jessd

Sinking or Swimming?

After my 6:41 am bus arrived 45 minutes late yesterday I decided to build a little more cushion time into my commute this morning... and, you guessed it, the bus was right on time so I am now on campus an hour before my first class at 8:30. This is lucky for you blog-readers (all four of you!) because frankly, I would never have had time to do this for the next week without this situation.

I have been working non-stop on a 30 minute presentation I am giving today... me, my four teammates and about 29 powerpoint slides. I've really been nervous but am feeling pretty good about it this morning. As soon as we finish this afternoon I'll begin cramming for the Statistics midterm that is tomorrow. I'm completely lost in the class so tonight I will need to figure out what I was supposed to learn over the past 5 weeks. When that's done I will begin preparing for a new Strategy class that begins on Friday, in which we need to read three chapters of the book (written by the professor, therefore he'll actually know what's in it and what we should have learned, compared to most other professors) and prepare a case on steel production for class discussion. As soon as Strategy is done on Friday I will begin work on my Financial Accounting midterm which is a take home exam. Sounds nice huh? Ya, I thought so also, until we were given the advice from the professor not to spend 36 hours on it like many students end up doing. She suggests 5. I'm shooting for 8. That's an entire day people!!!

This is what I call the "barely-keeping-your-head-above-the-water" method of getting through life right now. I have a feeling I'll be an expert at it by the end of the year.

Honda No More

The Honda is now being driven by a middle-aged crunchy stereotypical PNW man living on Magnolia. I think it will be driven for the next 20 years by him, based on the 1982 Honda he had sitting in his driveway.

Dear Honda,

I'll never forget our time together... the days at the beach, recovering you from those criminal teenagers, driving over the Rockies in a snow storm, hearing that sweet little sound you made while reversing, watching that little old chinese man scrape the snow off you with a metal edged shovel, parallel parking on deathly steep San Francisco streets. 

Keep on keepin' on little buddy. And please don't be hurt if we cross paths again and you see me driving a bigger, fancier, more athletic Subaru.

It's not better, just different...

It wasn't you, it's me...

I think we'll both be happier now...

The Lone I-Banker

Many of you, members of my lovely circle of support, have asked me what school is like? What's life like now? What am I doing exactly? And why?

Although it's difficult to sum it all up in a straight forward description that makes much sense or describes a typical day because most of them are a jumble of different classes, meetings, networking events, squeezing an hour or two out for time with people that mattered in my life before this grad school thing began... I CAN describe to you the twelve hours leading up to this moment.

To begin with, I drank too much coffee yesterday. Two cups may not see like a lot to most coffee drinkers since I know some of you who try to limit yourself to two POTS a day, but it's a lot for me. Therefore, at 10pm last night I was still clickin' away at the computer - sending updates to my team (four other MBA's who I am partnered with this quarter for projects and presentations), posting brainstorming ideas for them to review, listing my car on craigslist, updating my calendar, emailing industry contacts I met earlier in the week, etc. At about midnight I finally called it a night knowing that I wanted to be on campus at 7am for an (optional) Investment Banking class they hold every Friday.

[I know nothing about investment banking but if I found that I liked it, pursued it, and actually got a job in it with the economy in the shitter, as it is now, you can bet I'd be taking you all on vacation to the Caymans every year because those people make some serious dough. But I digress.]

I woke up at 5:50am wondering why my alarm didn't go off at 5:20 as I had set. I discovered that it was because in my caffeine haze I set it for 5:20 PM - not a good start. I throw some clothes on, brush my teeth, grab everything I may need in the day without time for critical thinking and therefore am carrying a bag that weighs about 45 lbs. I rush to the bus stop and make it in time to catch the 6:17am bus.

[I normally ride my bike to school but it is still pitch black at this hour in Seattle and the lights on my bike are fairly wimpy so I decided I'd avoid the possibility of being hit by a car altogether this morning.]

I ride to campus in the dark, chatting on the phone with my Mom on the East Coast, and getting to campus by 6:30am. This is unprecedentedly quick, but at this hour there's not a huge demand for public transportation. Especially to a college campus. I waste a little time getting organized since I'm early and then head to the class. I'm the first one there. And as the time nears 7am I realize I'm the only one there. I begin to pull up UW calendars, event listings and old emails looking for a schedule of the class. Sure enough, it wasn't meeting this morning due to a conference taking place in San Francisco that many people were attending.

So, I'm on campus at 7am for absolutely no reason, with no classes today at all. I did get a free cup of coffee from the administrative assistant in the department of the class that wasn't taking place this morning so I'm at least wide awake and will take advantage of my early arrival on campus to get tons of work done in the hope that it will allow me the freedom to actually have a school-free, play-full weekend...

...except for that meeting I have at 10am on Saturday that's already scheduled.

 

[Library at University of Washington]

Wheels for Sale

9:30pm and haven't started homework yet.
Been up since 5:30am.
Went to bed last night at 12:30am.
Still feel the coffee flowing through my veins from my last cup at about 3pm.

Oddly, things are feeling pretty good!

I think I'm officially a nerd.

On another note, I'm selling my sweet little Honda so if you know someone looking for a great car with only 74,000 miles let me know! If you know me, you can vouch that the thing has been treated more tenderly than most people's first born.

Pathetically that's all I have time for now but I'll post this weekend. Thanks for all the well wishes and words of support. I have the greatest family and friends in the whole wide world!

Debate or Debacle?

It's getting intense. I need about 18 additional hours in every day, at least through December 9th.

Right now, my brain is mostly taking a break while I watch the Vice-Presidential debate. At school. I'm hoping to make it home by midnight.