Boredom

I wait for the minutes to pass, which is something I haven't done in months. Don't get me wrong, I have wanted time to fast forward at the end of the day, but not like this.

Last night, I composed an email requesting more work. I recognize that it's hard to give me more work from 500 miles away when the day its consumed with meetings. However, perhaps the note needed to be more blunt. "I have nothing to do." On one hand, it's my fault for not realizing how lean my workload was becoming as I sent completed tasks. So I now sit here trying to brainstorm some grand idea that would keep me busy and help the office. So far, no luck.

CNN was interesting for a while, though I've maxed out on my intake of news. Most "fun" sites are blocked and my phone signal is horrible at my desk. I'm back to, so what?

12 hours of work, the gym and a soccer game later, I'll be off to Vegas tomorrow for one of my favorite weekends of the year - soccer tournament + Vegas nightlife.

Ode to Public Transit

I'm on the bus, on my way to work. It's been one of my longer work weeks, which is likely nothing compared to my classmates and the life for which I recruited initially.

Before Chicago, I was never a public transit person. Sure I'd hop on the local metro during vacation, but almost never in San Francisco (exception: attending SF Giants games). I remember laughing about the bus names in Boulder, Hop, Skip, and Jump. Even with a student pass included in tuition, I'm not sure I ever took a route. However, I did walk frequently.

Yesterday, on my way home from soccer, I pondered the fact that my primary uses for my car are getting to and from soccer and Costco. I still have a half tank left from my arrival in February.

Public transit and primarily the bus system is my new found friend. It's my transportation to work and going out on the weekends. We even managed the metro to a Cubs game and the bus to a Bulls game.

Plus, on the bus I get my daily dose of Facebook stalking and Words With Friends! There's something to be said for a good transit system in the city. Who knew?

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Cville Weekend

I've officially been in Chicago for just over a week. Per the usual jet setting lifestyle, I spent my second weekend in Charlottesville instead of Chicago. The boy and I met up with his old roommate as well as MissFab, a close current second year friend. She was the perfect hostess for a trio of friends who wanted to relive a Darden weekend.

We arrived late Friday night, dropped our belongings at the hotel and went straight to the Corner for a nightcap. It felt oddly familiar to be at Trinity, a bar we frequented prior to graduation. Yet there were no familiar faces and far more undergrads than I recall.

Saturday we walked the downtown mall, looking for food to fill our hungry bellies. Even the stores on the mall had changed - new faces while old staples  were no longer around. Not to mention, almost nothing looked open for brunch/lunch. We journeyed to Charlottesville running company so that roomie could purchase a new pair of shoes and then the boys went running, while the girls indulged in some proper bonding time. And if course, no Charlottesville trip would be complete without Arch's frozen yogurt!!

Two Darden 2010s happened to be at the UVa basketball game, so they stopped by to catch up. It made me miss the days when everyone was in close proximity.

After much discussion...read hours of tossing around ideas for dinner...Mas, Orzo, Shebeen...we settled on sushi at Tokyo Rose. It was quite good, close to the house and a great way to begin the night. We followed up sushi with drinks in Ivy and dancing to 80s music at Three. Just like old times!

Sunday morning we were set on crossing an item off MissFab's bucket list - brunch at Bluegrass Grill and Bakery. Delicious though their operations and math could be improved.

While the weekend away made me a bit nostalgic for days at Darden, coming home reminds me how much I love my new place and the city of Chicago. This weekend, we're off to San Fransisco for the Venetian Masquerade ball my mom planned to support a local charity. Then we a handful of weekends at home.

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Updating the Address Book

It was so easy to keep track of classmates while in business school. We all had Darden email addresses that followed the same naming convention. Not to mention, many of us lived a stones throw from Darden grounds. Today, it never ceases to amaze me where people ended up.

I sat down after business school and tried to compile people's information on Facebook and LinkedIn into my gmail address book. Trying to formulate one source of the truth - post Darden email, phone, birthday, and location. What I've often found is not everyone updates these sources as religiously as I do. Even in business school, my classmates' locations would often differ from Charlottesville.

About two weeks ago, it was finally time to update my address to the world! Chicago - my new home! (At least until the next promotion or something like that.) I spammed my entire address book. Surprisingly, this was brilliant as I immediately knew which emails simply no longer work. (Also, if you decide to do this, BCC is your very best friend!). It's amazing the number of responses I received. However, it's also annoying given that many included little notes to which I feel the need to respond. Plus, I've also realized that once I receive a response, I then have to update the address book. That takes time! I think I have just shy of 100 left to update! Welcome to my Friday. :)

Next up, I'm hoping to use some of these newly found addresses to drop handwritten notes. We'll see how that goes.

Somber Goodbye

I was so excited to leave that I never thought I'd be sad to say goodbye. One thing many people don't know is that I have family in Louisville. We often have family dinners with Monday night sushi being my favorite. When everyone's there, it's chaos. Three kids just under 10, as well as another two sisters, one 12 and one 16. A total of five kids, each in their own world, fighting for attention. Although technically adults, my two cousins can still bicker with the best of them. It's family.

Plus, you can't forget the wonderful owners of my little sushi place. Jessica knows part of my order without me ever having to ask. Roy makes the best sushi in town. And as my uncle says, it's hard to jump around to different sushi restaurants. You get comfortable and used to one, it becomes your favorite. I'd very much agree as these days I  feel like a regular, barely looking at the menu when I order.

I'm two days out from my big move  north and it just hit me how much I'm going to miss this place. The next adventure is on the horizon and I thank my family for making the current one so much fun. Jessica gave me a mug for the days when I miss Tokyo. My uncle and aunt passed along a housewarming gift. By Wednesday night, I'll be in Chicago and on Thursday, I'm headed to Vegas to see my immediate family. Time flies.

Well Being, Not Immortal

I ventured to the gym last week, thinking it was time to "get in shape" before my next season of indoor soccer. The next morning, I woke with a tickle in my throat and quickly halted my workout routine. Some people say you can sweat out the sickness, but I don't buy it.

Today, a dear friend of mine sent me this article. It discusses that while exercise won't make you immortal, it does improve life. One of the people mentioned in this article is my friend's father. He was a miraculous man, always full of energy. Yet with all his good habits, cancer was his fatal end.

The article makes an interesting point about exercise not making you immortal, but helping your overall well being. While I hate 5:30a workouts, I feel amazing after them. The time I spend in the gym over the course of the week vastly improves my performance on the soccer field. When I'm in shape, I simply feel better all around. So why is it a couple weeks on the couch can make me forget how much I love the feeling of being active? We, including myself, all make excuses as to why that 30 minutes can't be spent at the gym. Today, I'm going to try not to make the excuse.

The Case Method Lives

A week ago Monday, I found myself sitting on a 7:15a flight to Chicago. I had arrived late the night before and expected to sleep for the hour. Instead, I overheard a seatmate say that he was headed to San Francisco and the guy next to him, Los Angeles. Next thing I knew, I was conversing with the guy sitting in front of me who was returning to China, where he is getting his PhD. In comparison to their travels, my hour flight felt like nothing.

The conversation with the guy in front of me ensued. We talked about what each of us respectively do. Then came the conversation of MBA. I don't recall where he attended, but our traveler to San Francisco quickly joined as we reminisced about the case method. It was an interesting conversation as Mr. Going to SF said that he thought the case method was worthless and cases were simply too easy to solve. It made me question what types of cases he studied as most cases don't have a correct answer.

As I've noted before, I believe the case method is about thinking. It's learning to state your assumptions and ask questions to make a final decision or recommendation. SF-Bound seemed to think it was simply about getting the right or optimal answer. I noted that while some cases may have an optimal answer, I thought a subject like strategy doesn't necessarily. Sometimes an expansion in one direction will succeed, though you'll never be able to say what would have happened if a company expanded in a different direction or not at all. He strongly disagreed because he was a strategy guy that always found the optimal solution given the facts at hand. I commend him on his confidence, but must resume that there's not always a right answer. And in my opinion, the case method is far better than a professor lecturing on a book I can sufficiently read on my own. You can't teach everyone's individual experiences from a textbook. That's what makes a case classroom so rich. I may never serve my country, yet through the eyes of my classmates, I understand what it means to do so.