Nearing the End of My First Year of Grad School

The Georgetown Master of Science in Foreign Service program is wonderful. I'm just finishing up some work at USAID, I have mountains of reading for classes, and I've continued focusing on what I really want to do: start my own business.

I was immersed into development theory by my prof, a career USAID foreign service officer. And I studied telecom policy under the first Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown, who's taking leave from the FCC. Furthermore, I've been learning the common language of SPSS and statistics. The most demanding class, however, is the least theoretical and classroom-based: social entrepreneurship. It's forced me to develop a business plan and video pitch for my business idea.

This semester I took Spring Break in Miami Beach for some beach, and then went to Colorado for some snow with a handful of my classmates. In the DC area, we just had our Spring Ball last week -- a decadent but fitting closure to the year. The weather just turned warm and the undergrads have already taken to the campus lawns in revealing clothing.

I didn't get the Google Policy Fellowship; it looks like law students and Ivy Leaguers did instead.

Summer looks to be a lot of recreational reading, a trip to Hawai'i to represent my school at the Achievement Summit, a possible trip to Rhode Island to see my buddy's wedding, and working on my business.

As the school year ends, I could not be happier about my decision to come here to Georgetown. It's just changed my life and outlook completely. The way I think about foreign policy, development, and financial issues is far more nuanced and investigative than it was before. It's shocking, to be honest. And I would say that my classmates feel the same way.

Petraeus and Crocker testified last week on Iraq. The degree of inwardness and obsession in the US was illustrated to me last night when I went to a lecture by two China experts on the rising impact of China on American foreign policy. The short version? The US is willfully giving up its influence in the world but not its attitude about its place in the world. The US will wake up one day and realize the rest of the world passed it by. That makes me, as an American, very sad. In the heartland of competition, we are refusing to remain competitive.

On the economy and the stock market, I would agree that the Administration's fiscal policy actions are irresponsible and new regulations won't make the sector stronger structurally, but for now the market got what it wanted and it's happy -- we're just going to see bad corporate earnings for a while. I am cash except for new Nintendo positions.

A New Semester Begins

2007 finished with a flourish. My house threw an end-of-semester party (Iron Chef Georgetown theme), followed the next week by the MSFS holiday social. I got my grades after I drove home to Dallas with one of my classmates who lives near me there -- grades were mixed. A's in Arabic and Globalization (History). A- in international finance. B+ in international relations theory (Victor Cha is a tough, yet fair grader). B in international trade (clearly not my forté).

This semester I am taking statistics, social entrepreneurship, political economy of international communications policy, and development orthodoxies. All the classes are fascinating and are exposing me to subject areas I know nothing about, yet relate intimately to the business idea I'll be working on for the entrepreneurship class. Bottom line? I'm bloody psyched.

I got an iPhone for Christmas. It really is as great as everyone says.

As for 2008, well, I am hoping Obama has stolen Hillary's aura of invincibility and will be elected. I watched the markets gap down more this morning than I've ever seen, and then saw the Fed reactively cut rates 75 basis points. Kind of scary. I'm glad I'm still all cash from November's vapor trading.

One more thing: you have no idea how much I wish to be in Melbourne watching the Aussie Open. It's one of my dreams to go watch it one year. (or many)

Thanksgiving

I spent my Thanksgiving not with family, but with brothers-in-arms. I drove out to Annapolis and hung out with MonkeyPope and a dude we both knew from language school. Somehow we all ended up in the same line of work, and we got to share some stories over a massive dinner for 12ish with MonkeyPope's sister's-in-law family. Good to see you, bro, even if both of you had iPhones and I don't. =P

Apparently the future is here, in the Amazon Kindle. Ugly son of a bitch, isn't it? Oh well. My buddy somehow procured a Kindle early and forwarded me a pic of my biography page displayed on it. Ew. The idea of e-reading is spot on, and digitally saving notes and bookmarks and key quotes is what I want most in an e-reader. I seriously think the digitization of books and integration into online databases will have massive cultural effects...but I think the Kindle is probably the Newton of these devices...

There are approximately two weeks left of this semester in which I am sucking at international trade. Our class continues to remain tight, which I really enjoy, since I was able to transition from one community (Army) to another relatively easily. I am applying for a Google fellowship over the summer in my never-ending attempt to get a job with them once I graduate. I've pre-registered for classes next semester, including what I think will become my future all-consuming interest: social entrepreneurship. It's taught by a kickass prof and it will let me develop the idea I have into (hopefully) a viable business opportunity.

I finally sold all my stocks and Nintendo a couple weeks back when Bernanke said growth was slowing. That concluded a year-and-a-half hold of Nintendo from when the Wii was announced, during which the stock more than tripled. Thank you, Nintendo, for a hell of a ride!

Autumn Chill

Last week the temperatures in DC dropped a bit for the first time this year.

Classes are going well although I'm overloaded with 18 credits (including Arabic every day) and an internship affiliated with USAID. We've gotten a few grades back and I'm doing fine.

My classmates continue to rock the house. Such a diverse crowd. Our camaraderie is still there but we're in midterm-season so it's stressful.

I'm settling into the city, getting to know the public transport schedules, visiting different neighborhoods, meeting friends on the street, going for long runs through downtown.

The other week, Bill Richardson came to talk at Georgetown about the military and Iraq. He pushed for immediate withdrawal and support services for re-deploying troops. I'm hoping that Obama will win the nomination, choose Richardson as his veep, and then pull in Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Edwards, among others to be in his cabinet. Wouldn't that be something?

I visited the Solar Decathlon this weekend on the Washington Mall, a competition between twenty universities to build the most energy-efficient solar homes. The houses looked outstanding and were ultra comfy and cool on the insides. Lots of people, though, meant for long lines waiting to go inside each presentation.

My Stint at Georgetown Begins

It's been an exciting month, recorded in my Wuntsah. I went to Manhattan with my parents and Julie and met my grade school friends, visited MoMA, Cooper-Hewitt, the UN, Magnolia Bakery, the American Craft Museum, Spamalot, Perilla, Central Park (perfect weather), Harlem, and more. NYC is so seductive.

I also moved to DC with all my stuff in my car and IKEA'd out my room. Our program started with a two-day orientation with lots of hand-shaking and wrapping our heads around the diversity and experience of our incoming class. My classes: international trade, international finance, globalization in intersocietal relations, and international relations theory. I'm already overloaded with articles, books, and memos to write! Plus a daily Arabic class, an upcoming internship with a USAID contractor, and jogging along the Potomac and around the city.

Soon enough the much-ballyhooed Petraeus report will arrive. That people are already spinning some successes in Iraq (by shady deal-making) as overall justification for invasion and evidence of productive policy, is disgustingly misleading. Violence is at its highest point on average this year compared with past years in the occupation. And Al-Sistani's aides are being assassinated while Al-Sadr and Al-Maliki are contending with corruption, loss of control, and division. How sad it is that what passes in Iraq now is considered success.

Pre-Term Activities

Last weekend I went to my grandmother's (first time I'd seen her since before I enlisted in 2002) and to Georgetown for housing search. I checked out my new campus and met the owners of the impressive row-house I've rented out with some fellow classmates in the Burleith/Georgetown neighborhood north of campus. It's quite a beautiful area -- and having also lived in Monterey, CA, I'm perhaps a bit spoiled.

I walked around the DC area and just missed Cindy Sheehan getting arrested at the Capitol -- when I got there, there were only a few anti-war/impeachment activists outside. I didn't realize how large the Iwo Jima memorial was. I walked solemnly through Arlington National Cemetary. I saw the Air Force officers in their uniforms taking the metro to the Pentagon.

I've been going to cooking classes at the Farmer's Market here in Dallas while I've been waiting for class to start. It's great because the best chefs in the area come to give the classes and you get to taste their food. Today's chef was Richard Chamberlain from Chamberlain's Restaurant and he served us up some delicious, buttery kobe beef and warm espresso cake. I'm trying to learn to cook better and now wonder if I can spare another two years to attend the cooking school here in Dallas (which would be free for me!). With Top Chef and Ratatouille, I'm guessing cooking is the big thing right now too!

Just three weeks till class begins! I'm so psyched! I've met a lot of my future classmates through the Facebook group I set up, and got to meet some in person. It's going to be wild.

Coming up soon: a week's trip to Manhattan with my family!