And It FINALLY Begins

Well more than a year after I started working diligently to get my MBA, I finally did something b-school related with my classmates last night. It was only a happy hour at a local pub, but it was good to meet up with some of the folks that I had previously met at DAK in February. In fact, I've already run across a lot of people that I met at the first admit weekend. So far, it looks like the rate of return from DAK is pretty high.

In truth, I wasn't even invited to last night's event...Mrs. Majalo was and she asked me to tag along with her. She is involved with a group that is made up of the significant others of Kellogg students called Joint Ventures (JV). I think she's already made a group of friends through JV and she seems to be getting along well with her new teaching job (although the kids don't show up until Monday), so I think she will like Evanston.

The second official event of my career as a Kellogg student starts tomorrow night. We have a meeting to discuss the particulars of our KAOS trip to Switzerland...and then Sunday night we board the plane. It is going to involve a LOT of hiking, but I'm still really excited. Just to keep me on edge, though, my parents keep calling and reminding me about all the rain that Switzerland is currently getting.

Once we get back from Switzerland, the fun really begins. And by fun I mean no fun at all. We have two weeks of orientation, get-togethers, and classes called CIM Week. The schedule looks pretty daunting. We're busy from 8 in the morning until past midnight on most days for two full weeks. Including KAOS, there are three weeks in a row that we have "stuff" scheduled in such a way as to force me to miss church. This doesn't sit too well with me, especially since we haven't found a church home in Evanston yet.

I'm off to (hopefully) finish my packing for Switzerland. The bad part of the Swiss trip is that I had to purchase almost $500 worth of equipment to take with me. While a beach trip would have been less fun for me, it certainly would have been cheaper. I guess that in the long run, though, an extra $500 is a drop in the bucket compared to tuition.

I Have Internet Access!

We are finally in Evanston and we FINALLY have access to the Internet (more on that later). The trip up here was relatively benign, albeit much more boring than was the trip when we moved our stuff up here. The Majalo family dog - while a very personable and intelligent being in her own right - just can't keep up with the conversation as well as Mrs. Majalo. I really like driving - especially road trips - but driving twelve hours without anyone to talk to gets old.

We actually arrived last Monday (August 15). The past week has been spent getting the house in order and buying necessities. Our biggest purchase was a futon. I hate futons. I've always hated futons and I will continue to hate futons. However, our new place has very narrow doorways (28") and a hallway with a 90 degree turn. A couch simply wouldn't fit. So we now are the proud owners of a futon...I'm so thrilled. :)

The biggest hurdle of the week was getting our Internet connection activated. Other than DirecTV, who has to have the friendliest and most competent customer service department of any company with whom I've dealt, I've never been a huge fan of TV/Internet/telecom providers. The incompetence and unfailing rudeness of nearly every Comcast employee with whom I have dealt is astounding. We were supposed to get service on Wednesday, but the gentleman who was supposed to complete the installation went to the wrong house. On a whim, I went out and asked him if he was supposed to work on our house, too. He "checked" and said, "No, someone else will be out this afternoon." So I waited. Later, after approximately 5 phone calls to Comcast, I discovered that the technician from the morning had gone to the wrong house and had flat out lied to me about it. The said they would send out another technician. He or she never made it to our house, either. Somehow in this process, our installation was marked as complete, so I had to explain that caveat on all future calls. To make a long story short, after several days and dozens of calls to Comast, we are finally connected.

The summer sure flew by fast. I can't believe that KAOS is around the corner and that I'm only days away from classes starting.