, getting better and better. It’s a hard book to describe: the 19th-century atmosphere feels as cold as a lake in winter, and a gothic kind of melancholy hangs on every page. The tangled plot grows like a vine, not a... Jason 2004-12-13T12:00:00+00:00 http://www.jasoncook.com/archives/000230.shtml The days are short of late, and the sky unduly enamored with cold, metallic colors. Brushed aluminum, powdered magnesium, gunmetal steel – ah, ‘tis a chic palette, very Euro-styled and all, but frankly I prefer a bit more yellow and blue, up above. Alas, the only alternative on offer is White: Cambridge’s first winter snow started coming down in clumps three nights ago. Az and I live adjacent to the train tracks, near a railroad yard which houses a grove of halogen floodlights, and the sight of the snow floating past those towering lamps was remarkable. The flakes were larger... Jason 2004-11-21T15:15:13+00:00 http://www.jasoncook.com/archives/000229.shtml I found a note scribbled in the margins of my spiral-bound notebook, “lifetime pizza customer value 10K”. Now, whether I was skeptical, impressed, or just a tad peckish when scratching those words, I no longer remember. But I did just bother to look up the pizza bit on the ‘Net. Turns out the lifetime revenue stream generated by a loyal pizza customer is actually $8,000. Give or take a slice. Anyhow, my point is that it’s these things neat, small, and clever which are most easily forgot, if not written down. Thusly follows a quick list of not-blogged events from... Jason 2004-11-08T00:46:09+00:00