It's funny how your day can sometimes be negatively impacted before you even get out of bed. After a late-night study session at IHOP until 1am, I finally was able to make it into bed around 2 in the morning. With impeccable timing, a wave of nausea swept over my body and was just enough to keep me awake until nearly 4am. After falling asleep for about 1 hour and having a disturbing dream that I've already forgotten, I woke up drenched in a cold sweat. There are few things I hate more than waking up in a cold sweat.
Three hours later the alarm went off at 8am. I drag myself out of bed and am 10 minutes late to class, where - surprise surprise - my stomach STILL hurts even after a breakfast of cornflakes practically swimming in honey.
And as an additional ray of sunshine, we got our test scores back in Finance. I scored a 65%. That's including the curve.
This semester hasn't been a stressful one like past semesters have been. I'm just bored.. Incredibly bored. I'm sick of reading texbooks and taking tests.
On days like this, it's best if I just pop my iPod in my ears and mentally unplug. Listening to John Mayer's "Waiting on the World to Change" while biking back to the apartment helped a lot.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Saturday, October 28, 2006
The Simple Life
I remember one time I had a temporary job with a company that laid asphalt. You know, that really dark tar stuff and they spread it all over the road and it make it all smooth and new again. Anyway, part of the job was pressure-washing the old asphalt to prepare it for the new layer. I remember doing that for hours on end, just wandering around on this asphalt pressure washing it, back and forth, back and forth. At first, in my typical anal fashion, I was worried about getting dirty or wet (you know me, Mr. Pretty Boy). But after a while, I didn't care. I allowed the water to soak through my shoes and into my socks, didn't flinch when dirt and mud splattered all over me. It became oddly therapeutic, and since the job was so mindless my thoughts were free to wander. I had some of my best "thinking days" out there on the asphalt. I imagine that working land might be similar. Just gettin' dirty and working the farm. I think there must be something really satisfying in that kind of simplicity.
I think that's what bothers me about living in this day and age - life has become too complicated for its own good. Or better, man has made it too complicated. We sit around aruging metaphysics or the meaning of life or pondering philsophy or building bigger and better companies and at the end of the day it's all just so we can sit back, lower ourselves into a vat of bubbling pride, and marvel at our own pathetic greatness. If there's one thing about humanity that I can't stand, it's how full of ourselves we are. I'm reminded constantly of 1 Corinthians 1:19-20:
I love the wording of that phrase there: "the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." I can't imagine how frustrating it must be for God sometimes to sit up there in heaven and look down upon us. We really do think we know it all, and there are a lot of people in this world that have convinced themselves that just because they don't believe in something it doesn't exist. We've reduced truth to relativity and proclaimed the wisdom of mankind to be universal law. We neither need nor desire a God who holds the world in His hand and to whom all things are accountable because we've constructed a world that exists without Him. Or so we think.
One of the things that I love most about God is the fact that it's impossible to really have a relationship with Him without recognizing our own relative insignificance. There is an intense and gentle freedom to be found in the simple aknowledgement of my own depravity and helplessness. I love the fact that I'm just a guy splattered with mud and wearing wet socks who has no idea what he's doing - and yet the God of this universe sings over me and rejoices in my very existence. David rejoiced that God rescued him "because he delighted in me." God delights in us. Doesn't that just make you speechless?
The greatest obstacle to enjoying a relationship with God is our own pride. I have met many, many people over the last four years at this university who have this problem - including myself. I meet people every day who are convinced that God is sitting in their seat. I often try to put myself in God's seat without realizing it. Many times it's with full knowledge.
But sometimes I'm just standing there, with mud splattered on my face and wet socks, grinning childishly at my Father. I think that this, truly, is the meaning of life. It's not about money or fame or power or security or wisdom or know-how. It's about standing in a puddle and smiling up at my Father, who laughs with joy and rubs the dirt out of my wet hair with a towel. That is what I was created for, and that is how I want to live.
I think that's what bothers me about living in this day and age - life has become too complicated for its own good. Or better, man has made it too complicated. We sit around aruging metaphysics or the meaning of life or pondering philsophy or building bigger and better companies and at the end of the day it's all just so we can sit back, lower ourselves into a vat of bubbling pride, and marvel at our own pathetic greatness. If there's one thing about humanity that I can't stand, it's how full of ourselves we are. I'm reminded constantly of 1 Corinthians 1:19-20:
For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
I love the wording of that phrase there: "the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." I can't imagine how frustrating it must be for God sometimes to sit up there in heaven and look down upon us. We really do think we know it all, and there are a lot of people in this world that have convinced themselves that just because they don't believe in something it doesn't exist. We've reduced truth to relativity and proclaimed the wisdom of mankind to be universal law. We neither need nor desire a God who holds the world in His hand and to whom all things are accountable because we've constructed a world that exists without Him. Or so we think.
One of the things that I love most about God is the fact that it's impossible to really have a relationship with Him without recognizing our own relative insignificance. There is an intense and gentle freedom to be found in the simple aknowledgement of my own depravity and helplessness. I love the fact that I'm just a guy splattered with mud and wearing wet socks who has no idea what he's doing - and yet the God of this universe sings over me and rejoices in my very existence. David rejoiced that God rescued him "because he delighted in me." God delights in us. Doesn't that just make you speechless?
The greatest obstacle to enjoying a relationship with God is our own pride. I have met many, many people over the last four years at this university who have this problem - including myself. I meet people every day who are convinced that God is sitting in their seat. I often try to put myself in God's seat without realizing it. Many times it's with full knowledge.
But sometimes I'm just standing there, with mud splattered on my face and wet socks, grinning childishly at my Father. I think that this, truly, is the meaning of life. It's not about money or fame or power or security or wisdom or know-how. It's about standing in a puddle and smiling up at my Father, who laughs with joy and rubs the dirt out of my wet hair with a towel. That is what I was created for, and that is how I want to live.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Germany Withdrawals
Answering messages from my German friends back in Tübingen on Studiverzeichnis makes me want to just bolt to the airport right now, get on a plane, and fly back to Germany. I'm continually blown away by the sheer depth and quality of the friendships that I have with some of the people back there, and by how much I miss them all so much. How is it that I am blessed with such amazing friends after only knowing some of them for one year?
It's times like this where I'd give anything for just one hour in a cafe or in the Neckarmüller beer garden with them, drinking a cool, frisch gezapftes beer and watching the Neckar flow slowly by. Maybe it's because lately my life consists almost literally of nothing but studying, but when I think back on the year in Tübingen, life in Germany seems so much fuller in comparison. There was time to stop and drink it all in, even if I didn't always appreciate it. There was time to sit in a cafe and read a good book or to go on day trips with friends. Here, there isn't time, or there isn't consensus, or there just aren't the resources.
What surprises me the most is that all of us USA/UK students are STILL feeling this way, even this long after returning home and all at the same time. I expected this, but not for this long. It's at least comforting, though, to know that I'm not the only one who is pining after Deutschland like this and that there's nothing wrong with it. It's something that binds us all, and it's something that only those of us who have done it can truly understand. And really, that's a beautiful thing.
So is Tübingen right now:
As most of you know, I've been feverishly trying to get an internship at T-Mobile Germany lined up starting in May. I had originally wanted to stay for 6 months, which would mean that I finish school in Spring 2008. But over the past few days I have felt the oddest and most unexpected urge to stay in Seattle for the summer and finish in the Fall instead. I'm especially puzzled by this because of the fact that I'm missing Germany so badly right now. It's the weirdest thing because everything in me wants to go back to Germany, but there's this smaller yet somehow more powerful voice telling me that I should stay in Seattle this summer.
This urge has nothing to do with my parents' constant pressure to stay in the States. Lord knows I didn't listen to 'em when they wanted me to do Germany for one semester instead of a year, and I sure as heck ain't listenin' now. I've always deferred to my parents' authority or expertise in most areas - but when it comes to international endeavors involving Germany, frankly, I think I know better than they do what's best for me.
The funniest thing about this is watching my mother try to make a case for me to stay in the States. She tries to make it sound logical and like the "smart" thing to do; but it's plain to see that, deep down, she is coming to an understanding of the simple truth that she no longer has any control over where I choose to go. Not only is her only son grown up, but he's got an insatiable appetite for Germany, and there's nothing she can do to stop it. I suppose it's hard enough to watch your first child really "leave the nest" and that this is only compounded when he's trying not just to leave the nest but find an entirely different tree. However, it was a source of endless amusement to me while in Germany that my mother's ultimate nightmare was not that I would die in a plane crash on the way there or get lost in Europe; no, her worst nightmare was that I would fall in love with a German girl and never want to come back; she breathed a heavy sigh of relief when the end of the year rolled around and I was reported to still be single.
No, it isn't parental pressure that has lead to this weird desire to stay in Seattle. Rather, it was literally an overnight thing. I woke up one day and thought, "I think I'll stay in Seattle this summer." How on earth do you explain that??
It's times like this where I'd give anything for just one hour in a cafe or in the Neckarmüller beer garden with them, drinking a cool, frisch gezapftes beer and watching the Neckar flow slowly by. Maybe it's because lately my life consists almost literally of nothing but studying, but when I think back on the year in Tübingen, life in Germany seems so much fuller in comparison. There was time to stop and drink it all in, even if I didn't always appreciate it. There was time to sit in a cafe and read a good book or to go on day trips with friends. Here, there isn't time, or there isn't consensus, or there just aren't the resources.
What surprises me the most is that all of us USA/UK students are STILL feeling this way, even this long after returning home and all at the same time. I expected this, but not for this long. It's at least comforting, though, to know that I'm not the only one who is pining after Deutschland like this and that there's nothing wrong with it. It's something that binds us all, and it's something that only those of us who have done it can truly understand. And really, that's a beautiful thing.
So is Tübingen right now:
As most of you know, I've been feverishly trying to get an internship at T-Mobile Germany lined up starting in May. I had originally wanted to stay for 6 months, which would mean that I finish school in Spring 2008. But over the past few days I have felt the oddest and most unexpected urge to stay in Seattle for the summer and finish in the Fall instead. I'm especially puzzled by this because of the fact that I'm missing Germany so badly right now. It's the weirdest thing because everything in me wants to go back to Germany, but there's this smaller yet somehow more powerful voice telling me that I should stay in Seattle this summer.
This urge has nothing to do with my parents' constant pressure to stay in the States. Lord knows I didn't listen to 'em when they wanted me to do Germany for one semester instead of a year, and I sure as heck ain't listenin' now. I've always deferred to my parents' authority or expertise in most areas - but when it comes to international endeavors involving Germany, frankly, I think I know better than they do what's best for me.
The funniest thing about this is watching my mother try to make a case for me to stay in the States. She tries to make it sound logical and like the "smart" thing to do; but it's plain to see that, deep down, she is coming to an understanding of the simple truth that she no longer has any control over where I choose to go. Not only is her only son grown up, but he's got an insatiable appetite for Germany, and there's nothing she can do to stop it. I suppose it's hard enough to watch your first child really "leave the nest" and that this is only compounded when he's trying not just to leave the nest but find an entirely different tree. However, it was a source of endless amusement to me while in Germany that my mother's ultimate nightmare was not that I would die in a plane crash on the way there or get lost in Europe; no, her worst nightmare was that I would fall in love with a German girl and never want to come back; she breathed a heavy sigh of relief when the end of the year rolled around and I was reported to still be single.
No, it isn't parental pressure that has lead to this weird desire to stay in Seattle. Rather, it was literally an overnight thing. I woke up one day and thought, "I think I'll stay in Seattle this summer." How on earth do you explain that??
Monday, October 23, 2006
Next Semester = Woah
So far, my course load for next semester is at 22 credit hours. Now i'm thinking of adding yet another course, cause I wanna do independent study for my last German class. That would bring me to 25 hours.
Rock and roll, baby.
-edit-
So the German independent study is a go. Best of all, it's an "honors directed study" class, which means that I get to have Prof. Horwath as my supervisor and I get to basically study whatever I want. Which means I can use that to help me formulate and start my thesis and maybe even have Prof. Horwath direct it for me.
To understand how awesome I think Prof. Horwath is, ask Shannon what she thinks of Dr. Dalton (or basically any other professor in the BHC).
Next semester is going to be SO AWESOMELY EXHAUSTING AND AWESOME IN ITS AWESOMENESS.
Rock and roll, baby.
-edit-
So the German independent study is a go. Best of all, it's an "honors directed study" class, which means that I get to have Prof. Horwath as my supervisor and I get to basically study whatever I want. Which means I can use that to help me formulate and start my thesis and maybe even have Prof. Horwath direct it for me.
To understand how awesome I think Prof. Horwath is, ask Shannon what she thinks of Dr. Dalton (or basically any other professor in the BHC).
Next semester is going to be SO AWESOMELY EXHAUSTING AND AWESOME IN ITS AWESOMENESS.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Quotes of the Day
So, it becomes the devil's business to keep the Christian's spirit imprisoned. He knows that the believing and justified Christian has been raised up out of the grave of his sins and trespasses. From that point on, Satan works that much harder to keep us bound and gagged, actually imprisoned in our own grave clothes. He knows that if we continue in this kind of bondage . . . we are not much better off than when we were spiritually dead.
-A.W. Tozer
Listen carefully: any movement toward freedom and life, any movement toward God or others, will be opposed. Marriage, friendship, beauty, rest - the thief wants it all.
-John Eldredge
-A.W. Tozer
Listen carefully: any movement toward freedom and life, any movement toward God or others, will be opposed. Marriage, friendship, beauty, rest - the thief wants it all.
-John Eldredge
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Thriday
Hooray! It's Thriday!
Yesterday afternoon around 3 a group of us Honors Devils (and by a group I mean 2) plus our recruiting director and one of our other BHC staff members headed up to Flagstaff to do an Evening with ASU, which is basically where we bring a sort of ASU orietntation program to the students in their hometown so they don't have to come down to Phoenix. It was so much fun. Some of the greatest quotations from the evening:
Lexi, while she, Adrienne and I are setting up tables for the Resource Fair:
Lexi: Oooooo look at the first little brochure on the inside of this viewbook: "No Tolerance Cheating Policy."
Me: Gee, that's the FIRST thing we want to impress on new students.
Lexi: I know, seriously! (in low, menancing voice with bugged-out eyes) NO CHEAAAAAAAAAATINNNGGG!!
In response to a question during the student panel session:
Student: Is the honors college hard?
Me: Ummmmm...is it harder? Well, yeah, I'm not going to lie to you, it's harder. Not holy-crap-I-want-to-kill-myself harder, but it's harder.
Another question in student panel:
Mother: Are the students in the honors college....you know....nerds?
Adrienne: Well, to give you an idea, we don't spend our weekends playing chess.
After student panel:
Adrienne: Matt, we rock so seriously hard!
We seriously do rock seriously hard.
Yesterday afternoon around 3 a group of us Honors Devils (and by a group I mean 2) plus our recruiting director and one of our other BHC staff members headed up to Flagstaff to do an Evening with ASU, which is basically where we bring a sort of ASU orietntation program to the students in their hometown so they don't have to come down to Phoenix. It was so much fun. Some of the greatest quotations from the evening:
Lexi, while she, Adrienne and I are setting up tables for the Resource Fair:
Lexi: Oooooo look at the first little brochure on the inside of this viewbook: "No Tolerance Cheating Policy."
Me: Gee, that's the FIRST thing we want to impress on new students.
Lexi: I know, seriously! (in low, menancing voice with bugged-out eyes) NO CHEAAAAAAAAAATINNNGGG!!
In response to a question during the student panel session:
Student: Is the honors college hard?
Me: Ummmmm...is it harder? Well, yeah, I'm not going to lie to you, it's harder. Not holy-crap-I-want-to-kill-myself harder, but it's harder.
Another question in student panel:
Mother: Are the students in the honors college....you know....nerds?
Adrienne: Well, to give you an idea, we don't spend our weekends playing chess.
After student panel:
Adrienne: Matt, we rock so seriously hard!
We seriously do rock seriously hard.
Monday, October 16, 2006
Business As Usual
Practice presentation in Marketing for our meeting with the client tomorrow went swimmingly. Tomorrow should be no problem. I also picked up my suit this evening and I'm pretty excited to wear it for the first time tomorrow.
I also found out today that my request to change my major got approved, which means that effective next semester I'll be a supply chain management major officially. Thank God! The timing could not have been better.
After the presentation tomorrow it will be pretty much business as usual this week. Tomorrow night the honors college is hosting a Star Party on Hayden Lawn, where we honors college nerds get to go and look at the stars through telescopes. I am purty excited. Then Friday is drive-out-into-the-middle-of-nowhere-with-a-coffee-thermos-and-look-at-the-stars-all-night-long night with Adrienne and Shannon.
I can't believe we're halfway through October already! Where has the semester gone?
I also found out today that my request to change my major got approved, which means that effective next semester I'll be a supply chain management major officially. Thank God! The timing could not have been better.
After the presentation tomorrow it will be pretty much business as usual this week. Tomorrow night the honors college is hosting a Star Party on Hayden Lawn, where we honors college nerds get to go and look at the stars through telescopes. I am purty excited. Then Friday is drive-out-into-the-middle-of-nowhere-with-a-coffee-thermos-and-look-at-the-stars-all-night-long night with Adrienne and Shannon.
I can't believe we're halfway through October already! Where has the semester gone?
8 Films to Die For
An independent film studio is releasing 8 horror films next month that were deemed "too graphic, too controversial" for the mainstream box office.
The trailer alone scares me.
When I look at the whole horror genre, I sometimes wonder where our society is heading. Movies get increasingly graphic, increasingly gory, increasingly...well, just plain scary. Think of films like Saw and Hostel, where EVERYTHING is shown in all its graphic detail. It's like a drug. Once one movie breaks a barrier, it sets the stakes even higher. Directors and producers have to show things even gorier, even scarier, even more horrifying and depraved just to get a mild shock out of audiences. But how much is too much? Where do you really draw the line?
The older I get the less and less desire I have to see films like these. I just don't want images like these in my mind. Why put them there?
The trailer alone scares me.
When I look at the whole horror genre, I sometimes wonder where our society is heading. Movies get increasingly graphic, increasingly gory, increasingly...well, just plain scary. Think of films like Saw and Hostel, where EVERYTHING is shown in all its graphic detail. It's like a drug. Once one movie breaks a barrier, it sets the stakes even higher. Directors and producers have to show things even gorier, even scarier, even more horrifying and depraved just to get a mild shock out of audiences. But how much is too much? Where do you really draw the line?
The older I get the less and less desire I have to see films like these. I just don't want images like these in my mind. Why put them there?
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Believe Me Now
I watch you looking out across the raging water
So sure your only hope lies on the other side
You hear the enemy that's closing in around you
and I know that you don't have the strength to fight
But do you have the faith to stand
and believe Me now
Believe Me here
Remember all the times I've told you loud and clear
I am with you
I am for you
So believe Me now
I am the One who waved my hand and split the ocean
I am the One who spoke the words and raised the dead
I loved you long before I set the world in motion
I know all the fears you're feeling now
But do you remember who I am?
So believe Me now
Believe Me here
Remember all the times I've told you loud and clear
I am with you
I am for you
So believe Me now
So believe Me now
Believe it's true
I never have, I never will abandon you
And the God that I have always been
I will forever be
So believe Me now
I am the God who never wastes a single hurt you endure
My words are true and all my promises are sure
So believe Me now
-Steven Curtis Chapman
So sure your only hope lies on the other side
You hear the enemy that's closing in around you
and I know that you don't have the strength to fight
But do you have the faith to stand
and believe Me now
Believe Me here
Remember all the times I've told you loud and clear
I am with you
I am for you
So believe Me now
I am the One who waved my hand and split the ocean
I am the One who spoke the words and raised the dead
I loved you long before I set the world in motion
I know all the fears you're feeling now
But do you remember who I am?
So believe Me now
Believe Me here
Remember all the times I've told you loud and clear
I am with you
I am for you
So believe Me now
So believe Me now
Believe it's true
I never have, I never will abandon you
And the God that I have always been
I will forever be
So believe Me now
I am the God who never wastes a single hurt you endure
My words are true and all my promises are sure
So believe Me now
-Steven Curtis Chapman
Friday, October 13, 2006
The Clarendon
My mom is in town since yesterday for a business meeting. However, her visit also serves as an opportunity to visit me and take me out today to buy my first business suit.
So last night after her flight got in we went to Olive Garden and had dinner. Then we went out to the grocery store and stocked up my apartment with more groceries than I know what to do with. Since we were planning to get up today and go suit shopping in the morning before her business meeting, I decided to pack an overnight bag and spend the night at the hotel with mom. So I packed, we got into her rental car, programmed the GPS, and off we went.
"So where is this hotel?" I ask?
"It's called the Clarendon, and it's supposed to be in downtown Phoenix. My Executive Assistant said it's really nice." Mom replies.
"Ok, cool.'
I knew we had a problem the moment the GPS navigator directed me to get off the 51 at Indian School Road. This is not a good part of town, even in daytime. We're passing 99-cent store after liquor store after bar.
"Mom, this really isn't a good part of town."
"I know, I was thinking the same thing. This isn't looking good."
"*BEEP!* In three hundred yards, turn left onto third street."
We round another corner and lo and behold, the hotel comes into view. As if we could have possibly missed it.
A large and plain 3-story white brick building with few windows, the Clarendon sports blue-colored lighting that shoots up the sides of the building to give it the appearance of glowing. I think this is almost classy for about 3/10 of a second until I realize that the color of the light is changing. Blue, pink, green, red, orange, blue....
On one side of the hotel is a bar with completely glass walls so you can see straight inside. A limosine is parked out front and a blond girl wearing what I would imagine is an uncomfortably tight red dress (any tighter and she'd be suffocating) is stepping out of it. What I would imagine is supposed to be a bellboy is standing at the front. He looks more like a bouncer, wearing a white shirt with no sleeves.
I look over at Mom, whose jaw is now firmly on the floor of the passenger side.
"Mom.......this looks like a strip club!"
"I...am going to KILL my executive assistant."
We decide that - maybe, just maybe - it's actually nice on the inside, so we park in the cheap-apartment-covered-style-parking lot next to the hotel, grab just one bag each and walk to check in. The lobby is basic but trendy, and you can tell they've gone a long way trying to style it up - largely unsuccessfully. We are visably uncomfortable and the overly cheery girl at the front desk notices this as she ratttles on about how the hotel has the same beds as in five-star hotels and blah blah blah and you'll also notice a large canvass artwork - like this one - in your room by the window, and it actually slides over the window to provide a non-electirc blackout shade and blah blah blah enjoy your stay with us!
We step into the tiled - yes, TILED - elevator that is about the size of a small closet and take it to the 2nd floor. Upon stepping out, we discover that this particular hotel has an inward courtyard - an no interior hallways. It looks like a Motel 8. Mom grumbles something to herself and I notice that the room signs on the doors are actualy fake Arizona licesense plates with the room numbers on them. Classy. We find our room and open the door.
Well, the girl at the front desk wasn't lying. The beds look expensive.
However, nothing else about the room looks expensive.
The walls are stucco. Cold and bare. The carpet is dark and doesn't match the rest of the decor, which is red and black and trying to look classy but actually just looks tacky. There is no real countertop in the bathroom, just a pedestal sink. No refrigerator, although there is a mini-bar simply sitting on a cafeteria-style tray on the same table the TV is resting on. And as the icing on the cake, there is a large, seven-by five-foot mirror propped up against the wall. Facing one of the beds.
"We are NOT staying here."
20 seconds later we're rushing down the stairs and toward the exit to the parking lot. As we pass one room, the very unmistakable smell of pot wiffs out at us.
"Do you smell that?"
"Yeah. Hurry."
We practially RUN to the car, get in, and take off. We didn't even bother to check out. Mom is already on the phone with a Country Inn & Suites in Tempe near the University. 20 minutes later we're there and checked in.
Warm, country atmosphere with a huge wooden staircase in the lobby. A cheerful old man at the front desk. No full-length mirrors in the room propped up against the wall.
And it was $30 less than the Clarendon.
So last night after her flight got in we went to Olive Garden and had dinner. Then we went out to the grocery store and stocked up my apartment with more groceries than I know what to do with. Since we were planning to get up today and go suit shopping in the morning before her business meeting, I decided to pack an overnight bag and spend the night at the hotel with mom. So I packed, we got into her rental car, programmed the GPS, and off we went.
"So where is this hotel?" I ask?
"It's called the Clarendon, and it's supposed to be in downtown Phoenix. My Executive Assistant said it's really nice." Mom replies.
"Ok, cool.'
I knew we had a problem the moment the GPS navigator directed me to get off the 51 at Indian School Road. This is not a good part of town, even in daytime. We're passing 99-cent store after liquor store after bar.
"Mom, this really isn't a good part of town."
"I know, I was thinking the same thing. This isn't looking good."
"*BEEP!* In three hundred yards, turn left onto third street."
We round another corner and lo and behold, the hotel comes into view. As if we could have possibly missed it.
A large and plain 3-story white brick building with few windows, the Clarendon sports blue-colored lighting that shoots up the sides of the building to give it the appearance of glowing. I think this is almost classy for about 3/10 of a second until I realize that the color of the light is changing. Blue, pink, green, red, orange, blue....
On one side of the hotel is a bar with completely glass walls so you can see straight inside. A limosine is parked out front and a blond girl wearing what I would imagine is an uncomfortably tight red dress (any tighter and she'd be suffocating) is stepping out of it. What I would imagine is supposed to be a bellboy is standing at the front. He looks more like a bouncer, wearing a white shirt with no sleeves.
I look over at Mom, whose jaw is now firmly on the floor of the passenger side.
"Mom.......this looks like a strip club!"
"I...am going to KILL my executive assistant."
We decide that - maybe, just maybe - it's actually nice on the inside, so we park in the cheap-apartment-covered-style-parking lot next to the hotel, grab just one bag each and walk to check in. The lobby is basic but trendy, and you can tell they've gone a long way trying to style it up - largely unsuccessfully. We are visably uncomfortable and the overly cheery girl at the front desk notices this as she ratttles on about how the hotel has the same beds as in five-star hotels and blah blah blah and you'll also notice a large canvass artwork - like this one - in your room by the window, and it actually slides over the window to provide a non-electirc blackout shade and blah blah blah enjoy your stay with us!
We step into the tiled - yes, TILED - elevator that is about the size of a small closet and take it to the 2nd floor. Upon stepping out, we discover that this particular hotel has an inward courtyard - an no interior hallways. It looks like a Motel 8. Mom grumbles something to herself and I notice that the room signs on the doors are actualy fake Arizona licesense plates with the room numbers on them. Classy. We find our room and open the door.
Well, the girl at the front desk wasn't lying. The beds look expensive.
However, nothing else about the room looks expensive.
The walls are stucco. Cold and bare. The carpet is dark and doesn't match the rest of the decor, which is red and black and trying to look classy but actually just looks tacky. There is no real countertop in the bathroom, just a pedestal sink. No refrigerator, although there is a mini-bar simply sitting on a cafeteria-style tray on the same table the TV is resting on. And as the icing on the cake, there is a large, seven-by five-foot mirror propped up against the wall. Facing one of the beds.
"We are NOT staying here."
20 seconds later we're rushing down the stairs and toward the exit to the parking lot. As we pass one room, the very unmistakable smell of pot wiffs out at us.
"Do you smell that?"
"Yeah. Hurry."
We practially RUN to the car, get in, and take off. We didn't even bother to check out. Mom is already on the phone with a Country Inn & Suites in Tempe near the University. 20 minutes later we're there and checked in.
Warm, country atmosphere with a huge wooden staircase in the lobby. A cheerful old man at the front desk. No full-length mirrors in the room propped up against the wall.
And it was $30 less than the Clarendon.
Monday, October 9, 2006
Welp, that lasted long...
Yup. I'm back.
I know. I know. I KNOW. I said I was shutting this blog down. Geez people, a guy is allowed to change his mind, you know. Several times if necessary. The point is, the new website I made in iWeb was cool for about 24 hours and then I realized that it just wasn't quite what I wanted as far as flexibility and features go. And I'm not paying $100 for something that doesn't fit right. So here we are back to square one. Oh well.
Today was an amazing Monday. For starters, I woke up fully rested and energized at 8:30am. I was actually in a good mood when I got up and ready to start the day. That's rarely the case even on Fridays, and today is MONDAY.
So I skipped (not really) off to class and took wonderful detailed notes and paid attention and even sat up straight. During break I read the Wall Street Journal. Then back to class. More wonderful notes and good posture. Then back to Starbucks, where I did half of my reading for my legal & ethical studies class. Productiiiiiiiiive. Then lab, which I didn't even need to do this week, but I figured I might as well get it done now when it's not as much of a crunch as it would be next week (that's called being "proactive." Sometimes I try it).
Then tour at the BHC, which was one of those awkward ones where the visitors never speak and don't have any questions. I much prefer the semi-annoying parents who ask dozens of stupid questions to the mute ones who don't seem to care much.
After stopping at the bookstore to pick up a ream of printer paper and finding a $4 paperback that looked cool, it was back to the apartment, where I cracked open a beer in celebration of my wonderful day and proceeded to actually COOK dinner (Oregano chicken in a tomato/mushroom/garlic sauce with green beens). And I just finished my finance homework, planned out what has to get done every day for the rest of the week in order to be ahead (ahead! I haven't been AHEAD in months) for the weekend when Mom gets here. Oh, and I even got an hour of guitar practice in today.
Most days I'm just a spaz trying to keep up unsuccessfully. Today, Monday cowered in fear as I beat the living daylights out of it. I love beating the crap out of Mondays. Tuesday, you're next.
In closing: check out the new Mac ads. The counselor one is my favorite.
I know. I know. I KNOW. I said I was shutting this blog down. Geez people, a guy is allowed to change his mind, you know. Several times if necessary. The point is, the new website I made in iWeb was cool for about 24 hours and then I realized that it just wasn't quite what I wanted as far as flexibility and features go. And I'm not paying $100 for something that doesn't fit right. So here we are back to square one. Oh well.
Today was an amazing Monday. For starters, I woke up fully rested and energized at 8:30am. I was actually in a good mood when I got up and ready to start the day. That's rarely the case even on Fridays, and today is MONDAY.
So I skipped (not really) off to class and took wonderful detailed notes and paid attention and even sat up straight. During break I read the Wall Street Journal. Then back to class. More wonderful notes and good posture. Then back to Starbucks, where I did half of my reading for my legal & ethical studies class. Productiiiiiiiiive. Then lab, which I didn't even need to do this week, but I figured I might as well get it done now when it's not as much of a crunch as it would be next week (that's called being "proactive." Sometimes I try it).
Then tour at the BHC, which was one of those awkward ones where the visitors never speak and don't have any questions. I much prefer the semi-annoying parents who ask dozens of stupid questions to the mute ones who don't seem to care much.
After stopping at the bookstore to pick up a ream of printer paper and finding a $4 paperback that looked cool, it was back to the apartment, where I cracked open a beer in celebration of my wonderful day and proceeded to actually COOK dinner (Oregano chicken in a tomato/mushroom/garlic sauce with green beens). And I just finished my finance homework, planned out what has to get done every day for the rest of the week in order to be ahead (ahead! I haven't been AHEAD in months) for the weekend when Mom gets here. Oh, and I even got an hour of guitar practice in today.
Most days I'm just a spaz trying to keep up unsuccessfully. Today, Monday cowered in fear as I beat the living daylights out of it. I love beating the crap out of Mondays. Tuesday, you're next.
In closing: check out the new Mac ads. The counselor one is my favorite.
Friday, October 6, 2006
New Blog Home
Hey everyone, I now have a temporary new home on the web. I'm using a trial of .Mac membership, so should I decide not to continue this my account will expire in 60 days. Until then, enjoy the new home of my blog and everything else:
http://web.mac.com/matthew.linden
http://web.mac.com/matthew.linden
Thursday, October 5, 2006
The End of an Era
Alright everyone, I've done a lot of thinking about whether or not to keep this blog going and I have decided to......
::drumroll::
shut it down.
I'll pause for a moment so you all can gather the rotten fruit you're going to throw at my virtual stage. It's just gotten to the point where blogging really has no value anymore....Most of the people who read it are people who see me often if not every day and it's just sort of a drain.
I would like to continue having a website and even a blog of some kind, but I want it to henceforth be of my own design and on my own terms. I've been building a website in iWeb (don't you love Mac applications) that would theoretically include photos and a blog and all that jazz, but I have no place to host it as of yet and I am not going to pay for the kind of significant hosting space that would require. Whether or not that project actually gets off the ground at all remains to be seen.
So for now, Matt's Blog is on hiatus. Any suggestions as to a place where I can host (a lot) of space for free would be welcome.
::drumroll::
shut it down.
I'll pause for a moment so you all can gather the rotten fruit you're going to throw at my virtual stage. It's just gotten to the point where blogging really has no value anymore....Most of the people who read it are people who see me often if not every day and it's just sort of a drain.
I would like to continue having a website and even a blog of some kind, but I want it to henceforth be of my own design and on my own terms. I've been building a website in iWeb (don't you love Mac applications) that would theoretically include photos and a blog and all that jazz, but I have no place to host it as of yet and I am not going to pay for the kind of significant hosting space that would require. Whether or not that project actually gets off the ground at all remains to be seen.
So for now, Matt's Blog is on hiatus. Any suggestions as to a place where I can host (a lot) of space for free would be welcome.
Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Think I'm a Business Major?
I get asked all the time what it is that Supply Chain Management majors such as myself actually study. To finally put it all to rest, the better question is what DON'T we study. Supply Chain Management is tied, quite literally, to every aspect of a business' operations. Packaging (Marketing), Shipping (Logistics), Strategy (Management), and Servicing (Outsourcing). We SCM majors spend our time trying to figure out how a company can do what it does faster, cheaper, and better. I'll let you figure out what that means when you're dealing with a multinational corporation that works in 30+ countries.
One thing that we SCM majors are OBSESSED with is called value-added processes. Value-added processes are any process or anything you do that adds value to what your company is producing. For example, if a worker in a BMW factory is screwing down bolts in a car's axle, he is doing a value-added activity. If he gets up and walks down the assembly line to work on the next car, he is wasting time. Not adding value. Every single solitary SECOND that your employees are not doing something that directly contributes to the production of a product or execution of strategy is not a value-added process. You know the expression "time is money?" We SCM people came up with that.
So where am I going with this? In case you all thought I wasn't enough of a yuppie, here's an example for you:
I'm walking along through campus and my final destination is the business college starbucks, where I plan to get my reading for the day done as well as write my first little assignment for my class tonight. On the way there Shannon and I have to make a few pitstops at the honors college to visit Keith and to get some other stuff done. And the whole way as we're doing these things - every single STEP on our detours off the shortest and quickest possible route to the Starbucks - I'm thinking, This is SO not a value-added process.
There is no hope for me.
One thing that we SCM majors are OBSESSED with is called value-added processes. Value-added processes are any process or anything you do that adds value to what your company is producing. For example, if a worker in a BMW factory is screwing down bolts in a car's axle, he is doing a value-added activity. If he gets up and walks down the assembly line to work on the next car, he is wasting time. Not adding value. Every single solitary SECOND that your employees are not doing something that directly contributes to the production of a product or execution of strategy is not a value-added process. You know the expression "time is money?" We SCM people came up with that.
So where am I going with this? In case you all thought I wasn't enough of a yuppie, here's an example for you:
I'm walking along through campus and my final destination is the business college starbucks, where I plan to get my reading for the day done as well as write my first little assignment for my class tonight. On the way there Shannon and I have to make a few pitstops at the honors college to visit Keith and to get some other stuff done. And the whole way as we're doing these things - every single STEP on our detours off the shortest and quickest possible route to the Starbucks - I'm thinking, This is SO not a value-added process.
There is no hope for me.
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
German Unity Day!!!
Today is the Tag der deutschen Einheit! (Day of German Unity)
For those of you who did NOT pay attention in history class and are therefore complete losers, today is the day when East and West Germany were reunited as one country 16 years ago in 1990. It is a very important historic day in light of Cold War history and the history of Germany itself. So get out and celebrate!!
I'm debating wearing my German flag around myself to classes today....although I think people at the business school would be a little weirded out.
For those of you who did NOT pay attention in history class and are therefore complete losers, today is the day when East and West Germany were reunited as one country 16 years ago in 1990. It is a very important historic day in light of Cold War history and the history of Germany itself. So get out and celebrate!!
I'm debating wearing my German flag around myself to classes today....although I think people at the business school would be a little weirded out.
Monday, October 2, 2006
Internship Applications Galore
Who's excited about applying for internships in Germany? That would be moi. I am applying with T-Mobile again, as well as a few other firms. My hope is to finish as much of my major coursework this year as possible, and then to head to Germany in May. Internships with T-Mobile last 6 months, so if I end up getting one there I won't be graduating till Spring 2008.
The funny thing is that at this point I am so excited just at the prospect of landing an internship in Germany that I hardly care when I graduate anymore. Woooooo international experiences!
The funny thing is that at this point I am so excited just at the prospect of landing an internship in Germany that I hardly care when I graduate anymore. Woooooo international experiences!
Sunday, October 1, 2006
Ahhhh...
So last night was a night of celebration because Shannon finished the LSAT and is now freeeeeee. We pregamed at Old Chicago, which prides itself on having 110 different kinds of beer from all over the world. You get three guesses which type I chose, and the first two don't count. Lucky for me, they happened to have Spaten's Oktoberfest blend ON TAP (!!) which means I was drinkin' $2 pints. Oh yeahhhh. Then we headed off to Native New Yorker for more drinkin' and eatin'. It was a good time.
Tuesday is the Tag der deutschen Einheit!!!! (German Unity Day) I for one am wicked excited. I'm debating wearing my German flag to classes. For those who don't know, the Tag der deutschen Einheit celebrates the day that East and West Germany were reunited as one country in 1990.
Tuesday is the Tag der deutschen Einheit!!!! (German Unity Day) I for one am wicked excited. I'm debating wearing my German flag to classes. For those who don't know, the Tag der deutschen Einheit celebrates the day that East and West Germany were reunited as one country in 1990.
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