Mercury Lounge

The semester is definitely over. I have had my very last class today and I have also turned in my last paper. I will be leaving NY in a couple of days but, before doing that, I have gone out to celebrate with a couple of friends. It’s been a quiet night and I was back home a few minutes after midnight.

It’s been a good night. We have headed over to the Mercury Lounge, one of the most famous venues in NY for live music. I had heard about it but I had never been there, though it is roughly 5 minutes away from home. We did not who was playing. WE just felt in the mood for some live music.

After a beer and a not very good opening singer, Jesse Malin has come up to the stage. I had never heard about this guy before but he has turned out to be great. I have really enjoy the gig. A mix of country, folk and pop that has reminded me to the Jayhawks from time to time. His performance was being recorded so I will definitely buy the album when it is released.

A nice a quiet way to bring an end to my 2007 NY nightlife. It’s been a good year, with its ups and downs but pretty fun overall. On my way home I was talking with a friend how weird it feels to realize than in two week time we will be hitting Hong Kong and Beijing and Shanghai after that. Looks promising and I will definitely write about it.

Happy holidays!

Wrapping up my Fall internship

I have just come back from the Xmas party organized by the sports company where I have been interning over the last three months. It’s been a lot of fun, a lounge near Times Sq with karaoke and open bar. I have even jumped on the stage and have sung La Bamba along with some other guys. Good fun.

Monday was my last day at the office and, before leaving, I sent one of those emails that you send when you leave a company. You thank everybody for their help and say how well you have been there. I did not make it up, it was not just rubbish, I was telling the truth. During the last three months I have felt really comfortable and the atmosphere and the people have been pretty good. It has not been as painful as when I sent the email at the firm where I worked for four years before coming to NY but I tend to get attached to people and places.

From a pure “professional” perspective the internship has had a little bit of everything. More importantly, I have met great people and have made some good connections that may be useful in the near future. At the same time, I have realized how tough is to break into the sports industry. I have been the very last guy in the chain in my department, I have done some very interesting work but also some shitty work that a 18 year old would do in his summer time.

I have also confirmed, on the field and by talking to people, that sports is not investment banking and that an MBA is rather useless when you enter the sector for the first time. It doesn’t matter if you worked for Goldman closing deals or for McKinsey advising on restructurings. You start from the very bottom. Needless to say, the salary is a completely different universe (although in this case the company I have worked for has a lower than average pay scale).

Let’s put some figures out there. If I got a full time offer at this company I would earn between 40K and 50K bucks. This is NY and I still want to live in downtown Manhattan. I want to go out for dinner and go on a trip from time to time. And I want to be able to pay back my loan. Not feasible with forty grand. On top of that, I would be the last in the chain (well, above interns at least) and should be ready to do work and bear stuff that I already did when I came out of college 7 years ago. It is ok for an internship but full time would be too much.

In sum, I have enjoyed my time, people have valued my work and I have learnt some good stuff but it is almost for sure that I am not coming back after Xmas, although I have been offered such opportunity. After Xmas I have to put in time in thoroughly looking for a job. Looking for a job itself is a tough, tedious and time consuming job. I may eventually intern somewhere else if there is an opportunity to work there full time or if the opportunity itself is too good to be rejected.
I am still gonna make a bet on sports. What I have seen so far has its pros and its cons but, overall, the latter have not discouraged me. It is still an industry where I would like to work. I just need to find the right place. Sports won’t be my only option but that is a different story.

Another stage of the MBA has been completed. Let’s see what’s next.

Party is back

It’s 443 am and I am just back home. I am glad to see that, after a couple of weeks, I am going out again. Going out as I should have…

I have finished class at 9 pm and then I have headed to Society, a bar close to school where I have had a couple of beers and mingled with people I had not seen for a while. I was quite excited just about going out again.

Around midnight I have left with a bunch of friends for the Meat Packing district where a Brazilian mate was hosting a party. I was not very sure about going up north to 27th St. but I had been assured that we would get in the club. As I suspected, we were not let in. Once again, it reminded me why I usually do not go to the Meat Packing. I feel so comfortable in the LES….

I was about to go home but some friends have persuaded me to go to Pastis – down in 12th St. – for a drink. I was surprised to hear about Pastis because I had just been once there and it was for brunch with my mom. But it was fine, though quiet. A margarita and a “white Russian” (first time I was trying this nice cocktail) and then to Le Souk. Good choice because it was close to home although the mix of tequila, beer and Jagerbomb will definitely come back to visit me tomorrow.

In sum, a great night. Back in the game…

Almost done

Quiet times in the Village, at least for me. I can believe I am almost done for the semester. I just have a couple of papers due next week and the third of the 4 chunks of the MBA will be completed. Hard to believe! I have no final exams this semester and it feels good.

I have been so busy in the last weeks that today I almost don’t know what to do. I have been wandering around my place and watching outside at the first heavy, though short, snowfall. I am not in the mood for writing more papers and stuff. I just want the winter break to start. But before coming back to my country I am gonna have almost an entire week to chill in NY, to do some Xmas shopping and hopefully to catch up with NYC nightlife. I have almost forgotten what it is like. I hardly believe that I am saying so!

I realize that 2008 is just around the corner and I just can’t stop thinking about how important the first months of the new year will be for me. For most MBAs following “traditional” paths in IB and consulting it will be a time for partying and letting go. For those of us seeking an opportunity in non-traditional arenas such as media, VC and others, that period of time will be critical. It’s the time when the limited opportunities are to come up and we need to be on top of them to capture at least one. I am trying not to think too much about it now but it’s hard to do so when you see the graduation date getting closer.

I am going to my second to last class in a few minutes. Later, hopefully some party!

Going digital?

Today I have visited one of my Stern professors at his office in Park Avenue. An amazing place on the 20th floor. I really loved this professor’s course, which mainly covered strategic issues in the media industry. It has been by far one of the best courses I have taken so far.

The professor offered his advice to all of us and I decided to convene a meeting. I did not mean to apply for a job at his company but rather to look for some guidance. It’s been a short meeting but there are two main takeaways from it:

(1) It may be the right time to go digital for those of us who want to work in media. Big conglomerates are not only in flux but are also likely to face sharp declines in the mid-term. They are not just going through a transition from their business model. The internet is very likely to re-shape the media industry for good. In other words, I should seriously consider looking for a job at an internet-based media company.

(2) I should trust myself a little more. I trust myself in the sense that I know that I will be able to do a good job anywhere. It’s been like this so far and I see no reason for a change. However, I am not confident enough about why an American media company should hire a foreign guy with very limited experience in the media arena, with less knowledge of the American market than his US peers and with definitely poorer English skills. I guess that my concerns are reasonable. The professor has advised me to write a one-pager about what I would accomplish after a year at any given position that I would like to pursue. First, I have to believe in it. If I don’t, then I will have a problem.

Now it’s time to go to class, although is 30F outside!

Long awaited day

It has taken 10+ years to see this day. I still remember when not long ago Tau Ceramica's chairman lobbied to prevent basketball teams within 100 Km of existing "franchises" from competing in the ACB league. It was one of the many actions taken to make Tau Ceramica "our team". But it has never been and it will never be so. Watch out, things may be changing!

Tau Ceramica 78 - Iurbentia Bilbao Basket 80. I am so happy!!

Most quiet weekend ever

It’s been nearly a year and a half so far and I feel like I had never had a more quiet weekend in NY. It’s kind of disappointing. You feel like you are missing something.

Though all my friends did, I did not go out on Thursday night to the Columbia Latin party because I had gone out on Wednesday. Yesterday all my friends were too tired to go out so I stayed in. Tonight I have gone out for a few drinks but I was done by 230 am. My head and my pocket will be thankful tomorrow.

I do not why this weekend has been that quiet, too quiet I dare say. Maybe it’s the chill outside (it’s 24F outside, namely -4C, the coldest day so far since I came back last August). Maybe it is that I am not that worried about going out any more. Who knows. Maybe it is just a relaxed time.

I am going to bed and, if the Weather Channel is right, by the time I wake up there will be some snow flakes pouring outside. The first ones this Fall.

Ciao