In the event that you need gas and Doritos, why not pick up a pigs leg too

This is a road trip Andalusia-style!


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3 years of planning, 10 going-away parties, and 2 flights later I am in Madrid!

First day in Madrid and I am happy to be out on a jog seeing the city. Grand Via, Retiro Park, and Sol Plaza are all very impressive. This photo is a major government building (maybe parlament) off Grand Via.



-Excuse the brevity and typos, I'm posting from my iPhone


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On letting go

It is one thing to leave home. It is quite another to leave people.

There for all of us are important people, so supportive and instrumental in shaping the course of your life. I am lucky. I can count myself among the few who’ve been continuously surrounded by truly wonderful people. It is this fortune that brings, without surprise, a great paradox to my life now.

To be successful in life one must absorb and become the sum of those around them. Yet to move on and explore new horizons and new challenges, with great risk of course, one must leave these people in an entirely too intangible past. One must leave the support behind, with only good wishes and fond farewells as a backstop.

Leaving is a strange thing. In some ways it is like being an attendee at your own wake. The most important people in your life speak of you as if you are already past. Your best friends explain your worth and your past lovers put words to the very feelings you wondered existed in the first place. It is an out of body experience that you experience still in your own body. It is an uneasy boost to the self-esteem that you never asked for.

I am now moving on and it is bittersweet. Time may tell whether I am blessed for having such brilliant support behind me, or if rather I am a fool for leaving it in the first place. I hope the former is true. And if not, I hope there is a place for this fool to return to. This is the trouble with letting go.

Describing the process of getting ready to go to business school

In an effort to avoid simply posting a long trail of expletives, I will describe the process of getting ready to go to business school with one, more inert word: Stressful!

Now for those of you interested in returning to school, specifically business school, don’t let my negative introduction to the process deter you. Let it be a subtle warning, but don’t let it deter you. The simple truth is that the long process from GMAT prep to application to interview to acceptance/denial is just that – long. It’s stressful and long and terrible. It tests your patience, your will, your organizational skills and your time management. It tests your confidence and even your relationships with friends and family. This of course is all concurrent with your real life – hopefully a busy social calendar and concerted efforts to excel in your current professional position.

So, is it worth it? Well beats me! I haven’t even had my first day of class yet. But I can say that the efforts over the past 18 months have already born the fruit of self-reflection and self-awareness. I understand now and can better articulate what is important to me and why.

I guess I feel like I have undertaken a really big project, as if I decided to build myself a personal swimming pool. After months of planning and design, after strenuous digging and painstakingly laying foundation and tile I finally have the pool filling up with water. Today is a hot day. I’m ready to jump in.

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