Sad, Sad Halloween

So I forgot to follow up on a previous post about my Halloween costume disaster.  So I really like Halloween and dressing up.  My favorite part is making a costume.  I'm not saying buying a costume is bad, but I enjoy making the costume as much as I enjoy wearing it out.  My senior year of undergrad I made a chicken wire/papermache  Mr. Potato head.  That costume had changeable face accessories.  It was awesome.

[caption id="attachment_270" align="alignnone" width="110" caption="Go on and say it, I could have reused the costume the next year and gone as poo "][/caption]

Anyway, I wanted to do something special this year and I had a good idea.  Voltron!  For those of you who don't know, Voltron was a terribly awesome 80's cartoon.  Basically, in every episode the evil King Zarkon tries to find a way to conquer the planet Arus...which requires him to somehow defeat Voltron.  So Zarkon sends a robobeast monster to Arus and shoots him with a laser that makes the robobeast incredibly big.  The components of Voltron fight the evil robobeast monster Zarkon has sent and they are always unable to beat it...so someone decides that they need to work together and form Voltron.  At that point, it is game over for the robobeast and Zarkon.  Voltron is unbeatable.  I'm pretty sure Voltron could beat up Chuck Norris...or at least give him a run for his money.

Still confused?  What exactly is Voltron?  Voltron is an awesome human shaped combination of 5 massive mechanical lions.  It doesn't have to make sense, its from Japan.  Here are some pictures of Voltron:



[caption id="attachment_272" align="alignnone" width="150" caption="The toys that I had.  This shows the 5 individual lions and how they form together to make Voltron"][/caption]

So anyway, I spent a good portion of my SIP week making a Voltron costume.  I started with white 1/4" foam board.  I cut out pieces and glued them together to make the arms, legs, head, and a chest plate.  I'm not going to lie...it looked amazing.  I took a good deal of time bracing all of the pieces I glued together.  The hands were the most difficult part.  Voltron's weapon of choice is a large sword, so I needed to be able to grip a sword with my lion-head hands.  For this to work I had to I create lion-head hand with a movable jaw.  I did not get it right on the first try, but eventually I got it and it looked great.

I know that parties are not the place you want a costume coming apart, so I had to make my costume as party-proof as possible.  All of the pieces were very sturdy.  You could pick up any piece and shake it hard...and nothing came apart.  The rubber cement was holding all of the foam board together well.  At this point, the only problem remaining was that everything was still all white.  Anywho, I bought some acrylic paint and tested it on a few small pieces (this part is key to my mistake).  So the next day I check the small painted pieces and everything looked GREAT!  After that, I went about painting all of the major pieces of the costume and set everything out to dry.  The next day I came out and inspected the pieces...I had major structural problems.  The paint warped all of the foam board and any pieces longer than six inches long bent enough to rip the rubber cement joints.  For some of the smaller pieces like the hands and head, this was not a very big problem.  These smaller pieces were a little warped and no longer fit together well (you could see inside at the corners) but they were holding together.  The shoulders, legs, and chest/back pieces were a different story.  There was at least an inch between some pieces that had previously been glued together.  This made a majority of the costume beyond repair.  At this point it was late in the week and Halloween was just a day away.  I spent a few hours trying to salvage what I could but in the end I had to admit defeat.  I learned in economics that you can't consider the sunk costs (all my hard work) when making your future decisions....there was just not enough time to complete everything...plus, I did I want to spend a significant amount of more money.  I think I spent about $120 total on foam board, a special straight edge razor and other cutting accessories, and of course, the wrong paint.

There was no way the large painted pieces would make it out of the house.  In the end, I gently balanced the pieces of the costume on my body and snapped a few pictures.  Literally, when the pictures were done, I stepped forward and all of the large pieces completely came apart.  No exaggeration, one step was all it took.  I was sad, but in the end I did have fun making the pieces...and I am proud of how well everything looked before I painted it.  I wish I had taken some pictures before I painted...but I did not expect such a disaster.  I did record all of the dimensions (designing on the fly took much longer than constructing the parts) so maybe sometime in the future, I'll take another shot at this costume.  Maybe this time, I'll do my homework on which paint to use. :-)

I'm making a sad face in all of my pictures.  Woe is me.  I could not attach some of the detailed pieces (chest plate, back-wings, leg and head accessories) because of how warped everything was.  I also had not yet purchased my face paint, shirt, or pants...so I'm not fully dressed up.

[caption id="attachment_275" align="alignnone" width="112" caption="The detailed attachments were painted but not yet glued to the legs or head, so the legs are white on the front and the head is lacking the signature ears"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_276" align="alignnone" width="112" caption="Here you can see the movable jaw on the hands so I could hold my sword.  you can also see how how the yellow leg is separated at the seam (near my knee)"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_277" align="alignnone" width="112" caption="Lisa and I making a sad cat face"][/caption]

In the end, I was sad so Lisa and I stayed in and passed out candy to the little kids in my apartment.  Oh well, maybe next year.

Letters of Recommendation

Lets talk about those letters of recommendation.  My opinion on letters of recommendation is that it is MUCH more important to get someone who knows you and worked with you than it is to get someone with a big title or some fancy degree.  If you read the type of questions they need to be able to answer (listed on the LFM application page) you will see that the recommender does not even need to be your boss...they just need to know you.  Now I do think it is a good idea if one of the recommenders is your current boss or a previous boss (I understand that someone people don't want their current employer to know that they are thinking of leaving for MBA school), but it is NOT a requirement.  Having addressed the supervisor issue, lets get back to that whole "personal knowledge" of you...thing.  You want your recommender to be able to answer questions about you with actual real life examples.  This means that they need to have worked with you on more than one occasion (sitting next to you in a meeting does not count as work).  It is not a bad idea to sit down with your recommender and talk to them about why you want to go to back to school and what you hope to get out of it.  This helps them understand where you are coming from and it gets the recommender to start thinking about your abilities (if they have not already).  I am not saying that you should tell the recommender what to write about or focus on.  I think that is overstepping the line.  They need to be free to give an honest assessment of you and your abilities.  I just think it helps them write about you if they have an idea about your career goals and the LFM program.   Plus, this should be a good opportunity for you to talk about applying to business school and your career with someone you respect and hopefully have a good relationship with.  This will help you with your application essays.

[caption id="attachment_267" align="alignnone" width="150" caption="Why do you want to go back to school?"][/caption]

You will notice that you need one recommender to be able to speak to your technical abilities if you apply through MIT Sloan and two recommenders if you apply through MIT's School of Engineering.  I know it says "academic source"...but this can be misleading...I say focus on the part that says "someone who can speak definitively of your technical skills."  Personally, I don't think professors make very good recommenders unless you did research with that professor or spent extensive time with him or her.  Again, this gets back to the recommenders ability to speak about you and your personal traits.  Some professor that taught you a few days a week...and that you visited in office hours a couple times in a semester...does not really know you.  Getting an A in a class is not a technical skill.  The admissions committee has your transcripts if they are interested in your grades.  (assuming you are currently in an engineering or R&D field) I think your supervisor or co-worker should easily be able to speak to your technical skills.  This might be one aspect of the questions that you want to explain to them beforehand.  Just let them know that technical skills include technical problem solving or really anything engineering related.

[caption id="attachment_265" align="alignnone" width="112" caption="You need someone who knows that you can navigate this chart to "No Problem""][/caption]

Also, I think it is a great idea for one of your recommendators to be from outside the work environment.  This goes along with what I said about your application essays.  I think it is important to show how well rounded you are.  Show the admissions committee that you have a life and passion outside of work.

And once again (as mentioned in the application essay blog) when selecting a recommender, think about their ability to speak to your leadership abilities and potential.  LEADERS for manufacturing.  Lets just say the leaders part is kind of a big deal.

Come on US Auto...I'm clapping

Eric Roseman has a descent article about the coming demise of the US auto industry...check it out...but I have faith in the old boys.  In some versions of Peter Pan, Tinkerbell drinks poison to save Peter from Captain Hook's trickeration.  Peter then explains that Tink is actually dying because not enough people believe in fairies...then he implores the audience that if they show their belief and clap, Tinkerbell will come back to life.  In the spirit of Tinkerbell, I'm just going to keep clapping and hope for the best for US auto.  At this point, it may be the best idea someone has had.

[caption id="attachment_256" align="alignnone" width="131" caption="They just need a little fairy dust...and of course, happy thoughts"][/caption]

Duh...

The other day in class my finance teacher said "demand and supply" and it was so awkward that it hurt my ears.  I don't make up the rules...but for some reason everyone says supply and demand.  Why in that order?  I have no idea!  At this point, saying it the other way just seems absurd.  As I think about which word should come first...its really just the whole "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" thing.  Without demand, there is no reason for supply..and without a supply...well, you end up with the "wishing in one hand and pooping in the other...see which hand fills up first" situation.

This thought lead me to think of other A and B word combinations...where B and A combinations seem crazy.  Now some of these make sense and some don't....but either way, I've listed some of my favorite combinations backwards.  Feel free to comment with other fun combination.  Please remember, we're running a "work safe" blog...so no vulgarity.

ice cream and cake (this is ice cream and cake...not ice cream cake)

female and male

Eve and Adam

cheese and mac

match and mix

pepper and salt

out and in

shine or rain

swim or sink

gentlemen and ladies

LFM application essays

I am way behind on when I said I would write a blog about LFM application essays.  Oh well, maybe they will be up for next year's students.



So what advice do I have?  First, let me throw out some generalities like...be yourself...use gude grammah and propah spellin...followed by non-relevant pictures that hopefully motivate you









On to the serious stuff.  Let me start by saying that these are just my opinions so don't take anything I say as the final or best way to approach the essays.  This is just some things that came to mind when I remembered my essays.

How I started:  When the essay prompts were posted I wrote each one down and started brainstorming.  I had a thirty minute ride to work so I just thought as I drove and wrote down any ideas I had.  I would say think about one prompt at a time and maybe write the first sentence or two and some of the main points for your favorite 3 examples that you brainstorm.  This will help you get a feel for what your particular example will bring to a prompt.



Once you have some of these examples down on paper, start looking at all of the prompts together and decide which example works best for which essay.  I am assuming that you want to use your best example and that your best examples could apply to multiple essay prompts.  This is similar to what you do on interviews.  You have a couple of key stories and find a way to apply your story to the question you are asked.  Anyway, I am on the lower end of the experience pool within the class (I only worked 3 years) but I also had some volunteer/leadership work during that time.  Some of my essays came from work and some came from my volunteering/leadership.  I think it is a good idea to have some non-work examples.  To me, undergrad/school does not count for this...think extracurricular activities when you were in undergrad...and if you do anything outside of work after you graduated, think about that.  These non-work examples show how well rounded you are.  You are well rounded aren't you?  If you find yourself less than round, eat more.  See the perfect circle:

[caption id="attachment_225" align="alignnone" width="150" caption="Fat Bastard"][/caption]

So now you have thought of some of your best examples that answer the prompts...but before your write, there are some other things to think about.  When you think about what life examples you use for you essays, you need to think about what does LFM stand for (psst...it stands for Leaders for Manufacturing).  You would be on the right track if some of your stories talked about your leadership skills and the challenges you have overcome as a leader.  I can't stress enough how important the leadership component is.  Honestly, it's in the program name.  They (LFM) have a whole page dedicated to it on their website.  Let me say this about the sponsor companies...the partner companies stay involved with the LFM program because of the quality of leaders this program produces.  They don't put up their cash for our degrees...or because we are smart and hard working (though those are added bonuses)...they put up their cash because of our leadership potential.  Leadership is an investment that will pay off for years and years.



The next part, manufacturing.  Now yours truly is interested in manufacturing...but MANY of the people in LFM are really interested in operations (think supply chain...though it is not fair to generalize, I'll do it anyway).  Checkout the LFM career page for a taste of what I am talking about.  It is important to remember that everyone applying for LFM is interested in manufacturing/operations (m&o) so you have to explain what about m&o really gets you excited.  That is something you will find here at LFM.  Everyone in the program is honestly excited about m&o.  I take pride in being associated with manufacturing.  Before LFM, I made toilet paper and I am proud of that.  I like telling people that I made toilet paper.  I am proud of the fact that I made something of value, something that someone wants bad enough to spend their hard earned dollars on (or as my high-school government teacher said...buying something is casting your economic votes for that thing).  Back to you and your essays...what motivates you to want to be associated with m&o?  Do you want to get involved because you have an interest in companies operating "greener" (hippy! Go hug a tree)?  Do you want to ensure that Americans (or some other country) have jobs in 20 years?  Love working with complicated systems?  What motivates you about m&o?  That passion is not something the admissions people will see in your resume, academic record, or GMAT.  Passion needs exude out of your essay.



Once you get a first draft down on paper, read your essay and try to think about it from the admission group's point of view. Does your essay stand out?  Does it pop?  Remember, these people are going through thousands of essays.  You want them to remember yours.  Each essay needs to have a purpose, it has to be telling a story about you and what makes you special.  Each essay needs to show what you will bring to LFM.  Let me say that again...each essay must show what YOU bring to LFM...not what LFM can do for you.  If one essay shows your problem solving skills, your next essay needs to show your leadership skills, and your next one should show what you are passionate about.  Don't double dip on any subject.  Between all of the essays, you only have a couple hundred words to define yourself.



The editing process:  When you are ready to submit, I would recommend you have someone you trust read your essays for grammatical errors and overall cohesion.  My wife came in very handy here.  She gooder at grammer than me be.



Word count:  I am always reading on business school message boards..."Does it matter if I go over the word count by X?"...my opinion, YES!  If the point was to write the longest essay, people would just go on and on and on about all of their magical accomplishments.  It takes a skilled writer to say more with less (hence my obnoxiously wordy blogs :-) ).  All of my essays were at least 30 words (or much more!) less than the limit.  I think you need to go through your essay and really ask yourself...is this word...is this sentence necessary.  Am I saying anything new?  Don't forget "Shift-F7" which pulls up the thesaurus on Microsoft Word.

[caption id="attachment_231" align="alignnone" width="97" caption="Think abridged"][/caption]

Other information:  The admissions group really does want to get to know you...they really do read these essays.  Don't rely on your credentials...everyone has amazing credentials.  It won't be like a business interview where you come in and the interviewer reads your resume in 30 seconds and ask you a question about your interests to break the ice.  If you interview at LFM, the admissions person will know your stories from memory and will ask you questions about what you wrote.  I remember the first week of class, the teachers would see a name tag and say "Oh X, you worked at Y doing Z right?".  Funny thing I heard at an LFM student recruitment committee shortly before the class of 08 graduated.  Someone on the LFM staff said that "product ships on X" meaning the LFM class of 2008 graduates and goes out into the world.  LFM is in the business of producing leaders (particularly those interested in m&o) and they are very interested in the quality of the raw materials coming in (you!).