Business took me again to Panama on Monday, for a quick trip (two days).
Tin roofed huts with satellite TV next to high rise office buildings, riding on an official (with sirens) tinted window SUV with driver and no license plates, and staying in a nice hotel that was not extraordinary but had all and everything that I look for in a hotel (except indoors swimming pool). But it belongs to the friend (former Treasury Secretary) of a friend.
Day 4 started with a corporate presentation (we got to choose, and I attended the one by Pfizer) at 7:30am, in which Pfizer`s Senior Vice President of Research and Development talked about the rapidly shifting way in which big pharma is working, and mentioned an unacceptable fact that should make us all reflect on how much the patent system is broken:
Pfizer has 98,000 employees… and 31,000 lawyers!
The rest of the day I attended classes by Catherine Tucker, Brian Halligan, and a speech by Dean David Schmittlein.
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Today is my first day as a student of “the most important university in the world” (according to this article): MIT.
I am here to take the MIT Sloan Executive Education EDP (Entrepreneurship Development Program).
Getting up at 4 am and braving the flu outbreak in Boston and the cold weather including a frozen Charles River (not like it is less cold in NY anyway), I arrived from NY this morning in an early flight, and after checking in at the Marriot, I went to a luncheon at the Towne Stove and Spirits restaurant sponsored by Ken Morse.
Interviewed by Aurora Muñoz for Zoom News about the Mega case.
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December 2nd I flew to Montevideo. I stayed at the Radisson Hotel, Plaza de la Independencia. Very conveniently located with some impressive views from the top floor. Good thing it had a pool, because it is not easy to keep my exercise regime when traveling so much.
Besides very productive meetings with IBM (very nice, professional, and friendly executives, by the way) and presentation to several hospital groups (one of the meetings at the Presidential Building, another one at the country`s largest hospital, and a presentation at the Solis Theater), I enjoyed the promenade by the river which seems like a sea, the old town, and a weird Ice Bar.
From tilted posts to trees completely gone, after hurricane Sandy there were many signs of destruction around New York.
I had to stay at Stepahnie`s apartment (thank you again!) until Monday, because my building remained without power. And even after the power returned, the telephone and internet took two more days.
Some people were not so lucky, with all hotels fully booked, and had to stay at home for days without power or water.
Number of homeless kids in NYC last year: 16,000
Number of homeless kids in NYC this year: 20,000
https://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/
