I closed my eyes in August, and when I opened them it was April

I am officially finished with my first year of classes! Just three "little" exams next week, and my first year will be over. I didn't believe people when they told me that the first year would fly by...I'm a believer now.

It's strange that during Spring, the season of renewals, there are so many closures. School years end. Goodbyes are said to friends. Favorite TV shows finish. It makes this time bittersweet - you're anticipating the rebirth and new things that will come, but are saddened by the many chapters that are closing.

I'm sure next year will fly by just as quickly, and that will probably be harder. But that's next year. Ages from now. Or maybe just 3 months.

One down.

Fore!

Our best friends Abby and Nathan came down for a visit this past weekend. It's times like these that Chicago seems even farther away. The good news is that Scott and Nathan got to practice their golf game, and I think they're improving.

After finishing up the back nine, Scott and Nathan turned to a little NASCAR raing (we are in the South, after all). In case you were wondering...28 and 30.

I love you, but...

If there's one thing I'll take away from my business school experience, it's how educated international students are. More educated than us stupid Americans.

Don't get me wrong - I love this country (an apparently they do, too, or they wouldn't come here to study) and I feel extremely lucky to have been born here. It's all luck. There's no rhyme or reason why I was born American versus Chinese versus Kenyan, so no American should be smug about their nationality.

But these international students are smart. In class, they'll talk about world issues like it's second nature, while I sit there with a blank look on my face. I guess when you're fat and happy, it's OK to be dumb, too.

Not only do I think every one of our schools should mandate classes on world history/current and international events from K-12 grades, but we should mandate language requirements, as well. And not just one or two classes, but a class every year. It's not just the schools, though...we need to educate our kids, so we're just as educated as everyone else, and can work together to elicit some change. We've been "those stupid Americans" for too long. It's time to catch up to the rest of the world.

So for now, I'll just try to pick up a WSJ and catch up on the last 5,000 years of world history I've missed out on. And maybe get an international student to help me out in the process.

(Stepping off my soapbox).

Never have I ever...

It's not everyday you get to see a monkey. Much less an Indian monkey. Much, much less the chance to shake hands with a monkey. But here is Alan, shaking hands with an Indian monkey. Foiled again!

If you're feeling a little overwhelmed today, just think of the magical Indian monkey and all your worries will melt away with one simple handshake.

It wasn't me

I went to a wedding this past weekend and ran into people I haven't seen since college. Over the course of abbreviating the past five years, I mentioned that I'm currently getting my MBA at Duke University.

Prior to the last month, when I would say this, people would ask what I'm studying, where I'm interning, and other school small talk. However, this past weekend the response was a bit different.

Them: "So...the Duke Lacrosse team. What's going on there?"
Me: "I don't know. That's really the undergrad campus."
Them: "Oh. Do you need anything from the bar?"
Repeat 27 times.

For the record, I'm not on the Duke Lacrosse team. I didn't go to the Duke Lacrosse party on the night in question. I don't know any players on the Duke Lacrosse team. I don't even know what lacrosse is, besides it being a sport played by 46 guys.

Let's keep in mind three things:
1. These guys are innocent until proven guilty, regardless of the assumed direct correlation between the size of their parents' houses and the type of lawyer they can hire.
2. I do hope the guilty party, as found through trial, is punished.
3. If you watch the news, you probably know more about the case than I do.

Now...let's get back to me.

Sonic's got 'em. Others don't.

For strategy class, our team had to pick a company on which to do an industry/company analysis. Being the geniuses that we are, we chose Sonic. Basically, it's just an excuse to eat a Junior Banana Split.

In the course of our research, we came across the following Sonic commercial spoofs. You may be asking how, if we were doing legitimate research, we came across these clips. I don't know. I credit that to Alan's internet search abilities. Anyway, if you've seen the recent Sonic commercials, then I think you'll get a kick out of these.

Enjoy!

Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks

We ended our one game winning streak in softball last night. In our defense, we did play the Divinity School. I know that God doesn't like to play favorites, but seriously, is there any doubt whose side God was on last night?

On the bright side, no injuries this time.

I played hookey from school today (well, kind of. We don't have classes on Wednesdays) and went to the Durham Bulls game with some friends from school. I'm not a huge baseball fan, but it was actually a lot of fun. No crackerjacks this time, but a hot dog and some peanuts, in true b-ball style. Because we got a group from school to go, we got entered into a raffle and they called my name! I won...a t-shirt. Still, it was exciting to hear my name over the loudspeaker. I'm famous!

Lots of little kids at the game today, and plenty of sugar to go around. Between the sno-cones, the ice cream and the hotdogs, these kids are going to be high for days: Reason #362 not to have kids.

When did I become old?

Sign #1: "Death Cab for Cutie" (one of my favorite bands) and "Franz Ferdinand" (one of my new favorite bands) came to Duke a few weeks ago. My hubby and I went to the concert, possibly being the only two married people there, and had a great time at the concert. Yeah, the bands were really good, but the best part was the running commentary between us about the college-age girls and their wardrobe. I'm not being catty, but either college girls have gotten a lot larger since I was in college (which wasn't THAT long ago), or they're wearing skimpier things today that show off their fat rolls. Back in my day, girls didn't dress so slutty.

Sign #2: At this same concert, during one of "Death Cabs" slower songs, the entire stadium filled with light. Light from lighters? No, light from cell phones. Hundreds and hundreds of cell phones. When did this become a trend? I can't wait until the day when it'll become cool again to use the lighter...it'll be so retro then!

Sign #3: As I've written before, I'm on a softball team, comprised of about 12 grad school students. Within the four weeks we've been playing, we've had groin injuries, arm injuries, and baseball-in-the-face injuries. Either we're all out of shape, or our bodies are getting old...or both.

I try to stay hip. I try to stay on top of the latest trends. I don't want to be the old mom one day that doesn't know how the work the ipod or know what TiVo is (both of which I've had to explain to MY mom). But slowly, I'm starting to see signs that I'm getting old. I need Ponce de Leon to come through for me!

April Showers

So it's been a long time since I've last written. I have this bad habit of getting really into something (remember, I got into this whole blog thing when I was doing some research on the topic) and then losing interest. Kind of like a little kid and her Christmas toys. But I'm turning over a new leaf and am going to be better about writing down my thoughts.

So I'm excited that Spring is finally here! The weather goes from 90 degree sunshine to 50 degree rain. I've joined the grad school softball team (why is that so hard for some people to believe?!), so I guess that's the first sign that spring is finally here to stay.

In other news, I'll be in Stamford, CT for the summer, rooming with my best bud and former freshman and sophomore college roommate. It's going to be a fun summer!