Saturday, October 27, 2007
Funny, but serious
angina. that's a funny word. too bad it's kinda serious too. i get angina at the gym. it's chest pain because your heart muscles aren't getting enough oxygen. i wish they'd change the word cuz it makes me think of mangina, which i'm certainly not. angina is funny, but serious too.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
I wanna know what love is
i want you to show me.
well, not you exactly, dear reader. but you get the drift. i'm single and kinda sick of it i've decided. naturally, when i'm stuck in a hotel room by myself, i have ample time to think about the holes i see in my life. i think the lack of a love life (or love in my life, for that matter) is a glaring one, moreso than job satisfaction, money, etc. i can deal with not liking a job, i can make ends meet while not earning my market value. but i kind of feel a bit worthless at times without having a significant other.
don't mistake that last sentence for a jerry maguire (i.e. i need a woman to complete me), because it's simply not the case. i would however like to kill 2 birds with one stone by having a serious relationship: bird 1) erradicate the jealousy i have of every one else in a relationship, especially those i know and see regularly and bird 2) to have a new, important person to share my life with...the good and the miserable.
this whole single thing has been weighing on me, evidently, for a while. i just never bothered to acknowledge or admit it. i've been in love exactly 2 times in my life and, well, neither one worked out particularly well for me. i'm jaded, i admit. but, i'm still modestly hopeful...when the notions of insufficiency finally subside.
i've been increasingly negative of late, and it's even coming through in my writing. i apologize to you, my reader(s) [note: plural "s" added for comedic value] for turning my attention away from informing, entertaining and making you think, and focusing instead internally at the not-so-trivial things eating away at my normally good-spirited soul.
the quest to fin what everyone else seemingly has is never ending, and the playing field seems rather tilted against me. one of my past loves is also a present one, complicating the matter further. of course, her eyes are set squarely on someone else...who lives in a yet to be determined (by her) location since he's a military man.
it's an empty feeling that most all of us have felt at one point in time or another. most of you have gone on to find a way, or even another means to fill the void. hopefully i'll do the same. and of course, ladies reading, any thoughts regarding friends turning more than friends is greatly appreciated and will be strongly considered.
i love you all...
well, not you exactly, dear reader. but you get the drift. i'm single and kinda sick of it i've decided. naturally, when i'm stuck in a hotel room by myself, i have ample time to think about the holes i see in my life. i think the lack of a love life (or love in my life, for that matter) is a glaring one, moreso than job satisfaction, money, etc. i can deal with not liking a job, i can make ends meet while not earning my market value. but i kind of feel a bit worthless at times without having a significant other.
don't mistake that last sentence for a jerry maguire (i.e. i need a woman to complete me), because it's simply not the case. i would however like to kill 2 birds with one stone by having a serious relationship: bird 1) erradicate the jealousy i have of every one else in a relationship, especially those i know and see regularly and bird 2) to have a new, important person to share my life with...the good and the miserable.
this whole single thing has been weighing on me, evidently, for a while. i just never bothered to acknowledge or admit it. i've been in love exactly 2 times in my life and, well, neither one worked out particularly well for me. i'm jaded, i admit. but, i'm still modestly hopeful...when the notions of insufficiency finally subside.
i've been increasingly negative of late, and it's even coming through in my writing. i apologize to you, my reader(s) [note: plural "s" added for comedic value] for turning my attention away from informing, entertaining and making you think, and focusing instead internally at the not-so-trivial things eating away at my normally good-spirited soul.
the quest to fin what everyone else seemingly has is never ending, and the playing field seems rather tilted against me. one of my past loves is also a present one, complicating the matter further. of course, her eyes are set squarely on someone else...who lives in a yet to be determined (by her) location since he's a military man.
it's an empty feeling that most all of us have felt at one point in time or another. most of you have gone on to find a way, or even another means to fill the void. hopefully i'll do the same. and of course, ladies reading, any thoughts regarding friends turning more than friends is greatly appreciated and will be strongly considered.
i love you all...
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
God (Satan) Bless Texas
so, here i am in my hotel room in godforsaken harlingen, texas. i've been up since 4am, so the whole writing thing probably isn't such a good idea. but i'm bored (since there's NOTHING to do in this "town") and figured i'd rag a little bit about my trip and how much i dislike this place. oddly enough, i'm actually looking forward to my trip to idaho next week. that place is pretty cool.
so yeah, i'm fucking beat. long day in a foreign office listening to spanish sales calls allllll afternoon. neat, huh? well, almost as neato as leg #2 of the trip. the only thing about leg #1 (denver to houston) was that i had to be on a plane at 6:45am. but the flight was smooth, the plane nice and clean, and the staff was uber friendly. honestly one of the better flying experiences i've had...thanks continental! unfortunately, leg #2 involved being on one of those regional express jets. ya know, the super duper tiny ones with 4 seats per row and is always super bumpy, which makes me a bit uneasy? yeah, that plane.
the flight from houston to harlingen is short, only about an hour. but that hour can seem like a lifetime when you're stuck sitting next to flying enemy #2, the gigantor fat ass. this heffer of a woman took up not only her seat, not only a portion of my seat, but her seat and HALF of my seat. my left arm was rendered essentially useless because it was nearly being absorbed by her blubber. what's worse is that i was sitting on the aisle, and of course the arm rests on those seats don't lift, so i squeezed my legs underneath and hunched over the arm rest and hung out into the aisle....for the whole flight.
cramped, aching, tired as hell and in dire need of a piss (hey, 4 cups of coffee in 2 hours will do that to you), we mercifully landed, headed to the hotel and then to the office. it's now 10:15pm (CST), which is 9:15pm in my homeland. suffice it to say i've been up a while and i'm tired, but still have to wait for numbers to come in from today so i can spend 2 hours putting together reports manually. it's looking an awful lot like a 1am bedtime for me. so, let me tell you about harlingen!
it has an international airport. i'm not sure how or why, but i suspect it's because mexico is about 6 minutes away and, technically, any flight there is international. it has one walgreens, which took us 30 minutes and 4 different sets of directions to find, several mcdonalds and--SHOCK--tex-mex chains out the wazoo! i've never seen a collection of fatter people in my life and i'm guessing the lack of anything resembling a healthy meal option plays a significant role.
whoever designed this place was special. i mean special in a "dinnneyland" type way. there's zero rhyme or reason to the layout. everything is scattered over about 10 miles, and it doesn't even surround a downtown, which allegedly exists. i still need visual proof of this.
the one positive thing about all this is that we scheduled our trip at the perfect time. last week's weather was typical texas--98 degrees, 76% humidity. you'd think being fewer than 5 miles from the ocean would help that, but it doesn't. cold fronts, however, do. and today was glorious. sunny, 80, no humidity and a slight breeze. almost like a poorer version of florida in the fall, but not as ugly.
anyway, i'm done. this place sucks. that's pretty much all there is to it. if i lived here, i'd eithe move or kill myself to end my misery. but hey, i'm just a visitor. so, um, welcome to texas, folks.
so yeah, i'm fucking beat. long day in a foreign office listening to spanish sales calls allllll afternoon. neat, huh? well, almost as neato as leg #2 of the trip. the only thing about leg #1 (denver to houston) was that i had to be on a plane at 6:45am. but the flight was smooth, the plane nice and clean, and the staff was uber friendly. honestly one of the better flying experiences i've had...thanks continental! unfortunately, leg #2 involved being on one of those regional express jets. ya know, the super duper tiny ones with 4 seats per row and is always super bumpy, which makes me a bit uneasy? yeah, that plane.
the flight from houston to harlingen is short, only about an hour. but that hour can seem like a lifetime when you're stuck sitting next to flying enemy #2, the gigantor fat ass. this heffer of a woman took up not only her seat, not only a portion of my seat, but her seat and HALF of my seat. my left arm was rendered essentially useless because it was nearly being absorbed by her blubber. what's worse is that i was sitting on the aisle, and of course the arm rests on those seats don't lift, so i squeezed my legs underneath and hunched over the arm rest and hung out into the aisle....for the whole flight.
cramped, aching, tired as hell and in dire need of a piss (hey, 4 cups of coffee in 2 hours will do that to you), we mercifully landed, headed to the hotel and then to the office. it's now 10:15pm (CST), which is 9:15pm in my homeland. suffice it to say i've been up a while and i'm tired, but still have to wait for numbers to come in from today so i can spend 2 hours putting together reports manually. it's looking an awful lot like a 1am bedtime for me. so, let me tell you about harlingen!
it has an international airport. i'm not sure how or why, but i suspect it's because mexico is about 6 minutes away and, technically, any flight there is international. it has one walgreens, which took us 30 minutes and 4 different sets of directions to find, several mcdonalds and--SHOCK--tex-mex chains out the wazoo! i've never seen a collection of fatter people in my life and i'm guessing the lack of anything resembling a healthy meal option plays a significant role.
whoever designed this place was special. i mean special in a "dinnneyland" type way. there's zero rhyme or reason to the layout. everything is scattered over about 10 miles, and it doesn't even surround a downtown, which allegedly exists. i still need visual proof of this.
the one positive thing about all this is that we scheduled our trip at the perfect time. last week's weather was typical texas--98 degrees, 76% humidity. you'd think being fewer than 5 miles from the ocean would help that, but it doesn't. cold fronts, however, do. and today was glorious. sunny, 80, no humidity and a slight breeze. almost like a poorer version of florida in the fall, but not as ugly.
anyway, i'm done. this place sucks. that's pretty much all there is to it. if i lived here, i'd eithe move or kill myself to end my misery. but hey, i'm just a visitor. so, um, welcome to texas, folks.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
AHHHHHH, Breakdown!
i try never to reveal anything too personal that could be embarrassing. but today is a little different because i experienced something i never have before: a near meltdown.
i'm not really sure what it was--stress at work, impossibly bad relations with women, or the whole grad school thing--but it was surely out of the ordinary. i'm usually a pretty strong cat, with a few hot buttons that get me going. but normally, i'm solid and stoic enough to handle most anything (death, breakups, lies and car accidents included). today, i was just completely inundated with every every emotion, every insecurity or inferiority and every self doubt all at once. and it was just too much to bear at one time. i was overwhelmed and absolutely inconsolable. so, yeah, you could say it kinda sucked.
but now, having done absolutely nothing about it other than inadvertently lashing out at a very close friend, i feel fine. what the fuck? i should get that checked out.
i'm not really sure what it was--stress at work, impossibly bad relations with women, or the whole grad school thing--but it was surely out of the ordinary. i'm usually a pretty strong cat, with a few hot buttons that get me going. but normally, i'm solid and stoic enough to handle most anything (death, breakups, lies and car accidents included). today, i was just completely inundated with every every emotion, every insecurity or inferiority and every self doubt all at once. and it was just too much to bear at one time. i was overwhelmed and absolutely inconsolable. so, yeah, you could say it kinda sucked.
but now, having done absolutely nothing about it other than inadvertently lashing out at a very close friend, i feel fine. what the fuck? i should get that checked out.
Friday, October 19, 2007
How is that news?
Dear CBS Channel 4,
while watching the noon news on my lunch hour today, you ran a 7-minutes new segment on something i don't believe to be newsworthy. to me, it was shoddy journalism and a hallmark of a slow day. of course i'm speaking of your wall-to-wall coverage of cherry creek mall finally "fulfilling its dream," as you put it, of getting a nordstrom store.
i certainly understand that there are many people, especially in that area, that are excited about this development, but a simple mention of, say 30 seconds or so, would have sufficed. i suspect that your program director approved such a lengthy feature on a non-story because you staff the noon newsdesk with all women, who were more than happy to continue extolling the virtues of the store after the taped story had ended.
thankfully, i was not living in the area when saks fifth avenue opened at the mall, because i'm sure at that time when denver was considerably smaller, you'd have taken a full half hour to describe the financial windfall for the city.
fact is that outside of the cocoon and ritz of cherry creek--denver's answer to chicago's magnificent mile, 5th ave. in nyc, and rodeo in BH--there are actually things going on that impact people living in reality. it's a shame that you haven't studied your viewership closely enough to know that, aside from the 1,000 people that flooded the mall for the opening, most of us have big boy and girl responsibilities like work. maybe you can take that into account and give us more than 2 minutes on weather, more than 33 seconds on traffic, and--and this might sound crazy--some stories about the local economy that we might not all know about.
the crux of the issue that you, like your counterparts at abc 7, nbc 9 and fox local "news" (who employs the scrumptious libby weaver), continuously bombard us with ridiculousness and forget all about the world going on around us. abc 7 has a segment they call the "7 everyday hero," which is a dedicated story about a local citizen going above and beyond to give back to the community. this is what we in the viewing business would call "worthwhile." maybe you can take a hint from the channel devouring you in the ratings. that is, of course, if you're not waiting in line to buy shoes in the 1/4 acre shoe department at nordstrom.
while watching the noon news on my lunch hour today, you ran a 7-minutes new segment on something i don't believe to be newsworthy. to me, it was shoddy journalism and a hallmark of a slow day. of course i'm speaking of your wall-to-wall coverage of cherry creek mall finally "fulfilling its dream," as you put it, of getting a nordstrom store.
i certainly understand that there are many people, especially in that area, that are excited about this development, but a simple mention of, say 30 seconds or so, would have sufficed. i suspect that your program director approved such a lengthy feature on a non-story because you staff the noon newsdesk with all women, who were more than happy to continue extolling the virtues of the store after the taped story had ended.
thankfully, i was not living in the area when saks fifth avenue opened at the mall, because i'm sure at that time when denver was considerably smaller, you'd have taken a full half hour to describe the financial windfall for the city.
fact is that outside of the cocoon and ritz of cherry creek--denver's answer to chicago's magnificent mile, 5th ave. in nyc, and rodeo in BH--there are actually things going on that impact people living in reality. it's a shame that you haven't studied your viewership closely enough to know that, aside from the 1,000 people that flooded the mall for the opening, most of us have big boy and girl responsibilities like work. maybe you can take that into account and give us more than 2 minutes on weather, more than 33 seconds on traffic, and--and this might sound crazy--some stories about the local economy that we might not all know about.
the crux of the issue that you, like your counterparts at abc 7, nbc 9 and fox local "news" (who employs the scrumptious libby weaver), continuously bombard us with ridiculousness and forget all about the world going on around us. abc 7 has a segment they call the "7 everyday hero," which is a dedicated story about a local citizen going above and beyond to give back to the community. this is what we in the viewing business would call "worthwhile." maybe you can take a hint from the channel devouring you in the ratings. that is, of course, if you're not waiting in line to buy shoes in the 1/4 acre shoe department at nordstrom.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Manpire, Redux
thursday afternoon i'll meet with the assistant director of global recruitment for thunderbird's garvin school of management, recently ranked (AGAIN) as the #1 international business graduate program in the U.S. and in the top 10 in the world.
nervous? not yet. gimme till i'm driving to meet the lady. gimme till wednesday night when i'm scouring the website for tidbits into the program and re-memorizing my resume and my life so i can fill in every. little. gap. that ever existed.
so yeah, i pretty much fucking nailed this interview like a porn star nails his co-star. that is, fast, furious and with a ridiculous money shot. *pat on the back*. oh, i also "qualify" for the accelerated program, which means (if accepted, etc.) i could walk out of there with an MBA in Global Management in 11 months. how's THAT for awesome?
nervous? not yet. gimme till i'm driving to meet the lady. gimme till wednesday night when i'm scouring the website for tidbits into the program and re-memorizing my resume and my life so i can fill in every. little. gap. that ever existed.
so yeah, i pretty much fucking nailed this interview like a porn star nails his co-star. that is, fast, furious and with a ridiculous money shot. *pat on the back*. oh, i also "qualify" for the accelerated program, which means (if accepted, etc.) i could walk out of there with an MBA in Global Management in 11 months. how's THAT for awesome?
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
War, huh, what is it good for?
absolutely nothing, as the song goes. and they're right.
i hate these anti-drug commercials. "drawing is my anti-drug." wanna know what my anti-drug is? drugs. why? because that's my choice. actually, i'm not a drug user--of any kind--but if i were, does the ad council really think that these "anti-drug" or "above the influence" commercials are going to work on people who already dabble? not a chance. look no further than the DARE program to see how well it works.
yeah, i understand that the intent is to prevent people from getting involved in drugs to begin with. but that hasn't turned out too well either. but really, what's the big deal anyway? people drink excessive amounts of alcohol and that's perfectly legal. but to chase a high by blazing a joint, smokin' some rock, or shooting up? yeah, that's gotta be worse.
point is (actually there are many points here) that the ads are aimed at the wrong crowd: kids. so, they should be directed at parents, meaning you have to actually air them during shows that parents watch, i.e. primetime. but that costs more money. so rather than reaching the appropriate target, the media buyers for the council decided just to take what they can get, and that's a wastrel's mentality.
just like the war in iraq, the war on poverty and every other war for which the country just couldn't get by without a czar, the war on drugs is a big waste of money and resources. the most "effective" weapon we've come up with to date is the arrest, which leads to conviction, which in turn leads to incarceration (paid for in full by you and me, mr. and mrs. taxpayer). and then for some reason the very people that crack down on the drug users and put them in jail are the very ones that complain of jail overcrowding. curious, indeed.
i've touched before on how backasswards denver (and colorado in general) is when it comes to solving the drunken driving problem. rather than giving people more safe alternative ways home, they simply step up police presence and increase the number of arrests...you can see where this is going.
well, this is just a microcosm of how the rest of the country is run. do you REALLY want to solve the drug problem? if so, there are several logical steps you, as the gub'mint, can take:
first, legalize marijuana, but regulate it like cigarettes. award exclusive contracts to growers--even foreign cartels-- and make sure all the product is customs compliant. subsidize plants in the U.S. that will produce the MJ ciggies and then market them like regular cigarettes by selling them in grocery stores. oh yeah, and tax the fuck out of them. the tax revenue generated will go along way in offsetting the cost that you idiot leaders have sunk into the drug war for the last 30 years.
next, take a large portion of the dollars that you use to fund DARE, prosecution and incarceration, and put it into education and rehabilitation services. wanna know if it works? just ask portland, OR. (note: why is it that the rainiest, most depressing, albeit beautiful, place in the country is always so far ahead of everyone else when it comes to, well, everything?). they've had large scale success with funding methadone clinics and clean needle programs. their MJ laws are as lax as you'll find in the U.S. this approach has reduced crime, death rates and has actually increased the number of people that seek treatment and eventually get off the smack.
lastly, fire the drug czar and appoint a czar of common sense. this new czar will be tasked with changing the mindset of the nation, no easy task. he or she will be highly focused on promoting the medicinal uses of natural cures, while simultaneously extolling the virtues of moderation and abstinence. the czar will be the advocate general for the treatment and counseling clinics and will serve as the liaison between the FDA (or whoever will approve the quality of the drugs) and the clinical hierarchy.
it's evident that in the current system the people already on drugs are collectively a lost cause, worthy of nothing more than taking up space in one of our numerous prisons. the capitalistic approach (and even the common sense one) would say that if they're already going to do it, why not make it safer for them and profitable for everyone else?
we're wasting valuable resources fighting a war in the desert. we're doing a shitty job of closing the gap between rich and poor, thus wasting more time and money with terrible program management. maybe the third member of the war triumvirate could be the one that actually works. it will, with a different approach.
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Uh-huh
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again, y'all
War, huh, good God
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me
(credit: edwin starr)
i hate these anti-drug commercials. "drawing is my anti-drug." wanna know what my anti-drug is? drugs. why? because that's my choice. actually, i'm not a drug user--of any kind--but if i were, does the ad council really think that these "anti-drug" or "above the influence" commercials are going to work on people who already dabble? not a chance. look no further than the DARE program to see how well it works.
yeah, i understand that the intent is to prevent people from getting involved in drugs to begin with. but that hasn't turned out too well either. but really, what's the big deal anyway? people drink excessive amounts of alcohol and that's perfectly legal. but to chase a high by blazing a joint, smokin' some rock, or shooting up? yeah, that's gotta be worse.
point is (actually there are many points here) that the ads are aimed at the wrong crowd: kids. so, they should be directed at parents, meaning you have to actually air them during shows that parents watch, i.e. primetime. but that costs more money. so rather than reaching the appropriate target, the media buyers for the council decided just to take what they can get, and that's a wastrel's mentality.
just like the war in iraq, the war on poverty and every other war for which the country just couldn't get by without a czar, the war on drugs is a big waste of money and resources. the most "effective" weapon we've come up with to date is the arrest, which leads to conviction, which in turn leads to incarceration (paid for in full by you and me, mr. and mrs. taxpayer). and then for some reason the very people that crack down on the drug users and put them in jail are the very ones that complain of jail overcrowding. curious, indeed.
i've touched before on how backasswards denver (and colorado in general) is when it comes to solving the drunken driving problem. rather than giving people more safe alternative ways home, they simply step up police presence and increase the number of arrests...you can see where this is going.
well, this is just a microcosm of how the rest of the country is run. do you REALLY want to solve the drug problem? if so, there are several logical steps you, as the gub'mint, can take:
first, legalize marijuana, but regulate it like cigarettes. award exclusive contracts to growers--even foreign cartels-- and make sure all the product is customs compliant. subsidize plants in the U.S. that will produce the MJ ciggies and then market them like regular cigarettes by selling them in grocery stores. oh yeah, and tax the fuck out of them. the tax revenue generated will go along way in offsetting the cost that you idiot leaders have sunk into the drug war for the last 30 years.
next, take a large portion of the dollars that you use to fund DARE, prosecution and incarceration, and put it into education and rehabilitation services. wanna know if it works? just ask portland, OR. (note: why is it that the rainiest, most depressing, albeit beautiful, place in the country is always so far ahead of everyone else when it comes to, well, everything?). they've had large scale success with funding methadone clinics and clean needle programs. their MJ laws are as lax as you'll find in the U.S. this approach has reduced crime, death rates and has actually increased the number of people that seek treatment and eventually get off the smack.
lastly, fire the drug czar and appoint a czar of common sense. this new czar will be tasked with changing the mindset of the nation, no easy task. he or she will be highly focused on promoting the medicinal uses of natural cures, while simultaneously extolling the virtues of moderation and abstinence. the czar will be the advocate general for the treatment and counseling clinics and will serve as the liaison between the FDA (or whoever will approve the quality of the drugs) and the clinical hierarchy.
it's evident that in the current system the people already on drugs are collectively a lost cause, worthy of nothing more than taking up space in one of our numerous prisons. the capitalistic approach (and even the common sense one) would say that if they're already going to do it, why not make it safer for them and profitable for everyone else?
we're wasting valuable resources fighting a war in the desert. we're doing a shitty job of closing the gap between rich and poor, thus wasting more time and money with terrible program management. maybe the third member of the war triumvirate could be the one that actually works. it will, with a different approach.
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Uh-huh
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again, y'all
War, huh, good God
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me
(credit: edwin starr)
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Interview with a Manpire
i've had interviews before. but none of them seemed imminently important, as if it'd have a profound impact on my future life. i have an interview thursday afternoon, which is decidedly different than the rest.
it's probably because this interview isn't for a new job. rather, it's a test of my knowledge of myself, my skills and capabilities, and how they fit in with one of, if not the most, prestigious business programs in the country--and the world.
thursday afternoon i'll meet with the assistant director of global recruitment for thunderbird's garvin school of management, recently ranked (AGAIN) as the #1 international business graduate program in the U.S. and in the top 10 in the world.
nervous? not yet. gimme till i'm driving to meet the lady. gimme till wednesday night when i'm scouring the website for tidbits into the program and re-memorizing my resume and my life so i can fill in every. little. gap. that ever existed.
obviously, the interview isn't the be all end all of admissions. there's still that little matter of my crappy ass GMAT score (still above the national average. so there!) and the multiple "insightful and introspective" personal essays. oh, and there're also other people applying, so that makes it tough too.
nevertheless, i'm looking at this--potentially--as my big break. i really have little, if any, desire to move to phoenix. it's an ugly city, with ugly people, and no big buildings. and surely i plan to return to denver upon completion of my program anyway. but no matter how much i dislike phoenix (it's still not as bad as detroit, cleveland or atlanta), the chance for an average guy like me to get accepted into a prestigious program not named wharton, harvard or stanford is pretty god damned exciting. of course, even if i'm accepted, there's still that little $75,000 price tag to contend with. but baby steps, right?
fingers crossed.....
it's probably because this interview isn't for a new job. rather, it's a test of my knowledge of myself, my skills and capabilities, and how they fit in with one of, if not the most, prestigious business programs in the country--and the world.
thursday afternoon i'll meet with the assistant director of global recruitment for thunderbird's garvin school of management, recently ranked (AGAIN) as the #1 international business graduate program in the U.S. and in the top 10 in the world.
nervous? not yet. gimme till i'm driving to meet the lady. gimme till wednesday night when i'm scouring the website for tidbits into the program and re-memorizing my resume and my life so i can fill in every. little. gap. that ever existed.
obviously, the interview isn't the be all end all of admissions. there's still that little matter of my crappy ass GMAT score (still above the national average. so there!) and the multiple "insightful and introspective" personal essays. oh, and there're also other people applying, so that makes it tough too.
nevertheless, i'm looking at this--potentially--as my big break. i really have little, if any, desire to move to phoenix. it's an ugly city, with ugly people, and no big buildings. and surely i plan to return to denver upon completion of my program anyway. but no matter how much i dislike phoenix (it's still not as bad as detroit, cleveland or atlanta), the chance for an average guy like me to get accepted into a prestigious program not named wharton, harvard or stanford is pretty god damned exciting. of course, even if i'm accepted, there's still that little $75,000 price tag to contend with. but baby steps, right?
fingers crossed.....
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
I remember!
i'm about to say the most "unpatriotic" thing that can possibly be said.
please stop telling me to remember the troops. there's something incredibly disingenuous to me about hearing a radio spot from a local bar or the local sports talk station reminding me not to forget the men and women serving.
when you have 150,000+ people fighting a pointless war, and when you're reminded of said war every minute of every day, it's nearly impossible to forget the troops. and why would i? i have friends in the military. friends that have been shipped off to far away places, dangers unknown. some have even, gulp, been on or near the front lines. i've helped convince some friends NOT to join the military ahead of this pointless war starting. so no, i won't forget the troops.
personal influences aside, what good does this type of badgering accomplish? is it good that it simply entrenches further those of us who've been diametrically opposed to the invasion from the start? is it good that it simply reaffirms for the war's supporters their position? it's a false and empty message, and wasteful of airtime and space that could be used for more productive things, the least of which is telling me about your beer specials for this weekend.
occasionally there may be an advertisement soliciting donations; money, clothes, food, etc. that's a worthy cause and a worthwhile effort. but it's one thing to ask us to give in support of the soldiers' families who are living largely on one pittance of an income and without a second partner in the household, and something completely different to simply demand that i remember.
i support the troops, but not the war. if that sounds weird or fence-sitting, then you should re-evaluate your own abilities to be objective and human. i support the fact that these people are doing something that i'd never do, sacrifice everything in my life to fight a war i don't believe in. but they do and for that they're deserving of our admiration and our respect. but simply running a radio spot or flying a flag or tying a ribbon around a tree in your yard when you have no personal ties to this war (or any for that matter) is simply a hollow gesture and largely insulting.
so please, stop telling me to remember the troops because i'm fully aware of what's going on in the world and i'm cognizant of the sacrifices military personnel willingly make when they enlist. and stop demanding that i support the troops when you've so obviously ignored the importance of sincerity in your message. it's much easier to forget your message when it's so diluted and hollow. remember that.
please stop telling me to remember the troops. there's something incredibly disingenuous to me about hearing a radio spot from a local bar or the local sports talk station reminding me not to forget the men and women serving.
when you have 150,000+ people fighting a pointless war, and when you're reminded of said war every minute of every day, it's nearly impossible to forget the troops. and why would i? i have friends in the military. friends that have been shipped off to far away places, dangers unknown. some have even, gulp, been on or near the front lines. i've helped convince some friends NOT to join the military ahead of this pointless war starting. so no, i won't forget the troops.
personal influences aside, what good does this type of badgering accomplish? is it good that it simply entrenches further those of us who've been diametrically opposed to the invasion from the start? is it good that it simply reaffirms for the war's supporters their position? it's a false and empty message, and wasteful of airtime and space that could be used for more productive things, the least of which is telling me about your beer specials for this weekend.
occasionally there may be an advertisement soliciting donations; money, clothes, food, etc. that's a worthy cause and a worthwhile effort. but it's one thing to ask us to give in support of the soldiers' families who are living largely on one pittance of an income and without a second partner in the household, and something completely different to simply demand that i remember.
i support the troops, but not the war. if that sounds weird or fence-sitting, then you should re-evaluate your own abilities to be objective and human. i support the fact that these people are doing something that i'd never do, sacrifice everything in my life to fight a war i don't believe in. but they do and for that they're deserving of our admiration and our respect. but simply running a radio spot or flying a flag or tying a ribbon around a tree in your yard when you have no personal ties to this war (or any for that matter) is simply a hollow gesture and largely insulting.
so please, stop telling me to remember the troops because i'm fully aware of what's going on in the world and i'm cognizant of the sacrifices military personnel willingly make when they enlist. and stop demanding that i support the troops when you've so obviously ignored the importance of sincerity in your message. it's much easier to forget your message when it's so diluted and hollow. remember that.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
New Rule
New Rule.....
insurance companies must be helpful.
48 million americans don't have to worry about the inefficiencies of health insurance companies because, well, they don't have coverage. actually, the problem isn't so much that large insurance companies like united healthcare and anthem blue cross are inefficient, greedy and ridiculously narrow minded, it's more that they're simply ineffective. their advertising always claims acts in the best interests of patients--except for the non-people that can't get coverage (they don't count as patients, even when they're dying), yet my experiences with each have been more of the "we'll give you the run around in order to save a few bucks" type of treatment.
a few months back, i ripped apart my ankle. it hurt. alot. it wasn't just some ordinary sprain, the shit was actually torn. my doctor, the one that spent countless years and, presumably untold mini-fortunes learning about how to fix things like torn ankles, had to clear with big brother, i mean the insurance company, sending me for an MRI. after a 20 minute phone call (with me present), inclusive of him being grilled by some non MD hack on the other end of the line questioning his treatment, i was approved to go for the test, which--SHOCK--revealed the significant damage.
fast forward to this week. 2.5 weeks after heart attack #2, i was experiencing issues brought on by my medications. i called the dr. to complain and to weasel my way off of one of the dreaded pills. no one called me back. at all. so, i decided it was time to find a different practice. problem is, there aren't really many 28 year olds with my condition, and none of the ones that exist are my friends. i had no one to ask for a recommendation.
i called my insurance company thinking that surely they'd know, 'cause i pay them a lot of money to do so. at the very least they should have a "rating" system for physicians in their network to determine the best ones from the not so best ones. the helpful customer service rep recommended a different doctor....within the same practice. i calmly explained--so as not to have yet another coronary--that i wanted a DIFFERENT practice, as in not the one i'm currently using. further searches returned results for family practioners and internal medicine. yes, the heart is internal, but it also has its own dedicated study, in case that wasn't mentioned in the employee handbook.
i heard some clicking in the background and shortly thereafter she began reading off the names of potential treatment providers in my area. being the guru of the world wide web machine that i am, i was logged onto the insurance co.'s website, and as she read off name #3, i read along with her. she was shocked, as if i'd needed to be treated for a bad case of ESP rather than heart disease.
for a company that is more than happy to take my money each month, it shouldn't be unreasonable to expect that they'll have people that work for them that may actually know something about healthcare. perhaps it'd be advisable to start small, like knowing the difference between cardiology and gastroenterology first, and gradually build into skill sets like being able to identify good doctors vs. ones that graduated at the bottom of their class.
for all the coverage they provide--significant in my case--insurance companies sure do cause a lot of problems, often as many as they solve. sometimes it just seems more palatable to be uninsured than to have to deal with the shit these conglomerates put you through. sure, you wouldn't actually have access to life-saving medicine or preventive care because they're so outrageously expensive, but then again, it's not as if your insurance provider actually cares enough to know where to send you anyway.
insurance companies must be helpful.
48 million americans don't have to worry about the inefficiencies of health insurance companies because, well, they don't have coverage. actually, the problem isn't so much that large insurance companies like united healthcare and anthem blue cross are inefficient, greedy and ridiculously narrow minded, it's more that they're simply ineffective. their advertising always claims acts in the best interests of patients--except for the non-people that can't get coverage (they don't count as patients, even when they're dying), yet my experiences with each have been more of the "we'll give you the run around in order to save a few bucks" type of treatment.
a few months back, i ripped apart my ankle. it hurt. alot. it wasn't just some ordinary sprain, the shit was actually torn. my doctor, the one that spent countless years and, presumably untold mini-fortunes learning about how to fix things like torn ankles, had to clear with big brother, i mean the insurance company, sending me for an MRI. after a 20 minute phone call (with me present), inclusive of him being grilled by some non MD hack on the other end of the line questioning his treatment, i was approved to go for the test, which--SHOCK--revealed the significant damage.
fast forward to this week. 2.5 weeks after heart attack #2, i was experiencing issues brought on by my medications. i called the dr. to complain and to weasel my way off of one of the dreaded pills. no one called me back. at all. so, i decided it was time to find a different practice. problem is, there aren't really many 28 year olds with my condition, and none of the ones that exist are my friends. i had no one to ask for a recommendation.
i called my insurance company thinking that surely they'd know, 'cause i pay them a lot of money to do so. at the very least they should have a "rating" system for physicians in their network to determine the best ones from the not so best ones. the helpful customer service rep recommended a different doctor....within the same practice. i calmly explained--so as not to have yet another coronary--that i wanted a DIFFERENT practice, as in not the one i'm currently using. further searches returned results for family practioners and internal medicine. yes, the heart is internal, but it also has its own dedicated study, in case that wasn't mentioned in the employee handbook.
i heard some clicking in the background and shortly thereafter she began reading off the names of potential treatment providers in my area. being the guru of the world wide web machine that i am, i was logged onto the insurance co.'s website, and as she read off name #3, i read along with her. she was shocked, as if i'd needed to be treated for a bad case of ESP rather than heart disease.
for a company that is more than happy to take my money each month, it shouldn't be unreasonable to expect that they'll have people that work for them that may actually know something about healthcare. perhaps it'd be advisable to start small, like knowing the difference between cardiology and gastroenterology first, and gradually build into skill sets like being able to identify good doctors vs. ones that graduated at the bottom of their class.
for all the coverage they provide--significant in my case--insurance companies sure do cause a lot of problems, often as many as they solve. sometimes it just seems more palatable to be uninsured than to have to deal with the shit these conglomerates put you through. sure, you wouldn't actually have access to life-saving medicine or preventive care because they're so outrageously expensive, but then again, it's not as if your insurance provider actually cares enough to know where to send you anyway.
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