tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27582654160458148512024-03-16T20:58:01.166-04:00Journalist pursues MBA, blogsAfter eight years in Texas newsrooms, I am now in Connecticut classrooms.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger503125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-53029832931354141362023-05-22T08:00:00.282-04:002023-05-23T08:24:54.023-04:00Where He Is Now: Twelve Years Later<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVPxEuaaT7OePwkMdZoiPT7NPgYmX7DWfpsTtztKyaMwY3VhC-2VA3KPBf-gUVwFBG400TiY0A2QOnzX3A9NUbKShbOk9RPudc3-MStNPjYBVWnuh6UF1zr51k8y8UN57ON5ZntKEzNAf01eCrQ5RYmvavOX61RcvR0_KgHfoCA6jKqrsrMLfzntix/s1900/JohnFlorida.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1900" data-original-width="1900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVPxEuaaT7OePwkMdZoiPT7NPgYmX7DWfpsTtztKyaMwY3VhC-2VA3KPBf-gUVwFBG400TiY0A2QOnzX3A9NUbKShbOk9RPudc3-MStNPjYBVWnuh6UF1zr51k8y8UN57ON5ZntKEzNAf01eCrQ5RYmvavOX61RcvR0_KgHfoCA6jKqrsrMLfzntix/w400-h400/JohnFlorida.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me on my first day in Florida, April 2023.</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p>
Today is Commencement Day for the Yale School of Management's Class of 2023, making it 12 years since I graduated from their MBA program, and one year since last I posted an annual update.
<p style="background-color: #f7fdfd; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhxJDl0Ybje5VtvQq-TvKvdMvgBf-MyYaz-MIpUUhECKJ5k0E-kaV8facwZD73onOvH19RJLtScz5Ye-x1viEDVumrO5tCs4Zz5Ct1e2HAZ1vJ2Py-nkCb8olq1xyYb7ZyY5a9UUOi5hLO5Ft3mjD7B2bvon7oNP4gHCo5kT5O3MK0Jt7ACSpxrJFz/s4032/FL%20Pool.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhxJDl0Ybje5VtvQq-TvKvdMvgBf-MyYaz-MIpUUhECKJ5k0E-kaV8facwZD73onOvH19RJLtScz5Ye-x1viEDVumrO5tCs4Zz5Ct1e2HAZ1vJ2Py-nkCb8olq1xyYb7ZyY5a9UUOi5hLO5Ft3mjD7B2bvon7oNP4gHCo5kT5O3MK0Jt7ACSpxrJFz/w200-h150/FL%20Pool.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The pool at my apartment complex.</td></tr></tbody></table>The past year has been full of change and upheaval, most of it within the past two months. After 10 years together, my boyfriend, James, and I decided to go our separate ways. This was an amicable, mutual decision that we both think is best for both of us. Subsequently, I decided to relocate from Forest Hills, NY, where I'd been living since 2013, down to Fort Myers, FL, in early April. And that decision meant saying goodbye to my home of 10 years, my dog, my community of friends, my tennis club, my church and, well, basically everything about my life! Why Fort Myers, in particular? For one, I generally wanted to get out of the Northeast for weather reasons, as I was growing weary of struggling through winter blues every year. Financially, given that I have the option to live anywhere, I thought it made sense to be somewhere with no state income tax, ultimately choosing Florida because of proximity to family. My parents moved to this area in 1999, and my father passed away in 2021, so my mom is now here alone, and I thought it would be nice to be closer to her and perhaps be of some help. Coincidentally, my brother and his wife moved from New York to Orlando, and my niece (my late brother's daughter), who grew up in Michigan, happens to be attending college in Daytona. So my closest relatives are now all within a couple hours of me, which hasn't been the case since I was 11 years old. <div><p style="background-color: #f7fdfd; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2n9Ar34SHZFyXMb5YdsurRt6t-dO0H5wWMYPPJDPhTuPfBbQilvBVhG1ZI_vQLZqUU3pdSRVwVA934QULmJ1O28IKzed_v2V6SY5e2R33W3HpxpYQAFKfppyLxYGEgz0TuP6-Sw12E5w2-mz75tdKrg6Vgw3YrdGRrk4smrYLn7t5gVvbkeclMp7M/s4032/Mom%20and%20Al%20iPad.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2n9Ar34SHZFyXMb5YdsurRt6t-dO0H5wWMYPPJDPhTuPfBbQilvBVhG1ZI_vQLZqUU3pdSRVwVA934QULmJ1O28IKzed_v2V6SY5e2R33W3HpxpYQAFKfppyLxYGEgz0TuP6-Sw12E5w2-mz75tdKrg6Vgw3YrdGRrk4smrYLn7t5gVvbkeclMp7M/w200-h150/Mom%20and%20Al%20iPad.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With my mom's apartment still in post-Ian <br />recovery, my brother shows her how to use <br />the iPad he got her for her birthday.</td></tr></tbody></table>Although it's still early days here in Southwest Florida, I'm feeling confident it's the right place at the right time. I love my apartment; it's got more than enough space for me and my belongings, including new furniture, and has a relaxing lanai overlooking a lake and palm trees. And, nothing personal against my ex whatsoever, but I'm enjoying the autonomy and privacy of living by myself again. And it's been really nice to spend more casual, regular time with my mom, who's 80 and lives less than 10 minutes away now. I've also joined a new country club and am starting to meet some friendly fellow tennis players there, and am looking into opportunities to sing in another choir, although I'm not sure that will end up being with a church. Mostly, my focus is on my financials, because this is a great opportunity to save money and accelerate annihilation of those burdensome MBA student loans. (My current payoff date is in 2036; my plan is to wipe them out in 2025, a goal that wouldn't be achievable in an expensive city like New York.)<p></p><p style="background-color: #f7fdfd; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0KZfwPNSYZygwBaAk7kGzemIBguwgpcmnEd_LUojj1JKfG6VVGZOmgTcUvm-5SmUa-rbEGlz4Z1DbXHSlxT04yWop7IQG-MhClSqCP04NK7n9KA0wuoR7bK3nBAdku3oGIVfXUgyzsufWiEjOog3-GMPTahwgTZCyGiPVolHBahotPNNiR62EtFhR/s4032/Deloitte%20Miami.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0KZfwPNSYZygwBaAk7kGzemIBguwgpcmnEd_LUojj1JKfG6VVGZOmgTcUvm-5SmUa-rbEGlz4Z1DbXHSlxT04yWop7IQG-MhClSqCP04NK7n9KA0wuoR7bK3nBAdku3oGIVfXUgyzsufWiEjOog3-GMPTahwgTZCyGiPVolHBahotPNNiR62EtFhR/w200-h150/Deloitte%20Miami.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deloitte colleagues during a rare co-location,<br />this time in the Miami office.</td></tr></tbody></table>I am still at Deloitte, focusing on bringing our <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Workforce-Ecosystems-Strategic-Technologies-Management/dp/0262047772/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3HTNZA7BOV0AS">Workforce Ecosystems</a> integrated offering to market, and primarily working with Tech and Media clients, although broadening into other industries a bit. The process to transfer was easy. In this post-Covid world, they understand that people need to be where they need to be. Technically, I am out of the Tampa office, although that's two hours away, and I primarily work from home just as I did before. There is a small community of Deloitte colleagues here in Fort Myers who apparently get together somewhat regularly, so I look forward to meeting them when the opportunity arises. I'm approaching the two-year mark since I boomeranged back to the firm, putting my total nonconsecutive tenure at about 8 1/2 years, which is remarkable to me (where does the time go?). I'm still proceeding as if my goal is to make Principal or Managing Director -- if they'll have me, of course -- but I still have a couple years before I need to make that decision, so for now I'm just focused on what's directly in front of me. <p></p><p style="background-color: #f7fdfd; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzePBbUeuOB6ovNVM61krSbdgth6YHUnF6GtoGDQAfNpYmdSxKzDsn_ASRtKr_ygMBEHEFsgMCiK9eRXytgxEbYtHQqQlHEr1LmtiOyxdMF4hVlMkDV9fG8MmsKMWqLq8Qi-DI3Gt3V10TYa_vt927lLQkIDdDBCwBAIktUAs8Dv2PWZAsUs4hiV8x/s960/JohnTux.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzePBbUeuOB6ovNVM61krSbdgth6YHUnF6GtoGDQAfNpYmdSxKzDsn_ASRtKr_ygMBEHEFsgMCiK9eRXytgxEbYtHQqQlHEr1LmtiOyxdMF4hVlMkDV9fG8MmsKMWqLq8Qi-DI3Gt3V10TYa_vt927lLQkIDdDBCwBAIktUAs8Dv2PWZAsUs4hiV8x/w150-h200/JohnTux.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the Glyndebourne Opera in England, <br />summer of 2022.</td></tr></tbody></table>As usual, I did a bit of traveling over the past year. James and I went to Riviera Maya in June for his friends' wedding, then to Tulum. Then in July, we went to England primarily to attend Wimbledon (thanks to some generous, well-connected friends), but we also managed to pop into Lewes, a town we love and have visited a few times over the years. Near Lewes is the <a href="https://www.glyndebourne.com/">Glyndebourne opera house</a>, which is gorgeous both inside and around the property, where patrons picnic before each show during the summer. We also had a nice trip to San Diego over Thanksgiving to visit some of James' family; I had never been there (aside from a brief trip ages ago to Sea World) and really liked it. And I made a few work-related trips, not to anywhere particularly exotic (Dallas, Miami).<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvPIQvhWuRFuFGSePXDRdTLY3tXHnSLDwN4HYSnt5_11sXTPnGF9EKhg2aJk6gnYlFGebKIq2j78SjVuzBQGVm0I5i_Hih-9tKwg7hXWEVgeQ7IXe7Uax3hkxhzvd4Qq5LP3KQkDakoZS5Fro50ERqJD-IZDMllRES1ttxOJua0VAq6BJAwI8wsumC/s2048/BroadwayMuseum.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvPIQvhWuRFuFGSePXDRdTLY3tXHnSLDwN4HYSnt5_11sXTPnGF9EKhg2aJk6gnYlFGebKIq2j78SjVuzBQGVm0I5i_Hih-9tKwg7hXWEVgeQ7IXe7Uax3hkxhzvd4Qq5LP3KQkDakoZS5Fro50ERqJD-IZDMllRES1ttxOJua0VAq6BJAwI8wsumC/w150-h200/BroadwayMuseum.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My friend Debi and I at the<br />Museum of Broadway on my birthday.</td></tr></tbody></table>In all, I'm glad I made the decision to move to New York after business school. I first lived there during my summer internship at the Associated Press and had such a blast (well-documented in this blog) that when I got the full-time offer at Deloitte and had to select a preferred office, I deliberated for all of maybe 15 seconds. I knew, even back then, that it may not have been the most prudent choice financially, but you only live once, and not everyone gets a chance to live in a world-class city. Obviously, over the 12 years I was there, the thrill started to subside, and I took less and less advantage of all the things there are to do there. I still managed an occasional visit to a museum, or a show, or a cool restaurant. But by and large I was pretty nestled in suburban Forest Hills and content there. That's part of what's made this adjustment from New York to Florida a little less jarring. When I tell locals that I moved from NYC, they assume I must be experiencing culture shock, but so far I haven't. Perhaps that's, in part, because I'm not a native Northeasterner and spent two decades in the Midwest followed by one decade in the South before migrating up to New Haven.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikK_VADZzaYDt8CzElSa7QLSHpKRaHI2lIuFOqupedIt-3I4NW11kwty--MLETbQNu0ZJnXFgHMn5oC3ZDO3OWOX15SsYkftZYyVzEk3mlWoW3AmpkreQTxabVS0LCgwH8RfjOQEtl2O3vyaDA35tOjP2jXCMcR5pLxjsWgjmlRb2Vopq-KGGhXIdS/s2532/SOM%20Zoom.PNG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2532" data-original-width="1170" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikK_VADZzaYDt8CzElSa7QLSHpKRaHI2lIuFOqupedIt-3I4NW11kwty--MLETbQNu0ZJnXFgHMn5oC3ZDO3OWOX15SsYkftZYyVzEk3mlWoW3AmpkreQTxabVS0LCgwH8RfjOQEtl2O3vyaDA35tOjP2jXCMcR5pLxjsWgjmlRb2Vopq-KGGhXIdS/w93-h200/SOM%20Zoom.PNG" width="93" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Business school friends on <br />a Zoom in January 2023. </td></tr></tbody></table>Since the purpose of this blog is primarily to talk about business school and its aftermath, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the friends that I made there have been among those who've most shown up for me during this time of personal transition. Despite all of us being busy with work and family, we've made a concerted effort to stay connected over text, group chats, occasional Zooms and visits when possible. Sure, a few friendships have faded a bit, but a majority have stayed steady. I've been particularly grateful, over these past few months when I've needed emotional support, for the relationships that've endured so far. Point being that even though this blog focuses a lot on business school as a career accelerator and learning opportunity, it also produces long-term friendships, not just short-term acquaintances and additions to your professional network (although it produces those, too).</div><div><br /></div><div>See you next year!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-70194429234173843562022-05-23T08:00:00.112-04:002022-05-23T08:00:00.168-04:00Where He Is Now: Eleven Years Later<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUG2vFm-pXTstWQreXVEMnAB4Fv07bHItT6QMjvkdOYyYZ6SF5-LfjWJjjHw6_hh8TB6vtLveQT8W95oxAtGcf_LalJkmcjrb29CYQRTvcBHmO-FsHvNVHRWyYlVGac_9dATgTdtvkQJ0d3_g3_ZUaoYTkVSyFXcZYUrOdsAaANw8fU3a4A3tlvBRA/s1152/JohnMusical.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="1152" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUG2vFm-pXTstWQreXVEMnAB4Fv07bHItT6QMjvkdOYyYZ6SF5-LfjWJjjHw6_hh8TB6vtLveQT8W95oxAtGcf_LalJkmcjrb29CYQRTvcBHmO-FsHvNVHRWyYlVGac_9dATgTdtvkQJ0d3_g3_ZUaoYTkVSyFXcZYUrOdsAaANw8fU3a4A3tlvBRA/w400-h208/JohnMusical.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me performing a solo, "Take Me To The World," at a community musical revue in April 2022.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Today is Commencement Day for the Yale School of Management's Class of 2022, making it 11 years since I graduated from their MBA program, and one year since last I posted an annual update.</p><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgkyYEcxdMSyFmrtg1DkzRXAonMaosmmK3lD3BV-xmZj-HDpCc7-KH9yNvVxCrEQrNxyZWl44vylSYzm6QoMhsrLrxukdms8m8zwrBTnY4K7nA2oOxfsULNYzrWMSTXZIYKpgsvdQTk6iM0Aiprtrx6fZv01s_xurQ32OP5o9od-NiS6Q3MIQHI2014=s2048" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1318" data-original-width="2048" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgkyYEcxdMSyFmrtg1DkzRXAonMaosmmK3lD3BV-xmZj-HDpCc7-KH9yNvVxCrEQrNxyZWl44vylSYzm6QoMhsrLrxukdms8m8zwrBTnY4K7nA2oOxfsULNYzrWMSTXZIYKpgsvdQTk6iM0Aiprtrx6fZv01s_xurQ32OP5o9od-NiS6Q3MIQHI2014=w200-h129" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">James and I at the immersive <br />Van Gogh exhibit in L.A. </td></tr></tbody></table>In general, the past 12 months have been fine. When last I wrote, I was about to return to Deloitte, the consulting firm I'd joined out of business school and worked at from 2011-17. A lot has changed since 2017, most notably that the "road warrior" lifestyle has been replaced with primarily virtual work, and the culture seems more embracing of work/life balance. So I'm enjoying both those aspects, especially since I've been working from home (mostly) for the past five years, even before Covid-19, and have personal commitments I prefer to fulfill without pressure to do otherwise. Another adjustment is the role itself. When I left, I was a Manager, which meant I did one project at a time. Now I'm a Senior Manager, one level up, so I juggle multiple engagements and focus more time on POVs, solutions, coaching junior staff, and sales. Also, I used to be in a practice called Organization Transformation (OT), which focuses on change management and organization design, and now I'm in Workforce Transformation (WT), which focuses on talent strategy, although practically speaking my projects have straddled across both. I'm building and leading our "Contingent Workforce Strategies" offering, which is designed to help clients address various challenges they encounter with accessing and managing their non-employee workers. It's a hot topic and a growth area, so there are a lot of demands on my time, but I've enjoyed being back.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjMd5oBU1WeZkX_CBJqzxRbUNPeDJ5OffpeUYOZAG7Ig-nu83pVsJZyjVVLEaG5GBxLE0JZatLAM36KSoYkGxQwm_WFCZZmrgGeQNDAZvcdvP8MURaLeAPFegLIauHYp4GmyrQx9FQCqqEY-ynSvn532w693I9mPwXddPxvkSsKMcYd6zmZYsUb-EKL=s1440" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1440" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjMd5oBU1WeZkX_CBJqzxRbUNPeDJ5OffpeUYOZAG7Ig-nu83pVsJZyjVVLEaG5GBxLE0JZatLAM36KSoYkGxQwm_WFCZZmrgGeQNDAZvcdvP8MURaLeAPFegLIauHYp4GmyrQx9FQCqqEY-ynSvn532w693I9mPwXddPxvkSsKMcYd6zmZYsUb-EKL=w200-h200" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Live band Halloween karaoke night <br />at our tennis club in 2021. <br />That's me on the far right, dude.</td></tr></tbody></table>Outside work, life has mostly gotten back to normal as the world moves out of the emergency state of Covid-19. I still play tennis regularly, as my main hobby. Last summer, I captained one of our four Team Tennis teams, each of which was a Hogwarts house. We were Hufflepuff, and we won first place! But during that time, I was suffering from some chronic pain in my neck and shoulder. An orthopedist, a chiropractor and an acupuncturist all thought the root cause was my sleeping position, which I adjusted, and the discomfort eventually went away. Nevertheless, because of that issue, I scaled back my tennis commitments slightly and spent the winter season playing about once a week, half as often as I would have liked. Beyond tennis, my church choir resumed in the fall, in a dwindled-down form, so from then through the spring I went to those rehearsals on Tuesday nights and sang at Masses on Sunday mornings, as I'd done before the pandemic. And this past Spring, I performed in a <a href="https://youtu.be/DDN_O8Af_g8" target="_blank">community musical revue</a> honoring the late Stephen Sondheim. I did "Take Me To The World" from <i>Evening Primrose </i>as a solo and "Tonight" from <i>West Side Story </i>as a duet, on top of a couple group numbers. I've done plenty of karaoke in my day, and have performed in choruses and choirs, but had never sung on a stage in a paid-ticket performance context before. It was scary, but something I'm glad I tackled, and I was well-supported by friends in the audience and got kind feedback.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhmp1TKwS72Pwg8_FHcvaTrd-mTzY-N-7v6ojyQ_Pa0UhaiVLR8s_sFf9yqX84ZAKp8Q6cYFjE3lRoWe81iq5GigdgqtUYI1_Fys623zDmIwjWu1KdE1rJ3V-LlCORY2weogaaSJTyIPsaCVz-fw0_6GdBGWDbjR-v19TEYQHtriBdLUmUqcyGE5l4M=s836" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="767" data-original-width="836" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhmp1TKwS72Pwg8_FHcvaTrd-mTzY-N-7v6ojyQ_Pa0UhaiVLR8s_sFf9yqX84ZAKp8Q6cYFjE3lRoWe81iq5GigdgqtUYI1_Fys623zDmIwjWu1KdE1rJ3V-LlCORY2weogaaSJTyIPsaCVz-fw0_6GdBGWDbjR-v19TEYQHtriBdLUmUqcyGE5l4M=w200-h184" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me cutting corn off the cob<br />at our friends' country-themed <br />anniversary party in Kiawah.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Vacation-wise, James and I didn't go anywhere net-new over the past 12 months, but we were able to take a few trips, including twice apiece to Kiawah, S.C., and Montauk, nearby on Long Island. And even though I'm not traveling for work anything close to the extent I used to, Deloitte did send me to Boston, Las Vegas and Austin. James joined me for the latter two trips, and we attached a jaunt to Los Angeles, his hometown, to the Vegas trip. I also went alone to Florida for unpleasant reasons explained below. Next month, we're off to Riviera Maya in Mexico for a wedding and a short post-wedding getaway to Tulum, and then over 4th of July weekend we're going to England to stay in Lewes, the town where we spent a full month vacationing back in 2014, and will spend a couple days in London.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhpLB3mDOmyt2UnIxE0FkbtmVI4LKRNAhbvUfFCaHIxm1weTtGZ64wvAJK78DmISNRcYisfoAJ9U45rh_XOke07WowB4e6qm7P6i3rBfgbXxQLN9jod9o9Mfq5eDBnaLlDIv6VFbhZLug6JxZMaDqQGSvhGeV5VeQpNuHRbrY2cN4tLWZLaDc_hDK8k=s600" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhpLB3mDOmyt2UnIxE0FkbtmVI4LKRNAhbvUfFCaHIxm1weTtGZ64wvAJK78DmISNRcYisfoAJ9U45rh_XOke07WowB4e6qm7P6i3rBfgbXxQLN9jod9o9Mfq5eDBnaLlDIv6VFbhZLug6JxZMaDqQGSvhGeV5VeQpNuHRbrY2cN4tLWZLaDc_hDK8k=w200-h150" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stephanie (aka "Stuffs") during our visit<br />to Wrights Dairy Farm in 2011.</td></tr></tbody></table>The past year also delivered a couple tough losses for me. In June 2021, my best friend from college, Stephanie, died suddenly at age 41. I wrote about her on this blog a few times, including <a href="https://jpmatsom.blogspot.com/2009/09/cool-chick.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="https://jpmatsom.blogspot.com/2009/10/check-providence-off-list.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://jpmatsom.blogspot.com/2011/04/darlin-i-love-you-but-give-me-park.html">here</a>. We had Zoomed just five weeks before she passed away of complications from sarcoidosis, a rare disease that's almost never serious. Her death marked the first time I've lost a close friend my age. She was brilliant, loud, energetic and consistently hilarious. We were inseparably close freshman year at Duke, then lived together (unharmoniously) sophomore year. We reconnected in our 20s, buried the hatchet and got together several times throughout our 30s. I'm very grateful we got to have a second chapter to our relationship. She left behind a husband (her high-school sweetheart) and three school-age daughters. </div><div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjMkzP0dFpQEz1g81bh7b4nJJ-otxs-PzjEZg0uVhalQ-hqqfw0WYP7Sc77LqRRIYnzuXPdiWBKZZl05IlH_d8kAnOAVHrDQbGPKGNarcm27fqAHpFB0gSJF5UIwnRxjAFibxGXPCJUDk7dW_K_78M786FUM4fdobkAIWMn-GI1fktxZorFLrL7gk9a=s2048" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1956" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjMkzP0dFpQEz1g81bh7b4nJJ-otxs-PzjEZg0uVhalQ-hqqfw0WYP7Sc77LqRRIYnzuXPdiWBKZZl05IlH_d8kAnOAVHrDQbGPKGNarcm27fqAHpFB0gSJF5UIwnRxjAFibxGXPCJUDk7dW_K_78M786FUM4fdobkAIWMn-GI1fktxZorFLrL7gk9a=w191-h200" width="191" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My father with newborn me in 1978.</td></tr></tbody></table>Then in November, my Dad, Richard, died at age 84 due to a mix of factors starting with a spontaneous hemorrhage in his back muscle likely brought on by blood thinners, and ending with a septic infection. He'd been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease earlier in the year, so in some sense it was a blessing that he didn't have to suffer through years of dementia, as his older sister did 30 years ago. My Dad was a character. He was a bit grumpy and socially ungracious but had many gifts -- he was extensively knowledgeable about U.S. history and politics, an excellent writer, a surprisingly good drawer, and not a bad singer! We had a functional but not particularly emotionally close relationship. My Mom is now living alone for the first time in her life, but is handling everything with aplomb.</div><div><p>In less somber news, my niece just finished her first year of college, my nephews are doing well in high school, and my partner, James, continues to find ever more success as a local real estate agent. And Derby, our beloved dog, just turned 8 and is healthy. So, overall, there's much to be thankful for. </p><p>Even 11 years out, I continue to reflect on my choice to go to business school and whether it was the right decision. I've never believed it wasn't, because at the time my goal was to quickly reposition myself to make more money, and I now make 10 times what I made as a journalist. I do wonder at times whether law school might have been a better fit for my strengths and temperament, as I find the work my lawyer friends do to be very interesting, but given that I delayed going to grad school until I was 30, I think an MBA was a more sensible route. Regardless, staying in journalism doesn't seem like it would have been feasible. Given that newspapers were in a downward spiral just as my career was starting, nearly everyone I worked with back then has long moved on to another career, and the MBA opened more doors to me than would've been available with just a BA in Journalism. So I still think the decision to pursue the MBA was prudent given my situation at the time, and it's all turned out well in that I've had a nice post-MBA career that I've generally enjoyed. </p><p>See you in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fpEc4JC5sc">2023</a>!</p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-62225270741122373622021-05-24T08:00:02.758-04:002021-09-14T10:11:04.997-04:00Where He Is Now: Ten Years Later<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_DrHsErSKU2uM1GOxRGezDlVjpqlPUfr2baiLno-oHPnG4uTuhY6uqdcV_aNGOYId2M32V4lZEDX_DvCuFjmJwoDk1juVwx9xrTTBUa9L5g9ahL9HF0IAJGyzrsGrL7jMF19QhJlQ_mo/s844/JohnPlane.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="844" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_DrHsErSKU2uM1GOxRGezDlVjpqlPUfr2baiLno-oHPnG4uTuhY6uqdcV_aNGOYId2M32V4lZEDX_DvCuFjmJwoDk1juVwx9xrTTBUa9L5g9ahL9HF0IAJGyzrsGrL7jMF19QhJlQ_mo/w400-h235/JohnPlane.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me on a private jet (not mine, of course!) returning from Kiawah, SC, in March 2021.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>Today is Commencement Day for the Yale School of Management's Class of 2021, making it 10 years since I graduated from their MBA program, and one year since last I posted an annual update.</div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"></blockquote></blockquote><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPb4W8OU5_sSrbAKx1Mj4DLqChAzbuX__YkkERieJQ6o-YcBvqlcwW_93K-ZZ5HcGpCMyakO2KjBiWYW_rN7KvpVmHMzPG0RIrKX78Mpbp0dOFJQ2D9jgXEV0yMMiBX9orAYfe8HQC65w/s794/yalesomblue.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="794" height="117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPb4W8OU5_sSrbAKx1Mj4DLqChAzbuX__YkkERieJQ6o-YcBvqlcwW_93K-ZZ5HcGpCMyakO2KjBiWYW_rN7KvpVmHMzPG0RIrKX78Mpbp0dOFJQ2D9jgXEV0yMMiBX9orAYfe8HQC65w/w200-h117/yalesomblue.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My SOM cohort (Blue) reunites over Zoom.</td></tr></tbody></table>My business school class had its 10-year reunion a few weeks ago -- virtually because, as of this writing, only 45% of the country is fully vaccinated from Covid-19, myself included. Yale did a good job with the multi-day programming, which offered a menu of lectures, discussions and catch-up sessions. Compared to our five-year reunion in 2016, everyone seemed more content and settled in their careers and personal lives. Lots of kids. It was great to see everyone’s faces and hear their voices. Here's hoping our 15-year reunion can be in person.<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTE0KYc0QtCpUwjbkz5cA1ubAUnCJQ90tUKL0goAU6nxiMVivxXCaC8Ge3ArrVPjuO7V9AZaMrG5F6Uo0oPJvKdrDBbDBNJjrfrmg8NJPuZCnYhbnLNC7gTw8OHQ79A1xpnMW8fpAb24I/s960/bowling.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="954" data-original-width="960" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTE0KYc0QtCpUwjbkz5cA1ubAUnCJQ90tUKL0goAU6nxiMVivxXCaC8Ge3ArrVPjuO7V9AZaMrG5F6Uo0oPJvKdrDBbDBNJjrfrmg8NJPuZCnYhbnLNC7gTw8OHQ79A1xpnMW8fpAb24I/w200-h199/bowling.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After bowling on my birthday <br />with "the core," December 2020.</td></tr></tbody></table>Since posting my last update 12 months ago, much has evolved on the employment front. A year ago, I was happily working as an internal HR consultant at BASF, a large chemical company I joined after leaving Deloitte at the end of 2017. I wasn't actively looking to leave, but in July 2020 I quit BASF to work as a virtual contractor for a small tech company. They sounded like they were doing cool things, and the pay was double my salary at the time (although, not inconsequentially, it offered no benefits). My role was to help them build, deploy and fix a highly automated talent acquisition process.<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX3Tp7_8Wz-wNroPqteNDC_8d1Ih9QYCOtpCH0vqQd9ukgdBEF8exPAOso900oBqyCfbUc823grlgmXew8WqvTzGsJaQtRMHeoc3oPiC-S__9TLNLb2nJTsZGNknHmkC1eMSuC7IOMXlQ/s960/vaccinated.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="746" data-original-width="960" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX3Tp7_8Wz-wNroPqteNDC_8d1Ih9QYCOtpCH0vqQd9ukgdBEF8exPAOso900oBqyCfbUc823grlgmXew8WqvTzGsJaQtRMHeoc3oPiC-S__9TLNLb2nJTsZGNknHmkC1eMSuC7IOMXlQ/w200-h156/vaccinated.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dose #1 in March. I'm now fully vaccinated!</td></tr></tbody></table>I did it for 10 months. It was challenging and self-evidently not a viable long-term arrangement, but I learned a lot and made some friends (even though I never met them in person). When I started there, my original backup plan for when it ran its course was to return to BASF, as my former boss said I was welcome to do anytime. Unfortunately, in January, my old BASF team and hundreds of others were notified that their positions were being eliminated as part of a global restructuring. With that option gone, I needed a new plan.<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9EjDRdsoL_QQBY73UMBq2LlOqgod1MTwOxSjqCQICa1wjziu5jJ01TkqV-Fk0pLpUFgMMTITYSu3qc_BL9kpqILIA5pug3wGLBu4McE4XyX2MMaB1LELtNi3coVwogc-DFirHIFLEOmI/s960/Derbylounging.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9EjDRdsoL_QQBY73UMBq2LlOqgod1MTwOxSjqCQICa1wjziu5jJ01TkqV-Fk0pLpUFgMMTITYSu3qc_BL9kpqILIA5pug3wGLBu4McE4XyX2MMaB1LELtNi3coVwogc-DFirHIFLEOmI/w200-h150/Derbylounging.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Derby will turn 7 in two days! <br />Still a good boy.</td></tr></tbody></table>After meeting with an alumni career coach from Yale's Career Development Office, reflecting on the past 20 years and looking ahead to the next 20, I decided I wanted to go back to consulting and build on the "future of work" area I'd been specializing in. It seemed obvious, then, that my next step should be to go back to Deloitte, the firm where I worked from 2011-2017. It's the top consultancy for that type of work, I already had a network there, and I knew I would enjoy being back. So I applied, reached out to a few people in my Deloitte network who were still there (and, lucky for me, in influential positions), and they supported me through the re-application process. I've now accepted an offer to return next month as a Senior Manager (one level higher than when I left) in their <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/human-capital/solutions/workforce-transformation-services.html">Workforce Transformation practice</a>, which was created during my hiatus. I'm excited to be a "boomerang" and focus more on strategic talent issues vs. doing change management for big tech adoptions, which is what I fell into during my last stint. <div> <div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9mWTTyGcCyeUDfhQU_CLWWRYleoocAULs5Jl4aVLjclx7y8t_o47TbwoY_85UDD0Is7OZIM34vou2saI-mwB6mHHoH1oXgoOxhraTbyyJHlfYgjY_WLTzN5rhQS_GuxvOLcn_HiI4V5w/s4032/Bedroom.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9mWTTyGcCyeUDfhQU_CLWWRYleoocAULs5Jl4aVLjclx7y8t_o47TbwoY_85UDD0Is7OZIM34vou2saI-mwB6mHHoH1oXgoOxhraTbyyJHlfYgjY_WLTzN5rhQS_GuxvOLcn_HiI4V5w/w150-h200/Bedroom.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me back in my first bedroom.<br />When I lived there, these beautiful <br />floors were hiding under carpet.</td></tr></tbody></table>So it's been a bit of a tumultuous year work-wise, but I've ended up in a situation that I think is going to be awesome. In personal news, one of the more unusual adventures I had over the past year unfolded last month, when I found out that my childhood home was up for sale. Without hesitating, I headed to St. Louis to see it during an open house. "Surreal" is an overused word, but the right one here. This house, my home for the first 20 years of my life, has been the setting of my dreams at least once a week since my parents sold it in 1999, so to be back and roam around was phantasmagorical. I'm very grateful I got the chance to do this, and to finally meet some members of the family who lived there after we did. It also happened that our visit was a week before a family friend's 100th birthday, so I got to see her and give her a card in person. Even though she's fully vaccinated and I was half-vaccinated at the time, we wore masks and greeted with a fist bump.<div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJaQzaLSSnAZXTFCLRY1Pw34qO9VVc8rMbovCPXKt5RuWR7ykUK08XaymoNXQ9pI3s67LXq4YcYy-7VvLfMNrCh5p5sQ-_x-xErGtywYNkkxH_uIphhY-x11MQWvenvSm-4nzlpuGFlDU/s2048/Parents.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1342" data-original-width="2048" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJaQzaLSSnAZXTFCLRY1Pw34qO9VVc8rMbovCPXKt5RuWR7ykUK08XaymoNXQ9pI3s67LXq4YcYy-7VvLfMNrCh5p5sQ-_x-xErGtywYNkkxH_uIphhY-x11MQWvenvSm-4nzlpuGFlDU/w200-h131/Parents.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me with my parents in May 2021.</td></tr></tbody></table>My family is generally well. My father had a heart attack last month, was discharged, then had a fall and went back to the hospital, but is now recovering nicely. My mom's mobility has declined over the past year or so, and she now uses a walker all the time. I was able to visit them down in Florida two weeks ago, for the first time since late 2019. My niece is 17 and graduating from high school a year early; she'll be attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University this fall. My older nephew is about to turn 17, and my younger nephew is almost 15 and just wrapped up his freshman year at The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi49BqNlzdN8BZAKeG2o_qSZjT3ZNDXPHtjS53aBIrHSkhLfK_Cwy4Wo1aJsBO-49HCNgbFdWmWlVe2_uqwqzoG0IthkMdxrs5wQi3Mr3xvMvtW7KER3uzFoGrvrGYSrI1aJm_I5LVfzpA/s488/tennistrophy.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="414" data-original-width="488" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi49BqNlzdN8BZAKeG2o_qSZjT3ZNDXPHtjS53aBIrHSkhLfK_Cwy4Wo1aJsBO-49HCNgbFdWmWlVe2_uqwqzoG0IthkMdxrs5wQi3Mr3xvMvtW7KER3uzFoGrvrGYSrI1aJm_I5LVfzpA/w200-h169/tennistrophy.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last year, I won a B-level mixed doubles<br />round robin to raise money for cancer research.<br />It was my first tennis trophy ever.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>Back home in New York, our oasis during these past 12 months has been our tennis club, which gradually started reopening last May and offered us social and recreational normalcy. I also took on a new role at the club as Chair of the Nominating Committee, which means I'm leading the effort to determine club officers (president, secretary, governors) for the next term. I'm also co-captaining one of our summer tennis teams, and organized a weekly Thursday evening mixer on the red clay that just began last week and will go through mid-October.<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUUD82Gs2mXq7zjfogZlvXjIQTOUvr7gp8nx_OwJoD1aWjhgiHp2mvesTC9mbty_J_FDDIFZ5u4fR2nQErBgxr3CwfBRaQyJ3CIRLKZT52C5w0h1Q90lpaahyHla3GmZruKB_TsHD0ZnU/s444/cancun.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="443" data-original-width="444" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUUD82Gs2mXq7zjfogZlvXjIQTOUvr7gp8nx_OwJoD1aWjhgiHp2mvesTC9mbty_J_FDDIFZ5u4fR2nQErBgxr3CwfBRaQyJ3CIRLKZT52C5w0h1Q90lpaahyHla3GmZruKB_TsHD0ZnU/w200-h199/cancun.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In Cancun for James' birthday.</td></tr></tbody></table>Despite Covid-19, James and I managed to take a few trips over the past year, including to Cancun for his birthday in January. He's doing well in the <a href="https://www.jamesintheforest.com/">real estate biz</a>. I mentioned in my 2020 post that I'd stopped drinking for Lent and was continuing to live alcohol-free during the pandemic. I’ve remained sober since, 15 months and counting. This lifestyle change has been better for my physical and mental health, without question. It's a relief never to have to nurse a hangover or feel nervous that I can't remember the previous night's conversations. It's also pushed me to spend my social time doing things I genuinely enjoy instead of subconsciously gravitating toward activities where there'll be alcohol. And even though the past year has had many stresses, I believe I'm coping better as a totally sober person than I might otherwise. </div><div><p></p><p>Looking forward to seeing what the next 12 months bring us! See you next year.</p></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-46249371616719701332020-05-18T08:00:00.000-04:002020-05-18T08:33:18.207-04:00Where He Is Now: Nine Years Later<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of our first experiences with Zoom in the early days of Coronavirus.</td></tr>
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Today is Commencement Day for the Yale School of Management's Class of 2020, making it nine years since I graduated from their MBA program, and one year since last I posted an annual update.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Preparing to buy groceries<br />
in Queens, March 2020.</td></tr>
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Obviously the biggest development from a year ago is that the COVID-19 pandemic has infected millions and killed hundreds of thousands of people, disrupting societies and devastating economies around the world. Here in New York City, as of this writing, we've had 340,000+ confirmed cases, 22,000+ deaths and inestimable job losses. I am healthy and employed, so the impact on my life is tiny next to the suffering of so many. Still, I'm affected. If you look at <a href="http://jpmatsom.blogspot.com/2019/05/where-he-is-now-eight-years-later.html">my update from a year ago</a>, you'll read how excited I was to be enjoying a bunch of stuff I'm now prohibited from doing.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It feels like a lifetime ago,<br />
but James and I won an <br />
exhibition "cage match"<br />
at our tennis club in August.</td></tr>
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My partner, James, and I both believe he (and therefore I) had the virus in March, although we didn't qualify to be tested at the time, so we can't know for sure. But James had the standard symptoms, including complete loss of smell and taste despite no congestion. I had no symptoms aside, perhaps, from a brief fever one evening. Our antibody tests in early May came back negative, but that doesn't definitively tell us whether we were ever infected, it only tells us that when we took the test, we didn't have the antibodies -- and even that conclusion assumes the test was accurate, which is debatable.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Visiting my parents in December.</td></tr>
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My small family is fine. My parents live in a South Florida senior living community that's been duly cautious given the facility's risk profile. Meanwhile the biggest challenge for my brother and his brood in Upstate New York has been maintaining therapies for my autistic nephew. My niece in Michigan turned 16 in April, so it was a bummer that she had to celebrate that milestone during this time, but overall she and her mom are fine too. And James' family, primarily based in California, are all healthy.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My friend Lori, whom I hadn't <br />
seen in almost 20 years, and I in <br />
Chapel Hill, February 2020.</td></tr>
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I've been working at home since December 2017, as an internal consultant for BASF, so I didn't need to adjust to a "new normal" in that sense. Uncharacteristically, though, last winter I was traveling regularly to Durham, which happens to be where I went to college, for a project, but of course those trips were suspended and replaced by virtual workarounds. My company seems to be doing fine overall. Some business units have been disrupted, but others have actually been stimulated, so the overall impact is somewhat neutral, and for me there's been no material change. James earned his New York real estate license just days before this all started, so he's had to delay starting that career journey for now.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hard to say no to that face!</td></tr>
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We live in a two-bedroom apartment with a balcony, and our building has a gated courtyard, so we have some semi-private outdoor space. The playground next to our building, though, was closed by city mandate, so we lost the place we used to surreptitiously take our dog for off-the-leash fetching after sundown. We don't have human children, so there was no extra caregiving to take on due to school closures. And with James here with me, I haven't gone stir-crazy from solitary confinement. (If anything, as an introvert, I've had to carve out my "me" time.) So, overall, we're certainly fortunate.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrlD0dXNEzPLO1KbG1N8Z6FZouxDLTVDeA962Ru9CpBxozoA8DhWDTL13MGrXU02LdC6Y_Ob6qh8_4i8ZXN3NIiU8rCPos9Njw7wHoYGMgc9OLVVD22p6Ocd2TJUM30s3ZpCHIuJi5nQ0/s1600/Johnlivestream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="432" data-original-width="332" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrlD0dXNEzPLO1KbG1N8Z6FZouxDLTVDeA962Ru9CpBxozoA8DhWDTL13MGrXU02LdC6Y_Ob6qh8_4i8ZXN3NIiU8rCPos9Njw7wHoYGMgc9OLVVD22p6Ocd2TJUM30s3ZpCHIuJi5nQ0/s200/Johnlivestream.jpg" width="153" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Live-streaming a recital <br />
for about 50 fellow tennis <br />
club members in April.</td></tr>
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The big changes for us have been the suspension of all our leisure pursuits. Before Coronavirus, my typical week included a tennis game or two, community musical rehearsals on Sunday and Monday evenings, Tuesday evening choir practice and performance at Sunday Mass, a yoga class, and perhaps a swim and a steam at the Yale Club next to Grand Central. For the past two months, all that's been replaced by an infinite loop of Backgammon, karaoke on Smule, long walks with my dog, Zooms, dishwashing, piano playing, iPhone games and hitting tennis balls against whatever walls I can find. But we just got good news the other day -- Gov. Cuomo announced that a few low-risk recreational activities could resume, including tennis. So our club reopened about half its courts as of Saturday. We just had a gorgeous weekend, and I got to play twice. It was wonderful to be back there and to see people, if only to wave from afar.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Toasting after our choir's<br />
Christmas concert.</td></tr>
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As per tradition, I'd given up drinking for Lent (starting Feb. 26). But breaking tradition, I've been abstaining ever since. It hasn't been too hard because I see it as a reward rather than a sacrifice, thanks to a persuasive book I read called <i>This Naked Mind</i> (Annie Grace), which I'd recommend for anyone interested in cutting down on their drinking. Many of our friends have interpreteded the lockdown as permission to drink. That's their choice. (Or not, actually. <i>This Naked Mind</i> would argue that satiating a subconscious craving to a highly addictive drug is not a choice.) For me, in this time of boredom, stress and fear, I believe I'm better off having the benefit of my full wits, avoiding hangovers and potentially hazardous decisions, and building more of a cushion in my checking account. So our home bar has been collecting dust, and I feel good. <i>Cheers!</i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Hey where's everybody?"<br />
I asked myself facetiously<br />
during a fall 2019 visit to <br />
Yale SOM's former building.</td></tr>
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When I was in business school in 2009-2011, stories were still circulating about the mess that the previous few classes had faced hunting for jobs during the Great Recession. Subsequent studies have suggested that those who graduated in 2008-09 continue to experience lower incomes and less advancement, even 10+ years later. I assume that the Class of 2020 will experience even more significant long-term consequences. Of course, there are worse situations to be in than having just earned an MBA. But, relatively speaking, it's unfortunate that some students' experiences are being shortchanged, and that their nontrivial investment in their education may not have the return it should.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjhXyl2V45qcaR8UQy0jWkpuV0NV_frNo8nBee81Pm67KNZ7-GXm71P7C6fOglJGsNAX-JcQNPuVqH63zvhRzqY8OE9kKm_ujCoYZq_jFIFj5S_OLOA3UcGQfsjFhbXUCcHCIbvptspIk/s1600/Cartagena2019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="960" height="114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjhXyl2V45qcaR8UQy0jWkpuV0NV_frNo8nBee81Pm67KNZ7-GXm71P7C6fOglJGsNAX-JcQNPuVqH63zvhRzqY8OE9kKm_ujCoYZq_jFIFj5S_OLOA3UcGQfsjFhbXUCcHCIbvptspIk/s200/Cartagena2019.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Celebrating our friend Pablo's <br />
50th birthday in Cartagena, <br />
Colombia, in November 2019.</td></tr>
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Putting the Coronavirus aside for a moment, over the past year, we managed a few getaways, the most exotic of which was last fall to Cartagena, Colombia. James and I were among about 20 people invited to celebrate our friend Pablo's 50th birthday. He and his partner, John, took wonderful care of us, and we had a fantastic time exploring the area. It was my first time in South America, so now I've been on four continents (minus Africa, Asia and Antarctica). We also went to L.A. for James' sister's wedding, took a trip to Vermont to stay with friends who'd recently moved there, and visited my parents a couple times in Florida. We had some spring and summer travel plans that were postponed, of course, but <i>c'est la vie</i>.<br />
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Here's hoping things go back to normal, and perhaps even better than normal, very soon, and that my 2021 update doesn't need to address global despair! See you next year.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-35676443900267810452019-05-20T08:00:00.002-04:002021-07-25T08:04:16.458-04:00Where He Is Now: Eight Years Later<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_55ceJalGsCXelvMjfktCU-REf9OqWLjCOtCD0Hw0mx82lKxUaZpv6Ftr-6xnu6Zhlp7GwnF3PfoARxQqMfVh0F_vMXl_RytKb9mG4G-Q2iLXf0wQlLuYYbpWAXFeHp6iV4CXPKugasY/s1600/40photo.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_55ceJalGsCXelvMjfktCU-REf9OqWLjCOtCD0Hw0mx82lKxUaZpv6Ftr-6xnu6Zhlp7GwnF3PfoARxQqMfVh0F_vMXl_RytKb9mG4G-Q2iLXf0wQlLuYYbpWAXFeHp6iV4CXPKugasY/s400/40photo.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me after my 40th birthday (surprise!) dinner in December 2018.</td></tr>
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Today is Commencement Day for the Yale School of Management's Class of 2019, making it eight years since I graduated from their MBA program, and one year since last I posted an annual update.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_24ePB-14mc2zazv53V_zEFNpKTTm0EOgjQlJ1cp-J4TvFGZAHbGEWUtHYNkD58lOteQHYvexCFk4xXwxcUBXNY9XpIOfm24VZQSszU36ZsOFcoaP_wiVB9MNUyrdjQv3o-xJHnn9mmM/s1600/tennisgang.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="960" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_24ePB-14mc2zazv53V_zEFNpKTTm0EOgjQlJ1cp-J4TvFGZAHbGEWUtHYNkD58lOteQHYvexCFk4xXwxcUBXNY9XpIOfm24VZQSszU36ZsOFcoaP_wiVB9MNUyrdjQv3o-xJHnn9mmM/s200/tennisgang.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our crew at the WSTC's<br />
grass courts in August 2018.</td></tr>
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These past 12 months have probably been my favorite since business school. I'm in my second year of my second post-MBA job, as an in-house management consultant for BASF. I continue to enjoy it, and especially continue to enjoy working remotely, which has enabled me to plant roots in my community and generally enhance my life on all fronts. These days, 90% of the time I'm either at the West Side Tennis Club or home, a 12-minute walk away. I often do my BASF work out of the club's library, and make nearly daily use of the tennis courts, pool, gym (not as often as I should), and bar (more often than I should). The club also hosts summer concerts at the stadium and special events in the clubhouse like trivia nights and karaoke, so we're there a lot. It's the first time as an adult I've felt like I had a home away from home. In fact if we could take our dog and a couple sleeping bags there, we'd probably never leave.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMLQtRe3zVIIiT9IONUjDhEICUqXtWvnWWTn1854Z3fBEBracUE6Ppo2ZQaX2Rlz8bNthw5WVMV9AGwd4NUxwUlwiRCR3jzDGr3Q_WpJmQxglwG6yw_UktbCnNynZxsgQPAxa32MtZ6dY/s1600/OWCCswimphoto1986.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1089" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMLQtRe3zVIIiT9IONUjDhEICUqXtWvnWWTn1854Z3fBEBracUE6Ppo2ZQaX2Rlz8bNthw5WVMV9AGwd4NUxwUlwiRCR3jzDGr3Q_WpJmQxglwG6yw_UktbCnNynZxsgQPAxa32MtZ6dY/s200/OWCCswimphoto1986.jpg" width="135" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My country club swim<br />
team portrait, 1986.</td></tr>
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When I was growing up in a suburb of St. Louis in the '80s and '90s, my family belonged to a country club across the street. My mom spent a lot of time there, playing golf and bridge. I was on the swim team as a kid and played a little bit of tennis as a teen, and we dined there at least once a week. It was a beautiful facility, and the source of fond memories (although, admittedly, young me wasn't always jumping for joy about dressing up in a coat and tie to spend three hours at dinner). It also lived up to some of the negative reputations of country clubs -- formal, stuffy, exclusive, pretentious. Fortunately, our tennis club in Queens is casual, relaxed, welcoming and jovial. More importantly, we've developed genuinely meaningful friendships that have seeped into our broader lives outside of just tennis. Throughout most of my 30s, I didn't have a lot of close friends physically nearby. Now I've made some, and it's added a lot of enrichment to my life over this past year.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our church during the<br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">For almost a year now, James and I have been going to church every Sunday. I'm Protestant and he's Catholic, so we were alternating between two nearby churches. A friend from our spin class encouraged us to audition for the choir at the Catholic one, Our Lady Queen of Martyrs. We joined, and now perform every Sunday morning, and rehearse every Tuesday evening. Being in the choir </span><span style="text-align: center;">has had a lot of benefits. It gives us an opportunity to work as part of a team, be rewarded for practice, and hopefully enhance mass-goers' experiences. And I've learned a lot about Catholicism, which initially intimidated me. Singing with the choir has ended up being one of the most emotionally and spiritually fulfilling endeavors I've undertaken. And my late brother was a devout Catholic, so I also feel like this is a way to continue to honor him and keep his influence relevant in my daily life.</span><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My BFF from high school<br />
took me to a "Golden Girls" drag <br />
show for my 40th birthday.</td></tr>
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I turned 40 in December, and overall I'm excited about this age. I launched this blog when I was 30. When I reflect on the past 10 years, what I mainly see is growth (professional, personal, spiritual, physical), resulting from a nontrivial amount of effort, sacrifice and even pain. Unlike my breezy but stagnant 20s, my 30s saw a battery of challenges, confrontations, rejections and losses that forced me to dig into who I am, what I believe, and where I want to go with my life. I think elderly future me will see my 30s as a period of investment in what I hope will be bountiful subsequent years.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_gZUO6GcvnoHXhQWKcZgkHfrEwpRRMOGPPQFqqsPhklJqJDXTw1TAk5Ep104BuVIC_zMWv8uu8meV6G5jfjqxubw5WRmSzHK62tJnvS-wAmO5R6COClKkN09hcrQq89zSipyf4n4ywtc/s1600/newyear.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="862" data-original-width="960" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_gZUO6GcvnoHXhQWKcZgkHfrEwpRRMOGPPQFqqsPhklJqJDXTw1TAk5Ep104BuVIC_zMWv8uu8meV6G5jfjqxubw5WRmSzHK62tJnvS-wAmO5R6COClKkN09hcrQq89zSipyf4n4ywtc/s200/newyear.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">James and I celebrated New Year's<br />
Eve 2018 at a Yale friend's wedding.</td></tr>
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My 30s had joyful times as well, of course. I met my partner, explored many new parts of the world, met dozens of fascinating people who'd have remained strangers had I stayed in Texas, adopted a wonderful dog, and rediscovered various passions and interests I'd let expire. Now as I move into my 40s, I feel more optimistic than I have in a long while. I'm excited for what's next.<br />
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See you next year!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-21204444804685080412018-05-21T08:00:00.000-04:002019-02-05T15:45:18.971-05:00Where He Is Now: Seven Years Later<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiCg44ZyxWP7jVR9wPqctxOteFkEpAKDBN7Lb-duTRYlQ-rKZ5Ml75GXmruDRftSVg63_RzeIwXwiL_XacE510b5y7izyXDdEmqGtpU4vP_aRZehkokya3qmb2tH9bwD4e4hJ3grnx-7A/s1600/IMG_0897.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiCg44ZyxWP7jVR9wPqctxOteFkEpAKDBN7Lb-duTRYlQ-rKZ5Ml75GXmruDRftSVg63_RzeIwXwiL_XacE510b5y7izyXDdEmqGtpU4vP_aRZehkokya3qmb2tH9bwD4e4hJ3grnx-7A/s400/IMG_0897.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me at Yosemite National Park in California, two weeks ago.</td></tr>
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Today is Commencement Day for the Yale School of Management's Class of 2018, making it seven years since I graduated from their MBA program, and one year since I last posted an annual update.<br />
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The two biggest updates from the past 12 months happened last fall. On the professional front, there was good news: I got a new job. But there was bad news on the personal front, as less than a week after I accepted that offer, my brother Rick died.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My official BASF photo.</td></tr>
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I'll start by elaborating on the professional news. In November 2017, I accepted a job offer at BASF, a German chemical company, and resigned from Deloitte, the consulting firm I joined out of business school in 2011. The new role offers better pay, a slower work pace, greater emphasis on my areas of interest and, most importantly (to me), the flexibility to work from home, which has been a game-changer in terms of my overall wellbeing. So even though Deloitte is a great company, and I grew tremendously while there, ultimately this was the right offer at the right time.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me with my new team after<br />
"escaping the room" in December.</td></tr>
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My new title is People Consultant, which is essentially an internal management consultant who focuses on HR projects. I found out about this opportunity through a head hunter to whom I was introduced through an MBA classmate, adding yet another reason why an MBA was a good investment -- the network really can pay off. Even though the work is similar to what I did before, it's my first time working in this industry, or in this function, so I'm learning a lot.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rick and I, November 1984.</td></tr>
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Back to the personal news, my brother was 49 when he passed away on Nov. 2, 2017. He had struggled with alcoholism since he was 13, and in this case suffered a relapse from which he didn't recover. I had seen him just a few weeks before when I was in St. Louis for my 20-year high school reunion, which happened to fall on his birthday weekend. We saw each other three times, so I'm grateful we had those moments. Nearly 200 people attended his funeral, many of whom I hadn't seen in decades, and his burial was in Nashville in our family plot, which goes back five generations to the 19th century.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7wvsx1paclAwGbjfHnn6y5C_RKb5BOupI1pr-jXQd_mQ1bncS2H-BymglXPc2lHrmjgS4WcuaAfAGPrKe52NQeIYK6Al0s1x0TFsmfoXWwl__g_BPNnZAH407I_m809AuUnwJ33RZ5iA/s1600/RickJohnOWCC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="654" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7wvsx1paclAwGbjfHnn6y5C_RKb5BOupI1pr-jXQd_mQ1bncS2H-BymglXPc2lHrmjgS4WcuaAfAGPrKe52NQeIYK6Al0s1x0TFsmfoXWwl__g_BPNnZAH407I_m809AuUnwJ33RZ5iA/s200/RickJohnOWCC.jpg" width="136" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rick and I on his birthday,<br />
October 2016.</td></tr>
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Rick was a personable, irreverently funny intellectual with a passion for history, including our family ancestry. Although we all grew up Presbyterian, he had been devoutly Catholic since converting for his first marriage, and was a single-issue voter on abortion (anti). But he had a strong rebellious streak, too. He'd gotten around via motorcycle since I can remember (see drawing below for evidence) and had several prominent tattoos, including one on the back of each hand. His nickname for me was Fuzz; he's the only one who ever called me that, and that's the only thing he'd ever call me. He left behind a daughter, who recently turned 14 and lives with her mom, his second ex-wife, in Michigan. (<a href="https://jpmatsom.blogspot.com/2009/10/five-pictures-from-florida.html">Here's an old post featuring them, from 2009</a>.) I'm angry, sad and annoyed he's not here anymore. At least once a week, something pops into my mind that I want to tell him, or ask him about, and I remind myself that it's too late.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLQht1ttBnLDLZnL2wRiqFQWyJHQCDcmMRgjaZSkPIOEUA6t1D9q1XxDmF6XSdOFgT2e6PlWxPHO1jAQdR1GP3LPAbe4cvbxQ4uLUvCs2rli73pfYq1fKge3G_a_pL295Kes61Mz4X_y8/s1600/ricksmotorcycle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLQht1ttBnLDLZnL2wRiqFQWyJHQCDcmMRgjaZSkPIOEUA6t1D9q1XxDmF6XSdOFgT2e6PlWxPHO1jAQdR1GP3LPAbe4cvbxQ4uLUvCs2rli73pfYq1fKge3G_a_pL295Kes61Mz4X_y8/s400/ricksmotorcycle.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A family portrait I drew in third grade.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mom reads her 75th birthday present.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Depressing, right? Yes. But on the bright side, it's prompted me to do a lot of reflecting about the long-ago past, and take solace in these memories. And the real takeaway, of course, isn't to wallow, it's to appreciate that our time here is pretty short, and that it's important to invest that time wisely, especially when it comes to connecting with loved ones. For example, a couple months ago, my mom turned 75. For a gift, I did what I did for my father's 75th birthday six years ago and leveraged my newspaper design skills to create a faux front page in her honor. It was a time-consuming endeavor, but well worth it, and I'm thankful I was able to see her read it in person.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcQblprltlR3NinRrjaulq8aVs-S1voPXDHR8QaeK35yCCIyfXAlIG6aDhEPUKLyXOJcNKXt5LnOd3L9mLb7HdSCirrnDtv6C09Gez6zzRK1GAUJ2XZmsZr6k7nNqb6JCX-1W-3g9rrr0/s1600/nye.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="492" data-original-width="960" height="102" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcQblprltlR3NinRrjaulq8aVs-S1voPXDHR8QaeK35yCCIyfXAlIG6aDhEPUKLyXOJcNKXt5LnOd3L9mLb7HdSCirrnDtv6C09Gez6zzRK1GAUJ2XZmsZr6k7nNqb6JCX-1W-3g9rrr0/s200/nye.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A <i>Boardwalk Empire</i>-themed <br />
New Year's Eve!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Beyond all that, the past 12 months were generally pretty good. James and I, as usual, managed to take a few enjoyable vacations. Most recently, we went to Puerto Vallarta for a friend's (surprise) 50th birthday, and the following week spent time in California, including the Bay Area for a Yale classmate's wedding, followed by a few nights in Yosemite National Park, and wrapping up in James' hometown of Los Angeles. James has been focusing most of his energy on growing audience for his website (TheGLife.com). Since we both work from home now, we rejoined our local tennis club and have been making the most out those facilities, along with our memberships to a nearby gym. Almost every day we do something active like tennis, weightlifting, swimming, hiking with Derby (our dog), or taking an exercise class at the gym like spin, yoga, abs or Pilates. At the beginning of the year, I vowed to lose 40 pounds for my 40th birthday, which is this December. I was trending in the right direction until these past couple weeks of vacation, so weight loss will be a top priority over the coming months, as will post-vacation financial frugality.<br />
<br />
See you next year.<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-14804015482517833622017-05-22T08:00:00.000-04:002017-06-19T12:15:42.200-04:00Where He Is Now: Six Years Later<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2lWeN_KyyLDMjX55MMZe-Bqfp9fdoy093XSoLqFLjDWejXS8QrbBJ-rh_7XNny09YThP_PtDNffkPfBGthmwaV_ewEJ-S4NVEGH6Jg2xtovFy3XXmAMGPhdlK3GJM9yNh6vTlRsS8MrM/s1600/johnjamestoast_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2lWeN_KyyLDMjX55MMZe-Bqfp9fdoy093XSoLqFLjDWejXS8QrbBJ-rh_7XNny09YThP_PtDNffkPfBGthmwaV_ewEJ-S4NVEGH6Jg2xtovFy3XXmAMGPhdlK3GJM9yNh6vTlRsS8MrM/s400/johnjamestoast_2.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">James and I toast his milestone birthday in Turks & Caicos, January '17.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Today is Commencement Day for the Yale School of Management's Class of 2017, making it six years since I graduated from their MBA program, and one year since I last posted an annual update.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjalrUIRTGDx0wizlExM0VrbMZgw43dkpi4V79HTcokqs1cjN9C62YORN9IJ9BRrpv1gZDlNfiyyd8uJAtw99hqELOJhHgwnAh40NdUB7_OfYESXrYOb8NWXEa_R5bgv1ViJP4EyfxXP7w/s1600/johnwithcathy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjalrUIRTGDx0wizlExM0VrbMZgw43dkpi4V79HTcokqs1cjN9C62YORN9IJ9BRrpv1gZDlNfiyyd8uJAtw99hqELOJhHgwnAh40NdUB7_OfYESXrYOb8NWXEa_R5bgv1ViJP4EyfxXP7w/s200/johnwithcathy.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me with the U.S. CEO of Deloitte,<br />
Cathy, whom I met at "The Hunt,"<br />
a horse racing tailgate event in<br />
Far Hills, NJ, October 2016. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Work-wise, I'm still doing human capital consulting at Deloitte, the firm I joined out of business school in 2011. For the past 11 1/2 months, I've been staffed on a project at a media company based in Manhattan. I'm leading the change management program on a multi-phase, multi-year order-to-cash transformation. In a nutshell, this means I'm in charge of making sure that this client's employees are ready and willing to use new technologies and follow new processes from the point at which an order is placed through the point at which payments are applied to the accounting records. I lead a team of nine. There are things I like about the engagement: It's local, the people I work with are great, the schedule is generally predictable, and I feel capable of doing what's being asked of me. That said, a year (and counting) is a long time to be on one project, and I know from previous experience that the longer you're on a project, the more shielded you get, and the harder it is to transition to the next gig, whenever that may come.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpk-4nxJLrmTdUCaJsM4-Z4ypkU6FpWjcjQmiVFzoHrRqY3q3VpXaxdNPuoSQ4z98myGzulUIxiMetb-HDtaMoFHhTyqHO8HO8AJ8QMYvPDAr8c9imb7GUTiGJS_2msl6_rLPV_R33h-4/s1600/punting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpk-4nxJLrmTdUCaJsM4-Z4ypkU6FpWjcjQmiVFzoHrRqY3q3VpXaxdNPuoSQ4z98myGzulUIxiMetb-HDtaMoFHhTyqHO8HO8AJ8QMYvPDAr8c9imb7GUTiGJS_2msl6_rLPV_R33h-4/s200/punting.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me trying to punt <br />
in Oxford, June 16.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Although not much has changed on the employment front over the past year, in two weeks I'll be transferring from my regional service line into a new national practice called Digital Enablement. This group of about 200 practitioners will focus all its attention on topics such as the human implications of robotics, artificial intelligence and digital transformation. These are cool topics, so I'm excited to join this new team. I'm on the transition team and will be attending a planning session tomorrow.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjeCUiC3iPOXS_VRFj6vCYyYq6btGypZELZBoiEJOLarV21p0oXlbIOf9jkzjqxOHp3LzK4RfWyzESsACuBTQ1GGHiEF4qtiacZaS3IeovEFvSupkYz8XABCyGao3fiRBP9UksM44dpUw/s1600/derbyforesthills.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjeCUiC3iPOXS_VRFj6vCYyYq6btGypZELZBoiEJOLarV21p0oXlbIOf9jkzjqxOHp3LzK4RfWyzESsACuBTQ1GGHiEF4qtiacZaS3IeovEFvSupkYz8XABCyGao3fiRBP9UksM44dpUw/s200/derbyforesthills.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Derby in front of a new <br />
mural, April 2017.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
James and I are still together, four years and counting, living in Forest Hills with our beloved dog, Derby. Over the past year, our main focus has been on adopting a healthier lifestyle. We've been going to a personal trainer twice a week since September, playing a lot of tennis, eating lighter and drinking less (or not at all). James has been particularly dedicated, going to at least one fitness activity a day, be it kickboxing, Pilates, boot camp and/or yoga. (He works from home, so he can organize his work around these activities.) He's lost 60 pounds and looks amazing; I've only lost about 15, but I've never been in better shape. So looking back on the past 12 months, I'd say that's been the most meaningful shift for the better.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhblMb7BjJHxlKfqu6giIRHIqXGHxRPRBFI-TL4z9KT20TiFsrUyiy9BLNdy_U5QgB3m4IaZAeUN7JoP2pz2AtPV-1o0tdHOvkwyMddcRaAgjJW0yJI2BRtHYO-lwR6RBYzfAS6Ro6v4dU/s1600/Rhombus2_new.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhblMb7BjJHxlKfqu6giIRHIqXGHxRPRBFI-TL4z9KT20TiFsrUyiy9BLNdy_U5QgB3m4IaZAeUN7JoP2pz2AtPV-1o0tdHOvkwyMddcRaAgjJW0yJI2BRtHYO-lwR6RBYzfAS6Ro6v4dU/s200/Rhombus2_new.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">High school BFFs Jenny, Shiri and <br />
Tracy in St. Louis, October 2016.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I've also traveled a decent amount over the past year, to destinations far and wide:<br />
<ul>
<li>Durango, CO, with friends from my Texas journalism days;</li>
<li>Seattle, to visit a friend from summer camp who lives there;</li>
<li>Oxford, London and Lewes, UK, because we love it there; </li>
<li>St. Louis (my hometown), for a high school friend's wedding; </li>
<li>Dallas-Fort Worth, for a work training and to visit friends from back when I lived there; </li>
<li>Fort Myers, FL, three times because my parents live there (my dad turned 80 in March); </li>
<li>Orlando, FL, to hit the theme parks; </li>
<li>Nantucket, MA, with friends from Yale for Labor Day weekend; </li>
<li>Montauk, a "fishing village" on Long Island; </li>
<li>New Haven, CT, several times for recruiting events and to visit a friend from Yale who moved back there; </li>
<li>Key West, to visit friends we made in Paris a couple years ago; </li>
<li>And, the highlight of all these trips, Turks & Caicos, to celebrate James' 50th birthday.</li>
</ul>
Next week we're driving upstate to spend three nights at The Getaway at Glen Highland Farms, a rural retreat for dog owners.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-4aZ9IaYd7Z_XSbcH8QrehCZjSkkKeWOf3Vrff0aY8CgcN3iCeT0TruKDQafTPKqvXfWtHOWFg_zw_5b5RXqRVGzT_WQZnNJlLT2f9TEZQmqXCtoX-IcFUuJrbHOP_dBtmMFX8v5Y694/s1600/colorado.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-4aZ9IaYd7Z_XSbcH8QrehCZjSkkKeWOf3Vrff0aY8CgcN3iCeT0TruKDQafTPKqvXfWtHOWFg_zw_5b5RXqRVGzT_WQZnNJlLT2f9TEZQmqXCtoX-IcFUuJrbHOP_dBtmMFX8v5Y694/s200/colorado.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me with Dave and Ryan, friends <br />
from my Texas newspaper days<br />
in Durango, CO, June 2016.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So, in general, things are still good. Time is flying, though. It's been 10 years since I took the GMAT and started thinking seriously about quitting journalism to get an MBA. Did I do the right thing? I think so, but I'll never know for sure. Maybe I should've gone to law school instead. Maybe I should've gotten a PhD in a passion area, like film studies. Maybe I should've stuck with journalism but pivoted from local newspapers into a more stable (or growing!) sector. Maybe I should've made a bigger push to pursue my songwriting. Maybe I should've gone with my Plan B and become a high school teacher. Maybe I should've moved back to my hometown, leveraged family connections and gotten a 9-to-5 job in some office. There's no way to know which path will make us happiest. The main thing I'm grateful for is that I was able to choose that path on my own terms. As for what's next: My boyfriend is starting a business. I'd like us to move into a bigger house as soon as it's financially feasible. And I'm going to try my best to live in the moment next week on the farm.<br />
<br />
And, certainly most importantly, my mom and my friend both beat breast cancer this past year!<br />
<br />
Those are the highlights. See you next year!</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-665491693617971172016-05-23T08:00:00.001-04:002017-02-22T11:16:30.908-05:00Where He Is Now: Five Years Later<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-jpznmPU1gl6NtrRARDHOd7F5ewX3Do915cRiwRPamrIeNdin5nqsDj3VSZzo3ZdEUgmphew3nhUzKQL6MD_pGlmz-SOlPN9XwQSklZ7PgKyBjvWM-gskd0sF53_KIQSwf2LfiIypqSs/s1600/johnderbycentralpark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-jpznmPU1gl6NtrRARDHOd7F5ewX3Do915cRiwRPamrIeNdin5nqsDj3VSZzo3ZdEUgmphew3nhUzKQL6MD_pGlmz-SOlPN9XwQSklZ7PgKyBjvWM-gskd0sF53_KIQSwf2LfiIypqSs/s400/johnderbycentralpark.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Derby and me in Central Park in April 2016.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Today is Commencement Day for Yale SOM's Class of 2016, making it five years since I graduated from my MBA program, and one since my last post.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ciOjDSGfFfVrAFwWG2y1gsZknyGg39jc-qy6UEDWLv9zKO_BICRPAwjIlJMTr1EbgEFINH66X7oh2oj8gr0TOptSXvYcM6GGRPXP72ZVw6yebNmPgbhyphenhyphenZTWEReDsC2Cr7d_qsBJm-Xc/s1600/jamesguitar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ciOjDSGfFfVrAFwWG2y1gsZknyGg39jc-qy6UEDWLv9zKO_BICRPAwjIlJMTr1EbgEFINH66X7oh2oj8gr0TOptSXvYcM6GGRPXP72ZVw6yebNmPgbhyphenhyphenZTWEReDsC2Cr7d_qsBJm-Xc/s200/jamesguitar.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">James channeling Elvis</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Since last I posted, the basic bio remains unchanged: I still live in Forest Hills, Queens, with my boyfriend (James) and our dog (Derby). We also now have a roommate, Matt, a friend to whom we're renting our spare room. This July, I'll celebrate five years at Deloitte, where I'm still in the human capital consulting service area, focused on the TMT (Technology, Media, Telecom) industry. My projects have ranged in topic -- outsourcing, tech adoption and learning strategies. And as a manager I have ever-increasing responsibilities, like playing counseling/coaching roles, interviewing candidates and leading project teams. I still like what I'm doing but am not sure whether it's what I want to do long-term. I'm starting to suspect I'll say that every year until I retire from Deloitte in 2041.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_iYh0CZTlZsqAPVn5hrFeFZfY0ZJZpR-2SaONdIpuhLu8UssArdU2yZ_Cc4eAmocomfKBjNwgUejoOshW5f_XASPoH2BOsmPI2-6ChsWRiikDuEJLW7Xyf-62r6yAYpeFu59ljNTG9i4/s1600/johnkimcarolyn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_iYh0CZTlZsqAPVn5hrFeFZfY0ZJZpR-2SaONdIpuhLu8UssArdU2yZ_Cc4eAmocomfKBjNwgUejoOshW5f_XASPoH2BOsmPI2-6ChsWRiikDuEJLW7Xyf-62r6yAYpeFu59ljNTG9i4/s200/johnkimcarolyn.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Five-year reunion photo.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Given that I'm now at "Five Years Later," I'm probably supposed to sound surprised by how quickly the time has passed, but actually business school feels like a long time ago. I continue to visit Yale regularly for recruiting, and went there last month for our five-year reunion. It was much better-attended than I expected -- about 90 students from our class of about 230, traveling in from as far away as Australia and Switzerland. It was good to catch up with people, and in some cases have longer conversations with them than I'd ever had. Most of them looked the same. Some seemed tired and beaten down, others refreshed and revived. Many brought kids.<br />
<br />
Business school seems especially long ago when I read this blog, which I do every now and then. I make a point not to change any posts unless I spot a typo; I'm horrified there are so many, since I used to be a copy editor. When I read old posts, especially the very old ones, these are my most common reactions:<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Confusion about why I was so anxious.</b> I often can't believe how stressed I was about what now seem like relatively unimportant things, and how guilty I felt about "wasting time" by doing things like watching TV or going out. Wish I could go back and say to myself, "Dude, relax."</li>
</ul>
<ul><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbpzGg_pyG60t-Jzq61fmZqmEVcklPfX6NohsxsXKwnL6Nu4sxHtQ7XJEG3KulNJpdJ7jrvEizSZrZnR9GYdtc2fEMrRb44v4Q3boBs3ihBjOhhIfPCW_fVEbBqK7tqijksIccOjIERmU/s1600/0307john.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbpzGg_pyG60t-Jzq61fmZqmEVcklPfX6NohsxsXKwnL6Nu4sxHtQ7XJEG3KulNJpdJ7jrvEizSZrZnR9GYdtc2fEMrRb44v4Q3boBs3ihBjOhhIfPCW_fVEbBqK7tqijksIccOjIERmU/s200/0307john.jpg" width="145" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me in New Zealand in March 2010.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<li><b>Incredulity at how much energy I had.</b> Especially when I read posts that go into (painful) detail about my day, I just don't know how I managed, or where that energy came from. Don't think I could swing the hectic lifestyle of a student today.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Puzzlement over events and people I don't remember ... at all.</b> Seriously, some of these posts I read and I have absolutely no idea what I'm even talking about. Like <a href="http://jpmatsom.blogspot.com/2009/08/my-band.html">this post</a> about musicians I'd met and wanted to start a band with? I met a flute player, a harpist and a trumpet player? I'll be. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong>Amusement, and perhaps mild regret, about having avoided discussing my dating life. </strong>I dodged this topic for obvious reasons, but the result is that the blog is an incomplete story.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Affectionate embarrassment about my general naiveté.</b> My age and inexperience shine brightly throughout this blog. And that's understandable, since I was transitioning into unfamiliar waters, and all of us are always learning. But sometimes it's funny to read.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Gratitude I found the time to keep up with the blog.</b> It would have been very easy to just drop the whole thing and focus on the task at hand. I'm glad I made time to keep plugging away.</li>
</ul>
Back to the update: 2016 also happened to be the 15-year anniversary of my graduation from undergrad, and although I didn't attend any reunion events, I did take James down to visit my old stomping grounds in the the Durham-Chapel Hill area of North Carolina. I hadn't been back there since 2001, so it was a very interesting experience -- a combination of memory overload and total disorientation.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvSOxY9D0XJdgHg-d9-p7TP5lSOpatepkohuZ80kuhyphenhyphenSrTo167XrmcVpyHYrzhlAdH8xaXxA5_QZ3JPMOHy_Iy0DtQns6aOMBleDL-ZOkBJtAsWV3utEK8k5Sx8wZXn3h5yXb_DqSgtFU/s1600/seattle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvSOxY9D0XJdgHg-d9-p7TP5lSOpatepkohuZ80kuhyphenhyphenSrTo167XrmcVpyHYrzhlAdH8xaXxA5_QZ3JPMOHy_Iy0DtQns6aOMBleDL-ZOkBJtAsWV3utEK8k5Sx8wZXn3h5yXb_DqSgtFU/s200/seattle.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My friend Carla and me in Seattle.</td></tr>
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I did some traveling over the past 12 months, though not as much as the year prior. My business trips tended to be one-off jaunts for a specific purpose, like to attend a workshop, observe a facility or conduct in-person interviews with executives. In the past year, work took me to Miami, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, San Francisco and Wilmington, DE, but I'd estimate that 80%-90% of the time I was in the New York area. Vacation-wise, I made it to a few nice places, like Seattle, Orlando and South Florida, and have upcoming trips planned to Colorado, England and Key West this summer.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNLZAX4nJIosBaYpcFRNEJgO_Hg7OK5b4IOsJoDtV9CPLC2zE8EGrXHVTNkaZ0PE3lLVyuKMfs7SdQhEtXnZ4WB19XnH9ZQgib8bLcuf_pnGV-KdRJIe304864WdpPbqHCClFSSakxA-k/s1600/whole30meal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNLZAX4nJIosBaYpcFRNEJgO_Hg7OK5b4IOsJoDtV9CPLC2zE8EGrXHVTNkaZ0PE3lLVyuKMfs7SdQhEtXnZ4WB19XnH9ZQgib8bLcuf_pnGV-KdRJIe304864WdpPbqHCClFSSakxA-k/s200/whole30meal.jpg" width="168" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Whole30 meal we made.</td></tr>
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The past year also has been good for healthy habits. I got a personal trainer, continued to play a lot of tennis, went on the Whole30 diet/cleanse three times (total: 90 days), and in all lost about 25 pounds. Whole30 is a paleo-inspired diet that's fun to challenge yourself with if you have the means to prepare your own food. James and I did it together, and it prompted us to cook more, something I used to enjoy doing but got lazy about once I moved to New York, where kitchens are small and delivery is abundant.<br />
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In my spare time, I'm populating two blogs. One is a joint effort called <a href="http://www.wasitdope.com/">Was It Dope?</a>, about the '90s. So far I've been doing the content about music, while my friend Carla has been doing posts about films. The other is about new music, called <a href="http://newgoodsongs.blogspot.com/">New Good Songs</a>. Visit both today!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsI4WEpJbM5Cq57hkiW_DMCxk9DhpcTo-yrQH-oRYwP7T0pegQMLXYaGHqLp2Xdla15nyCIN03pzSmFENfQ1_KxumgbKb6Mw9amBo-Y1ktiEuD-i6MWJMWYEi9sGryQZXOPVEbN-ew9HE/s1600/johnmom_mothersday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsI4WEpJbM5Cq57hkiW_DMCxk9DhpcTo-yrQH-oRYwP7T0pegQMLXYaGHqLp2Xdla15nyCIN03pzSmFENfQ1_KxumgbKb6Mw9amBo-Y1ktiEuD-i6MWJMWYEi9sGryQZXOPVEbN-ew9HE/s200/johnmom_mothersday.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and Mom, then and now.</td></tr>
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Among life's inevitable bumps over these past 12 months was the somewhat recent development that my mom and one of my best friends were both diagnosed with breast cancer within days of each other. The most common and treatable kind, caught very early, fortunately. And so far, knock on wood, they are responding well to treatment and pulling through in good spirits. But, still, a reminder to appreciate those around you amid life's unpredictable wrenches.<br />
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See you in 2017.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-3153847244860152502015-05-18T06:00:00.000-04:002017-02-22T11:16:14.753-05:00Where He Is Now: Four Years Later<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the Mauritshuis in The Hague, The Netherlands (January 2015)</td></tr>
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Today is Commencement Day for Yale SOM's Class of 2015, making it four years since I graduated from my MBA program, and one since my last post.<br />
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Since last writing, I remain a resident of Forest Hills, Queens, living with my boyfriend, and I still work at Deloitte. I was promoted last summer, so my title changed from Senior Consultant to Manager, and now I have more responsibilities, including supervising and counseling others. My beloved series of projects with a newspaper chain ended in October, after 2 1/2 years, and since then I have had three short projects: (1) post-M&A workforce transition in Los Angeles, (2) HR system implementation in New York, and (3) my current gig, a global culture assessment, also in New York. It's been valuable to expand my skills, broaden my horizons and all that, although the newspaper projects remain my favorite so far.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7yzdpr3aTvt3Ga8Kl3ibb-FJ9xTFAAvv2_dCKu6biBkm-g5V5nqx0JZkBMCkwrTPpjBfqtbopck7skjre-UDXDvXLWyq9CQAZNAV_VGbqP5HleDDxP6EXzNf_gAB2X_zWG9GvB1r7Ayo/s1600/Derbycollage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7yzdpr3aTvt3Ga8Kl3ibb-FJ9xTFAAvv2_dCKu6biBkm-g5V5nqx0JZkBMCkwrTPpjBfqtbopck7skjre-UDXDvXLWyq9CQAZNAV_VGbqP5HleDDxP6EXzNf_gAB2X_zWG9GvB1r7Ayo/s1600/Derbycollage.jpg" width="148" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Derby</td></tr>
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Outside of work, two particular highlights over the past 12 months have been getting a puppy and traveling. We found the puppy, whom we named Derby, while pulled over for dinner driving back from a weekend in Maryland. He was in the back of a truck, just a few weeks old, being transported from Louisiana to the Secaucus Animal Shelter in New Jersey. We fell in love, exchanged information with the driver, adopted him, and he was in our home a few days later. (Derby, not the driver.) A somewhat impulsive decision, but a great one. As a previous cat person, I have been surprised by my growing emotional attachment to this canine. He's the first dog I've lived with since I was 6.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the London Eye (December 2014)</td></tr>
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On the travel front, my boyfriend and I have been to Europe twice in the past year. The first time was nearly a year ago, when we went to London and Belgium for 8 days. Then in December-January, we took a full 8 weeks off for an amazing European adventure. I was able to do this because I had accrued a lot of PTO during the long newspaper project, so I decided to take it all together so I could really detach in a meaningful way. We spent all of December in England, in a fantastic town called Lewes. Then in January we traveled to Amsterdam, Hasselt (in Belgium), Paris, Aix-en-Provence and Monaco, before going back to spend a few final days in Brighton, in England. Along the way we took lots of day trips to places like The Hague, Antwerp, Metz, Marseilles, Cassis, Nice, and Eze, making many friends throughout our travels with whom we've fortunately been able to keep up, thanks to Facebook. The whole trip was one of the best experiences of my life, if not the very best.<br />
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Readjusting from vacation back to work was tough, but on the bright side, all my assignments since returning have been local, enabling me to live a more rooted, normal life -- see friends, work out, play tennis, etc. Still, though, if I won big in the lottery, I'd live a life of European leisure.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQzVehdDG_4DHBeGdKjMloDExlELlH1rNIqk2Q0xOR-QdiAFwmbaO62CymQtAmTaUqjhuvKMmMlWwE2iDObRm3oxl1lShXGz64SINDK9F2s7JgGV6DCo7_VpOkcnanp2ty7YZX1Ps6uH8/s1600/alice-lost.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQzVehdDG_4DHBeGdKjMloDExlELlH1rNIqk2Q0xOR-QdiAFwmbaO62CymQtAmTaUqjhuvKMmMlWwE2iDObRm3oxl1lShXGz64SINDK9F2s7JgGV6DCo7_VpOkcnanp2ty7YZX1Ps6uH8/s1600/alice-lost.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How I often feel</td></tr>
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So, what's next? I'm rare among my business school friends for being with the same company since graduating in 2011, largely because I gave little to no thought about other opportunities while I was on those newspaper projects. In the six months since then, though, I've had more time to think about whether I want to build a career as a management consultant, or perhaps go in another direction. For some people, consulting is a means to an end -- a way to accelerate their development by getting exposed to a wide variety of industries, business problems and professional connections. But for others, it's just a great job -- exciting, fast-paced, fun. I wasn't thinking long-term when I got into consulting, but for now I'm staying put.<br />
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See you in 2016.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-84270391402331160082014-05-19T08:00:00.001-04:002021-04-01T11:12:40.459-04:00Where He Is Now: Three Years Later<div class="separator"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj_RxWrI2QmCu2WyGFF4PCWJ1ARC7qy_x5U10KHUZ48Y1muRWOw6MI_mlmvS9A2AUFoXzPqNuIwtd8verTpSCqquTXkSJThPR6Ql3z6jTZL-WUyryaTelLM5O-Jt4Mh22cl3wHc_wZC1s/s1236/3+years+later.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="920" data-original-width="1236" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj_RxWrI2QmCu2WyGFF4PCWJ1ARC7qy_x5U10KHUZ48Y1muRWOw6MI_mlmvS9A2AUFoXzPqNuIwtd8verTpSCqquTXkSJThPR6Ql3z6jTZL-WUyryaTelLM5O-Jt4Mh22cl3wHc_wZC1s/w400-h297/3+years+later.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me in the Northwest.</td></tr></tbody></table>Today is Commencement Day for Yale SOM's Class of 2014, making it three years since I graduated from my MBA program, and one since my last post.</div>
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Career-wise, little has changed since a year ago. Then, my client was a newspaper chain, and I had been working with them for over a year. Now, I have been working with them for over two years, helping them execute projects intended to grow their digital capabilities. (We're not allowed to talk about our client work for confidentiality reasons, so consulting gibberish is all I can offer.) This is the type of work I had hoped to do when I wrote my b-school admissions essays back in 2008 and said I wanted to leave journalism to study business and then contribute to the newspaper industry in a strategic capacity. I had no idea what that job would look like, if indeed such a job even existed. I certainly didn't think the job would be Management Consultant for Deloitte, particularly since at the time I wrote that essay I had heard of neither management consulting nor Deloitte. </div>
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Naturally, like everyone does and should do, I occasionally scan LinkedIn and other job sites to see what else is out there, and from time to time I'm contacted by a recruiter, usually with a smaller consulting firm. I can't imagine leaving Deloitte to work at another consulting firm, because I love Deloitte as a company, and it is the global leader in the type of work I like to do. I may someday leave consulting altogether, but so far I have not seen a posting for a job I would want more than the one I have. </div>
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I also am being promoted this year, on schedule. Deloitte has a mapped-out career progression, so pending promotions are clearly and widely communicated and planned for, and do not depend on someone above you leaving. So I've known this was my promotion year since joining in 2011. It is possible to lobby for a promotion after two years instead of three, but in the New York office this tends to be reserved for people with previous consulting experience, of which I have none.</div>
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Travel-wise, I had a project in the Northwest last summer, and although that was far from home, I loved being out there and took lots of advantage of alt-travel, whereby instead of flying home, I would use that money to fly elsewhere or bring in an out-of-town guest. This perk allowed me to experience amazing areas I had never seen, all during the beautiful summer months -- Portland and the coast of Oregon, San Francisco, Sonoma, Seattle and, by far my favorite of all, the majestic mountains of Montana. After that project, I had an out-of-town gig in the Northeast that was close enough to get to by car, which is a much more relaxing means of travel than plane or train, whose schedules rule your life and whose delays are out of your control. For the past couple months, I've been on a "local" project, commuting to and from home each day, for the first time in two years. This has allowed me to spend more time with loved ones, and to get back into the kitchen, both of which I've appreciated.</div>
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I continue to visit SOM pretty frequently, since I'm on the recruiting team. SOM moved into a new campus in January 2014, and also is increasing its class sizes and revising its grading policies, under the new dean. Some of my classmates worry that the culture of the school will shift along with these other changes, and while that may happen, that's not something I worry about. As an alum, my biggest concern is that the school goes up in the rankings (and stays out of trouble). </div>
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I refinanced my loans through SoFi.com earlier this year, which is something I recommend and wish I had done sooner. The interest rate is lower, and compared to my previous arrangement, overall I will save about $30,000. If you have student debt, study your options for repayment. There's probably something better out there than what you have.</div>
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On the day of my last post, I moved out of my Hell's Kitchen apartment, where I had lived for two years, and into my boyfriend's two-bedroom apartment in Forest Hills, an affluent part of Queens. The travel aspect of my job is a two-sided coin for our relationship -- it took some adjustment, especially for him, to have me gone half the time. But on the other hand, it enabled us to take a lot of fantastic trips for a reduced price, gives us some space during the week, and encourages us to make the most of our weekends. Now that I am on a local project, we are readjusting to me not traveling, which is a different two-sided coin.</div>
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Those are the highlights. Be back next year.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-19863636079419005532013-05-20T16:37:00.000-04:002017-02-22T11:15:51.037-05:00Where He Is Now: Two Years Later<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDv63xnoG-2-jnI25JnIsEWv-2VCGZdq0ORpvE4kRnvFiaOvXeq4h1hD2w4fXFyEXa2SDx3bWTAf_LWP9SMUFLPiI01GGpo92NgJaXJLmGhd23EhrV2KHZaeIuip5lHnAnyndRolE84Oc/s1600/Lake.jpg" imageanchor="1" title="At Beartown State Park"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDv63xnoG-2-jnI25JnIsEWv-2VCGZdq0ORpvE4kRnvFiaOvXeq4h1hD2w4fXFyEXa2SDx3bWTAf_LWP9SMUFLPiI01GGpo92NgJaXJLmGhd23EhrV2KHZaeIuip5lHnAnyndRolE84Oc/s400/Lake.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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Today is Commencement Day for Yale SOM's Class of 2013, which means it's been two years since I graduated from my MBA program, and one since my last post. To use consultant lingo, I'll "frame the discussion" by going through the same questions and categories I created last year.<br />
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The past year has been fruitful, professionally and personally, although the past month has been stressful because work load has been at a peak, and I moved into a new apartment today. A New York City move is quite a logistical puzzle, involving elevator reservations on both ends, legal discarding of mattresses and box springs in plastic bags, apartment inspections, scheduled key returns ... and of course the packing, which, despite advances in technology, is still impossible to do remotely. But the recent pressures of the move aside, all is well.<br />
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<u>How's the job</u>? Good. A little over a year ago, I got on a project in the newspaper industry that was highly aligned with my background and interests, and fortunately I've been on that project ever since. This also helped me form closer relationships with colleagues, making the job more enjoyable and allowing me to feel more comfortable being myself. In addition to client work, the firm activities I've undertaken have been fun, e.g., developing the on-boarding curriculum for interns and new hires, and planning quarterly events for my service line in the Northeast. I generally feel more competent than I did a year ago, so I have more confidence.<br />
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<u>How's traveling for work</u>? There are perks to traveling that I really enjoy and appreciate. I've gotten to do what's called "alternative travel" several times. This is when, instead of returning to the city in which you live, you re-purpose that airfare to travel elsewhere, or bring someone to where you are. I've used this perk to do all kinds of cool things -- visit my hometown for the first time in over three years, visit my parents twice in Florida, take an incredible trip with my best friend to our childhood summer camp, bring three friends to New Orleans (where I was staffed for a few months), and, just last weekend, fly my brother in to visit my niece. Next week, I'm flying my boyfriend in so that we can drive to a nearby wedding I'm officiating. All the while, I'm racking up hotel and airline points, and all my meals are comped Monday-Thursday, which is great for my bank account if not my weight.<br />
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All this said, I feel, and feel I display, the effects of fatigue. Consultants are at the service of clients, which means their lives are not fully their own. Vacations are hard to schedule, especially long ones, and when a project is particularly intense (or "high-burn," to use consulting lingo), even a single day off can feel like a selfish indulgence and a burden to your teammates. This, of course, is part of the reason consultants are well-compensated. But something as simple as going away with friends for a four-day weekend is harder to orchestrate than it used to be.<br />
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I'm a loud and proud cheerleader about consulting as a next step after business school for people with non-business backgrounds, like me. I can't imagine having learned more in a shorter amount of time. But I'm not sure this is how I want to be living in 10 years, even though I realize there's a clear and appealing career path ahead of me in consulting if I want to go down it. I think most consultants feel this way.<br />
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<u>How's living in New York</u>? My move today takes me off Manhattan and into Forest Hills, which will be quieter and far less expensive, two attributes I welcome. I did not love Hell's Kitchen as a neighborhood, because it is charmless and I felt misplaced in it. My apartment was great, but not worth the rent considering I spend half my time in hotels out of town.<br />
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<u>Do you miss journalism</u>? Not particularly. And to the extent I miss it, what I miss no longer seems to exist.<br />
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<u>How are your classmates</u>? On the move. Four just relocated to the West, that I know of. I'm becoming less plugged in to the broader class beyond my core friends, but from time to time, I hear stories of classmates loving, losing or leaving their jobs -- or still struggling to find one. The five people in my class who joined Deloitte are all still there and seemingly content.<br />
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<u>So are you rich now or what</u>? I earn enough that money is not a daily concern, but I'm hoping this move to Queens will help me accumulate more cash. Had I paid my current rent over the past two years instead of what I shelled out for that studio in Manhattan, I would have $40,000 to show for it -- basically a newspaper journalist's salary. This is as hilarious as it is depressing.<br />
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<u>Are you using your MBA in your job</u>? Still yes, in the sense that I feel I understand organizational functions and dynamics, strategy and general business terminology and principles. While packing for my move, I unearthed some old problem sets, papers and exams, and I have no idea what I was talking about. And yet I'm keeping them anyway, to prove to myself that there was a time when I knew some tricky and complicated things involving lots of Greek letters.<br />
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<u>So was it worth it</u>? Sure. Despite the trappings of student-loan debt, the benefits outweigh the consequences.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-62463987459384448112012-05-21T18:58:00.001-04:002017-02-22T11:16:03.587-05:00Where He Is Now: One Year Later<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7PbEPjr3uNJUH6nXj6AljrYj41JJu1go4tqohwykI4Y4MpdBG0hcitP5dofHcCAwUWHEeMDngVDNuX7abapllo3QK13Z5uwq6f4v1ZyAs4f5iJvpvwZqEsmhyphenhyphenWfAq0w0zbAdHrbxzvKA/s1600/john.jpg" imageanchor="1" title="Me, May 21, 2012"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7PbEPjr3uNJUH6nXj6AljrYj41JJu1go4tqohwykI4Y4MpdBG0hcitP5dofHcCAwUWHEeMDngVDNuX7abapllo3QK13Z5uwq6f4v1ZyAs4f5iJvpvwZqEsmhyphenhyphenWfAq0w0zbAdHrbxzvKA/s400/john.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<em>"Whatever happened to that journalist who pursued an MBA?"</em></div>
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<strong>-- Nobody, Ever</strong></div>
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Today is Commencement Day for Yale SOM's Class of 2012, which means it's been a year since I earned my MBA. I will now answer the most frequently asked questions I receive from friends, family and former colleagues about the transition from journalism to the MBA to the initial stage of a post-MBA career.</div>
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<strong><u>How's the job</u>?</strong> I like it more than I expected to. The main thing I've learned about consulting is what a consultant actually does: We work with colleagues and clients through some piece of a problem-solving process. I know that sounds like meaningless BS, but when I finally internalized this fact (around January) it lifted some pressure off my shoulders and altered how I felt about my job and life. And Deloitte is a very good employer. Some of my colleagues are happier than others, and everyone has ups and downs depending on the project, but I think I've been fortunate and had a positive experience so far overall. I wish I could be more specific about the work but, you know, confidentiality.</div>
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<strong><u>How's traveling for work</u>? </strong>I've had three projects. The first was in Pennsylvania, so I'd take the train there on Monday and return Thursday. I didn't mind that at all. The second was in New Jersey, about an hour away, so generally I drove there and back each day, occasionally staying overnight. And about a month ago I started a new project in Louisiana, my first time flying on a weekly basis. It's exhausting, especially waking up early Monday morning, but I'm enjoying it.</div>
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<strong><u>How's living in New York</u>?</strong> Fun, but expensive. The food is fantastic, there's lots to do, it's convenient to get around, the climate is often very pleasant, the parks are beautiful, and it's a high-energy atmosphere. I'm also lucky to have a few friends who live here, and other friends often pass through. I may never leave, but if I do, I predict it'll be for financial reasons.</div>
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<strong><u>Do you miss journalism</u>?</strong> I have fond memories of the eight years I spent at newspapers. I met great people and had a lot of fun. I don't think it's my nature to miss things -- I like to look forward. But I haven't ruled out a return to journalism someday.</div>
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<strong><u>How are your classmates</u>?</strong> Some love what they do; some hate it. A few have quit; a few have been laid off. Some are doing very cool things; others aren't. I'd know more if we'd had a one-year reunion like other schools.</div>
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<strong><u>So are you rich now or what</u>? </strong>I earn about 3-4 times what I was making as a journalist in Texas, so I live better and have less anxiety about money. But my tax rate has doubled, my rent has quadrupled, my monthly student loan payments are more than my take-home pay used to be, and I'm putting 10% of my income into a 401(k). So I'm better off, and grateful, but not swimming in disposable cash.</div>
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<strong><u>Are you using your MBA in your job</u>?</strong> Yes. Some MBAs say they never use what they learned, but I don't feel that way. There are specific math formulas I'll never use, but the two years of courses gave me a comprehensive understanding about how organizations work, and I rely on that understanding every day. If I had been given this job without the MBA, I'd have looked foolish and failed.</div>
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<strong><u>So was it worth it</u>?</strong> Yes. Based on the past year at least, I'd do again and wouldn't do anything significantly different.</div>
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See you in a year!</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-13655412307522317122011-05-24T00:39:00.015-04:002018-02-15T23:31:05.804-05:00Commencement<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="231" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/E7jaXWpIUyU" width="408"></iframe>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitFoOcZya-Eszuvivd7bhCxEjGC1m8OA04C4zMYfE-F4gpBDY3cu_moVV_mNXy8h5DwmRKZNiewLFfzSe01Sx15aEsBQVFZR_5Cd6I7gU4hQk2yAZTcpz2NmoshgoYr8QQm0GlG6P9644/s1600/0524carlaconey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="Carla at Coney Island."><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitFoOcZya-Eszuvivd7bhCxEjGC1m8OA04C4zMYfE-F4gpBDY3cu_moVV_mNXy8h5DwmRKZNiewLFfzSe01Sx15aEsBQVFZR_5Cd6I7gU4hQk2yAZTcpz2NmoshgoYr8QQm0GlG6P9644/s200/0524carlaconey.jpg" width="144" /></a></div>
On Sunday, I was nervous. My stomach would get in knots whenever I thought about delivering the commencement speech on Monday afternoon. Fortunately, my friend Carla, in town from North Carolina, has been an amazing support and welcome distraction all weekend. We spent a fun (albeit cold) day at Coney Island. I recommend the freak show.<br />
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But as I was trying to fall asleep on Sunday night, with lines of my speech and various logistics of graduation day running through my head, I could feel the bed shaking as my heart was thumping and pounding with nerves. I could momentarily calm myself down with reassurances like, "You can do this!" but those were generally fleeting. Overall, I thought, "If I'm this terrified now, in bed, I really might die of an anxiety attack tomorrow."<br />
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On Monday morning, I woke up early, and Carla and I watched my favorite episode of "The Golden Girls" ("Bang the Drum Stanley"). Fearing parking problems arising from a usual trip to the gym, I took a jog around my neighborhood (East Rock), which did wonders. I made a well-rounded breakfast but didn't make too much progress eating it.<br />
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There was some uncertainty in the morning about whether the folks from Student Academic Services would postpone graduation for rain. This was a call they had to make by 8:30 a.m. The rain plan would mean a new time and venue. Despite being overcast, the regular time and place were kept. I skipped the large morning ceremony, as I'd always intended to do, because I had family members and friends driving into New Haven around that time. In all, I feel really lucky to have had lots of my favorite people in the audience on my behalf -- Carla, Kristin, Dave, Matt, Shiri and her husband Adam and son Josh, and my brothers and parents.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDJGrgVRqk9JMZDDBwRG1D-tA0ScMzvegxcx1enkhE3XjVamHXICboqJdgo-gSGXKXtwQaNoFGwMs2djnMHwD_LW9EwDd6BkmrWW0iKXLdIZc5ZM4IgM8ohTb0_wAZ-aOXBa7Jgjs9mZY/s1600/0524courtyard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Photo by Ben Mattison"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDJGrgVRqk9JMZDDBwRG1D-tA0ScMzvegxcx1enkhE3XjVamHXICboqJdgo-gSGXKXtwQaNoFGwMs2djnMHwD_LW9EwDd6BkmrWW0iKXLdIZc5ZM4IgM8ohTb0_wAZ-aOXBa7Jgjs9mZY/s200/0524courtyard.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
In the moment of the proceedings, I was much calmer than I'd expected. I think the key was having smiling faces of friends around me, joking and enjoying the day. This lifted me out of my fright and made the occasion fun, as of course it should be. We lined up in alphabetical order in front of Steinbach and filed into Caulkins Courtyard, and I broke from the group and took a seat on the side of the stage to await my cue. Dean Oster gave a short, characteristically dry opening, and then Economies of Scale, a four-person male a cappella group consisting of three second-years and my good friend Bryce from the first year, did a funny ditty about SOM. This all went by quickly, and the breeze in the courtyard and misty humidity just made the environment so pleasant, there was no place to be freaking out. I'd considered many mental tricks I was going to play on myself to keep calm, but ended up forgetting them, or not needing them. I just waited and went up when my name was called, and it was fine.<br />
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I was thrilled to get through it in one piece, and happy with how it went. People seemed to enjoy it, and I received some kind and encouraging compliments.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPB_CopRAJbhKXBIyjngl-Ucj1e5i1SoF-2c6vebW0nXkVkF_FyIGPVhG2vOgiW9xG6OeoEO1BYf7DnBaVDS7T-4IHhvqoBFpoMTDe0S_TdVKPjDw1tR6w_EUD9z7vf5E6WdUeMdqa0a0/s1600/0524metzes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="Me with my family."><img border="0" height="126" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPB_CopRAJbhKXBIyjngl-Ucj1e5i1SoF-2c6vebW0nXkVkF_FyIGPVhG2vOgiW9xG6OeoEO1BYf7DnBaVDS7T-4IHhvqoBFpoMTDe0S_TdVKPjDw1tR6w_EUD9z7vf5E6WdUeMdqa0a0/s200/0524metzes.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
This was a very special occasion not just because of graduation but because it was also a family reunion, as well as the first time some of my oldest friends have ever met. It was surreal to be in the classroom where I took things like Accounting, Spreadsheet Modeling and Employee, A74, and see these people who are so important to me eating sandwiches and talking to one another. It was very dream-like.<br />
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Afterward, Carla and I drove to my brother's house for snacks, and so I could say hello to my sister-in-law and nephews, and then we all went out to dinner. We talked about many topics, like bridges, Bin Laden and favorite meals -- not much about ourselves, which is typical of my family, who seem to subscribe to Don and Betty Draper's belief that it's rude to talk about oneself. We had a nice time.<br />
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Anyway, it was a great day. I'm glad I ran for speaker, because it's something I'll always remember. And I'm glad I decided to get an MBA!<br />
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There's one line from my speech about how during school I've learned that becoming my best does not mean changing into someone else, but rather means having confidence in what makes me original. I think that relates to the main question of this blog, which is what it's like for a journalist to get an MBA. I've heard this characterized as a major leap, as if I were a mime who decided to go to medical school.<br />
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But I came to realize that a lot of the skills I took for granted in my career are valued, useful and important in business -- things like writing clearly, being accurate and fair, asking probing questions, and making sure I do whatever I have to do to understand something. <br />
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It hasn't all been seamless. I had never looked at an income statement before school, nor had I given even a passing thought to stock markets or how one might value a company. So there were vocabulary and conceptual gaps that I'd consider unclosable, although I made some headway. And disposition-wise, I think there's a tendency for journalists to want to stay quietly off to the side, which is at odds with management education that encourages one to make waves. Journalists do make waves, but by observing and communicating, not "leading" in the traditional management sense. <br />
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But overall, the transition from newspapers to business wasn't as much of a leap as one might expect. I wanted to get an MBA to have a healthier and faster-moving career, to experience a new environment, and to see how far I could challenge myself, and I did all that and more. <br />
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I appreciate all of you who were regular readers, as well as those of you who popped in and out. I hope any of this was interesting or useful. It was to me.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-14704884842973173642011-05-21T11:07:00.000-04:002011-05-21T11:07:22.161-04:00A couple things must go<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a title="My bench and weights won't fit into my new apartment; and they won't need to, since there's a gym in my new building." href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1BL7Ti35Dboi38aMazvb385VN4Cvt0brUPF4ku_HklBBNZmk4JtBtLvTKKrg9tWP87Y4TvQ47w2cP1x_NJpF_t8Z1TcvtmlyXfWa6gAUaoKslMQYBdhGaKeEconK787mPFpKcEGyMwpw/s1600/gym.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1BL7Ti35Dboi38aMazvb385VN4Cvt0brUPF4ku_HklBBNZmk4JtBtLvTKKrg9tWP87Y4TvQ47w2cP1x_NJpF_t8Z1TcvtmlyXfWa6gAUaoKslMQYBdhGaKeEconK787mPFpKcEGyMwpw/s400/gym.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
One of my dearest and oldest friends, Carla, arrived in New Haven yesterday from North Carolina and is spending the weekend here, in advance of Monday's commencement. It's a real nerve-calming energy to have her here. I gave her a little tour of SOM yesterday, and we had dinner with some friends last night. Two of those friends had wonderful news -- both have been offered jobs that they will be accepting, in New York! I'm really excited for them because the positions are wonderful and a great fit, and of course selfishly I'm delighted they will be in New York.<br />
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Carla selflessly insisted on helping me in whatever way she could while she was here, and I'm not one to decline a hand, so given her successful history in selling things online, I've put her to work helping me sell some of the furniture I won't have room for in my new place. We're starting with three items, and two have already had inquiries. I'm sure they will be gone in no time. Someone is coming today, in fact, to (hopefully) haul away a chest of drawers.<br />
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Today we will be bopping around New Haven a bit. I'm sort of a terrible local for never having been to <a href="http://www.louislunch.com/">Louis' Lunch</a>, the supposed birthplace of the hamburger. We may try our luck there today, although I imagine the city is flooded with kinfolk who are in town for graduations, and others may have my bright idea. We'll see. There aren't many items left on my unofficial New Haven Bucket List, but that's one.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-67934068491715461542011-05-18T21:41:00.003-04:002011-05-18T21:48:27.046-04:00Knot in my stomach and lump in my throat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a title="This is my New York apartment's floor plan with construction-paper cutouts of my furniture, to scale. So this is kinda what walking in might look like." href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFZoruIdnroTSJn0gcLaMV7DsQHv458x9azQC3cDIhwxtDXpyjKIpEx8Rgc5xqQShRxg76tV9okx0Oxb1c0YeJXcTlyXLrAtkBHDuEueQrGt_jyK5cv2XLNb6xfCIPmbx4Da5T-qWye1Y/s1600/0518furniture.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFZoruIdnroTSJn0gcLaMV7DsQHv458x9azQC3cDIhwxtDXpyjKIpEx8Rgc5xqQShRxg76tV9okx0Oxb1c0YeJXcTlyXLrAtkBHDuEueQrGt_jyK5cv2XLNb6xfCIPmbx4Da5T-qWye1Y/s400/0518furniture.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I am not going to be able to fit all my furniture into my New York studio, which I'm moving to in less than two weeks. That much is clear. To see what I'm really working with, though, I cut out scaled representations of my furniture and have been arranging the pieces over a floor plan. Nothing makes me too thrilled, but I'll make it work somehow.<br />
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I must admit that I am currently emotionally overwhelmed and have knots in my stomach. The impending move and job are what I dreamed of when I was applying to Yale, and I've been lucky enough to see them coming since November, but now that everything's just around the corner I feel like I'm accelerating into a fog. I think what's on the other side will be amazing. But I still have those knots.<br />
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You would think that with school officially over -- all my grades are in, and there's nothing academic left to do -- I would be all smiles and relaxation, but between doing paperwork for Deloitte, selling and packing my things, family headed into town, preparing to deliver the commencement speech, figuring out how to unload my car, getting ready for a wedding, and actually moving to New York and getting settled, it seems like an insane mad dash to June 1. I know that after that, I'll be immediately without much to do, and that will be my life for two months. But getting there is not a leisurely walk in the park!<br />
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I feel somewhat un-allowed to discuss that, though, because I am fortunate and should be grateful, and I am. But gratitude and good fortune don't pack my stuff, and they don't write and memorize my speech, and they don't plow through my to-do list while I nap.<br />
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I got a lot done today, though. A whole lot.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-78546945222783914782011-05-18T10:32:00.001-04:002011-05-18T10:32:25.347-04:00Stop and smell the sea<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzvdM-w-bgI4q54mqKgsnDdQNViyaSBjj7HOD-jxuQ98hIYBesXME7wPw6hOQ292tYYbMVXhqFELaR_u6AAhA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
My last day in the Caribbean was perhaps my favorite, as I went with two classmates to explore St. John. We hiked to a place called Honeymoon Bay, which is where I shot the video above. The weather and the water were perfect at first, and then a storm started rolling in, so we took refuge at a fancy resort and ate delicious but overpriced salads. We went on another much longer hike and met up with another classmate for a root beer. By the time we returned on the ferry to St. Thomas, we were all totally wiped out. I did have the energy, though, to put one final 25-cent bet on my lucky #11 on roulette, and sure enough it hit! Made $9 in 20 seconds. I think that put me up about $54 overall for the trip, basically covering the day in St. John.<br />
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Now I have returned to the unseasonably cold, wet mainland. Overall the trip was worth it. It was relaxing enough to be recharging, and active enough to be fun. It gave me a chance to hang out with some different people, and get a bit of a tan. After two months in New York without any income I may temporarily regret spending $1,500 on this vacation, but if that happens I'll just look back on my pictures and (hopefully) smile.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-70173304118518503322011-05-16T11:45:00.000-04:002011-05-16T11:45:22.985-04:00Firework video bomb<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwXbAXF5Jqk2U1D9T1j-kmqHp0KDBVg-GwDH94iNf40NGhtd8vi7yU0bebhmqZcsV0-t6YRBr0VtzKL0F8G2A' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
Last night was an amazing amount of fun, as we had our last group dinner on St. Thomas, accompanied by karaoke. I busted out <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRYNYb30nxU">this number</a>. I came away with several enjoyable clips, but none so much so as this one, thanks to a photo (er, video?) bomb. SOM inspires!<br />
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Almost everyone is leaving St. Thomas today, but a couple folks and I are staying on for an extra day (because it was so much cheaper to fly tomorrow).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-39470149459191101472011-05-15T10:34:00.006-04:002018-11-05T16:45:09.445-05:00The creatures of St. Thomas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiazFwVdAWVMANsr6-2KZ3VhcGh1as8xQTzvJsXJW-o_wGVCw5rmGC_irc9EIMIPhUhKc4Gs_887y0gTCQ4L_2sBNPysqKTPW93An-GRdurR-02ge4B9WDJUQ6CC-G1Dfyem-5Bvw_sd5U/s1600/0515iguana.jpg" imageanchor="1" title="Me, hanging out with an iguana, on the beaches of St. Thomas."><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiazFwVdAWVMANsr6-2KZ3VhcGh1as8xQTzvJsXJW-o_wGVCw5rmGC_irc9EIMIPhUhKc4Gs_887y0gTCQ4L_2sBNPysqKTPW93An-GRdurR-02ge4B9WDJUQ6CC-G1Dfyem-5Bvw_sd5U/s400/0515iguana.jpg" width="315" /></a></div>
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Greetings from St. Thomas, where today is Day 5 of my seven-day vacation, and my first time accessing the World Wide Web. I'm here on our Class of 2011 trip, along with several dozen classmates. It's a tradition. Last year, the Class of 2010 went on a cruise. This year, we're stationed at an rather nice all-inclusive resort.</div>
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It's been a lot of fun so far, mostly sitting on the beach, taking advantage of free meals, dipping in the pool and fooling around in the casino. I am, so far, up $33.50 at blackjack and down $31.00 on roulette, thus up $2.50 overall, and determined not to play roulette again. The weather has been consistent -- mostly overcast, with one massive downpour per day and a few bursts of sunshine. One actually doesn't want too much sun here because it does fry the skin almost upon contact, so I have no complaints. It's warm and breezy, and that's relaxing.</div>
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A couple of my close friends came on the trip, and many didn't, which has been both a bummer and a nice opportunity to reconnect with some classmates whose paths I rarely crossed during school. Last night, I discovered that when one of my classmates was a kid visiting his grandfather in my hometown, he hit a golf ball at the driving range and struck a car parked in front of a house across the street. We lived across the street from that country club, and I think the victim may have been my brother's car. I've sent a message to my mom for verification.</div>
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I'm glad I came even though a nontrivial amount of madness awaits me in the two weeks that will follow my return. And per my original plan, this blog will end in one week's time, as I will have completed my MBA and thus will no longer be a journalist pursuing one. I'll probably post some final thoughts on Tuesday the 24th, the day after commencement. No thoughts for now, though. Just the sound of waves and warm breezes.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-91279955675313880212011-05-10T12:10:00.000-04:002011-05-10T12:10:20.029-04:00The falls of Falls Village<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_0blBaHEPkafV1hsORhnE5zE7PRf4-wNvY0lh1EOnilop1rMNfL0chFqci_QzqCDQuyMngHpGC6qN41NXeUcpbGhq7C0JZB8TVG0W6AnOxkNeaVaL9oejdyRu6Sk9hO_s3g2T1C79fJ0/s1600/0510falls.jpg" imageanchor="1" title="The falls for which Falls Village is named."><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_0blBaHEPkafV1hsORhnE5zE7PRf4-wNvY0lh1EOnilop1rMNfL0chFqci_QzqCDQuyMngHpGC6qN41NXeUcpbGhq7C0JZB8TVG0W6AnOxkNeaVaL9oejdyRu6Sk9hO_s3g2T1C79fJ0/s400/0510falls.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Tomorrow at an absurd hour I leave for a week-long trip to St. Thomas, but yesterday I took a pre-trip mini-trip to visit a friend who lives in a rural area of Northwest Connecticut, in a little town called Falls Village. It couldn't have been a more beautiful day, and we took a walk/hike, some of which is actually the Appalachian Trail. If that trail interests you at all, I highly recommend the very funny book "A Walk in the Woods," by Bill Bryson.<br />
<br />
Now I've returned and -- would you believe it -- am still not finished grading those damn Innovator papers, which linger above like a cloud. I have a dozen left, and then my TA duties are complete, which thereby makes my SOM tasks complete, aside from attending and speaking at commencement in two weeks. <br />
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I am trying to decide whether to take my laptop to the Virgin Islands so I can blog and work on my speech. Part of me says "No, John, take this opportunity to distance yourself from technology and focus on the moment by enjoying the sunshine and friendhip." And that part of me says, "John, the two aren't mutually exclusive; you can focus on the moment by enjoying the sunshine and friendship, but you'll be frustrated if you come up with some speech ideas and don't have your laptop with you. Plus you'll be eager to edit and post some pictures and stories. Take the damn thing."<br />
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We'll see which part of me prevails.<br />
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In the meantime, today I absolutely must finish these papers, so I'm off to what I suppose will be my last day ever working in a Yale library. Until I realize school is where it's at, and I come back for my PhD.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-2007339788042458062011-05-07T11:33:00.002-04:002011-05-07T11:37:29.433-04:00Don't burn the toast<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7kmbHH0-D5mgOkz8yFMkPlfH9C-Azqwi0IQLlmiorLfIys37Fgd3i4SwZxzzAq1GUnPvLHRcFcLLYgWJVFYWL54ygPJQhK1xBrK9az_q8T18iyH2650DyU3a6xR814CdcnSUd2IjWAD8/s1600/0507andrewtoast.jpg" imageanchor="1" title="Andrew Swick, a member of the Class of 2011, makes a toast during the class dinner on May 6, at the Lawn Club in New Haven."><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7kmbHH0-D5mgOkz8yFMkPlfH9C-Azqwi0IQLlmiorLfIys37Fgd3i4SwZxzzAq1GUnPvLHRcFcLLYgWJVFYWL54ygPJQhK1xBrK9az_q8T18iyH2650DyU3a6xR814CdcnSUd2IjWAD8/s400/0507andrewtoast.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
It was fantastic serendipity that our class dinner was on Friday night because I happened to finish everything merely two hours beforehand, leaving me in quite a celebratory mood and more than happy to stay out until 1 in the morning. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6QLTWMIjmt6bo2oGDjnFm7qR_FsEGOC_68858PRO9BrvZVT7M4sa6PDcOgzu43w5bkrDCP1v8ifsCBY4IPbm1WDdLY15wE8BU-eZghEesmNDXn-KEM4skQLFkD_2-B7rQDiw8uz66CWU/s1600/0507zandraetal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="Three people I love -- Zandra, Meghan and Jennet."><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6QLTWMIjmt6bo2oGDjnFm7qR_FsEGOC_68858PRO9BrvZVT7M4sa6PDcOgzu43w5bkrDCP1v8ifsCBY4IPbm1WDdLY15wE8BU-eZghEesmNDXn-KEM4skQLFkD_2-B7rQDiw8uz66CWU/s200/0507zandraetal.jpg" width="200" /></a>Our dinner was at the Lawn Club, a short walk from both SOM and my apartment, and featured a few slideshows, as well as some superlatives and, at the end, a pass-the-microphone toasting segment. Good feelings were abundant, and by my count it looked like there were about 19 tables of 10 people each, meaning that a good 80% of our class was in attendance. Check out my quant skills at work!</div><br />
There was an after-party at a downtown bar called The Study, which at first was a little jarring because we were packed into a hot room with loud music. But once I escaped into the general bar area, I had some great conversations and really enjoyed myself. It was late before I knew it.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIkL9Z0m6KZaDQ9-roBkg7Pxl5zaeuo3OFKF1Twcv1M1cUZMhp9x6Hp1MuvhagVHCiKgDo1TYcTukxd-CBTR7g-JEoV9_-6895kWKZQakdYXIoVwRBZcYCUQPaDE0zMcCu_bura6Cxii8/s1600/0507kimetal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Me with my friends Kim and Carolyn."><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIkL9Z0m6KZaDQ9-roBkg7Pxl5zaeuo3OFKF1Twcv1M1cUZMhp9x6Hp1MuvhagVHCiKgDo1TYcTukxd-CBTR7g-JEoV9_-6895kWKZQakdYXIoVwRBZcYCUQPaDE0zMcCu_bura6Cxii8/s200/0507kimetal.jpg" width="200" /></a>A lot of feelings swirl around all this. One is that I'm still working through the adjustment of being a non-drinker in these situations; everyone was given packets of drink tickets, no less. The interesting thing is that, time and again, I find the beginning of the evening somewhat challenging, but after a short while I really, really prefer being sober. Conversations are much better and more memorable. And, frankly, it's a trip to finally notice how alcohol actually affects people. In the past I didn't observe the changes because I was probably drunker than everyone else. But it's a funny experience to be stone sober while your friends rant, hug, ramble and cry. I like it, actually.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a title="Me with Erika, my partner in crime. We are told we look alike." href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrABXSEImdnGHUnccH8gkCbG_0ViON4f7fozCgwYNLsGKIfP4uiwIJ6hZ4-o7tb8VqN12LdVNMKulUPhGnQ3QYZO3asp4_awe3vddLo7EoDki-SBI2suTUFPmCfB4UXs16I7clZnmveEY/s1600/0507johnerika.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrABXSEImdnGHUnccH8gkCbG_0ViON4f7fozCgwYNLsGKIfP4uiwIJ6hZ4-o7tb8VqN12LdVNMKulUPhGnQ3QYZO3asp4_awe3vddLo7EoDki-SBI2suTUFPmCfB4UXs16I7clZnmveEY/s200/0507johnerika.jpg" width="200" /></a>Some people are pretty emotional now, and I'm not totally there yet, even though I know I will be. I loved this experience deeply, and I have a feeling I will be a ball of tears when I'm moving out of my apartment. Until then it doesn't quite seem over yet.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-71532297331814623342011-05-06T17:22:00.005-04:002015-05-01T07:59:01.214-04:00Journalist completes MBA, blogs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsHK5KvHPF0Di3KYNSIfPxs2JQgk90uDgGeWFx8FeQ6lLxIGF1VYMthEUPQvFtp2kPgWlWFChf550zF5fzdmuTNAWefoJmgQi6EDWzTT-5qlMB8BUUMT7q_Rfv7Ytcn9l7iQqfu53t-_Y/s1600/0506done2.jpg" imageanchor="1" title="On the inside, I'm overjoyed. On the outside, I've been working like a crazy person for several days."><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsHK5KvHPF0Di3KYNSIfPxs2JQgk90uDgGeWFx8FeQ6lLxIGF1VYMthEUPQvFtp2kPgWlWFChf550zF5fzdmuTNAWefoJmgQi6EDWzTT-5qlMB8BUUMT7q_Rfv7Ytcn9l7iQqfu53t-_Y/s400/0506done2.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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And with one hastily written nine-page paper, followed by an even more hastily written five-page paper, I can now check "Get an MBA" off my to-do list. Holy frijoles, I am done.<br />
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Done! Not kinda done, but done-done. Academically, at least. Despite the rush, I think I went out on some pretty solid notes, and I'm proud of the work I've been able to crank out this week. This is one of those times I'm glad I used to write things on deadline for a living; you never know when that'll come in handy.<br />
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This is a weird feeling. Graduate school seemed to be a full-speed-ahead train, and now it feels like it just evaporated into the air. I'm looking at a binder and a notebook I no longer need, and evidence strewn around of several days of intensity ... text books, papers, empty glasses, pens, But now I can, you know, take a breath and clean up! This will be an overly dramatic characterization, but it's like in the movies when someone's spouse dies and they have to clean out the closet. I'll be cleaning out my MBA closet this weekend, I suppose -- all the evidence I did this. And I'll be separating what to keep from what to dump.<br />
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To extend my last post, where I summarized the three classes I had finished, I'll do the same for the two I wrapped up today. I have time before I need to shower and get ready for our celebratory class dinner at the Lawn Club!<br />
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<strong>Behavioral Perspectives on Management.</strong> This course looked at human behavior and contrasted it with management theory, for the main punchline that we should rely on evidence, not instinct, when making decisions. We discussed biases, heuristics, chance, emotions, context, mental accounting, and loads of other things, and ended on happiness. Our professor, Joe Simmons, has a psychology and marketing background and is very interested in controlled studies, so most of the lectures were heavy on the results of those studies. Then it was up to us, through our short papers called "application assignments" as well as through other papers, to apply these studies and academic readings to real life. In a lot of ways, this was my favorite class, and I actually did every reading all semester, which is quite a feat. Our final paper was supposed to be a long application of course concepts to a policy or program we would like to develop or change. I invented a behaviorally focused restaurant with a totally new way of ordering, eating and paying. I would be more detailed, but I actually think it's a billion-dollar idea, so I'm going to keep it for now.<br />
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<strong>Navigating Organizations.</strong> All my classes this spring were a semester long except this one, which was only second quarter. But we covered a lot in that short time. The professor, Cade Massey, who also co-taught our Negotiations class in the core, used an enormous variety of materials to teach us about power, networks, influence and stark realities about how companies really operate. His goal was to teach us about how to rise the ranks, either so we could do so, or so we could notice when others are trying to do so. This was a great course I've highly recommended to friends in the class below me. Especially with me about to enter new waters as a consultant, these are topics I will encounter and be glad to know more about.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-71104791133345149152011-05-05T18:29:00.011-04:002011-08-27T10:24:54.022-04:003 out of 5 ain't bad<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZe2DK-Fp_-5fGfHPzkeLQzE5F5_mH4wdhU32OWTvZx7b6xwR-OJE-osdVPLTcH0Ji1tPeVa9m6UPEMXVVgE2J1EWQ90NiQh1eHZj2nGyX1o4_Ux7Pv72l66IgnhohfMHLmyMukzNUnQQ/s1600/0504hillhouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" title="A tree outside 55 Hillhouse. I thought it was pretty. This is what I saw as I walked out of my last class ever, Strategic Leadership Across Sectors, on Wednesday night."><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZe2DK-Fp_-5fGfHPzkeLQzE5F5_mH4wdhU32OWTvZx7b6xwR-OJE-osdVPLTcH0Ji1tPeVa9m6UPEMXVVgE2J1EWQ90NiQh1eHZj2nGyX1o4_Ux7Pv72l66IgnhohfMHLmyMukzNUnQQ/s400/0504hillhouse.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I am almost done. Three of my five classes are totally finished, with a presentation yesterday and two exams today. When I wrap up a class I like to give some closing thoughts on it, since that's kind of a central goal of this blog -- to share the MBA experience.<br />
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<strong>Leadership Strategies for Music Presenters.</strong> This class was taught by the dean of the music school, Robert Blocker, and was taken by about a dozen Yale School of Music students and five School of Management students, including myself. It was a weekly three-hour class that almost always featured a guest, and we hit on high-level themes (like artistic vision) as well as drilled-down specifics (like how to deal with difficult personalities on a board). In a contest to determine which course during my MBA left me having learned the most stuff, this one would not win, but it was one of my favorite experiences at Yale. I got to know some musicians, as well as the dean and music faculty, and the class was such a pleasure. We visited Steinway & Sons in New York and the City Opera, and almost every week followed class with a delicious and interesting three-course dinner in a private room at the Graduate Club. This was not like an SOM course; it was slow-moving without a lot of concrete takeaways, and it was more about teaching through experiences and relationships as opposed to readings, problem sets and PowerPoints. And I think that's a good approach for certain subjects.<br />
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<strong>Investment Management.</strong> I took this class for a couple reasons. I love math. I loved the Investor course in our core (Fall-2, second quarter of first year). And I think people with an MBA should know about financial things, even if they don't dive into them for a living. These were many of the reasons I took Corporate Finance last semester; that course was tough for me, but I'm glad I took it. Same here. The material in this class ended up being a lot more challenging than I expected -- everytime I blinked there were models with lots of Greek letters or calculus or natural logs or bell curves with shaded areas scribbled all over the board. I had several "Wha?" moments. We covered a shit load of material, including market history, arbitrage pricing theory, factor models, active portfolio management, behavioral finance, portfolio evaluation, private equity, endowments, hedge funds, options, futures, swaps, fixed income, international diversification, ethics ... each of these things could be (and in some cases is) its own class. So it really was an intense overview of this subject. But I've done well and think the final went great. I'm probably not going to get a Distinction, since that would require outperforming 90% of my peers who all seemed to be quite comfortable with all this stuff, but when I inevitably get my Proficient I may choose to believe I was close. This was taught quite well by a new professor named Justin Murfin, who was excellent.<br />
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<strong>Strategic Leadership Across Sectors.</strong> Nobody calls it that, first of all. Everyone just calls it "Sonnenfeld," after the professor. This was in many ways a bizarre class, kind of the School of Management equivalent of my music class. Each week, we met for three hours with an array of amazing guests you wouldn't believe. The details would be fantastic blog fodder, but I've been carefully mum about it because apparently a student a few years ago was expelled for blogging about something that was discussed in the class. So I'm afraid to even mention who our guests were. Just not worth it. Like the music class, it was weak on structure and takeaways, but I bet this is the type of class I'll always remember, if only for the proximity-to-fame factor.<br />
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So those are the three I've finished with. I'll give my two cents on the others over the weekend. Just about done! Can't believe it. Just can't believe it ...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-45179916699632508082011-05-02T07:35:00.008-04:002023-05-03T17:07:37.563-04:00An eye for 5,954 eyes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeIhosGhIOTdiFdIKKlL0KDyEAlHoExJ9PKnigPN3m69yZHZbjNYWBqh2uzLYlLaUsMldkxduBn7-aWaXaR6mde8Rlyktuif-GtpiIrluZzu2MhyXDqNeBdT-fxFfI5zNqaxxdF5l2-bw/s1600/obama.jpg" title="Obama's address following news of Osama bin Laden's death."><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeIhosGhIOTdiFdIKKlL0KDyEAlHoExJ9PKnigPN3m69yZHZbjNYWBqh2uzLYlLaUsMldkxduBn7-aWaXaR6mde8Rlyktuif-GtpiIrluZzu2MhyXDqNeBdT-fxFfI5zNqaxxdF5l2-bw/s400/obama.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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People don't have crystal-clear memories, I've learned in my Behavioral Perspectives course. We tell and re-tell stories and lose details over time, and eventually our version of the truth is an unintentionally warped collection of details we think we remember.<br />
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So it goes with "Where were you on 9/11?" I was in St. Louis, with my boyfriend at the time, Brad. I had graduated from UNC the May prior and had spent the summer editing copy for the Columbus Dispatch. I was taking about a month to unwind in St. Louis, my home town. Brad had been visiting for a few days and was supposed to fly back to Omaha on Sept. 11 (a Tuesday). One of his friends called to tell him to turn on the TV, and so we did, and we watched things unfold from there. I don't remember too much else that day. We went to a seafood restaurant for a late lunch at some point, and my friend Jenny came over and we watched TV for a while. Later in the week, maybe the next day even, Brad rented a car and drove back to Omaha.<br />
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Now I may also remember where I was on May 1, 2011, as the news broke that Osama bin Laden had been killed. I was here on the couch taking care of some school-related things on my laptop, when my roommate, stationed in the dining room, shouted that bin Laden had been killed. I think her mom had called to tell her. From there we were scanning the web, although the main story on nytimes.com wouldn't even open (due to immense traffic, I assume). We opened links on cnn.com and nytimes.com to a live stream from the White House, where Obama was scheduled to make an address. We don't have cable. The speech was a little awkward. Obama was at a podium (or lectern), in front of microphones, but he wasn't making eye contact with the camera, and there was no audience, so it wasn't clear who he was talking to. It was a sort of off-putting way to deliver the news. Just earlier this week he made headlines by being rather funny at the White House Correspondents Dinner, in the wake of producing his long-form birth certificate. This was an interesting contrast.<br />
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So that's where I was, and now I've recorded it to help assist my future self that will twist and delete the details.<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-19065152272496364882011-05-01T13:59:00.004-04:002011-05-01T14:03:15.376-04:00It does have that swing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEherYPs-Ynju898fz7_E_6IBhjhLCCWIyBPA_enLYRH9JyfO0oj3LQlxt5CwxnKW07u78hPJ36NAncQT6565Nkp5Pb4pV3wnZGiENckdpl_2q47UnO__05OxPmKU70bRcud-Qq-IKPNZos/s1600/0501swing.jpg" imageanchor="1" title="Swing dancing. Sadly, I left my memory card at home, so I had to take photos with my iPhone."><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEherYPs-Ynju898fz7_E_6IBhjhLCCWIyBPA_enLYRH9JyfO0oj3LQlxt5CwxnKW07u78hPJ36NAncQT6565Nkp5Pb4pV3wnZGiENckdpl_2q47UnO__05OxPmKU70bRcud-Qq-IKPNZos/s400/0501swing.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I remembered to bring my camera to a swing dance I attended Saturday night, but I neglected to re-insert the memory card. This left me with only an iPhone to take this photo, which looks dark and dreary and does not represent an event that was actually very fun and lively. My friend Erika took me; there was a live band and an hour-long lesson. I sweat a lot and didn't injure anyone too badly. We were learning some moves to show off at her wedding, which is later this month.<br />
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I had spent the day, prior to dancing, in a knotted-stomach state, trying to tackle the monster load of work before me. I decided not to cancel, though, and the exercise and laughs were good for me, I think. So was the frozen yogurt beforehand and the fries afterward.<br />
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Today I've cranked out a paper that's due tomorrow and taken care of some other odds and ends not worth explaining. I am now going to treat TA-ing like it's my full-time job and attempt to grade 40 papers in the next 8 hours. I'm going to try to spend 10 minutes on each one and then take a 10 minute break each hour. Wish me luck.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758265416045814851.post-40241305782839206092011-04-29T22:59:00.002-04:002015-05-01T08:11:13.430-04:00A deluxe apartment in the sky<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyPNnWvCKUztTRrFrDXATmrvzYY1BMOhin5Yt1SKUKeQzaZKcPWo1Dvdy0EkCHEsUx4q0H2Xs1lnmQxiC058vc3pxHwrHHyzU0AyUiDexrg9LOnC2uJnOg2MswOMi0Am-4NGli57kFULc/s1600/0429victory.jpg" imageanchor="1" title="My new home. Looks ominous with the overcast sky, but it's nice."><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyPNnWvCKUztTRrFrDXATmrvzYY1BMOhin5Yt1SKUKeQzaZKcPWo1Dvdy0EkCHEsUx4q0H2Xs1lnmQxiC058vc3pxHwrHHyzU0AyUiDexrg9LOnC2uJnOg2MswOMi0Am-4NGli57kFULc/s400/0429victory.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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Today was not relaxing. I went into New York on Thursday evening for dinner with future co-workers, then crashed at my friend Brian's place but didn't get the best night's sleep because I was tossing and turning. I woke up with back pain and spent the day running (seriously, running) around half of Manhattan, looking for an apartment to move into in a month's time.<br />
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My broker and I saw lots of different types of places in neighborhoods including the Financial District, the East Village and the West Village, but ultimately I decided to go with a studio in Hell's Kitchen, the last place I saw. I've heard mixed reviews of the neighborhood, but the superiority of the apartment and its building were too glaring to ignore, and ultimately that's what rent is paying for. Compared to the others, it was a bigger place (though still quite small), extremely nice, up on the 36th floor, with views of the river, great amenities in the building, near things to do and near the subway. It's no coincidence that the best place was also the most expensive, but I only went $25/month over my limit, so I think I came out OK. <br />
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I have to say that today was a little scary, and I wasn't anticipating that. I think that all throughout graduate school, this move to New York to become a consultant has seemed like a neat story, something interesting to talk about (and blog about). But it's such a huge change that it's almost felt like it was happening to someone else. Over the past 24 hours it's never felt more real. I was actually eating with Deloitte people talking about lots of details about the job, and then I was filling out an application for an apartment in Manhattan. And it became more real, and tangible, that my life is indeed going to be these things. I'm going to wake up in the apartment I selected today, make my way a couple blocks toward a subway, and head off to work as a consultant.<br />
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This was both very exciting on one hand but suddenly a little frightening, too. One of my fears is that New York, while exciting, makes me feel a little lonely, and I'm hoping that the friends I have who live there will have time for me, that many of my friends from SOM will end up there, and of course that I'll make new ones. That's one area of my life I've been very lucky; even as I was sometimes frustrated by my career and my financial limitations as a journalist in Texas, I somehow managed to have lots of good friends. I think New York is such a busy and tiring place, with so many strangers swirling around you, that being with friends is critical to keeping a level head. (I do already know a couple guys in Hell's Kitchen, so that's fortunate.)<br />
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Anyway, it's been exhausting and fun. This weekend will be very work-intensive. I have about 54 papers to grade for the class I TA, as well as my own final projects and exam prep. Gnite.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0