Berkeley Housing Option

I've been talking to one of my Cal undergrad buddies and if I end up going to Haas, we're thinking about renting a place in Emeryville (thats where I use to live while I was in undergrad).

Benefits of living in Emeryville:
1) Close to Cal - 3 miles from campus. (15 minute bus ride.)
2) Close to the Bart - 1 mile from McArthur Bart Station.
3) Lots of shopping (<1 mile) - IKEA, Trader Joe's, Good Guys, Bay Street Mall (Banana Republic, Barnes and Noble, etc.)
4) Entertainment and Food Court (<1 mile) - AMC Bay Street, UA Emery Bay 10, etc.
5) Great Location - It has a great view of the Bay and its close to the Bay Bridge for those weekend SF getaways!
6) Some really NICE Apartments! Meaning - clean and reasonable-priced.

Two Options:
1) Bridgecourt

1325 40TH STREET EMERYVILLE, CA 94608 1 Bedroom $1095 - $1500 (554-788 sqft.) 2 Bedroom $1725 - $1875 (1179-1268) 2 Bedroom Loft $2000 - $2100 (1015-1088)

There's a Pack N' Save across the street and a Taco Bell, Starbucks, CompUSA, etc. in the same Complex. This is where I lived in undergrad. We had a 2 Bedroom Loft and we squeezed 4 guys in it! Man ... good times ...


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2) Emerybay Club & Apartments

6401 SHELLMOUND STREET EMERYVILLE, CA 94608 Studio $1085 (530-635 sqft.) 1 Bedroom $1265 - $1450 (660-861) 2 Bedroom $1550 - $1925 (935-1105) 3 Bedroom $2000 - $2225 (1120-1340)

I had a couple friends live here ... this place is HUGE and the rooms are really nice and new! It's also right next to the UA Emery Bay movie theaters, Borders, and food court.


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If you want to find something comparable closer to Berkeley, check out Allston Lofts on www.rent.com, its about $600-$800 more for a smaller place (2 Bedroom, 637-776 sq ft., $2325 - $2565).

Now if enough Haas Admits are interested in living in Emeryville, we could go and negotiate a deal with Management for some discounts or perks ... Now wouldn't it be really cool if we could create a small Haas Community right in Emeryville!?

EDIT (3): (1) Added a Map of Emeryville. (2,3) Fixed Graphics.

What you can buy for $134 million today!

To the 1,200 billionaires out there - BOY do we have a place for YOU! Remember the difficulty you had trying to find a parking spot for your 7th and 8th limousines? Or when you your 5 illegitimate kids/mistresses fought over having their own pool to swim in? And who can forget the tacky 14-Karat mosaic floor you had to bear with in your previous home! Well look no further - we have the place for you!

Updown Court, a newly built mansion for sale just outside of London, offers plenty of lavish amenities: five swimming pools, eight-limousine garage, and mosaic floor made of 24-karat gold leaf in the downstairs study.


What does Updown Court have to offer the international billionaire? Start with size and opulence. The main house and two guesthouses comprise 60,000 square feet of living area. Among the 103 rooms are 22 bedrooms, each with its own marble bathroom.

Music Magic!

So what is Music Magic you ask? Well, essentially its a playlist generator. It creates a playlist based off of songs you like. For example, if you like Hoobastank, you might like Dashboard Confessional.

So what's the difference between this and other playlist generators? Well it analyzes your music based off like 974327321 different characteristics rather than just using metadata information (i.e. genre, artist). For example, if you like songs with lots of electric guitars, then a playlist will be generated with U2 and Metallica and maybe some surprises ...

Just an example of a playlist I got recently using "Hoobstank - The Reason":
John Mayer - Love Song for No One
Michelle Branch - Enough
Matchbox Twenty - Bent
The Calling - Wherever You Go
Brand New - The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows
Alex To - Take You Away (Chinese)
S.E.S - Yumeo Kasanete (Korean)

Since it uses the analysis of the song versus the genre, I get some pretty diverse (and weird, but fun) playlists!

Try it out and let me know what you think!

Warning: It takes a while analyzing all your songs, but you only have to do this once. I have like 4867 songs so I just left my computer on one night and it finished analyzing all my songs.

Disclosure: A subsidy of the company that I work for wrote this software. And we ARE NOT responsible if you don't like the playlists - its your fault, get some better music ... but we ARE responsible if you find the playlists refreshing and unique ... =)

Advantage: Berkeley MBA

One of the things I really like about Berkeley Haas is the number of events the school has extended to newly admitted students.

Recent Events in the Bay Area:
- Haas Alumni Network Celebration in Silicon Valley
- Asia Business Conference
- Berkeley MBA Mixer in San Francisco

Recent Events in LA:
- DMEC Mixer in Los Angeles
- Berkeley MBA Dinner in Beverly Hills

Career Services:
- 20-minute phone session with a Career Advisor or Account Manager

Haas has also made the core schools list of recruiters at a number of companies that peak my interest including Amazon.com, McKinsey, and Yahoo!

Berkeley Haas DMEC LA Mixer

The Berkeley Haas Digital Media and Entertainment Club hosted an LA Mixer at the BOA Lounge in West Hollywood last night. In attendance was a handful of admits, about 20-30 current students, about 20 alumni, and even some recruiters from Warner Brothers.

The main purpose of the DMEC's visit to LA was to meet with a number of companies in the Los Angeles area, including EA, Sony, Universal, and Disney. They met with Directors and Business Development Managers to learn more about the entertainment industry. It was really exciting to meet a number of current students in a very casual environment - after a couple of yager and cokes, I felt right at home!

I was definitely impressed by the passion and organization of the DMEC. Each student spoke enthusiastically about their career pursuits in the competitive entertainment industry and in regards to the connections that have established through Berkeley Alums. Many of the students were interviewing with a number of companies that I would love to work for including Yahoo, Apple, and EA.

One concern that I had with Berkeley Haas was regarding how much "fun" I would have at the school and how tight of a community I would be a part of - based off of last night's group, I would say that concern has been mitigated.

Edit: Typos. Spelling. Added some links and graphics.