First year frenzy

First, I must offer my most sincere apology to the gods of the blogosphere for not making a post in about two weeks.

Second, whew! This quarter (the second of the core) is tough! Finance is the hardest, most time-consuming, most frenzy-producing class I've ever taken. Strange thing is, I kinda like it. Strategy and statistics are demanding, too. Put together, along with the quickly escalating responsiblities of clubs and other activities, time is really of the essence.

So, here's my quick attempt at discussing balance. I've got a beautiful wife in Ithaca, who has been more supportive than I could ever have imagined. But even my queen of patience gets tired of seeing me get out of bed before the sun comes up every morning and zombie my way back home every night, drained and hungry. So, here I get to my point about balance: forget about it! The kind of balance achievable with weekends off in a regular job is just not possible in the first half of the first year of business school at Cornell. That's why it's the little things that start to matter most. This morning, for instance, I'm restraining my urge to get to Sage before the sun peaks over the trees, in favor of breakfast with my lady. It won't be long or ceremonious, but it's my understandably feeble attempt to keep my priorities in line.

I'll do my best to keep the finance case write-up and statistics deliverable, and the Net Impact conference in Nashville -- all of which will merge tomorrow -- out of my head. And I'll try to stop thinking about my complete change in career focus, from clean tech to media and organizational development. And the fact that I've decided to run the Cornell Business Journal... And I'll probably fail.

But it's a temporary failure. And that's, I guess, the point of this post. Though the frenzy of the first-year is tangibly real, it's not the way I'm choosing to live my life forever. And when it gets tough, or starts to seem that way, I remind myself of my personal values, which I spent this past weekend defining at an all-day Park Fellows Personal Mastery workshop. My #1 is my wife, who's also a talented singer/songwriter, a social worker, and the wisest person I've ever met. Shout out to Shannon!

New Quarter

I think I'd be remiss if I didn't make a brief post about the beginning of the second quarter of the semester. With Marketing, Accounting, and Economics out of the way, the heart of the first-year core is halfway done. Kind of hard to believe, I must say.

One observation about the way The Johnson School programs the first part of the year: they crowd so much into seven-week quarters that students constantly feel like they might not get it all done. But, at the same time, the administration has it wired into a controlled chaos. There is ample communication between the core professors, so when a marketing case was due, for instance, there was a seemingly magical let-up in Accounting. Of course, the scenario would change only slightly on the students' end the following week, just for a different course.

Now, we shift to Statistics, Strategy, and Finance. What a change in character among the professors from last quarter. Statistics is taught by Amr Farahat, a patient, brilliant professor and researcher. Strategy offers our first female professor -- the energetic, engaging, and obviously brilliant Vrinda Kadiyali. And Finance, the single most hyped, feared, and time-consuming course that most of us will probably ever take. I can say that it is already the most challenging and mind-bending bit of mental gymnastics I've ever attempted, and I'm barely a week into it. That course is taught by Professor Roni Michaely, tough love extraordinaire.

Overall, I must remark on the quality of the professors here so far. Almost without exception, I'd give them all above average grades, with three to four out of six downright dynamite.

Right now, my overarching strategy is to plow forward; seven weeks and Christmas break is still far away, but there is a growng light at the end of the tunnel.

Last day of First Quarter

I am writing now, a day after the end of finals and a day before hiking and camping in the mountains of Vermont. It's a great feeling to be finished, I must admit, though there is that nagging desire to know every last final grade before I take off later today. For now, I'll just be patient...

Yesterday, the Cornell community had the rare and precious opportunity to have an audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Not bad timing, either, I must admit. We had finished our last final -- Economics -- in the morning, then walked over to Barton Hall to stand in the longest line in history.

In that huge steamy auditorium, just about everyone in the place was restless, talking and jostling for a good seat. But when the monks from Namgyal Monastery started in with their chanting, everyone was quiet.

When His Holiness finally came out, he said he thought he was entering an empty auditorium, since everyone was so quiet. But I guess we were just anxious for some words of wisdom. And that's what we got -- simple words of compassion, friendship, peace, and tolerance from the old Tibetan monk, sitting cross-legged on his chair, shoeless.

I had seen the Dalai Lama once before. When I studied abroad in India, Nepal, and Tibet, I lived just down the hill from his palace in Dharamsala, India for about a month. He was in meditation retreat for most of our time there, but he came out for one special audience to greet the newest Tibetan arrivals, who had just crossed the highest mountains in the world to escape to India and religious freedom.

This talk in Ithaca was even better. I think it was because of the stark contrast between what I've been learning and exposed to in business school -- the pervasive feeling that competitiveness is and must be a part of daily life -- and the simple message to treat each other well, that we're all brothers and sisters. Regardless, it was a special event that I won't soon forget.

Service Project

On Saturday, the entire Park Fellows first and second year class got together for our first of two annual days of service. The activity took place at Compos Mentis, a nonprofit farm that offers programming for people with mental health issues, about 15 minutes northwest of downtown Ithaca.

I was excited going in, just for the rare opportunity to be outdoors (too many of my recent days involve spending just about every daylight hour inside Sage Hall). And we were extremely lucky to have a beautiful early fall day. The temperature was about 70 degrees, with scattered clouds.

The farm, we were told, was in desperate need of some hands to weed around the abundant crops it produced, as well as help clearing out and cleaning an old garage that will soon be converted into either a kitchen or workspace. The chicken coop also needed a solid going-over.

I opted first for the weeding. It was a nice change to get down on my knees and really dig in the dirt and not worry about anything related to school. In the course of the day, I also sweeped out the old garage and managed to avoid the chicken coop.

We also got the opportunity to taste broccoli, carrots, beans, tomatoes, brussels sprouts, and other vegetables right off the plants.

After the day was done, I took a few tomatoes, which were generously offered to us by the folks at the farm, and ate them with the fresh basil (also grown on the farm) and some olive oil. It was a good way to celebrate the day, which was the first time in a good long while that I had gotten outside myself to do something just for others.


On another note, for those who read my last post about the Net Impact Conference, I have decided to go. I'm glad I made the decision finally and am excited about the opportunity to meet and network with lots of new people in Nashville next month.