That’s Milah to You

It might not be a big deal to most people, but I'm pumped because I completed the Harwich Cranberry Harvest Half Marathon and 7.3 Mile race. Or if you speak New English, it's the Harwich Cranberry Harvest Half Marathon and 7.3 Milah. Not just did I finish, but I came in 4^th place…well, in my weight class. So what if the 3 guys that beat me averaged 4 years older than me? I'm concentrating on how badly I crushed that 25 year olds time! Eat it, Hightower.

When I got into the office this morning, someone on the team was looking for Tower projects and it gave me an excuse to jump into my old designs. It's been a while since I looked at these but was happy with what I found. I uploaded a bunch of renderings for these projects to share (look on the left hand side). Here are some of my favorite images.

Dept. of Little Things: TV Programming

Are you on the lookout for the little things? I'm confident that this 'little thing' will elude about half of my readers. But oh, it is sweet.

This is a busy weekend for road races and walks for charity in Boston. Wifey and I ran the Somerville Homeless Coalition 5k this morning and are resting for our Cranberry Bog 10k tomorrow. I'm hanging-out in the front room by myself right now while my better half and dingo naps in the bedroom. That's right, taxpayers! That means that I get both the A and B channel! There's a lot of good television on right now and I'd like to highlight one particularly good patch of consecutive channels:

804: Tennessee at LSU

805: Oklahoma at Texas

806: Yankees at Red Sox

807: Ryder Cup Golf

Red Sox Update (middle of the 3^rd): It's time to pull Wakefield.

My Wish for This Pot

Last Christmas, I was gifted a Wishing Pot. Today, the wish became a reality. Unfortunately, the wish belonged to someone else.

There Goes My Wisdom

As of 5:35pm EDT last night, my upper wisdom teeth have been removed. Here are two things that I've learned from the experience:

• The technical term for getting teeth removed from one's skull is extracted. For an inexplicable reason, this pisses me off.
• Those in the profession refer to upper wisdom teeth as numbers 1 and 16 (…at least that's what the liability release form said).

A memory from the banks of my youth:

I can remember my parents joking with the children about the barbaric act of picking crabs. It went something like this, "If aliens came into this room right now and saw us eating these crabs, they'd turn around and run for their lives. Apparently, these crabbies legs weren't quite long enough to get them away…" It always punctuated with whack, crack, delight.

Why is this relevant? Because extracting teeth reminds me of whackin' crabs. I trust that the world of medicine has undergone profound advancements and achievements during recent decades. But you wouldn't guess that by witnessing an extraction. As for the experience, never open your eyes during the procedure!

Step 0: Waiting Room

An extraction is one of those procedures where you need someone else to drive you home. Now that I'm hitched, this sounds like an excellent job for my wife. It was, except that she was having a great time. She couldn't stop smiling. Before. During. After. Someone at work said, "Welcome to marriage."

Step 1: Legal Documentation

What am I getting into? The document that I'm supposed to sign is clearly the photocopy of a document that was originally produced with a typewriter. This was not a copy of the original document. Nope. Not even close. This was a photocopy of another patients release form! How did I know? The photocopy machine picked up the texture of the painted-on whiteout.

I was surprised to note that the document only requires the dentist to manually scribble which teeth are coming out. I know that this might not sound odd but I would feel better if there were at least a diagram.

Step 2: Local Anesthetics

Why haven't we invented a better mechanism for delivering fluid into a targeted area of the body?

Step 3: Extraction

This is when I made the mistake of opening my eyes. When I did, I saw the device that is used to extract the tooth. It's not a huge deal unless you see it going into your mouth. This device is archaic and felt like the key to using it is leverage and a fulcrum. The first tooth came out rather easily. We were only two minutes into the procedure when the good doctor tapped me on the shoulder and said, "The first one's out." The second tooth was less willing. It required some drilling and seemed like it came out in pieces. Two specific things crossed my mind over and over during this part of the procedure: I didn't know my mouth could open that wide and that crunching sound can't be good.

Step 4: Immediate Aftercare

Wifey is good to me.

Step 5: Healing

I heart milk shakes but am ready for solid food. I've been on the sidelines at meals for less than 24 hours and am already craving pizza. My face is swollen and lopsided. The side with the difficult tooth is much bigger than the other. I look adorable.

Having teeth pulled sucks. But I'm glad that they're out and I'm on the mend. Apparently it's OK to take the following day off from work to recover…I, however, did not do this. There was surprisingly little blood. I think more blood came out after the surgery than during. Teeth feel much bigger than they really are.
Parents pierce their daughter's earlobes at a young age so that they don't remember the experience (read pain). I wonder why not expand this concept to include wisdom teeth? …who knows maybe they don't exist until later in life.

Millsabatical

There are few things that distinguish one company’s compensation package from another.  At my company, there are two:

· Employee Stock Purchase Plan and

· Sabbatical

The ESPP is like free money, so it’s easy to appreciate (especially when the stock is up over 150% in 19 months).  The sabbatical, on the other hand, deserves expansion.

First, a lesson in sabbatical vocabulary (well, those terms that comes to mind right now)

Sabbatitude: an ebbing of motivation and effort by employees as evidenced by indifference, complacency, and decreased motivation in the period preceding one’s sabbatical.

Escape Velocity: the minimum velocity required to escape the gravitational clutch or call of the office by e-mail, phone, or otherwise

Sabbatage: An incident or event that interferes with or otherwise keeps one from reaching escape velocity

Re-entry: the re-penetration of the offices atmosphere by one who has been on sabbatical

Sabbaticool: something cool that happens that one would not have otherwise been privy to

There are generally three different reactions from those who have taken sabbatical.

Reaction 1: I had a great time, but I was starting to get bored towards the end.  I am kinda glad that I’ve gone back to work.

Analysis: This is a clear sign of a poorly executed sabbatical.  The root of this problem usually stems from an inability to fill the 6 weeks with enough balance of fulfilling and relaxing events.

For example: “I took sabbatical during summer to spend the whole time with my kids.”  Or, “I stayed at home the whole time.”

Reaction 2: Sabbatical is heaven.  I wish sabbatical were permanent.

Analysis: You have the wrong job.  Seek counsel from Dr. HotJobs.

For example: “As humans, we weren’t made to sit at a desk for 10 hours a day.”

Reaction 3: I’m content with my time off and prepared to head back to the office.  

Analysis: this is the Zen zone for sabbatical goers.  This requires good sabbatical planning and execution.  Only those who are truly one with sabbatical can achieve this level of self actualization.

For example: “I’m satisfied with the things I did.”  Or, “I’m recharged and ready to take-on the next task at hand.”

I reach the sabbatical Zen zone.  I did a lot of things but not too much.  We spent time in the city and balanced it with time at the beach.  We spent time in wine country and balanced it with time at home.  We watched a lot of the World Cup and balanced it with a lot of reading.  We had a wedding and balanced it with a long honeymoon.  We found a new place to live and balanced it with a lot of local activities.  …and the list goes on.  Now for the best news of all!  …only 27 months until the next one!

Renting Has its Advantages

…this ol' house has been around since 1900. Considering its age, it's certainly entitled to have a couple of bad days. Unfortunately, today was a bad day. Here's the story:

Poor poor house. It turns out that both the drain and vent (? yeah, both) have clogged repeatedly, ruptured, and turned into a giant rain cloud whenever the upstairs neighbors use the dishwasher or washing machine. 24 hours later, the pipe's been replaced and we're left with a 7' x 10" hole that runs from the countertop to the ceiling. Still, on its better days, it's a fine place to call home.

What’s an Orbit Worth?

The calendar says that I've been kickin' around for some 30+ worldly orbits. I've never looked forward to any single orbit like I have this one. 2010 is a personally exciting one for loads o' reasons…and one of them showed up on my doorstep this week. And here it is; a wonderful piece of tangible affirmation that, technically, allows me to put three little initials in my e-signature (MBA). …don't worry, no matter what the initials, I'll never ascend to that type of vanity.

It represents several years of juggling one of the more demanding marketing jobs in existence (…conservative estimate), a too long courtship of wife-2-be, and the additional rigors of life. Here's a list of the courses. Some contain fonder memories than others. My favorite courses were the ones that delivered strong personalities, passionate debate, and a wide range of perspectives. On the other hand, nothing was more aggravating than the quiet person(s) in class. Strong opinions drew me to Finance but the 'art of the deal' drew me to M&A. Few professions offer such a strong (and measurable) mix of art and science.

1. Principles of Accounting
2. Management People in Organizations
3. Statistics
4. Principles of Economics
5. Marketing Management
6. Operations Management
7. Negotiating
8. Global Corporate Strategy
9. Relationship Management
10. Strategic Information Fundamentals
11. Leadership and Corporate Responsibility
12. Business Process Management
13. International Business Law
14. Argumentation Strategies for Business
15. Corporate Finance: Theory, Tools and Concepts
16. Short-term Financial Management
17. Corporate Finance: Applications and Advanced Topics
18. Mergers and Acquisitions
19. International Financial Management

…and some of the reading. By no means is this all inclusive but it's all that I could get my hands during a commercial break.

People often remark that the biggest takeaways from school aren't those on the syllabus. I've never found Finance (etc) very difficult, it just requires time and attention. Now that I've completed the Masters, I've become the beneficiary of my own time – it's tough to appreciate it until you don't have it. Now, I find that I can accomplish more in a shorter amount of time than I ever thought I could. I've also gained the perspective and appreciation for 'just how hairy the beast is.' I could go on (balance, confidence, insight, blah blah blah), but instead, I'll reward you for reading this far. J Fin.