Thoughts From The Cake Scraps

Originally Posted: 3/6/2014 7:48 AM  

As my time in Ithaca winds down, I think it’s a great time to reflect on some of the things that I will miss about Ithaca. There are plenty of things to write down, so I’ll pick the top three things that (currently) come to mind.

Hockey Games: I never watched hockey growing up; Wisconsin doesn’t have a pro-team and for some reason it just wasn’t that big of a deal where I lived. In fact, the first time I even cared about hockey was, oddly, during my summer in Chicago when the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup. But, I’ve come to really enjoy hockey games at Cornell. Maybe it’s the not-a-total-ripoff concession prices. Maybe it’s the outrageous student section cheering. Maybe it’s the allure that it’s one of the few Cornell sporting event students actually have to pay for. Whatever it is, it’s a lot of fun. And then there’s playing Harvard and dead fish on the ice.

Accessibility: Whether by car or by bus, it is easy to get around in Ithaca. You pretty much have most of your everyday needs within a 15 minute ride – and that’s if you’re going to the other side of town. While larger cities also have lots to offer, I like the idea of being able to go to Home Depot or Walmart just as easy as a boutique furniture store or museum.

Beer: There are lots of great options for beer. There are several truly craft breweries within a 15 minute drive of where I live. If I want an out-of-Ithaca import, there is the Finger Lakes Beverage Center which has one of the best beer-by-the-bottle selections I’ve seen, regardless of the size of the city. Then there are the cheap pitchers of cheap beer at the local non-college bars or the fact that the downtown gas station has the ability to fill up a growler.

There are definitely more things that I enjoy about Ithaca, but those three have made the frigid temperatures a bit more bearable. Can’t wait to see if you agree. Also, here’s a picture of my new puppy and his Great Uncle (who is a friend’s dog), because who doesn’t love puppies. Or awesome dogs he can learn from.

Jal muk get seum ni da; have a nice meal ; bon appetite!

Part of a series of my re-postings of my blog for the “Life @ Johnson” section of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University MBA program website.

Originally Posted: 1/19/2014 1:05 PM

The semester ahead of me is a great unknown to me. Sure I know what classes I am taking (or at least hope to take if I get off the wait lists!), but a big unknown is what to do with all of the free time I will have. Seriously. As I reflect on the last 1.5 years of my life, creating free time was the hard part. Demands on my time were huge and from all aspects of my life.

In the final semester, I won’t have a job search to worry about (I’ve signed with consulting firm Bain & Company – Chicago). I won’t have clubs to worry about since I’ve passed the torch onto a great group of first-year students for the various positions I’ve held. I won’t even be helping first-year students with career prep, which can take a large chunk of time. Furthermore, my course work is not too difficult as I’ll be taking a fairly low credit load. I won’t have quite the same free time as some of my classmates that are studying abroad and ending about the time our first quarter is done, but still, it’s a lot of free time.

Thankfully, I’m not without ideas. My wife and I will be getting a dog and I’m super excited about it. I’m also TA-ing Intermediate Accounting, including teaching one day a week with undergrads. And who can forget about the bowling league which starts this week. I hear we have over 200 people signed up and there’s a wait list. That’s nearly half the school. Now that’s a strong community.

I suppose that’s one of the things that makes going into this final semester kind of…emotional. I have some really good friends that I’ve made and it seems like no two of us are going to the same state, much less city. It’s an exaggeration, but is something that is both valuable to me and a little sad. It’s cool to know that I can travel the country, or even world, and have friends nearby. The sad (or perhaps exciting!) part is that I will have to travel to see them. With all the technology in the world, there’s nothing quite the same as meeting someone at the Chapter House, The Westy, or some other local bar.

Interestingly, graduation typically has this “long time away yet right around the corner” feeling, but right now it only feels like the latter part of that phrase. Hotels have been sold out for months and dinner reservations for that weekend are secured. I’m already thinking about the fact that I’ll be moving and need to find a place to live. Holiday decorations are packed away knowing I’ll never see them up at the place that’s been my home for nearly four years. At a recent dinner the conversation was centered on what our Ithaca Bucket List entailed.

Yes, this is a final beginning. But it is a beginning and I’m excited to make the most of it.

Part of a series of my re-postings of my blog for the “Life @ Johnson” section of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University MBA program website.