Saturday, June 11, 2005

The Art Of The Comeback

Well a lot of talk has been going on about books on the blog world lately (esp the MBA faternity), so I decided to write a lil about a book I recently read. It is about the story and life of Donald Trump during the recession of early 90's and its is rightly called "The Art Of The Comeback".

I have long been a fan of Donald Trump. I have read most of his books, this one gives a little insight to his inner workings, and some of his deals. I love the guy, once again, you must give it up for trump, the man knows what he is doing. He, in this book, has managed to highlight his victories ....How he came back to financial prosperity. But wait,how did he go down in the first place. He purposely mangages to ignore the finer points (the negatives)...and again, makes himself to be nothing less of a godly figure. Sure probably 50 percent of the book is fabricated. But its fun reading no doubt. You have too respect a guy who doesn't give up and knows what it takes to reach the top.....

The biggest disappointment for is that Donald will not share any of his vast financial acumen with us. He is very gifted in the arena of finance, and I wish that he would impart some of that knowledge on us. Perhaps he feels like this would give away some of his business advantage, or maybe he just likes chest pounding better that education.

In contrast, Warren Buffet spends lots of time telling us the exact formulas and philosophies that he has used to become a billionaire from the stock market. Donald Trump has a great gift, and I wish he would write one more book to share even a portion of that with us.

In this book he mentions about the 10 things that helped him stage a comeback after being almost a billion dollars in the red, or if some of them didn't he would like to follow them now;

TRUMP'S TOP TEN COMEBACK TIPS
1. PLAY GOLF
2. STAY FOCUSED
3. BE PARANOID
4. BE PASSIONATE
5. GO AGAINST THE TIDE
6. GO WITH YOUR GUT
7. WORK WITH PEOPLE YOU LIKE
8. BE LUCKY
9. GET EVEN
10. ALWAYS HAVE A PRENUPTIAL AGREEMENT

Whether people love him or hate him, one thing is certain about Donald Trump: he has great instincts and billion-dollar dreams .

Happy Dreaming
Paa"ji"

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Gotta Move ON n ON

Feel guilty of not being regular in posting here, thought of doing it a few times but there was so much happening in life that just ignored it for some time. Hope I am back now........Kind of........think I am.

Flew back to the US on the 17th of may, and after finishing business in Toronto and NYC, was in my crib on the 21st. It does feel good to be back home (from the real home)..........but the last 30 minutes before you enter the airport are kinda heavy............Emotions showing everywhere........But that is how our culture is.

Ran into a very very crooked chap at the immigration in Toronto, I have a Canadian residency.......but the guy wanted to know why my passport is not stamped with a Canadian immigration thing. Reasoned out with him that paper documents have long been abolished in Canada and I have my PR Card which he can scan and get all the information. He still kept on asking the same question........Over n over again. So I told him this is all I have.......and you tell me what to do........and then suddenly he let me go. (In Canada they do not stamp anything on the passport, have lived there for a while and have traveled up from states and my passport has never been stamped.)

Now for what this blog was born........my B-School "di" Journey, well, have been running late on it and have a lot of catching to do. I had planned to write my GMAT by now but had to postpone it.........why?
Commitments at work, and the major thing am leaving the USA for some time a couple of years maybe.........This is the third time I moving from a country and trust me guys the hassles involved are plentiful. Esp when you are married...........we are trying to figure out what is done and what is still left.......Its a long list........Taxes, insurance, social security accounts, banks, credit cards, loans, apartment lease, vehicle insurance and registration, signing of from your health club...Or they keep ripping your card, medical records and then the hassle of packing, transporting, fights (with dear wifey) on what to take and what to dump, where to dump stuff (need a permit from the town clerk to do that to........How I wish I was still in India) and bla bla bla ......... This list is just endless.

We are moving to Vancouver, so its east coast to west coast again. Have lived there in the past and just love that city......It is such an amazing place to be in. Find the people there to be the friendliest of all places that I have lived in (7 cities in 4 countries). Vancouver also has a sizeable immigrant population and Indian are big in that number. Vancouver also has a Desi Cinema Hall, makes me smile at times and u get 5 SAMOSAS for a loonie. mmmmmm i am hungry LOL :-)


On my GMAT front nothin much has been happening, as I told you before had to move the exam forward coz had been traveling at commitments at my present job grew a lot more suddenly because I had to move and hand over everything out. Verbal is what I am doing these days but it difficult to concentrate at times because you have 100 other things which need to be done. How I wish I had got another one month in Boston as it would have given me ample time to finish my GMAT and could have visited some of the schools on my way west. ( I will be within 25 miles of 3 of the schools on my list)

But life is not always easy and as planned........it always throws in surprises..........but this one has turned my world a lil upside down. I am coming to grips with it and it should all work out well.

Take care guys
Paa"ji"