MBA Experience

I think I've come to terms with moving, but I still can't see myself going to class or studying in 3 months' time. I still can't picture myself as a student, especially on my way to an MBA, nor can I see myself toodling around a campus on a weekday when I'm so used to a cubicle life 5 days a week. When is the reality of this all going to set in? When I'm in New York? When I leave my job? It all feels very unreal to me.

... but this is also weird: as I was writing this, Linda Meehan called to say, "We'll see ya in August!!!" Did I mention that I don't believe in coincidences? She must be a mind reader or Columbia has their Kroll spies watching me 'at work,' working harder than ever (wink wink).

I know I have too much hair for just one person. So, I'm donating at least 10 inches of it to Locks of Love next month, but I have mixed feelings about this. I'm actually thrilled to donate hair to a sick child, but(!) my hair is unruly sometimes and I don't know if I wish my daily hair drama onto others. I'm also scared to cut that much hair from my head. I have the type of hair that expands as it shortens, so I'm nervous about cutting off too much - it has to go past my shoulders or I will look like Annie. Scar-y.

It's funny how work life changes once people know you are leaving to go get your MBA at a kick-ass school:

1. I've also been told by a couple of people that I'm the smartest person they know. HA! I've never been told this prior to, say, three months ago and I can think of LOTS of people I personally know who are smarter than I am. I'm not being modest, I just know that I have tons to learn.
2. I have way more credibility amongst my coworkers. There's no push back on my ideas from the seniors anymore and some of my more experienced colleagues are now picking my brain for ideas and suggestions. There was a time, not so long ago, when my suggestions were discredited because I hadn't put in enough 'time' to be worthy of listening to.
3. My replacement is officially going to be a position offered at a higher level in order to get someone at 'my caliber.' Funny, but I wasn't being paid at that higher scale.... dude, I should be making $10-15K more than I am, if that is the case.
4. I'm suddenly everyone's top candidate for 'The Apprentice.' Really, I have no desire to work for Donald Trump. Thanks, but no thanks. However, Martha look out! I'm taking you down to Chinatown.
5. Some people think that I will be hanging out with CEO's from now on. Actually, I have a nice bench picked out in Central Park just in case I don't get student housing. I'm more likely to be chillin' with the homeless than rubbing elbows with the rich and powerful at this point.
6. Apparently, I'm coming back as everyone's boss. Well, I'm not coming back. Ever. Never, ever, ever.

There you have it. My, how things change when people see you are going on to do better things with your life.

OK, this is way off topic from any of my rants so far, but I have to get something out there. Inspired by Days' post on the button-down blue shirt, I need to vent that the Going Out Guy Uniform (the patterned, long-sleeve collared shirt) is just as bad.

Here are examples of what I'm talking about

These are nothing more than flamboyant work shirts that 50% of the guys wear when they go out at night to the bars, pubs, clubs, etc. It didn't bother me until I went to Vegas and saw groups of guys wearing the same clothes and looking like little clones of each other. Mmmmm, actually they looked more like flocks of sheep. I bet they'd like Wales.

I notice The Uniform everywhere now and the trendiness of it all drives me nuts. The worst part is that I think I'm going to see more of this in my next 2 years. grrrrrrrrrr. ok, I feel better now.

I admit, I've watched tons of movies lately, but I'm also doing something to feed my brain in the meantime: reading! I just read Anthem by Ayn Rand and it gave me some food for thought, so I'm going to tackle Fountainhead next. I also bought Never Eat Alone, which I will read after that.

Some other books on my "To Read" list for the next two months are: Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tara Road , The Time Traveler's Wife , and The Virgin Blue . I haven't bought any of these books yet so if any of these are not worth reading, please someone tell me before I go out and waste my money.

I just wanted to add that Chitty Chitty Bang Bang holds a special place in my heart. I distinctly remember watching this movie when I accidently spilled a cup of Kool Aid into the VCR when I was 6 years old. This was back in the 80's when VCRs were new and they cost a lot. I believe we only had the VCR a few weeks when I was almost disowned by my entire family at that very moment. Man, that's a tough weight to bear as a 6 year-old, but, thankfully, I've mostly recovered from that dark moment in my life.

p.s. - I really have nothing MBA related to blog about these days, so please excuse the random postings that may come along in the next few weeks.

Ah, my first crochet project. Notice the fine lines and texture! This actually took me about 4 days to create, but I have to keep it to remind me how bad I was when I first started! 

projects 2 & 3... coin purses and a coaster. I think I will throw the coaster away cuz it's ug-ly! 

Here are projects 4 and 5, a drawstring bag and then the blue purse set.  

My current masterpieces. The left project is a baby blanket for the Golden Child and the right is my scarf, which is still in the works. 

Today, I downloaded the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang soundtrack from iTunes. You should too.

There are some things about my workplace that I will miss. Granted, there's not too much I'm going to miss, but I had a sentimental moment (already) at work today about the oddities that exist here and make my company 'unique.'

I went to a retirement party for a guy known as "The Spoon." He introduces himself that way to people because he's a true 'stir the pot' kind of guy and he fully embraces that trait. Anyway, The Spoon has to be in his mid sixties, yet he has a young soul. We've had conversations about the Foo Fighters, the White Stripes, and local radio station DJs, Kevin and Bean. He's the only older man I know that listens to alternative music and has grandkids at the same time.

I found out something odd yet fantastically funny about The Spoon today: he's raising a cockroach that he caught at work in a Tupperware container. NICE. He named the roach Ethan and feeds it donuts. I'm not sure what else Ethan is fed but he's been growing since his new owner's been feeding him. Apparently, The Spoon caught the roach at work and taped him to a white board. After two days, he transferred Ethan to a plastic container and has been taking care of him ever since. The rumor is that Ethan's leaving the company and moving to the River with The Spoon. I think they will live happily ever after.

Anyone else have weird things like this going on at work?

Here's a list of the movies I've seen in the last, oh, month or so and my ratings of them:
Y = Yes, recommend
R = If your bored, might be a decent Rental
N = oh, god, no

Y Amityville Horror (the remake)
Y Ray
Y Finding Neverland
R Stepford Wives
R Along Came Polly
N Saw
Y St. Elmo's Fire
Y Dawn of the Dead
R Secret Window
Y Incredibles
R The Matrix


I think that's it. Hollywood Video has DVD's at 3 for $25, so we've stocked up on a bunch. On the "To Watch" list of movies we've bought but not seen yet:
The Grudge
The Notebook
Sideways
Mystic River

I have this sinking feeeling that no one at Columbia will have watched as many movies this summer as you-know-who.

How old am I again?
I have gone into some sort of crochet frenzy. I feel like I just aged about 40 years because I'm not supposed to be doing this at my tender age. But, I love it and can't get enough!!! I actually can do it and my stuff is pretty good. Here are a list of my creations so far: a drawstring pouch, some coasters, a purse, 4 (ya, 4) coin pouches, and my grand creation: a baby blanket for the Golden Child (The Golden Child is my good friend's new baby coming in June. He cost over $20K to produce from two invetro sessions. They won't tell us his name, so I had to give him one myself). My current project is a scarf, which is turning out very nicely. I want to put up some pictures soon, if I can get that to work.

Strawberry Festival
Hell Ya. Luckily, I live in strawberry country and I am going to a Strawberry Festival this weekend. They are my favorite fruit and I am so psyched because this event has the best strawberries in the world. No joke, they are fabulous. Plus, you can get very interesting items, such as strawberry nachos and strawberry pizza. I think I will fork over a few extra bucks this time and go for the strawberry wine. Anyway, should be a good time this weekend.

Saturday Night
I promised to blog this... I went out with three lesbians this weekend. That's one thing I really do like about SoCal: you can be whoever you want to be, even yourself. Imagine that! I had an awesome time with these ladies, however, I need to get one thing off my chest: I do not recommend being a lesbian (unless you're a guy).

I'm not anti-anyone, I promise, but girls are trouble. They really are, and I'm a girl so I can say that. Can relationships really handle two women? See, at least guys are not attention whores, aren't as sensitive, mean what they say (usually), and don't get moody once a month. Girls come with baggage and drama, and hang-ups. They're complicated and judgmental about other girls. Nothing is ever,ever easy with girls. Everything has hidden meanings and intentions (that's where the drama comes from).

Anyway, I will probably come back as a lesbian in my next life thanks to this. Crap. To redeem myself, however, I truly do admire two women who actually can be in a relationship that works. You should probably write a book or a manual for all the guys in this world who haven't figured us out over the last few thousand years.

Alright. I know I'm a slacker blogger now but this is my dilemma: I am not quite sure what to do with my blog. Since I am part of a small contingent of female SoCal bloggers who are going to Columbia, I have no decent cover. I basically blew my anonymity and I'm not really ready to give it up. I don't want to filter my words when something really shitty comes up at school or if I'm unhappy with The Man. No one gets offended by the good stuff, but I'm sure I will have moments where I'm piping mad and just want to vent and not have to regret it later. Ya, I don't see that happening anymore with the blog. And then I refuse to turn my blog into an MBA brown nosing session like certain ones out there. I'm just not that nice or that fake.

On the other hand, I thought it would fun to post a picture like hamtastic or iceman... but the only Columbia gear I have is the university name written across the chest of a tee shirt, and that would just be too disappointing for my readers. Unfortunately, I have nothing to brag about, so maybe I can think of something else a little more clever.

Well, I just submitted an application for a private loan to finance one year of my education. Sticker shock set in very quickly. Unfortunately, Columbia has not announced fellowships/scholarships, so I had to just suck it up for the full amount until I find out more from them. I'm crossing my fingers that they give me something and I can change that loan amount.

Who knew it was so easy to borrow $60K+. The application took me about 30 minutes to complete, which included crossing all the t's and dotting all the i's. I even read the Privacy Statement, which I NEVER do because I always figure people are just going to sell my information anyway. If that wasn't the case, I wouldn't receive a million spam messages and crap mail at home every day.

Oh ya, on a side note, I've started having dreams about school. Actually, they're more like nightmares. In my dream (I've had it more than once), I suddenly decide that I want to go to Duke. Then I realize that I can't go to Duke because I turned them down and I start to flip out. This bugs because I'm actually excited to go to New York. Now I just need to have dreams that NYC kicks ass and I decide I really love it there. Anyhow, I think the move to New York has my nerves wound up a bit, which is why I'm moving there in July. I need some time to adjust and get settled in, find my way around, and meet some Columbia-ites asap.