I’ve been setting goals for myself for as long as I can remember. When I first started working, I figured I would have “made it” in life when I could started eating lunch every afternoon without bringing it in a brown bag. Checked that box back in 2003. Having reached that point, I knew I would really “make it” when I could walk into a car dealership, point to the car I wanted and drive off without worrying about the price. That box was checked last year. So far, 2007 has been a year of “making it.” Buying my first real house after years of condo and apartment living was a landmark, no question about it, but that’s not really what let me know that I’d “made it” one more time. I knew I’d “made it” in 2007 when the crew of Mexicans showed up at 7:30 this morning and mowed my lawn.
Tag Archives: priorities
Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong… or The Big Picture
Let me give you the set up on this one… I am leaving for Italy next Tuesday and will be missing all of the last week of my current grad class. Not a problem. The instructor knows I’ll be gone, blessed it, and even gave me some delightfully evil ideas about how to subvert the electronic attendance tracking system, so I could still get credit for the week.
Knowing that I would be missing the final team assignment, I made a proposal to my teammates last night that I would be willing to take on this week’s assignment solo and post a rough draft for everyone to edit as a way to compensate the group for not contributing to the product next week. Fine. Great. Everyone loved the idea to more or less balance the workload over the next two weeks… That is everyone by the one chick who thinks the purpose of an MBA is to “actually learn something.”
Personally, I see the purpose of the course and the overall MBA program as much more fundamental: Pass. Simply put, it’s a resume line I need to move on with the next steps of my career. Sure, I am learning a good deal along the way, but at the same time, I live in a world where the phrase of the day is “go along to get along.” Honestly, if any of us were really all that serious, we’d be at Wharton or Tuck… not at the damned University of Phoenix… and online to boot. So before you get all high and mighty about diminishing your educational opportunities, let’s consider the big picture for a bit… bitch.
Resisting Temptation…
Up until now, I have resisted the temptation to comment on Anna Nicole, not so much out of a sense of respect for the dead as out of a belief that it isn’t an event really worth noting as anything more than a passing way. The incessant and insipid coverage in the major media outlets has been nothing short of remarkable for someone whose major contribution to society was getting naked on film and marrying and elderly billionaire.
Am I missing something here? Are we, as a society, truly this vapid? We are a nation at war, beset by foes abroad and at home. A nation racked by both personal and public debts. A nation facing the most serious public policy disputes since Herbert Hoover sat in the White House. And yet, somehow, a dead c-list celebrity has managed to grind the news-cycle to a halt for the last week.
Stop me if I’m wrong here, but does anyone else see a flaw in our collective priorities?
First Night…
You don’t realize how much time you spend sitting down until you don’t have anything to sit on. There’s the floor, of course, but in the final analysis, you just sitting on the floor looking at four bare walls. Not exactly what I was planning on doing tonight. Instead, I’ve spent most of the afternoon and evening hanging blinds. I know that it’s something that needs done, but I would have preferred to spend the first night sitting on the couch, watching TV, and possibly even drinking a beer. I’ve spent the day on my feet and at 9:30 CST, I’m beat… Looks like its time to inflate the bed.
Missing my furniture, cable television, and internet access aside, closing came off without a hitch. The biggest upset of the day was that either I forgot to tell them or Home Depot forgot to order blinds for my frigging giant dining room window. Not a huge deal, but until I manage to get something to cover it, you can see straight through the house. I have as much of a voyeurism streak as anyone, but not when I’m staring in the picture.
Living room furniture and the cable guy are coming tomorrow (Friday) sometime. At least I hope they are. The furniture store called this afternoon to confirm the delivery, but I made the appointment with Comcast almost a month ago and neglected to call and follow up to confirm the installation. I’m hoping for the best, because God help me, the prospect of spending the next five days without TV or the internet is terrifying beyond words.
The way we’ve always done it…
We can do things one of two ways. #1 we can do it cheap or #2 we can do it right. Options #1 and 2 are mutually exclusive. That’s a decision that needs to be made at pay grades above reality. Until the decision is made, however, things are what they are.
That is all.
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