Boston is 2nd most expensive place to rent

Most Expensive Rental Markets In America 2005 - Forbes.com: "a"

Boston has made the top ten list... #2, actually, behind NYC...
Apparently 35% of people rent, and avg. "Class A" cost is around $24/sf. wow!

A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping

New Scientist Breaking News - Arguments dramatically slow wound healing

Apparently, if you argue, your wounds will heal slower. So pray for a good marriage...it'll be better for your immune system!

Christian facebook/friendsters

I've come upon two Christian networking sites, essentially working to bring together a Christian social network. This is something I've been thinking about during the last week. I'd like to see it take off. They are:
www.5loaves.net
www.christianster.com

Just for kicks, a sudoku solver

Well, this puzzle has really fascinated me. I love how quickly people have taken to it. Swept the entire globe since about last May. So I made a solver.
It's not entirely complete in all possible complexity (there is some need for set logic for the very few complex puzzles), but this can generally solve most sudokus.
For some examples, visit here: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,18209,00.html
Sudoku Jigsaw - click here: http://www.sudoku.org.uk/jigsaw.asp

For a more-complete logical solver, here: http://www.sudokusolver.co.uk/index.html

For the code:
grid.cpp
grid.h
main.cpp

Coming home soon!

Dear Friends -

Seems like the semester has flown by, and yet the last couple weeks have been so slow. I have been applying for jobs and would ask you to forward on my resume to anyone you know in a Software / IT / Finance type of job. I'm sure that's one of the best ways I can find a great place to work.

My internship will be finished next Thursday. I have enjoyed the time and recently established more of a rapport with my boss than before (it still seems a bit cold & professional), and I've got mixed feelings on the consulting industry. Probably not somewhere I would want to start unless I can really use my technical degree. Finance, IT both sound interesting. And then there's computer vision... which would probably require some grad school.

I will be arriving back in Boston on the 15th around 5pm, and spending a night there before heading home (8 time zones from here) for a month off! I can't wait to see my family, as I've missed them since MAY. While in Boston, I hope to round up some friends for a party, including you, as long as you don't have a final the next morning (even if you do, if you study in advance).
I'm praying about doing a summer project before going to work. Pray that I'll have some clarity on that. Mostly, I could use your prayers for my job search, that I'll choose the right location, employer, etc.

I will go to a rugby game (London Wasps) on Sunday. I will present my research to my team, then go out for a British Christmas dinner on Monday. I will be seeing A Christmas Carol this coming Tuesday. It's nice to hear Christmas music again. Finally, on Saturday morning, I head to Germany for a few days... Can't wait to visit Imke and see a quaint German village... Then I'm back for a class, a final, and a trip back home!

Hope you've all had a great fall/winter. I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone.

God bless
-Brian <><

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Brian Patton
http://people.bu.edu/bjp/
http://people.bu.edu/reallife/ourstories.html

Looks like Google is going to the moon

Our new goal is to "organize all the useful information in the universe and serve it to you on a lightly salted cracker."
http://www.google.com/jobs/lunar_job.html

CSS to print webpage different from rendering

<link rel="stylesheet" 
media="print" 
type="text/css" 
href="http://img.thisismoney.co.uk/style/print.css" />

Using that line for a special print-only .css file, you can control how the page will print. Then, users don't have to click a "Print this page" link. Check it out...

Look at
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=404961&in_page_id=2
and then click file->print preview

ROI and the death of business

I found this article insightful, given that all they teach us in B-school is about management by numbers (you can't really teach intution & genius, anyway): Google's cached copy

And then there were none

^^ That's the name of the Agatha Christie novel-turned-play that I went to see last Friday night. Pretty intense and scary, but really a fun show.

It's been a good few weeks since you last heard from me. I've made good progress on the presentation I'll soon be giving to some investment management consultants on the state of the European investment management market at KPMG. Meanwhile, I've started looking for jobs, which has got me stressed to the max! I can't decide where I'd like to live, which company would be the best fit, what the right trade-off of intrinsic vs. extrinsic benefits is, and it's got me altogether flummoxed, to use a fun word. Nonetheless, I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing some of the companies that are out there in the marketplace, developing what they can, marketing it in completely different sectors, and generally having a great past couple years. It's a great time to get hired right now (apparently), especially for qualified CS majors. They say technical degrees are in high demand and that there aren't enough qualified people. The problem is, the qualifications presented by some companies are so complex that I'd be surprised to meet any perfect individual. There are plenty of smart people looking for work, if you'll give them a month of training time!

In case you're wondering, I am a computer science major, by the way. Business minor, loved working on a computer vision project and would be very interested in an AI/computer vision job. The problem is, I would probably be equally interested in an IT/development job with an investments firm, and those are two very distinct fields I'm thinking about. Pray for me, please.

I will be trying to go to 2 church services tonight, so that I can hear John Stott speak (at the second one) at All Souls. It will be an intense 3 hours of church/travel/church, whew!

I visited the Tower of London and Kensington Palace last weekend. Both were fun places, the tower with its devices of torture, the palace with its dresses and fancy state rooms. The Lord Mayor's show was last weekend... basically, a fancy-dressed guy rides a BEAUTIFUL gold-gilded carriage, behind a 2-mile-long parade. The parade was a kick, all kinds of Britons old and young, variously dressed and including creatively decorated cars, driving couches (thank you Intel), decorated buses, and marching bands. That night there was a dramatic fireworks show. Pretty enjoyable weekend, last weekend.

The prior weekend, I went to two fireworks shows for Guy Fawkes day. It's the closest the Brits get to a 4th of July, and it takes place on the 5th of November. Remember, remember the 5th of November. A group of (persecuted) Catholic rebels planted some dynamite in the basement of Parliament and Guy Fawkes was to light it. Unfortunately for him they found him out, tortured him (the rack) and then he was drawn and quartered, sent to the corners of the UK (like William Wallace). So they celebrate the day they caught him, but they name the day after the terrorist himself... interesting people, these. Did I mention they burn his effigy in huge bonfires all over the country every year?!

I'm working today and tonight on assembling a portfolio for my internship, so I must go. Hope you all are having a great November and enjoying the warmth and coldness of your respective locations. Oh, and congrats to my friend Olga from Central Asia, who just got engaged!
-Brian

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Brian Patton
http://people.bu.edu/bjp/
http://people.bu.edu/reallife/ourstories.html

The printer will become the new water-cooler

My hypothesis is that the printer may be becoming the new water cooler about which important conversations are had and networking is done.

A few notes

1) Sauerkraut might cure bird flu, in case you get it. Anyway, apparently cabbage is good for your immune system. Might have to do an overhaul of my eating habits :)
2) Went to a presentation on London/services marketing last night. Apparently London just passed NYC for international business transactions. The Rt Hon Lord Michael Heseltine of Thenford (Minister of Commerce & Industry under Margaret Thatcher) gave a presentation on what he sees as the future of marketing, which will increasingly strive to sell services and beat out India & China. He used four R's:

• Reach
• Responsiveness
• Relationships
• Renewal/Revision

Interesting descriptions accompany each, although I hesitate to include the renewal process in marketing, thinking it falls more into organizational culture/change/operations.

Thinking...

Been thinking a lot recently, praying about some stuff:
1) What am I supposed to do? Go back to a major investments firm? Go very technical with some place like Google or MS? Go to BAE and design defence IT systems? (note the British spelling)
2) Where am I supposed to be? Boston? Central Asia summer project? Home?
3) What is baptism in the Spirit in the book of Acts (yeah, I know kind of random relative to the others, but relevant nonetheless)?
Pray for me on those.

Pictures posted

Posted a handful of within-the-last-month pictures on http://bjppics.blogspot.com

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Brian Patton
http://people.bu.edu/bjp/
http://people.bu.edu/reallife/ourstories.html

Back in London and busy again

Greetings from London!
Well, as you might have guessed from my incommunicativeness over the past couple weeks (is that even a word, incommunicativeness?) I have been busy!

Since returning to London, I have (a) started an internship with KPMG, an international business services company specializing in audit, tax, and advisory. I fit in to the UK member firm's financial services advisory/performance management block. It's been a fun couple weeks of learning my way around, which is how it always goes with a new job. Nice people. Admittedly, I felt a little lonely after a week and a half among British speakers. However, I have admitted to myself that I'm American to stay, and I feel much better about my American-ness now :) In fact, I even met another guy who started at KPMG US and is now working for the UK firm.

I got to go out for curry with my immediate (Investment Management) team last night. It was fun. We had a meeting where everyone summarized what they've been up to and what clients they're on/hope to secure. I met a couple partners (who apparently rake in the dough, around £ 200,000 min per year in salary + bonus/profits) and a lot of people whom I haven't even seen in the office (they've been putting in 130% client time). We had a meeting Monday night called "Cascades" as in, information cascading down the chain to the little guys on the bottom, which includes me. Apparently the division I'm in grew by some huge proportion and the company as a whole has done really well this last year. They set the bonus pool to £ 59 million this year, a big jump from last year. Of course, that doesn't compare much with the Goldman Sachs bonuses of up to 200k. Their traders went out that night to a ritzy bar and asked for the most expensive cocktail available - TEN OF THEM. Well, at 385 pounds a piece ($700ea), those added up, and the Crystale and other drinks they got brought a two-man bill up to £ 13,000. Ridiculous. Yeah. These people are absurd. Send a bit of that my way (at least pay me for working! ;-)

Those people would be described as POSH. The origin of the posh term is this: when British women used to go to India, they would faint with their huge dresses and corset if they were on the side of the boat that faced the sun. So when they ordered tixx, rich women would order P.O.S.H. tickets, meaning Port Out Starboard Home, which would put them on the left (North) on the Eastbound journey, and the North on the way home. Both ways in the shade. There's your etymology for the day.

I am thoroughly enjoying my current class, which meets Fridays only. The professor makes the class what it is (great!). He's very relaxed, brings in food every week, and is very well-read when it comes to thinking about international management. It's funny how much I could loathe an Organizational Behavior class under Prof. Zenger-Baker but love a nearly-OB class on international management, organizational structure, change, leadership, etc. under Prof. Lang. I guess that's a sign that the teacher has a large impact on student perceptions of the subject. I gave a presentation today, on a case study about Acer, Inc. the Taiwan-based computer maker. We have fun discussions about how outrageous prices are here in the UK, and how the professor always orders off ebay US, buys in Germany (his car!), or asks his sister-in-law to send goodies over from the US. He recently got an iPod which he loves. Did I mention we share a birthday, which happened to be the first day of class?! Yeah, he brought me a bottle of champagne (from Champagne, France) the following Friday. I don't suspect he anticipated it, but I brought him the chicken and bacon sandwich he had requested, so we did a little gift exchange a week late.

My birthday, by the way, was a kick. We went to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a pub that dates back as early as the late 1500s. Our table was near an original copy of Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. It was a nice experience. I suppose Rome was a bit older, but this did the trick. I had a nice chunk of lamb and was given Phantom and Josh Groban in concert DVDs, as well as a Phantom mask just for kicks :)
I am, by the way, still a little in awe of Les Mis, in case you were wondering. Saw a crude play called On Tour. It was small & intimate (i.e. ~100 seats), but yeah just dirty.

My roommate got back from Croatia/Bosnia alright. All his limbs intact. Fortunately he had hired a translator/guide, 'cause he said he almost stepped on a mine, but the translator stopped him.

I'm going to a Man City v. Fulham football game tomorrow afternoon. Don't have any particular loyalties, but it should definitely be a good time.

I'm going through this course called Alpha, which is a course discussing the very fundamentals of Christianity in a pretty intellectual environment. It's kind of taking the world by storm, as in, around 10% of the UK population have been on Alpha, and it's definitely getting big in Boston/elsewhere in the US. I might have a hankering to lead a course next semester. We'll see how that pans out.

Hope this gives you some rough overview of what's going on with me. Send me food or chocolate or cards if you like :)
Love you all.
-Brian

Brian Patton
43 Harrington Gardens
London, England
SW7 4JU
UK

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Brian Patton
http://people.bu.edu/bjp/
http://people.bu.edu/reallife/ourstories.html

Colourful theatre and a trip around Europe

Wow! What a fast couple weeks it has been. Please note that the spellings in the title are proper British spellings :) Two weeks ago today, I saw Les Miserables. It was absolutely incredible! They'll be in Boston in Feb/March, so if you'd like to go you can definitely have my company! The music is great, the dancing and stage/set are incredible, altogether an amazing show.

I'm writing you from Barcelona at the tail end of my week off in Europe. Traveling about with my friend Carolina, I have visited Venice, Florence, Naples, Rome, and Barcelona is our final stop. It's been a whirlwind adventure of seeing Europe. Venice was beautiful, with canals lacing the city left and right. We took a traghetto across the Canal Grande, which served as a nice 30-second gondola experience. I really enjoyed the city. With good gelato, walkable distances, and streets with no room for cars, what more could you ask for?!

In Florence, Marco was the manager of our hostel, a very friendly and helpful person. We had a nice dinner there, a two course meal with salad for dessert (interesting thought, the salad after the meal :) We visited some nice gardens, saw a great panoramic view of the city, and enjoyed it quickly, after which we headed to Rome.

We found it quite a hard time getting into our hostel in Rome. Ended up spending the night in a nearby B&B for a little over 1.5 times the price :( Luckily we got into the hostel for the next night. From Rome, we took a train to Naples where we visited a small town that had an ancient Flavian Amphitheatre. Unfortunately, all the archeological sites in that town were closed on Tuesdays ... grrr. Anyway, at least it provided a wonderful panoramic view of the Terranian Sea/coastline. Naples had some great seafood, then we were rushing to make the train back before our 24-hour ticket expired, so we got to see some old buildings down the main drag of the city very quickly!

Rome, of course, was amazing. We visited the Colosseum first thing in the morning, and took a tour that was definitely worth it. It started to rain, but then let up for a while as we explored the Palatine hill area and the Roman Forum. The history there dates back as far as 430-something BC. AMAZING. It rained again as we made our way to the Vatican, where we arrived (most unfortunately) as the Sistine Chapel closed ... grr again. It closes very early at 4.15/4.30. Anyway, we got to see St. Peter's basilica, where they purport to have his ashes in a little box beneath the floor...you can look in and see a sign that says this is St. Peter, but I'm amazed if they really know it's him. The church is a little bit gaudy in that it has inscriptions on the floor saying how large several other large cathedrals/basilicas are, and making the clear point that this is the biggest.

We cruised around Barcelona a little bit in the rain yesterday, but that made it kind of a bummer afternoon. I'm praying for sunshine for today or Saturday morning so that I can hit the beach once before getting back to work. I'm looking forward to jumping into a pool starting Monday and starting to get in shape for the end of the season upon my return to BU. I'm looking forward to seeing the famous Gaudi cathedral, the zoo, and some other Barcelona attractions, but the sunshine is definitely what I want to experience, so that our "Sea Point Hostel" will be worth the walk (it's right on the beach, a ways from the city!)

Please pray for a job for my mom, a sunny day for Barcelona, strong friendships in London, and a good internship experience.

Let me know your mailing address if you desperately desire a postcard from Rome or London!

Stay strong and do keep writing...I enjoy reading your emails :)

-Brian
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Brian Patton
http://people.bu.edu/bjp/
http://people.bu.edu/reallife/ourstories.html

London, Scotland, etc.

Hi all :)

I've been enjoying myself here in the UK, getting to know London, the Tube, the TV stations, Scotland, the national rail system, and loving the 1.84 exchange rate (not really!). I'm taking a class in European capital markets, which has been very interesting. I finished applying for BU's nomination for the Rhodes and Marshall scholarships for two years of further study (in economics) here in the UK at Oxford, LSE, or St. Andrew's. I had a telephone interview with such figures as Sheldon Glashow (Nobel in Physics) and Jon Westling (former BU president) earlier today. Pray that I have made a great impression on the selection committee so that I can progress further in this.

In the past couple weeks, I've found a church I'd like to attend regularly and met a weekly small group not far from where I live. I went to see a play with them last Thursday night (Pericles, Prince of Tyre) at Shakespeare's recently-rebuilt Globe Theatre. Tonight I will watch Playing With Fire at a venue closer to the West End (London's theatre district). The show at the Globe, by the way, was really impressive. I was a groundling and got slowly soaked by a very light drizzle, but their use of the theatre was incredible. We went to The Anchor, a pub, afterwards and relaxed for a few minutes in the warm place that Shakespeare's men used to use as a changing room (a pub since the middle ages!).

This past weekend, my flatmates and I traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland. We stayed at a hostel there that wasn't incredible, but it was a bed. We climbed Arthur's Seat, a mini-mountain on the first evening and barely missed a huge rainstorm, approaching from all sides, then scattering into a beautiful, 180-degree rainbow (2 of them, actually). The next day we visited the Museum of Scotland, then caught a train out to Stirling, where William Wallace won an important battle in the 1300s (cue Braveheart music). We visited Stirling castle; not very impressive relative to Windsor and Buckingham, but a fun time nonetheless. That afternoon, we walked briefly around Stirling, visited the oldest townhouse in the area (quite melodramatic!), then caught a local bus to a couple cities away to visit Alva. Even Edinburghers don't know exactly where Alva is, but we found out that there was a local festival, the Alva Glen Illuminations, going on and we just had to see that :) Actually, we thought we might hike there; the Illuminations were an afterthought. We got in there too late to hike, but we did get to see the end of the Second Duck Race (kids racing rubber duckies down a creek), enjoy dinner at a local pub/B&B with a lovely Scottish lass as our waitress, then head back out the the Glen for the real Illuminations events. A band of local pipers (including a little 8-or-10-year old) played some great tunes, I bought some assorted homemade cakes in a baggie (these were yummy), and then we walked through the glen to see much of the vegetation lit by candles (historical) and halogen lights (not too historical). Got some fun pictures of a guy juggling fire; he breathed it too. Listened to a local band play some older and recent hits. We got a bus back to Stirling, where we walked around the town for a little while (I got some McDonald's for the first time since I've been here). Not much of a night life at all there; actually pretty dead at night :) We caught our train back to Edinburgh and got to sleep shortly thereafter. The next morning, Sunday, I took off on my own to see a bit more of the city; I bought a Claymore, the sword William Wallace used, and am enjoying swinging it around and seeing how shiny it is :) Don't worry, it didn't cost a ridiculous amount, although I did think it unusual that I would buy such a thing, wise a spender as I am.

I'm enjoying classes; working hard on occasion, doing reading and writeups. Most of the time, enjoying the city. Will probably end up working with an accounting firm or an investments firm. Hope all is going well back in the states. Let me know if you have any London friends I should meet.

-Brian

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Brian Patton
http://people.bu.edu/bjp/
http://people.bu.edu/reallife/ourstories.html

London

I am in London for the semester. Send me an email if you care to find out how it's hanging.
Call if you really want to hear my voice (probably better to pre-arrange this; I'm 5 hours ahead of the East coast): 011 44 207 590 7005

Mario Music

This is amusing:
http://homepage.mac.com/mrspleen/iMovieTheater6.html

Carlton St.

I'm all moved in now, Dave's a good roommate, we've visited our roof (accessible via fire escape), and I've bought food so I can eat this summer. I posted my mailing address in my last post, please send me a letter or something.
I've now worked for a week. Really fun people to work with. I'm learning stuff that BU computer science just doesn't teach, but which is really important to actually getting an information-systems position out of school. I work downtown in the financial district, which is a new experience. People are more dressed-up (myself included) and faster-paced than home, or even back at BU.
Watched Star Wars 3 last night with Derek. Great movie, tied up all the loose ends for me; Derek and I will be watching Star Wars 4 tonight, to see what other loose ends got tied up for us :) It's pleasant to be here, but feels a little more lonely and tiring than last summer, perhaps because more traveling is involved in getting to work. The weather has been bummer until today, also. That's probably a big part of the whole tired-out thing. Today is beautiful and sunny, was cloudless all morning. I got some fruits & veggies at Haymarket and all is well.
Hope your Saturday is beautiful as well.

Phantom! Mailing address

I'll be living with David Hill this summer, at the following address:
Brian Patton
45 Carlton St. #8
Brookline, MA 02446

I saw Phantom of the Opera last night with Ellie, Derek, and Rob (see pics). It was as incredible as I had ever imagined it could be! And then some. What a show; I love the music, and having scenes to put with that music now makes it even better than ever.

Some of my favorite lines, sung by Raoul as he proposes:
"Then say you'll cherish me: one love, one lifetime.
Let me lead you from your solitude.
Say you'll need me with you, here beside you.
Anywhere you go, let me go too.
Christine, that's all I ask of you.

...Love me, that's all I ask of you."