End of year review

IMG_0054, originally uploaded by eesley.

The photo is one of the quirky spots at MIT where this creature is on the floor in one of the hallways. No explanation....

I've been updating some of the people I consider mentors on my progress and thought I might as well post it hear as it's one take on the year 2007 in review for me - at least from a career point of view.

My long term goal is still to be an entrepreneur and I'm now in the middle of the 3rd year of the PhD at MIT Sloan. Last January I started working part-time with Lux Capital, a nanotech focused VC firm.

In June I went to China for a month as part of my dissertation research on technology entrepreneurship in China.

At the end of the summer an opportunity arose to work part-time with Flagship Ventures concentrating in the medical devices and life science area so I've been working with them on due diligence on medical device deals since then. I've really been enjoying it. I am hoping to move to the West Coast at some point if I can.

I'll keep this short for now.

All the best for the New Year!

Chuck

Christmastime fun

IMG_0014, originally uploaded by eesley.

Look carefully, in the photo we managed to catch this soap bubble that somehow formed on the top of my glass mug (how does that happen?)!

I went back to Marietta, OH for Christmas last week and in the process managed to finish the book Making PCR which is a fascinating account of the invention and commercialization of Polymerase Chain Reaction technology. I also got half way through Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut ... hoping to finish that one over the next couple days. I also ate lots of good food, caught up with a few friends at the Marietta Brewing Co., saw my parents, and had lunch with Terri Morris who used to work for Gerald Chan who I met in Shanghai back in June.

I'm headed out to the Silicon Valley area New Year's day. Hopefully the snow we're supposed to get in Boston over the next couple of days won't pose a problem. Not too much other news except that I got a new office with a window at work, woo-hoo!

Happy New Year everyone!

Thoreau

I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

– Henry David Thoreau

Game on! Hackers play with MIT - MIT News Office

Game on! Hackers play with MIT - MIT News Office

Connor Desai - SEATTLE, Washington - Jazz / Indie / Folk

MySpace.com - Connor Desai - SEATTLE, Washington - Jazz / Indie / Folk - www.myspace.com/connordesai

I recently reconnected (via Facebook) with a good friend from my freshman year at Duke, Connor Briggs (now Desai). I had always known her as having an amazing voice and great guitar skills from the impromptu performances she would put on in dorm rooms and at open mic nights in Durham. Now she has recorded an album!

I jumped at the chance to buy it from the iTunes Music Store and have been listening to it almost non-stop (alternating with the amazing Diana Krall Christmas Album). Check it out!

http://www.cdbaby.com/connordesai or iTunes. Those with Rhapsody accounts, you can now find her on their roster.

She won a 2007 Top CD award from Indie-Music.com and they describe the album below:

This smoky-voiced jazz/pop siren stayed in my CD player for months. My toes melted into the floor each time I heard that croon drift out of my speakers. She gets edgy and raw sometimes, not adverse to dropping an F bomb here and there, but she can also slide into Radio-Friendly Land without compromising that spirited attitude. A must for anyone with a soul. (Reviewed by Jennifer Layton)

Birthday

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes!

It was great to hear from you all! Hope to see everyone in person and catch up sometime soon.

Thanksgiving weekend thoughts

DSC03212, originally uploaded by eesley.