On the Road

People are always asking me, "What do you do for fun?" Whether it's a peer making small talk or a recruiter trying to figure out the person behind the resume, the fascination with what we do outside the office (or the school) is universal.

One of my great loves is taking the all-American road trip. To be sure, folks from other countries also take road trips--Parisians drive to the French countryside, for example. But long, meaningful road trips are a quintessential part of Americana. The US has such beautiful and vast expanses and so many places to go.

In California, my friends and I were on the road frequently. We went to Tahoe, Yosemite, and occasionally headed south to Santa Barbara. I never drove north to Portland and Seattle, but I should have.

My restless soul finds peace on these trips in a way that I've never felt in foreign lands and in and out of airports. So, in the spirit of Sal and Dean from On the Road, traveling back and forth across the country, going nowhere and everywhere at the same time, I hit the road after my last final exam. After a week in New York City, I returned to Ithaca to pile up my car and head towards New England.

After a detour to a town called Colonie, New York, thanks to a bad case of engine sludge, I headed east through Vermont on 9 (the scenic route) and then onwards to New Hampshire to a picturesque lake house. From there, I headed back to Colonie to pick up my Saab, newly unclogged and running quite well. I retraced the highways back to New England, this time headed for the Cape, and concluded my trip via ferry to Martha's Vineyard.

Tomorrow I'm headed to Boston, where my new cubicle awaits me at Novell. And with this one last short trip, the halcyon days of road trips to the homes of my family and friends will come to a close.

One Down

Though I can't officially call myself a second year yet, I'm no longer a first year either. As I turned in my last final exam and hurried down to CTB for a delicious bagel, I could not help but feel a sense of satisfaction. I now know what WACC is, that all the important stuff in a financial statement is buried in the notes, and that higher leverage can make for a better return or a quicker demise.

Springtime finally found Ithaca on the map, and I hope that with it, I'll find a week or two of rest and reflection. One thing that I don't need to think twice about is my affection for the Johnson School. It's not something I say lightly--I love this place and here are a few things I love most, in no particular order:

• Walking over a gorge to get to class
  
• The Park program
  
• The blueberry beer at Chappy's
  
• The responsibility of managing a venture capital fund
  
• College Town Bagels (mentioned twice in one blog!)
  
• Ladies' brunches
  
• Misplaced, yet hilarious CBJ articles
  
• A handful of close friends (I won't name names--you know who you are)
  

To avoid a totally sappy, sentimental blog, I will say that there are a few things I didn't like as well. I could've done with one less Excel model and one less mention of social networking. I also wish business schools would take the social sciences more seriously and approach them with more academic rigor. There is an inevitable tension between professional education and academic learning, and I don't believe any business program has adequately addressed it. Certainly, as an undergrad studying religion and philosophy, I was encouraged to think on a level that business school does not demand. And yet, I feel like I know so many new things. Suddenly the Wall Street Journal makes sense.

To all the second years who took the time to get to know me, mentor me, and challenge me with new ideas, best of luck! May our generation of business leaders change things.