Buzz The Bridge

Round Three Begins

Let's just admit while we're still admitting things that this site has begun to show an increasing lack of ability to track progress toward an MBA. Mostly since the MBA finished more than five months ago. These pages began as a way to briefly describe nonsense such as the OAR Story, then found a purpose as a journal marking progress and motivator against a "Plan". The idea being that if this Plan was published out in the world, it would have to be acheived.

As originally outlined in 2008 when I was feeling lost and directionless, the five steps of the Plan were:

1. Prepare for the GMAT
2. Do reasonably well on the GMAT to allow entry to a decent b-school in Europe
3. Attend the b-school and not fail while getting to know some very different people
4. Land a decent job overseas
5. Have an unbelievable life

I don't know, in hindsight maybe I should have put just a little more detail into #5. In short, I've somehow manage to complete my Old Fucking Plan, and I need a New Fucking Plan.

Thanks to some pretty significant inspiration recently, the New Fucking Plan ("NFP") is at present close to leaving the initial "Dreaming" phase, and well on its way toward the second step, a phase which much like Highlander 2 might aptly be described as "The Quickening". In this lies the consimilation* of a few broad ideas which together not only make sense but also aren't entirely new.

As I refuse to post a photo of Highlander 2, here's a link to Klosterman's 23 Questions

While the blueprints of the NFP are being finalized by the architect, while the rubble from the mercifully demolished "old neighborhood" is being cleared away and the concrete foundation of the new tower is being poured... to not keep these pages blank it makes sense to allow this site to fully take on the role it had at times started slouching toward: a journal of the Plans and Coincidences in life that make living at times so nicely surreal. "A dream journal of waking life", if you will.

Come to think of it, that may have been the description all along.

Let's have at it.

* Really, spellcheck? "TFN" gets the red underline but that doesn't?

Breakin' A Sweat

Ended up out at a taxi app launch party last night with a few people before hitting up a few bars in the area. Not sure if London really needs yet another cab finder but the place was chill enough.

Good times, the geek/chic Book Club ended up being rewarding tho I stood out without the uniform of skinny jeans and torn t-shirt. This tune stuck in the head the whole time. Nice to see The Doors are back and actually listenable. 

 

 

 

Wrapping Up The MBA

So it's been awhile again. I've found myself coming up with random thoughts less often in the past six months, likely due to concerns about the present and the future blocking the ability to find the time to procrastinate with nonsense. So to catch up the faithful Kiwi and think aloud a bit, here's what's been up.

I'm writing this from the den in my parents' place out on Block Island, it's early January and surprisingly warm outside. A man can get used to global warming if it stays like this. The past few weeks -- well, months, really -- have been a mixed bag, with the personal/social going reasonably well, and the professional/academic for awhile being extremely tense, but maybe now starting to turn around.

It's been great to be back out on the island itself, and even if my parents and I are stepping on each others' toes a bit much in this time between finishing school and starting the new life, it's been great seeing them, and especially my brother Chris and his twins, Niko and Addy. Not to mention how great it is just to be out on the island and able to catch up on all the important Xbox downloads I've had to put off.

Addison "Cindy Lou Who" Lischke finally meets her match

Niko enjoying a healthy funnel cake breakfast

So while some of the more important concerns in life right now have to do with what's happening next, it's worth it to at least throw a shoutout to the graduate program that after 16 months is now fully completed. Last class attendend on Tuesday 20 December 2011. Last written paper saved and emailed Thursday 29 December 2011. Last exam submitted Saturday 31 January 2011. Done. So how did it end? Was the academia worth it?

Some of the content in the last term's seven classes was fine, with a few strong professors sprinkled in. The dynamic of our "Managing Services" class was amusing, with a bright young Serbian woman co-teaching the class alongside a more experienced yet also more theoretical Catalan hombre. They'd frequently interrupt each other and disagree on topics, yet somehow it worked. Interesting how conflicting ideas can actually help bring across an idea better.

Please lets never have to discuss this again

Other than this, however, most of this fouth and final term was disappointing academically, with much of the content just a rehash of the same strategy and operations topics from the prior year. I was assigned to "Project Management" despite having already taken a class called "Project Management" in our first term. A German professor told us that despite the honor code, if we missed a class for a job interview, he expected a note from the interviewing company explaining why no other time was available.

Additionally frustrating was that half or more of our classes consisted of exchange students there for a single terms. While many were fantastic and contributed a great deal, a few that ended up on my teams couldn't be pushed to do more than an hour's worth of work, total, across the whole course, which surely wasn't helped by being there with pass/fail grading.

What I find most amusing with these types is that most of them seemed to think there was nothing wrong with doing nothing, and if you were to tell them "Listen, [hypothetical name], you're a nice girl but also one of the most spectacularly lazy, non-self-aware people I've ever worked with", she would have likely cried and said I was mean. Which no one wanted. So the rest of us would just do what it took to cover the work. 

Whatever, it was absolutely worth it to both get a chance at the summer internship and spend four more months in Barcelona, to love the white flat at Sircusa 16, to be there to support a few terrific out of town visitors, and if the classes weren't the best, the strength of the coursework from September 2010 through May 2011 more that made the MBA worth its cost. Not to mention the people I came to know who I'll never forget. But more on the people later. It's going to likely be some time before I find the words.