Livin’ Large

Yes, I am at Heathrow. Coming to you live from terminal X193783 at the BA lounge. Given the events that have transpired in the last few days, I don’t feel any guilt about a pre-noon glass of wine. After all, I have been up for many hours and I feel like I should already be at my destination; I am not.

My travel began yesterday. I woke up, finished packing and found out that my flight to Munich was the one that was cancelled (out of 6). No problem. I called our lovely travel agents and had a seat on one of today’s flights within 20 minutes. Great! Routine starts again…

I woke up today, finished packing and found out that my flight was NOT cancelled even though 3 others were! What luck, I never win anything! Off to the airport… Traffic wasn’t bad, so I think: “Hey, it’s not too bad, I guess.” Get to the terminal and… “Oh dear GOD!” All of the doors are jammed with people - you can’t move. It’s not pretty, people. “OK,” I think, “I know a super secret way to the premier check in.” Phew! The two hour-long line is for tickets, the check-in is only 15-20 minutes. Now, where can I get one of those cool see-through plastic bags so that the armored tank I saw outside doesn’t go after me?

All is great because I did not have to spend 3-4 hours checking in… my turn -
Agent: “Hello, where are you travelling?”
Mark: “Munich please. I am on the 12:40.”
Agent: (clicking that keyboard like it’s the typing event at the Olympics) “Hmm… Were you re-booked?”
Mark: “Yes, yesterday” CRAP!
Agent: “I don’t mean to be a pain, but could you go see my colleagues at the ticket counter and let them know you have an ‘unmatched e-ticket’”?
Mark: “Excuse me? I have an un-what ticket?”
Agent: “Un-matched e-ticket.”
Mark: “WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN? Please, for the love of everything that is decent, tell me what is going on and stop speaking ‘airline-crypto’.”
Agent: “It’s not a problem sir, just go over there and come right back here. You don’t even have to stand in the queue.”
Mark: “You mean I go and stand in that 2 hour line and then come back here? That means that I will possibly miss my flight and have an ‘un-useful’ ticket.”
Agent: “OK, wait just a moment.”

The nice agent proceeded to go into the super secret room and after 20 minutes of going through about 55 screens, writing down and punching in about 20 different codes and number, I had a boarding pass, a plastic bag with change and a passport in my hand, and… well, that’s all I was allowed have on my person. The pad-down at the security checkpoint was pleasant and I was loose inside the terminal, roaming the familiar shops and restaurants. There are lots of security notices and a Burger King notices that says that due to unforeseen supply issues, they cannot offer any MEAT products today… Burger King with no meat? What’s the world coming to? Let’s see if my luggage makes it to Munich.

Time to hit that meat tray and get a refill.

P.S. I am flying to New York from Heathrow in 5 days. That should be fun.

I must have done something wrong this week because I just spilled carrot juice on a bright orange shirt. No stains and it smells great!

I am happy to say that this post marks the end of my application process to business schools, which lasted over 8 months. I am proud to be the newest member of the Class of 2008 (2008? yikes!) at NYU Stern. I somehow landed at one of the best schools; one with top quality yet down to earth people – a rare find among top MBA programs. As far as I can tell, it’s also the only program situated in a large city (New York is large in my book), yet has the feel of a small rural university with a tight knit community. Sounds like the place to be and I’ll be there.

I forgot how brutal the application process is; I guess my brain blocked out the undergraduate application adventure. It’s a lot of work and a lot more waiting. As rough as it was, I am actually glad that I went through it. Writing essays and researching programs finally forced me to stop and actually think about where I was, both personally and professionally.

A year ago, I realized that my time in California had to come to an end and I convinced myself that I was not happy where I was. In the last year, I have realized that I do indeed like my job, the industry I am in, and the people I work with (maybe worked with is more appropriate at the moment). I also realized that there are several paths I still want to explore. Some would leave me in the same industry and some are completely off the wall. But hey, that’s just how wild I am (not really).

I am convinced that an MBA is the right thing for me at this point, but for now, I will take a several week break from thinking and take advantage of Bavarian beer gardens before the reality of having to figure out the next steps sets in. What are the next steps? Good question…

I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn’t know. -Mark Twain

I have been pondering this question for some time: when does one start calling a hotel his home? Now that my 8th week at Hotel Bayerischer Hof Erlangen comes to a close, it has become clear that I earned the right to call it my home. The fist hint was that I know which hotel in Thailand the assistant manager is spending her 3-week holiday starting on Monday. I also hold the secret information that one of the waiters is going to be quitting in a month to take on a better job (the manager does not know yet). You might think that being challenged by a waiter to a 2-player showdown of the Nokia mobile phone golf would have been the straw that broke the camel’s back, but you would be mistaken. What did it for me was when the Matre’d exclaimed: “You’re drinking white wine?! I don’t see you for two days and the whole world changes!”

Sushi dinner in Erlangen, Germany - 35€
Glass of German wine from the hotel bar - 5€
Watching Escape from New York in German - priceless
Taping 67 receipts on A4 sheets and filling out your expense report - not priceless whatsoever

I am glad this only happens once a month and the other Saturdays are full of Irish pub outings.

I had an interesting learning experience last night on my flight from London to Munich. I sat next to a woman who was planning her wedding - I feel for the guy and don’t know why on earth he would marry this one. She had a stack of wedding magazines and, naturally, I practically had my head on her shoulder and was secretly reading all of the articles with her. Look, it was a boring flight.

I am obviously completely uneducated in the art of wedding planning; it turns out you can buy wedding insurance. That’s genius! I can see the phone call to the insurance agent now:

Agent: Hello, how may I help you?
Smart guy: Hi. I have a wedding insurance policy with you and my bride did not show up at the altar last night. I’d like to file a claim please.
Agent: Of course, sir. That happens extremely often, which is why we offer this great service. We will need you to fill out an affidavit stating that you were not the one responsible for the situation. After you sign it and fax it to us, we can issue a temporary bride within 7-10 business days. We will then perform a detailed investigation and issue a new permanent bride within 6-8 weeks.

XFaktor Wedding Insurance: Protect your perfect day. If [s]he walks out, you get some money and we’ll help you with the law suit.

I must admit that I have not taken to this blog thing quite yet. It takes work and turns out, I am quite lazy. Still, nagging is worse than work, so after enough nags, I gathered the strength to post a quick update and vow (only to myself for now just in case) to try to blog more. I need to get ready for my flight to London, so here is a quick recap of the past few weeks (months?) that I have spent in Bavaria.

Observations

• Easiest way to tell Americans apart from Europeans: Americans always wear white socks.
• The Superbowl is not quite the same when the 1st quarter ends after 1am.
• Restaurant bills are easy to split: all taxes, services and “food handling” charges are included in the price and people know how to add without a register.
• David Hasselhoff music videos - still in style.
• Rocky IV soundtrack - also still in style (Eye of the Tiger baby!).
• A drink called Mater Blaster is as bad as it sounds - it blasts the master out of you.
• Castles in the middle of a city are cool!
• I actually missed winters

Investigations performed

1. How long can your half-finished beer hold a prime spot at the bar?
   Results: at least 20 minutes; more tests to follow
2. Is it better to eat too much or drink too much?
   Results: all tests to date have proven inconclusive; further investigation is required.

I know it’s been a while since I updated this thing, so I’ll do a quick recap. I am back in London sampling the crazy life of Soho - perhaps the “happiest” (look up synonyms in a UK dictionary) neighborhood in London. Turns out the New York, Joe-style accent, goes a long way with meeting people here. The other great thing about London is that it’s close to … the rest of the world. I celebrated Christmas in Amsterdam this year because … I could. That city is everything people say it is. Details? I take the 5th. A word of advice: keep your Amsterdam hostel exposure to one day at a time until you build up a bit of experience.

Last night, I did a touristy thing in London and went to the Absolut Icebar with a friend of mine. It was cool! A little cramped as I expected a slightly larger establishment, but with electricity expenditures these days, I don’t blame them for keeping it small. It must take lots of cooling to keep a place made of ice stay made of ice. The bar has 45 minute sessions where they dress you up in a warm robe, give you a glass made out of ice and pour you some delicious Absolut drinks. In the mean time, they play some funky music so you can jump around like crazy to stay warm. Cool idea - gets cold real quick. My hands were frozen holding my “ice” full of vodka within a few minutes.

It’s been almost three weeks since I finished the drive from California it to the East coast and I finally had time to jot down some interesting facts while sitting at the Frankfurt Marriott. The trip was incredible! I would recommend it to everyone, but make sure to have no solid plans and take a long time doing it. (Note: if you are against the concept of driving, don’t do it). I spent almost 2 weeks on the road: a very “quiet” night in Vegas, a long hike through the snowy Rockies in shorts, a visit with a cute baby, and a huge rainbow in Kansas (OK, Kansas was not extremely exciting since I chose not to go peek at the 5-legged cow that was heavily advertised every mile). While I truly enjoyed having to shove clothing spills back into the passenger seat every few hundred miles, the best part was the time I spent with some of the great people I had met during my stint in the Bay Area.

Miles driven: 3,562.3
Total time in transit: 11 days 15 hours
Moving Time: 56hrs 45min
Total fuel used: 151.809 gallons
Total fuel cost: $420.10
Cheapest gas: $2.279 / gal in Salina, KS
Most expensive gas: $3.099 / gal in Cove Fort, UT and Tehachapi, CA
Most miles in a day: 820 (Lakewood, co –> Wentzville, mo)
Longest travel day: 14 hours 30 minutes
Highest Point Driven: 12,183 at Rocky Mountain National Park
Super 8 Motels: 3
Friends seen on the way: 12

States visited: California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Kansas (so long), Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania (seemed even longer), New Jersey

Lecompton, KS - you may think it’s French for Compton, but it’s actually the “political birthplace of the American Civil War.” Write that down.

I just had the pleasure of doing a presentation for a prospect (my first!) in our Brussels office. Oh yeah, I made it across the country and to Europe without too many glitches. I lost most of my pictures due to technology hiccups and was mad at technology as a whole, hence no stories written here.

Back to the point of sales. First, I don’t think I’ve heard “yes” and “of course” followed by “we can” or “we do” this many times in my life. Expected, I suppose. The unexpected was the fact that half of the people from the prospect were sleeping and the other half were nodding. Questions? They didn’t have many. It’s not their money I guess. The funniest part of the meeting by far was the closing. This is the awkward moment when the vendor (us) dances around asking the question of… well… “yes or no?” while the prospect sidesteps the answer of … that’s right, “yes” or “no.” So, in the end no one has a clue as to what’s going on; why even bother? I say presentation, questions, answers, done - the rest happens when it happens.

I think I can sell, but the secret to me doing a good job selling would be to keep me in the dark about what it is I am pushing. Then, I can just claim ignorance rather than having to drop lies left and right.