Kellogg Computers Hacked

I received an email from Kellogg Information Services a few days ago and it seems that a hacker has broken into their network. All user IDs were disabled and new passwords and IDs are being sent via express mail to admitted students. At this point, no personal information has been stolen (or so we have been told). Apparently it has nothing to do with the previous “hacking” debacle involving Harvard, et al., but this is a dangerous lack-of-security precedent being set by the best of the best.

The full story as told by the Chicago Tribune.

Houston Wildlife

There are SOME things about Texas that I'm going to miss once we move to Chicago. The local wildlife is one of them.

Leave of Absence

I have been officially granted the leave of absence I talked about previously! This is good - but not great - news. I will still be considered an employee and therefore get insurance coverage. I won't, however, get any financial benefits. The bad part is that I can only be approved for an absence one year at a time, so I will have to re-apply in one year.

After I graduate, I doubt I will return, but the door is more open now than if I were quitting outright.

My parents are coming to Houston this weekend for Easter. In fact, they are probably on the outskirts of town right now. This will be the first holiday that one of our family's has come to us rather than vice versa. It is also the second and final time that they will visit us in Houston. We'll probably be storing a lot of stuff with my parents this summer and while we live in Chicago, so this will also be the first load of "stuff" that we'll be sending to storage. The moving out has commenced.

FAFSA

Ha! I just heard back from the Kellogg financial aid office and I apparently screwed up something on my FAFSA. I'm not sure how long this will delay my aid package (assuming I get one). Maybe I should start looking for a part-time job in Evanston.

The Big Drive

One of the things about business school about which I'm really excited, is that I'm not going to work this summer. I have only been working since June 2002 so having the summer off shouldn't be that far in my past...except that while I was in college I never did anything exciting over summer break or summer break. I'm hoping to make up for that this summer. My wife and I are planning to go on an extended road trip covering the western United States. At this point, we are looking at a trip lasting about four weeks and covering 4000 miles. Major stops will include the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. I wanted to extend it a couple of weeks so that we could see California, but my better half said we were already pushing it in terms of time away from home. Either way, I'm almost more excited about this vacation than I am about Kellogg. Almost.

Leave of Absence

I met with my boss and my boss' boss Friday morning the possibility of me taking a leave of absence while I go back to school. This is really a no-brainer on my part. I wouldn't get any tuition reimbursement nor would I have a guaranteed job after graduation. However, I'm not required to return to the company after graduation, either. Additionally, I continue to receive health benefits and I think that it may affect my vesting in our retirement plan. By going back to school, I had planned to walk away from my retirement plan since I didn't have five years with the company. If given this leave of absence, I may be able to back door my way into becoming vested. Either way, even if all I get is free health care, the fact that I make no commitment is enough to make it an easy decision for me.

Kellogg Admits from Houston Meet Up

Last night was the first (of which I know at least) attempt for this year's Kellogg admits from Houston to get together. There were only three of us and it never quite got off the ground with a couple of us ending up with work conflicts. I'm definitely hoping we can do it again soon (and acutally, you know, meet up and everything).

So if there are any Kellogg admits from Houston reading this, drop me an email and we'll connect in the coming weeks. And for that matter if there are any local Kellogg alumni or folks who are interested in applying to Kellogg in the future you are welcome to attend as well.

Grandma

My grandmother passed away just over two weeks ago; that was why I was out of town unexpectedly for several days in early March. She was 99 years old and she lived by herself with minimal extra care required up until her final two-month hospital stay. I was close to my paternal grandparents, and I’ll miss her. She lived a long time, saw a lot of things, and remained mentally strong until the end.

The unfortunate part of living for nearly a century is that she also endured the deaths of many friends and family members. She grew up in a different time, too; one that I can only begin to imagine. Grandpa and Grandma got married during the depression and because of their experience they forever distrusted banks and were always waiting for the next big crash. Both lived through the first Great War and both were persecuted for being German-Americans during World War II. Neither graduated from high school.

As I am slowly starting to prepare for an education from one of the top business schools in the world - a school that is also recognized as being one of the best in numerous other areas as well, I can’t help but wonder about what Grandma (or Grandpa) would think. Both were and would be proud of me. However, as foreign as their childhood was to me, I imagine the last several years of my life to be just as strange to them. The farthest vacation they ever took was their honeymoon to Dallas, TX. Grandma left her home state a total of three times. What always amazed me about her, though, was that if she would have been physically able, she would have visited me in Texas. She would have loved to see the ocean and to fly in an airplane. I’ll miss telling her about life in Houston and I wish I could have told her stories about Chicago.

The Harvard 119

I’m probably one of the last people to weigh in on this issue, but I felt compelled to talk about the infamous Harvard 119.

A couple of things struck me. First, I don’t consider what these individuals actually did to be hacking. Anyone with any ability at all could have easily browsed to find their decision. Hacking – a term I also think is frequently erroneously used in place of the term “cracking” – would involve some means of a break-in. These potential students did nothing more than cut and paste a URL and then edit the link to represent their own personal information.

Second, the criteria used to either accept or reject these individuals as students at HBS did not change. Yes, all 119 did in fact make an error in judgment. Was it illegal? Not a chance. Was in unethical? Probably, but I’m not sure. I don’t know what each person who accessed the site was thinking. Was Harvard’s decision date already set? I know that Kellogg publishes a date by which you will receive your decision, but often informs individuals much earlier. If Harvard is prone to doing the same thing, then perhaps all 119 could have reasonably assumed that they were acting within their rights as represented by HBS.

Interestingly, I find this very similar to be very similar to the issue of gun control. Recent cases have attacked gun manufacturers for not making guns “safe” enough, which I find similar to finding ApplyYourself most at fault in the Harvard 119 matter. When it comes to guns I’m firmly in the camp of gun owners (in the interest of full disclosure, I am one) and believe that criminals – not guns – should be regulated. Due to my strong belief in individual responsibility, I feel that the most fault should be attributed to the person who uses the gun. In the case of the Harvard 119, I’m not 100% sure that they are truly the ones to blame. I don’t think this is hypocritical, though. The applicants may or may not have known what they were doing to be wrong. An individual using a gun for a nefarious purpose most definitely understands they are violating the law.

I found it remarkable that the professed view most similar to my own is from The Harvard Crimson college newspaper. Their article here echoes my sentiments almost exactly.

Blog Content Update

I updated my blog description a bit as I plan on posting non-MBA information more frequently than before. For the past year, the prospect of going to business school had been a nearly all-consuming part of my life. Now that I have been accepted and I'm preparing to go to Kellogg, things are slowing down. I know that I should be applying for scholarships, but I'm mentally taking a break from the whole process. Since all necessary forms and the requisite deposit have been sent to Kellogg, my primary concern now is finding housing.

I think a big reason that I'm so reluctant to get engaged in applying for scholarships is that I'm all too aware of how busy I will be once we start to move and once I'm actually going to school. This is my brief reprieve. That and I'm being lazy.

Back To Work

As much as I am looking forward to leaving my job and going back to school, I still found myself happy to come back to work today after having been gone for nearly a week. There were very few emergencies while I was gone that have not already been resolved, so getting back into my routine will be pretty easy. Also; since this week is Spring Break for most Houston area schools, there are a lot of people on vacation.

BEGIN TANGENT
I have always been struck by the audacity of many of my coworkers who seem to truly believe that the company simply cannot survive without their presence. Perhaps this may be truer at an executive level than in the rank-and-file where I work – though I am hard pressed to believe any one person is indispensable – but my experience is that even the best employee can be replaced. Maybe this is more of an issue at smaller companies where an individual’s contribution is proportionally more important, but at a corporate level the show must always continue…no matter who is absent.
END TANGENT

Today was also the first day that I wore anything Kellogg related (I wore a Kellogg polo). Few people even noticed. In fact, the ones that did already know about my back-to-school plan. Interestingly, for a school that is world renowned for being the marketing school, I can’t find a lot of Kellogg merchandise. I suppose the limited market inhibits demand, but since I’m all about the brand and logo of the school that I’m about to give $60,000+ I’m going overboard in purchasing Kellogg branded products and I'm already reaching the limit to what is available.

Edit: I fixed a couple of things that I had previously fat-fingered.

Quick Update

I just got back to Houston after a quick, unexpected trip during which I was unable to post. Things should be back to normal on Tuesday; I'll write something more substantial then.