Football Tix and a Keychain

Aww... I got my 'thank you for sending in your $1000' mini-packet. It came a couple of days ago, but I forgot to mention it. It has a really nice (though heavy) keychain, and more importantly information on getting season tix. I'm all over that! Yay! I am (finally) affiliated with a good football team!

I'm old...

One of my best friends just finished her first year at a different top 10 school. She is so sweet – very excited for me, and she mentioned she was jealous of me because I’m about to embark on this adventure and she’s halfway done with hers. Anyway, she’s been in town for the past several days. And while I’ve had oh-so-much fun hanging with her, I realized just how old I am. One nite, a group of us went to Cha Cha Cha, for yummy sangria and tapas, followed by bar hopping and dancing. After two small glasses of sangria, I felt “happy”. After the 4th, I was gone and got really tired – at 9:15pm. We then found ourselves fighting sleep and struggling to keep up with dancing – at 11:30pm. I would look at our area and see different ones of us sleeping at various times. Somehow, we managed to fight on like little troopers and lasted until about 12:30, then went home via a cab. I can’t drink like I did when I was 18 – and I’m only 26. I also am typically the driver (I’m the only one of this group of friends that owns a car – I live in the East Bay and friends are carless in SF), so I’m not used to having more than my ½ beer when I go out. I have GOT to get my tolerance up before b-school! :)

Not a whole lot has been going on with the cross-country move front. I’m trying to figure out how long it’ll take to sell stuff on craigslist. I’m nervous about picking a car shipper because I don’t know of any. I think I’m going to ask the HR people at my old company who they use when they move people. My current company is small and doesn’t relocate people often.

Speaking of the current job, I’m thinking of giving the company 4 weeks notice – so that’s about one more month of secrecy. Some have asked me why I don’t just tell my company. The reason is that I’ve been at my company for less than a year. A LOT of crap has gone on, and I quickly realized that this wasn't the direction I wanted to go. And since I had been thinking about applying, I decided to just go ahead and apply to see what happened. The height of the crap coincided with my acceptances, so I kept thinking how glad I was that I applied when I did instead of waiting a year like I had intially planned. I think I’ll write a ‘tips for people sneakily applying to b-school’ post later. There’s an untapped blogger market segment!

I’m getting ready for an out-of-town event next weekend. I’m excited that 1) I don’t have to go to work tomorrow, and 2) next week is also a short week due to my vacation. YIPPEE!

Happy Memorial Day!

Yay! There's gonna be a Game 7!

L.A. Clippers 118
Phoenix 106

That's my Clippers! This was NOT the same team that played on Tuesday. The get down 19 points in the 3rd quarter, 8-second violation having, not fouling Raja Bell in 1OT, letting fatigue in 2OT get to them team that I saw on Tuesday. This was the confident, aggressive, shooting 60+% from the field, shot-blocking, out-rebounding team that I've come to know and love this Playoffs season.

Now, I'm not sure how they'll do against the Texas squad (either one), but it'd still be great to have them in the Western Conference finals. :)

Go Clippers!

Kick in the ass:
Sam Cassell, please stop complaining to the refs every time you or your team gets a foul call. Especially the legitimate ones. You've already proven you're annoying (and I'm still a little annoyed at you for that 8-second violation/crappy shot taking at the end of regulation foolishness). You're thisclose to getting a technical.

Motivational speech:
Come on Clippers, just gotta pull this out, you've beaten Phoenix in their home court before, you can do it again. :)

I'll write another MBA-themed post later, I'm just so excited!

MBA Anxiety...

I still remember the day I got THE call from the 734 area code. It was Wednesday, March 8, at around 11:40am Pacific Time. Since I sneakily went through the b-school process, I jumped up and ran into an unused conference room and all I kept whispering “Oh My God” over and over again. I was SO excited that I was a few months away from this incredible adventure.

Shortly after submitting my enrollment deposit, I suddenly got all nervous. I spent so much time and energy trying to get in that I kind of forgot about the pesky little cross-country move I’m about to make. So then I started debating the huge aspects of the move (getting car out there, furniture selling, quitting job, etc.), and have changed my mind several times. As of now, I'm shipping the car, selling the furniture, and quitting in the late July/early August timeframe. I had fantasies of quitting in early July, but my bank account laughed at me. More importantly, I will seriously burn a bridge by giving two weeks notice and quitting right before this meeting/conference I have to go to (in late July) that I've known about for months.

I’ve also started to have some strange anxiety dreams lately. Most are about losing my car and getting totally lost on an M-Trek, but those seemed like "normal" anxiety dreams. Last night, I dreamed that the head of the Office of Career Development and one staff member were in my current office having a meeting with me in the conference room I where I took my acceptance call. They were telling me that I had absolutely NO chance of making it into my desired profession (marketing), and that my resume wouldn’t even get a second look by a recruiter and there’s nothing I could do to improve my chances. Two senior-level managers in my office walked by and wondered what was going on, so the Ross Career people kicked me out of the room. The Ross people then talked with my company people about my lack of ability while pointing and laughing at my resume and me (I was standing outside of this room and heard them). I then started crying and ran out of the office. Considering I'm not a crier, that's huge! I then started doubting my choice to go to b-school, my choice in future profession, and my ability to do anything. Dream me even started wondering if I should just stick it out in my job.

Now, I realize that I’m just getting super stressed about the b-school experience, and I also realize that I am no longer growing in my current capacity, but this weirded me out. I think I am starting to feel guilty that I’m keeping this huge secret from my company. I just think that the closer it comes to August 23 (Orientation), and September 5 (first day of classes), the more “real” this seems.

A Cross-Staples Center matchup not meant to be...

Phoenix 121
L.A. Lakers 90

Phoenix showed evryone that the whole "you can't win a series after being down 3-1" theory isn't always true.

Nash was limping the entire second half. Kobe scored once - on a free throw because of a 3 second violation - the entire second half. Charles Barkley's halftime report was accurate - this game was over at the half.

(Yes, I know that the Lakers weren't supposed to even make the Playoffs this year based on their first half of the season, but the Suns weren't supposed to come back from a 3-1 deficit either...)

Now L.A.'s only hope is the Clippers. Sad, sad. I reeaally wanted a cross-Staples Center matchup.

Go Clippers! :)

Hmm..., I just realized that the Lakers were 34-48 last year. So, technically, this is an improvement, right?

WTF? Game 7?!?

Huh? How did that happen? I'm not so sure how I feel about this. I'm from L.A., so in theory I should have gone for the Lakers tonite to close out this thing. But I hate the Lakers. Actually, I used to be the biggest Laker fan, but I really just hate Kobe. I like the Lakers of 3-4 years ago. My favorite players were Shaq and Robert Horry. But as a native Angelino, I really want to see a Lakers/Clippers playoff series. That would just be hilarious! And I'd even be willing to see the Lakers win just to see that.

Hats off to Phoenix though. That was a hell of a last minute in regulation and a great OT series.

I still think it'd be funny if the Clippers advanced farther than the Lakers in the playoffs...

More about me...

Wow, thanks for the warm welcome to the blogging world. I thought I'd go into how I wound up at this phase in my life, especially since nobody would have predicted that I'd be getting an MBA while I was in college.

Sometime in mid-2003, I had this super impressive, high profile, very strategic and challenging assignment. Unfortunately, I had no idea what I was doing. While I figured it out eventually, this served as a HUGE wake-up call and I started looking into MBA programs. As I researched schools, I realized that I had a strong desire to stay in California, but was drawn to the Michigan program, often describing it as "the one school I'd be willing to leave the state for".

Well, I got impatient during the research process and decided to take the GMAT and see what happens. BAD IDEA. I half studied for the GMAT and almost cried when my score reflected my lack of preparation - and then wondered how I have been able to function since the GMAT people think I'm illiterate. But more importantly, I realize that I was just looking for a change in my professional life.

I got a better job in my company. I enjoyed that job so much that the MBA wasn't the urgent priority that it was just a few months earlier. But, I then I realized that I wasn’t really developing new skills. Instead, I was learning more about the specific projects I was doing. I knew this would get boring after a while. So, I decided to take the b-school plunge again, and knew I had to tackle the GMAT.

After much more effective studying, I was much more pleased with the score - in fact, I literally had to keep from cheering at my testing center. My first thought was “I'm definitely applying to Michigan now, how awesome would it be if I got in!” Now, that should have been a real big sign that Michigan is where I wanted to go. But I saw options with my new score, and started to look at other strong out-of-state programs that had what I thought I was looking for. I would have saved $$ on campus visits and application fees if I just went with that gut feeling though...

Oh well. It worked out in the end. :)

First Post

Hey Everybody!

So I thought I'd start this blogging thing. I've enjoyed reading everyone else's blogs during the application and decision-making process so I feel like I should contribute. Also, I've heard that nobody has any free time once they go to B-School, so this should be a good way for people to see what I'm up to (while I journal my experiences). So, this will start with me making my final preparations for the big move and (hopefully) continue once I start my MBA life.

About me: I'm a Californian, born and bred. I lived in the Northeast for a while, and promised myself that I'd never voluntarily move to a place with cold weather and snow again. So, I had the "classic" Duke v. Michigan decision (and a few other schools too) and chose Michigan. I guess I forgot that it snowed in Ann Arbor. I'll be attending in the fall and I'm really excited! Let's hope that I don't regret this in the middle of February.

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, yes, this is the same "fromcali" from the Wharton s2s messageboards.

Here's to happy blogging!