It Finally Hit Me

So as I was sending out the Facebook invite for my going away dinner, it FINALLY hit me that I'm going to be leaving my friends in three weeks.  It's very much bitter sweet I tell ya.  I think my friends are more prepared for my departure than I am.  I remember when I went to my friends party last week she started crying.  So when we were talking outside she was going on and on about her friends and how she didn't want to leave them because they meant so much to her and they also didn't want her to leave.  I definitely understood where she was coming from because it's not that she made a bad choice in going away to school vs. staying here in the city, but yes throughout the application process your friends do mean a lot, even if you don't get to see them very often because you're always studying or away visiting schools, etc.

It may seem cheesy but it is what it is.  I said to her "You're feeling this way because these people have allowed you to basically "forget" about them for a year and a half while you went through the application process and met new people, yet they supported you throughout.

So while I was sending out the invites to my "Bye Bye Battle-Baxter Dinner" last night, I got THAT feeling.  No I did not cry but I did get a little sad.  So my going away dinner is in two weeks and I need to find a location.  I'm debating between two places.  One is me and the other is REALLY me but I don't want to do that one that is REALLY me on a weeknight because it will get out of hand.  I'll figure it out.

In addition to my going away party with my friends, I have a whole host of other events to attend before I move up to school.  Tomorrow I have a bday/going away party for a classmate.  Next week I'm probably going out for drinks with my coworkers.  Then next Saturday I'm having my going away BASH!  A couple friends of mine who are also going to b-school decided to throw a big going away party.

Here is the tagline from part of the invite:  "We're sending a few future MBAs off with a bang!! Join Cornell, Kellogg, Stanford, Tuck and Wharton students and few honorary friends for the BBQ/Party of the SUMMER!!!"

We're going to have a DJ and of course food and alcohol so it's going to basically be pandemonium (in a good way of course).


Then one night I have to have dinner with my Mother and Father.  This is very much so a rare occurrence and LONG overdue.  Yes I live with my mother (because I moved back home a couple months ago), but I rarely see her.  And then my Father lives about 45 minutes away and I see him quite infrequently, so this will be an event.  But a much needed one since I'll most likely be MIA for two years.


From July 21st - 24 I'll be visiting one of my very good friends in Michigan.  He goes to Ross and is doing his internship but it'll be good for me to nurture our friendship because I can already tell we'll be lifelong friends!  Hey JSab!  also we've never really been able to drink together so this should be very interesting haha we're very similar in that regard.


On July 26th, I will be moving in to my new apartment in Ithaca, NY!  Woop Woop!  Then I'll have a busy week of helping my classmates move in to their apartments haha.  That's quite alright, I welcome the activity!  We won't have anything to do until August 2nd when Math Camp starts - so there will be a lot of bonding going on.  

Busy as a Bee before B-School

I'm not going to sugarcoat this and just apologize upfront for being mia for quite some time now!  I'm wondering if I need to reintroduce myself... I mean.. I'm not going too... but the thought crossed my mind.

So phew... I found 10 minutes to myself where I can write this blog post - at friggen 2:30am.  Ok let me just start by telling you why I've been so busy.  This post will be all over the place because I think I've forgotten how to blog haha...

Well for starters...my new job, while less stressful, is more time consuming.  I'm freelancing at an agency now and am working on a big restructure of an account so I've been putting in 11/12 hours days.  I know some of you are going to say "So what? 11/12 hours who cares?"  Well... that's just AT work.  You have to keep in mind that I commute 1.5 hours to and from work everyday.  So that's potentially 14/15 hours of the day that I'm busy.  I'm not complaining about the hours because I enjoy what I'm doing... but in terms of being able to find time to write a blog post... it's been slim.

So aside from work what else has been keeping me busy?  Well.. there is a lot of preparation that I have to do for CTLS.  I explained what CTLS is in my last post here about MLT.  The CTLS conference is next week from the 7th - 11th.  To prepare for it we have to read some cases... attend some webinars... get our resumes in line... etc etc.

In addition to the preparation for CTLS, I've been working with my Career Coach at Johnson to get ready for OP (consortium event in Minneapolis).  This includes more "assignments" ... mock interviews... webinars... et. al.  This is at the end of the month from the 24th - 30th.  So there's another week of June that's essentially taken up by pre-mba activities.  I will say that it IS  a TON of work but it WILL pay off come may!

I just finished updating my LinkedIn profile.  It was recommended that we do that before these two conferences.  So if anyone would like to link to me on LinkedIn - here is my profile url.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/richardbattlebaxter

IF YOU DO LINK TO ME... JUST TYPE A MESSAGE LIKE "I READ YOUR BLOG" or something of that nature just so I know before I accept you.  Otherwise you'l sit in my Friend Request Box for months..

I've also been trying to square away my housing situation.  I have the roommate... did the whole credit check thing.... got approved... now just need to send the deposit check to the management office and then sign the lease.  So I'm trying to track down the person who sends out the leasing agreements.  I'm also on the look out for furniture!  My roommate and I are renting most of our furniture but we need the little things... plus I want to buy a Keurig Machine!

Now I have to run around trying to get my doctor to sign off on these health forms.  That one was my fault because I totally let that slip my mind!

Yesterday (well on June 1st) I submitted my 2nd deposit!  So at the very least that knocks like 2% off of my tuition since your deposits go towards tuition.  Gotta look on the bright side right?  So no less than 48 hours after I submitted the deposit, did I get the email for Math Camp.  Now I knew that I'd be going to Math Camp so that wasn't a surprise.  But the cost for it was an initial shock.  So today I shelled out another $600 in total for math camp and some orientation week activities.  But at least now I know that there is only 1 more thing that I'm going to have to pay for and that's only $150.  I think that's for the background check.  I'm going to look into what I need to do for that tomorrow.  Actually, I'll shoot off an email to someone right when I'm done with this blog post.

That's all I'm going to write for now.  I have a lot to catch you guys up on but I need to take my body to bed.  The morning comes very quickly!

A word to the wise, and I'll elaborate on this another time, for those of you who are in my position... as soon as you get emails that you may need to respond too.  RESPOND TO THEM!  I try to do that so that I don't forget about them because a lot of information is time sensitive.  K thanks g'night!