New GSB Blog

I'm a co-chair on the Dean's Student Admissions Committee and today we've launched a blog. (Disclaimer: This is blatant self promotion. I set the thing up.) It is completely student run/published. The co-chairs are hoping this new resource provides additional insight for prospective GSBers into the application process and what it's like to be a student at the GSB. Feel free to send me feedback; this is a work in progress and I would appreciate the input!

Check it out: Chicago GSB DSAC Blog

New Look

Pretty bad that I haven't been to Blogger in so long that I'm just now upgrading to the newest version. In honor of that, I decided to give the blog a little makeover. We'll see if I like it enough to keep it.

Fall quarter is over and I'm looking forward to my winter classes. Finals ended on Dec 8th, and ski trip in Steamboat Spring started Dec 11th. I wish I could say I had a blast shredding the mountain on my board. I did have fun, but I did not shred. No, I'm the idiot who hurts herself BEFORE the ski trip. I slipped on some sidewalk ice in my neighborhood a couple of days before the trip and wrenched my knee pretty bad. Thankfully, I did not re-tear my ACL that I had reconstructed 3 years ago (injured wakeboarding, of course). But I had to take it easy, so I cashed in my lift ticket for some spa treatments, read books and watched movies. We did have other injuries on the trip: a broken wrist, a dislocated shoulder, and a possibly torn ACL (these were in addition to my pre-trip injury). Everybody was in good spirits and had a good time, despite the injury bug.

I'm laying low until the boyfriend and I fly to Seattle on Christmas Eve for some family time. It's nice to catch up on Tivo'd shows, surf the web, update the blog, and generally be lazy. I did make a big decision recently though: I sent off my signed offer letter to American Express and I will be joining them in NYC after graduation. Let the good times roll :)

I'm in a New York state of mind

I'm back in NYC for a recruiting trip. Back? you say. Yes, this is trip #3 of 3 trips to NYC for second round interviews. All in the past 8 days. I'm tired. The first trip was a bust, the second trip resulted in an offer (a great one I'm really excited about), and this last one is a two-for-one with one interview today and one tomorrow. After that I have just one more second round interview in Chicago after the holiday and then I will be DONE. It feels so good to say that. I had some time this afternoon to enjoy the city, which is nice because before all this started, I had only spent a single day here. I walked, I shopped, I ate, I walked some more. It was fantastic. This is such a great city, and I'm beginning to see myself here after graduation. Which is weird for me since I started b-school assuming I'd move closer to home if anything, whereas now I feel I'm being drawn back to the east coast. Except it's not weird, because I'm completely excited by the prospect of a new adventure in a new city. Actually, I probably won't end up following the gameplan I laid out for myself at the start of b-school AT ALL, but it works for me because I'm a firm believer that your gameplan should never be so rigid that you can't allow yourself to take risks and open the door when opportunity knocks.

Classes are a total afterthought for me right now, and I'm not proud of that, but with this recruiting stuff, you just have to do what it takes to get through it and hope you come out OK. I get back to Chicago Tuesday night, have class on Wednesday, then head to Seattle for turkey day Thursday morning. It will be interesting, this being the first big holiday since my parents split up. I haven't been home for Thanksgiving since undergrad, but I felt like I needed to go home this year, for my family and for myself. I'd rather this be our initiation into "Holidays, Divorced Style" than Christmas. So it goes.

Don't let that last paragraph fool you. I'm still dealing with the divorce, but on the whole, things are pretty groovy in wakechick-land. I have a new offer, I still have my offer from the summer, and I'm going to Steamboat after finals to play in the pow-pow. Oh, and did I mention I have a new boyfriend and I'm absolutely crazy about him?

We're #1

So Business Week just announced that Chicago GSB is their new top dog. Whispers had been circulating this week that it might happen, and now the Hyde Park Center is atwitter with the latest accolade.

This weekend's Fall Preview for prospective GSBers should be fun.

And good luck to Round 1 applicants who are finishing up their applications this weekend in time for the Oct 18th deadline!

Snow in October?

Yep, its snowing here in Chicago as I type. On October 12th. Awesome.

Another strange thing I've seen here recently: A couple weeks ago it stormed really hard. Torrential rain, heavy winds, lots of lightening. Tons of trees went down, in fact they are still clearing the debris out of Hyde Park. So anyway, I was driving down Lake Shore Drive to school and noticing that the lake was really churned up, which is typical after a storm. The waves get big enough that your mind is *almost* fooled into thinking its the ocean. I go to exit at 57th street, where there is one of the city beaches, and notice figures bobbing in the water. Surfers. In Lake Michigan. Trying to make the most out of the storm and the "swell" it created. Felt like a scene straight out of the movie "Step Into Liquid." (Great movie, see the trailer here, there are a couple of brief clips from the segment about Great Lakes surfing)

And since I have so much time on my hands (ha--more like, so much desire to procrastinate and put off finishing a paper for tomorrow), I found a trailer for another surf movie on YouTube that is all about Great Lakes surfing:



God, I love YouTube.

On the school front:
Classes are good
Social life is good
Recruiting is good

Theme of the quarter so far: How am I so busy? We are second years, aren't we supposed to be coasting through it by now???

Back from summer hiatus

I guess I took an unannounced break from blogging, of sorts. Just too much personal stuff going on and too busy to really sort through thoughs and get inspired to post something. I'm really happy that classes resume next week. I'm looking forward to seeing all of my friends regularly and generally enjoying the hell out of my second year of b-school. I'm actually down on campus today to participate in a couple of Career Services panels. Maybe being back in HPC is what inspired me to break the seal on blogging again.

My summer internship at Brunswick was a lot of fun and resulted in an invitation to come back when I graduate. I'm still planning to test the waters with some selective recruiting this fall (when else in my life will employers from all over come to me?), but chances are pretty good I will go back. Boats are cool. Got to drive one of these down the Chicago River:


Took another RV-to-sporting event trip over Labor Day Weekend to see WSU take on Auburn. The outcome wasn't what I had hoped for, but we all had a great time. Talk about tailgating and southern hospitality, those Auburn fans know how to do it right.


Also went home for my 10 year high school reunion....all I can say is, what a trip.

Invasion of privacy

Remember how a couple of weeks ago McCombs School of Business announced they had been a victim of data theft? Well, today I got an email confirm that MY info had indeed been accessed, including my name, birthdate, SSN, and email address. AWESOME. I put a fraud alert on my credit bureau accounts as soon as the original announcement came out, but I may need to step it up and purchase one of those monitoring services for the next year to make sure no one screws up the perfect credit I've cultivated.

Very tired after a long but fun weekend. Teamed up with 6 other first year GSB women to rent an RV and drive down to Louisville KY for the horse race to end all horse races...the Kentucky Derby. Our RV was one of 14 RVs full of GSBers that made the trip. Not sure who found the lot we stayed in but we were literally right across the street from the main entrance to Churchill Downs. We had a couple of LEAD Facilitators in our group who had class til 5 pm on Friday, plus we had a couple of issues picking up the RV, so we didn't leave town until 7:30ish and rolled into Louisville about 2 am local time. (Yours truly did all the driving, I am officially the RV master.) By that point, everybody had moved from the drinking stage to the passing out stage, so we had like one beer then hit the sack.

We were roused from our beauty sleep around 8 am the next morning by a fellow first year, so started on some bloody marys shortly thereafter. We made our way into CD and to the infield around noon. I can report that the infield is as crazy as people say, and I can't imagine what it is like in the rain & mud. We were near turn 3 and the only race I saw (other than glimpses on the jumbo screen) was the Derby and even that I really only saw horse heads and jockey heads bobbing above for the 2 seconds it took for them to pass our area. Didn't even know the name of the horse that won, just that it was #8. But it was so much fun just to be there in the crowd and the weather was gorgeous. After the race, we went back to our RV, grilled up some burgers, played some Catch Phrase, and continued drinking beer. We also had to defend our RV from drunk guys trying to steal our liquor and drop a deuce in our toilet! We enjoyed the music provided by our neighbors until around midnight when we were all ready to pass out. Little did we know it would continue playing until 5 am, and that after a short two hours of peace, we would wake up to loud banging on our door and a request to move our RV away from the "dump" area. That's what we get for being the last to arrive!

RVing is so much fun. I grew up doing it with my family, so I was pretty excited about giving it a try on my own. Totally going to do the Derby again next year, and I can't wait for another RV trip I've got planned with some fellow Wazzu alums Labor Day weekend for WSU's season opener at Auburn.

Undeserving

Not sure how I managed to crack the Clear Admit top 10 since I've been totally MIA lately (and I was a loser and didn't even complete a ballot). But to those who voted, thanks for thinking of me. I hope my once-in-a-blue-moon posts put a smile on your face.

It's not that I haven't had time to blog, I'm just lacking a little inspiration and a lot of motivation. School-wise, this quarter has been a piece of cake compared to last quarter...my internship is all lined up, I'm taking 3 classes (instead of the killer 4 last quarter), and my involvement in student group activities is moderate. So why am I so scatterbrained, stressed out, and procrastinating my way to insanity? Well, I have a few friends who are moving, one friend who is dealing with medical issues, and the kicker...my dad has asked my mom for a divorce after nearly 34 years of marriage and 15 years of business partnership and has moved in with a woman with whom he's "just friends."

All I have to say is thank god this didn't happen last quarter or I would be a total basket case. Honestly though, I'm OK, just worried about a lot of other people right now so blogging is pretty low on the priority list. But I am keeping up on my blog reading. It's a great way to escape, so keep up the good work guys and gals :)

Pura vida!

So last night I got home from my fantastic spring break adventure learning to surf in Costa Rica. What a trip! I need another week to relax before I go back to school, but alas, Chicago GSB only gives us one week. Oh well, at least I don't have class until Wednesday so I have a couple of days to sleep in my own bed, catch up on house chores, buy my books, get back to normal, etc.

I went on the trip with 5 other GSB chicks and we headed down to Dominical, Costa Rica, last Sunday.



Just getting there was quite the trek. We got a cab to O'Hare at 4 am, caught the 6 am flight to Houston and connected through to San Jose, arriving about 2 pm. It was nice because we didn't even change time zones. However, we were still a bumpy 5 hour drive from our final destination of the Green Iguana Surf Camp at Diuwak Hotel in Dominical. It was dark when we arrived so we didn't get to explore too much...we were just happy to be off the road, out of the van, and getting a meal in our bellies.

Day 1 was pretty mellow. Our first surf lesson wasn't until later in the afternoon, so we had time to walk through town, get some breakfast, and go check out a local waterfall before we tried to catch some waves.

The waterfall



The Chicago GSB Ladies Surf Team



At around 2 pm, we met our coaches and headed down to our local beach, Playa Dominical. We first spent some time on the sand going over ocean basics and practicing our pop-ups, then it was time to hit the water and give it a go. I had taken a 2 day surf lesson at Surf Diva a couple years ago when I first moved to San Diego, so I remembered much of the basic info in my head, but my body had forgotten about it. We all took some tumbles, got a bunch of salt water up our noses (which would come out randomly later...hello, surf drip!) but by the end of day one, most of us had at least gotten our feet underneath us a few times and there were a few short but successful actual moments of surfing.

Day 2 was a late afternoon to sunset session at Playa Hermosa, a few miles to the south of Dominical. Gorgeous! The other chicks felt Hermosa got the best of them (bigger, more frequent waves combined with sore bodies), but I felt like I had a pretty good session getting to my feet more consistently and starting to find my balance. Plus, the setting was just too perfect. Beautiful beach, nobody but us on it, no man made structures in sight, surfing right up til sunset. I was pinching myself.

By Day 3, we had nicknamed all of our coaches and some of our fellow surfers...Mowgli, ZZ Top, Kid Rock, Shaggy, The Bod, Handlebars. We hit Playa Ventanas, a few more miles south of Hermosa and so named because of the caves that create windows/ventanas from the beach to the ocean. The waves were even bigger than the day before and I was starting to feel the fatigue, so the day was a bit of a struggle for me and I ended up a little sunburnt. I was glad to get off the beach and into the shade. The great thing about Ventanas is that the access is through private property. The property owners charge for access but that charge includes a refreshing pipa fria to end the day. (Pipa fria = chilled coconut with a straw....yum!)

Day 4 found us back at Ventanas. My usual board was claimed by someone else so I spent most of the time trying to get my bearings on a new board. Same length, but twice as heavy, so my balance was a little off and I felt like I had to paddle a lot more to get into a wave. However, once I got it figured out I got a little brave and went on an adventure to "the outside" (beyond where the waves were breaking). We had just been surfing on the whitewater, but real surfing happens from the outside. I was scared (just a little bit) and didn't actually take off on anything, but it was nice to float out there, see how waves develop, and practice paddling into waves from the outside a bit.

We went back to Playa Hermosa for our 5th and final day of surfing. It was by far my best day, even though my body had pretty much had enough. Because my body was saying uncle, I was climbing up more than popping up...also known as cheating and something you can only get away with in the whitewater, but that's neither here nor there... I was actually riding waves, feeling confident in my balance, going down the line, turning a bit, and generally having a blast! And everybody, ALL 6 OF US, had successfully caught a wave, popped up, and SURFED...what can I say but... GSB women kick ass!



In our rash guards & boardshorts, we look like pros already, don't we? I don't have any pics of us actually surfing yet, we are waiting to develop a waterproof disposable camera and the camp should be sending us the pics they took on our last day sometime soon. I promise to post them when I get them.

All in all, it was a great week. As they say in Costa Rica, "PURA VIDA!" Dominical is a funky little town. Our accommodations were what I would call rustic, but nice, and we did have air conditioning, a pool, great ceviche, and some interesting resident wildlife:

Q, our favorite monkey, right Megha?



The iguana in Green Iguana Surf Camp

It's official

I will be a summer intern for Brunswick Corporation.

Brunswick, you ask quizzically? Don't they do bowling and billiards?? Yes, but did you know they also do gym equipment, marine engines/accessories, and BOATS!

Reminder: the "wake" in wakechick doesn't stand for Wake Forest, it stands for wakeboarding, which is done behind BOATS!

So, this girl, who loves to spend as much of her time as possible on (or being towed behind) boats, gets to spend the summer working in the Brunswick Boat Group, product development division, working on voice of the customer stuff. (Think qualitative market research combined with internal consulting/strategic planning/change management.) To use a really overused "extreme sports" word....I'm stoked :) It's a great opportunity to take a chance, do something totally different than my previous work experience for the summer, and work on products that have a special place in my heart. And it's based here in Chicago, so no moving or subletting to deal with.

Does it get any better than this?

Internship decision

The second round interview that I mentioned in my last post? Yep, it resulted in an offer. A great offer. I feel very fortunate that I have two options that are both great opportunities. So now I have a decision to make, *quickly* considering the first offer explodes on Friday. I am pretty sure which way I'm going to go, but I still feel obligated to do my due diligence and make sure it's the right decision. And I'm starting to feel the pressure of that decision, the finality of it, the fact that I have to let someone down. It's like breaking up with someone. I feel like the Bachelor...two great prospects but only one rose to give out. (Yes, I enjoy cheeseball reality TV, it's a guilty pleasure.)

In a nutshell, do I want to go back to the same industry I was working in before b-school doing something kinda different, *or* do I want to do something really different in a new industry (one I'm pretty passionate about)? Thinking back to why I wanted to go to business school in the first place, it was for the latter opportunity. When I put it like that, it's a no brainer. But it still sucks that saying yes to one opportunity means saying no to the other opportunity (and great potential boss & coworkers).

(Companies to be revealed after I've signed on the dotted line....)

So many irons in the fire

Between midterms, interviews, and having a nasty cold that won't go away, life has been pretty crazy and there hasn't been much time for fun. And it's been really cold here (wind chills of -15 F at night!), so I've been laying low, staying home and watching the Olympics when I'm not on campus. I have three more interviews this week (2 first round, 1 second round) and then I'm pretty much finished with on-campus recruiting. What a drawn out process! As hellish as a dedicated week of interviews sounds (a la HBS), I think that might be better than this. I will be glad to be done, although I'm not sure when that will be. I have one offer right now, hoping to secure another one after this week (fingers crossed), but I also have some interesting off campus stuff that I may not hear about until mid-March. Which sucks when dealing with exploding offers!

We shall see what happens (and how good my negotiation skills are)....

The fix was in

Worst. Officiating. Ever.

Two words

Go Seahawks!

Tagged

I've been tagged by poweryogi. Thanks a lot, Yogi, it's not like I don't have anything better to do with 4 interviews and a midterm next week. Due to my previously stated policy, I won't be tagging anyone else.

Here you go....

Four Jobs I've had in my life:
* Babysitter
* Summer school teacher's assistant
* Cheerleading coach
* Restaurant hostess (with the most-ess)

Four Movies I can watch over and over
* Ferris Bueller's Day Off
* Love Actually
* The American President
* Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Four Places I have lived
* Pullman, Washington
* Richmond, Virginia
* San Diego, California
* In a fraternity house for a summer (and lived to tell about it!)

Four TV shows I love to watch (I still have a TV, and DVR helps me find time for my shows)
* 24
* Lost
* Grey's Anatomy
* Pardon the Interruption

Four Places I have been on vacation
* Budapest, Hungary
* Paris, France
* Kauai, Hawaii
* Vail, Colorado

Four Websites I visit daily
* ESPN
* Pink is the New Blog
* Americablog
* Go Fug Yourself

Four of my Favorite dishes
* my dad's mizutaki (he's not Japanese, but he cooks like it)
* my dad's kung pao chicken (he's not Chinese, but he cooks like it)
* my dad's arroz con pollo (he's not Mexican, but he cooks like it)
* a big, juicy, medium-rare filet mignon (preferrably grilled by dad, of course)
(Honorable mention: mom/grandma's sausage fondue)

Four Places I would rather be right now
* Kauai
* San Diego
* Seattle/Home
* Detroit (next weekend), with a Super Bowl ticket in hand...GO SEAHAWKS!

Playing games

Last night, I attended a ladies' poker event, co-hosted by Chicago Women in Business (CWIB) and the GSB Risk & Gaming Club. It was mostly a learn to play event, although there were a couple of us there with a little poker experience. I've played a little, mostly for fun/zero-stakes, and I'm still learning betting strategy. Play was pretty slow, but it was a good time. I finished just out of the money. However, I left at the end of the night as a likely co-chair of the Risk & Gaming club for next year! How this happened, I'm still not sure, but I'm actually pretty excited about it. Should be fun.

Super Seahawks

Wonder of wonders, last week the Seattle Seahawks ended a 2 decade playoff win drought and tonight they won the NFC Championship for their first ever trip to the Super Bowl. In Detroit. A reasonable drive from Chicago. We are totally road tripping, tix or no tix.

I am so freaking happy, I can hardly believe it. I've been a 'Hawks fan my entire life...I fondly remember going to games in the Kingdome, cheering on guys like Steve Largent, Curt Warner, Kenny Easley, the Boz, leaving with my ears ringing like I'd been to a concert. This is just so sweet, I only wish I was in Seattle right now to celebrate with my fellow Hawk Fans.

Deflated ego

Well, tonight I got my first round of on-campus interviewing closed list results. It did not go as I had hoped. At all. Quite a blow to the ego, the first of many to come, I'm sure. I'm disappointed, but not without hope. I did make two closed lists, both great companies that I would be happy to spend the summer working for (and interviews I should enjoy preparing for).

Since I want to go a non-traditional post-MBA route (sports industry), I was pretty selective with dropping resumes for on-campus stuff and I've been trying to mentally prepare for the likely game of chicken I will end up playing with the end of the school year and securing an internship. Even so, bad news is bad news, and rejection is never an easy pill to swallow.

So tonight I had a big bowl of ice cream and I'm evaluating my options, trying to decide what (if any) open lists I will bid for tomorrow. I'm also doing some more internet research to make sure I've got plenty of options/irons in the fire on the off-campus front.

On a brighter note, I've made my spring break plans official...I'm headed to surf camp in Costa Rica with 5 other GSB females, and I can't tell you how excited I am to go! I managed to get in one surf lesson in San Diego before I blew my knee out, and didn't get around to taking another after rehab. So this is my second chance to add surfing to my boardsports repertoire. Plus, I've wanted to visit Costa Rica for a long time. Should be a fantastic trip :)

Good luck R1 GSB Applicants

Just wanted to post a brief note before I hit the sack....good luck to all of the Chicago GSB Round 1 applicants expecting decisions this week. Word on the GSB message board is congratulatory calls will likely begin tomorrow afternoon, with all decisions posted Wednesday morning. I know you are all anxious, I remember those sleepless nights well, but do try to get some rest and have some fun over the next couple of days.

As for me, this quarter has been like being shot out of a cannon (or so I would imagine since that's never happened to me). Seems like we've gone from 0-60 in 3 seconds flat this time around, probably because we didn't have the cushion of CORE to ease us back into it. Plus, recruiting is going full steam ahead. I've dropped 8 resumes at this point and have a few to go. At this point, I'm wondering why I thought it was a good strategy to take 4 classes during winter quarter. Note to the Class of 2008: don't be like me and think you're smarter than the second years, believe them when they say you should NOT take 4 classes during winter quarter.