First Day of School

Today I completed my first grueling day of the executive MBA program. It was tough particularly after a restless night due to the sub-zero weather outside and the faulty heating in my hotel room. We started with breakfast at 7:30am where I made a great first impression by falling over in my chair. That will definitely be part of the EMBA experience that I will never forget. From there it was just like starting kindergarten all over again. We got dressed in our uniforms (business suits required) and were lead down the street in single file to the school by one of the administrators. Orientation and classes went from 9am to 7:30pm which is how our schedule will be for the rest of the program.

I do have to credit my friends for all of the encouragement and support. I received ~10 emails/texts/facebook posts today wishing me well on my first day of school and it sincerely helped me get through the day. The most notable was from The Divine Miss N and Grant who both previously graduated from the full-time MBA program:

We're so proud of you. We're sending our little one to school! Don't forget your lunch box or your apple for the teacher, and don't trade the contents of your lunch box with anyone else. Play nice with the other kids and make friends. Don't steal anyone else's toys and don't do anything we wouldn't do. Good luck!

I think I got the friends part down but not so sure about the toys.

By the way, apologies now for the infrequency of the blog postings. The EMBA is going to take nearly all of my free time for the next 18 months.

Where Did 2008 Go?

Another year has passed by so quickly I hardly recall what happened to it. 2008 was a great year full of activity, work travel, personal travel, old friends, new friends, new discoveries, losing a boss, turning 30, applying to b-school, rejecting b-school, finally deciding to go to b-school, and a ton of overzealous consumption of amazing and exotic food. I was also able to cap off the year in style in a city that I love (San Francisco) with some of my closest friends doing what we do best (overzealous consumption of food and making fools of ourselves for our own amusement).

2009 will likely be no less chaotic. Today is the first day of b-school, when I return to the office next week I will have a new boss, I will have one day in the office before I start a week and half of traveling, I will have two visitors from the US, and that's just January. I'm sure it will be crazy and there will be moments of desperation but I'm looking forward to another year in London with whatever else may come my way.

Here's wishing prosperity, health, and happiness to all of you in 2009.

Here are pictures of NYE 2008.