Most news services reported yesterday that the USGS has issued a "volcanic advisory" for Mount St. Helens, the most famous of 6 active volcanoes in Washington state.
I grew up in Washington state and I was 3 years old when Mount St. Helens blew in 1980. I don't remember much of it because I was so young and because I lived in the least impacted part of the state. However, volcanoes were always a big part of our science curriculum and they've always fascinated me. I was watching Nova on PBS a couple weeks ago and they had a special on volcanoes and how the USGS monitors them for seismic and magmetic activity. It's amazing how they can pick up on the smallest of tremors and even the slightest shifting of the mountain, then use that information to try to predict erruptions and other volcanic events.
It sounds like the recent activity at Mount St. Helens is likely leading up to some sort of volcanic event, but nothing like the catastrophic event of May 18, 1980. What's interesting is that Mount Rainier and Mount Baker pose a much bigger threat to the Seattle/Puget Sound region, should another catastrophic erruption occur. Rainier has the largest glacial load of any peak in the lower 48, and Baker has it's fair share of glacial coverage, too. If those glaciers melt and/or a debris avalance occurs, it will mean big trouble for the river valleys coming off those mountains. My hometown is in the Skagit River valley and it would be in deep doo-doo should Baker errupt because the debris avalance and glacier melt would likely cause Baker Dam to fail (unless they had enough warning to be able to lower the level of the lake in time). Scary thought. Let's hope that guy on Nova gets his erruption prediction model fine tuned.
Back-to-back-to-back hurricanes in Florida, earthquakes in central California, and now volcanic activity in Washington state...this season Mother Nature sure seems determined to make us aware of how much we are at her mercy.
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Haas info session and a belated weekend recap
Last night, I attended a Haas information session here in San Diego. I thought the representatives from the admissions office did a great job of communicating a lot of information in a fair amount of time, despite warning us that their presentation might be a little rusty since it was their first road trip of the season. It was entertaining and gave me a feel for the Haas culture. Since I've already decided to apply and I got a lot of information about Haas from a friend, it was nice to just kick back and enjoy the show rather than furiously take notes and try to think of a bunch of questions on the fly. I found the panel of current and former students to be really interesting. One of the panelists just graduated and is working for a golf equipment company here in SD County. I was able to pull him aside later and get the scoop on a sports business seminar he initiated with the help of a fellow student and what it was like networking to get his internship and job. I also got answers to my more tactical application questions from the adcom folks, and I ran into a friend from undergrad (same one I saw at the Wharton info session awhile back) so we were able to catch up and compare notes on this whole application process.
I booked plane tickets for my visits to Berkeley and Northwestern/Chicago, so I'm working on schedules for my days on campus. I'm really looking forward to seeing the schools, meeting students, checking out some classes, interviewing, etc. I've made contact with people in each program's sports business/entertainment/media clubs so I'm hoping I'll have some folks in my area of focus lined up for lunch or just a meet & greet. It is going to be a BUSY month of October, but I seem to do my best work when I'm busy. I'm trying to schedule my Anderson interview and it is a pain in the rear. They just released another group of interview slots, but they all conflict with my schedule. ARGGHHH! I wish they'd get their San Diego/La Jolla info sessions scheduled soon so I can see about a local interview. Other than that, I'm just plugging away at my essays and data forms, waiting for my transcripts to be delivered, and making sure my recos have all the information they need. I updated my resume with feedback from a couple friends, my mom, and a co-worker. I have to say...I am damn proud of my resume. I may not have started my own company or commanded billion dollar Wall Street deals, but considering I'm four year post undergrad and I've been with the same company that whole time, I have a foundation of solid, significant experiences to build on in business school. This is obviously a high self-confidence week. Tune in next week when the self-doubt will surely resurface ;)
It was a great weekend for me, football-wise. My Wazzu Cougs beat Arizona in a barnburner, the Seahawks destroyed the 49ers, and my fantasy football team won. The guy I beat in our fantasy league is quite embarrassed that he lost to a girl, but this chick knows her football and is a force to be reckoned with. Next weekend will be a sad one since both my teams have BYEs, but that will be to the benefit of my application essays.
I put in some time at the beach on Saturday, then I hit Lake Elsinore for some wakeboarding Sunday morning with my usual crew, plus two of my friends who wanted to learn. One of my favorite things about wakeboarding is teaching other people. I remember that feeling of pure joy the first time I popped out of the water (followed shortly thereafter by "Oh $#%@! What do I do now?!" to faceplant). I love passing on that feeling to other people and I get the biggest rush from the look on their face when they finally do it. I have become very efficient at coaching people and it usually only takes them a couple tries to get it. The guys I ride with now refer to me as "coach." I know how good it feels to progress to the next level with my riding, and it makes me feel even better to help other people do it, too. Anyway, both girls got up and got some decent rides. At the end of the day you could tell that they had caught the wakeboarding "stoke" (to use a REALLY overused "extreme" sports word, but it is the best way to describe that feeling of excitement and desire to conquer a new challenge). You could not wipe the grins off their faces.
I booked plane tickets for my visits to Berkeley and Northwestern/Chicago, so I'm working on schedules for my days on campus. I'm really looking forward to seeing the schools, meeting students, checking out some classes, interviewing, etc. I've made contact with people in each program's sports business/entertainment/media clubs so I'm hoping I'll have some folks in my area of focus lined up for lunch or just a meet & greet. It is going to be a BUSY month of October, but I seem to do my best work when I'm busy. I'm trying to schedule my Anderson interview and it is a pain in the rear. They just released another group of interview slots, but they all conflict with my schedule. ARGGHHH! I wish they'd get their San Diego/La Jolla info sessions scheduled soon so I can see about a local interview. Other than that, I'm just plugging away at my essays and data forms, waiting for my transcripts to be delivered, and making sure my recos have all the information they need. I updated my resume with feedback from a couple friends, my mom, and a co-worker. I have to say...I am damn proud of my resume. I may not have started my own company or commanded billion dollar Wall Street deals, but considering I'm four year post undergrad and I've been with the same company that whole time, I have a foundation of solid, significant experiences to build on in business school. This is obviously a high self-confidence week. Tune in next week when the self-doubt will surely resurface ;)
It was a great weekend for me, football-wise. My Wazzu Cougs beat Arizona in a barnburner, the Seahawks destroyed the 49ers, and my fantasy football team won. The guy I beat in our fantasy league is quite embarrassed that he lost to a girl, but this chick knows her football and is a force to be reckoned with. Next weekend will be a sad one since both my teams have BYEs, but that will be to the benefit of my application essays.
I put in some time at the beach on Saturday, then I hit Lake Elsinore for some wakeboarding Sunday morning with my usual crew, plus two of my friends who wanted to learn. One of my favorite things about wakeboarding is teaching other people. I remember that feeling of pure joy the first time I popped out of the water (followed shortly thereafter by "Oh $#%@! What do I do now?!" to faceplant). I love passing on that feeling to other people and I get the biggest rush from the look on their face when they finally do it. I have become very efficient at coaching people and it usually only takes them a couple tries to get it. The guys I ride with now refer to me as "coach." I know how good it feels to progress to the next level with my riding, and it makes me feel even better to help other people do it, too. Anyway, both girls got up and got some decent rides. At the end of the day you could tell that they had caught the wakeboarding "stoke" (to use a REALLY overused "extreme" sports word, but it is the best way to describe that feeling of excitement and desire to conquer a new challenge). You could not wipe the grins off their faces.
Thursday, September 23, 2004
Forte Forum
I'd rate last night's event a B-. It was OK, but it wasn't great. 6 months ago, it would have been great, but at this stage in the game most of it is useless or it's stuff I already know. I'm kinda feeling that way with all of these information sessions. They are geared more towards people who are researching MBA options, not those of us who have done the research, narrowed down the list of target schools, and are currently working on applications. That's definitely the last time I'm driving to LA for one of these things, it's just not worth it.
It was cool to be at a "women only" event and I did enjoy the panel discussion even though many of the questions were pretty surface level. The presentation was definitely targeted at those who are still deciding if an MBA is right for them. The GMAC presentation ran long and was laced with marketing pitches for the various products they offer. They are the primary sponsor of Forte and I realize they should get some plugs in there, but at $225 a pop for the GMAT and $28 per score report I feel like I've already forked over more than enough money to them. After the presentations, each of the member schools had representatives available to answer questions. I was able to talk with an adcom from McCombs and get some insight into their essay questions, how to survive the Texas Common Application (it's a bear, let me tell you), and what to expect from career services with my intended career path. I also got to chat with a Chicago adcom and an alum. This conversation would solidify my decision to apply to Chicago. I like that it's big, but not too big, the curriculum is extremely flexible, and my experience with Chicago folks has been very positive. Chicago is one of the schools I originally applied to back in 2000 and I feel that it's only gotten better since that time. The alum told me about a student/faculty project that is of high interest to me and could provide interesting material for my application, so I sent an email to the adcom I met and she is going to send me a presentation about the project. Now I just gotta figure out an idea for the mascot question! So, that means that Wharton is off the list. A little disappointing because it means I won't be taking a gamble on any of the big 3 H/S/W, but I'm just really not sold on a program that big and I'm definitely not sold on living in Philly. The early deadline doesn't help either. I know this is the right decision for me, and it's one that I've arrived at while focused on my own thoughts and opinions, tuning out all the ranking and message board distractions.
It was nice to see Dirty Martini last night and hear all about her trip to NYC. She has definitely got her stuff together and is way ahead of the game. I will be anxiously awaiting her admission decisions. I'm confident they will be positive.
Work is much slower this week, my co-worker and I think our boss is taking it easy on us since the last two weeks were a bit crazy. I'm moving offices tonight...well, actually big dudes are moving my stuff tonight, but I had to pack it all up this afternoon. I'll be in something smaller than my current office and I'll lose the window, but I've enjoyed it while I could the past 9 months. Our team is lucky, most people at our level in the company are in cubicles, but we all have offices by some stroke of luck. In a way though, I miss life on the cube farm. It's much more social than an office. However, it is nice to be able to shut the door when I need to concentrate or when I have a conference call.
I'm making dinner for my boyfriend tonight. This is the first time I've cooked for him. In the two months we've been dating, he's cooked for me twice (and brought flowers 3x :) chivalry is not dead!) so I owe him one. On the menu tonight, chicken marsala with garlic mashed potatoes and green beans with caramelized red onions, served with a nice Chianti Classico. Then we'll watch Survivor with full bellies and pity those poor fools in Vanuatu.
It was cool to be at a "women only" event and I did enjoy the panel discussion even though many of the questions were pretty surface level. The presentation was definitely targeted at those who are still deciding if an MBA is right for them. The GMAC presentation ran long and was laced with marketing pitches for the various products they offer. They are the primary sponsor of Forte and I realize they should get some plugs in there, but at $225 a pop for the GMAT and $28 per score report I feel like I've already forked over more than enough money to them. After the presentations, each of the member schools had representatives available to answer questions. I was able to talk with an adcom from McCombs and get some insight into their essay questions, how to survive the Texas Common Application (it's a bear, let me tell you), and what to expect from career services with my intended career path. I also got to chat with a Chicago adcom and an alum. This conversation would solidify my decision to apply to Chicago. I like that it's big, but not too big, the curriculum is extremely flexible, and my experience with Chicago folks has been very positive. Chicago is one of the schools I originally applied to back in 2000 and I feel that it's only gotten better since that time. The alum told me about a student/faculty project that is of high interest to me and could provide interesting material for my application, so I sent an email to the adcom I met and she is going to send me a presentation about the project. Now I just gotta figure out an idea for the mascot question! So, that means that Wharton is off the list. A little disappointing because it means I won't be taking a gamble on any of the big 3 H/S/W, but I'm just really not sold on a program that big and I'm definitely not sold on living in Philly. The early deadline doesn't help either. I know this is the right decision for me, and it's one that I've arrived at while focused on my own thoughts and opinions, tuning out all the ranking and message board distractions.
It was nice to see Dirty Martini last night and hear all about her trip to NYC. She has definitely got her stuff together and is way ahead of the game. I will be anxiously awaiting her admission decisions. I'm confident they will be positive.
Work is much slower this week, my co-worker and I think our boss is taking it easy on us since the last two weeks were a bit crazy. I'm moving offices tonight...well, actually big dudes are moving my stuff tonight, but I had to pack it all up this afternoon. I'll be in something smaller than my current office and I'll lose the window, but I've enjoyed it while I could the past 9 months. Our team is lucky, most people at our level in the company are in cubicles, but we all have offices by some stroke of luck. In a way though, I miss life on the cube farm. It's much more social than an office. However, it is nice to be able to shut the door when I need to concentrate or when I have a conference call.
I'm making dinner for my boyfriend tonight. This is the first time I've cooked for him. In the two months we've been dating, he's cooked for me twice (and brought flowers 3x :) chivalry is not dead!) so I owe him one. On the menu tonight, chicken marsala with garlic mashed potatoes and green beans with caramelized red onions, served with a nice Chianti Classico. Then we'll watch Survivor with full bellies and pity those poor fools in Vanuatu.
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Mid week check in
Just wanted to pop on here quickly during lunch before I leave for LA. I'm attending the Forte Forum this evening and really looking forward to it. Looking forward to catching up with Dirty Martini, too, and hearing all about her New York trip. I'll provide a recap of the Forte Forum later in the week.
I kicked some serious application butt this week, but I still feel like I'm behind the 8 ball. I completed the majority of the data forms for each application, distributed my resume to a couple of friends for review, requested transcripts and/or completed the self-reported transcript option if available, finished a couple essay drafts, and compiled all the information my recommenders will need to be sent to them tomorrow. It's the essays that are really stressing me out and I'm wondering...how in the world is it already September 22?
Southwest Airlines is currently running an internet special for intra-California flights one way as low as $39 so I'm trying to figure out if I can squeeze in a trip to Berkeley before the Oct 19 Round 1 deadline since it would be nice to be able to answer their question with, "Yes, I have been to Berkeley..."
More to come later...
I kicked some serious application butt this week, but I still feel like I'm behind the 8 ball. I completed the majority of the data forms for each application, distributed my resume to a couple of friends for review, requested transcripts and/or completed the self-reported transcript option if available, finished a couple essay drafts, and compiled all the information my recommenders will need to be sent to them tomorrow. It's the essays that are really stressing me out and I'm wondering...how in the world is it already September 22?
Southwest Airlines is currently running an internet special for intra-California flights one way as low as $39 so I'm trying to figure out if I can squeeze in a trip to Berkeley before the Oct 19 Round 1 deadline since it would be nice to be able to answer their question with, "Yes, I have been to Berkeley..."
More to come later...
Friday, September 17, 2004
Kellogg info session & other ramblings
Last night I attended a Kellogg info session here in San Diego. To be honest, I was disappointed, but I don't think it was an accurate reflection of Kellogg. I left feeling that I didn't learn anything that I hadn't already found online. I don't know if other participants felt the same way and I'm curious if this experience was unique to the San Diego session. There were only four alums and one person from adcom present. They had technical difficulties so rather than giving a nice presentation with Powerpoint, the adcom representative had to read from her notes. I found it to be contradictory that they were telling us Kellogg is very collaborative, all about teamwork, known for strength in marketing, and has a large and extremely loyal network, yet they were only able to round up FOUR Kellogg alums in San Diego??? Things that make you go "hmmm." Still, I feel like I need to give them the benefit of the doubt, San Diego is definitely a smaller metro area than LA and it's not the adcom's fault that the host was unprepared technically. I also had really high expectations based on my experience with the Wharton info session I attended in LA. They really set the bar. I was glad the Kellogg session was local because if had I driven up to LA for that I would have been a little ticked off. However, I'm still really interested in Kellogg and I think it's probably a great program that just had a bad night. The alums that did attend had interesting stories to tell and seemed like they sincerely enjoyed their time at Kellogg.
Last week I spoke with a friend who is a Haas alum. Great conversation with lots of good tips for the application that I'm happy to share here. He served as a student on the adcom so he's got the experience to back it up. I think some of his advice is unique to Haas, but a lot of it is applicable to other programs as well.
Work should be getting back to normal next week. Today we make our final budget submission to corporate and then I get to breathe again. Woo-hoo! I had an excellent birthday Labor Day weekend and last weekend we had an awesome crab feast at the bay. I have several friends here from Maryland/Virginia so about 25 of us went in on getting 2 bushels of crabs (~150) overnighted from MD and we had a 3+ hour crab picking extravaganza last Saturday afternoon. Beer, crabs, & sunshine...it was perfect! Well, almost perfect. After winning their season opener at New Mexico, my Wazzu Cougars lost to Colorado in an ugly game. I was glad I was too busy with the crabs to watch it (although, I did Tivo it and watch some of it later). Tomorrow they play our neighbor university, the Idaho Vandals. WSU & UI are the two closest D-I public universities, separated by only ~8 miles. An old tradition is for the losing team to walk home after the game. I don't think my fellow Cougs will be making the walk this year.
Survivor returned last night. I Tivo'd it while I was at the Kellogg info session and watched it as soon as I got home. This season is battle of the sexes and the ladies won it last night. Go team! How much would it suck to be the first person voted off one of these shows? Actually, it would be embarrassing, but then you'd get to spend the rest of the time on a 35 day vacation in paradise...that might be even better than staying in the game, except for the million bucks, of course!
Tonight I've got a date with the boyfriend, we're going to do the traditional dinner & a movie. Tomorrow, the girl that I mentor and I will be participating in Hands On San Diego and volunteering for Meals on Wheels. Should be fun. Other than that, it will be a weekend filled with football & b-school apps.
Last week I spoke with a friend who is a Haas alum. Great conversation with lots of good tips for the application that I'm happy to share here. He served as a student on the adcom so he's got the experience to back it up. I think some of his advice is unique to Haas, but a lot of it is applicable to other programs as well.
1. Be sincere & be original. Don't say what you think they want to hear. It's boring and it dilutes who you really are, which is what they are after. The adcom is looking for diversity in the class so if you're trying to sound like someone else, you're not helping your case.
2. Be consistent. Make sure the story you tell in your essays aligns with the story told by your resume, recommendations, short answer questions, etc.
3. Short answer questions are very important! Take them seriously. Be creative and have fun with them. They are just as important as the long essay questions so give them the same level of attention and due diligence.
4. Give your recommenders plenty of lead time and do not be passive. Don't write the letter for them, but give them some guidance. Also, sincerity in the recs is just as important as in the rest of the app. Make sure your recommenders have an understanding of business school in general and the application process so they can write their letter in that context. (It should be much more professional than recs for undergrad and you need to set those expectations with your rec providers, he had a personal experience with this issue.)
5. Student involvement is a big deal at Haas so make sure to incorporate how you plan to get involved into your story.
Work should be getting back to normal next week. Today we make our final budget submission to corporate and then I get to breathe again. Woo-hoo! I had an excellent birthday Labor Day weekend and last weekend we had an awesome crab feast at the bay. I have several friends here from Maryland/Virginia so about 25 of us went in on getting 2 bushels of crabs (~150) overnighted from MD and we had a 3+ hour crab picking extravaganza last Saturday afternoon. Beer, crabs, & sunshine...it was perfect! Well, almost perfect. After winning their season opener at New Mexico, my Wazzu Cougars lost to Colorado in an ugly game. I was glad I was too busy with the crabs to watch it (although, I did Tivo it and watch some of it later). Tomorrow they play our neighbor university, the Idaho Vandals. WSU & UI are the two closest D-I public universities, separated by only ~8 miles. An old tradition is for the losing team to walk home after the game. I don't think my fellow Cougs will be making the walk this year.
Survivor returned last night. I Tivo'd it while I was at the Kellogg info session and watched it as soon as I got home. This season is battle of the sexes and the ladies won it last night. Go team! How much would it suck to be the first person voted off one of these shows? Actually, it would be embarrassing, but then you'd get to spend the rest of the time on a 35 day vacation in paradise...that might be even better than staying in the game, except for the million bucks, of course!
Tonight I've got a date with the boyfriend, we're going to do the traditional dinner & a movie. Tomorrow, the girl that I mentor and I will be participating in Hands On San Diego and volunteering for Meals on Wheels. Should be fun. Other than that, it will be a weekend filled with football & b-school apps.
Friday, September 03, 2004
College football is back!
This is going to be an awesome weekend. Holiday on Monday, birthday on Sunday, and countless hours of college football on Saturday, but it will start with a bang tonight. My beloved Wazzu Cougars kick off their season tonight at New Mexico (check out ESPN at 8 ET/5 PT). I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. I don't know how I'm going to stay focused at work today, but I've got a ton of work to keep me busy and have no intentions of coming in to work this weekend so I need to bust tail.
Happy 3-Day Weekend to All!
Washington State University. World Class. Face to Face.
Happy 3-Day Weekend to All!
Washington State University. World Class. Face to Face.
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
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.
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?
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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 :)
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 :)
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
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!
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!
Friday, August 13, 2004
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.
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.
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
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!
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!
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
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.
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.
Saturday, July 24, 2004
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.
Sunrise in Kauai
*Edit to add: This is slick! Picasa & Hello are VERY easy to use. I'm impressed.
Friday, July 23, 2004
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.
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.
Thursday, July 22, 2004
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.
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.
Sunday, July 18, 2004
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.
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.
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
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.
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.
Thursday, July 08, 2004
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.
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.
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
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!
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!
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