Gloves, a Necessity

Never thought I would type: Gloves are a necessity in the Bay Area on chilly mornings. Lately, I have been contemplating the locations of the schools to which I applied. Granted, I have yet to receive acceptances, so I am trying not to get ahead of myself, but if I think SF is cold right now, I can't imagine how I'd feel in Evanston, Ann Arbor, Washington DC, or Charlottesville, which is probably the warmest of them all. Now I spent 4 years in Colorado, so I know I can live and survive the dry snow, but if you know anything about Colorado weather, you also know it can snow today and be 70 degrees tomorrow. The motto: "If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes", is incredibly true and although I had experienced it many times, it never failed to amaze me when it snowed in September or May. Note that I typed, DRY snow. Part of the reason I only glanced at Midwest/East Coast schools for College is their winters and for grad school, I didn't consider winter.

Let's return to yesterday morning and this morning. I work quasi market hours, which means it's dark when I wake up and the sun barely crests the horizon when I leave for work. At 6:45 am, it has been approximately 35 degrees and because a sick friend borrowed my gloves at a soccer tournament last Saturday, I decided they need to be washed leaving me without them. I probably do have another pair, but the effort to locate them has been lacking, although I did make a poor attempt on my way out the door this morning. Trivial features like a heated steering wheel do not seem like a bad idea as my hands are numb just being outside. Other features, like my heated seats, reinforce their use on these mornings. As I wrapped my extra scarf around my steering wheel this morning, I thought, am I crazy? Not because I was wrapping my scarf around the steering wheel, but because in about 8 mos I hope to be moving to a different city, each of which have winters worse than those in San Francisco. However, does the anticipation of a bad winter make it easier? Would I be better prepared if I were in, say, Chicago? It seems silly to me to wear a parker over my suit jacket to work, although it would probably keep me warmer in the morning. Conversely, I would likely always have a pair of gloves if I expected to need them.

I'll admit that location did not play a huge factor in my choice of schools. As I think about the process, I was influenced by program focused research and the people I met from the different programs. In addition, after attending Colorado, I think another football school would be fun.


On another note, I'm attending a local "coffee chat" with a current Kellogg student this evening. I have yet to receive a decision from Kellogg, but believe it would be beneficial to speak with someone regarding the school should I receive an acceptance in the future. As I have committed one email address to all MBA communication, I get a bit nervous every time I have a new message in that mailbox. Thus far, I have not received anything profound.

Furthermore, I booked my flight to DC in January. I will spend a weekend with friends, then drive to Charlottesville for my interview. Excited and a bit nervous.