Countdown to 6/19

My motivation for work is pretty low right now, which is dangerous because I have quite a bit to do with a hard deadline looming. I am going on two weeks vacation to Hawaii this Saturday. I haven't taken two consecutive weeks off work ever and I'm really looking forward to a re-energizing break. We're wrapping up our quarterly forecasting process and the past few weeks have been filled with long & hectic work days. I'm spending too much time today daydreaming of 14 days of mai-tais and Hawaiian sunsets. I'm also looking forward to using some of my down time to read more of Montauk's book and get some MBA app prep done. You might scoff at spending vacation time working on this stuff, but it really will be an ideal time to make some headway in this process. I'm going with my mom and our condo will not have a TV. Kauai is a quiet island, not a lot of nightlife and we won't be eating out much, so we will likely spend our evenings reading. It will be nice to be able to bounce some of my ideas off my mom, especially since she will be one of my essay reviewers.

Can't believe the Lakers are down 3-1 in the finals. Poor Gary Payton, looks like he won't be getting his ring after all [/sarcasm] I'm a Seattle sports fan, and this summer has been brutal because the Mariners are just pathetic. No bats, too old, and managements seems to have no desire build a championship caliber team on the support of Seattle fans. Something's gotta give or else that support will soon be gone. It's not that we're bandwagon fans, it's just that we know what they're capable of and willing to put money behind them yet management is not. It's been a steep decline from 116 wins just 3 years ago. They're showing some signs of life, winning their last three, but there's really no way they'll finish any better than 3rd in the AL west. OTOH, the Seahawks are showing real promise and I'm looking forward to football season.

I've finished two books in the past week, Pledged and My Sister's Keeper, and I will continue thinking about both for awhile. I am a member of a "national, historically white" sorority and I'm still actively involved in both the local alumnae chapter and as a member of the advisory board for a local collegiate chapter. Pledged is an undercover look at sorority life and has created quite the stir in the sorority world (mostly negative) so I picked it up out of curiousity. What I found is that it was fairly honest in its portrayal of sorority life, both the good and the bad, though I felt Ms. Robbins spent more time on the bad and any time spent on the good was more of a backhanded compliment. I'm not going to defend what some sisters do. Some of it is indefensible. However, my personal experience was (and continues to be) a positive one that provided me significant opportunties for leadership and camaraderie. I feel proud of the contribution I've made to my sorority and I'm happy that I was able to share it with a few of my friends who had never previously considered Greek life. I'm happy that I'm able to help a collegiate chapter improve its sisterhood and its contribution to our sorority and campus life. The only thing that angered me about Pledged is that Ms. Robbins felt the need to expose secret rituals. It wasn't necessary to go there and she lost my respect because of it.

My Sister's Keeper was a great novel that takes a critical look at the ethical dilemma of genetic engineering and organ/tissue donation. It tells the story of Anna, a thirteen year old girl who was genetically engineered to be a perfect match for her sister, Kate, who is dying of lukemia. Anna is tired of being the invisible, spare parts provider for Kate and sues her parents for medical emancipation. Very good book, quick read, mostly sad but filled with hope, and a great dialogue for medical ethics.