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<div style="position: relative; top: -.05em; font-size: 95%;">the site for all things '''[[User:ThePlaz|Michael Plasmeier]]''' ([[My Nicknames|ThePlaz]])</div></div>
 
<div style="position: relative; top: -.05em; font-size: 95%;">the site for all things '''[[User:ThePlaz|Michael Plasmeier]]''' ([[My Nicknames|ThePlaz]])</div></div>
 
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<p style="clear:both; margin:0; margin-bottom:.2em; font-variant: small-caps; text-align: center; font-size: 105%;margin-top:-10px;">
 
This site is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki wiki].  That means that anybody (including YOU) can edit and change the information found here. ([[Help:Wiki Markup Cheatsheet|Editing help]])</p>
 
This site is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki wiki].  That means that anybody (including YOU) can edit and change the information found here. ([[Help:Wiki Markup Cheatsheet|Editing help]])</p>
 
<p style="clear:both; margin:0 0 0 0; margin-bottom:.2em; text-align: center; font-size: 110%;">My site contains mostly my homework and projects as well as various stuff from my life.  <small>([[Mission Statement|Site Mission Statement]])</small></p>  
 
<p style="clear:both; margin:0 0 0 0; margin-bottom:.2em; text-align: center; font-size: 110%;">My site contains mostly my homework and projects as well as various stuff from my life.  <small>([[Mission Statement|Site Mission Statement]])</small></p>  
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[[Image:Nuvola apps important.png|25px|left]] 1/25/2010 Personal Update: Back from China
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[[Image:Nuvola apps important.png|25px|left]] 8/25/2013 Yahoo APM!
 
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{{Green Message|To see pictures with this post, see: [[China Post Trip Impressions]]}}
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==Yahoo APM==
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[[File:Marissa and Michael.jpg|thumb|Me with Marissa Mayer]]
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[[File:Yahoo APMs 13.jpg|thumb|The 2013 Yahoo APMs]]
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I am about 1 month into my new job at [[Yahoo]] as an Associate Product Manager or [[APM]].  After I finished classes at MIT, but before I was set to start at Oracle, Yahoo offered me to join Marissa Mayer's new APM program at Yahoo.  Marissa started the program back when she had just joined Google - as a way to find and develop new Product Managers out of school, which she thought would be faster than hiring experienced PMs from the industry.  This article describes the role http://www.wired.com/business/2012/07/marissas-secret-weapon-for-recruiting-new-yahoo-talent/ though that article overblows things slightly.
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I’m super happy where I am at.  This is the type of job I was aiming for throughout MIT; I think I was well-prepared by MIT; and I think .Yahoo is also in a very interesting state at the moment.  They are rapidly redoing everything.  This makes new grads are handed large chunks of the product to manage, because they are so understaffed for what the need is.  In addition, they are in the midst of a huge culture change.  They are replacing their cube farms with open desks.  They are rebuilding teams, which were previously laid off.  It’s very interesting to work with people on either side of the culture change and to experience the before-and-after at the same time.
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I’m in charge of designing the platform Yahoo uses to know where you are, and I help designing the membership, accounts, and security features of Yahoo.  The work is very similar to what I did at MIT – brainstorming solutions, designing schemes, working with other stakeholders to refine plans and achieve consensus. 
  
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I am somewhere over the Sea of Okhotsk, off the coast of Russia, traveling at 33,200ft traveling back home from China.  At home, it is 4:09 AM.  In China, it’s 5:09PM.  I was in China as part of an MIT class, 6.A53, Entrepreneurship and China.  We traveled through Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guilin, Yangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong.  Along the way we visited companies, universities, and entrepreneurs.  We also saw the sights of China and participated in the MAD 2010 Asia conference.  It was a high paced tour of China’s customs and business.
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As an APM, I’m part of Yahoo’s inner circle – giving it the feel of a small company.  My experience working with administrators at MIT prepared me very well for working with the executives at Yahoo.  It's probably the best business/leadership/PM experience possible in the world for someone just out of school.  I think it's rivals management consulting in terms of business experience - since you're directly responsible for something, but still involved at a high level.   I think one learns by doing and by being exposed to stuff.  The greater scope and responsibility one has, the more one learns, I believe.
  
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[[File:Map of MIT China Trip.png|600px]]
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==Mountain View==
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[[File:Mountain View Home.jpg|thumb|Mountain View Home]]
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[[File:Chevy Volt.jpg|thumb|Chevy Volt]]
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I'm settled into my new place in [[Mountain View]]. [http://www.flickr.com/photos/theplaz/sets/72157634601732288/ Photos] I'm sharing a house with 2 other guys, who were friends of friends.  I've purchased a [[Chevy Volt]].  [http://www.flickr.com/photos/theplaz/sets/72157634595577805/ Photos] It goes 40 miles in a charge, but after that it can use gas.  In almost 2 months, I haven't gone to the gas station once!
  
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Taken with [[Amod GPS Logger]]
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I'm meeting a lot of new people here.  Everyone seems to be a friend of a friend at least, and about 20-30% have heard of me before!  That's kinda scarey!
  
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The trip started on January 1st. to Shanghai.  There were a lot of families traveling back home on the airplane.  Shanghai is the world’s largest city, and it sprawls out since it is not contained by anything like Manhattan or Hong Kong.  We took their $1.2 billion USD maglev ride.  It was cool, but it did not really go too far.  Also the maglev did not have good English.  That was a recurring theme in China, even official tourist sites don't have good English.
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==Leaving MIT==
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I had my best semester ever, my last semester at MIT.  I had 5 As and one B-.  I was literally 10 points away from a 5.0!
  
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We then got on their metro system. The system is all very new, all the stations look the same, and it is expanding with a line opening every month or so. This is so incredible.  In the US a city is considered transit friendly if it opens a new line every decade!
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[[File:Pens MIT Spring 2013.jpg|thumb|Pens|200px]]
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[[File:Paper MIT Spring 2013.jpg|thumb|Paper|200px]]
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This semester I used 32 inches of paper, as well as 31 pens.  Here is a chart of usage over time:
  
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On one day, we visited the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_World_Financial_Center Shanghai World Financial Center], one of the world’s tallest building.  So apparently that title is very contentious with what counts as a building and what is included in the height count. Wikipedia says it is the third tallest building in the world, but the highest occupied floor, the highest height to roof, and the highest observation deck. We were their a day before the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Khalifa Burj Khalifa] opened and took some of the title of highest occupied floor and highest height to roof.
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[[File:Pens and Paper Usage.png]]
  
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There are signs for the expo everywhere.  I really hope to get to go.  I think it will be one of the last big ones as they are expensive with little direct benefit.  We had an hour one morning, so we visited the construction site.
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I wrote up two white papers on MIT Policy.  [[A Framework for Community Engagement]] is a refinement of the community engagement process which administrators currently follow. [[Problem Solving Teams]] proposes having students work as "management consultants" on the Institute’s biggest problems.  This joins [[Unrelenting Advocacy]], about how stundets should act like lobbyists and consultants.  This rounds up my [MIT Policy White Papers] series.
  
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All of the buildings, including the subway, use this granite. I suppose it makes the building look fancy, but it is very annoying.  It is everywhere in China, and I think it makes the buildings feel cool and inhospitable.  The worst part is when it rains.  Depending on how it is cut, it can be very slippery.
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[[File:MIT Graduation.jpg|thumb|MIT Graduation]]
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Graduation was a super rainy affair - it was pretty miserable. [http://www.flickr.com/photos/theplaz/sets/72157634578617238/ Photos] However, I'm happy to say that I've now graduated.  It was sad to leave all of the stuff I really liked about MIT behind.
  
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Where we were was a very wealthy area.  It was a home for the newly wealthy Chinese to enjoy conspicuous consumption, American style.  In addition, there were a lot of hawkers.  You could could buy a fake Rolex only a few feet from a luxury store selling legitimate ones.
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I used the time I was off (3 weeks at MIT, 3 weeks at home, and 3 weeks in CA) to get organized and clean up my stuff.  I emptied some boxes I hadn’t touched in years.  I scanned more paper. However, I have still not managed to post my MIT stuff or more from the archives.
  
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It was very cold when we were in China, around 0C.  Due [http://www.tochinaandbeyond.com/wordpress/2009/12/no-heat/ to an old law], buildings below the Yangtze River cannot have heaters.  Almost all of the homes have these [http://aecb.net/PDFs/green%20electricity%20illusion.pdf inefficient] “air conditioners” which have electric heaters in them.  Dorms rooms do not have heat.  One school even requires students to go to another building for water or showers!  Even the Chinese think this is a little too rustic. The classrooms have a little heat, but are still cold by American standards.  The hallways are not heated as well.  I've also seen this trend in the Caribbean.
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==Personal Style==
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I also spent some time to reflect on my [[Personal Style]].  I spent several months iterating on this - and it ended up being quite lengthy! I wanted to record this, because I know with will update over time, and I wanted to make a record of it.  I think it's also helpful for people to know how I approach problem solving.
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It is very hard for a Chinese student to break out and stand out.  Entrance to universities in China is by entrance exam, counting school skills only.  They have to work very hard to get to the top-tier university in China.  But once they get there, the road is still very long.  Only a few can go to an American graduate school, let alone MIT.  Even if they go to American grad school it is challenging to find a company willing to sponsor their work visa.  But they do work very hard to learn science and engineering.
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--[[User:ThePlaz|ThePlaz]] ([[User talk:ThePlaz|talk]]) 02:55, 25 August 2013 (EDT)
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The students do not get much chance to work as a team or think creatively.  Entrepreneurship in China in some senses is very strong; there seem to be millions of people selling stuff.  However, entrepreneurship as a career path is not looked upon as high as a standard position in a large company.  In addition, the infrastructure is not ready to support ventures who want to go for economies of scale and lead the industry, in the way that Silicone Valley ventures do. Part of this might just be the scale of business in China.  The cost of labor is so low that firms can not really use technology to compete.  In addition, failure is highly stigmatized, where as westerns know that one learns for failure.
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One of these universities serves more meals in a minute than MIT does all night.  It is also far lower cost.  One meal is about $7 RMB, or 1 USD, while MIT struggles to make money off $7 USD meals.  Granted, it looks like a prison cafeteria and the food is mass produced, but the cost is so much lower.
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Cisco has set up an R&D center in China with about 1,500 people.  They told us that they did that as a pre-condition for being able to sell to the Chinese government and state-owned telcos.  It does look like they invested a lot of money into the center.  The people we saw seemed to be doing testing – for operations and temperature. I got the feeling that the center does the testing and entry-level engineering, which Americans would find too boring.  I suspect that these centers will be doing more and more.  The Chinese are also very proud to be doing entry-level engineering work for an American firm.  (no photos from this stop)
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We visited two large factories, one produced bags and the other produced clothes.  One had a city of about 12,000 people.  Both worked for many well-known US brands side by side in different production lines.  The label is responsible for the design, picking the fabric, and ensuring quality.  The cost of the product to manufacture is about 1/5 of retail cost.  The workers make a little more than $1,000 RMB a month (about $150 USD).  Both companies were run by Hong Kong owners and managers.  The company with the large city had a 300 room “hotel” for its managers. 
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These factories are successful because of the nearly endless stream of China’s 1.3 billion people into the city looking to take any job they can.  Southern China at $1000 RMB/month is actually too expensive; many factories are moving up north where labor is only about $500 RMB/month.  Remember the cost of living is far, far lower.  From what we saw, the workers seemed OK with the work.  They want to work more and earn overtime.  For them it's better than the farm where they made nothing on plots the size of an Olympic-sized swimming pool.  People's quality of life is improving, but for many, a comfortable life still has a long way to go.
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I liked the town of Yungsho very much.  It was a very outdoorsy-tourist town, like the Jersey Shore.  That means that the town does not have big luxury hotels and stores, only moderate priced locally-operated stores.  They said that before most of the visitors were western, not now it is 80% Chinese.  The town exists for the wonderful landscape that you can see with rafting down the river in a Bamboo raft, or riding a bike.
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We took a sleeper train from Guilin to Shenzhen.  It was the first time I had taken a sleeper train, and I enjoyed the experience.  China’s railroads have very little scenery around as you go by.  The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_South_Railway_Station train station in Shanghai] was very nice and big.  I was surprised at how many people were in there.  They also have more of a process where you wait in a waiting room and when you exit, you take a separate path.  The trains were also all full, even the CRH (China Rail Highspeed).  In the west the train system is used mostly by business travelers, and is far more expensive.  In China, everyone travels by rail.  The cost of a ticket, even for high-speed, is only a few US dollars.
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When you cross the border into Hong Kong, it feels very different.  It just seems cleaner and more modern, including the customs building.  95% of the signs are in English as well, and they use good English.  The place has more history and they don’t use that granite tile everywhere.  The trade-off is that the buildings are older and smaller.  Our hotel room was very small.  Over the border in Shenzhen we had four times the space for the same cost. 
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Over the trip, I read both Superfusion and China Inc.  Both were written before the current recession.  Superfusion’s thesis was that the United States and China’s economy have become, without much notice, intertwined and inseparable.  An idea that I agree with, but can be described with far fewer words.  I enjoyed China Inc. much more.  It recounted this history of China and smoothly jumped from topic to topic on China's economic rise.  It explained much of what I was saw and experienced for myself in China. 
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I believe that in the future, pure manufacturing and engineering jobs will continue to leave the country, much to the protest of unions whose artificially high wages and benefits will come crashing down.  The US still has the lead in creative enterprises for now.  As the [http://www.newsweek.com/id/229959 Recession Generation article from Newsweek] points out, the US will be faced with a world where credit may not be as easy as it was in 2008 and where more people are facing a comfortable standard of living around the world.  However, I disagree with the assessment made in the article that hard work no longer pays off in America.  We will have to continue to work hard, study science and engineering, and come to terms with the new way things are.  Personally, I think that all of the hours I have put in have led to my admission to MIT and my selection to go on this trip.  Entrepreneurship and advancement in a company are still tied to hard work.  Americans cannot grow up and be entitled to a job.  There is too much competition from worldwide.
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I took over 5,300 photos and videos on this trip.  Most are [[geotagged]].  [http://www.flickr.com/photos/theplaz/collections/72157623172613691/ They are on Flickr]
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--[[User:ThePlaz|ThePlaz]] 15:50, 28 January 2010 (EST)
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''[http://theplaz.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:ThePlaz&action=edit&section=new Leave Plaz a (public) message] [[Image:File_icon.gif]] or [[User:ThePlaz:E-mail me|send me a (private) e-mail.]][[Image:Mail_icon.gif]]'', ''[http://feeds.feedburner.com/ThePlazPersonalUpdates Subscribe via RSS feed], ''[http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/emailverifySubmit?feedId=786542 Subscribe via email]'', ''[http://friendfeed.com/theplaz Detailed feed]'', ''[[Old Updates|See past updates]]''
 
''[http://theplaz.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:ThePlaz&action=edit&section=new Leave Plaz a (public) message] [[Image:File_icon.gif]] or [[User:ThePlaz:E-mail me|send me a (private) e-mail.]][[Image:Mail_icon.gif]]'', ''[http://feeds.feedburner.com/ThePlazPersonalUpdates Subscribe via RSS feed], ''[http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/emailverifySubmit?feedId=786542 Subscribe via email]'', ''[http://friendfeed.com/theplaz Detailed feed]'', ''[[Old Updates|See past updates]]''
 
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Recent Activity from around the Web
 
Recent Activity from around the Web
 
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<script type="text/javascript" src="http://friendfeed.com/embed/widget/theplaz?v=2&amp;num=10&amp;hide_logo=1&amp;hide_subscribe=1&amp;width=820"></script><noscript><a href="http://friendfeed.com/theplaz"><img alt="View my FriendFeed" style="border:0;" src="http://friendfeed.com/embed/widget/theplaz?v=2&amp;num=10&amp;hide_logo=1&amp;hide_subscribe=1&amp;width=820&amp;format=png"/></a></noscript>
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<h3 style="-moz-border-radius-topright: 1em;-moz-border-radius-topleft: 1em; background:#90ee90;margin:-2px;padding:4px;"> [[MIT Senior]]
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<span class="edittemplate" style="font-size:8pt; float:right; margin:0 7px 0 0;">[http://theplaz.com/wiki/index.php?title=Template:Main_Page:MIT_Senior&action=edit edit]</span>
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{{Main Page:MIT Senior}}
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<h3 style="-moz-border-radius-topright: 1em;-moz-border-radius-topleft: 1em; background:#90ee90;margin:-2px;padding:4px;"> [[MIT Junior]]
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<span class="edittemplate" style="font-size:8pt; float:right; margin:0 7px 0 0;">[http://theplaz.com/wiki/index.php?title=Template:Main_Page:MIT_Junior&action=edit edit]</span>
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{{Main Page:MIT Junior}}
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<h3 style="-moz-border-radius-topright: 1em;-moz-border-radius-topleft: 1em; background:#90ee90;margin:-2px;padding:4px;"> [[MIT Sophomore]]
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<span class="edittemplate" style="font-size:8pt; float:right; margin:0 7px 0 0;">[http://theplaz.com/wiki/index.php?title=Template:Main_Page:MIT_Sophomore&action=edit edit]</span>
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{{Main Page:MIT Sophomore}}
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<h3 style="-moz-border-radius-topright: 1em;-moz-border-radius-topleft: 1em; background:#90ee90;margin:-2px;padding:4px;"> [[MIT Freshman]]
 
<h3 style="-moz-border-radius-topright: 1em;-moz-border-radius-topleft: 1em; background:#90ee90;margin:-2px;padding:4px;"> [[MIT Freshman]]
 
<span class="edittemplate" style="font-size:8pt; float:right; margin:0 7px 0 0;">[http://theplaz.com/wiki/index.php?title=Template:Main_Page:MIT_Freshman&action=edit edit]</span>
 
<span class="edittemplate" style="font-size:8pt; float:right; margin:0 7px 0 0;">[http://theplaz.com/wiki/index.php?title=Template:Main_Page:MIT_Freshman&action=edit edit]</span>
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*'''[[:File:Pop Music Binder.pdf|Binder]]'''
 
*[[Pop Music#Unit 0: Intro|Unit 0: Intro]]
 
*[[Pop Music#Unit 0: Intro|Unit 0: Intro]]
 
*[[Pop Music#Unit 1: Elements|Unit 1: Elements]]
 
*[[Pop Music#Unit 1: Elements|Unit 1: Elements]]
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[[Image:Nuvola filesystems folder blue open.png|30px]] [[8th Grade]]
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*[[IAG 1]]
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*[[Latin 1]]
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*[[English 8]]
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*[[Geography]]
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*[[8th Grade Health]]
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*[[8th Grade History]]
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*[[8th Grade Science]]
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*[[8th Grade Seminar]]
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*[[8th Grade Tech Ed]]
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[[Image:Nuvola filesystems folder blue open.png|30px]] [[7th Grade]]
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*[[7th Grade History|History]]
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*[[Info Tech 7]]
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*[[7th Grade LA|Language Arts]]
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*[[7th Grade Math|Math]]
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*[[7th Grade Science|Science]]
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*[[7th Grade Spanish|Spanish]]
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*[[7th Grade Music|Music]]
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*[[7th Grade Sci-Sem|Sci-Sem]]
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<span style="margin-right: 5px;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2379574490" class="image" title="GridView, for Facebook, lets you put the profile pics of all of your friends onto your profile"><img src="http://wiki.theplaz.com/w/images/footer/gridview.png" alt="GridView, for Facebook, lets you put the profile pics of all of your friends onto your profile" height="26"></a></span>
 
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<span style="margin-right: 3px;"><a href="http://911.tecker.net" class="image" title="Tecker 911, a tech help netcast"><img src="http://wiki.theplaz.com/w/images/footer/911_logo.png" alt="Tecker 911, a tech help netcast" height="31"></a></span>
 
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<span style="margin-right: 0px;"><a href="http://seniorquoter.org" class="image" title="SeniorQuoter, the easy way for the yearbook staff to collect senior quotes"><img src="http://wiki.theplaz.com/w/images/footer/seniorquoter.png" alt="SeniorQuoter, the easy way for the yearbook staff to collect senior quotes" height="27"></a></span>
 
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<span style="margin-right: 3px;"><a href="http://tecker.net" class="image" title="Tecker, my technology help site"><img src="http://wiki.theplaz.com/w/images/footer/tecker_logo.png" alt="Tecker, my technology help site" height="31"></a></span>
 
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<span style="margin-right: 0px;"><a href="http://theweeklyspin.com" class="image" title="The Weekly Spin Audio Podcast"><img src="http://wiki.theplaz.com/w/images/footer/theweeklyspin.png" alt="The Weekly Spin Audio Podcast" height="20"></a></span>
 
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<span style="margin-right: 0px;"><a href="http://forumsplace.com" class="image" title="ForumsPlace"><img src="http://wiki.theplaz.com/w/images/footer/forumsplace.png" alt="ForumsPlace" height="31"></a></span>
 
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<span style="margin-right: 5px;"><a href="http://socialview.com" class="image" title="SocialView"><img src="http://wiki.theplaz.com/w/images/footer/socialview.png" alt="SocialView" height="31"></a></span>
 
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<span style="margin-right: 3px;"><a href="http://wiki.theplaz.com/Teckcasts" class="image" title="Teckcasts combine the best of Tecker 911, w3life, and SJTechZone into one podcast channel on iTunes"><img src="http://wiki.theplaz.com/w/images/footer/teckcasts.png" alt="Teckcasts combine the best of Tecker 911, w3life, and SJTechZone into one podcast channel on iTunes" height="31"></a></span>
 
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<span style="margin-right: 0px;"><a href="http://wiki.theplaz.com/Conflicter" class="image" title="Conflicter, dedicated to ending global conflict through frank discussions about current issues"><img src="http://wiki.theplaz.com/w/images/footer/conflicter_logo.png" alt="Conflicter, dedicated to ending global conflict through frank discussions about current issues" height="31"></a></span>
 
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<span style="margin-right: 2px;"><a href="http://dictionaryrobot.com" class="image" title="Dictionary Robot, lets you look up a bunch of words at once"><img src="http://wiki.theplaz.com/w/images/footer/dictionaryrobot.png" alt="Dictionary Robot, lets you look up a bunch of words at once" height="27"></a></span>
 
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<span style="margin-right: 0px;"><a href="http://minisites.theplaz.com" class="image" title="ThePlaz.com Minisites"><img src="http://wiki.theplaz.com/w/images/footer/minisites.png" alt="wiki.theplaz.com Minisites" height="20"></a></span>
 
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<div style="font-weight:bold;font-size:15pt; text-align: center">Michael Plasmeier</div>
 
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<div style="font-weight:bold;font-size:14pt; text-align: center">"ThePlaz"</div>
 
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<div style="font-weight:bold;font-size:12pt; text-align: center">MIT 2013 student</div>
 
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<div style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt; text-align: center">Web developer and project manager with a focus on user experience and design</div>
 
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Latest revision as of 07:31, 25 August 2013

Resume

Welcome to ThePlaz.com

the site for all things Michael Plasmeier (ThePlaz)

This site is a wiki. That means that anybody (including YOU) can edit and change the information found here. (Editing help)

My site contains mostly my homework and projects as well as various stuff from my life. (Site Mission Statement)

Leave Plaz a (public) message File icon.gif or send me a (private) e-mail.Mail icon.gif

Nuvola apps important.png
8/25/2013 Yahoo APM!

Recent Activity from around the Web

MIT Senior edit

Fall
  • Schedule
  • 7.012 Intro to Biology
  • 6.046 Advanced Algorithms
  • 6.858 Computer and Network Security
  • 14.72 Capitalism and its Critics
  • STS.085 Ethics and the Law on the Electronic Frontier
  • 2.009 Product Design Process (Listener)
  • 15.062 Data Mining (Listener)
Spring

MIT Junior edit

Fall
  • 6.004 Computation Structures
  • 6.005 Elements of Software Construction
  • 6.034 Artificial Intelligence
  • STS.011 Ethics and Politics in Science and Technology
  • 15.387 Technology Sales and Sales Management
  • 15.665 Power and Negotiation
  • 18.03 Differential Equations
  • Working out a System - How I take 7 classes at MIT and thrive
Spring
  • Spring Schedule
  • 6.033 Computer System Engineering
  • 6.813 User Interface Design and Implementation
  • 6.006 Introduction to Algorithms
  • 15.571 Business Strategy and the Role of IT
  • 15.565 Digital Evolution: Managing Web 3.0
  • 15.301 Managerial Psychology Laboratory
  • 18.06 Linear Algebra

MIT Sophomore edit

Fall
  • 6.01 Intro to EECS (Potpourri Introduction)
  • 6.041 Probabilistic Systems Analysis
  • 14.01 Principles of Microeconomics
  • 15.501 Corporate Financial Accounting
  • 15.567 Econ of Information
  • 16.71 Airline Industry
Spring
  • 4.211 The Present and Future City
  • 6.02 Intro to EECS 2 (Communications)
  • 6.042 Math for Computer Science (Potpourri Introduction)
  • 14.02 Microeconomics
  • 15.279 Intro to Managerial Communications
  • 15.401 Intro to Finance
  • 15.761 Operations Research
  • ESD.051 Engineering, Innovation, and Design (Listener)
Politics

MIT Freshman edit

Fall

  • 8.01 Physics: Mechanics - Prof. Greytak
  • 3.091 Intro to Solid State Chemistry - Prof. Sadoway
  • 18.01 Single Variable Calculus - Prof. Brubaker
  • MAS.110 Fundamentals of Computational Media Design - Prof. Bove
  • 6.A53 Entrepreneurship and China Advising Seminar - Dr. Eng
  • SocialSaver UROP at the MIT Media Lab
  • Learning to Learn at MIT - My "near fail" experience that caused me to pull it together

Spring

Other Stuff

Nuvola apps kpovmodeler.png AP Physics (Science)

30px-OneNote.png Open OneNote Notebook

Note: Works only in Internet Explorer and Opera. Firefox refuses to support MHT. More info

Nuvola USA flag.png AP US Government (History)

30px-OneNote.png Open OneNote Notebook

Note: Works only in Internet Explorer and Opera. Firefox refuses to support MHT. More info

Nuvola apps package wordprocessing.png English 12 (English)

Nuvola apps kbrunch.png Calculus (Math)

30px-OneNote.png Open OneNote Notebook

Note: Works only in Internet Explorer and Opera. Firefox refuses to support MHT. More info

Nuvola apps edu languages.png AP Psychology (Psychology)

Nuvola apps package editors.png AP Micro Econ (Economics)

Nuvola apps bug.png Biology (Science)

Nuvola apps kmplot.png PreCalc (Math)

Nuvola USA flag.png American Studies (History)

  • Projects
  • Notes from Out of Many Textbook
  • FTCE test : FTCE test failure reveals how to rip through the FTCE test.
developed Headline Notetaking Format

Nuvola USA flag pen.png English 11 (English)

Nuvola apps edu mathematics.png IAG 4H (Math)

Nuvola apps edu science.png Chemistry (Science)

Nuvola apps package network.png World Cultures (History)

Nuvola apps korganizer.png AP Macro Economics (Economics)

Nuvola apps file-manager.png English 10 (English)

Nuvola apps kig.png IAG 3H (Math)

Nuvola apps bookcase.png English 9 (English)

Nuvola apps kverbos.png Western Civ (History)

Projects
Outlines
Maps and Creative
French Revolution Napoleon-peque.jpg
Essays and Reports

Nuvola apps edu phi.png IPS (Science)

Nuvola apps kcalc.png IAG 2H and IAG 1H (Math)

Nuvola apps kate.png Latin

Latin 3

Projects
Notes
Journals

Double Entry Journals have 2 components: What I Learned (a summery), and Personal Response (a reflection)

Latin 2

Projects
  1. Roman Travel Project
  2. Sejanus
  3. Echo and Narcissus Myth
  4. The Journey of the Hero
Journals

Latin 1

Money-256x256.png Entrepreneurship (Business)

30px-OneNote.png Open OneNote Notebook

Note: Works only in Internet Explorer and Opera. Firefox refuses to support MHT. More info

Nuvola apps personal.png Business Law (Business)

30px-OneNote.png Open OneNote Notebook

Note: Works only in Internet Explorer and Opera. Firefox refuses to support MHT. More info

Nuvola apps amarok.png Pop Music (Music)

Nuvola filesystems folder blue open.png Other edit

Nuvola filesystems folder blue open.png 8th Grade

Nuvola filesystems folder blue open.png 7th Grade

Nuvola apps kuser.png About Me edit

Michael Plasmeier Spring 2009 Narrow.JPG
Michael Plasmeier
"ThePlaz"
Yahoo APM: Membership and Geo Platforms

My name is Michael Plasmeier, but almost everyone calls me Plaz. I am a Associate Product Manager at Yahoo - working on the Membership and Geo-related platforms teams. I graduated from MIT in 2013 in Computer Science and Management. I am halfway between the tech and the business world, doing both web development and product development. My interest in doing both started while I was working on GridView, an app I built after 10th Grade that reached 1.3 million users on Facebook.

Internships

Last IAP, I was a Software Development Extern doing testing in Ruby on the back end at CardSpring. Last summer, I was Product Manager at Disney Parks and Resorts Online where I worked on a project for Disney Cruise Line. Last January, I worked in management/strategy consulting at Altman Vilandrie & Company. The previous summer, I was a web developer at NextJump, an online affiliate advertising firm in New York. Prior to that, I was an extern in the Office of the Chief Scientist at State Street. My freshman summer I worked at Deutsche Bahn, the German national railroad, where I designed the smartphone version Touch&Travel, an app that lets you pay for the train with your phone.

MIT

At MIT I was heavily involved in classes, usually taking 7 classes a term, while being involved in student government. (I wrote about how I do it in Working out a System.) senior was dedicated to wrapping up requirements. Junior year at MIT I focused on EECS classes, as well as being elected president of Baker House. My second year at MIT focused on management classes. I was also involved in the vendor selection and implementation of the new dining plan. Freshman year, I took core classes and served on the Athena and Printing Committee. (I wrote about just hanging on freshmen year in Learning to Learn.)

Websites

I built a lot of web projects in high school. My most popular project, was GridView [1], an app for Facebook which lets you add the profile pics of all of you're friends to your Facebook profile. GridView had over 1.3 million users and made me some money.

I hosted and produced the video podcast Tecker 911 [2] along with some of my friends. Tecker 911 was a series of 100 5-15 minute shows each which covers a technology topic in a way which is relevant for ordinary people, with a focus towards students and our community. Tecker 911 was also shown on our local public access channel Channel 11.

I started SeniorQuoter, [3] an open-source web application for senior quotes collections for high school yearbooks. In 11th Grade, I lead a Dynamic Website Building Instruction and Practical Experience Group Study at my high school. I helped 4 other students learn PHP and MySQL and then I project managed version 2 of SeniorQuoter, the administration interface.

Tecker and Conflicter were question and answer services I built in 10th Grade. They never really caught on, but they were the perfect way to learn PHP. Dictionary Robot is something I tarted last year, but abandoned later. In 10th Grade, I was a member of Team 484 and in 11th Grade I was their webmaster.

In 8th and 9th Grades I wrote bunch of programs for the TI-83+.

Tech

My first two years at MIT, I was a regular on The Weekly Spin, a weekly take on tech stories and tech policy.

On my Tech page I have had a few pages about Devices I own and other small things that I have built. For example, I also made some improvements for MediaWiki, the software that runs ThePlaz.com and Wikipedia. I made a new skin for MediaWiki and a few MediaWiki extensions


Other Accounts

I also tag a lot of stories on Delicious. I also have over 70,000 photos on Flickr. I Tweet kinda regularly. I also post things to YouTube. And of course I have a Facebook. It all comes together on my FriendFeed.

Website Content

On my site you will find:

  • Updates on what I am involved in
  • Links to my other projects
  • My comments on the world
  • Photos and videos I have taken
  • School work and notes I have made
School Work

I hope that this knowledge will help people less-fortunate than me persevere and succeed. All of my work is under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 license, meaning that you may use it and re-post it anywhere as long as you post my name/nickname, provide a link back to my site, and don't make money off my work. Many people visit my site from overseas where the school system is not as good. See Site Mission Statement for more

    • For 9th Grade I have posted projects I did on the computer
    • For 10th Grade I have posted not only my work I made on a computer but laboriously scanned all of my handwritten notes and worksheets
    • For 11th Grade I am only posting my own notes (no worksheets) from very structured classes; I am scaling back
    • For 12th Grade I used a tablet PC, so I have posted my OneNote notebooks from the class
    • For MIT Freshman year, I used a tablet PC for the first semester; realized this was a bad idea; so I used paper which I scanned and released as large PDFs the second semester. Note MIT actually does the same thing I do with MIT OCW.
    • For MIT Sophomore I will continue to post large, comprehensive PDFs.
    • See also my Notes Key
Tech

Theweeklyspin.png The Weekly Spin

The Weekly Spin is a weekly rant about technology and tech policy with Michael Gdovin. We often cover the cell phone industry, the FCC, DRM, and Michael likes to throw in some Apple rumors.

Download the latest episodes: TheWeeklySpin.com Audio Podcast

Nuvola apps laptop pcmcia.png Student Tools edit

Nuvola apps knewsticker.png News edit

ThePlaz in often mentioned or interviewed in the news

MIT
MIT Dining
MITx/EdX
Baker Piano Drop
Tecker 911
GridView
ThePlaz.com Praise
  • Sam's Praise about my site
  • Baron Harkonnen's Thanks
  • Thanks for uploading Flickr photos
  • Uses Many ThePlaz.com Wiki features
  • A Drexel professor told me on the first day of class that I take very good notes and I would graduate suma cum laude from Harvard due to the quality of my notes at Gov School
  • Hi I saw your page about that download for the ferris wheel unit for IMP4, I didn't download it but even the info you had on the page helped me out. I have no idea what I'm doing and just started this year- i really get stuck on my homework EVERY night. Right now im working on HW 2 "As the ferris wheel turns" and i have no idea what I'm doing. But i just wanted to say thanks cause I'm gonna download that once I'm farther into the unit!--A Facebook user (J. S.)
  • Just wanted to let you know: I stole your headline method of note taking from your website and it is completely saving my life in American Studies. -Rebecca C.
  • Hey, you do have one of the best designed websites I have seen lately. Good job. A little flashy, but still functional. --Email comment 8/18/2010
Videos

Nuvola apps multimedia.png Video edit

Tecker 911 Logo.png Tecker 911

Nuvola filesystems camera.png Photos edit

Trips/Vacations
Universities
MIT
Haverford High School
Places/Events/Daytrips

(need to update)

Tech/Unboxing/Products
Pictures on the Wikimedia Commons

TI-83--rotated.png TI-83+ Stuff edit

Nuvola apps kcmprocessor.png Tech Stuff edit

I am a lot into technology. Here are links to some of my web sites as well as modifications and how-to articles about other software.

My Websites
Devices
MediaWiki Tweaks
Essays/Thoughts
Other

Nuvola apps gaim.png Miscellaneous edit

Nuvola apps remote.png Site Statistics edit

For up-to-date info see Special:Statistics

There are 6,499 total pages in the database, including 1,578 pages in the main namespace and 5,000 files uploaded. These counts do not include OneNote notebooks on minisites or SkyDrive, and count multi-page files (PDF and Word) as one page.

There have been a total of 5,163,449 page views, and 16,470 page edits since ThePlaz.com was setup. That comes to 2.53 average edits per page, and 313.51 views per edit.


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