Eating Sun-Warmed Tunafish is a Bad Idea....

I know there has been some concern recently about posting the real names and embarrassing pictures of other people in one's blog or facebook/myspace page or what-have-you. Understandably so. I will therefore invoke the powers of.....uh....empowerment and assertiveness and take it upon myself to disguise all those who appear in this blog, starting with my wife........."Virginia-ca". Kablam!

All kidding aside, it has been a terrific week. Things are busy. It's no surprise. It's probably not even worth mentioning anymore. I remember having those times in undergrad and even work where it felt like there was just too much to do, and I was never going to be able to get through it. Well, I got though it. No matter how much I had to do, in the end, I knew I would get it done. So it's not worth panicking. I think I've "learned" that lesson enough times now that I actually believe it.

I think the class as a whole is really starting to jell. We had a leadership boot camp yesterday that split us into small groups (different from our study groups) where we had to work together to get through a number of obstacles. I think everyone feels pretty comfortable with just about any member of this class. The teams seemed to do pretty well. We became experts at moving empty 55-gallon drums across faux rivers and mine fields. You never know when that's going to come in handy.... We learned as a group to avoid tunafish that has been sitting in the sun for six hours. Those that had the tuna were definitely moving a little slower after lunch. Personally, I don't trust any tuna that I didn't kill and can myself, or since I have never caught a tuna, atleast have taken out of a can that I opened. No thanks! It was a lot of fun, though. I think everybody enjoyed the challenge, and it was nice to get in some outside-of-the-class practice.

Earlier today, a group of us went to see the baptism of a fellow LFMer's son. It was a great experience in its own right, but it was also nice to see the support from others in the group who didn't necessarily share the same beliefs. This is about as diverse a group as I've ever been associated with, and I'm really learning to relish the differences.

I have also developed an appreciation for bocce ball. I had never really played it until a couple weeks ago, and now I am the proud owner of my own set of balls. We had a "study group 2" BBQ over at my place last weekend, so we had a little bocce tournament. I was hoping to have a homecourt advantage, but not so much. I haven't developed a full intuition for all the lumps in my backyard yet.

In other news, we got our.....uh....towels handed to us in softball again. We seem to be doing progressively worse. It got so bad that we actually considered forming a team where we didn't actually play the game, we just consulted others on how to do it most efficiently. Not so good. I hope that's not a harbinger of things to come.

Well, that's about it for this week. Virginia-ca is already asleep, so I best get ready for bed. Go Cubs.



Group 2, in all their glory. From left to right: Moonfeather, me, Mr. Huxtable, the Hamburgler, Mrs. Huxtable (no relation), Mazzy Spacepants

BBQ's and such

I will probably be writing once a week or so, unless I feel I have something I absolutely need to get off my chest. Hopefully, I will get some pictures on here soon, too. Please hold.

So we're starting to go on plant tours, have guest speakers, and oh yes, have barbeques. I think I've been to five BBQ's in the last couple weeks. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I guess I used to think that once school started, I would develop better eating habits. After all, I would have much less income so going out to eat would be more of a rare occurence. Also, since the gym is free, I should have no excuse for getting out of shape. So naive. So fat and naive. So stupid, fat, and naive.

I'm probably not alone in thinking that, with such a major change going on in my life with starting grad school, it's a chance to change a lot of other things about my life. Compared to undergrad, this time around I would have such good study habits. I would be all about learning and getting all the knowledge I could. I would be so much more organized. I would exercise more. I would read......just for fun! Not so much. But I'm loving the program. The LFM program has a definite emphasis on leadership (hence the name), and it really encourages you to reflect on your leadership style and other professional habits. And while the mere fact that I'm in the LFM program doesn't make me a different person, I'm starting to get an impression of where I want to be from a personal standpoint two years from now. I'll keep you posted....

Go Cubs.

So I've been here for about a month and a half now, and I think I've finally unpacked my last box. We feel like we're moved in, but there are always little things that need taking care of. It's definitely a good idea to move in at least a week before school starts, if for no other reason than to get everything settled. And when I get home from school, I just don't feel like messing with hanging pictures and such.

People keep asking how school is going. My answer?.....Things have been busy, but I love it. I don't know.....it's challenging, it's a lot of work, it requires excellent time-management skills, but at the same time, it doesn't feel too hard. I'm learning so much (just as much through introspection as though "lecture") that I don't even notice when I've been in a windowless closet working with my five other team members for six hours.

A lot goes on outside of class. A lot. That's the best part. Today I took part in an MIT institution....sailing. Somehow, I had never done it before. I have a degree in naval architecture (ship design) and I've never stepped foot in a sailboat. So a few of us from the program took the sailing certification class today. It looks so easy. It was a really windy day, so it took a little while to get the hang of it, but I think we did a pretty good job. It's a must do. Most of us were just paired up with others in the program, but you can certainly bring your significant other (SO) along which is cool. I thought about it.....if I screwed something up and dumped my wife into the Charles River, it would make for one long weekend. Better not chance it. Maybe "perfecting" it before bringing your SO might not be a bad idea.