Charity Auction Dinner

An annual tradition of the first year class of HBS students is that each section of 90 students hosts a lavish Charity Auction, to raise money for causes close to the hearts of our classmates. After a series of presentations from our section-mates, we decided upon a few charities to support, including: ALS (a student in our class was diagnosed with it in the first week of school and though completely fit and able on the first day of class...has suffered a shocking degeneration in the past year, and is wheelchair-bound now and can barely talk), a fund for promoting education on Native reserves that a section-mate worked on before HBS, and the degenerative disease unit at the Harvard teaching Hospitals.

Students donate to the auction, and many had a number of interesting things to offer. One of my classmates is the daughter of Michael Bloomberg (Mayor of New York) so she donated court-side seats to see the Knicks, many students donated time at their parents vacation homes in exotic locations, as well as more modest items like a dinner for six, a series of rides on-demand to the airport, bottles of wine etc.

Interestingly, our favourite professors also donate to the auction. Our negotiations prof. was the Chief Operatin Officer of the New England Patriots, so he offerred the chance to attend a game with him, with the implicit offer of meeting the players, the owners and other important folks around the organization.

Many profs offer dinners and wine tastings at their homes. One professor who offerred this was our Finance 2 professor Stuart Gilson...unanimously regarded as the best professor we've ever had. He's a Canadian guy from Winnipeg, so he picked on me regularly in class, ostensibly (I found out later) to ensure that the Canadian kid was getting the most out of his "Haaahhvaaad" education. I sort of appreciated it at the time, but my appreciation is growing with time.

Anyway, I made sure I won his wine-tasting/dinner offer. It was by far the highest priced item of the night, but with my coalition of 5 other bidders, we managed to come up with enough cash. Luckily (and as predicted) it was totally worth it. Stuart is one of the funniest people at HBS, as is his wife Susan (from Nova Scotia), and after a tremendous night we decided we need to make a tradition out of the dinner...perhaps once a year. I'm all for it.

Interesting details: He's got a cellar of thousands of bottles, and a commercial-quality kitchen. Our tasting was entirely of Bordeaux wines (with the exception of 2 bottles of champange as walked in--just to get things started), reds and whites.

We had a 5 course gourmet meal with 2 wines to taste with each. Stuart kept the bottles wrapped in brown paper during the tasting, then solicited our opinions on each, before revealing that one was often a $40 bottle, while the other was a 1975 classic vintage (of undisclosed cost) and contrasted what he feels to be the pro's and con's of each. Educational as well as shocking.

Happily for me, the differences between the egregiously expensive bottles and the more moderately priced ones was present, but sufficiently subtle for me to continue "sufferring" through the lower end of the range going forward. (Unless someone else--Like BCG--is paying, of course.)

Professor Gilson (arms extended) with his wife and adoring students

Susan Gilson and Andrew enjoying an inter-course moment

Glenn and fellow bidder Stacie Rabinowitz (President of the Harvard Food & Cuisine Society)

Stuart clearing the Lobster tail course

My mental Happy Place: A 1975 Bordeaux white, with a caramalized pear in custard.

Our hosts enjoy a well-deserved moment of relaxation, before we pack off and leave them in peace.

US Thanksgiving

One of the great things about HBS is the amount of time you get off in order to celebrate holidays...even if they don't correspond to your holidays at home (there are usually holidays that correspond to those too!)

A great example is Canadian Thanksgiving...which is Columbus day in the US. So I obviously used that chance to come home, but the US thanksgiving (around November 25 or so) is a HUGE holiday here, which allowed me to perform a 5 day assault on Toronto & Waterloo before returning to Boston for more relaxation...though slightly more academic (and costly) in nature.

Had a great dinner with the family in Kitchener. Also managed to host a fun dinner party at my host's place (Tim...who was in the UK at the time--who with his room mate Mark [also my former room mate] provide me with a spare key) and had a bunch of old friends over. A few pictures follow.

The dinner table (1) The Dinner Table (2)
A frighteningly adorable (yet all-too-common) shot of Nida & Raif's daughter Madison

Alex dutifully tidies up after the festivities...as always (Bless him).

Fraser & Karen Visit

On the weekend of November 10, my brother and sister-in-law Fraser and Karen stuck my (willing) parents with my niece and nephew (Callum and Wren) and paid me a long-weekend visit here in Boston.

We did the typical Boston-Cambridge sight-seeing stuff, much like I did with Mom and Dad when they were here, plus a small dinner with my buddy Sam and room mate John, and a Harvard Square pub crawl. (Including a 'scorpion bowl' at the Hong Kong with my friend Ben Stingle...which is a classic Harvard experience, so I'm pleased they were up for it).

Following are a few photos.

A classic Beacon Hill shot

Dinner at Giacomo's...a famous North End (Little Italy) eatery

Karen at Boston Harbour

Fraser and Karen over dinner with my Rugby Team-mate Sam Gray (England)

Playoff Perseverance

HBS Rugby Club produces a strong showing in first Final Four appearance

By Glenn Parkinson (OH), Contributing writer in Sports

CANTON, MA – The HBS Rugby Club turned in a strong performance against the Boston Irish Wolfhounds Rugby Club Saturday, November 4th but came up short, losing by a score of 37-14 in the New England Rugby Football Union’s “Final Four” tournament.

Several factors weighed against the Harvard men: One unexpected disadvantage was a USA Rugby rule that permits only five non-American players on the roster—a restriction that cut deep into the highly international HBS side. Complicating matters further was an ill-timed keg party the night before the match, hosted by fly-half Mark “9-1-1” De Ambrosis (NF), which was (unfortunately) enthusiastically attended by the Harvard Rugby Club.

Though an intensely physical match, few serious injuries were recorded, save a shoulder dislocation that Mike “Utility Man” Fyall (ND) sustained while making a successful tackle on what might have been the last surviving Neanderthal, a somewhat serious cut to Craig “Keep the Party Goin’” Canton’s (NJ) forehead, and the usual scrapes and hard knocks that the lads have become used to during their challenging fall schedule.

The Wolfhounds came out strong in the first half, scoring 10 unanswered points and dominating the Harvard side in the early part of the half. HBS battled back however, maintaining play in the Wolfhounds end for the latter part of the half, but failing to score. On a penalty late in the first half it looked as though HBS would put their first points up, when Co-Captain “Sadistic” Stephane Heuze (OB) made it to within 1 meter of the try zone carrying three defenders on his back before being taken down.

The second half saw much more scoring, but alas not quite enough by Harvard. As usual, Heuze managed a try, and Liam “Clockwork” Patrick (NC) converted, to bring Harvard within a 10-7 margin. Unfortunately the ball bounced the way of the Wolfhounds a few too many times after that, giving them a 37-7 lead with seconds left in the match.

In a surprise move, on the final play of the game Rugby Club Co-President Jeff “Two-ton” Todd (Law School) threw a line out over the forwards directly to Heuze, who’s clever chip-kick took it up the field to the try zone, enabling Neil “Try and stop me” Campbell (ND) to score the final try of the match, which Liam Patrick converted to finalize the score at 37-14.

The meant HBS would play for 3rd place in the league the following Sunday, a remarkable improvement over prior years results in the competitive NERFU league play. The lads will take a well deserved break before resuming training in advance of the London Business School tournament in February. Congratulations on a fantastic fall season!

The Harvard Business School RFC wishes to thank team sponsors Anglo Irish Bank, APAX Partners, Tommy Doyle's, Sierra Nevada, Magners Original Irish Cider, and Lehman Brothers for their generosity and continued support.

Craig Canton (NJ) plays on through blood, sweat and tears.

Carter Gaffney (NB) slows the Wolfhounds attacker, while Quan Nguyen (OF) prepares to clean him out.

Tony Frangie (OB) and Owen Stockdale (OI) solemnly discuss tactics during half-time.

John Doran (OB), Neil Campbell (ND) and Stephane Heuze (OB) contemplate strategy at half-time.