Oggy Live Today

Today is an anniversary for me. It has been exactly 11 years since I  moved to the US for the first time. Back in 1997, March 19th when I was still enjoying my 20s, I had a farewell party called “Oggy FINAL” in Ebisu, Tokyo to drink with lots of friends, co-workers in Japan and then I flew to San Jose on the next day. I worked in Silicon Valley from March 20th 1997 through September 2002 for 5.5 years as a software engineer, technical analyst and planner. I fully enjoyed my first US life like outdoor activities, sports, wine tasting, home parties… I was also inspired and affected by the Silicon Valley events/cultures including the dot com booms and even the recessions during the period. I moved back to Tokyo for 2002-2007 but I have returned to the US (Midwest) now.  

Well, amazingly it’s the 11th time already. Time flies and life is short!

• KWEST night out @ Merle’ BBQ
• Discussion about Japan-night @ McManus

I have participated in a wireless indusry war game competition as a member of the Kellogg team against other MBA schools and… our team won! 

Here are related articles.

• Kellogg News: (http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/news/whatsnew/student-wargamewin.htm)
• Network World: (http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/030608-wireless-internet-war-game.html)  
• Press Release by Fuld: (http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080306/neth092.html?.v=33)
• Blog article by Joyce Gioia-Herman: (http://www.keyboard-culture-future-workforce-trends.com/2008/03/war_games_observed.html)

This has been an excellent learning experience for me in a lot of ways.

I am/was taking the classes as follows: 

Fall 2007

• Leadership in Organizations (Uzzi) 
• Business Strategy (Hubbard)
• Marketing Management (Hennessy)
• Factory Physics I (Iravani)
• Accounting for Manufacturing Management (Balachandran)

Winter 2008

• Finance I (Kondo)
• Factory Physics II (Watson)
• Microeconomic Analysis (Loeper)
• Understanding hte Media and its Content (Smith)

Names in the parenthesis show professor.

We visited two startups in Chicago on Wedensday, December 5th. I played a leadership role of the trek for PEEK (Private Equity and Entrepreneurship at Kellogg), a student run organization.

Firms we visited:

• Savo Group
• Industry: Salesforce management SW
• http://www.savogroup.com/
• Fieldglass
• Industry: Workforce management SW
• http://www.fieldglass.com/