15 - A Challenge to You

Well it’s been a long time since I wrote a blog entry, almost five months!  Life has been busy to say the least.  I plowed through my last semester of grad school and now have my MBA!  It’s been a month since I graduated and it’s so nice to have all this time back.  I got so efficient at all those day-to-day activities that I can really feel the extra time I now have.  So what have I been doing?  More house projects including painting and landscaping.  Some people view those kinds of things as chores but I love them.  I’ve also got a jam-packed leisure travel schedule this year.  Anissa and I already went to Arizona in April with my sister Aileen and brother-in-law Matt.  We just got back from Disney and Siesta Key 2 days ago – it was so fun to watch our nephews experience 5 days of Disney fun!  Next up are New Orleans and Charleston, SC!

So with my new-found time I’ve been reflecting on things quite a bit and also have been reading more.  Anissa bought me a book called “The Timekeeper” written by my favorite author, Mitch Albom.  I highly recommend it to anybody.  His books are quick reads and always have great messages.  This book describes the journey of the man who created time-keeping and highlights through 3 present-day characters how his actions at the beginning of creation have impacted humans today.  At one point the book reads, “Soon man will count all his days, and then smaller segments of the day, and then smaller still – until the counting consumes him, and the wonder of the world he has been given is lost.”  This line really spoke to me, especially because of all the time I now had to reflect on life.  It reminded me of the blog entry I wrote on February 10, 2014 (here).  I felt sad that I have and still continue to be so consumed by time, including schedules and routine, that I do miss the bigger picture quite often.

The quote from the book also made me think about the last song Anissa and I chose to be played at our wedding reception.  It was “Rewind” by Rascal Flatts.  I still love this song, but I started thinking about the lyrics a little more closely. 

Wish I could reach up and reset that sun
Reverse these wheels go back and re-pick you up
Went by so fast oh so sweet
Make me wanna remake a memory
Wish I had me a time machine

Oh I float the moon back up in the sky
Put a cork back into that sweet red wine
Put your midnight hair back up
So you can let it fall one more time
Untouch your skin
Unkiss your lips and kiss 'em again
So good so right this is one night I'm wishing I could rewind

We loved the idea of a wedding day and night that could be so magical we’d never want it to end.  And it definitely was the most special day of our lives.  Of course it felt like it flew by.  But when we go back and remember all the special moments of that day we are so happy.  So why are we so obsessed with counting time, and freezing special moments? 

Next my mind went to a quote I read once. 

Yes, it may be a little cheesy.  But I think it’s a great way to frame those special moments in your life.  Not after they’ve happened, but before they happen.  Teach yourself to experience moments in your life fully and appreciate them as they happen.  Remember to pause and look around and realize the beauty in life. 

So why did I label this blog “15 – A Challenge to You”?  I had read somewhere once that smiling uses fewer muscles than frowning.  Apparently this is a big controversy and some people argue the opposite.  Nevertheless, I am challenging myself as well as any of you readers out there to consciously “smile because it happened” at least 1 time each day for 15 straight days.  Join me on trying to reframe my outlook and worry less about time.

Okay, that’s all from this glass-half-full guy!

5 - A Big Return

Another month has flown by.  With Christmas, New Year’s Day, managing budget mayhem at work, and starting back to school 3 nights a week it’s been a whirlwind.  But I’ve also made a big return to running as well.  My wife, Anissa, is signed up to run the Cincinnati Flying Pig full marathon in early May.  I’ve been doing my best to keep up with her on training.  She really wants me to run the marathon with her, but I’ve been concerned I don’t have the time to put in the required training.  I know how long it takes to do all the miles every week, on top of constantly washing workout clothes, recovering from the really long runs, and making sure I take the time to cook meals throughout the week to keep the right fuel in my body.  However, I’ve managed to find some balance with it all.  We are eating much better during the week, we do our long runs early on Sunday morning, and a few nights a week I going to the gym after I get home from class around 9:30pm to sneak in my shorter runs.  It makes for a very long day (especially since I get to work around 7-7:30am to compensate for leaving early for class).  But the last 4 weeks have been very rewarding.  We’ve run 89 miles in 4 weeks, including our longest yet which was 11 miles this morning.  As I hindsight these weeks, I am very happy and proud.  Anissa and I have come a long way with cooking more at home, and we are FINALLY back into a solid workout routine.  As I reflected on the past month, I decided I could make the jump.  I can find the balance.  And I will do the marathon with her.  So look out world, I will be running my 5^th marathon on May 3^rd in Cincinnati with my wife by my side.  I’m a happy and very lucky guy!

Changing Perspectives

Well it’s been over 3 months since my last entry.  What a whirlwind it has been!  I finished another term at school and my May 10^th graduation is officially in my sights.  My sister Aileen got married on November 29^th, which feels like yesterday, and so my whole family spent several days over Thanksgiving weekend in Chicago celebrating and catching up with each other (so much fun!).  My brother-in-law and his wife had their daughter, making me now the proud uncle of 4 nephews and 1 niece!  Also, Anissa and I have been feverishly preparing for Christmas by decorating the house, putting up Christmas lights, buying presents, and busting our behinds at work to make sure we have nothing to carry over into our time off.  While I have not been posting as regularly as I’d like, I have been working on some thoughts for this entry for a while.  I have been reflecting on how many important things have happened this year.  It made me think about how our point of view on certain things changes over time.  So I thought I would share some examples of how my perspective has changed over time.

Speed Limit:  Learning to drive can be pretty exciting stuff, especially once you get comfortable with where you are going.  At a certain point, I think most youth (including myself) just sort of lost sight of speed limits and simply drove as fast as they wanted.  There was no speed limit high enough to satisfy me!  But now, as an adult, I cannot stand the “speedsters” out there who tailgate unnecessarily, pass on the right, and try to go 20+ mph over the limit.  In my “old age” I am all about setting that cruise control and maintaining a safe stopping distance!

Age:  It’s funny how your perspective of “old” changes over time.  I think I am finally starting to understand what people mean when they say you are only as old as you feel.  I will be turning 30 next year, but I feel younger than that so who really cares what my age is.  This year I have also become acutely aware of how ignorant I am about babies.  How old before solid foods?  When do they start talking?  How much should they sleep each day?  How much can they eat/drink?  Life really is a journey, huh?

Sleep:  My life has been a roller-coaster when it comes to sleep.  When I was in preschool and kindergarten, I would get anxious about being late to school so I would get up in the middle of the night and put on my school clothes and backpack, and go back to sleep.  I may also be the only 4-year-old in history who demanded an alarm clock.  I wanted to be prepared!  Later in my school career I would wake myself up a little before 6am to make sure I caught “Sonic the Hedgehog” with my sister.  Sometimes we would even get up earlier than that to squeeze in extra practice on the Nintendo.  In high school, I developed a terrible habit of staying up to watch Seinfeld which ended just after midnight.  We left for school at 6:15am so I was not sleeping a lot those years.  Maybe that’s why I would come home from school and fall asleep watching “The Closing Bell” with Maria Bartiromo (#loser).  Perhaps all of these sleep-depriving habits drove me to my next phase.  No amount of sleep could satisfy me in college.  I was in the honors program at Miami which meant I got priority scheduling.  This meant I could avoid the early classes and also strategically plan my classes to allow for afternoon naps.  This was also when I became notorious for sleeping in on the weekends until 11am or noon (and yes, I was still napping too!).  Now, in my real adult life, I feel energetic and alive when I can manage 7 hours of sleep.  However, most days it’s more like 5 or 6.  I tried to sleep in this weekend but couldn’t make it more than 8 hours.  Funny how things change :P

Food and Gas:  Thinking back to the times I would go out to eat with my friends in middle school or high school, it’s funny how my perspective has changed.  I used to be outraged at how I had to spend $6 at the mall food court to get a pepsi and some Sbarro pizza.  Now I can’t get out of Panera without dropping $10 or more.  I would get annoyed at Applebee’s when I had to pay $2 for my fountain drink on top of my food cost – oh, and what’s this whole concept of a tip!?  Gas is another funny thing.  In high school I was sharing the cost of gasoline with my sisters.  I usually had to pay for 1 fill-up per month.  At $1.19/gallon it usually took around $12 to fill up the car.  This would wipe me out for that week – life was rough!  Little did I know that I’d be battling to make ends meet with my first job out of college balancing $4.25/gallon gas with a long commute.  Now that gas has moderated again, I almost don’t even pay attention when I fill up my car.  I get what I can in fuel perks and consider it a necessary evil.

Wages:  My first hourly job was in guest services (later food services) at the Columbus Zoo.  It was a great job – the zoo was always busiest when I was on break from school.  My first summer there I got paid $5.25/hour.  After withholdings I was not making a whole lot.  But that tiny wage at 40-50 hours per week was enough to make me feel “rich”.  Suddenly I could afford 2 pieces of pizza at Sbarro – yum!  Over the course of many summers and winters at the zoo I became a team leader and started making some good money.  Combine that with plenty of overtime hours (sometimes pushing 70 hours per week) and I was a happy camper.  My final summer there I worked at the zoo’s golf course (again, in food service) and made more than $10/hour plus tips on league nights.  Now I really felt rich!  During school years at Miami I worked at the bookstore.  Back to $5.25/hour!  But this job came with free books – so worth it!  To be honest, working at the zoo was a great experience.  It taught me accountability, money management, time management, and the value of good old-fashioned manual labor.  Too bad in my adult life overtime is no longer “time and a half”!

Church:  Warning – short rant forthcoming!  Remember when church felt like an eternity?  Now, I don’t really even notice how long church is.  And it amazes me when people complain about how “long” a Catholic wedding ceremony takes.  You’re an adult.  It’s only an hour.  Get over it.  (#stepsoffpedestal #sorryiamnotsorry)

School Papers:  Throughout my education I generally hated writing papers.  Research was boring to me.  I’d rather solve some math problems.  I never knew what to write.  What do you mean this needs to be 5-7 pages?  What could I possibly have to say for that long?!  Now, as I am getting my masters, I can’t seem to shut up.  I have had no problem filling up 20 or more pages on a short Sunday afternoon.  Recently I had an assignment that limited me to 5 pages double-spaced.  That was a real challenge!  I’m not sure what changed between high school/college and now, but apparently I have a lot to say J

The list of changing perspectives could go on and on.  But it’s fun to reflect on how my lift has evolved and how what was normal is now totally different.  What has changed for you?

My Week in Review

I’ve had this most recent week on my radar for a while, knowing it was going to be challenging.  It was the last week of the current term at school (“exam week” which is a misnomer since it’s mostly papers and presentations that are due) and work has been picking up lately.  So let me recap for you what I accomplished this week, and what’s on tap for the weekend which is keeping me going this early Friday evening.

·         This week I completed the following for school:

o   3 group papers for a total of 45 pages that were compiled in coordination with 13 other group members.  Refer to my entry on September 8^th (here for my feelings on the group work in my program.

o   2 presentations consisting of 40 minutes of presenting and 20 minutes of Q&A with the audience.

o   1 final exam consisting of 10 1-page essay answers (hand-written because my professor is a dinosaur and wouldn’t let us type and submit electronically).

·         At work I completed 2 presentation slide decks for the CEO consisting of 28 power-point slides.  I wonder why she finds what I have to say so interesting :P

·         I attended 2 social functions – a group dinner with former colleagues from The Limited and a “spouse” happy hour with work peeps which Anissa attended.  I think this was the first time Anissa was back in Reynoldsburg since her short stint at McGraw Hill.  It took her about an hour to get from her work to mine, but it was still a lot of fun J

·         Drove enough the last 5 days to go through the 16-ish gallons of gas in my car.  Not cool.

So what’s on tap for the weekend?  While new classes do start back next week, I don’t have anything to complete for them (yet).  So I have big plans to relax and catch up on sleep.  My family knows I am a sleeper, so if any of you are reading this you know how painful it is for me to be consistently running on 5-6 hours of sleep.  Also, tomorrow Anissa and I are going to the OSU-Rutgers game with her Aunt and Uncle who came in from New Jersey.  I am very excited and have been looking forward to this for months!  To cap off this entry, I am predicting a Buckeye victory with a score of 41-24!  O-H!

 

5 Things I Take for Granted

The last several weeks have been very hectic for me.  I have been struggling to get everything done without rushing through or forgetting things; at the same time, I know I need to allow myself the luxury of slowing down and relaxing once in a while.  In an effort to shift my mindset, this week I tried to think through a few things I take for granted, and to recognize some positive things I often look past.

1.       Recently my cruise control button in my car broke.  I didn’t realize how much I relied on it until it was gone.  Now that it’s back, I am so thankful to have that feature in my car.  Given that I spend 2+ hours in my car on school days, it’s nice to be able to take the foot off the gas once in a while.  I also forgot how hard it can be to maintain a consistent speed without that feature.

2.       Until this weekend, we haven’t really had much rain for a while.  And that means the grass isn’t growing and therefore doesn’t need mowed.  With lots of weekend commitments in September and October, this is a real blessing.  Thanks for the extra 45 minutes every Saturday Mother Nature!

3.       I had a few appointments this month that made me so thankful for early or late hours.  I was able to get to the dentist, car shop (twice), and get a consultation on my gutters without shortening my work day.  Thank goodness for flexibility in scheduling and extended service hours!

4.       One of my classes this week let out about 30 minutes early.  I was able to get home earlier than expected and actually made it to the gym that night.  This NEVER happens on school days when I usually leave the house at 7am for work and get home from class at 10pm.  I am definitely grateful for any chance to sneak in even a 20 minute workout.

5.       Sometimes I fail to appreciate how great it is to have a job that accommodates a demanding class schedule.  In hindsight, I am pretty lucky to have a team that supports me and understands why this degree is worth pursuing.  I see what other students go through and I have it pretty good J

Oldies Tribute

10 Songs in Under 30 Minutes

Get ready for a journey back in time!  Friday at work I spent a lot of time listening to music on Pandora.  Unsure of what I was in the mood for, I kept changing my station.  Finally I landed on an Oldies station and it kept me happy all afternoon.  So here’s a confession – I love Oldies.  I am talking 1950s-1970s Oldies.  As I was listening to the station, I kept getting disappointed with how short the songs all were.  Fortunately, there is so much good music in that genre that I was always excited to hear what was next.  So I thought I’d share some of the great Oldies that came up, 10 songs that can be listened to in less than 30 minutes.

1.       Sugar, Sugar – The Archies – This is one of my favorites!

2.       Earth Angel – The Temptations (is that the correct original artist?)

3.       Dream Lover – Bobby Darin

4.       Walk Like a Man – The Four Seasons – This reminded me of going to see Jersey Boys with Anissa and her family a couple years ago.  What a treat – such an amazing show!

5.       The Twist – Chubby Checker

6.       The Loco-Motion – Little Eva – Just a funny song!

7.       Yakety Yak – The Coasters – This takes me back to when I was a little kid living in Cleveland.  I remember cruising with my sisters and Aunt Shelley in her Astro Van and rocking out to this song and Jerry Lee Lewis’ Great Balls of Fire.  Some of my fondest memories of living in Cleveland.

8.       All I Have to Do is Dream – Everly Brothers – I have a random connection with this song.  My sisters were obsessed with the movie Lady Bugs and I am pretty sure this song is in there.  Every time I hear it I think of that terrible movie.

9.       Be My Baby – The Ronettes – I don’t know why I do, but I love this song.  A great example of that Oldies sound I love.

10.   In the Still of the Night – The Five Satins –We sang this song one year in high school choir and I have enjoyed it ever since.  So great!

Not a comprehensive list, but some great tunes and a great way to get through a Friday afternoon after a long week.

Groupwork

Warning – here comes another rant about Ohio State.  And for all you haters of OSU football, don’t get too excited.  This is another post about the Working Professional MBA program (WPMBA).

As part of Ohio State’s conversion from quarters to semesters (which happened 2 years ago!), the WPMBA program somehow got stretched from a 2.5 year program to a 3+ year program.  Now, many students like me are taking 3 classes per term vs. the previous standard of 2 just to stay on pace to graduate in under 3 years.  Having that extra class makes the program’s focus of group-based projects even more unmanageable.  The basic fact is that we are in the WPMBA programs because we demand flexibility in our learning, have special needs given our desire to continue working full time, and many people have spouses and children they would like to see on occasion :P

A couple weeks ago I had a back-and-forth with a professor about his policy of randomly assigning members of a 5-person group for a term-long project.  I raised my concerns which he acknowledged (and actually boiled up to the Faculty Advisor), but held to his policy. 

So here’s why I, as a customer of Ohio State, am displeased.  I am taking 3 classes right now, each of which has at least 1 term-long project involving 3-4 other group members.  With this one class forcing a random assignment of group members, I now have 10 other group members to work with over the next 2 months (vs. being able to choose my own group and getting some overlap of members who are in the same 3 classes as me).  With 3 of 7 nights of the week consumed by class, and the other 2 weeknights fairly off limits for either working out, relaxing, or taking care of errands, that leaves 2 weekend days a week for coordinating the schedules of 10 people who have seemingly endless conflicts in their schedules.  Even if you can get a group of 5 to agree on a time, you still have 2 other groups to try and coordinate with.  It’s about impossible. 

What’s my point?  I need an administrative assistant for this degree!  I am getting really frustrated with the program and the fact that they treat us WPMBA students as if we are full-timers.  I’m not saying I deserve special breaks.  But something like the random assignment of groups, or forcing groups to be as large as 5-8 people, are incredibly non-accommodating for a program that is supposed to be specifically designed to accommodate working professionals.  And it’s not a single-case problem.  This has been persistent for the almost 2 years I’ve been in this program.

Okay, rant is over.  Kent out.