Fellow Merage Blogger

I think it is well past time that I post some links to fellow Merage School bloggers. Billy the Kid is an incoming MBA/MD student from Orange County. I met him at our Admit Weekend and found him a fascinating guy. Have a look at his blog at http://doctorbill.blogspot.com/

Trying to Get Organized

Summer is moving quick. September will be upon Lindsey and I in a blink of the eye. Unfortunately, our situation is still very unsettled. We haven't sold the condo and we haven't received any details (or confirmation) of our guaranteed housing from UCI.

The condo sale has been a series of disappointments. We have had numerous viewings but no takers. Even worse, units in our complex that I would classify as below ours have sold. It is confusing because whenever I am present for a viewing, all I hear is how nice the unit shows??! I am trying to decide if I need to change realtors. Our is a very good marketer and gets foot traffic, but I question his ability to close deals. He only follows up with realtors who view the unit once. When I asked him why he doesn't do more follow ups with promising leads, he responded that he did not want to look desperate??! I think there is a difference between driven to make a deal and looking desperate. Coincidentally, he doesn't think it looks "desperate" to aggressively drop the listing price? I think we may have philosophical differences on how to get a deal done. I understand he is the expert and I usually defer to their expertise, but when the results aren't there and your gut tells you different sometimes you may have to go against them.

The appeal of the guaranteed UCI housing is beginning to lose some of its luster. I still haven't received any confirmation or details about our housing arrangements. My application was filed back in April and I haven't heard from them since. I understand that this is out of the MBA program's control because it is a separate bureaucratic department that handles these applications, but if you are going to guarantee housing you need to have some strong ties with that department. I was given a contact name in the Housing Department, but she has failed to respond to two of my emails. The lack of information is creating problems for our relocation.

As we live in Canada, this is a big move to the west coast, across a border. We want to use a professional moving company. We can't book a mover until we know when we can move in. We don't even need the final address, we just need dates! And housing hasn't even responded with those details.

International Orientation starts the week after Labor Day, assuming we need a week to drive out to Cali, we got about four weeks until we depart - even less time to book a mover! I think I am a patient man, but my fuse is nearly at its end. We are not some undergrads who can put some t-shirts in a bag and start school, we are a family relocating! I need some details ASAP!

Other than that I am looking forward to meeting my classmates. UCI has an admit site where incoming students can post a picture and profile. There are a lot of interesting backgrounds that are going to collide once the program starts. It will be exciting to learn how to work together.

Orange County Preparation

Not much to write about lately. We haven't sold the condo. I just received my I-20 papers. Otherwise very little is going on.

I have started to prepare for the O.C. lifestyle. I have been watching episodes from seasons 1&2 of Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County. It is good to know that rich American high school kids get absorbed over the same types of ridiculously miniscule issues that Canadian high school students do. I just can't believe how Jason treated LC! You better not re-hook up with him in The Hills, LC. Oh, the drama!

I hope all fellow MBA'ers are enjoying the summer. I have yet to get out to golf once (O.K. partially my fault, the one day I could have went golfing I stayed home hung over).

Final note: Is it just me, or do Americans have to be insane to accept this confusing health care system of "co-payments" and "specific providers" given the country's wealth? Discuss amongst yourselves...

Cheers.

Burning the Bridges: Condo is Up for Sale

To paraphrase a famous general: to keep your troops moving forward burn all avenues of retreat.
Lindsey and I burned one more bridge by listing our condo for sale this week (see listing here). The London market appears to be peaking, so at worst we will catch the start of the backslide of prices (better than the tail end).

I haven't seen many comments lately. Makes one wonder if anyone is listening.

I Guess Leaving May Not Be So Hard After All...

After the UCI's Admit Weekend, I am confident that this was a great decision. I think the jitters are gone and I am ready to go forward full steam. Even more so after I saw this in the local newspaper.

I would describe my city of London as conservative, priveledged, but never tacky. I was wrong. Take a look at what one Londoner put on his lawn. It reminds me of the Leg Lamp from The Christmas Story which emanated "hot sex" from the window for all the men of the neighbourhood to partake in.

Let this be a lesson to you ladies: Don't marry a man who loves to collect lawn ornaments. These things must be more addictive than crack.

O.K., so when am I leaving?

An "Admittedly" Sunny Weekend

Wow that sun's got some power! I am back in Canada recuperating from UCI's Admit Weekend. In my visits to all my Application Schools, I repeatedly heard that admit weekends were important to establish relationships with the incoming class. They were right. I met a lot of the North American students and I had a really great time. Kudos to the UCI staff and current students for putting on an entertaining show.

Admit Weekend started with registration, a small surprise lunch (unfortunately I had just ate) and the opportunity to do the first round of networking. If I had to guess there were approximately 50 admit attendees. Next came, the dean's speech. Dean Policano confirmed the strategy that I talked about in earlier posts. Some highlights included the recruiting of Kerry Vandell to lead the real estate program and David Hirshleifer from Ohio State to be the first Merage Chair in Business Growth. If there was a point from the Dean's speech, it was that UCI has some financial clout and they are using it in chair positions to recruit top faculty and scholarships to recruit top students. The Dean also clarified areas of his strategy that I had yet to discern including his goal of making The Merage School of Business strong in four key areas of real estate, health care, entrepreneurship and innovation, and wealth/investment management.

Afterwards, was a lengthy ice breaker session where we got to learn a little about the incoming classes personalities. Then we were treated to two abbreviated class sessions to give the admits a feel of what to expect. I had already taken a 2nd year MBA class in law school, so I knew what to expect, but I think the interactive nature surprised some of the students.

After classes, we then moved to a reception and dinner with students, alumni, faculty and staff. While the food was nothing to write home about, the conversation was very enjoyable. Not much substantive was said at the event, but the opportunity to interact with such diverse people was a treat.

After the dinner was the unofficial visit to Vegas; a club in Costa Mesa. About 10-15 Admits joined about 15-20 current students at the club that played house on one dance floor and rap on the other (this was confusing when it appeared that quite a few of the patrons had an outrageous punk look). Both DJs were adept at spinning a good mix. Most everyone got on the dance floor at least once. My ride, Dan, and I were the among the last group to depart at 1:30am. I think I got to bed at around 2:30.

Breakfast was served at 8:30 the next day. Amazingly, I was up and in the lobby by 8:05am. I needed to try to rope another ride because I was not confident that Dan would make it (I was proved right when Dan showed up at around 10:30). The morning was dedicated to learning about the services available to UCI students. The highlight for myself was UCI's laptop program. In place since 1987, it is the longest continuously running laptop program in the U.S. The laptops are an integral component of the MBA program where students use the most cutting edge software in the majority of their courses (OK, maybe not accounting). The computer department approves and secures deals for only 3 laptops for its students to buy to allow the tech support team to optimally configure and service the computer. This focus makes the integration of some of these software programs go much smoother than in other programs. The laptops will allow you to use the Catalyst intranet site that connects students to all components of the program. UC Berkley recently opted to use the Catalyst system. I love technology, and UCI has got it.

After lunch was the introductory ropes course designed to teach us teamwork and trust. Our group divided into three groups. There were a number of puzzles presented
to the groups. The puzzles really forced us to listen to our team mates and work together. They were tough and fun, but I think the main purpose of the event was to give us a sneak peak of what our entire entering class will be doing during orientation week only 20 feet higher (see picture - yes future classmates, that's where we are going!).

By the end of the ropes course I was exhausted and thoroughly sun burnt (Note to self - significantly increase your home expense budget for a lot of sunscreen). We tried to remedy the exhaustion by going to the Steelhead Brewery for some tasty microbrew. Then, we proceeded to go to the Lucky Strike for some neon bowling. This event really showed how well everyone had bonded over the weekend as everyone looked very comfortable with one another. It got pretty exciting when you combined the deadly (but entertaining) combination of alcohol, blindfolds, and bowling balls. Luckily no one was hurt, and we had a lot of fun.

By the end of bowling, I was pretty exhausted. I went back to the hotel and crashed. Returning home, I was not able to get home until after 3am, so I decided to take Monday off and sleep. I think, now, I am rested and ready to rejoin the real world.

I have recapped the events and my thoughts, but the real substance of this weekend are the new classmates that I met. They were all very unique and interesting. I am hesitant to name them because once I start I will want to talk about each one (As you can see this post is long enough). Lets just say I remember all those who I met and look forward to expanding that relationship in September. That and I am sure many of them will make appearances in this blog over the next two years.

Back in California Ready for Admit Weekend

I arrived into Irvine around 10pm this evening. Of course it is 1am EST, so I am zonked. The flights were smooth except for other passengers sitting in my section. The first leg had a young girl who drank heavily before getting on the plane, then once on the plane proceeded to ingest perscription pills until she passed out cold. She was seriously stoned. The next leg saw me in a fairly empty plane. For the bulk of the boarding time, I had my section to myself. Then, I see anther women coming towards me. She had a thin nose with bright blue eyes close together. That wouldn't have been a big deal if she just glanced around like most people, but she starred intently at one area at a time. It really freaked me out. I started praying "please don't let her sit here" and guess where she sat - next to me. She wasn't bad passenger; she just gave me the willies!

Upon arrival I tracked down the cab area. I read a list of shuttles and the Irvine Marriot was not on it. So I got a cab. When I told the cabbie I wanted to go tot he Irvine Marriot, he looked at me with scorn. Unbeknowst to me the Irvine Marriot does have a shuttle. While driving to the hotel, he went on a rant saying that he waits 3 hours in line to get one passenger and that passenger doesn't know there is a shuttle to the Marriot Irvine. I mentioned that it might not be the best earning strategy to wait in a 3 hour line to get one fare, but he wasn't impressed. The ride was still a $8 cab ride, but I guess that wasn't enough. Welcome to the OC?

Tomorrow, starts my reason of being here: UCI's Admit weekend. I hope to get a head start meeting some of my classmates by laying the foundation for some good future relationships. I am still debating if I want the optional school tour at 12pm. I think it will depend on how well rested I am (sidenote: I appologize for any typos, but it is now approaching 2:30am EST and I am spent). I will keep you updated on how it goes.

Toodles.