Today was another study day. I didn't get quite as much read as I had hoped, but I'm well into three of the books for the communication class. I felt that it was more important for me to really understand what I've read so I took about three hours today and wrote a couple papers, just for myself, to summarize and restate what I'd read in Type Talk at Work (about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) and Why Business People Speak Like Idiots (about avoiding the traps and pitfalls that get in the way of successfully communicating at work).
About 4pm Sue and I went for a walk with Ron from Unified over to the Venice Canals. They're just about two blocks from Oakwood and I would never have known they were there. It's a series of canals between the streets with houses lining each of them and footbridges in between. In typical California fashion there's every manner of architectural style and size ranging from 1000 sq. ft. bungalows to 3000 sq ft moderns. One of the larger houses we passed was for sale for a mere $2.9 million. It even had a two car garage which, I would say, is unheard of around here.
After the walk Ron and Sue came over for dinner. I used the "Easy Enchilada" filling I had made yesterday to whip up some enchiladas which were accompanied by a chop salad (thanks Ron for bringing tomatoes) and a quick pan of cornbread. We decided we'll carpool together tomorrow, leaving at 7 am to make sure we're early.
Tomorrow's the first day of class and I feel very excited. I'm anxious to get to work.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
The Weekend
Saturday, January 19, 2008.
Sunday, January20, 2008.
I hit the gym at 6 am this morning which was great. I haven't felt like I have a lot of time for regular exercise since Logan was born, but I don't really have any excuses while I'm down here. They have a nice facility and I pretty much had it to myself at that hour. I'm glad it's a short walk over there because I was in a t-shirt and shorts and nearly froze to death. I forget that it's still winter and at night it gets down to the high thirties or low forties.
After that I got a haircut (gotta look good for pictures on Tuesday) and then drove up to Santa Monica which is only a couple miles up Pacific Avenue. What a view! Too bad I didn't have my camera with me. I'll have to go up again to take some pictures to share with all of you.
Later that afternoon Sue and I decided to walk down to Venice Beach. Quite a freak show. It's kind of like a permanent street fair on the boardwalk with all sorts of entertainers ranging from the energetic (young hip-hop acrobats and Brazilian drummers), to the unusual (a gold painted mime who looked like a statue with a gold painted mime dog who would move when given tips), to the deranged (a man in pseudo-African tribal dress standing on one foot on a ten food A-frame ladder holding snakes and preaching Armageddon). It goes on for miles, but we quickly tired of the incense and t-shirt shops, piercing parlors and hustlers and walked back on the beach. The thing that struck me was that even with the temperature nearing 70 degrees there were thousands on the boardwalk, but only a handful of people actually on the beach or down by the water. We continued our walk around the marina and the surrounding area before heading back to Oakwood. We had walked for about three hours by the time we made it back and I was getting a bit footsore.
I made Wendy's famous "Easy Enchilladas" for dinner which I'll be eating for several meals to come. This was my first real attempt at cooking since I've been here and I'd forgotten how many left-overs you end up with when cooking for one. I imagine as I get to know more of my classmates and their schedules we'll probably be doing some communal meals. Otherwise I'll be drowning in sameness.
I finished out the day with some more reading, talked with Wendy and Logan on the phone and fell asleep with a book on my face.
Wendy emailed me some new pictures of Logan. This is my favorite one. I got him the shirt when I came down in December for the tour. It says "Somebody at USC loves me!" I really miss both of them.
I did a lot of reading today. I'd like to get through at least three of the books before we start class on Tuesday. I feel like everything I can do to get ahead now will pay dividends in the weeks ahead.
I also ran some errands today. It's surprising how much stuff you need and how much time it takes to get your life set up down here. It also takes a fair bit of time to get anywhere. It's not hard to burn through half your day just running around.
Note for 2009 class: Get down to Los Angeles as soon as you can, get familiar with the area and get everything you need to feel dialed in and ready to work.Sunday, January20, 2008.
I hit the gym at 6 am this morning which was great. I haven't felt like I have a lot of time for regular exercise since Logan was born, but I don't really have any excuses while I'm down here. They have a nice facility and I pretty much had it to myself at that hour. I'm glad it's a short walk over there because I was in a t-shirt and shorts and nearly froze to death. I forget that it's still winter and at night it gets down to the high thirties or low forties.
After that I got a haircut (gotta look good for pictures on Tuesday) and then drove up to Santa Monica which is only a couple miles up Pacific Avenue. What a view! Too bad I didn't have my camera with me. I'll have to go up again to take some pictures to share with all of you.
Later that afternoon Sue and I decided to walk down to Venice Beach. Quite a freak show. It's kind of like a permanent street fair on the boardwalk with all sorts of entertainers ranging from the energetic (young hip-hop acrobats and Brazilian drummers), to the unusual (a gold painted mime who looked like a statue with a gold painted mime dog who would move when given tips), to the deranged (a man in pseudo-African tribal dress standing on one foot on a ten food A-frame ladder holding snakes and preaching Armageddon). It goes on for miles, but we quickly tired of the incense and t-shirt shops, piercing parlors and hustlers and walked back on the beach. The thing that struck me was that even with the temperature nearing 70 degrees there were thousands on the boardwalk, but only a handful of people actually on the beach or down by the water. We continued our walk around the marina and the surrounding area before heading back to Oakwood. We had walked for about three hours by the time we made it back and I was getting a bit footsore.
I made Wendy's famous "Easy Enchilladas" for dinner which I'll be eating for several meals to come. This was my first real attempt at cooking since I've been here and I'd forgotten how many left-overs you end up with when cooking for one. I imagine as I get to know more of my classmates and their schedules we'll probably be doing some communal meals. Otherwise I'll be drowning in sameness.
I finished out the day with some more reading, talked with Wendy and Logan on the phone and fell asleep with a book on my face.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Orientation
Today was the first day of the program. Orientation. A chance to meet Tom Arnold, the program director, and to spend some time with last year's alumni as well as meet our classmates. What a great day and how exciting!
Sue and I drove in together and arrived about a half hour early. To my surprise, and pleasure, probably half of the class was already there. As we walked in and got coffee we immediately began meeting and greeting; there was very little standoffishness here - everyone was an experienced business professional and knew how to act like it. Everyone that I met seemed very pleasant and I quickly discovered that most of them had been told the same thing by their predecessors that I had been told by mine - accounting knowledge in the program is rare and to be treasured. I found I suddenly had at least ten new friends eager to get to know me and secure my goodwill and future help.
Sue and I drove in together and arrived about a half hour early. To my surprise, and pleasure, probably half of the class was already there. As we walked in and got coffee we immediately began meeting and greeting; there was very little standoffishness here - everyone was an experienced business professional and knew how to act like it. Everyone that I met seemed very pleasant and I quickly discovered that most of them had been told the same thing by their predecessors that I had been told by mine - accounting knowledge in the program is rare and to be treasured. I found I suddenly had at least ten new friends eager to get to know me and secure my goodwill and future help.
At about 9:30 we got started and Professor Arnold spoke for a few minutes, announced that 2008 is the 50th anniversary of the FIM program and then introduced the alumni, after passing on our first reading assignment from Professor Miles. Fully half of the students from last year were back today to give us a tour, share their insights and help make us as comfortable and prepared as possible. They also tried to impart to us the importance of tradition at USC and to pass on some of the FIM traditions to our class.
Several of the alumni stood up and spoke about various aspects of the program and I was immediately impressed with the presence and excellent speaking skills they brought to the presentation. I was particularly impressed with Fred from Basha's (the spokesperson for the 2007 class), Lou a 33 year veteran of Safeway (who I believe was recently promoted to Vice President), Erin the class of 2007's Spice Girl (she works for McCormick) and our very own Matt Johnson. There were several others, but those are the ones that were both most outstanding and that I had the most opportunity to talk with throughout the day. They were so excited for us and passionate about what we would be learning that it was infectious and I think we all started to really get excited too.
After they spoke and answered questions for awhile, we broke into smaller groups and toured with a few of the alumni. Most of the students hadn't had a chance to get their books, parking permit, etc. yet so we made a lot of stops to do that. We broke up at about 1pm with the alumni inviting us to come to Oakwood, where I'm living, for a barbeque in our honor at 5pm. Sue and I had lunch with a few of our classmates and then headed back to Oakwood.
Just after 5pm I headed to the barbeque for more meeting and greeting. It was a nice casual atmosphere and I got to meet some more folks and get to know some of those I'd met earlier a little better. About an hour into it Denny, 2007's BBQ speaker, gave a toast and the 2007 class presented us with a few gifts. The first was the FIM barbeque tools, that they had received from the 2006 class. One of the FIM traditions is that every Thursday evening, no matter how much work we have to do and how stressed we may feel, we're supposed to have a barbeque. Somehow I was spontaneously elected grillmaster by my class (and perpetual washer of the barbeque tools) and I immediately got to work grilling burgers and dogs with 2007's grill man Mike "Moose" Johnson from Unified Grocers. They also gave us a propane heater since it gets pretty cold as soon as the sun goes down. Stephanie, from Associated Foods, was appointed class handyman and charged with getting the heater assembled by next Thursday and Dawn, from Safeway, volunteered to be our BBQ speaker/toast giver.
The BBQ broke up about 9 and I went back to my apartment to get started on some reading. Today was a great day and I'm even more excited about USC after feeling the enthusiasm from the 2007 class.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Settling In
Not a whole lot to report today. I got the apartment squared away - put things away, washed the dishes, etc. - then ran down the street to Albertson's to pick up a few groceries. I didn't have much time as I was meeting Sue and we were going to USC to take care of some errands, but I wanted to have a few things for when I got back.
The Albertson's on Washington Boulevard, about two miles from Oakwood is right next to a Costco in a little shopping center. The store itself wasn't bad, but the produce was a little sad, the prices were outrageous ($5 a gallon for private label milk!) and the crew was generally unpleasant. I left with only half the things on my short list and was thankful to be leaving.
We left for USC at 10 am, arrived just before 11 (even though it's probably only 18 miles away) and went to get books. Sue had picked hers up a few days before so I was forewarned of possible problems and after only minor difficulty was able to get all the books I needed; there are ten in all:
Financial Accounting
Managerial Accounting
Speak Like a CEO
Management of Organizational Behavior
Strengthsfinder 2.0
Type Talk at Work
The Articulate Executive in Action
Why Business People Speak Like Idiots
The One Thing You Need to Know
Communication for Management
I'm glad I have the long weekend to get through some reading before class starts.
We then went to the parking office, were told there weren't any spaces available on campus, convinced the service rep we were special and had prior reservations, filled out the paperwork, were told we couldn't pay with credit cards, went back to the bookstore to find an ATM that would give us $400, found the atms, determined they were broken, found some other atms, got our cash, went back to the parking office and retrieved our permits.
Then it was time to go to Health Services for shots. We both needed an MMR vaccine because we couldn't provide documentation that we'd had them before (though of course we have). This went pretty smooth and we emerged none the worse for being poked with needles and the nurse gave me a lolly pop.
By now it was after 1pm and we were both starving so we hit the student commons for some gyros - I had chicken and Sue had lamb. The food on campus is generally good and there's a tremendous variety to choose from.
After lunch we went back to Oakwood dropped off our stuff, I did a few errands there and then we decided to go to Ralph's. Sue had spotted it a few days earlier when taking her husband back to the airport and had quickly made it "her store" for the duration of our stay.
Ralph's was everything Albertson's wasn't. The store was beautiful, reminding me of the Fairhaven Haggen. It was clean, the product was good, the shelves were stocked and the employees were very friendly. Oh, and the prices were low. So of course it's "my store" now too.
That was about it. Tomorrow is orientation and our chance to meet our fellow students.
The Albertson's on Washington Boulevard, about two miles from Oakwood is right next to a Costco in a little shopping center. The store itself wasn't bad, but the produce was a little sad, the prices were outrageous ($5 a gallon for private label milk!) and the crew was generally unpleasant. I left with only half the things on my short list and was thankful to be leaving.
We left for USC at 10 am, arrived just before 11 (even though it's probably only 18 miles away) and went to get books. Sue had picked hers up a few days before so I was forewarned of possible problems and after only minor difficulty was able to get all the books I needed; there are ten in all:
Financial Accounting
Managerial Accounting
Speak Like a CEO
Management of Organizational Behavior
Strengthsfinder 2.0
Type Talk at Work
The Articulate Executive in Action
Why Business People Speak Like Idiots
The One Thing You Need to Know
Communication for Management
I'm glad I have the long weekend to get through some reading before class starts.
We then went to the parking office, were told there weren't any spaces available on campus, convinced the service rep we were special and had prior reservations, filled out the paperwork, were told we couldn't pay with credit cards, went back to the bookstore to find an ATM that would give us $400, found the atms, determined they were broken, found some other atms, got our cash, went back to the parking office and retrieved our permits.
Then it was time to go to Health Services for shots. We both needed an MMR vaccine because we couldn't provide documentation that we'd had them before (though of course we have). This went pretty smooth and we emerged none the worse for being poked with needles and the nurse gave me a lolly pop.
By now it was after 1pm and we were both starving so we hit the student commons for some gyros - I had chicken and Sue had lamb. The food on campus is generally good and there's a tremendous variety to choose from.
After lunch we went back to Oakwood dropped off our stuff, I did a few errands there and then we decided to go to Ralph's. Sue had spotted it a few days earlier when taking her husband back to the airport and had quickly made it "her store" for the duration of our stay.
Ralph's was everything Albertson's wasn't. The store was beautiful, reminding me of the Fairhaven Haggen. It was clean, the product was good, the shelves were stocked and the employees were very friendly. Oh, and the prices were low. So of course it's "my store" now too.
That was about it. Tomorrow is orientation and our chance to meet our fellow students.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Road Trip - Day Three
January 16, 2008
Day Three - Santa Rosa, CA to Marina Del Rey, CA
Frost!
I couldn't believe it! I've driven nearly a thousand miles south to get to the coldest night in the last week! It's ironic that the coldest weather of the whole trip should appear after I've finally made it to sunny California.
I said goodbye to Mike and Amanda and hit the road about 8:30. I would have left earlier, but there wasn't any point as I'd have been stuck in the morning commute traffic. Even then the traffic was heavy until I crossed the Oakland bridge. As I continued to head east to I-5, the concrete jungle receded and I was back on the open road. One thing about California that's easy to forget is that it's so big that there are places with millions of people all on top of each other and then you go 50 miles and there's nothing, but fields for the next hundred miles.
I really wanted to finish the trip today so I pressed on pretty steadily. I didn't stop for lunch until 2 pm when I saw the first In and Out Burger of the trip. For those of you unfamiliar, it's similar to Dick's in Seattle, though a bit fresher and with better fries. After my quick lunch, I continued to roll on south, thankful that the traffic was back to a steady clip over rural plains from the kamikaze chaos of the more urban areas. This was probably my favorite part of the actual drive.
As I approached the hills about a hundred miles north of L.A. the roads got really rough. In fact at one point I actually pulled off the side of the road because I was convinced I had a flat tire. It turns out the tires were fine, it was just the road that needed repair.
I finally rolled into Los Angeles just after 4pm, which was just in time to hit the end of day rush hour. Thankfully most of the traffic was headed out of the city, but it was still heavy enough to take another hour plus to get to Marina Del Rey.
Happy to have arrived, but a bit exhausted from the day's rough ride I checked in to Oakwood at about 5:30 and by the time I'd gone through the paper work, found my apartment and brought all my stuff in it was nearly 7pm. I got a quick bite after calling Sue to let her know I was here, put a few things away and hit the hay. I also called Wendy and Logan to chat for a bit and to hear the new things Logan is saying and doing in the three days I've been away so far.
The day wrapped up with 434 miles for a total of 1359 on the whole trip. The weather was the best I could have hoped for and although long, the drive really wasn't unpleasant. Looking back on it, one of the best things about it was that it gave me a chance to get my mind right; to gradually relocate myself to my new (if temporary) reality. I know it will take some time for me to get acclimated to California and USC, but the drive at least got the process started.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Road Trip - Day Two
January 15, 2008
Day Two - Ashland, OR to Santa Rosa, CA
Another 367 miles down. If yesterday was all about endurance and the steady slog through long miles, today was just the opposite - lots of excitement. Amusingly, today's journey opened with Dean Martin singing "King of the Road" on the radio. The good weather continued to hold, but I was a little nervous to tackle the Siskiyou's this morning. It was cold out and the roads were a little bit icy; the stray water drops froze on the windshield as soon as I got up to speed. There wasn't any snow on the roads though and I didn't have to chain up so that was a bonus. Still, it was exciting coming over the last pass and down into California. I stopped to take a few pictures just over the pass - it really was beautiful.
After that the road opened up and it was smooth sailing. As I got deeper into northern California there were fewer semi trucks than there had been, though still a lot more than I'm used to seeing. The roads were a little rough in some places, but not bad and everyone was cruising along steadily.
By 12:30 pm I had stopped in Vacaville, just onto highway 80 for lunch. There was a little strip mall that looked like it had just been built last week and I wandered into Panera Bread for a sandwich. Nice place, very NorCal - organic, artisan, no trans fat, etc. Then it was back on the road to Santa Rosa.
Vacaville seemed to be the dividing line between a nice comfortable drive and total chaos. No sooner had I gotten back on highway 80 than it opened up into five lanes in either direction and there were suddenly hundreds of cars on the road. Where before everyone seemed content driving at five over the speed limit, suddenly everyone was flying past me at 80 plus mph. Welcome to California!
The last piece of excitement for the day, before pulling into Santa Rosa was on highway 37 where I witnessed my first ever incident of true road rage. One driver made a bad decision to change lanes at the last moment when there really wasn't enough time or distance for safety and cut another driver off. The second driver, clearly angry at being put at risk by the first, proceeded to pull around him and cut him off in turn, putting himself and at least ten other drivers back at risk. This was all done at 75+ mph and was honestly the scariest thing I've ever seen while driving. The second cutoff was so sudden and deliberate that I was certain we were all going to make the news in a bad way. Thankfully, a crash was avoided by mere inches and the two drivers sped off chasing each other down the highway. I ticked off the last few miles to Santa Rosa as my blood pressure ticked back down to normal.
Santa Rosa was actually a little bit out of the way for me, but Wendy and I have some good friends there, Mike and Amanda Visser, and I thought it would be a nice chance to visit and avoid another night at a hotel. They're great hosts and we had an enjoyable dinner at Graffiti, a tapas restaurant in Petalluma, with good food and great service. It was nice to have some company after two days of solitude. That wrapped up the day and after a restful sleep I'm ready for the last leg.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Roadtrip - Day One
January 14, 2008:
Day One - Bellingham, WA to Ashland, OR
558 miles down. Taking Norris Johnson's advice (he made the trip for last year's class) I wanted to get as far into the trip the first day as I could so that I can tackle the Siskiyou Mountains tomorrow morning in the day light. The weather was pretty decent today, traffic was relatively light and it was fairly easy to make good time. 11 hours in the car is still quite a long day - I think I'll be out as soon as my head hits the pillow.
Day One - Bellingham, WA to Ashland, OR
558 miles down. Taking Norris Johnson's advice (he made the trip for last year's class) I wanted to get as far into the trip the first day as I could so that I can tackle the Siskiyou Mountains tomorrow morning in the day light. The weather was pretty decent today, traffic was relatively light and it was fairly easy to make good time. 11 hours in the car is still quite a long day - I think I'll be out as soon as my head hits the pillow.
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