First Week Back to School

First Week Back to School

This week was the first week back at Ohio State for my MBA program.  I should be graduating in May, so I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.  But it’s going to take some hard work to get there, including 3 nights a week of 6-9:15pm classes from now until May, and many hours of groupwork on Saturdays and Sundays for the foreseeable future.  I forgot how exhausting it is; I don’t think I’ve been this tired since the day after my wedding.  And unfortunately, I don’t have a sweet vacation right around the corner.

This week flew by and felt so manic, so I thought I’d recap some of the highlights, of course only highlighting those that can be quantified.

Starting with Sunday.  Anissa and I ran 5 miles.  We haven’t run that far in a long time, but we both felt great afterward.  Out of curiosity I went back to my running log (it’s an excel spreadsheet, duh!) to see how long it has been since I ran that far.  Turns out it was almost a year ago.  It had been 310 days since I ran at least 5 miles.  It made me feel nostalgic for the days of half and full marathons.  One day I’ll get back to it, but for now 5 miles will put a big smile on my face.

Monday was my first class back at Ohio State.  Let me clarify that Ohio State didn’t officially start classes until Wednesday.  However, about 2 weeks ago they realized that Monday 9/1 is a holiday (you know, that thing called Labor Day) and that they had not made enough sessions for the Monday classes with the way they set up the academic calendar.  I’m not sure how a major university misses something like that.  So lucky me, I got to go back 2 days early unexpectedly.  The bummer of the day, though, was getting from work to campus.  On a good day I can get there in 30-40 minutes.  On Monday, it took over an hour.  Fortunately I had enough foresight to leave extra early and to also stop at Tim Horton’s on my way, so I had a bagel and iced coffee to keep me comfortable in the car.  That day, including my commute to work, to school, and then back home, I spent just shy of 2 hours, or 120 minutes in the car.  Add my work hours and the in-class hours, it makes for a very long start to the week.

Tuesday was a day of no classes.  I got home from work at a good time, got in a run with Anissa (just 3 miles this time), and then we made omelets for dinner.  One of the things I love about not living alone is that I can actually get through a carton of eggs before they expire (and I don’t have to buy the weirdo 6-packs of eggs).  If we eat eggs 3 times a month, we get through them all.  And we are that uninventive of cooks that we actually eat scrambled eggs or omelets more than 3 times a month.

Wednesday.  More class.  More time in the car.  Enough said.

Thursday.  More class.  Except this time on my way to class, an accident blocked the entire interstate going my direction.  I quickly diverted to another direction hoping to still get to class on time.  Turns out I was screwed either way.  It took me well over an hour to get to class.  It just baffles me that in a city the size of Columbus with a 2013 estimated MSA  (metropolitan statistical area) population of just under 2 million (good enough for only 32^nd largest in the U.S.), and what I consider to be a fairly decent infrastructure, it still takes me that long to travel only 18 miles.  Sure, it’s peak traffic time when I have to go.  But I’m going into the city, not leaving it.  I am actually against traffic when I go to OSU.  Let’s just say people need to stop shitting the bed and crashing their cars.  Because mentally I cannot afford to be left alone in my car for that many hours every week.

Friday.  Alas, sweet sweet Friday!  Looking ahead to a 3-day weekend and getting out of work a bit early just puts my mind to rest.  Yes, I have hundreds of pages of thick, heavy academic reading to complete.  Yes, I have a tons of stuff to do around the house.  But I can sleep 8 hours a night for 3 nights in a row.  I can eat 3 square meals at an actual table for the next 3 days.  And I can spend 12 hours sitting on my couch in scrubs watching football on Saturday.  Hallelujah!

There you have it, my week by the numbers.  Let me tell you, putting it in written form is almost therapeutic.  I may be ready for bed by 7pm tonight J