Mets game

This year both major baseball teams from NY (Mets and Yankees) are playing in new stadiums. The Mets teared down the classic Shea Stadium (where the Beatles played their mythic concert in August 1965) and are now playing at the new stadium called, Citi Field. The Yankees also changed from the old Yankee stadium to a newer, same name, Yankee stadium.

Last Friday I was fortunate enough to go with some people from work to watch the Mets play against the Cincinatti Reds. I learned a little bit of baseball rules and had a great view from the box where we were sitting.

Independence Day

The 4th of July celebrates the independence of the United States from the Kingdom of Great Britain. It was on the 4th of July of 1776 that the Declaration of Independence was adopted.
It is a national holiday and Americans usually celebrate it barbecues, firework, picnics and many other outdoors activities.
My friends and I decided to do a picnic in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. At night we went to Gal's rooftop and watched the fireworks with a privileged view.
It was a great day for good photography and I hope you enjoy the pictures
.

RIP Michael Jackson

It was with some sadness and shock that I heard today about Michael Jackson's death. I was really expecting his comeback tour and hoping for him to have better days, and finally put his musical career back in a good tone. Sadly that won't happen!

The Apollo Theater, in the Harlem, was the place where many of his fans and admirers stopped to pay tribute on his final day. I was there too, and it was a beautiful celebration.

Update

Hey folks, sorry for the lack of posts.
I started my internship at PepsiCo, and now I have been pretty busy working. In addition, topics about work are not as fun to post :)
I will try to keep you guys updated with stuff that happens during the next week...

Cheers,
Rui

Jane and Avantha in Portugal

Hey everyone!
Sorry for the last of posts, but since the end of April I was in exams, and now I have been in Portugal enjoying some days of holidays.
Jane Yoo and Avantha visited me here in Portugal for a week. I think they really enjoyed their time here. In a week we visited Porto, Peso da Regua, Leiria, Obidos, Nazare, Lisboa, Sintra and Fatima.
Here are some pictures from the week of travelling in Portugal.

Foz do Arelho beach

Castle in Obidos

Monastry in Batalha

Avantha at Pena Palace

Jane at Seteais

Stepping stones at Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra

Quinta da Regaleira being dominated by Avantha


Palace at Quinta da Regaleira

Nazare beach

Ben & Jerry's

I hope all of you like Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

The first time I heard about his ice cream brand was not in a super market or in a restaurant, but actually in a Financial Restructuring class that I took during my undergraduate degree at Universidade Nova in Lisbon. The case analyzed the acquisition of Ben & Jerry's by Unilever.


Around that time, Jeronimo Martins/Unilever started selling Ben & Jerry's ice-cream in Portugal, and I had the chance of trying them. The concept of the ice-cream is really interesting and fun: Ben & Jerry's has a strong social mission and sells "fun" ice creams with creative flavor combinations. Among best sellers are Cherry Garcia, Chocolate Therapy, Mission to Marzipan, Chunky Monkey and Yes Pecan (a reference to Obama's "Yes we can" slogan). There is even a "Flavor Graveyard" for ice-cream flavors that have been discontinued (Economic Crunch and Peanut Butter & Jelly rest in peace there).

This week, Jerry Greenfield (the Jerry from Ben & Jerry's) came to Columbia Business School to talk about the history of Ben & Jerry's, its social mission and the acquisition by Unilever (he seemed sad about the sale of the company to Unilever)

Jerry Greenfield at Columbia Business School

Easter in Canada

Like last Christmas, this Easter I decided to go to Canada and spend the weekend there with my family. This time my parents, grandparents and brother and sister-in-law, also joined us.
It was nice to see my father and grandparents again after 8 months! Yeah....a long time.

My grandfather celebrated his 80th birthday there! What a milestone...

Besides eating a lot, I also went on a plane ride over Toronto with my cousin, who is a pilot.


All the family around the table. It's where we spent most of the weekend.

Enjoying the sunset with Tio Rui, in Tia Mila's backyard.

The birthday boy celebrating his 80th birthday. The marks and bruises on his face are from a fight with a bear.

Grandma with the two oldest grandsons

Aerial view of Toronto

My cousin Nuno flying the plane over Toronto

Joao and Diana in the backseat of the plane



Movie of us going to the plane, with a very appropriate Top Gun's song in the background.



Landing in Burlington airport, after flying over Toronto

More interesting people

Some months ago I wrote a posting about some people in my MBA class that have non-traditional backgrounds, or that have done something very interesting and not usual in their careers.

Today I will post about two more people.

The first one is John Wolff.
John is part of the accelerated MBA program, and just started it last January. He was in the cluster that I was Peer Advising (organizing their orientation week).
John was a baseball player for the New York Mets.



The second person is Garen Thomas.
Garen has worked as an editor for children's books for many years, and is part of the MBA class that started in September (the same time I started).
Garen is the author of two books: Santa's Kwanzaa, and more recently a biography of Barack Obama entitled "Yes We Can".