GPS, Buffalo, Toronto and Montreal...

On my trip to TO this weekend, I brought my trustworthy Garmin GPS along. After got the cheap economic rental car from Buffalo airport around 6:30PM, I dutifully sticked the GPS to the car window and keyed in the destination in Toronto. It all seemed well. Arrival time was 7:11. Not too bad. Buffalo to TO is quite close anyway. So, I started driving. I thought I'd hit QEW in no time.

After on the road for quite while, the road was getting smaller and smaller and it was getting wilder and wilder outside. Anyhow, I thought, my GPS has never failed on me yet.

Then I started to remember the first drive I had with Jessica from TO to Niagara Falls 8 years ago. I remembered it so clearly: it was sometime around January 2001. Well, everyone knows January in Toronto: you get really really bored since there is nothing you can do outside. Anyhow, since I just got my driver's license a month ago, we figured it would be a nice practice run to rent a car and drive to Niagara Falls. So out we went. We rented a very small Nissan. I can assure you it was very small one, since I still remember driving the car was like flying in the windy January weather.

Anyway, I started to missed Jessica so much and I dug out my cell phone to tell her that how much I was missing her.

So we exchanged our love jokes. I randomly asked what time it was. She said 7:56. I said that was impossible, since my trustworthy GPS said I'd arrive TO by 7:11. I double-checked the GPS and the screen still says arrival time is 7:11. I realized something was not right. Either I fell into a worm hole or the GPS was wrong. Since the worm hole thingy hasn't been reliable available yet, I suspect the GPS was pulling a joke on me.

After fiddled the GPS for over 5 minutes, I found out what was wrong (yes, that's MIT efficiency;)): in the navigation setting, I checked to avoid "Toll Road", which is alright for local roads. However, from Buffalo to Toronto, the only route without needing to pay for toll was to take a huge trip to Montreal/Ottawa. So, instead of 1:30 hr normal drive, the GPS was asking me to take a 12 hr drive. So basically, the 7:11 meant 7:11AM tomorrow morning, not 7:11PM today.

Gosh, what a surprise. can the device get a little smarter? I really don't mind to pay a little toll to save 10 hours.

Oh, whatever, time well wasted...

The route Garmin suggested:

PDD Presentation and Trade Show

ok, spring is officially almost over. Oh, boy, time sure flies fast. Let me check what kind of damage I have done here at MIT: well, I passed all the classes (which I think is a good sign). I am also donating time to Cognika (which is actually quite interesting). Be the boss of my own is another thing I am working on (which my wife complains that I put too much time in this). Life sure is .... challenging and .... sure is fun.

PDD presentation is pretty fun. So many idea pops up. There are some really ones with right niche. Of course, how big the niche is is another problem.

Teams so far:
Bicycle tow rack designed for a motorcycle
GearBuddy: a bicycle gear cleaner
T2GO: a tea drink lover thingy
WiMOST: a wireless ads platform?
Workhorse: a DIY garage work platform.
Zimbler: Shopping Bag holder
EMA: Elevator Maintenance Assistant

Sales, Storytelling and more

There was a very good public speaker, Craig Valentine, on the Sloan Sales Conference this afternoon. As his topic says, "Masterful Story-Telling for Better Selling", he is truly a master of storytelling. The topic, story-telling instead of just facts, has appeared in so many text, but it is still amazing to see how powerful it is when a master performs it. Oh, I love the tips on eye contact: scan and stop.

I also liked this shorten: SOFTEN
Smile
Open
Forward
Territory
Eye contact
Node

Of course, he also shared his experience when he first started public speaking.

To a broader extent, story-telling is a powerful delivery method of visioning. The way I tend to do visioning is to paint the future picture. With a story, the msg can be delivered to the audience much more vividly.

Of course, the preparation would be the key. Characters -> Conflict -> Climax -> Conclusion -> Carry out -> Your msg.

MIT Sloan Sales Conf today

Sloan sales conference today. I missed the morning part, because of my negotiation class. However, the negotiation class was well worth it. Today is a 6-party negotiation. Extremely interesting negotiation. We got some very strong character on the negotiation table: Eric Loth, Sierra Calder Towers, Andriy Ignatov, Samia A Mahjub, Yifan Zhang and ???. Sierra was in the bad position to represent the ports side. If you met her, you'd know her that she is a very strong talker. So, she tried to block the deal in any way she can (good job, Sierra;)). However, I guess she gave her intention too early and the other parties knew that the ports side had to be excluded from this deal. Anyhow, very good negotiation case and we reached deal in the end. It was quite easy for me, since I have clear instruction about what's acceptable and, more importantly, the money and the veto power;).

Back to the Sales conf. I went there for the afternoon session with jab. I was a little disappointed since I more or less wanted to see more VC there. Anyhow, not too many there. Nevertheless, the entrepreneurship: how to close your first deal was good. I also liked the storytelling session. I will share a little more tonight.

Meetup with MyVox

There was a great gathering this evening at the Cambridge Brewing Co., sponsored by MyVox.com. As usual, Shashi was there. We got Kristian and me and Shashi on Cognika side. Nick, Richard and Don on MyVox side. Last but not least, great gal Theresa Rodrigues from BostonNightLife.tv. It was certainly a pleasure talking with Theresa. Really smart and extremely good-looking;). I strongly suggest you check out her website: BostonNightLife.tv. Great local content site to check out if going out in Boston.

In other news, I personally think MyVox might be able to do some business with their model, but I honestly think they need to give up more control to survive in the API model.

Talked quite a bit the local VC funding community with Richard, Shashi and Theresa. Very interesting information. Theresa suggested this entrepreneur pitching website: http://vator.tv/. Pretty nice site.

Soooooory,

oops, I realized that I haven't update my blog for almost a month now. Has been so busy recently. Let me check: I am working on 7 courses, work with Cognika, Life science consulting and trying to start business with our partner here. Oh, and the GM case competition. Oh, whatever.

WebInnovator 17

There were some nice innovator and entrepreneurs gathering yesterday (April 2, 2007). As usual, I met Shashi there;). Some interesting company: stylepath.com, more or less pattern recognition. MobiRazzi, a mobile picture sharing community thing.