April 4, 2011

During Turbulence, A Soundtrack

I’ve flown a lot this Winter: its still not enough for me to get over my fear of turbulence. One bump strong enough to splash the ginger ale from my plastic cup onto the tray table in front of me and my mind goes racing: we are going down, making an emergency landing on water, and yet, ironically, it will be the fire from the engine explosion that they list as the cause of death. Its a horrible, horrible place to go…down that fear tunnel.

I’m trying not to do the same thing these days, with the turbulence of graduation (and the subsequent life decisions) upon me. I’m trying not to stare down the future through fear, but rather through faith. Faith that I can do whatever I put my mind too. Faith that opportunities exist around every bend. Faith in my life’s mission: to grow people’s dreams.

So here I am, on the verge of turbulence and holding on tight. Of course, there’s a soundtrack, and I’m grateful for that.

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March 29, 2011

The Navigator

“We have no plan here,” I say.  “I’m stopping.  We can’t just drive around hoping we get there.”

“But look, the addresses are getting bigger,” my husband points out.  It was 800s, now we’re in the 900s.”

Our rental car doesn’t have GPS, we have no smart phone, we have no map of downtown Napa, and to top it off, its dark and raining.  I have no problems asking for directions; it would only be the 18,567th time or so in my life.  I am completely comfortable not knowing where I am.  Not having a plan on how to get where I want to go: now that’s a different story.

I am about to point out we don’t even know where Main street is, so the numbers are irrelevant when he speaks up. “Turn south,” he says, knowing me well enough to point in that direction.

We are looking for Ubuntu, a restaurant that came highly recommended.  It’s an all vegetarian menu, most of the food is grown in their own garden, and even carnivores on Yelp said it was the best meal that they had ever eaten.  Without a reservation, we probably won’t get in, but it’s still worth a shot–if we can ever get there.

We cross Second Street, then First.  This is meaningless to me: we’ve never been downtown, we have no idea where Ubuntu is in relation to where we are, and we only have an address: 1140 Main.

“Turn right. Main street is always close to First Street in small towns,”  says the man who grew up in a place without street signs. Suddenly, we’re on a busy street and in a few blocks, I see a sandwich board advertising “Ubuntu Valet in Back.”   Miraculously, without any formal navigation, we have arrived.

We wait for almost an hour, while they serve us free wine and olives in the Ubuntu Annex and when we eventually get a seat at the bar, I feel so lucky.   At the end of the meal, I declare its the best I have ever eaten, in my entire life.  It’s true.

I feel in love with my husband for many reasons, but one of them was the fact that I think he’s got magical powers.  An internal GPS that can navigate through a new city to a chosen restaurant: I think that qualifies and I am extremely grateful for it.

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Filed under love, travel, vegetarian

March 13, 2011

Up in the Air

The time suspended up in the air is one of my favorite parts of travel.  Neither here nor there, I can relax and read a book, watch a movie, or just sit.  I used to love the excuse that I couldn’t do any work on a plane.  This is why I initially thought inflight wi-fi was a terrible idea.

But today, I was able to crank out 2 hours of solid work on my flight from DC to Atlanta and that window of time was literally the only moments I had to do it between now and the due date. (There’s always the option of sleep deprival, but I’m trying to stay away from that method, recovering from an exhuastion-induced cold).

Today, I am grateful for in flight wi-fi.  It made my life so much easier.

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March 12, 2011

Polyglot Love

“You’re a loner!” says the speaker, pointing at me in front of the room.  I slowly lower my hand as 150 heads turn to look at me.  I can feel my cheeks getting flush.  “There’s no one else in the room like you. In fact only 1% of the population is like you.”  I had identified myself as an INFJ – the most rare of the Myers Briggs Personality Types.  I don’t mind being singled out: I feel comfortable being different from the people around me.

And yet what I love most about this weekend is that I am with people who are, in some ways, just like me. I’m in Washington, DC with a group of MBA students from other schools, working together on the Global Business Project. (Each of us took the Myers Briggs Personality Test to identify potential personality conflicts in our small groups.) We are working in teams this semester on a consulting project with an international company, which we will visit in May.  (I’ll be working with P&G Brasil).

We’ve all agreed to a learn the language of our host country, a commitment which attracts a certain type of person: someone who has traveled, who speaks multiple languages (and is confident they can learn another), a person with a global mindset, a person not embarrassed to make mistakes in speaking a foreign language, a person willing to patiently converse with someone who is learning their language.  Dinner conversation floats between English and Portuguese and  Spanish and French, the topics range from the political climate in Latin America to how to effectively raise multilingual children.  These are my people.

The Global Business Project has brought me innumerable things to be grateful for: the drive and reason to learn Portuguese,  the opportunity to meet new people from all over the world, the opportunity to travel to and work in Brasil, and most of all, the reminder that as an INFJ, I may be unique, but I am not alone.

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March 10, 2011

Party of 12

If you are planning a party, you want it to be big, right?  During my two years as an MBA student, I’ve worked as the project assistant at the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship.  One of the most fun tasks of each year has been planning the Center’s trip: last year to Chicago and this year to San Francisco.  The planning is tedious (so many details!) but enjoyable because I get to make the trip exactly what I want it to be. We get to visit cool companies, meet entrepreneurs, and connect with alums and feel some Badger love while out there.  This year, in my first planning meeting, my goal was to get every student in our center (1o of us) to come.  As of our last pre-trip meeting, less than a week before departure, only 9 of us were going.  But then, in true game-time-decision style, the last one decided to buy a ticket an join us. Now its all 10 of us, for one final hoorah before graduation. Plus one alum and one advisor.   I couldn’t be more grateful.

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Filed under MBA, travel

March 9, 2011

Dragging Logs & Shaking Greasy Hands

I’ve been dragging a log underneath my car for a few weeks now. At least that’s what a friend told me the horrid noise my car has been making sounded like. But I lived with it for a few weeks, because who really wants to go to the car mechanic?

A good mechanic is hard to come by. Most times a car breaks down, people brace themselves for the hassle and haggling that will follow. As a customer, I don’t see it being too difficult for a mechanic to differentiate themeslves from the others: tell the truth, quote a fair price, finish work on schedule, talk a language non-car-folks speak, and above all, treat people with respect. It doesn’t seem too hard, and yet so few people do it.

Which is why I am so grateful for Wright’s Auto on 2210 Fish Hatchery Rd. The guys over there are doing things right. The removed the log (i.e., replaced my brakes), charged me a great price, and somehow made the experience of visiting a shop and shaking greasy hands really pleasant.

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