Request from Tim - Class Project

Hello Again!

I have a question for you. I am working on a project for my Entrepreneurial Class here at IESE, something we are nicknaming iRent. The concept is a web platform like eBay that enables people to rent items to and from their neighbors. Protections for the lender would be included such as full deposit and ratings systems.

One of the early stages of our project includes market research, and since I am over here in Spain it is difficult for me to go around to houses and ask their thoughts. I thus have 3 Questions for you.

What I really need to know is the following:

1) Would you be willing to lend things for money to others over a website, assuming the system was easy to use and there were sufficient protections (full deposits & you couldn't be sued)?

2) Would you ever consider borrowing from others over this same website, assuming locations were close and prices were cheaper than professional companies (such things like if you needed an extra barbecue for a gathering and didn’t want to buy it)?

3) Finally, assuming you would be willing to lend things, I would really appreciate if you could go look in the garage (or wherever) and tell me 10 items that you would actually be willing to lend. I am trying to get an idea what types of things people would lend and what are their relative values.

One thing is clear, I don't want you to say that you would be willing to lend or borrow simply because you know me. Pretend like you heard about this from someone else, and make your decision accordingly.

I appreciate your help in this. At this point it is the best market research I can do from here.

Please send your responses directly to me at tim805@gmail.com

Thank You!!!

Blogger Lives!

Well everyone, it appears that blogger is finally working again for me. I will take this opportunity to update you all a bit on what is going on.

First of all I am still in Spain, but all alone. Laura has been back in the states since the 16th of October for her interviews. Out of the 5 schools she applied to she received interview invitations to 4 of them (I am very proud). So far she has completed 3 of her four interviews, and is just waiting for her last one at Loma Linda on Sunday.

As for an update on how her interviews are going, so far everything has gone well. These programs are very competitive, so you never know, but so far she feels good about how they have gone. Don't bother to ask if she been accepted anywhere though, because we wont know until the end of November.

As for me I am plugging away at my classes. IESE has been pretty great, and I am learning a lot. I have five classes right now, two strategy classes, my entrepreneurial class, Spanish, and my very difficult one, Intro to Investment Banking. That class is kicking my butt, but it is good. The teacher treats the class like it is a trading floor, and likes to kick people out who are caught not paying attention! Never a dull moment in there, but that is good because I am learning a lot.
I don't have any pictures for you, and for once that is not Blogger's fault. When Laura went back to the US she took her computer with her, which happens to have most of our more recent pictures on it. Then after she has left I really haven't taken any because I haven't done anything interesting.

I am working on a fun business plan in my entrepreneur class, one that you will hear again more because I am posting a little survey about the concept on here for you all to complete. I hope that you will take the time to answer my questions, because it will really help for the market research aspect of my assignment.

Thanks for listening. Hope you are all doing great!

Update - Toledo Trip & Blogger Status

Hello everyone,

Well I bet you are all wondering what has been happening with the blog. I am very sorry to say that it does not look like blogger plans on fixing the problem with the pictures. Because of this I think this will be the very last blog I place onto this website. From here on out we will be blogging on the new blog I am creating located at www.Mccormacks.Wordpress.com .

But before we go, let me give you a run down on what has been happening here in Barcelona.

The last couple of weeks have gone fairly well. The city has been nice, not great, but OK. We have settled into our apartment and everything is taken care of there (although we still have no internet, something that is driving me crazy!) Since we arrived, we have done fairly little as far as entertainment, as I have started school and Laura has been taking care of the apartment and getting ready to return for her interviews.

When I say we have done fairly little in the way of entertainment, that is in exception of the last weekend, when our friends Truman and Lauren visited. We had a great time with them, and made a trip to Toledo. Toledo is a very neat city, and I wish I could show you the pictures, but I will have to wait for the new blog.

Some fun facts about Toledo. It started as a Roman trade hub for the region, and for a time was the capital of Spain, until about the mid 1500's. Now the entire city is treated as a national monument, and much is maintained from the old traditional infrastructure. They have an incredible cathedral that we really enjoyed.

Today is Wednesday, and my sister and her friend Debbie arrived this morning. We will be spending the days today and tomorrow in the city, and then leave for Seville for the weekend. Then Laura and I will come back to Barcelona, and Robin and Debbie will continue to Granada and Madrid to visit an old friend. Immediately upon our return Laura departs for the states, and I will be left here alone for maybe a month. =^(

That’s about it for now. School has been great, although quite challenging. I have a class on Investment Banking which the professor treats as a trading floor, complete with yelling at the students who do not know the answers immediately. It is a bit stressful, but entertaining and I am learning a lot.

We hope you are all well back in the states, our loyal readers. Thanks for staying patient with our blog during the pause, and we promise we will get those pictures coming as soon as possible.

Bye!

Blogger is Not Working

Hello everyone,

You may have noticed that we haven't posted anything in a while. =^(

This is not an indication that because we are now in Barcelona we will stop blogging. Unfortunately, this blogging service we are using, Blogger, seems to be broken. I am presently unable to upload any pictures to our blog. And without pictures, how boring!

We are really picture people. So once that gets fixed, we will start up again.

Here is a quick update on what’s going on....

I am in school. The school is seriously incredible, and I have met some great people. I think my time here will be great, except for the fact that Laura has to leave for sooo long.

As far as that is concerned, you should all congratulate Laura when you get a chance. She has received invitations from three of the five schools she has applied to, which in my opinion is quite a feat.

Her first is at UCLA on October 19 & 20, and then she has others at both UOP and Loma Linda. We are still waiting to hear from UCSF and USC, but I am confident she will get invitations to those as well.

Besides that I had better go get ready for class. I pitched a business idea today in my entrepreneur class, and have gotten some responses about people interested in helping me determine its feasibility, which is very encouraging for me.

Hope you are all great, and that we can get this darned picture thing working soon. If not I have already started another blog on wordpress that we may migrate to. The address is www.McCormacks.Wordpress.com but we haven't posted anything there yet while we wait for Blogger to get their act together.

Bye!

Sintra & Coimbra

Well, the travel portion of our blog is coming to an end. Right now I am writing this blog sitting in our apartment in Barcelona, and my orientation is tonight. In fact, I will probably not even be able to post this until after my orientation tomorrow, when my classes start.

Laura in some old Moorish ruins on the way into Sintra

So the blog is a bit behind. We almost got caught up in the last couple of places because we finally had internet, but now that we are in Barcelona we don’t have it again. Today we put in an order for internet at the house, but it will be a couple weeks before we get it.

But I don’t want to jump ahead too much. I am sure you are all dying to know what happened in our last two stops, Sintra and Santiago de Compostela. I know this post is titled Sintra & Coimbra, and that is because we stopped overnight in the city of Coimbra on our way from Lisbon to Santiago, but since we spent about zero time there, and actually didn’t even take a single picture (gasp!), I am just sticking it in this one and being done with it.

About Sintra: Sintra is a little town next to Lisbon that used to be where all the Lisbon royalty spent their free time. It has three big sights, two of them especially cool. The three sites are the National Palace, the Pena Palace, and a Moorish Castle. The first wasn’t so exciting, but the second two were really great.

The National Palace

Shot from Inside the National Palace


Laura took this stair shot of me looking hot


I liked it so I tried doing my own. I am not very original I guess. =^P

Another view from inside the National Palace

Here are a bunch of pictures, broken up by each site, with some extras thrown in the end. We had a great time in Sintra, it was the highlight of our stay in Lisbon.

This is the Pena Palace. I think it was the original Disneyland

This is some crazy sculpture in the Palace. Pretty nuts...

OK, That is the end of the Pena Palace shots. It was really incredible to see. Next comes the Moorish Castle...

Me looking fierce!

Laura looking cute as usual

The great wall of Sintra is what we called it

This place was incredible

View of the city from the Moorish castle

View of the Pena Palace from the Moorish Castle

As far as Coimbra goes, we can’t really say. We arrived after 9pm and left the next morning before 10. We had some excellent Indian food, and discussed a possible trip to India in the spring instead of a previously discussed Caribbean cruise. Besides that, we didn’t really do anything. We left early because Rick Steves told us that the next leg of our drive would take 8 and ½ hours, and we wanted to get a jump on it. That turned out to be totally bogus, since it only took about 3 ½ hours. I think Rick is confused.

Now I have to finish getting ready to go to my orientation/reception. I have the first day jitters, but I am sure it will be great! =^)

(end note: I tried to upload this last night, but it didn't work. The orientation went great, and so has my first day of school. There, now you know)

Goodbye for now!