Introducing Kiwi (no, he's not a fruit and he's not from New Zealand)

Babson has an online forum where the class can post random thoughts, tips, comments, etc. and this guy in our class (Kiwi) wrote a pretty funny entry. Thought you might be amused by it. For further Kiwi'isms, his blog is at http://kiwisworld.blogspot.com/. Anyway, without further ado, here's Kiwi:

Why I’m Having Problems Preparing for my Babson MBA
- a long perspective by Kivanc “Kiwi” Ozseden

Here is what I went through today (and welcome into my head, hope it doesn’t scare you too much):

I need to go read my Economics textbook to prep for the Econ Test for Babson, I need to get away from my apartment since it has too many distractions: the beach, the pool, beautiful women smiling (at me? Who knows but I smile back and try to chitchat), the internet…no no, must get away!! I know I’ll go to Barnes and Nobles, yeah! No distractions there.

Ok here we are, got my Ice Latte grande, got my Econ book and let’s go….Scarcity yeah, Invisible hand, yeah…..HEEEEY now wait just a minute!! That girl that walked in is pretty cute, let me smile at her…hmm no response, she must be married or something. Another cute one, yowser!! How you doin’? Dang it! I shouldn’t have picked the Barnes and Nobles close to Nova University….ok, ok back to the book. Yeah surplus and inefficiency, got it. Inelastic and elastic…man I remember when I was little, a buddy of mine had an elastic jumping thingamathing. Boy that was fun!!

Ok Kiwi focus geez!! You sound like you have ADD. Hmm I wonder if I do have ADD? I wonder what having ADD feels like. I mean I don’t feel weird. I do have a lot of random thoughts in my head but that’s normal right?

Ok back to the book. Changes in Demand versus Changes in Quantity demanded, lovely. Consumer Income…speaking of income, it sure sucks not to work anymore and have a steady paycheck come in (especially for the amount of time I was putting in at work)…FOCUS! Fallacy of composition, Association Not Causation, now we are rolling. Oh boy, gotta go to the bathroom, thanks Mr. Ice Latte.

Ok I’m back…let’s see where was I, ceteris paribus…hehehe sounds like a weird name for a worm, funny. Latin always cracks me up. I wonder if I should learn Latin and impress girls…hmmm

Let’s see, Positive Economics, Normative Economics got it. Opportunity cost… I wonder why when I stare at people’s eyes when they walk by they look away…aren’t the eyes the windows to their soul? What are they hiding, and why is everyone that is reading here so serious? I wonder what they would do if someone was to go streaking right now in the store? Heheheh Old school…you my boy BLUE!

Price and Market Order….Hey that author’s name sounds Turkish, AND his book is a New York Times Best Seller wow!! I should go check it out. Yup he is Turkish, man I’m impressed (the name of the book is Snow). Hey that Barnes and Nobles lady is putting 30% discount stickers on those books, I wonder if there are any interesting ones. I wonder what people would do if they saw me walking around with a sticker on my forehead that said 30% off…heheheh

Anyway, long story long, I “read” like 70 pages in 2.5 hours…yikes!! Anybody else have problems “focusing”? I guess the more I get use to reading textbooks again the faster it will go, right?? Talk about changes!!!

Cheerios everyone, hope I was able to put a smile on your face because writing this sure made me smile (and don't worry I'm not AS crazy as I sound...really.)

What have I done?!?

Tomorrow is my last day with the company and I'm starting to question, "What in the heck have I done?!?" I just spent this last week at our office rather than at a client site and I've been bored. Bored, bored, bored. They were nice enough to give me small, low-stress projects, but it results in me thinking about how bored I am sitting at the same desk everyday and not flying somewhere new every Monday. Then it hit me (for the thousandth time): This is my life for the next 2 years! I'll get up every morning, drive the same vehicle to the same location, probably eat the same thing for lunch everyday, drive home in the same traffic and study at the same desk. I know what you're saying: "Felicia, this is going to be a new adventure. You're going to meet interesting people, participate in different classes everyday, work in multiple study groups, be challenged each day, and you won't eat the same thing every lunch. And maybe your boyfriend will let you drive the cool car occasionally." Just as I'm about to sit up and whole heartedly disagree!...I stop. You're right.

I'm stuck in Boston

Wow, my last flight for the company was on Friday. Now I'm here for the next two years. Stuck in Boston. Undergrad was the last time I spent two years concentrated in a city. Wow. This is weird.

Last night Andrew hosted a BBQ where about 10 of us watched Startup.com (a homework assignment to be completed before class). It was great to meet a few more of "the gang." But before arriving, it was my job to bring a little beer. So I raced to the store, selected and stacked three cases into my arms, and started walking towards the registed when the handle to the bottom case ripped off! That case swung out from under the other two, but I held onto it with my right hand and dropped the other two into my left hand. Luckily an employee was behind me so he grabbed two cases and quickly as he could. Whew! Beer saved!

Anyway, we all filed into Andrew's place (really cute place in a great location), ate burgers then watched the movie around 9. Movie was a little slow in the beginning and it wasn't immediately clear what the startup business was selling, but we eventually figured it out. Unfortunately, I had to take off quickly since I was about an hour and a half late going home. B was sweet, though, and wasn't mad when I got home...just tired.

We had been cleaning all day. Lesson #1 of living together: we need to get a maid. Won't go into the details, but we weren't exactly working well together on the whole cleaning situation. However, I'm sitting here at 7:20am looking around and realizing how clean this place really is. Today we're considering painting two rooms. The colors will be pretty bold, but it'll be fun taking a chance like this.

Alright, I know this is boring so I'll end here.

Am I the only one that misses my old life already?

This is the "goodbye" email I sent out at work...

Warning: This is my too-long, “until next time” email:

As most of you know, I have decided to pursue my MBA, so this Friday is my last day with Celerant. You guys have left me with so many memories that I can’t begin to list them here. Therefore, I’ll just leave you with a few thoughts that won’t make you any smarter. As a matter of fact, this email will completely waste your time and at the end you’ll think, “Well that’s 30 seconds I’ll never get back.”

Anyway, I don’t know about those of you who have done this job for a decade, but after 4 short years I’ve already forgotten how “normal” people live. While prepping for school, I’ve come across some learnings about non-travel life:

• Every car on the road is not a rental from either Hertz or Avis.
• My new classmates don’t understand why I refer to cities by their 3-letter airport codes.
• At home, towels dropped on the floor in the morning are not miraculously clean and hung by the afternoon.
• I will now be able to buy bananas, oranges, AND pears on Sunday and know that I can consume them all before they go bad.
• Last Friday afternoon when I was standing in line I quickly took off my shoes, removed the change from my pockets, put it all on the moving conveyor belt then rolled my eyes at the obvious “vacation travelers” in front on me...only to realize I was standing at the grocery store checkout.

And some things aren’t likely to happen anymore:

• Staying at another hotel called “Hotel,” eating at a restaurant called “Restaurant” and getting gas at “The Gas Station.”
• Making regular contributions to airport and hotel Lost & Found departments.
• Having a cell phone, work address, fax number, driver’s license, and email address that are all based out of different states/countries.
• Commuting every Monday and Friday for 3-10+ hours (now it’s 15 minutes).
• Maintaining a wardrobe split across multiple states.
• Calling fellow colleagues from the airport during a hurricane/tornado/snowstorm to compare whose flight is delayed longest.
• Waking up and forgetting what state I’m in.
• Going to the airport and forgetting what state I’m going to.
• Driving back to the hotel and realizing we’ve left someone at the client site.
• Traveling random weekends with friends just because we feel like it.
  Las Vegas? Sure! Scottsdale? Yes! Shenandoah River? Sign me up!

Seriously, those that know me know how much I love to travel and have had such a great time at Celerant. But what has helped to make it so great is the people. I don’t eat breakfast, lunch AND dinner 5 days per week with colleagues; I do that with my friends. Thank you, everyone, for being such great friends these last 4 years.

Please keep in touch and look me up whenever you’re in Boston,
F