Zeus' Thunderbolts! We're Packing!

Nothing tells you "things are a changing" more that seeing your condo being packed up. The boxes are starting to fill up and take space in our home. The movers are coming on Friday morning and we are leaving on Saturday.
The best news is that Lindsey and I finished work last week. So our biggest priority is to clean out the liquor bar. It's a tough job, but someone has got to do it. There are other serious tasks: we are changing a ridiculous amount of addresses; getting our passports stamped; securing US travelers checks; selling the remaining vestiges of the furniture not making the journey with us; packing; ensuring we have all the needed paperwork; and finalizing travel arrangements for our trip out to the big C.
The paperwork and preparation are not a pleasant experience. As a person who grew up on a border town, I can safely say that U.S custom's officers can be big pricks. It has only got worse since 9/11. Of course, I am speaking from the perspective of someone who does not want to destroy the United States. So, any delay seems needless. I am sure they are truly protecting America when they give me a hard time.
I sold my laptop and TV, so aside from internet cafes, we will not have ready access to a computer until we have been in Irvine for at least one week (more likely two weeks - plus). Without them I think I will go information deprived (as will my faithful readers). If any reader can offer me computer internet access close to UCI for the period September 7th - 20th, I would appreciate it.
I can't wait to arrive. Til then be lucky...

God is in the Details

Lindsey and I will be finishing up our jobs and the end of this week and leaving our country at the end of the next week. Wow, this is really happening!

As the departure date gets closer, we are getting closer to resolving the numerous tasks that we need taken care of before leaving. We just purchased our vehicle out of its lease; chose Lindsey's medical coverage; made arrangements for a student loan; selected a professional mover; and have begun changing our address with everyone.

I am now planning our trip down to Irvine. The goal is that is will be a bit more leisurely than our whirlwind tour of U.S. business schools that we completed this March. We have a plan to trace the legendary Rte.66, stop at the famous Wigwam hotel and experience Vegas. We will be arriving in Irvine on Thursday, September 7th and taking possession of our apartment the next morning. We still do not have a set date for our furniture to be delivered.

Our condo hasn't sold yet, but we know it will sell at some point and we accepted that the planned influx of cash will be delayed.

I am getting excited to see all the great people I met at our admit weekend and meeting some people on the Admit Website who appear to share my passion of commercializing technology.

'til then...be lucky!

More Merage Housing Woes!

Well, if I thought Lindsey and I had housing problems, it appears we are better off than some other Merage incoming students. A comment on my last post left by a fellow student advised that she will not be able to get housing in Vista del Campo Norte (the singles resort) until September 16th! That means some students won't have a place to stay for the first week of our orientation! Not Cool. I am not sure if Merage is making alternate arrangements.

If Merage isn't making alternate arrangements and any of my new student colleagues are in this boat, Lindsey and I will have a spare bedroom and an inflatable mattress that we are willing to offer to anyone who needs it. I can be contacted at trevor.speirs (at) gmail.com. We will do our best to help out. Our only challenge may be that we aren't sure when our furniture will be delivered after we move in on the 8th, but we will work things out.

Housing Finally!

Yesterday, I finally got a call from UCI's Palo Verde housing department asking me if I was interested in a housing assignment. Interested? Hell Yeah!

There was little in the way of selection (more on that below). I felt I was getting the sloppy seconds. I was given 2 choices (both were on my bottom of my preference list). Given, time was of the essence, I selected one and now I am going go roll with it.

The housing assignment did cause a problem: my move in date is September 8. This problem is that my first "mandatory" international student orientations for Merage is September 5. So if I want to attend these orientations, Lindsey and I will have to hotel it. I am not thrilled, but I am rolling with it.

As for why this years MBA housing assignments were such a disaster, it appears to be an unfortunate combination of new employees and a new university policy. Merage's "guaranteed" housing offers were never guaranteed in the official university sense. It was the product of a relationship and understanding between Merage and the housing department. This past year, UCI instituted an official policy guaranteeing housing for PhD and MFA students. File it under "it seemed like a good idea at the time" as a lack of implementation plan and new housing employees created difficulties in fulfilling that policy in a timely fashion.

This year the MBA's were not going to be assigned housing until all the PhD and MFA students were allocated. Sucks to be us. Hence the drama and the very late assignment date. While it was out of their direct control, Merage got caught with their pants down here. As soon as they saw that new policy they should have taken steps to ensure their students were taken care of. Something I will have to raise when I get there.

Oh well, another task to strike off my list.

Summer Prep Work

Merage has been hard at work preparing for the class of 2008. I recently received a letter introducing the Career Services Department. It suggested that our search for our new career begins before we start school. It gave us links to research, suggested we start talking with people who are in fields that interest us, and asked that we take the Career Leader test.

Career Leader is essentially an interest test designed to give us some direction about what careers may make us happy. Now, I am a veteran of numerous personality/aptitude campaigns and I have the reports to prove it. Career Leader indicated that I have three strong interests in Application of Technology, Creative Production, and Enterprise Control. It also identified five career paths that would most interest me: Entrepreneurship; General Management; Management of New Product Development; Research and Development Management; and Venture Capital. Interestingly it found I had a low interest in an area that I really enjoy: Strategic Planning and Business Development.

There is some good information about the career fields, so I am better for participating in the test. I do think that it is only half of the equation. While it is great to know what you like, you need to have the necessary attributes to do the job. I do not subscribe to the school of thought that believes you will learn the attributes necessary to make one successful in that field (especially when as an MBA you are expected to perform at a high level). I think if this test was combined with an aptitude test, like Myers-Briggs or Insight Color Wheel, it would be more valuable to a new student.

Other good news is that final details about Merage's Laptop Program is being finalized. For those who do not know, Merage has the longest continuously running MBA laptop program in the United States (probably in Canada as well). Technology is a foundation of the MBA program (As you can see from my Career Leader results, now you know why I was drawn here). Every student is advised to buy a recommended laptop before the start of class and the school offers a $500 tuition credit as incentive. As they have been doing this for a long time, the computing department secured a banger of a deal from Dell. If we wait until September 5th to put in an order, we can get the new Intel Core 2 Duo to power the laptop. My current laptop was purchased when I began practicing law back in 2002, so I am excited to upgrade. So far this laptop program looks to be executed at a high level; their experience shows in this area.

3 more weeks until we start moving west!

3 Weeks To Go!

Time is flying! Lindsey and I have begun making our final arrangements for our move. Unfortunately, we still have not got any housing details from UCI! The Merage Admissions Department have really dropped the ball in this area. I have no idea how they expect foreign students to participate in International Student Orientation during the first week of september, if they do not know where or when they can move in four weeks prior? It is an unfortunate disappointment because up to this point Merage has been stellar. I hate to be critical of my school, but I have created this blog to honestly discuss our experiences - good and bad.

Other news, condo still isn't sold and we have ended our listing with our original realtor. While we look for a new realtor, we are trying to sell it by ourselves with newspaper ads and a quick website (check it out).

I had the movers visit for a more detailed quote. They discovered that the apartment (despite us leaving a lot of furniture behind) is going to cost 25% more than their initial quote. Oh well, I ain't 'U-Haulin' all this stuff across a national border and a continent. Mo' Money, Mo' Money, Mo' Money!

On the topic of money, I settled on my student loan arrangements. A foreigner coming to U.S. will have difficulties getting a private loan from a U.S bank because our good credit rating in our home country is irrelevant to them (Yes, we are going to have to build up a new solid credit rating from scratch in the U.S.). Generally, the only way for a foreigner to get a fair loan in the U.S. is to have a U.S. co-signer (this presents difficulties for the majority of us). Canadians have a few more options, but they have higher rates. Merage recently made an arrangement to offer foreign students access to Sallie Mae loans without a U.S. co-signer, but I think I can get better terms from a loan shark. Therefore, after detailed research I discovered that my student loan options we A) practically give up my first born child for a U.S.-based loan or B) get a loan from a Canadian bank and continually transfer the funds to our new U.S. bank account. In the end it was an easy decision. Anyways, one more issue taken care of. Now, I just need to figure out how to transfer mad amounts of cash into the U.S.

Next big area I need to address is health insurance for Lindsey. Unfortunately, spouses can't be covered under UCI's graduate health plan. I have heard that, generally, school plans are very expensive relative to other, less extensive, plans. Merage had some private health plan options sent to me a while ago. So, I am going to revisit and try to get these arrangements finalized.

Next I will discuss what the school has us doing in the summer.