Monday, January 25, 2010

My Big News

Admittedly, many of you already know this since this big news is actually over a month old… but I guess part of me couldn’t believe it was true and even though signing the papers makes it official, posting it on my blog REALLY makes it official.

So, the news… I HAVE A JOB! Paperwork signed and sent to…. Apple! Woo Hoo!

There’s a lot I could say about the process and my decision. But, ultimately, what it came down to was not the money, the name appeal or even what company “won” in the comparison matrix I built during a 4-hour drive to Amsterdam…. I chose Apple because when I walked out of the interview after meeting many Apple employees and talking about the work I could be doing there, I realized I wanted to be there and was really excited about it. And, fortunately they wanted me too.

Monday, January 11, 2010

When I graduate from LGO, I will be a moving pro.

Getting accepted and coming to LGO means that you are going to learn how to move your belongings quickly and efficiently. Ok, well, they don’t TEACH you that, but it’s kind of a matter of survival.

It begins when you find out you’re accepted… school starts less than 3 months from that date, not 6 like most MBA programs. This is Move #1. For me, it involved finding a place to live without being able to participate in the usual LGO Admit weekend (since I was in a wedding), selling my beautiful convertible and all of my furniture, storing most of my personal possessions in one of those Door-to-Door pods and shipping my clothes and a few other things from Los Angeles to Boston. Then, I flew myself, my cat and 2 enormous suitcases to Boston where I had to buy new furniture (thanks, Ikea!) and get my life in order before starting school again after about 6 years.

Move #2 was a bit better because LGO helps a lot. Move #2 is for internship. Novartis did some of the tough work for me… finding a place to live in Germany. But, I still had to pack up everything and get it into a storage unit. Not. Fun. Plus, ship a few boxes of clothes overseas and pray that they actually made it there. (They did!)

Move #3 has been a month long event. It started with me packing and shipping 4 boxes from Germany to Drew’s home in Cambridge because I had nowhere else to ship them. Then I flew from Germany to Boston with 3 exploding suitcases, 2 which I left at a fellow LGO’s place while I spent the 2 ½ weeks couch surfing around California. Thursday was move IN day in Cambridge. The U-haul was rented, the lease was signed and the unpacking and furniture search is near complete. The place is fantastic and I have a great LGO classmate as my roommate, which is also fantastic.

I realized the other day that at one point during all of this I had my personal belongings spread across 5 locations:

- Germany
- Storage Unit in Cambridge
- My Aunt’s house in a suburb of Boston
- Storage Unit in Los Angeles
- My Mom’s place in Sacramento

(and if you want to get even pickier, there was those 4 boxes I sent to Drew’s place before him & I left Germany, so that’s a 6th… but who’s counting? ;))

Talk about diversified.

Anyway, after this move, there’s only one more left! And although, it’s another cross country move, I hope it’s the last one for awhile!