Cornell students, presumably led by the Student Assembly group dedicated to promoting the New York City Tech Campus, have created a website at http://cornellstudentsnyc.com/. The site gives the undergraduate population a voice in expressing the benefits Cornell’s proposed campus would provide New York City and the tremendous opportunities for research and entrepreneurship that would come out of the program. Check it out.

Here are two videos they produced as well:

Cornell NYC Tech Campus from CornellNYCTechCampus on Vimeo.

NYC Tech Campus Explained from CornellNYCTechCampus on Vimeo.

I grew up listening to Billy Joel; my parents love the guy. And, as a native Long Islander, I feel like I connect with him on a level only native Long Islanders can understand. With the exception of Elton John, there’s no one who sounds the same.

Although Billy Joel may now be somewhat dated, he music can still resonate with all of us younger folk. My fifth grade teacher used “We Didn’t Start the Fire” to open all (yes, all) of his history lessons and my 10^th grade Social Studies teacher gave us all a CD containing this and other historically-relevant songs. “Piano Man” continues to be used as a post-1:00-AM-at-the-bar-sing-along-song and the lessons in “Only The Good Die Young” will always apply. But, he does need a new album; my iTunes Billy Joel collection is becoming somewhat stale. If Billy Joel doesn’t update “We Didn’t Start the Fire” to include the past twenty years, I hope someone will.

Thank you, Cornell University Program Board and Cornell Concert Commission for finally bringing Billy Joel to campus. You’re one year too late.

Big Red Crowd

One of the many great things about living in New York City is that there is never a dearth of Cornellians to travel with. I drove up to Ithaca Friday afternoon directly from training in Secaucus, New Jersey with one of my coworkers and fellow Cornell 2011 alumnus. Another Class of 2011 coworker was going to head up Saturday morning with her parents, coincidentally both of who are also Cornell alumni. There’s no escape from the university.

Four hours later we hit Exit 8 on I-81 North and I could start to feel the excitement of being back start to bubble up inside. Exit 8 is the exit for Whitney Point, a very small town that I am convinced exists solely to serve motorists passing through. There is no economy except for gas stations and fast food restaurants. But, Whitney Point in a way signifies home because it is the last waypoint on the journey up from New York.

Ithaca is a small city in the middle of nowhere in a world off to itself. After coming off the interstate, we still had to drive a half hour on a winding, unlit, backwoods road passing farm after farm and barn after barn before finally reaching the “Cornell this way” sign pointing up Pine Hill Road and to the back entrance to campus. On this never-ending drive we got to chatting about how Cornell’s physical isolation from the world contributes to the fierce loyalty of alumni and makes the campus feel special in a strange way. Traveling on the route between Whitney Point and Ithaca (NYS Route 79 for those looking for geographical specificity) is like walking through the wardrobe in C.S. Lewis’s 1950 novel. The university becomes all-consuming, and “real life” tends to fade into the background. I’m not sure if you can truly understand it without actually living there.

Before I digress too far, I’ll return to the post and talk about what actually happened while I was there. I’ll break it up into two categories.

Food

1. 

   Moe's in Ithaca

   Moe’s – I was not welcomed to Moe’s, but my friend I was staying with brought a chicken quesadilla back up to the apartment for me. This was a must-have Friday or Saturday night dinner back when I was living in the fraternity and we’d all trek down the hill together.

2. 

   Collegetown Bagels

   CTB – This is Collegetown eating at its finest. We went for breakfast (or technically a brunch now that I’m in the working world) both Saturday and Sunday. CTB – or Collegetown Bagels for the uninformed – bagels pale in comparison to Long Island or New York City bagels, but their Bronx Bagel is a breakfast food worth a five-hour drive. It’s a toasted bagel with egg and sausage. Oh, how I’ve missed my CTB foods. I’d be a near-instant millionaire if I opened a franchise in Manhattan. There’s enough Cornellians to warrant good business. Just, please, don’t take my idea.

3. 

   Outside Bear Necessities

   Bear Necessities – I’ve never been a fan of the colloquial “Bear Nasties” term because I actually like the bad-for-you food they make there. The best piece of grease-laden sustenance they serve is the Southwest Chicken Sandwich. It’s a foot-long sub with fried chicken, bacon, cheese, and some sort of southwest-flavored dressing. I couldn’t resist driving up to North Campus and ordering one for lunch on Saturday.

4. 

   The Nines

   The Nines – I’m not sure if The Nines is a true definer of Cornell/Ithaca food, but nevertheless it is worth mentioning because they have great deep-dish pizza. It’s also a great place for a date or a radio show that pitches Cornell-based bands head-to-head against one another (WVBR Battle of the Bands plug; Tune in for Season 4 in the spring!). The one caveat is that the service at The Nines is very slow. Saturday night I got lucky, though, and caught the tail end of a dinner with my friends and snagged a piece of pizza without the wait. Cha-Ching.

5. 

   Wegmans in Ithaca

   Wegmans – Sadly I did not make it to this most awesome of grocery store chains. The store is so good that I used to mention it on Cornell tours. The parents from the New York/Middle Atlantic region always knowingly nodded in agreement as I attempted to describe what cannot effectively be described in words. I intended to get a Wegmans sub on my way out of Ithaca, but I was running late and didn’t have the time.

People

I’ll keep this part brief, because there’s just so much to write about. Here’s a picture to sum up the weekend:

Cornell Friends

In addition to hanging out with old friends and reconnecting with some fraternity brothers, I took some time to catch up with WVBR folks at the Greek tailgate. As always, WVBR was contracted out to play music and provide the entertainment at the event. It felt like I was back at home. Of course I grabbed the microphone and made an announcement about the music. I couldn’t resist. It felt like putting on an old coat. My radio voice was dusty and worn out for sure, but it did the trick.

After WVBR I got to head up to the main tailgate event outside of Schoellkopf Field. I walked around with my friend and fellow ex-WVBR staffer Liana Passantino ’11. We ran into countless random alumni and I was surprised with and grateful for how liberally the different groups assembled in the parking lot were giving away their food and drinks. I was also introduced to Matthew Nagowski, the editor of the MetaEzra blog at http://www.metaezra.com. I recommend reading and subscribing.

Homecoming ’11 turned out to be a great weekend, and I couldn’t have asked for a better time. I miss Ithaca, but I’ll be back again in just a month for WVBR Symposium. 

At the ten-year anniversary of September 11, 2011, I thought it fitting to share this memorial article published in the Cornell Alumni Magazine in the winter of 2001. Twenty Cornellians died in the attacks: eighteen in the World Trade Center and two on United Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. My thoughts go out to those families and to all the others whose lives will never be the same.

I was only in seventh grade at the time and could not fully comprehend the magnitude of the loss of life or how the world changed that day. But, today, ten years later, it’s not possible to live in the city without being reminded of the world we now live in.

Cornell has a very large presence in New York City, not only in terms of the university-run programs in NYC (see http://www.cornell.edu/nyc/), but also by the sheer number of alumni scattered throughout the five boroughs. I witnessed the Cornell mass this week. On Tuesday, a Cornell friend/alumni affairs employee/lecturer/WVBR faculty advisor (I’m not really sure what to call him; he has so many roles) was in the city delivering a talk to parents at the Cornell Club near Grand Central. Out of happenstance it was his birthday, and a mutual friend invited me to go out for the celebration.

It was as though Cornell people came out of the metaphorical woodwork in their little corners of the city for the occasion. Within the crowd were an aspiring actor, a human resources consultant, a news producer, a marketer, a campaign staffer, a not-for-profit communicator, and a few others. All of us have tremendously divergent backgrounds and are pursuing radically different career paths, but were all united by a shared home at the university.

1. Travel

Horseshoe Beach in Bermuda

Travel: isn’t that what we all are supposed to do after graduation? For four years I saw myself arriving at the airport still wearing the mortarboard with only a backpack for luggage. I’d get on the next flight to Europe and “backpack” the continent for two weeks. After doing some serious research and learning the expensive reality of that proposition, I dropped it faster than a freshman accidentally enrolled in advanced molecular thermodynamics. Although I have a Cornell tour guide friend who backpacked through South America by himself during his post-graduation summer a year ago, proving that it supposedly is possibly on a post-grad, pre-job budget, I plan to save my backpacking adventures for the eventual future.

I instead cruised down to Bermuda with several friends on a one-week ride on the Norwegian Gem. I couldn’t have asked for a better vacation: cloudless summer weather, pink sand beaches, nightly shows, dance parties throughout the ship, bars around every corner, and, of course, the opportunity to savor the sweet sensation of being away from it all. When I got back to New York I Facebook-friended the cruise director (he was just that good) and discovered we have three friends in common. As it turns out, the cruise I just got back from was same cruise I almost went on for spring break with some of my fraternity brothers. Apparently the Norwegian Gem to Bermuda is a popular cruise; two of my other friends went on the same ship with their families on two separate occasions over the summer.

The Norwegian Gem docked at King's Wharf, Bermuda

2. Golf

In my book, summer isn’t summer without some time spent on the links. I enjoy golf because it is a mental game. It’s a game of strategy and physics mixed together with some very precise movements. Bobby Jones was known for saying, “Golf is a game that is played on a five-inch course – the distance between your ears.” As I learned the hard way many a time, skill wanders when the mind wanders.

The Robert Trent Jones course at Cornell University

For my love of golf, I’ve actually never played at the Cornell-owned Robert Trent Jones-designed course in Ithaca. During Orientation Week freshman year I accidentally snuck onto the Ithaca Country Club course to play nine holes with one of my friends from back home (we thought it was the Cornell course and thought it was free for students), but despite diligently bringing my clubs up every year I never used them except for that one occasion the first week in Ithaca. Like many seemingly useful artifacts I brought up from home on Long Island, the clubs sat in my four different closets for four years gathering dust.

This summer I finally played Bethpage on Long Island. The Bethpage Black course was home to the US Open in 2002 and 2009 and in 2008 was ranked the 6^th hardest course in the United States by Golf Digest. I recognize that I’m not yet quite good enough to play that course, and was partially scared away by the large warning sign in front of the first tee box (it says “Warning: The Black Course is an Extremely Difficult Course Which We Recommend Only for Highly Skilled Golfers”). My two friends and I instead played the Bethpage Green. It’s a great course.

3. Reading

It feels good to get back to reading books for fun as opposed to for academics. Here’s some of the books I read this summer:

Decision Points

1. Decision Points (George Bush): I was disappointed by this memoir, which turned out to be more of a political manifesto than an autobiography. The premise was Bush explaining the thought process that went behind many of his most important decisions, but I thought he took it a step too far by blatantly defending and rationalizing controversial and unpopular decisions with political rhetoric. I would have preferred to have him “tell it like it was” and let history provide the retrospective political commentary. Overall, it was worth reading to learn about some behind-the-scenes moments during Bush’s eight-year presidency.
   

   Spiral

2. Spiral (Paul McEuen): Think Michael Crichton. Cornell physics professor Paul McEuen’s novel is a scientific thriller set partially in Ithaca and at Cornell University. Liam Connor, an aged Cornell biology professor, is tortured and killed by a Japanese assassin searching for a WWII-era virus/biological weapon. The plot unfolds as Jake Sterling, a Cornell physics professor (much like McEuen), works to find the virus before the assassin. The book is an easy, fun read if you like thrillers, and I recommend you read the NY Times review. I was fortunate to interview Paul McEuen with Tommy Bruce, Cornell’s VP of Communications, for our radio show, The Sunday Forum with Tommy Bruce. I’ve posted the interview audio file here if you’re interested.Paul McEuen Interview. In the interview, McEuen talks about how his experiences as a specialist in nanotechnology contributed to the novel and its upcoming screenplay adaptation.
   

   Rainbow Six

3. Rainbow Six (Tom Clancy): While on the thriller genre, I decided to re-read for the 3^rd time this classic 1998 counter-terrorism novel. Tom Clancy is a page-turning writer similar to Michael Crichton, but he focuses on military/political thrillers as opposed to Crichton’s scientific thrillers. Rainbow Six is about an elite and top-secret counter-terrorist unit that, of course, saves the world from a complex terrorist plot. I’m surprised it’s yet to be made into a film.
   

   Googled

4. Googled (Ken Auletta): I’ve been reading this on and off for the past several months and finally finished it. Ken Auletta tells the story of Google’s rise to power and discusses the changing media landscape as well as what Google’s prominence means for the future of so-called “new media.” If you’re interested in media like I am it’s a worthy read to understand where the industry is going. It surprised me to realize that Google is becoming a media company and Search is only a small part of their business.
   

   Too Big to Fail

5. Too Big to Fail (Andrew Sorkin): Fellow Cornell alumnus and renowned financial journalist Andrew Sorkin ’99 visited Cornell last October to talk about his book, the then-upcoming HBO movie, and his career. As someone entering finance, I found his talk to be particularly relevant and eye-opening. The world of finance – and by that I really mean the entire economy – is largely controlled by a few key players. That’s it. Too Big to Fail is a chronicle of those key players’ role in the financial collapse of 2008. I’m only about 100 pages in as of now, but so far it reads like a novel much like Kurt Eichenwald’s Conspiracy of Fools about the collapse of Enron. I recommend that book as well.

So, maybe I have been somewhat busy in my first few months away from Ithaca. After the hectic pace of life at Cornell I really don’t know how to do nothing. The university does not prepare students for that. But, I made it work. Now I’m off to enjoy my last weekend of work- and school-free life before my job starts on Thursday. Happy Labor Day.

This summer has exposed me to a whole new aspect of the work world that I never knew about before: startups.

Although Silicon Valley is still the hot spot for startup companies, a growing number of entrepreneurs are taking their ideas to New York City to get things rolling. Silicon Valley has been huge since the dawn of computers, with companies like Intel, HP, Cisco, and Oracle hosting their world headquarters in the area. However, many of these companies are based around the high-tech computing world. With trends shifting toward cloud-based computing and web-based social media applications, companies don’t need to invent new hardware or a new tech product to be successful. Developing a niche iPhone app or useful website can gain your millions of users in just a few months.

Of course, there are startups like Twitter and Airbnb with their roots in San Francisco — but no longer is necessary to base your company on the west coast. Today, all you need is a good idea, a friend to code your website, and the right marketing technique. With that, you can turn a lofty thought into a functional web platform, and then prove to users that it will make their lives easier or more entertaining.

In 2009, the Internet Sector dominated Venture Capital Investments in NYC

New York City is bursting with entrepreneurs and idealists who want to be a part of “the next big thing”. One thing this city teaches you about starting a company is that you have to work your ass off. With living expenses and competition so high, there’s no time to dawdle with an idea or only give it 50% of your time. The stress makes things more difficult (less space, less funding, fewer resources), but it pressures companies to go big or go home.

Resources in New York are growing, though. The scarcest of which is still web developers. Computer programmers and website coders are worth a pretty penny in the city, because there are so few of them to spread amongst the growing number of startups. Part of the reason Mayor Bloomberg is pushing for a college tech campus in NYC is to encourage the growth of the city’s startup world through education in developing fields.

–

After working for a few months at a web-based startup in NYC, I’ve gained confidence and interest in starting something of my own. Two fellow 2011 Cornellians and I have been tossing around our own idea for a startup these past few weeks. I know it’s not an easy task, but I think our idea has the possibility of gaining some traction. There are certainly a lot of support networks out there, even just through alumni connections or the Entrepreneurship@Cornell network. Even with the support, we’ll need an ambitious but realistic attitude to make something happen.

I know it’s still a long way off, but when a friend of mine told me he’d be crashing on my couch from September 16 through the 18th, it got me excited for Cornell Homecoming Weekend. Then today at lunch, my boss (and fellow Cornellian) brought up the subject again and we chatted about how great it is when everybody heads back to the Hill to visit for those two precious days.

This Homecoming Weekend (a week earlier than last year), they’re planning to mix things up a bit. If my calculations are correct, the Big Red will debut a brand new, video score board at Schoellkopf Field at the 6pm homecoming football game vs. Bucknell. Yes, game time has been pushed back this year. Probably so they can show off the new score board in the dark, but more likely because most people are simply not done with their tailgating at 12pm.

Homecoming 2010 Slideshow

The morning tailgate is one of the best parts of Homecoming Weekend. I can’t wait for the mass of burnt hamburgers and light beer in red Solo cups: it really brings me back (almost 3 months) to my undergraduate days. Even better than the endless food and beer is the mass of people that travel back to Ithaca to re-live their college years with the current student body. Either way, you always run into an old friend, and Palms o’Clock officially shifts twelve hours ahead to 12:30PM.

Homecoming is essentially Cornell’s fall Slope Day, and I have a feeling that this will be a good one. With thousands of students filling the stadium for the first (and last) time all season, maybe the rain will hold off and the Big Red will walk away with a win. Maybe.

–

So how can we hold off until September 17th? Take advantage of some of NYC’s finer outdoor establishments while there’s still some time left this summer. Spend an afternoon at one of the various beer gardens around the city (I’m trying out Beekman Beach Club at South Street Seaport this weekend). Gather up a crew of Cornellians — there are certainly plenty of us in New York — and plan your trips back to Ithaca for Homecoming Weekend 2011.