After The MBA

I Can Wear Red Again

So a week ago, I moved out of the Mission neighborhood (the barrio) to the much nicer SOMA neighborhood (young professionals). If you recall, I avoided wearing red clothing in the Mission because it was the color associated with the local gang, the Nortenos. Here are some of the highlights from living in the Mission in the past 14 months: 

• 3 stabbings on my block thus far in 2010 (every incident was gang-related so I need not worry).

• 1 fistfight in front of my house.

• 1 beat down at a local bar (Delerium) where 2 guys were kicking the crap out of a guy on the sidewalk. They also picked up a bicycle and hit him with it. (for the record, I tried to help the poor guy but the bouncer locked the door and stopped anyone from entering/exiting the premises)

• 1 undercover prostitution sting a block away that busted some middle-aged sucker driving a nice BMW.

• 2 guys chasing another guy down the street while trying to club him with a baseball bat.

• 1 crazy World Series victory celebration that involved burning mattresses and a hijacked bus.

• 100+ delicious tacos consumed.

Yes, the World Series street celebrations in the Mission were pure anarchy. There were multiple burning mattresses filling up intersections, which led to me to wonder, “How come people have so many spare mattresses to burn?” I also dodged a bullet because a (drunk?) driver plowed into a crowd of people where I had been standing just a minute earlier and several people were injured. Anyway, here is some home video of the craziness after the SF Giants won the2010 World Series:

 

Bay To Breakers: Why SF Is Awesome

 

Back on the East Coast, I had never heard of Bay to Breakers, but ever since arriving in the Bay Area, everyone has been telling me that I had to check it out. Bay to Breakers is an annual 12K (7.5 mile) race that spans across the city and was originally conceived approximately 100 years ago as an event to raise the mood of the city after the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. The event is no ordinary footrace and can best be described as a mix of Halloween + Mardi Gras + 12K race. There are serious runners who run the race competitively but most people just walk behind them with “beverages” in hand and creating a moving street party for several miles.

                 

In my opinion, this event represents the culture and spirit of San Francisco because everyone comes out to have fun and be creative. This isn’t some drunken hookup fest for young twenty-somethings like spring break in Cancun and it isn’t a trashy public flashing party like Mardi Gras. Sure, there are plenty of naked people who participate in the event but nudity is part of the carefree spirit of SF, and not an attempt to collect beads or appear on Girls Gone Wild videos. Furthermore, this event would not work in many other places like NYC. For example, people in SF are generally more laid back, friendly, and far less aggressive than people in NYC. I think a testament to this fact, is that I hardly saw any cops for the first few blocks and overall, the police presence was very minimal and many police offers were taking pictures and enjoying the event themselves (rather than busting people). Overall, it was an epic experience and I highly recommend that everyone come check it out at least once in their lifetime.

And for you Cornellians out there, B2B is like Slope Day X 10!

Video of Bay to Breakers:

The Clock Strikes Twelve

 

It was an epic run to the Sweet 16 and the past week was unforgettable for all Cornellians. The Cornell vs Kentucky Viewing Party here in San Francisco was held at Jillian’s (yes, the chain one). I would have estimated that 250-300 people showed up, but the capacity is listed as 660 people on the Jillian’s website and the place was full. It was so packed that they had to bust out the velvet rope and let people in sporadically as if it were some hot night club. If you came after the opening tip, the wait time was around 20 minutes just to get inside! Now that is what you call Big Red Spirit.

SF Viewing Party: Cornell vs Wisconsin

After oversleeping for the Round 1 Viewing Party against Temple (it was at 9:00AM okay), I made sure I went to the Round 2 Viewing Party this past Sunday. Watching the game at a sports bar with local Cornell alumni was more fun than watching the game at home by myself. I don’t think my roommates wanted to hear me yelling at the TV either.

About 100 alumni came out for the event and I managed to network with two older alumni who “unfortunately” are working at biotech startups— one is developing DNA sequencing technology and the other is developing anti-bodies. Although their work sounded fascinating, I really had no idea what they were talking about so there was no way I was going to impress anyone into hooking me up with a job. On a brighter note, Cornell crushed Wisconsin and made it to the Sweet Sixteen! Go Big Red!