Who Knew

Cycling/Dog Trip

2007-04-16T12:34:00.000-04:00

Long time no post, eh?

Brian and I are doing a cycling trip about a week after I graduate and we're going to cycle near Lake Champlain in the beautiful Burlington, VT area.
We're taking the dog, Tailor.

Below are the details for our trip:
Saturday - Drive up to Burlington and drop off luggage at each of the 3 hotels. Check into our 1st hotel, The Paw House Inn. Play with Tailor at this dog-centric hotel.
Sunday - Cycle 48 miles to The Basin Club. Spend the evening relaxing.
Monday - Cycle 58 miles around the base of Lake Champlain.
Tuesday - Cycle 17 miles roundtrip for a lookout point on the lake to relax and let Tailor try swimming. Kayaking in the afternoon and bonfire at night.
Wednesday - Cycle 32 miles to The Inn at Essex. The Inn is a AAA 4 Diamond, Best of Boston hotel. We'll enjoy a gourmet dinner at this hotel who has partnered with the New England Culinary Institute.
Thursday - No cycling. Take a tour of the Ben & Jerry factory, enjoy couple's massages and take a culinary class.
Friday - Cycle 85 miles around the main portion of Lake Champlain which includes island hopping.
Saturday - Retrieve luggage from 3 hotels, swing through Dog Mountain and head home.

Uptown Tails is born!

2006-11-24T08:46:00.000-05:00

Well, we did it: we launched UptownTails.com on Black Friday (which also happens to be my birthday). Woohoo!

However, I only launched to a few friends and not the whole world because, frankly, I'm not yet proud of it. Seriously, it's not something I can put my name behind right now. Hopefully in the next week we'll get it cleaned up enough to launch next weekend. I'm truly disappointed at how far behind this project is.

I didn't mention this at all before in the blog, but I've been working on this business concept since last summer. Uptown Tails sells premium dog and cat products. Basically, we're where you go when Petco and PetSmart aren't good enough. Think Pottery Barn for your pet.

My time at Babson has been crucial in understanding my future "serial entrepreneurial" route. There are several business opportunities that I have identified and am now armed with the ability to launch them. Uptown Tails is not my $billion idea, but it's great practice and one that I can truly be passionate about and enjoy. After all, what's better than having customers who are dogs and cats?

http://www.UptownTails.com
888-TAILS-88

Halloween!!!

2006-10-31T20:22:00.000-05:00

I can't say it enough: kids dressed up for Halloween are adorable. We decorated the house so as not to disappoint the kids and included things such as a spooky graveyard, a life-sized skeleton hanging from the tree, a 4-foot spider on the wall of the house, pumpkins from the pumpkin party, etc. Of course, we handed out full-sized candy bars and while some kids were really polite, others were pretty rude:
Kid: Can I pick a candy bar?
Felicia: But you just took two when I told you to take one!
Kid: (with a pouty face) But I want to pick a candy bar!
Felicia: (to the parents at the end of the walkway) your kid sure is sweet!

Our 2nd annual pumpkin party took place about a week ago. About half dressed up and about half carved pumpkins. Everyone got creative from a pumpkin that had sparkles, to some that used props to one that exploded.

Click here for Halloween pics

The end of our South Africa trip

2006-07-17T16:18:00.000-04:00

Team South Africa arrived at Boston Logan Airport last night. Brian actually flew out just after I had arrived, so he drove up to his terminal and I greeted him there. We said hello/goodbye, he handed me the car keys and that was it...I'll see him next weekend.

I know I did a horrible job maintaining the blog and there are too many stories to put here. Therefore, I'll share a few pics with you:
http://www.dotphoto.com/Flashtool/MemViewShow.asp?SID=99186

- The first photo shows one of the communities we were working with. It's the kids living in these neighborhoods who we tried to empower so they can break the poverty cycle. We taught them business fundamentals and helped them write business plans with the ultimate goals of getting them to start their own businesses and/or enable them to score well enough on college entrance exams to be admitted to college.

In the end, several applied for business loans (through the program) and our Stellenbosch counterparts helped to set these kids up with ongoing mentoring. Also, several have decided to apply to college.

It's amazing to see their daily struggles. For example, to apply for the college entrance exams, a valid I.D. or birth certificate was required. Many kids had neither. Several don't even have a phone number. Also, most surpassed their parent's level of education years ago.

I found these kids fascinating because they truly understand that knowledge is power and appreciate anything you're willing to teach them (unlike American kids). As a matter of fact, this program took place during their winter and summer holidays and they made it a priority to attend (even if it meant walking miles everyday).

- The pretty white buildings towards the beginning of the slideshow belong to the University of Stellenbosch, which is where we taught. This university is considered the "Harvard of Africa."

- There are over 350 wine farms in the region and we managed to visit our share. Those pics are sprinkled throughout the slideshow.

Stellenbosch is surrounded by some of the most poverty stricken townships in South Africa. However, the center of Stellenbosch is very nice since it is the town in the middle of wine country. As you can imagine, we saw extremes of both poverty and elitism.

- We also spent a few days on safari at Kruger National Park. We drove some and hiked some, so the animal pics are from those adventures.

- Finally, some pictures are from our time in Cape Town and the Strand. Minette, a local friend, acted as our tour guide around Cape Town and welcomed us into her home in the Strand.

Fears of 'muti killer' grip communities

2006-07-01T07:43:00.000-04:00

Newspapers here are interesting (in a terrible way).

Libby (one of the ladies in our team) found an article today in the Weekend Arugus about a killer that they're trying to track down who has been trying to buy children. Apparently, he just drives up to women and offers to buy their kids. Among others, a social worker was approached yesterday while walking with a boy and girl.

But that's not the entire story...

The guy is interested in the childrens' body parts...particularly their fat and private parts for "muti."

We looked up "muti" in wikipedia and learned it's slang for medicine in Afrikaans (one of the official languages in South Africa). It also notes that, "Occasions of murder and mutilation associated with some traditional cultural practices, in South Africa are also termed muti killings...involve the murder of someone in order to excise body parts for incorporation as ingredients into medicine."

I'll post other stories later, but it's getting to the point where we don't know if we want to cry or throw up.

Interviewing Alumni

2006-06-21T08:06:00.000-04:00

I'm in South Africa and we've been interviewing alumni all week to understand how this program helped them and how it can be improved. So everyday we go to different towns and meet 18-24 year olds at school or at their homes. Seriously,I've seen poverty before but it hurts so bad to see these sweet, sweet kids, that we get to know so well, living in these conditions.

All the neighbors, really. We can wave to any of them and they smile big and wave back.

Meanwhile, a little girl is pulling down her pants to go potty in front of an outhouse that she can't get into...a dog has been scratching his leg for so long that the fur is gone in that spot and his dog buddy has weird diseased splotches all over him...a typical family of 6 lives in a shack the size of our dining room.

And all of this while reading books about their history. I can't even read the stories of what these people have gone through anymore without crying. I'm not just talking about poverty (these books talk apartheid, not poverty)...I'm talking about being treated worse than animals (I'll write some examples later).

For now I'll end by saying that it's just not right.

South Africa

2006-06-17T09:54:00.000-04:00

A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks, but I'll create those posts later...

For now, just know that I'm in Stollenbosch, South Africa which is about 20 minutes outside of Cape Town. We've had some great experiences so far, but I figure you're more interested in the scary stuff:

1) We have two front doors for our apartment. One is normal, but you know those metal bars that go over windows? Our 2nd door that sits in front of the normal one is made of that with a big, fat lock on it.
2) There's a couple decorational windows on the side of our apartment building and one has a bullet hole directly in the center of it.
3) 3 individuals from my team were at the ATM today. A street beggar asked them for money and when they wouldn't give him any he told them to be careful. Before walking away, he commented to the girl that he likes her necklace.
4) Our host gave each one of us pepper spray. I used to carry during undergrad so I gave the team a few tips.

But seriously, there are a lot of college students around, several upper-class roaming the streets shopping, and police every where. It's a great place overall and I can't wait to go to all the wineries!

Policia

2006-06-01T00:08:00.000-04:00

The title doesn't represent the most exciting story, but I think it's cute. I saw my nephew, Gage, over the last few days and he has a hard time saying, "Felicia." Instead, he calls me "Policia." Nice...my nephew speaks espanol.

Anyway, my brother Steve helped me pick out a little train and truck for Gage, but I don't know if the latter was for Gage or my brother.

Goodbye San Diego, hello San Francisco

2006-05-28T22:32:00.000-04:00

Today was my drive from San Diego to San Francisco. After Ginger said goodbye to her new friends, we took off. I got up later than planned and made several stops along the way, so I didn't have time to drive up the coast...so I had to settle for I-5. However, I did get the chance to stop by my old park:

Laundr-o-mutt

2006-05-27T21:57:00.000-04:00

Elise, SoCo (Soe-Koe), Ginger and I went to the dog beach today. Ginger stayed close to our side then ran around near SoCo...he kept her safe. I watched her VERY closely as I didn't want her getting near other big dogs, but SoCo and her did well.

I held Ginger a few times so SoCo could play in the water then after an hour we left. Note: I looked for men for Elise but didn't see any...one was cute at first until we noticed he was on the phone almost the entire time we were at the beach.

Anyway, afterwards SoCo was a mess, so we decided to try a do-it-yourself laund-o-mutt (neither of us had gone to one before). The owner was a little...rough around the edges, but we decided to go for it, anyway. SoCo was nervous and Ginger got mad at me, but overall we had fun. Ginger only cost $8 and the shop's owner took pity on her by asking his groomer to blowdry her (I had NO idea how).

We grabbed a quick bite to eat at this really good, HEALTHY (something most Boston restaurants don't understand) Mexican restaurant near the house. Elise then took off to go to a local skateboard park (she's a kick ass skater girl) and I took a nap...something I haven't done for about a year. Ginger welcomed the nap since she's been soooo busy during the trip!

L.A. and San Diego

2006-05-26T23:09:00.000-04:00

I drove to Elise's last night after visiting 14 stores in the Los Angeles area. We sat up talking for a bit, then I went to bed.

Today I submitted my goals sheet to EIT, and sent a first draft financial projection to my mentors. But the fun part of my day was visiting 10 stores with Elise. It is SO much better to do research with someone. A partner seriously makes life more interesting when you're taking pictures like this:

Meet My Dad

2006-05-24T22:35:00.000-04:00

So I visited 5 stores today, drove along many roads that I used to ride (motorcycle or bicycle), and eventually found my way to see Dad. He's moving out of his place today and heading up to Washington. Yesterday they released their last Boeing 717 which marked the end of his program, so now he's moving up to Seattle for another Boeing project.

Because he moved out of his place, we're staying at a hotel (hence the odd door and picture in the background of this pic...tee hee hee)

Meet Ginger

2006-05-23T23:33:00.000-04:00

Ginger is my travel buddy for the trip.
Meet the 3.5 pound Teacup Poodle. Woof.

Meet My Mom

2006-05-23T10:21:00.000-04:00

I flew to Charlotte today to see Mom and pickup her dog, Ginger, for my west coast trip.

We went to two stores (I don't want to say what my biz idea is yet, but it's retail-based so the purpose of this trip is to visit several stores) and she showed me all the recent changes in the area.

We finished the evening by heading to Capital Grille, directly across from my old condo. A guy proposed to his girlfriend, but otherwise everything was just like the old days.

Entrepreneurship Intensity Track (EIT)

2006-05-22T20:53:00.000-04:00

About 20 of us made it into EIT. It was a long, hard process and I thought I was going to die, but I (luckily) made it through.

First round was submitting the business idea which had no limit to the number of pages (mine was about 25 including exhibits and such), and a 30-minute interview with two professors. They were relentless and left everyone feeling like they weren't going to make it to next round.

Second round was where we presented rocket pitches (3 PowerPoint slides in 3 minutes) to a room full of angel investors / potential mentors. I was nervouse as heck going in, but it felt great in the end! The audience laughed at the right spots and were amazed by the statistics. In the end I wound up with two mentors.

I met both mentors today who are great. One is a serial entrepreneur and has 30 years experience in the retail industry. The other runs a strategic consulting firm and has raised $billions in equity for previous firms and filed the IPO on one. Both women are there to challenge me and I believe my business will be better for it.

Today was a more detailed introduction of the biz which followed with lot of brainstorming. The result is 3 aggressive summer goals and week-by-week schedule of my summer. Basically, my summer is full.

So what is EIT? EIT is designed for people with a business idea that they want to implement now. The year-long course is structured to help you start your business the day after you graduate. Everything in the class isn't so much academic-based as it is real-life. In other words, everything we do in and around class is related to our actual business idea. There is only 1 actual EIT course, which is twice a week and every other entrepreneurial class offered by Babson is open to the entire student body. However, I think we'll learn a lot in this 1 class and we could potentially experience something that few have the opportunity to enjoy.

We've come a long way

2006-05-18T18:12:00.000-04:00

School was...short...or long.

We just had Weekend@Babson, a sort of introduction to Babson for prospective students. It made me think back to my W@B...Wow, I can't believe it's been a year already. We're halfway done.

But then I start to think about everything we've done. Hours staring at BCAP documents, classes like SCS/TOM, multi-day individual and group exams, Team Process Day, interviewing for anything and everything, too many lunches at Pandini's, SpUNO breaks, late nights in Olin Hall, etc.

I can't believe how far we've come from day 1 (1st pic) to today (2nd pic).

This summer

2006-05-18T17:49:00.000-04:00

With classes, exams and BCAP out of the way, I can now focus on summer plans:

Entrepreneurship Intensity Track (EIT) - Monday is our kickoff where we'll get to meet our mentors. Stay tuned for more details

Westcoast travel - I'm visiting stores this summer for my EIT business idea to get best practice ideas. Schedule is as follows
May 23rd - Charlotte to see Mom
May 24th - Los Angeles for 2 days and visit Dad
May 26th - San Diego for 2 days
May 29th - San Francisco for 2 days and visit my brother, Steve, and his family
June 2nd - Seattle for 4 days where Brian will visit for the weekend
June 6th - Charlotte again
June 8th - Boston for new clothes
June 9th - Houston to meet up with Brian and visit a couple friends

South Africa is my focus June 12th through July 15th. I'll be teaching at a university in the middle of wine country about 20 miles from Cape Town. Should be an amazing experience.

July 15th - Back to Boston

July 16th-August - Eastcoast travel (exact locations TBD)

Happy summer!

BCAP is done!

2006-05-18T17:40:00.000-04:00

We drove about 5 hours each way (it was longer due to traffic on the way up and pit stops on the way back) in a van to the client site, gave the presentation and they were blown away. A teammate, Doug, summed it up best when he wrote an email to our writing and speech consultants, so I'll just copy and paste his email (see below).

As for the drive back, it was basically a drink fest. We stopped at a bar in NH and had a few drinks (with our advisor) then got a 6-pack at the next pit stop (gas station) where we chugged them as fast as we could (note: Doug was kind enough to be our designated driver so there was no drinking and driving). We then stopped at a state liquor store and got vodka and scotch then went to Salo's where we celebrated until almost 3am.

Our professor gave us an EXC; the highest grade you can get. Woohoo!

And now for Doug's email:

--------------------------------

Subject: Thank you

Dear Phil and Kerry;

I wanted to take a moment to share with you both our success in presenting to the Gravis team in Burlington, VT. The Gravis team of executives were blown away. Tom, a Babson MBA alum, was speechless at the end. He said we exceeded any expectations that he had and if you could have seen the looks during the presentation, it was priceless. Our ideas were so well received that they were actually hitting each other and pointing to slides on the handouts during the presentation saying, "We can use that right now and it would be cheap to ship!" Tom first wanted to stop us 2 minutes in to call more of the team down and then was wondering if we would present again. Fortunately, Elise will be there this summer for an internship and can fill this role.

A large part of our success as a group was your respective roles in helping us to bring a clear message to the client and making certain that that message would be heard. Kerry, if not for your efforts in helping us to clarify and focus our thoughts, we would not have had so much substance to present. Phil, if it were not for your observations and suggestions, we would not have been as polished, professional, and clear. Thank you both from our team!

It has been an incredible journey this year and I know we have all grown as people and as professionals from it, so thank you. I hope you both have a pleasant summer and we will see you in the fall.

Module IV done, 4 more before graduation

2006-05-17T20:00:00.000-04:00

I have to admit this mod was a little disappointing. All of the other mods had so much purpose and everything was so well integrated. This last mod 1) felt like an afterthought, and 2) was so anti-climatic.

Macroeconomics scared the crap out of me! I had the hardest time understanding the logic behind everything. In the end, I think I got it and did ok on the exam. This was the only class this year that I truly thought I'd fail. The individual exam was the shortest of the year...only 2 hours long...an very nerve racking. Everyone was so busy typing away that 2 minutes past when the test was due, only 3 people in our class had submitted their test. The moderator finally had to tell everyone to stop typing and just submit it.

The group exam was challenging and lasted about 3 days. We were basically given a company and asked to analyze two countries that they want to expand into. In the end we gave a group presentation and were then asked some very difficult econ questions. It was a bad sign when the prof said, "Well, you guys completely failed that question so let's try another one." Oops!

After a week of exams we switched gears to BCAP to wrap it up. Teams gave final presentations on different days, so Olin Hall (our grad building) slowly became more deserted as 1st-years completed their presentations and became 2nd-years.

Now all that's left is tons of drinking every night and prepping for summer!

1st Real Bike Ride

2006-05-06T22:22:00.000-04:00

Brian and I had our first real bike ride today. We've been on a few test rides since he got his new bike, but this was the first time that included both regular roads and more mileage. Both of us really enjoyed spending the time together and exploring...but we couldn't get a pic together.

Babies!

2006-04-28T13:33:00.000-04:00

One of the BCAP teams had babies! 5 little eggs hatched in the crevice of their window. Unfortunately only 1 survived (I'll spare you the details). Here's a pic of the 1st three eggs that were laid.

Study Time

2006-03-26T22:38:00.000-05:00

The cats study whenever I do. Here they are learning all about fish...

I'm so proud

2006-03-26T11:23:00.000-05:00

My friend Travis is a 4th grade school teacher (and ex Abercrombie & Fitch model but that's another story). He sent an email entitled, "I'm so proud." Below is what it said (btw, he's not really proud):

--------------------

My kids are such great writers. Here's an example from one of my little boy's recent stories. (Cody and Sierra are other students in my class)

"Batman will never forget when he eat Cody and Sierra. He feel the cherry blood in his mouth. He wish that he got to eat Sierra hand. He said that some good hand."

I'm so proud of them!

Module III done, 5 more before graduation

2006-03-17T18:30:00.000-05:00

May I just say that I loved this module since it focused on operations. Talk about restoring confidence! This was the longest mod, but went by the quickest. It also had the best class schedule.

Classes:
Operations Management - Fundamentals of capacity constraint, lean, JIT, Six Sigma, etc. I completely enjoyed this class, but only due to my background.
Cost Accounting - Finally an accounting class I understand! ABC analysis fell right in line with my old data analysis life. Class format was intended to be interesting, but wound up confusing classmates more than helping: during each class 1 study group would present their finding then another group would "challenge" them by asking questions about the findings. The prof would finish class by going over anything that the lead group got wrong (or as he said, "There's no wrong answer. Mine are just more right."), and answer any questions.
Marketing - More marketing and I enjoyed it just as much as in mod II. I love exploring a new world that's easy to understand.
Information Systems Management - I thought this would be a crappy class that teaches us how implementing the appropriate computer system can magically fix all your problem; wasn't the case. Instead, it focused on how to determine if/when to spend $$ on a new program, how to align your IT with company strategies, and right/wrong implementation practices. Again, completely spoke to some of my background.
Simulations - Woohoo! Creating simulations based on supply/demand, or maximize/minimize something such as profitability.
Organization Development - Focused on effective leadership and difficulties in terms of culture/behavior change. Helped to understand why implementing initiatives is so hard.
Finance - This was my difficult class. Capital budgetting, WACC, cost of capital, etc. All new and all interesting. I think I've learned it now, but this was the exam I was worried about.
Law/Ethics - See mod II for description.

Exams:
Marketing/Finance - Our finance prof, who hates marketing, commented that marketing was exactly what he was hoping to be paired up with (note the sarcasm). We were given the case at noon on Thursday to review and took notes as appropriate. Friday morning at 8am they distributed the exam and no one expected to use the entire time (the exam was due 5pm). However, it seems as though most of the class finished close to the due time.
Info Systems Mgmt/Org Development - This was our group exam that required a 10-page report after analyzing a 20-page case. This was more difficult than it needed to be since we had to decide how to break up the work to complete the paper. Our team was relatively effecient by spending all day on the paper and finishing around 10pm Monday evening. I came in on Tuesday morning for final edits that the team sent me via email/IM and submitted the paper after 30 minutes. Two other team members really went above and beyond by working pretty hard from home on Tuesday when they didn't have to.
Ops Mgmt/Cost Accounting - Of course, another case study. Extract the info and determine capacity constraints then do activity-based costing. Recommend managerial actions based on the data analysis and qualitative information provided in the case. 5-page write up for Ops Mgmt and another 5-pages for Acct. Ops Mgmt was pretty straightforward, but the acct portion was setup in a confusing way. I'm sure some of the questions were intended to help, but I didn't understand some of it and just started answering later questions After providing those answers, I understood some earlier questions and filled in those templates just to "check the box."

Other:
Mod III Kickoff - Our first day was spent getting to know our new study groups and getting an overview of how we'll approach operations learnings. Throughout the day, we touched on every mod III class.
New Sections - During mods I and II our class was broken into 3 sections. I was in section 1 and stayed with that group of 55 students for every class. In mod III we shuffled the sections. I'm now in section 3 and chose a different seat. Our seating is in a horseshoe design. In section 1 I was in a center seat, center row - primary spot for cold calling. Now I'm off to the side almost to the back, which resulted in less cold calling. However, it also meant it was harder to get prof's attention when I wanted to be called on.
New Study Groups - Changing sections also meant our official study groups changed. It's been a pretty good group and it's been nice to get to know some people in the group more.
BCAP - Having Wednesdays dedicated to BCAP was great for staying up-to-date with homework, but we didn't do a lot for BCAP. However, we did do BCAP on random days throughout the week, so I guess it evened out. And with no class on Wednesday, we treated Tuesday like Friday by getting a few drinks and hanging out in the afternoon.
Class Times - Classes during this mod ended by noon, so we had the rest of the day for homework and other activities.
Unofficial Study Groups - My friends tried something a little different this mod. In the past one person was assigned a reading, so they would summarize it for the others...didn't work so well. This mod we all read the readings 2 days before class. Then we would meet the day before class and work through the homework. For me it helped to talk through marketing. For others it helped to work through the number based classes.

Kailey and Leo

2006-03-05T13:20:00.000-05:00

The last blog entry reminded me that we haven't provided an update on the kitties lately. Basically, they're still kittens but physically they're all grown up. The vet told us to take them off kitten chow a couple months ago because they were starting to grow out instead of up.

Kailey has turned into the more graceful, petite girl. Her fur is soft like a velveteen rabbit and her coloring is lighter. Her favorite toy is a little rabbit fur mouse (she prefers brown).

Leo weighs more and has a thicker head. His fur has a flame style to it (orange stripe on the head). I often tell people he's more "plyable" since you can push him around on the couch and hold him like a baby and he doesn't care - he just wants the attention. His favorite toy is...anything.

Both cats are very sociable. They expect attention from anyone that enters the house and are ready to play with those who want to.

Allergy attacks seem to be minimal as well. Three of us that are allergic to cats have only experienced one attack. Another friend is fine as long as he washes his hands frequently, and another friend takes allergy pills and can actually play with them. But overall, if we know an allergic friend is coming over, we lock the cats in another room.

Brian is a proud father. He cuddles with the cats every chance he gets and laughs when I put them in front of the webcam so they can wave at him.

Snow?

2006-03-01T16:53:00.000-05:00

If you're familiar with Boston's winter last year, you know it can get pretty bad around here. This is the primary thing that I hated about moving up here for school. However, this winter has been pretty mild.

Snow has been "fun" snow (snows all day then starts melting that afternoon or the next day).
The snow prompted me to get boots that DIDN'T have heels. I guess there's a first for everything.
Brian enjoyed it b/c he got to put the Jeep in 4WD and be "manly."
We had 1 snow day at school. Sunday night was getting stressful since I hadn't done my homework, but I received a welcome IM when Cha Cha wrote, "No school tomorrow!" Thank goodness.

3-day weekend and another ski trip!

2006-02-20T09:38:00.000-05:00

And another weekend not skiing. This time it was too cold: -32 degrees with the wind chill factor.

This time we went to Ben's condo at Sugarloaf. I rode with Alicia and we walkie-talkie'd with Ben's car full of people and Christian's car (that had the dog). The 4-hour drive up actually took over 6 hours and Alicia and I got terribly lost since a turn wasn't listed in the directions. But we found the condo by mistake and enjoyed the rest of the evening. I think we stayed up until 6'ish.

The rest of the weekend was full of Speed UNO (yes, we're addicted and have been making our own rules), movies, talking, drinking and eating.

On Sunday a few chose to brave the cold and go for a few runs. Christian, Alicia and I chose to head home in the afternoon to get study time and some quality time with our significant others that evening and on Monday.

Unfortunately, we had a glitch on the way home - cop pulled Christian over. He was doing about 25 over the speed limit and got a $350 ticket! Ouch. The cop said he was intending on pulling Alicia over, but she kept on driving while Christian pulled over so he got the ticket. Poor Alicia felt so bad, so she offered to pay half the ticket. At least we made it home alive.

My b/f is the best man in the world!

2006-02-17T16:14:00.000-05:00

It took a few V-Days but Brian finally got it right...and he blew me away! The house smelled so good when I came home. He told me to get dressed up b/c we're going to the most exclusive restaurant in Boston. It only has a table for two and incidentally is in our dining room.

So I got ready, came downstairs and entered the restaurant. Candles were lit, a rose was across my plate, another bouquet was on the table, and a card was ready for me to read.

We enjoyed a salad, ate his famous spaghetti bolognese, drank a little wine, and finished with a huge V-day cookie. Then I got another card which sent me on a scavenger hunt. One clue led to another, which led to another until finally I found the grand prize...tons of my favorite candy! (The treasure was supposed to be other things, but those unmentionable gifts came a couple days later in the mail)

Next I was hoping to get lucky, but I was a complete dork and fell asleep! Stupid school is screwing up my life. Happy V-Day

Ski Trip!

2006-02-05T21:00:00.000-05:00

It's true...I've never been on a ski trip before. Grew up in Seattle right next to the Cascade Mtns. and never went up to ski. I went up for other reasons, but never skiing.

Anyway, in terms of snow this was a little disappointing; let's just say you could see the grass through the snow. Now worries, we still had plenty of fun.

On Friday, Alicia and I hopped in the car and went to the airport to pickup Kevin (old work buddy). A little confusion occurred when we realized we had different airports in mind...she thought Boston and really it was Manchester. No worries, we got it straightened out, picked up Katherine from her house, grabbed Kev and flew up to Bretton Woods.

I think we laughed the entire way (excluding our serious discussions), especially when we left a few cases of beer at the wrong condo and almost barged into another one that wasn't ours (we thought it was until we saw the child's jacket hanging in the hall). Anyway, we stole our beer back and drove to the correct condos.

The boys' condo hosted a party and we all had a blast. Oh, I should mention that we later learned that the boys condo apparently looked directly into my bedroom and the curtain was wide open when Cha Cha and I were prepping for the party...and the boys saw everything that happened. Anyway, party was a great way to relieve stress. I don't quite remember how I got home, but I think it involved cutting across a field with "deep snow."

Saturday was much more relaxing. A few made breakfast then a bunch of us parked it in the living room and watched "Love Actually." Afterwards Kev and I went for a long walk and ate lunch at the resort. Before we knew it, it was time for dinner so a bunch of us went to the resort for a decent buffet then drinks at The Cave (which really looked like a cave...interesting). Soon we left and went back to the condo. By 8pm everyone was so tired and ready for bed, which was why we stayed up until 6am.

Kevin brought out the UNO cards and taught us Speed UNO while others made Red Bull and vodka. Speed UNO led to Asshold which led to other games. Music was played, people were dancing on chairs and we only went to bed because we ran out of games.

On Sunday we got up, cleaned, then went to a restaurant that wouldn't feed us breakfast because we were 10 minutes past their breakfast curfew, so we had lunch. Eventually we got home safely.

BCRAP Revisited

2006-01-11T09:49:00.000-05:00

BCAP has started again. However, this time every Wednesday is assigned to BCAP, so we don't have any classes. Our group is a little deflated...we don't feel like spending significant time on the project like we did in last mod since we just got an MPS and we were expecting something higher. We'll see what happens for the rest of the year.

Having no classes on Wednesday is great since it now feels like we get two Friday's (Tuesday and Friday) which means more time to drink, get ahead on studying, and keeping our head above water.

Module II done, 6 more before graduation

2005-12-12T07:00:00.000-05:00

Imagine a small child sitting in the corner of a cold, dark cell. Her knees are up to her chin, arms wrapper around her frail body and head buried deep into her knees. She's shivering and crying; her confidence destroyed. That's me at the end of mod II.

Alright, not destroyed but this was definitely challenging. Basically, everything I've never learned before was covered in this mod so I spent the entire time confused.

Classes:
Microeconomics - Utility maximization...er...ok. They did a great job of relating micro back to business, but it was tough. I'll be surprised if I pass this exam.
Strategy - The learnings were fascinating, but the professor kicked my ass in class! There was one day where I didn't do one part of the homework (no one did!) and he humiliated me for, literally, five minutes. Basically, he was using me as an example in class to get us to use our study groups, but this particular instance set me back in being comfortable with class participation.
Data Analysis - Finally, a class I can do well! Geez, data analysis was part of my roles for about 6 years before coming to school!...Not so fast. This class is actually stats. Great, another class that I'm green on.
Accounting - Just because one of my undergrad majors was originally accounting, doesn't mean I know anything in this class. Yet another reason to make me hate that accident tha wiped out my memory...
Finance - See "Accounting" above.
Law - This was interesting and everything is approached from the mindset that we need to understand the law from a managerial position. Besides understanding the law, it teaches us when to get a lawyer.
Ethics - Increasing in importance since Enron, Anderson, WorldCom, etc. scandals. Our law prof is also our ethics prof, and she's pretty funny. We actually combined law and ethics class several times (what's legal but not ethical, and what's ethical but not legal?).
Marketing - Woohoo! I've never had a single marketing course before, so I was looking forward to this. I loved our prof...great guy.

Exams:
Accounting/Strategy - This exam was combined but focused on accounting - 3 hours long - then move directly into a group exam...
Strategy/Law - This exam focused more on strategy. Our official study group got together and was given 36 hours to complete it. I heard horror stories from friends about their groups (fights that resulted in yelling, literally). We didn't have any problems like that, but I think we were tired of each other by the end.
Microeconomics/Marketing - If I failed any exams, it was this one. My first time learning both micro and mktg. I'll keep my fingers crossed but not hold my breath.

Other:
Alumni Mentor Program - This mod included the kickoff of our AMP. I met my mentor, who specializes in turnarounds, and was fascinated! I hope to spend more time with him in the coming months.
BCAP - Now known as BCRAP, our team spent days preparing and finally presenting our market analysis to our client and a panel of profs. My key takeaway? I'm afraid of professors (must work on this)...of course my strategy prof didn't help. At least our advisor (a prof) is really funny.
Writing/Speach Consultants - To help us improve our core capabilities, we had several sessions with writing and speech consultants. I wrote memos, reports and cover letters, and presented on Mr. Potatohead, The Muppets, and other lighthearted topics.
Study Groups - Can't forget the official study groups. While I studied with friends almost everyday, we were assigned study groups. This was another team designed to force us into learning and understanding the dynamics in a group. Togeher we completed several assignments, presentations and an exam.
My Birthday - If this isn't an offical Babson event, it should be. ;-)

BCAP Presentation

2005-12-06T21:55:00.000-05:00

Talk about stress relief! Today is the first day of winter break (which is 1-month long) and yesterday marked the end of the mod when we completed our bcap presentation. Woohoo!

The week leading up to the client meeting had been long and stressful. We worked long hours everyday to make both the report and presentation perfect. During this time I got extremely sick and completely lost my voice (not good for the presentation), but got it back the day of the meeting.

Overall, we had fun. All of the presentations were completed over a two-day period and we were one of the first to go on the first day. With a professor panel of 4 (plus our BCAP advisor prof and the client) in attendance, I realized for the first time that professors make me nervous. Must fix that.

Anyway, afterwards we went to the CCD (Center for Career Development) for champagne where we spoke to our client away from the professor panel. He was so excited after our presentation and told us how we had hit all of their key issues and he could tell we really understood their industry.

While most bcap teams were itching to get away from each other, our team went out for some Indian. We had a few drinks, laughed at everything that happened, then half of us went home while the other half did some more drinking.

Now to do nothing but family stuff for the next few weeks.

Silver Nights

2005-12-03T19:51:00.000-05:00

What a nice night!

Elise, Brian and I went downtown and got ready at the hotel. They were nice and set us up in a suite, which made it easier to spread out and get ready. Of course, Brian gave me crap for taking "so long" to get ready and we got to the party about 1/2 hour late...but were some of the first 1st year's there. So we snacked and wandered around the silent auction.

Soon others started arriving and before we knew it, we couldn't keep up with who had arrived! Everyone looked so nice in their suits and dresses! Drinks were expensive, but it didn't stop anyone from drinking.

After the live auction, everyone started dancing on the dance floor until midnight. Then some of us went to Gypsy (Andrew was nice enough to give Brian and me a ride since someone else was supposed to but ditched us to give a couple girls a ride...can't blame him, really). I don't remember much about Gypsy (couldn't have been the booze) except talking Andrew's ear off.

The next day I caught a stomach flu. I WASN'T HUNGOVER! It was a stomach flu. ;-)

Happy Birthday to...me

2005-11-27T19:19:00.000-05:00

The curse of the holiday birthday. Yes, my birthday was on Thanksgiving this year, so the odds of finding anyone to celebrate with (besides my beloved Brian) were slim. Luckily, I found about 10 friends who were in town and ready to go out!

We started at an Indian restaurant downtown and played a drinking game...anytime you say "I" or "me" you take a drink. We had to cancel that game after 15 minutes because it was getting out of hand.

Next stop was King's, a popular bowling alley (yes, I did say "popular bowling alley). There we found Prashant and Sapo who were quick to join us with the shots.

We soon hopped in a cab and headed to a really cute jazz bar then we finished at The Red Line.

I won't name any names, but let's just say a couple people were pretty sick the next day.

Slumber Party!

2005-11-22T15:46:00.000-05:00

Must have more of these.

In true Babson fashion, the party start time was 7 and the first person didn't arrive until 7:30. Funny enough, I actually figured the first person would show up around 8.

Anyway, it was instant fun once people started trickling in. Plenty of snacks and more than enough alcohol. We drank and talked and talked and drank some more. Jill managed to hoard the jello-o shots, Shweta finally showed up around 11 with the webcam (which we never got working), and we didn't get to bed until 3'ish.

It was a great evening to de-stress, say whatever we wanted, and get to know each other better. Like I said: must have more of these.

See pics

4-Day Class-Week

2005-11-10T11:03:00.000-05:00

The calm before (and after) the storm. Next week we have a few exams; last week we had a few exams. This week we have 4 days of interesting classes then a 3-day weekend.

Rumor has it we'll eventually only have classes 4 days per week, but I don't believe it.

Exams

2005-11-04T15:07:00.000-05:00

I started an accounting exam yesterday (Thursday) morning at 8am and completed it at 10. As soon as I submitted the accounting, my professor said, "Thank you. Here's your next one." She had a deceivingly innocent smile as she handed me the strategy / law exam that included a 23-page case study and 4-pages of directions. My team took a short break, then we were off on our strategy / law exam, which we complete in teams. It's definitely not the most exhausting thing I've ever done, but it's taken it's toll. We stayed up relatively late and started again at 8am on Friday. We never actually fought, but I think in the end we were ready to start our weekends and get away from each other. Great group of people, but there is such thing as spending too much time together. Now for the weekend...

Scawy Halloween!

2005-10-30T17:29:00.000-05:00

Halloween is tomorrow, but last night was a pretty good Halloween party. I met up with a small gang at a bar and we all got comfortable with our costumes before heading to Olivia's house. While at the bar, Jill and Ben met a couple of swingers and they had a great time chatting them up.

Anyway, soon we went to Olivia's party and had even more fun. Plenty of people were there and in high spirits (meaning they were wasted by the time we arrived). Drinking, dancing, talking, drinking, drinking, drinking. Around 2am the cops broke up the party and we left. Kiwi (in the yellow jacket above) drove a group of us back to his place then Aziz (Sir Lance-A-Lot) gave me a ride home (thank you boys).

Anyway, without further ado, here are the pics:
Halloween

Meet Your Mentor

2005-10-17T17:09:00.000-04:00

One of the optional programs is the Alumni Mentor Program, which I signed up for. Basically, we complete an application (I had to complete it about 4 times because the computer kept having errors), alumni who are interested also complete an app, then our career center pairs us up. The ratio is currently 2 students to every mentor, so Denise and I were paired up with a gentleman named Kevin.

Let me just say that after meeting him this afternoon, I was glowing. He's worked for several interesting companies mostly in the food industry. A few years ago he bought a company, turned it around and sold it 5 years later for tidy profit. He enjoyed his first turnaround, so now he's Pres/COO for a family biz that's been around for 40 years. They package foods as well as have their own food line, so he spent the last couple of years streamlining operations (my past) and now he's focused on the strategic end (what I want to learn now). Part of this phase includes introducing a couple new product lines and he joked that he should just give me a product and see what I can do with it. Didn't take me half a second to say, "OK!"

Anyway, he talked about his several contacts, how he can help us get an internship that we want, assisting us in starting our first businesses, etc. However, what's most interesting to me right now is his knowledge - I just want to hear his stories and understand how he, specifically, decided to buy that first failing business a few years ago, risk his family's home and retirement $$ and just go for it. Fascinating.

In conclusion, I'm excited that I'm paired with this mentor and look forward to interacting with him more in the future. The End.

B-B-B-BCAP!

2005-10-06T22:06:00.000-04:00

BCAP (Babson Consulting Alliance Program) has finally begun. We met our sponsor, Tom, tonight and talked about Gravis a little. Tom is an alumnus of Babson and seems like a really interesting guy. He was pretty casual and easy to be around.

It makes me laugh to think of the others who are doing projects for Fidelity and other boring companies. We have Gravis Footwear a subsidiary of Burton Snowboards! Looks like it's time to learn to snowboard, eh? (Note: In the Burton pic below, that IS NOT me...I'm sure many of you would assume it is since obviously I'll be a natural when I give it a try)

Module I done, 7 more before graduation

2005-10-03T16:36:00.000-04:00

So Module 1 is done already (for those who don't know, we have modules instead of semesters since they're all a different length). Admittedly, it was a fun mod. Some complain about the amount of work and the 2nd Years respond with a laughing and saying something about how we're about to get bitch slapped by our Mod II professors. Hm, professors must be good friends with some of my old colleagues.

Anyway, Mod I was all about leadership, management, teamwork, creativity, ethics, communications, beginner's accounting, and some other fundamentals skills.

Mod II will be a little more...business school. Statistics, more accounting, finance, strategy, marketing, econ, more law and ethics, and now we'll start our consulting project. But before we focus on Mod II (in future blogs), let's review what we've experienced so far:

Creativity Project: We laughed, we cried, we worked together and we tried to entertain our fellow classmates.
Leadership: My professor made me co-facilitate a class for two hours with no advanced notice and no time to prepare...she's awesome.
TechMark: What better way to start school than with a 2-day business simulation? Got our brains thinking and our creative juices flowing.
Team Process Day: Who would've thought spending a day stepping on spots, blindfolding ourselves, and playing with string would be helpful? Team Process Day was probably my most beneficial day so far.
Surprise Guests: Imagine reading a case study then having a 90-minute class discussion about a CEO and ripping apart his past decisions...only to learn that he's sitting at the back of the class listening to every word.
Crazy Schedules: No two days are alike. Each day included different classes, starting/ending times, intros to whatever around campus, meeting with different departments, and whatever else. They did what they could to keep us busy.

Deliverables -
End of Mod Paper: What did we learn during these 5 weeks? Our section was encouraged to be creative, so instead of handing in a paper, most of us turned it into something else. Some creative ideas were case studies, a picture box, a PowerPoint presentation that only had pictures, etc. I made a scrapbook and received my first EXC (the highest grade you can get...of course Babson can't be normal and grade us "A" through "F")
Accounting/Law Exam: Two courses combined into one exam. Were people nervous? Yes. Did everyone do okay? Yes.
Business Idea: A paper on a biz idea that was voted on by our peers and the 5 best in each section received an automatic increase 1-letter grade and gave a short presentation to the class. I didn't make the top 5, but at least a few people voted for me (we're not allowed to vote for our own)
Creativity Project: I was in fiction and had to write a short story and read it to the class. I wanted something that would be more "interesting" like improv, movement or puppetry, but I got fiction. It was okay and I had a good group, but I didn't grow a lot.

Overall, this is still one of the best decisions I've made of my life...now it's time to prepare for Mod II.

Never Going Out to Dinner Again!!!

2005-10-02T22:32:00.000-04:00

Last night B and I were on our way home discussing dinner. He mentioned some disgusting Stouffer's pasta dish that's in the freezer and our conversation "somehow" quickly changed to eating out.

We decided to try an Indian place near our house. Now we tried this place a year ago, but the service was so horrible that we decided never to go back. Sure enough, we walked in and noticed 4 employees had to take care of the entire place. Basically, we stood waiting for 10 minutes and at no point did the host acknowledge us or the other 4 groups that walked in after us and piled up in the front. One lady got up from her chair and asked for the check. A table of 3 came up to the front to get their own menus. A couple from the bar commented to the host that they had been forgotten and should've been seated before another group did. B and I looked at each other and walked out.

We then decided to hit Applebee's. We parked in front, walked to the entrance and the manager met us at the door. "I'm so sorry," she said as she handed each one of us a biz card with her name and the words '$5 off' written on the back, "but we're experiencing technical difficulties tonight, so the kitchen is closed. Please accept these coupons as our apology." We thanked her and left...

...then went across the street to Uno's. While waiting for our seat, a lady commented to the manager that she had been waiting 25 minutes for her to-go pizza and was getting frustrated. He left to figure out what was happening and never returned. Oh well. Anyway, this time we actually got as far as being seated! Wow. We selected drinks and waited for our waiter. He arrived and I ordered a beer, "I'm sorry, but we're out of that." So I selected another, "I'm not sure we have that. Let me check and get back to you." It took him about 10 minutes to return to us, but we did see him stop at the table before ours and clear a plate...then check on another table...then give the check to another table (after they had requested it)...then he came back to us. "No, we don't have that, either." So I picked another and we ordered apps and our meals all at the same time.

The couple that asked for their check commented towards us as they got up, "We only had to wait half an hour to get our check."

As the manager set our nachos on the table, he let us know that he'd bring plates. So we started eating and worked our way through half of the nachos until I gave up. I walked halfway across the restaurant, found our waiter and asked for plates and napkins. He handed them to me and asked if we had silverware yet (which he promptly delivered to the table in a pile with napkins and handed the stack directly to me to sort out). We noticed a few other funny oddities and I asked our waiter for the check before we were finished. He delivered it by the time we were done and I had to chase him down for a to-go box.

I know: negative, negative, negative. I should describe the evening like this: We stopped by an Indian restaurant and the poor staff was overutilized. We felt bad for them and moved on to Applebee's where we got $10 for the next time we go! Then we went to Uno's where the waiter was really nice and got our entire order correct. All of that AND we still have a Stouffer's pasta dish at home to eat some other night. What a great dinner evening.

(In all honesty, we did have a lot of fun)

True Class Participation

2005-09-27T13:46:00.000-04:00

Few of our classes are lecture based. Instead, we focus on case studies and read chapters prior to attending class so we can spend actual class time discussing it. You may recognize this as "class participation." Well, this morning at 8:00 am I got a little surprise.

Our professor walked into class and announced this was our last LDO (Leadership in Dynamic Organizations) class for the module (we don't have semesters) and she would begin class with our surveys so we can spend the rest of class trying something a little different.

"Yes, here at Babson we take risks and today is my day to take a risk." She looked around the room mischieviously and continued, "Today is the day to turn class over to you, the students. So, Felicia and Matt, I would like you to be our co-facilitators for the next 2 hours."

And that was that. Without any time to prepare, Matt and I spent about 120 minutes leading our classmates through a discussion on our latest case study.

It was tough! Making sure everyone gets a chance to speak, trying to move the conversation in certain directions while not traveling down the wrong rabbit hole, deciding when the video should be shown (we had two, 5-minute videos), paraphrasing what some people said and getting the group to expand on it, etc.

Honestly, I did a horrible job, but it's something to learn from, right? So much for raising your hand a couple times in each class and thinking your job is done.

Good to Crap

2005-09-23T13:18:00.000-04:00

My sweet boyfriend was laid off yesterday. Stupid company is being run by an Al Dunlap wannabe, and him and his executive team are running the company into the ground. You wouldn't believe how many excellent employees have either been laid off or quit over the last 18 months. Nothing to do with performance - just need to hit profitability numbers so it's easiest to lay off those who make a reasonable amount. And as it stands now, it's easier to list the existing employees who aren't looking for jobs than those that are. Talk about changing a company from good to crap.

From a completely objective, non-emotional view, the easiest way to describe the executive team is to say they do everything we teach our clients NOT to do.

The Director of HR actually sent out a companywide email announcing the fact that Brian, "...has left the firm to pursue other opportunities." Both him and I have received a flood of nice calls/emails/IM's and several people have stated that it looked like she took the email out of "HR for Dummies." Seriously, the woman is the biggest idiot.* I'll bet she's even surprised employees are quickly learning he was laid off and didn't quit voluntarily...as if the employees, our friends, don't gossip like a bunch of women at a quilting bee.

I hate that a company we worked so hard to build is being destroyed.

*Note: For those still in the company, the opinions expressed here are my own and not necessarily those of my boyfriend.

Girl's Night Out

2005-09-14T22:17:00.000-04:00

A couple weeks ago, one of the girls was complaining about always being around the boys (sorry boys). So a few days ago a couple of us decided it was time for a girl's night out. About 30 of the 45 women in our class RSVP'd and I believe most of them made it. Not a bad attendance rate considering I was originally hoping 6 women would make it. Woohoo! Unfortunately, I still wasn't feeling great so I only stayed long enough to ensure the reservation was there and everyone had a seat.

Thanks to Lisa H for serving as hostess for the evening, picking a restaurant, and taking pics! And...here are the pics:

http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=fberg1&p=A085&AID=2830142

Remembering Joel

2005-09-13T23:06:00.000-04:00

Today I received the voicemail message that no one ever wants to get: "Felicia, it's Mike. Can you call me back? It's about Joel. He...he died Saturday night in a motorcycle accident."

Joel was a friend who I considered a brother. He was the most loyal friend you could ask for; that man would do anything for you.

His resume included serving in the military and he was a doctor, but you wouldn't know just by looking at him. Ever watch the show "House"? The main character, Dr. House, kind of reminds me of Joel: first impression is that he's tough, but really he's a teddy bear inside. The difference between Dr. House and Joel (besides the fact that he laughs so much) is that you're intimidated by House b/c of his personality whereas you're intimidated by Joel for his physical attributes: strong, tall German with a shaved head and tattoos all over (but not above the shoulders or on his hands so he was presentable in a business setting). It never surprises people to learn he used to be a bouncer at a few nightclubs. As a matter of fact, he had such a strong reputation that he was the only person (besides cops) allowed to wear a firearm inside any nightclub that we went to.

When informing Mom today over the phone, I could hear the emotion. She immediately began speaking of his stories. Joel had more fascinating stories than you could imagine. For example, while working for the government, a man shot at him with an automatic firearm, and he was hit 11 (yes, ELEVEN) times in the intestinal area. The rehab was extensive and he still has scars, but he didn't talk about it much because it was just another part of his life...he acted like it was no big deal.

I remember the first time we met. It was about 7 years ago and I was just starting to hang out at Mike's (now ex-boyfriend but still dear friend). Joel came in and was nice, but didn't pay me too much attention. Somehow we got on the topic of motorcycles:
Felicia: You have a bike?
Joel: Ya, just like the one parked outside
F: You mean the black and purple one?
J: Yup (proud smile on his face)
F: Oh, that's mine
Instant bond. The rest is history.

We stayed friends through our few years in Tucson, AZ then Joel, Mike and I moved around the same time to Southern California. A couple years ago Joel moved to Chicago and I moved to Charlotte. We stayed in each other's lives in various ways, but not nearly as much as we should have. I should've called more, emailed more, visited occasionally. But I can't do anything to change that now.

Now I'll just have to be content knowing I will never forget him.
Joel - May your memory stay with us forever. I will always love you.

Lesson Learned...NEVER Miss a Party

2005-09-10T23:27:00.000-04:00

Boy did I get chewed out by everyone and their brother!

Yesterday, 4 roommates (Alicia, Ben, Damon and Kiwi) had a party. Over 100 of the 152 students went...and I fell asleep and missed it. However, here's the link to the photo album so you can see all the wild and crazy people I'm proud to call friends: Link, Blink, Schmink

As for tonight, our class went on a boat cruise! Since parking is pricey and hard to find near the pier, Brian and I picked up Atyab and Monica and drove down. I won't go into details, but let's say we had some small issues with traffic and made it to the boat about 5 minutes before it set sail. I like to refer to it as time optimization.

So Brian finally got to meet all these people I talk about. Now when I say things, I have to specify the person (ie - Lisa H is now "Local Lisa" whereas Lisa M is "San Fran Lisa").

Anyway, it was a lot of fun, but nothing "news worthy" meaning we all goofed off like the children we are, but no great stories came of it.

Hmmm I'm tired, so I'm going to end this blog right here.

Team Process Day

2005-09-09T19:11:00.000-04:00

What could be more fun than a mandatory outdoor play day? Nothing!

I've mentioned before that we spend significant time in teams. We also spend a lot of time understanding team dynamics and individual styles.

So Friday was our time to bring all of this home. We started out with what I hate most: role playing. Basically, we had to pretend that we had a team member who dominates all conversations which was causing the rest of the team to distance themselves. It was our job to talk to the overbearing team member and get him to change. So, we practiced a few times one-on-one then Tian (the girl I had partnered with) and I were picked first to role play in front of the group. Blah, blah, blah, we finished that and moved outside.

The next activity was to get as many people as we could (the directions actually read "as many people as you want" and we chose everyone) onto a small wood box. Afterwards, we sat around and discussed the approach for a bit.

Next was an activity where one of the consultants (actually a 2nd year grad student) picked a facilitator. The activity was slight chaos and we almost completed the puzzle within the time allotted. Of course, we sat and discussed the activity afterwards then went to lunch.

After lunch we had our 3rd activity which was one where our team selected a facilitator and they picked me (aw shucks). We were blindfolded this time and wound up implementing all that we had learned through the morning: we clearly stated the objective and rules of the activity so everyone was on the same page, we determined a game plan before moving, we broke into 3 groups, and we had occasional status checks. And...we finished the task right on time! Everyone was pretty complimentary of my facilitation, so I asked for critiques. Got a couple small comments, but nothing significant. I think everyone was just pumped that we finished the task within the time allotted.

Anyway, our final task included 4 volunteer facilitators. We moved through this task relatively efficiently but found that we didn't need all the facilitators (too many bosses?).

Overall, it was a busy day and a great way to end a week.

Over a week since my last blog?

2005-09-07T23:38:00.000-04:00

Wow, time is going by too fast already.

As a child, I never thought I would say this: school is fun!

So far it's been a few classes per day followed by required readings, a few assignments and play time. The purpose of Module I (we have modules rather than semesters) is to focus on creativity, learning about leadership and getting us to step outside of our comfort bubble.

An example is with our recently established (yesterday) creativity groups. We have all been assigned to teams which are broken into categories such as puppetry, music, poetry, improv, dance, etc. My category is fiction and I'm not sure how much of a stretch that is for me. I was hoping for something much more vocal, but I suppose there will be plenty of other opportunities to make a fool of myself. Anyway, we'll spend a few weeks learning about that specific genre then will perform in front of the entire school for about 30 minutes (well, 20 min performance with 10 min Q&A). Yes, this is mandatory for all 1st year grad students. Our creativity consultants are intentionally vague in describing exactly what we need to do for our performances because they don't want us to focus on that yet. So, we'll see what happens.

And classes in this module (and the next few) aren't scheduled in the traditional format. For example, our schedules aren't fixed in the sense that we have Financial Accounting every Monday and Wednesday from 1:30-3:00, Business Law Tuesday and Thursday 10:00-noon, etc. Instead, classes vary based on what they believe you need to learn and when (the only class I'm in almost daily is Leadership Development). They may combine classes, such as Law and Ethics, to focus on a case study to understand both dynamics. For example, yesterday we used a case in our Communications class to write a letter then send it to our new writing consultants, and tomorrow we'll discuss that same case in our Leadership Development class. So this week my class schedule has been:
--Tuesday --
8-930: Biz Law
10-1130: Fin Acct
1230-2: Leadership Dev and Career Dev combined
230-5: Creativity groups
--Wednesday--
8-930: Fin Acct
945-1115: Leadership Dev
12-130: Overview of Babson IT
230-345: Creativity groups
--Thursday--
8-930: Math Skills course (optional)
10-12: Lead Dev
12-1230: Meet w/ career counselor
1-230: Idea lab (brainstorming entrepreneurial ideas)
245-415: Acct Rvw (optional)
430-530: Club Expo
6-8: Pub Night
--Friday--
Team Process Day
--Saturday--
Boston Harbor Cruise
(Note that I picked this week as the example b/c it's the shortest days and easiest to follow of the 5-week schedule that's sitting in front of me)

Hm, what else? Oh ya - tons of teams. It's true that consulting was team-oriented, but I really can't say that when I quit, I got away from teams. So far we've had case study teams, creativity groups, class sections, reading groups, writing and speech teams. Soon we'll have assigned study groups, BCAP teams (more on this some other day), and I'm sure there are other teams I'm forgetting. Plus, clubs and sports have just barely begun and my International requirement will be in a group.

Friday is Team Process Day. We've been instructed to wear comfortable clothing and bring a baseball cap, sunblock and water to stay hydrated. The 2nd years are great at keeping secrets, so they've only told me it's a fun day and includes those corny activities (my words not theirs) like falling back and others' catching you.

We don't even have a final exam at the end of Module 1! How great is that?!? Instead, I'll write a paper reflecting on the things I've learned about myself during this module. Should be interesting.

Alright, time for bed.

Orientation

2005-08-29T19:00:00.000-04:00

Today is the first day of b-school, otherwise known as orientation.

I started getting ready at 6, said goodbye to Brian at 7 (he's in Louisiana this week and I hope he didn't get hit by the storm), took care of the cats until 7:20 then drove to school.

A bunch of us thought the events started at 8 but learned that it didn't start until 9:30, so we had social hour. However, the pace sped up pretty quickly. We had a 45 minute formal welcome which basically started with us having to put on colored t-shirts representing the section to which we belong; I'm in section 1 and got to wear the red shirt (my fav color). This time also included the stats of our class. Among other things, the following was listed:

162 full-time students
29% female
45% International (27 of the 45 is from Asia & Pacific Rim)
4% management consultants
Ave age is 28

Next 2 hours were allotted to taking care of administrative details such as loan status, parking stickers, etc. One of the suprises I had was to stop in at health services and get my 2nd hepatitus B shot! Ow!

Lunch was consumed while in our group sections. Section 1, the group I'm in, is a fun group. There were quite a few people I was happy to see there, but I was sad to learn that some were in other groups. Waaa! Oh well. We played a little meet & greet game where we were given a list that showed one "fun fact" for each classmate in our section. While standing in line for health services earlier, I started getting people's fun facts (Kiwi thinks I'm nerd for starting early, but I'm okay with that), so I completed all but 3. My nerd-like fact was "Around the age of 11, I sang the National Anthem for the Seattle Sonics once and the Mariners twice."

At 2 everyone regrouped in the auditorium where we listened to an alumni panel then we broke into small groups to ask questions of another alumni panel. I have to admit that Babson is really good at ensuring your questions are answered since this is probably the 10th panel discussion I've participated in and we haven't even started school yet! They also had 2nd year students roaming around all day in case we had questions for them.

Afterward was a "networking cocktail reception" where I spent a little time goofing off (like we hadn't done enough of that already) then I came home for dinner, am quickly writing this and will now go play with my kitties.

School Dayz & Kittiez

2005-08-24T19:34:00.000-04:00

Well, yesterday was the accounting class and it was slow. I expected it to be slow, but wow...it was sloooow. Didn't help that I felt antsy 15 minutes after class started and I watched the clock too closely during the last 2 hours. Oh well. It was great to see everyone and meet a few new people.

Kitty update: they're starting to accept us! Last night Brian and I were sitting on the couch when the girl walked behind me and dropped sideways onto my shoulder and started purring. Shortly thereafter the boy kitty jumped on Brian's lap and started purring. I guess the kitties have each selected their pet human. We also have preliminary names - the boy might be Leo (like a lion) and the girl might be Kallisto (greek for "most beautiful") which will be shortened to Kali (pronounced Kaelee). There's still time to change them if you can think of something better since we're having a hard time picking great names.

Anyway, back to school. Today we started the econ/quant portion. We began with a lecture then broke into pre-assigned groups to work problems then return to class where the professors randomly select teams to share their findings. We go through this process about 4 times each day. We're also cold called throughout the day and right at the end I had a great brain fart on a really easy problem. Oh well...if you can't laugh at yourself...

THEY'RE HERE!

2005-08-22T17:31:00.000-04:00

The kittens are here! The kittens are here!

And they are so cute.

While waiting at the airport, I overheard two American Air employees:
Employee 1: We found that dog that was supposed to show up here.
Employee 2: You're kidding! Where was he?
1: He was shipped to Montreal by mistake!
2: Why did he go to Montreal? Did he have proper documentation?
1: No. They just accidentally put him on the wrong plane.

Anyway, fast forward 2 hours to the vet where they were so patient when being handled. The vet's assistant referred to them as Kitten1 and Kitten2 since we don't have names for them yet. The vet had plenty of praise and thinks we should show them (we likely won't due to time constraints, but it was still nice to hear).

Fast forward another hour to home. The three of us (B's not home yet) are already having fun. Both used the litterbox immediately. After checking out the litterbox, they toured the edges of the basement (this has been designated as their room). They found their food, played with a few toys on their own and I introduced them to my fav kitty toy, which they keep revisiting on their own. Surprisingly, they seem to have no interest in the couch, but have already designated the stairs as their cat tree. They have insto-purr capabilities (they purr as soon as you touch them) and they're getting more comfortable every minute.

Here kitty kitty

2005-08-19T16:20:00.000-04:00

Due to reasons beyond our control, we have to wait until SUNDAY to get our kitties (it's been too hot to ship the cats this week). On Sunday morning they'll fly from Columbus, OH to Washington DC to Boston. I hope Delta doesn't lose them. Sounds a little funny to image an airline losing two cats...

...but did you realize airlines lose the luggage of approximately 4.8 of every 1,000 passengers? (CNN.com) May not sound like a lot, but it is and it's definitely not Six Sigma. Let's say we're on a Boeing 737 that has a little over 130 seats per flight, and on a certain airline the BOS to EWR route alone has 12 rountrips per day. This means that on that route about 15 passengers will lose their luggage that day. And that's just one route on one day on one airline.

An article on CNN.com noted that 85% of lost luggage is actually traced and delivered within 48 hours. That means 13 of our 15 passengers will receive their luggage within 2 days. That could sound good or bad...you decide. Personally, I don't like it.

I remember flying to Green River, WY (Ever heard of it? Not likely) a few years ago for a client. I arrived at the airport, but my luggage didn't. I sighed and went to the lost baggage counter...

Felicia: "My luggage didn't arrive."
Employee: "Were you on that flight from Denver?"
Felicia: "Yes."
Employee: "That is soooo funny! The same flight came in yesterday and nobody's luggage was onboard!"
Felicia (not amused): "Ha. Great."

My luggage appeared the next evening, but not before I had to run to Wal-Mart and purchase a mini-wardrobe.

And imagine: British Airway's statistics show 5,000 bags disappeared permanently in 2003! Just be rest assured that if it happens to you, the airline apparently has to pay you as much as $2,500.

But I don't want $2,500...I want our cats!
Of course we also have to worry about heat. What if they get dehydrated?
And what if they're placed next to a pitbull?
Then their crate shifts all over during the flight?
How tramatized will they be once we get them?!?

Geez, I get myself all worked up over the dumbest things. What a waste of a blog entry.

What's my motivation?

2005-08-18T07:59:00.000-04:00

Woke up today at 6:30 and got ready the same time as Brian. What a sunny, beautiful day! And wow, I have so much energy!

He put on his work clothes while I suited up in my cycling clothes. We walked to the garage together and while I was pumping up my tires, he reversed out of the garage. We stopped to wave and memorize one another, then he drove off and I finished pumping. I put on my helmet, gloves, glasses and watch. I readjusted my seat, took off the bike bag Brian and I used on our last trip (we often cycle to the grocery store on weekends), and replaced the old water bottle with a fresh one. Walked the bike outside, locked the door, got on the bike, put my right foot on the peddle...and noticed it's a little chilly out right now.

I paused and put my foot down.

I thought back to the big cycling trip and remembered all those brisk mornings. Yes, I remember starting out chilled then getting warm within a mile. It's warmer now than those mornings in New Zealand. Shoot, we rode through fierce winds that knocked a woman clear across the road and lifted a guy right up over a guardrail. We layered up and rode through snow. We battled our way down a pass as rain blasted at our faces. We survived narrow highways, cattle/sheep crossings, construction detours, and 115 degree weather with terrible humidity!

Whew, I'm worn out just thinking about it.

I got off the bike, unlocked the door and walked my bike back inside the garage. I've been riding every other day for the last 3 weeks, but not today. Today cycling will just be a memory.

We're getting kitties!

2005-08-15T12:04:00.000-04:00

Brian and I are having twins! That's right, a red-head boy and a blond girl!

Seriously, after much discussion, we have decided to adopt two Burmese kittens, a red boy and a cream girl who are just over 12 weeks old (they're the two laying down in the pic to the left). They're getting shots tomorrow and will ship to us either Weds or Thurs. I'm probably getting the kitty toys, food, etc. today.

We're a little worried about them scratching up the sofas and speakers on the main floor, so I'm working to get all the training tactics in line before they arrive. This place will look pretty funny for the next month (aluminum foil on kitchen counters, dining room table and drum set; tape around couches and speakers; water pistols every where; etc.) so no one is allowed to visit! (Just kidding)

We also just bought a camera to take pictures of our new family, so this blog will likely be inundated with pics for the next few weeks. Just bare with me as I "over pic" this site...
Woohoo! This is so exciting!

Going AWAY...away...away...

2005-08-11T11:55:00.000-04:00

Well, we had the last going away party on July 29th and boy was it fun. Vanessa sent out the invites and everyone came from all over the continent, including Mexico! Kate took pics of part of Friday night:

http://www.dotphoto.com/MemViewAlbum.asp?AID=2724349

Basically, about 8 of us met at Brian's and my place and we hired a van to take us into downtown Boston. We met up with others and eventually had about 25 people at Rock Bottom for dinner. In order to fit everyone, the table had to loop around like a "J." People came that I really didn't think would make it such as Nate and his wife, and Patty and her fiance.

Afterwards we hit a bar (where the pics were taken) then took cabs home. 7 people stayed at our place and slept everywhere from the attic to the basement and every where in between...even on the living room chair (Will - I told you to AT LEAST take the couch).
I slept in until 9am and came downstairs to learn a few managed to run off to Habitat for Humanity at 6:30am, two had already left for the airport, two people went running and two went for coffee. What ever happened to the good ol' hangover days?

Anyway, a group of us went downtown to meet back up with a certain male friend who met a new female friend the night before and was considerate enough to escort her back to her hotel and make sure she was safe all night long! Once we found him, Jason, Annette, Ashley, Kevin, Danielle and I ate outside at Au Bon Pain and let me tell you...I'll never forget that moment: perfect weather, perfect friends, good people watching, and a homeless guy that kept repeating the same phrase, "I've run out of excuses so can you just spare some change for booze?"

Finally we left there and broke into two groups: one to help Kevin get fitted for a tux and another to bring a house key to Brian back at the house. I won't get into details, but plans changed several times and included Kevin getting into trouble from Danielle (bad K!), watermelon icees, Jason babysitting a bag that no one noticed was "missing" until hours later, Annette and Ashley getting lost, and laying on grass in the middle of Boston Common for a very long time. Ya, it was fun.

Anyway, great job to the Habitat group. This was the first group philanthropic event completed by Celerant and congratulations to Megan for arranging it! Saturday evening on the porch was in honor of this group. Note: not surprisingly, the Director of HR was a no call/no show.

So we woke up on Sunday and had a group breakfast of 7 at the dining room table hosted by Jason and Kevin. Everything tasted so good (even the pancakes)! And afterward everyone even took their linens to the laundry room so cleaning that afternoon was easy!

Thank you, everyone, for a great weekend. Can't tell you how much I appreciate it.

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

2005-07-29T11:51:00.000-04:00

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?!?

2005-07-28T11:50:00.000-04:00

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

2005-07-24T11:48:00.000-04:00

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?

2005-07-23T11:12:00.000-04:00

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

Quits

2005-06-26T11:11:00.000-04:00

Semi-annual bonuses will be distributed at the end of July. However, 5 people chose to quit BEFORE bonuses are distributed. I hope our company gets the message that morale is pretty low right now. All 5 people are great, but one is expecting me to talk about him on my blog, so here it goes:

Vernon - You are (almost) my favorite. I'll miss that little laugh of yours. Please keep in touch!

Oh Sweet Boyfriend

2005-06-20T11:08:00.000-04:00

I left Charlotte on Wednesday at 5pm (with food poisoning) and got to my boyfriend's place in Boston 24 hours later with a 12-foot moving van and my mom's dog (I'm dogsitting).
He's going to kill me for writing this, but holy crap! The grass was knee high...and blooming! Now Brian's house is always nice when I visit, so I was pretty shocked and got a good laugh. However, the "laughs" continued when I walked inside to see dishes piled up in the kitchen, mail everywhere in the living and clothing strewn about in the bedroom. So I cleaned.

On Friday I booked a landscaper then went to the grocery store for dinner food. My girlfriends had no trouble mocking me over the phone and commenting on how Desperate Housewives I've already become. Oh well.

Friday was also the day I met a group from my Babson class. There were 5 students there as well as 3 significant others and 1 friend. All a great group and it leaves me excited to meet more.

When to start the blog

2005-06-13T12:25:00.000-04:00

As is true with many people I'm just getting to know, life is about to change drastically between now and August. Among the changes include:
-moving in with my boyfriend in Boston,
-leaving Charlotte and selling my home,
-pursuing my MBA at Babson,
-and quitting my job.
At first I didn't think much of it, but now that I'm packing boxes, reality is starting to set in.

Therefore, I've decided to start this blog...right...about...now!

I love change and trying new things so this is pretty exciting. It'll be fun to look back on this blog at the end of two years and laugh at myself (which is probably a little too easy to do). Hopefully, this will also make it easy to keep in touch with current friends and family, serve as a space to vent when I'm about to go crazy, and make it easy for new friends to get to know who I am (which may not be a good thing).

Alright, here we go...