Pictures from Richmond, VA

Check out these photos of damage from Tropical Storm Gatson in Richmond, Virginia.

Slideshow of Richmond Flooding

Huge sink holes, 120+ roads damaged, severe flooding. Amazing. I lived there for three years, part of that time in Shockoe Bottom just a few blocks from the Farmers Market depicted in a few of those pictures. I used to park my car right in front of the canal off the James River that caused all that flooding. I've wakeboarded on the Chickahominy River. Scary. Richmond has had a tough go of it lately. Last year, they had a hurricane roll through town and just a few weeks prior had an earthquake. Most of my friends are on high enough ground that they should not be impacted, but I'll be making phone calls this afternoon.

What does your birth month say about you?

SEPTEMBER:
Suave and compromising. Careful, cautious and organized. Likes to point out people's mistakes. Likes to criticize. Stubborn. Quiet but able to talk well. Calm and cool. Kind and sympathetic. Concerned and detailed. Loyal but not always honest. Does work well. Very confident. Sensitive. Thinking generous. Good memory. Clever and knowledgeable. Loves to look for information. Must control oneself when criticizing. Able to motivate oneself. Understanding. Fun to be around. Secretive. Loves sports, leisure and traveling. Hardly shows emotions. Tends to bottle up feelings. Very choosy, especially in relationships. Systematic.

What does your birth month say about you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Kinda fun. Most of it is right on the money, but I don't think I'm nearly as critical as this description. Well, maybe I'm a little critical :)

Gone too long

Two weeks since my last posting, oh my! Am I a slacker or what? Well, blog upkeep has slipped down the priority list recently. Work has been keeping me very busy and I've been trying to make the most of the last couple weeks of summer. That's a pretty lame excuse though because summer doesn't really end here in San Diego. Hard to imagine that this might be my last non-winter winter if I end up in Chicago or Philly. However, part of me misses having real seasons. Fall in Virginia is beautiful and a winter without any snow doesn't feel right. I miss the GREEN of the Evergreen State (my home state of Washington), but I sure do enjoy year round wakeboarding, trips to the beach, etc.

MBA application update. I decided that 5 applications is definitely my limit since I want to get them all in Round 1. Crazy, I know, but that's the trade off for not retaking the GMAT and using a score that expires soon. So, last I checked in I was trying to reach a decision between Chicago & Wharton. I've decided to go with Wharton (but I did send a score report & transcript to Chicago just in case, better to be safe than sorry). Now I need to resume work on the Wharton essays that had been put off pending that decision. Haas essays are coming along, have not started any others. Resume has been updated. I've pushed back getting the dossiers to my reco's until Sept 10. I would rather get them to my reco's tight and on point a week later than originally intended than get them in this Friday half assed. It still gives them at least 4 weeks to complete the recs that are due the earliest. I'm still feeling good about getting all my apps done (and done well) for Round 1 even though I've been distracted lately.

Distraction update. Family in Florida survived the storm. Their houses did not fare so well. They are not completely unlivable, in fact they are staying there while cleaning up/fixing up to fend off would be looters. We were definitely worried about them. Like I said, work is crazy, but that is par for the course this time of year. I've been wakeboarding a bunch this past month. And I have a new beau. Perfect timing, right? I start dating someone I'm really digging right when I need to be focused on myself and making very important decisions about my future. Rest assured, enrolling in and completing an MBA program remains my top priority. In the mean time, I'm having a blast with the new beau. He teaches 2nd grade, so that's part of why I've been trying to enjoy the last few weeks of summer, because he's trying to enjoy his last weeks of freedom before it's back to school. We've gone to several concerts lately. Last Tuesday we saw The Cure and it was a great show. This past weekend was Street Scene here in San Diego, a two day music festival downtown with a laundry list of bands. Got to see Black Eyed Peas, Ludacris, Social Distortion, Foo Fighters, Jimmy Eat World, Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, and A Tribe Called Quest, among others. Tribe on Friday was worth the price of admission alone. It was their first performance together in 7 years and it was such a great show. Foo Fighters put on the best show on Saturday, IMO. Hit after hit after hit, high energy show. They rocked.

I had a great time meeting up with Dirty Martini and Dave for dinner a couple weeks ago. I met DM at the Wharton Info Session, but it was great to meet the man...the myth...the legend...Bloggin' Dave! They are both kicking butt in their application processes and I feel confident both will be matriculating at their programs of choice a year from now.

Got some great news today. I referred a friend for an open position at work. She was offered the position today and accepted! This means I have a nice bonus headed my way just in time to cover my application expenses. I'm happy for me, but I'm also very happy for her because the role is a perfect fit for what she wants to do long term. Definitely a win-win.

This weekend is my birthday and I'll officially be in my late 20s! The girls and I will be hitting the town Saturday night, the new beau is taking me to dinner on Sunday, and I should be wakeboarding at least once, if not twice. Should be a great weekend :)

My prediction: A very productive month of September! Ready, Set, GO!

I just talked to my dad, who talked to my aunt, uncle and cousins about 2 hours ago. They live in Port Charlotte, FL. According to CNN.com, Hurricane Charley has made landfall pretty much in their backyard. I am praying for their safety and the safety of all Floridians in the path of this monster storm.

Still ridiculously busy at work, and it looks like it should stay this way the rest of the month. Oh, joy!

I got a huge kick out of Chicago's essay questions. How much fun are those going to be? They may be the thing that convinces me to apply there, just because I'll have a blast writing their essays. I really want to limit myself to 5 applications. I don't want to sacrifice quality pumping out any more applications then necessary and I don't want to create too much of a burden for my recommenders. Adding Chicago would put me at 5, but that would mean not applying to Texas which I'm loathe to do. I've heard awesome things about Austin, there's a fantastic wakeboarding scene, UT has a great sports tradition and a large sports business student group. So that means I either have to bump it up to 6 or drop one of Kellogg/Wharton/Haas/Chicago/Anderson. Anderson & Haas are a given, because they are good programs, great brand (particularly on the west coast), I'm a CA resident, proximity to the media & entertainment mecca of LA, etc etc. Kellogg is pretty much for sure, due to the culture, location, size, brand, prestige in marketing, etc. I think it will come down to choosing between Chicago & Wharton. Argggh! I need to kick that around a bit over the weekend and make a decision ASAP.

But let's face it, I probably won't get much done this weekend because...the Olympics start today! I can't wait. My friend is having a Greek themed party tonight for the Opening Ceremonies, complete with spanokopita (sp?), greek salad, and wine...lots of wine, I'm sure. Thank goodness I have DVR, because tomorrow a friend is having a beach party during the day and another friend is having a birthday party in the evening. I will have to catch up on Saturday's action on Sunday. It should work out well because I will be able to skip all the commercials and boring special interest bits and move right into the action.

In this post-911 world, I am seriously concerned about our athletes at the games. I'm praying that we will never see another Munich. I've heard stories that our athletes are keeping a low profile, wearing less red/white/blue/USA stuff. I think that's sad, but smart. However, if I looked at the situation strategically, it makes more sense to strike somewhere unexpected if everyone is focused on Athens. It will be an interesting couple of weeks and I think the world will be holding it's collective breath until the games close.

On a more positive note, my Washington State Cougars open the 2004 College Football season just three weeks from today at New Mexico...GO COUGS!!! College football is my favorite sport to watch and I've been eagerly awaiting kickoff.

Time flies....

when you're busy! Work has been HECTIC. We've been undergoing some personnel transitions in the financial analysis team, and my forecasting colleague is out on vacation, so I'm holding down the fort this week and I'm the sole person to handle ad hoc requests from da boss. Meanwhile, we're getting into the thick of our quarterly forecasting cycle and the Q3 version is always a hoot because of the emphasis placed on next year and finding a way to meet corporate guidelines while growing our line of business. I'm looking forward to many revisions and lots of negotiating. It builds character, that's for sure, and provides some good stories for b-school application essays. I'm pretty pleased right now because we put together a big quarterly report, kind of a state of the union address and prelude to 2005 forecasting, and our presentation was very well received by senior management. We're off to a good start and da boss is happy.

I hope this means I will sleep better tonight because the past few nights have been rough. I don't have problems falling asleep, but I've been waking up around 2 or 3, then my mind will get going and I have a hard time shutting it down again. By the time I'm ready to fall back to sleep, I've got neighbor noise. The doctor upstairs has his alarm set for 4 am, and the girls next door like to run their blender around 6 am. If I do fall asleep, I'm out cold, which makes it that much harder to get up when my alarm goes off at 7. So it goes.

I have mixed feelings about the whole RSS/public/private debate. On the one hand, the reason I started a blog in the first place was to share my experience with others and to bounce my ideas off people. These are "public" objectives. While I'm not crazy about some of the more personal things in my blog getting syndicated and perhaps being taken out of context, I feel that they are a necessary part of my blogging experience if this blog is going to be about the real, complete ME. Much like an MBA application, it needs both professional and personal introspection, plus a bit of personality, to be meaningful and portray an honest account of who I am, what makes me tick, and why I've chosen this path. That's the only way it will be useful to me, and it's the only way it will be useful to others. Am I concerned that my thoughts, opinions, preferences, etc. in my blog will find their way to an adcom member and perhaps change their opinion of my application? Sure, but the truth is my applications *should* be consistent with my blog. Otherwise, what's the point? If they are consistent, I have nothing to worry about. Plus, I think adcoms are probably too busy to read every applicant blog and connect the dots back to specific applications. They have plenty of other, more important things to worry about.

That said, it's time for a disclaimer. This blog is not quite written as a stream of consciousness, but I want to keep it pretty informal and I certainly don't care to spend time correcting every typo, misspelling, or grammatical error. So please forgive me for not sweating the small stuff. Also, if you're reading my blog and you know me personally or think you might, please do me a favor and send me an email to let me know you are reading. Thanks!

Happy Hump Day!

Wednesday is a great day, 2nd only to Friday, because it marks the halfway point of the work week and it means the weekend is just around the corner. Last weekend was a good one. I had hoped to spend some quality time on the beach, but oddly enough the weather did not cooperate (unusual for this time of year in SD). So I spent it finishing up my book (The Queen's Fool), working on essays (barely), and deep cleaning my apartment because it had been awhile and I have friends from Virginia coming to town this weekend. The dust bunnies fought a valiant battle, but in the end I was victorious. We had a dinner party at my friends' house Sunday night with all the girls and the food was excellent. I made balsamic vinegrette marinated vegetable skewers for the grill and they turned out really good.

As I said in an earlier post, I've been reaching out to people in sports/media/entertainment related student groups at my target schools and getting some responses. I made a couple phone calls last night. I didn't manage to get in touch with the guy from Wharton, but had a nice half hour conversation with the Sports Business Association Co-Chair from Anderson. He gave me some great information about the club and the program, his experience getting his internship with the Rose Bowl, the Anderson network, classes, etc. Very helpful guy and I'm excited to incorporate some of this stuff into my essays, if Anderson ever gets around to publishing them! I sent a thank you email after the Wharton Info Session to the leader of the media/entertainment breakout session and we've been exchanging emails. He's shared a couple of contacts, a powerpoint presentation from the Entertainment & Sports Marketing class at Wharton, and information about an "experience-based" M&E course that they will be adding in the fall. I'm so happy that I sent that thank you email because he has turned into an excellent source of information.

I've been watching the Democratic National Convention on PBS this week. The coverage is much more comprehensive than the networks, I like the commentary and analysis better, and there's virtually no commercial breaks. It's a shame that the networks didn't televise last night's session because Barack Obama's keynote address was pretty terrific (click the link for a transcript in case you missed it). On the other hand, it's probably to the Dems benefit that the networks did not televise last night because the rest of the speakers pretty much sucked. I consider myself an independent because I don't think either of the major parties get it right. Thanks to my background in economics, I'm fiscally "conservative" because I believe in smaller government and states' rights, yet on matters of civil liberties, reproductive rights, etc. other people would probably label my views as "liberal". Anyway, whether you agree with him or disagree with him, you have to admit that Barack Obama is a talented, charismatic speaker and will be a political force to be reckoned with in the years to come.

Picasa is cool

Just playing around with publishing photos. I had to reformat my hard drive last night (don't ask), so in the process of reloading additional programs, music, and pictures I decided to add Picasa and Hello. I hope this works. I'm finally getting around to sharing a photo from Hawaii a month later!
 

Sunrise in Kauai 

*Edit to add: This is slick! Picasa & Hello are VERY easy to use. I'm impressed.

Wharton...wow

I have tasted the Wharton Kool-Aid...and it tastes good! As of last night, I'm officially off the fence and will be applying to Wharton.

Before I get to a recap of the event and why I'm a convert, I have a little tangent to take care of. I arrived at the event a few minutes early (not as much as I had hoped thanks to traffic) and imagine my surprise when I step off the elevator and run into a friend from undergrad at Washington State. Small world, eh? Come to find out he's also living in San Diego. I couldn't track him down after the break-out sessions and swap contact info so...Dave Otis, if by some chance you're reading this, email me!

The first 15 minutes or so was just a free-for-all social hour. I did not get any networking done since I spent most of the time catching up with Dave and meeting Dirty_Martini in person. After the social, they herded us into a large conference room and all of the alums (probably 15-20)  introduced themselves and provided little anecdotes from their time at Wharton. The host of the event went through a few slides with talking points for each of three main categories: Career, the Wharton Experience, and Applying. The alums volunteered their insights about each category. A couple of my favorite quotes:

"Play the hand you're dealt masterfully. Wharton will give you a new set of cards and the adcom wants to make sure you'll know how to play them well" (in regards to dealing with strengths and weaknesses in your application package)

"Don't bullshit the bullshitters" (in regards to students who serve on the adcom, who will see through any BS you put in your application because they've been there and done that)

Key messages for applying/getting in:  Don't be generic. Be sincere. Be specific. Bare your soul. Prove to the adcom how bad you want it.

Other highlights from the alums: The network is very powerful and it's worldwide. They know how to have a good time. Whartonites are very smart and worldly, yet humble and very candid.

What got me off the fence? The kicker was the media/entertainment breakout session. This was my biggest concern with Wharton. My post-MBA aspirations are in the strategic planning/business development realm of the sports media industry. Wharton is not known for media, nor is it in one of the media centers of the US. What I learned in the breakout is that somewhere like Anderson might make it easier to get a job, but your MBA will be very media focused and your network will be great in LA, but limited elsewhere. They really sold me on the idea that Wharton will provide a great general business management education that you can supplement with student group activities and working the worldwide network. And its so true. An MBA will not get you a job in media, passion and networking will. So Wharton gives you solid generalist knowledge, involvement in media related activities will signal your passion to potential employers, and the network will provide contacts to get a foot in the door. One other point is that coming out of Anderson, you're one of many trying to get in the door. Coming out of Wharton, you're one of a handful, and last night showed me that Whartonites are fiercely loyal and passionate about Wharton.

Dirty_Martini and I both walked out of there last night with Kool-Aid grins on our faces. I don't think they were trying to sell Wharton last night, but we were ready to buy.

Progress is good

Last night I went on a little fishing expedition. I looked up contact information for student groups related to sports/entertainment/media management at each of the programs I'm considering and sent out several emails in search of more information about the clubs, job/networking prospects, and the programs in general. To my pleasant surprise, I found a few responses in my inbox this morning. I figured it may take awhile to get a response since everyone is busy with internships this time of year, but a few kind souls were nice enough to reply back and answer my questions or offer to speak to me on the phone. I think this will provide some key information for me to finalize my list of schools and will help me be able to articulate why I'm interested in program X in my why MBA/why now/why program X essays. Good stuff, indeed.

Today, I'm cutting out of work early to head up to LA for the Wharton information session. Looking forward to meeting the infamous Dirty Martini there. Wharton is a program that I'm kind of "on the fence" about. Given my post-MBA aspirations, I'm not sure it's a natural fit, but it's worth getting some more information so I can get off the fence and move on with things. Traffic is going to be a nightmare no matter what time I leave. The info session is near the notoriously bad area of LAX, and OC/LA traffic in general sucks. It could be 11 pm on Saturday night and still be bumper-to-bumper on the 405. I will probably hit traffic before I even get north of La Jolla. Opening Day at the Del Mar Racetrack was yesterday and they are racing this afternoon so it could be ugly for most of the 120 mile trip. Yippee! Wish me luck.

Lazy weekend

After a fairly busy week at work, it was nice to have a somewhat lazy weekend. I made tentative plans to head up to Irvine to watch the Pro Wakeboard Tour, but ended up staying in San Diego so I could get some things done around my apartment while I had some free time.
 
Meeting my mentee was great. "M" is a very outgoing and friendly teenager. Her family is poor and as I said earlier is she one of 9 kids, so I can see how she might get lost in the shuffle. She opened right up to me and I think we're going to get along great. She has some big dreams, but it seems like no one has really helped her make a plan to achieve those goals. I hope I'll be able to help her get moving towards them. I'll probably be seeing her again next week. We'll spend the next month or so just getting to know & trust each other before we delve into the reproductive health curriculum. Lucky for us the program has a clinic tour scheduled for next month that should help us get started. I'm still a little nervous about this part of the program, but I think I'll do fine. It will be interesting to see what kind of questions she has and how much she'll want to know about my own personal experiences. I also want to incorporate some personal finance education into our relationship. Financial literacy is a major corporate citzenship initiative for my employer and it's also a cause I care about. I have so many friends whose parents never taught them about debt and financial responsibility. (My parents drilled it into me...they own a collection agency!) Many of them are up to their eyeballs in credit card debt and a couple have declared bankruptcy. It's sad. I don't know why my generation has this notion that they should start out after school at the same standard of living as their parents. We forget that they worked hard for years to save up for that new car, new furniture, or exotic vacation. With the wide availability of consumer credit, we live in a time of instant gratification and it's a slippery slope to being in over your head. I think some predatory lending does go on and is partially to blame (trust me, there are times when I feel like I work for the devil), but each of us are ultimately reponsible for our own finances. If kids aren't getting educated about it at home, I think it's time for our schools to step up and implement personal finance curriculum. OK, off the soapbox.
 
I looked into using an admission consultant before I left on vacation. I couldn't believe the expense involved and I took note that ad comms are known to frown on using these services. I decided to use Clear Admit for an assessment and application strategy recommendations only. I felt like it would be worthwhile to have an impartial third party with ad comm experience take a look at my profile and experiences and get an honest opinion about things that should be highlighted, weaknesses that need to be addressed, and potential pitfalls to avoid. I also feel very strongly that execution of this strategy is my task and should be done without professional assistance. This is something I want to accomplish via my own hard work. I received the assessment from Eliot on Friday and I'm very pleased with the feedback. I'm ready to dive into my essays and feel like I'm well on my way to getting some acceptance emails.
 
One thing he addressed I'll be contemplating for the next couple of months. Harvard & Stanford consider my GMAT score too old and I'd written them off as a result. I think my time and money will be better spent on putting together some kick ass applications for Kellogg, Wharton, Haas, and Anderson. He planted the idea in my head that I can send my current score reports to those schools, retake the GMAT, then send the new scores to just H/S. Even if I don't score as well, there's no risk because the other schools have my old report. Hmmm, I don't know. It's still a lot of time, effort, & money. I think I'll stick with my original plan and apply to the schools I'm currently targeting in round 1, then depending on how I feel, retake the GMAT and submit round 2 apps to H/S. I'll cross that bridge or take the ferry when the time comes.

Great Concert

Went to the Sarah McLachlan concert last night, what a great show. She has a fantastic voice, did all of her favorite songs, played an hour and 40 minute set without so much as a water break, followed by a 20 minute encore. All of this for under $60 (she wanted to keep the show affordable, definitely could have charged more). It's been 6 years since her last tour and you can tell she is thrilled to be back on the road and in front of a crowd. Highly recommend! On a side note, I was surprised by the number of guys in the audience, much more than I expected. Lots of "date nights" apparently. I went with my friend A, she excused her husband from date night.

Do you ever notice how easy it is to get up early when you don't have to or when it's to do something fun, but if it's just to go to work it's torture? I think its something to do with the awful "beep, beep, beep" of the alarm. No matter if I go out the night before, I wake up naturally on the weekends feeling refreshed, around the same time my alarm would be driving me crazy during the week as I beg it for just one more snooze.

On the MBA front (it is the point of this blog after all so I should probably mention it), I've got some essay ideas outlined and I've compiled information that will be useful in completing the applications (performance appraisals, transcripts & class descriptions, score reports, etc). I really need to narrow down my schools and discover a "hook" for why I want to join each program. To that end I will be spending this week reading program reviews and tracking down contact info for current students that would be willing to chat with me about their experience. Narrowing down needs to happen soon because I need to send GMAT scores and I'd prefer not to waste money by only sending those that are necessary. I will be able to order transcripts from WSU, too.

I'm in the process of updating my resume. Yuck, what a task. I've been with the same company since UG so it has been seriously neglected and needs an overhaul. Thanks to Dave for posting the Wharton Resumes. It's nice to have a reference for what a typical MBA resume looks like. Kudos to Dave for keeping us all in the loop with deadlines & essay questions...you're the best, dude! His blog has so much valuable information for all of us MBA wannabes.

Since Riter enjoyed the Mai-Tai recipe, here's another one of my favorites: Dirty Margaritas. Not to be confused with the Dirty_Martini, its neither the drink nor the MBA blogger. My friend A taught me this one and I believe she got it from the book, The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love, which is one of the funniest books I've ever read.

OK, here's the drink: Take one can frozen limeade concentrate (melted) and put it in a pitcher. Save the can because you need it for the next part. Add one can full of Sprite or 7-Up. Add one can full of your favorite tequila. Add a bottle of Corona. Serve on the rocks. Salt optional. That's it. I know it sounds a little weird, but the resulting concoction is fizzy limey goodness that is very buzz worthy.

Mentoring

I'm really excited because tonight I meet the girl I'll be mentoring for the next 6 months, "M". I'm part of a program here in San Diego called BRIGHT Families. They have such a great mission. It's a mentoring program like Big Brothers/Big Sisters, but it's a bit more structured and they have specific objectives towards preventing teen pregnancy/STIs/crime/etc. The big cities in CA have some of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the country and BRIGHT works with teens (girls AND boys, and their families) who live in the areas of San Diego with the highest rates. So far, I know that M is 15 years old, is one of 9 kids (!), and dreams of being an astronaut. I can't wait to meet her.

36 days until the Olympics start. I love the Olympics, particularly the Summer Games. My favorite event is gymnastics, since I was a competitive gymnast as a kid inspired by Mary Lou Retton in the 1984 Games. I think I signed up for my first class about a week after she won. I also enjoy track & field, swimming, & diving. I hope Greece is ready and I hope all of the athletes/delegations/fans are safe.

Have I mentioned I'm addicted to DVR/TiVo? Thank god I have it for the Olympics. I hate to miss anything and I love that I can fast forward through the ads and junk I don't want to see. Like Miranda of Sex & The City said, "TiVo is my boyfriend." It's one of those things, like my cell phone, that I wonder how I ever managed to live without it. I will put off watching a program just so I can have the joy of skipping the commercials.

First episode of "Amazing Race 5" was great, of course. I think it rocks that they have a little person on one of the teams. I hope they do well, but I think I'll be pulling for the father/daughter team to win since I would want to be paired with my dad if I was competing. He and I are excellent traveling companions. He joined me on a trip to Paris with an all-star dance team I was on in high school. We had a blast and I think it was our great attitudes that resulted in so many positive interactions with Parisians.

I'm baaack

For starters, I just got home from a friend's house and had an encounter with a nasty possum kicking it outside my front door. YUCK. Big, ugly overgrown rat. Gave me flashbacks to childhood when I found a possum that had hung itself in a fishing net inside our shed. Really, YUCK.

On a brighter note, Kauai was great. Two weeks vacation was great. Spending time with my mom was great. We went to all of our favorite beaches, read some great books, spent a day at a spa, and drank lots of Mai Tais (see the recipe below, it's the best). I took a kiteboarding lesson and it was awesome, can't wait to take another one. Add another boardsport to the list for this girl. Mom wasn't a ton of help on the b-school front, actually she just added to my anxiety about the mountain of debt I'll incur, but I did get some reading and outlines done. So it goes.

What did I do my first day back in San Diego? Yep, went to the beach. Can't get enough of the ocean. First day back at work was fine, I had a ton of email to sort through and I've got a healthy to-do list for the next couple weeks, but I'm re-energized from my vacation. I hope I can ride this momentum for the next few months through the application process.

Amazing Race 5 starts tonight, woohoo. Best reality show on TV, it would be a blast to do.

OK, for the Perfect Mai Tai, first you have to make "the recipe." This is your juice base. Combine 1/2 gallon orange juice, 1/2 gallon pineapple juice, 1/2 can lilikoi (passion fruit) concentrate (melted), and 2 glugs of orgeat/almond syurp. To that, add rum of your preference. Our favorite is a shot of coconut rum, a shot of Captain Morgan Spiced Rum, and a float of Meyer's dark rum. YUM!

Let the vacation begin!

It's official, I'm on vacation. I leave for Hawaii in 10 hours :) Just in time because this June Gloom is really getting to me. Which doesn't make much sense since I grew up in Western Washington and I should be used to gray days. I'm just not used to them during the summer. My friends and I went to the Padres-Blue Jays game tonight. Wells got rocked early and their rally in the 9th fell short so the losing streak continues. At least the Mariners won.

Not sure how often I'll be able to update this during the next two weeks. I refuse to schlep my laptop to paradise. But a recap with pictures will be in order when I return.

Doubts

The more I think about b-school, applications, the admissions process, etc. the more I find myself wondering if I'm really good enough to get in to a top ten program or if I'm only kidding myself. I've never really doubted my abilities in the past, yet for some reason b-school has flipped on the self-doubt switch. I didn't go to an Ivy League school. I've managed money, but I've never managed people. I don't think of myself as a particularly creative writer, so essay anxiety is already starting. Maybe I've been spending too much time reading the BW forums, where everyone seems to have off the chart stats and the "admissions consultants" seem to feed the doubt in order to drive their business. I can see how the forums will become addictive and I need to find alternative, less negative outlets for the nervous energy that comes with this journey.

I had a great discussion with my manager yesterday. We meet one-on-one at least once a month, if not twice, to discuss my development. He gave me some great feedback on the short term goals & improvements I've made and then we started talking about long term goals/path to a promotion. I mentioned that I'd be adding a new wrinkle to consider because I will be applying to b-school in the fall. Very scary moment, laying it out there, waiting for his reaction. He was so positive about it, volunteering himself to write "great" recommendations. I didn't even have to ask. He even volunteered me to proofread them for him since he is not a native English speaker. He's considered b-school in the past and we found out that we scored the same on the GMAT. Funny, all that stress about his reaction for nothing. I should probably apply that lesson to my other b-school related doubts & stress. Not that I should allow myself to become complacent, but I definitely shouldn't get so wound up that it cuts into my beauty sleep.

Check off securing recommendations from the to-do list. Current manager & former manager are both on board!

Single female voters & "The Daffodil Principle"

My friend forwarded me this article that ran in the Village Voice about the role single women will play in the presidential election. It's an interesting article, I just wish the author had chosen to interview a few women that were a little more politically savvy. Even so, at least one of the women echoed my opinion. I don't want either of them and it's difficult to get excited about voting for whomever I decide is the lesser of two evils.

Presidential Candidates Court Single Women

Another friend sent me this "feel good" email. Usually, they get the boot from my inbox pretty quick, but this one provides a good lesson on setting big goals and pursuing them one step at a time. Kinda cheesy, but it seems pretty relevant to me!

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mother, you must come see the daffodils before they are over." I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead. "I will come next Tuesday, " I promised, a little reluctantly, on her third call. Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove there.

When I finally walked into Carolyn's house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said, "Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in the clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see bad enough to drive another inch!" My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this all the time, Mother."

"Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her.

"I was hoping you'd take me over to the garage to pick up my car." "How far will we have to drive?" "Just a few blocks," Carolyn said. "I'll drive. I'm used to this." After several minutes, I had to ask, "Where are we going? This isn't the way to the garage!" "We're going to my garage the long way," Carolyn smiled, "by way of the daffodils." "Carolyn," I said sternly, "please turn around." "It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience." After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign that read, "Daffodil Garden." We got out of the car and each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a corner of the path, and I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight. It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns - great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, saffron, and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted as a group so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

"But who has done this?" I asked Carolyn.

"It's just one woman," Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home." Carolyn pointed to a well kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio, we saw a poster. "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking" was the headline.

The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs," it read. The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and very little brain." The third answer was, "Began in 1958."

There it was, The Daffodil Principle.

For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun - one bulb at a time - to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Still, just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, had changed the world. This unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. She had created something of indescribable magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.

The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration. That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time - often just one baby-step at a time - and learning to love the doing; learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world.

"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn. "What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years. Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. "Start tomorrow," she said. It's so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, "How can I put this to use today?"

So, stop waiting...

Until your car or home is paid off

Until you get a new car or home

Until your new job comes along

Until your kids leave the house

Until you go back to school

Until you finish school

Until you lose 10 lbs.

Until you gain 10 lbs.

Until you get married

Until you get a divorce

Until you have kids

Until you retire

Until summer

Until spring

Until winter

Until fall

Until you die...

There is no better time than right now to be happy. Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So work like you don't need money, love like you've never been hurt, and dance like no one's watching.

Earthquake update & stupid drunks

Here's a link to the preliminary report

Not a very bad one. 5.1, 55 miles off the coast just south of the border and about 9 miles deep. No threat of a tsunami to any of the west coast. They had been predicting an earthquake around a magnitude of 6+ in Southern CA. Predition Link No significant damage or injuries being reported thank goodness.

On a somewhat crazier note, I live out at the beach. A lot of young people live out there and it has a pretty good nightlife, so crazy things happen from time to time. For example, most people who live in PB have beach cruisers, i.e. granny bike with big handle bars, comfy seat, and a basket. Easier to get around PB on a bike and you don't have to worry about parking, but you still have to be careful because the cops can issue you a bike DUI. Seriously, and it's very funny to see it happen. However, this is definitely one of the crazier things in awhile. I may even classify it as crazy with a K.

Drunk Driver Hits 20 Cars

OK, if you're so wasted that you can't drive down the street without hitting a dozen parked cars, how did you even manage to get the key in the ignition???

No MBA-related updates today. I've got too much to do at work (when I'm not diving underneath my desk) and I have several errands to run this evening to purchase odds-n-ends for my trip.

Earthquake

We just had a nice sized earthquake here in San Diego. Not my first having lived on the west coast for 24 years, but my first one experienced in a high rise. I'm on the 10th floor of a 30 floor building. It was interesting. The funny thing is you're safer in these big, new buildings because they are built strategically to "go with the flow" when the earth starts to move. Still a little shaky here. Me, not the earth.

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.