Thursday, February 21, 2008

Wharton...sigh of relief!

Wharton released mid-decisions this afternoon and it's a no for lover-boy. I'm not that disappointed. Not at all really. After having the possibility of moving to London dangled right in front of me I refuse to settle for Philadelphia. I'm not quite sure how he is going to take it though. I hope it's not too bad. He really liked the program there and what seemed to be a nice group of students. Out of all of the schools he applied to, the Wharton Partner's Club was ranked the lowest on my list. I couldn't get much info from their website as it was out of date and kind of poorly set up. In other words, our feelings about this school vary greatly and since I did agree that he could apply there and I would move with him if he got in I tried my best to get excited about the possibility of living there. The hardest thing now is waiting for the final decision from London and interview decisions from H and S.

Oh well, I guess I should try to prepare myself for his reaction when he comes home from work...

Monday, February 11, 2008

Perfect Day...Invite!

I knew today would be a good day the moment I got out of bed. I woke up late and lounged around studying my very last midterm. I knew the material so decided to spend the rest of morning taking a long shower and playing with our cat. Checked the weather and smiled to see a promise of 75 degree weather. Yes, a good day indeed. I got to campus early, had no trouble finding a parking space and headed inside to take the exam. Exam was scheduled for 1 hour, followed by a movie. I finished the exam in approximately 20 minutes and left the class to grab a snack while I waited for everyone else to finish so that we could watch the movie. Randomly decided to check my text messages and what do I see?

A message from Baby #2: I got LBS interview :)

Hoo-freaking-ray!!! I'm so excited, proud, anxious, and happy for him. I know that he has been checking his email everyday waiting for a sign and talking himself out of his potential in the last week so this was very much necessary. Ahhhh! Off to read all about LBS and living in London again :)

Sunday, February 10, 2008

A sad life...

This week has not been so great.  Just kind of boring overall.  Have my only exam of the quarter coming up on Monday and although it's 2am on Sunday morning I just can't bring myself to study. This unbearable feeling of misery.  I must figure out how to snap out of this.  It has lingered for far too long and this last week it has peaked.  Ick.

The one good thing about this week is that I have not obsessed about the man's b-school apps at all.  Still no invites but his "whatever will be, will be" attitude about the situation has finally rubbed off on me.  Now I'm left to deal with my own shit and I gotta say obsessing over his shit was a hell of a lot more fun.  And now I'm cursing.  Great.

Hmmmm...don't have much else to say :(

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Super Tuesday is here!!!

It's 1am and I'm up trying make sure I make the right decisions.  People are sending their emails with their opinions and I was criticized by friends by my decision to vote for Obama.  "How could you?  It's about time we had a woman for president!"  Unfortunately that was the only reason they could come up with.  We are women so we should vote for a woman.  I wonder how those friends would react if I were to say "I have to vote for Obama because I am black."  In fact, when I heard others in my family saying that they have to do just this, I was the loudest voice saying that was not a good enough reason.  This wasn't really a big deal for me at first.  I figured either way I would win.  I'm a black woman, so what could go wrong?  First woman or first African American.  Yea for me!  

Then I started to listen to others (big mistake) and became enraged.  I work in a mostly Latino community and my Latina co-worker (Obama supporter) told me about a conversation she had with her husband.  She asked him who he was going to vote for and he immediately said Clinton.  When she asked him why he said "Oh, you know Obama is black and you know..."  So yeah, I'm becoming a little infuriated.  Everywhere I go I hear this crap about how we need a woman to be president when really underneath it all what people are saying is that we CANNOT have a black person (male/female) as president.  It makes me sick. It's a harsh reminder of how people can be sometimes.

Today I had to pull myself away from it all and sit down once again to figure this whole thing out for myself.  Shut out all the noise so to speak and make sure that when I go in tomorrow to cast my vote, it is a vote that is backed by something more substantial than the ethnicity and gender of the candidates.  I don't want to become the people that I despise.  

As I said before, I really haven't paid a ton of attention to what each candidate has to say in terms of television interviews, putting each other down, radio advertisements, etc.  It's just too much confusion there for me.  I don't want anyone to help me make up my mind.  That's why I tried to judge them all as stand alone candidates, looking at their plans for the future.  Tonight, I finally decided to actually listen to some of their speeches outside of the horrible debate last week and I was completely blown away by Obama.  Completely.  I mean an actual tear.  I can imagine my little future biracial children memorizing those speeches for school plays and reciting them without knowing the full weight of it all and me crying in the audience completely embarrassing them in front of their friends.  

"Yes we can heal this nation"
"Yes we can repair this world"

Really Obama?  Okay, I believe you!  That is not to say Hilary's plan are trash.  They are great plans actually.  I just don't believe her.  I don't believe her on paper or in spoken word.  She does not move me.  She doesn't seem to move herself.  I will agree that it seems that she is planning for bigger things, but I have to remember that there is a difference between a president and a dictator.  Unlike a dictator, what the president wants and plans to happen means very little if he/she cannot convince others that it is good.  Obama seems to be going for the incremental plan.  He wants universal health care too, just in a different way.  In a way that is more agreeable to most than Clinton's plan.  AND he can get people there in way that is fulfilling and not simply paperwork.  

I sort of see it like this in my head:  You are on your way to your local bookstore (I'm a bookworm!) and you want to read the newest book by your fav author.  For months there has been this build up.  This book will change your life!  It will change the way you see the world and act in it!  It will make you feel emotions you never thought black words on white paper could!  It is almost indescribable how good and interesting this story is.  You get to the store and there is a huge poster in the window announcing that instead of selling the book, they have decided to sell the CliffsNotes because it's more practical.  It's the same story after all, and you could probably get all the main points and pass a test if you were reading it for you high school AP English class.  Wouldn't you be a little pissed?  

So, that's how I see it.  Obama is the ground-breaking, life-changing, continue the story even in your dreams novel and Clinton is the CliffsNotes.  I think my decision is made.  

Unfortunately, after weeks of hearing some of the rationale behind other people's decisions I simply cannot fool myself into believing that he will actually make it to the November election. I'm okay with that because I still would have made the decision that was right for me.  After all, I have used Cliff's Notes a few times when I was in a crunch before and it's always better than not bothering to read at all.

Friday, February 1, 2008

Me, FHH, and politics...

I have tried to keep a journal since I was 10 years old and always failed.  Even now I have a journal on the floor of my car that I've had for over two years now and it only has about 10 entries.  I love the idea of keeping a record of life events and random thoughts but actually putting pen to paper has always been a burden.  I can't believe I let the world of blogging escape me for so long!  So, I have decided that this will not really be a strictly MBA blog and I am going to take this opportunity to chronicle my life as well.  Hmmm, maybe I should change my tag?  Of course, since my Future Hot Husband (FHH) and his MBA path are still very much a big part of my life, I'm sure the whole MBA thing will come up very regularly.

On to my life.  I have a job which allows me to spend a lot of time working from home.  Me working from home = sleeping in late, playing with the cat, watching bad tv, talking on the phone, and making very long lunch dates and then trying to catch up on actual work late at night.  Today I actually had to go into work for a meeting and I actually got a LOT accomplished.  Quite proud of myself!  Of course as soon as I came home, I logged on to check the app status for all four schools :)  Still obsessed.  I've also discovered the MBA forums and that only added to my craziness.  Thankfully, the FHH dragged me out for a workout at the gym.  Very nice change.  We came home, cooked dinner, and watched the Dem. Debate.  I have an eye for certain details and body language is very important to me.  That being said, I found Clinton to be incredibly irritating!

I usually don't like to watch or even hear candidates debate as it seems that issues always get lost and I'm never able to get an idea of what their actual plans are.  It's easier for me to just do a little research on my own to read up on where they stand on the issues that are most important to me which include healthcare, education, abortion/reproductive rights, and of course what they plan to do about Iraq.  Until today the Dems were on an even playing field for me in that I didn't care much for either of them, but they both seemed to be enough of a "better evil" than what we have had thus far.  Then Clinton and that horrible frozen smug look on her face whenever anyone but herself was speaking.  Ick.  It just bugs me.  I ended up not listening at all but working on school stuff instead and getting filled in on the main points during commercial breaks from FHH.  Still, every time I looked, there she was with the smug look.  I know it's silly but I really think overall appearance is very important for leaders and for me that includes facial expressions and not merely how attractive a person is.  

Having said that, I think it's time that the FHH and I start looking for new business attire and practicing our interviewee skills as we prepare to make changes in our lives seeking new jobs, new residences, and hopefully a new MBA.  I don't think I've ever had a formal interview in my life and the last thing I want to do is be rejected from gainful employment just because I had some weird smirk on my face.  I also think that this is important for all you lucky MBA applicants who recently received invitations for an interview.  Don't just practice your answers; pick out clothes that make you feel confident, practice a comfortable tone of voice and try it out in the mirror or better yet on video.  You might just discover a few things about yourself that need to be tweaked.  

I remember sometime early in FHH's career when he was practicing giving his first real presentation and realized that he said "umm" too much.  "Good morning.  I'm ummm hot as umm all hell and (long pause) umm I'm here to uhhh demonstrate my mmm dangerous hotness by ummm..."  At that point who really cares what he is going to do to demonstrate his hotness? Any sane person would be singing the latest song for the new thin Mac in their head by now (I love that song!)  

So yeah, rambling (another thing I have to work on to get a real job), but for the moment I guess it is the Obama camp for me.  For shits and giggles, I decided to check out the Republican side and...yep...nevermind!  Will there ever be a candidate that truly makes sense for the diverse population that makes up America?  Does it really even make sense to have a "President"?  Do we not try to come up with a new system simply because everyone is so comfortable with the systems that already exist for them?  Much to think about tonight while I troll the forums and prepare for another "work" from home day...