YUCK!

That is the most politically correct statement I could come up with after seeing "Are we there yet"?. That was definitely by far the worst movie I have seen in a long long time. Considering the drama that led up to the time we actually took our places in the movie hall, I was hoping it would be a rolling on the floor clutching my sides laugh riot. Unfortunately it was worse than a damp squid.

I was too busy killing the Protoss and the Zerg to make it for the movies in time. So we had about 30 mins to get to the theatre, buy our tickets, and grab our seats. Just as I was in the process of slamming the door shut, I remembered that I hadn't picked up the house keys. So at around 10:00 pm there was a mad dash to leasing office to pick up a spare set of keys before they shut shop for the day. Picked the spare set, and ran about 150 feet and up three flights of stairs to grab my key set that was lying tantalizingly close to the door. Followed by a mad dash to the leasing office to return the spare keys and pick up my driver's license that was left hostage for the good behavior and prompt return of the key set. Luckily there were no cops on the road as I careened through the traffic, making good time by honking at people and throwing dirty glances at mere pedestrians who had no clue as to what was at stake while the sauntered across the street at stops. Dropped the wife to run and grab the tickets while I parked the car. The semi empty parking lot and lack of crowd in the theatre should have warned us. So should the first 20 mins of the movie. But we suffered through waiting for the funny parts the trailers promised. Karma usually has a way of getting to you and all the bad Karma I had accumulated on the drive over culminated in a horrendous movie. That was the only bad moment in an otherwise great weekend, were we hiked around our local trails and met friends and family.

I was chucked out of the kitchen and asked to help by not helping during the dinner we threw for our extended family. But I wasn't complaining since I got to teach the Zerg exactly who the boss is in this dimension.

If you haven't played StarCraft ignore all references to the Zerg and the Protoss. Oh and school (the courses I am taking at Berkeley) begins next week and I am getting along famously in Calculus. The old magic seems to be coming back, and the book I am using is helping by dumbing down the difficulty for me.

Dismal

Lay offs are always a sad time around here these days. I have been through some pretty drastic purges over the years but it NEVER gets easier. Sometimes it is tougher for the people surviving the purge than to be purged. The people purged only have to get another job and they move on. The ones who are left behind have to deal with a distinct lack of motivation, loyalty and anger. With the first round of lay offs for this year are over, there isn't much to say. Lost some more friends and colleagues to the hungry corporate world. Morale is very low all around.

My personal feelings through this event have been extremely dispassionate. Almost as if there is a disconnect between me and the rest of the company. I got my best night's sleep yesterday when I had to literally shake myself to get out of bed at 9:00 am. Got to work, just as people were milling about the lobby, some in tears, some with brave smiles, loading boxes into cars and trucks, trying to get the hell out of the parking lot. Got to office only to read some farewell emails and a few job queries. Not my idea of fun by any stretch of imagination. The mood outside seems to reflect the mood inside the building. After days of happy sunshine, the dark clouds are making a resurgence. Unless it is fate casting a damper on the people collecting their belongings and ensuring that they get wet and bedraggled as they load their cars.

Some changes in role and strategic focus are definitely on the anvil, just a question of how much my role expands. With more people gone you can bet there is more work/responsibility to be shared. I wonder if I should put the count of how many lay offs I have been through on my resume? Is it something that talks about my resilience and value to the company? My pathetic attempts at black humor. But I probably will be sending a letter to the Wharton Admissions committee talking about the promotion I received a short while ago and the new responsibilities. I figure that though it won't make much difference, it will atleast give me the feeling that I am not helpless in waiting for the dice to be cast for me.

Madeira

We had a guest over the weekend and decided to do the usual tour of places around the Bay Area. Some places on the list were:

1. Stanford (but off course) and Hoover tower,
2. Napa
3. San Francisco

The Napa excursion went of really well. The day started out foggy and dull, but as we crossed the Vallejo Bridge the sun shone down in all its glory, turning it into a beautiful day and perfect for wine sampling. (It was doubly interesting considering how much snow they have been getting in the North East.) Having done the tour through Napa so many times now, we had no cause for maps or additional information. We took the usual tour through the Mondavi estate and made a beeline for V. Sattui. This winery has become our favorite picnic spot. We usually buy our wine here, collect some cheese from the deli inside, along with roasted garlic and a desert and sit on the grass outside enjoying the sun. This brings me to the header of the post, Madeira!

It is V. Sattui's signature desert wine, it has a dash of port and brandy to really bring out the flavors and to my untrained palette it is simply heavenly. (No offense implied to the 2000 Bordeaux that Sorebrek opened at dinner when we last met). The thing about Californian wines is that they are usually a little overpowering and often over the top. They call for really pungent or spicy food to make the combination savory. The Madeira is no different in that aspect, but it is a desert wine so luckily doesn't need to go with anything other than ice cream! I anticipate several days of fine dining in the near future. I doubt we will be able to hold off from hitting the bottle for a special dinner.

We did pick up few other desert wines in the Muscat and Angelica (dash of cognac), so cheers everyone.

In San Francisco, we stopped by the Matreon where we had to visit the Playstation showroom. I got completely sidetracked by Ace Combat 5 a game they had playing on one of the demo stations. There I shamefully hogged the console, despite a little kid coming up to and asking me if he could play after I was done! But by Jove that was a game and a half. I couldn't let go the control of my fighter plane, shooting down those @#$% Yuktobanians. The wife had to literally drag me away and let the kid have his shot at fame, (just as I got the hang of the game and was kicking some ass). That was the bad thing about being grown up. But the good thing is that I can actually purchase the game. MUHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Calculus

Went to the library yesterday and bought a couple of books on basic and advanced Calculus. At one point of time in my miss spent youth I was forced to tackle a lot of differential equations and integrations. In the way of things that are compulsory, I actually ended up getting quite good at it (and dare I say enjoy it?). I figured after a hiatus of 8+ years without touching that stuff I would need some kind of refresher course and being loathe to go to school, decided to learn by myself.

Under the impression that it would be easy, I jumped right into the problems at the end of the chapter, when I hit a solid roadblock. The memory files in my brain where I had safely moth balled information on how to solve Calculus problems was a tattered tapestry. Ultimately I had to admit defeat and humbly start from the beginning. Learning to crawl before learning to run so as to speak.

In other news, I went to Barnes and Nobles to pick up a couple of programming books and was staggered by the cost. After browsing through a few books I promptly turned around, went home, got online and ordered two books for the same price as the one at B & N. I am surprised people even buy books in book stores with such wide discrepancies in cost. I am talking of over 20$ excluding tax!

In a continuation of the same theme, (of being shocked by book prices) I went to the Berkeley bookstore website to purchase a book for my course there, and that found me reeling as well. 136$? WTF? Are these books made of gold or what? Has it been that long since I purchased books that I have forgotten the astronomical prices? No wonder education standards are slipping in this country, people can't afford a decent education. There used to be bumper stickers on cars back in the midwest that used to read, "Both my daughter and my money go to xxxx" (fill in the name of the university in the xxxx). Those words ring so true. I guess when my parents were paying my way through, the cost never bothered me. I guess there is nothing to do but suck it up in the name of education and opportunities.

I am definitely going account every penny I have spent on this process from application to graduation. I want to find out exactly what my opportunity cost is by the time I am done. Atleast I can see myself extremely motivated to study in Business school once I get there. If nothing else, than to recoup my investment.

Have a good weekend everyone. I certainly plan too. Some more hiking in the books, and some serious Calculus.

Reading

Time blissful time! I have been having a blast learning technology and catching up on my readings. One of my all time favorite authors just happens to be P.G. Wodehouse. There is something about quirky British humor that tickles my funny bone.

So besides the Larson comics that I take in small doses daily for health and vitality, (not to mention as fodder for the famous Aregon charm offensive), I have been skimming through delightful works of the past. Rolling with Mike and PSmith, commiserating with Archie and enthralled by Mr. Mulliner. I don't know if I have mentioned this anywhere but I collect books as a minor hobby, the older the better. So am always looking for deals on eBay. With some eclectic reading tastes, I was wondering if anyone out there has read or collected any of the works of Frank Richards or Richmal Crompton? Drop me a line even if you are into collecting E.R. Burroughs. Should be interesting to reach out and make contact with a kindred spirit.

The website I have been developing has run into some serious trouble. With my penchant for working with bleeding edge technology, I pushed a little too hard a little too soon, and have broken the whole damn thing. This unfortunately isn't the first time that it has happened. Initially I was a little petrified of crashing the system and the labor involved at bringing it up. But as my old boss used to say, "if you haven't broken it, you probably don't know enough about it in the first place". Having gotten over my initial timidity, I am breaking stuff with gusto. Have to do a fresh install on a daily basis and a once daunting task has denigrated to a join the dots.
1. Break the bloody code.
2. Delete the whole tree
3. Rebuild from stable version.
4. Restore backed up data
5. Move as close to the bleeding edge as possible without cutting once self.
6. Repeat step 1.

I am learning the limits of the technology pretty fast and slowly but surely getting good at this. Another skill to add to the old kitty!

Congratulations

and celebrations to all those happy people with admits to some rocking schools out there.

Wakechick - For having the system down pat, repeated success, again and again and again, with more money each time to boot. Brilliant, sheer brilliant.

Megami - For cracking the bastion of loftiness, the HBS itself. With two of the top three in the bag, the choices have just gotten more interesting.

Poweryogi - Its is a touchdown! Striking gold in Chicago after a long personal Odyssey has got to be sweet. Looks like the RedSox winning the World Series rubbed some of their good luck on to him. Also an applicant whose admit I am most happy about. His blogs have been an inspiration and a gold mine of information. Way to go Yogi.

I have been a little slack with the blogging lately. Somehow when I am having fun I don't even think of blogs. I have been immersed in a personal project. I am trying to get a webpage up and running, using technology that I don't know much about so I am learning it on the fly, making for some interesting times with crashes and snafus galore.

There is something about learning something new, something interesting that drives me to distraction. I worked over 16 hours yesterday on this project and was completely lost to the world. Forgot to eat lunch, was vague and lost when disturbed and when I was left work, I had completely forgotten where I had parked my car. It took the bitter cold to break the spell and send my scurrying to the parking lot. It was almost as if I were in a zone, a feeling I just love being in, lost in the beauty of the task at hand. Luckily for me it is easy for me to get passionate about things, the only problem I face is that it exhausts me when I fall out. I am drained of all emotion and feeling and it takes me time to re-engage in things. Ah well the price you pay.

Accumulation

Its been a while since I blogged, well make that posted. I have been blogging regularly or atleast starting posts. Just that I haven't been doing a good job finishing them, either due to interruptions at work or home. I have been saving them as drafts though. Maybe some day after I am dead and gone, blogspot can compile those unfinished posts and come up with an compilation. I am just be factitious. Ignore me, its been a long hard day.

I am done with the application process, but it doesn't seem like the application process is done with me. I am still pulling in long hours editing essays, just that this time the essays are not mine. A surprisingly large population of my friends who are yet in the midst of their application process have asked me to read and comment on their essays. I find myself doing a better job for them, then I did for myself. It was probably my proximity to my story that prevented me from seeing the obvious flaws in it. If only I had done as good a job for myself as I am doing for them I wouldn't need to add a disclaimer to the effect that my skills failed me when I need it the most and to take my advice since I don't use it anyways.

Despite all that, I find myself with a lot of free time on my hands and at a loss for things to do. With a single minded focus, I concentrated my all, on the applications and with it out of the way, it is like I am bereft of ambition. Luckily, the business course I registered for starts in early February, which should take care of my free time. If there is any time left over, I am planning to study for my CFA, which promises to be a bigger bitch than GMAT ever was. I am still investigating what it takes to successfully navigate a CFA, so if anyone out there has any tips, feel free to leave me a note. Will blog more on this as I learn more about what I am letting myself into.

Last weekend, we did not go skiing as we had originally planned, instead we went hiking. Kirkwood where we have season's passes too, has this little stretch of road that they close every once in a while for Avalanche control, and that makes it a pain to traverse. A 3 hour journey could extend to 6-12 hours. Dint want to go through that hassle so we switched gears to go hiking instead. Having invested several hundreds if not thousands of dollars on gear, (that has been gathering dust for the past 8 months), it seemed like an appropriate time to take the mothballs out.

It was a mindblowing experience to see the magnificent vista's that stretch before your eyes from the top. Sky diving to me is a thrill, the adrenalin rush is incredible BUT it doesn't quite satisfy you emotionally as a good hard climb to the top of a mountain. Regardless of the height (or lack) of the mountain you climb. I seem to have strained some ligaments in my leg, but the overall experience left me cursing myself for missing out on the fun for the applications, which by all indications did not seem to give me the results I was looking for.

Excuses

I was just replying to a comment left for me when a hilarious thought struck me and had to blog about it. I was thinking through my excuses for failing to garner admits in R1 from W and K when I realized I had just posted a message on why I wrote crappy applications for R2. Couldn't but laugh at my hypocrisy. And I actually believed those excuses too! :)

Excuses for R1 dings:
1. First applications I wrote, so did not have any idea of strategy or what was expected out of me.
2. Dint know any other applicants so couldn't hone my stories and use others as a sounding board.
3. R1 is extremely competitive and the people most ready apply then, so it is tougher to get an admit
4. Couldn't decide upon my schools in time so had less time to write thought provoking essays.
5. The cow ate my essay

Excuses for writing crappy R2 applications and expecting dings for the same:
1. Had everything invested in R1 applications was emotionally and creatively bankrupt
2. Waiting for R1 admits to materialize prevented me from concentrating on my essays.
3. Ennui and tiredness conspired to hold me down.
4. The number of R2 applications increases the competition to unheralded levels, whereby reducing admit chances.
5. I ate the cow that ate my essay so transitively I ate my essay.

Funnily enough, I believed in most of those excuses listed at one point of time or the other. But now with it all out of the way, it seems foolish. Ah! Blow this shit. This has been the maximum snow fall recorded in 90 years in the Sierra's! :) Time to clean those boots, buy snowshoes, shake the dust out of my hydration pack, get some pocket warmers and HIT THE SLOPES! :)

There might be a storm this weekend, in which case, will replace skiing with indoor rock climbing. My muscles are like putty after 7 months of sitting on my butt. Don't know if I can hang on to even a class II slope! But it will be fun to do something other than applications.

Finis!

With the last bait thrown into the water the saga comes to an end. All that is left, is to sit back and wait for the mailman to bring home the news.

It took me most of last night to wrap my last essay and application, and it was close to 4:00 am before I could crawl into bed. Before going to sleep I managed to catch up on the blogs I follow, one of which took the words out of my mouth! I realized that I had not an ounce of creativity left to package my story in the best way possible. It was a little more than a writer's block though, the words were coming out, just not with the same passion or emotion I felt while writing my other applications. Is it ennui? Is it lethargy? Or have I run out of stories?

When I was done with Wharton specially and Kellogg to an extent, I was so happy. Win or lose, I was confident I had done my best, I had poured my heart out in those essays and the effort allowed me to kick back and bask in the joy of completing the application. Last night, when I logged off my computer, instead of being happy, I was angry at myself, I couldn't sleep for the longest time. I felt I had just flushed away $200 down the drain, wasted my time and energy in putting crap like that out there to be judged on.

Every time I would try to edit a sentence to showcase my experience in better light, it would feel like a cliche. Talking about my successes and failure has become a mechanical process and the passion has melted away faster than butter on a hot pan. It is as if I am emotionally bankrupt. I don't know how admission committee members can run through 5,000 plus applications consisting of over 25,000 essays and weed the good from the chaff? No wonder people fall through the cracks and it takes a seriously powerful essay to shake them out of the stupor they fall into. Re-reading my essays for the nth time made my eyes glaze over. I no longer read the words, they are etched into my mind. Wake me in the middle of the night and I will spout the words given the theme.

Now I am truly saddened by the state of affairs of my Wharton and Kellogg applications. I had so much invested in them, so much riding on them, that suddenly the rejections have thrown me into a tail spin. I probably just need some time away from the game, to re-charge my batteries and get passionate about my stories again. There is NO way I could write another application and do it justice, so in that I am glad I am done. Just sad that I could not walk away content and satisfied from a long but for most parts fun experience.

Come on Wharton do your thing, make me happy!

Lazy!

Its funny that when you procrastinate over a task, you end up compensating in a different ways to meet the deadlines, that soon end up becoming a habit. For instance, take my attitude about essays. I am usually an early bird, with the early to bed early to rise mantra entrenched in my mind. But because of my procrastination over essays for various schools, most notably HBS, towards the end I had to give up on my sleep to get the hours I needed to write the essays.

So what happens next? Do I learn my lesson and stop procrastinating? Most definitely NOT! Why should I when the night is young? I have gotten so used to the hours that over the last weekend, I would goof off the whole day in anticipation that the night would provide me with enough hours to get the essays out of the door.

Sheesh! If only I would goof off less then I wouldn't need to work hard in the night. Easy to say, difficult to implement. With that said, I do have all my Chicago essays completed. Atleast some draft versions that I can sit back and edit at leisure after getting home from work. I find editing essays a lot easier than creating new ones. It took me most of the day yesterday to think up my Mascot essay, and I am not too happy with the end product. It just doesn't have the zing I like my essays to have before I submit them. So here is hoping for some creative inspiration. The other essays aren't too bad. I kind of like my celebrity and childhood hero essays. I thought I did a good job tying all parts of my story together. Will edit them for gloss and luster today and hopefully submit it by tomorrow. Don't want to wait till the 12th. If the system slows to a crawl, I doubt GSB will take a lenient view this time and extend the deadline again.

Providence

What an amazing stroke of luck! I was slouched over my computer, disengaging from the work day by checking my email one last time, when I received an email from Chicago GSB extending R2 deadlines due to system outages. Now that is what I call a good omen. I jumped out of my chair, dashed home and in a burst of inspiration and energy, hammered out two essays by 3:00 am. (I probably should add that I already had drafts for those essays ready, but lacked the energy to make them speak in a cohesive manner. Also the wife had my GSB application filled out in no time flat, she just copied and pasted information from my HBS application, so another monkey off my back.)

Somewhere along the night, I realized that I would have to inform my recommenders of my new decision. As I put finger to keyboard, to type out an email apologizing profusely over my frequent flip flops, I received another email from Chicago GSB, extending the deadline for recommenders by 2 days, over and above the original extension. This was conclusive evidence of the fact that someone up there actually likes me, or at least wants me to apply to GSB! I am certainly not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, or turn away Greeks bearing gifts. So today finds me walking the corridors with a bounce and a smile of my own!

Sloan will just have to wait. With Jan 12 the deadline for recommenders there, I am not sure if I can ask my recommenders to write two recommendations in such a short timeframe. Though I am sure they at a stage where they are just copying and pasting the answers themselves. The other thing I have to consider is do I really want to go over my hard limit of 6 applications? Seven applications will probably put me in the shotgun category as compared to being the sniper. Six is already pushing the envelope. But those are thoughts for another day.

YES! Life is GOOD!

Bloodshed

Whadya know? Heads have been rolling all morning up the management chain. Regardless of the environmental concerns, rivers are running red with blood. It is kind of weird being a passive observer this time around, bumping into people walking the corridors like zombies with deeply furrowed foreheads, and at the same time having to step aside when others come dancing merrily with a hop, a skip and a jump in their strides. Some managers have been raised to virtual kings from the mere Satraps they were the week before. Moving from running 100 man operations to 1000. While I am curious to see how they manage the influx of responsibilities and power, I am pissed because it is going to affect the stock price and by extension my ESPP which I was counting on to meet some of my MBA bill. Rookie managers are not known to inspire confidence on the streets, specially when introduced in these numbers.

In an otherwise normal year, I would be at the water cooler with the rest, straining our ears to get some sort of inkling of the storm brewing, instead, I am hard at work, trying to wrap all my deliverables that have been pending for ever while I got my applications out of the door. While this was the week for the Kings to be humbled, next week is reserved for the plebeians.

I have struck all thoughts, of hitting R2 for GSB, from my mind. I don't have the time nor energy. I am so sorry to do that, what with all my passion for GSB. All I can do is curse the essays they compiled. I don't have any creativity left in the bank to pay the price for good essays. So instead I am changing gears. I am looking at Sloan with a set of much easier essays to meet my quota of 6 apps for the year. I guestimated that it would take me less than 4 days to crank out the application with nary a stress. So I plan to do that first and the take the next week to decide if I really want to apply to Sloan. When I first researched schools, Sloan was on my list but I dropped it for favor of Michigan to hedge my bets. I considered the Sloan program tougher to get into that Michigan. Now it is back on my list.

Redbull

"Goodbye HBS thank you for coming. "

This was as close to the wire as it gets. Screeched in with under 30 mins to deadline, just as the train pulled out! Another late nighter was called for to finish my essays in time. Thanks be, to the wife for filling out my transcripts and application form, that broke the back of my application. It allowed me to devote this morning to making sure everything was just so. Offcourse I had to do my own dirty work when it came to filling in the challenges faced and achievements questions but having atleast 80% of the data in there made the process relatively stress free. 'Relatively', I say? The wife's nerves are all shot up with how close I came to missing the round.

Who do we thank for the miracle? Yup! Redbull! With all the late nights I was pulling, it was but natural for the tiredness to catch up when I needed to be at the top of my game, and my applications were due the next day. With 5 essays to re-draft and proof, there was no way I could have taken even a power nap. So I popped open the bull and chugged away, counting on its miraculous powers (read: taurine, glucuronolactone, caffeine, inositol, niacin and D-pantothenol) to keep me stoked up and ready to rumble.

Got the essays done by 4:00 am, crawled into bed with my nerves jumpy as a goat with all the Redbull. Struggled to fall asleep and hit the application form as soon as I woke up this morning.

Analysis: I think the essays were pretty darn good if I say so myself. Atleast I am happy with the end result. I managed to clock all the essays but one inside the word limit, with the one I missed, clocking in at 403 words. I felt that was an important requirement, and least anyone think I wasted words, I would like to add that I was at the 399 - 400 mark throughout. I did not plan it that way but boy am I glad it worked out. Due to the time crunch I probably did not utilize all the space available in the optional spaces provided to my maximum benefit. But then I have no one to blame but me and I hate doing that so will let go and count the brevity of my answer as a feature and not a bug.

Getting out of app world, and coming back to reality, I find that my company is in complete turmoil. (No, not because of me) There has been a massive shakeup in the top management hierarchy and it appears as if the rivers are going to run with blood next week.

*Sigh* it is possible that my plans of working till the day I join school and make money along the way might remain just that, plans! Not that layoffs bother me too much, all expectations are that the axe will miss our group but with so many shakeups it is difficult to predict anything.

Unrelated

Driving in the bay area is a hazardous proposition. I have no hesitation in ranking bay area driver's last when it comes to traffic sense. How does this post relate to an MBA? Actually it doesn't! I am just ranting but those of you who end up attending Stanford GSB can use this as an indicator of what is in store for you. Some of the patterns that I noticed are:

Aggressive antagonists - I guess this is a breed that exists everywhere but the Bay area has an un-proportionately large representation from this pool! These drivers think that the roadways are their own demolition derby and the urge for speed is one of their staple diets. Their favorite trick is to tailgate your car till there is no sunlight visible in between.

Grumpy grannies - Again a common breed, people going so slow that they invite the wrath of all the other drivers. While I have no objection to the GG's puttering along in the slow lane, I can’t explain their strange urge to regulate the traffic by plugging along in the fast lanes. It is an ordinary sight to see a row of cars attempt to slowly overtake these drivers.

Discontent drivers - Now this is a breed unique to the area. I have never been able to figure out exactly why they do the things that they do. Most times they will be driving slightly under the speed limit up until you decide cut across their bow. Just when you negotiate your car into an overtaking pattern, they will match speeds with you. When you pull off graciously allowing them their right of way, they pull back. This pattern is repeated every time you attempt to pass. The drivers appear to be completely oblivious of the turn indicator of your car blinking furiously under their eyes. They will do their utmost to hold you down until by a stroke of luck or speed you go past them. Then ruing the fact they let on through, they go back into their hunting pattern.

Frantic Flashers - These folks that perverse pleasure in destroying your night vision by flashing you with ultra bright xenon lights that should technically be banned from most cars. Their lights are always on high beam and the glare is usually enough to give you a headache.

Carpool Caperers - Another annoying breed found only in the bay area, folks who are usually alone in their car, but want to take the pleasure of using the carpool lane without filling its requirements. To avoid getting caught they will make sure that they drive way below the speed limit, scanning continuously for cops. By this time they reach the end of their bravado (or reach their exit) there is a heap of drivers dying to shoot a bazooka up their tail pipe.

There are many many other types including the speed freaks, the zany zealots, the conceited curiosities, etc. But we have run out of time. Have to get back to work having worked off my angry after a brush with members of the discontent drivers and the grumpy grannies group. Individually, they don't bother me as much, but when you are running late for a meeting and end up taking aggression from these freaks, it gets to be a little too much.

Morpheus

Happy New Year y'all. Hopefully everyone has had a good break, drunk moderately and worked hard on those essays (yeah right!).

For some reason I seem to have inverted my normal sleeping hours and have been staying up late every night during the break. Not being as young as I was, this makes me lethargic and slow the next morning. It is almost as if there is sand in my eyes and I can't get rid of it. Early in my career (till quite recently actually) I used to have a sleeping bag under my table where I would catch a few Zzzz's when afflicted by sleep during the day. Off course those days I could spend the previous evening partying away till dawn and come to work fresh as a daisy. But with the passing of time, the increase in responsibilities and the need to set an example, the faithful sleeping bag has been banished to my closet at home. I do have a soft gel wrist pad that doubles up as a pillow when the push comes to a shove but it just doesn't have the zing of a sleeping bag.

Regardless of the time I spent awake, I unfortunately did not make much headway to wrap my HBS application (though it is under control). The usual deadline drama continues to plague me and HBS isn't turning out to be the quick and easy dunk I thought it would be. Running through the application form itself was an exhausting effort. I can't believe they want that much information. I don't understand why they can't stick to the basics like the other schools and if and only if granted admission (when the applicants have the incentive), demand such detailed information.

Michigan on the other hand sent me an email today asking me to log on to their system on Jan 14th to check the status of my application there. Again not very propitious news since I will be left with less than a week to decide between Michigan and Cornell (if granted admission). I wish they had released their results a little earlier to help their applicants with their decisions.

I am eagerly waiting for Jan 7th when I will hear from Cornell on the possibilities of aid and scholarship. I hope to snag a piece of the pie, making Cornell even more attractive to my money grubbing hands.