What I want to accomplish in ’08

Doug has written a recent post with his goals (BHAG) for 2008. After reading these for a few weeks, I am compelled to do the same, though maybe not as extensive as his. I feel like 10 things in 1 year (or 9 months) is a good start. So, in no particular order:

  1. Study for/take the GMAT. TBD if I want to go to B-school and when, but this is the first step.
  2. Seriously consider buying an apartment when I get back from Germany
  3. Push myself beyond my comfort zone as I move to a new brand/position with Unilever upon my return from Germany. It is very easy to relate to the Axe target.
  4. Enjoy the summer. Get to the beach, my parent’s pool, concert, and more.
  5. Learn a bit about coding. The basics/difference of/between PHP, ASP, CodeIgniter, AJAX, RubyOnRails, Java Script
  6. Live healthier. Get back in shape, exercise more, east better.
  7. Though slightly contrary to the point above, party/do more. I am young, living in Hamburg/NYC, there is no reason to be so boring (besides money). This doesn’t have to be drinking, it can be cultural events, museums, opera/ballet, live music (besides headline acts), reading, seeing independent movies
  8. Go somewhere cool. A film festival, a web conference, ski somewhere out of the ordinary, travel to South America, get to TED or All Thing Digital (given my financial situation I expect that I can only do one of the above)
  9. Expand my network – make use of technology and face to face opportunities to network with people. Utilize LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, my blog, Pounce, Flickr, and more.
  10. …. – I am going to leave this one open-ended, if I don’t I feel like I am trapped in and can’t pick something else along the way.

Do you think I’m missing anything? Any that you would change or remove? I’m all ears.

What am I doing?

Here is what I have been doing recently (among many other things), but these are worth/I’m able to blog about.

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Hello from Germany

Hello form Germany! I have arrived safely. My flight went off without a hitch. I actually met a rather interesting person on my flight — we had a whole bunch of things in common, including the same last name.

**Random thought** I am not sure why the flights leave so late in the evening. By departing at 6pm on the east coast you don’t end up finishing dinner until 1am Europe time. If flights departed an hour or two earlier you would begin to adjust to the time zone even quicker. But I digress…

After collecting my bags I was promptly picked-up and driven to my “flat”. The driver asked if I would like to listen to some music, me never turning down music said “sure.” What do I find myself listening to? The Red Hot Chilli Peppers – now that is globalization for you.

Check out the video and pictures below to check out my flat. More to come soon, though these updates may all get posted at the same time since I don’t have internet yet.

Check out pictures of my flat here. 

And off to Hamburg I go…

As of today I am completing about 5 weeks of traveling. I was in Hamburg, Germany for Axe ; Cabo, Mexico for vacation; Las Vegas for CES; and now back to Hamburg. Boy will I be happy to stop flying in and out every week (a little bit of sleep will be a very good thing), but this time it is different.

I am leaving today for Hamburg for 6 months. Why Hamburg? I have opted to take a secondment with Unilever, to work on the Axe Shower Gel global brand development team. I plan to write, at least on a weekly basis, about my experience, travels, work, and more. To kick things off check out some photos from the SIDE hotel in Hamburg from trip #1.

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