What would you do if it's 110 degrees F outside?

As if I don't already spend very little time with the SO, after spending Friday night celebrating an old friend's birthday, a group of friends and I headed off to Palm Springs to go frolic on a guy's weekend. Basically it involved drinking, gambling and golfing in no particular order of priority/preference. 

For those of you not familiar with Palm Springs, it's a fairly large city about 140 miles east of Los Angeles. Now, given the number of vacationers and golfers who go to Palm Springs you'd think it was some sort of tropical paradise. Well, it's a great resort city but it's got its downsides. The average temperature in June is 104 degrees F (40 degrees C). That's the average temperature. Not the all time record high. Not the how hot does it have to be before things spontaneously combust. It's the average. Perfect weather to play 18 holes of golf but I can't complain it was a great weekend. 

Anyways, as usual, pictorial tour. 

What's a good road trip without some Notorious B.I.G. No-No-Notorious. 

Miraculously, there were still some snow in the mountains. Be careful when you say snowball's chance in hell. 

Watching the US versus Ghana World Cup game. Agonizing to watch the defeat especially with how inspiring the US played throughout the Group play portion of the 2010 World Cup. I have high hopes for the future of US Soccer. Then again they said the same thing about *insert fad XXXX here* and look how that turned out. 

Starting the Saturday off at the Greg Normal course. 

Looking out from the tee box. 

Perfectly manicured greens. Remember that we're in the middle of the desert and it's about 102 at this point. 

The course was challenging. I played golf a lot when I was a kid but by the time I was in high school I barely played. These are excuses to offset what will be pictured in a bit. 

I love the beach. 

These days some golf courses have a GPS system that allows you to see the yardage, topography of the green and location of the other carts in front and behind you. Pretty nifty. The yardage just reminded me how little I moved the ball even after 8 strokes. 

The "desert".

We played another round on Sunday and uhh yeah higher score is better right?

My golf shoes crapped out after 9 holes on Sunday. That thing was flapping away for the remainder of the round. Maybe that's why I shot over 100. To add another excuse we were playing from the blues. In the above scorecard that would be the white.

The par 3 16th hole. I think I actually managed to bogey this hole. That I didn't lose 10 balls just on this hole was a win for me. 

View of the Dunes course. Palm Springs is the epitome of American excess. Hey let's build a city full of golf courses and giant homes in the middle of the desert. Water and money can fix anything. It's almost like Robitussin.

Got this pic of the temperature outside on the way back. Granted, the car had been sitting outside all day but it's more or less accurate. At least it felt like it was 116 but it was a dry heat *sarcasm*.

So after a weekend away from the SO I'm welcomed back home by a wonderful Sunday dinner.

Roast chicken, string beans, rice pilaf and cornbread. The SO is from the Southeast but it's Southeast Asia not Southeast US. I think the fact that we're missing gravy is the differentiating factor between the two. 

As the obedient fiance I ate everything on my plate and had seconds. All in all a solid weekend. Only 10 more left in LA. 

Deep Thoughts....

So it's been about two and a half weeks since I left ESADE and Barcelona. Over those weeks I've had some time to think about what I've experienced and what I learned. It resulted in some....

Don't mind the MS Paint skills. I know it's impressive. I especially like the tangential coloration designed to reflect the artist's connection with the forest aka green spraypaint. 

A year and a half ago when I told people I was going to a business school in Spain they looked at me quizzically. "Why Spain?" I'd go through my whole spiel  about wanting to live abroad and gaining international experience. Blah blah blah. I had already mastered that speech thanks to my interviews so it lost its meaning after a while. Now that I've been there and actually gone through that experience, there is new meaning to my previously canned statement. It's funny because when I first started, that attitude reflected in my canned statement and the chaos of the ESADE program made me lose track of what truly the ESADE MBA experience is/was. 

I'm reminded of a parable that a managing partner told us bright eyed first years on our third day of training at Deloitte. 

A man came up to three bricklayers busily working. He asked the first bricklayer "What are you doing there, sir?" The first bricklayer responded, "I'm laying some bricks." He strolled up to the second bricklayer and asked the same question. "What are you doing there. sir?" The second bricklayer responded, "I am building a wall." The man eventually made his way to the third bricklayer and asked the question again. "What are you doing there, sir?" The bricklayer responded, "I am building the Colosseum." 

As I look back upon my first year at ESADE, it was almost as though I lived that parable. Mired in case studies, groupwork and networking events, the first third of the MBA was chaos. The constant deadlines and adjustment to living in Spain made me solely concentrate on getting through that day, that week and then that term.

The middle period of the first year was smoother. Still busy with internship applications and classes, we had hit a rhythm in our lives that allowed us some time to step back and enjoy things. Finally, we were building a wall.

The last term was where things gelled. Piles of readings and groupwork were given to us by our teachers but we were undaunted. We've learned what was necessary and what wasn't. How to allocate work amongst our teammates. Amidst all that we still managed to still go out, have fun and relish our last term together.

As the term ended and I came back to the US for the summer I finally realized that the ESADE MBA was letting me build my Colosseum. The program hasn't given me an arena where gladiators duel and chariot races are staged. It hasn't just taught me the basics of supply chain management or strategy frameworks or how to crack a consulting case interview. It hasn't just allowed me eat tapas and drink beer in the lovely Plaza del Sol.  Instead, it has given me all that as a foundation to provide me an enriching life experience, a host of memories and a new network of friends that'll stay with me for a lifetime.  That, my friends is my Colosseum.

Temporarily delayed

It's been a whirlwind of a week and a half. Spent 4 days in NYC with my parents and then flew out to LA on Saturday and started my internship on Monday. I still have to write my end of the year ESADE MBA retrospective post and I promise you all that it will happen. Probably sometime later this week. 

In the meantime hope everyone's enjoying the World Cup. Team Japan and USA seem to be doing alright and last but not least....GO LAKERS!!!

Joys of Operations

Recent BBM conversation I had. 


JP: Dude my shoulder has been in some serious pain lately
RM : How is that going to help me on the ops exam?
JP: It needs to be re-engineered?
RM : wow, you might fail
JP: Haha thanks
Me: Lol. That was quite funny
Me:That's going on the Blog.


Welcome to the odd world of MBA students.