GSB Mennonite

Beaters

I don't know about you all, but I enjoy licking off egg-beaters after baking - particularly when it's frosting that I just mixed.

Last night I made my classic cinnamon rolls and caramel frosting, mostly as a trial run to get to know the new kitchen. Electric stoves can be tricky things to work with. Anyway, they turned out ok - I'd only give them a solid B for two main reaons; I should have let them rise another 10 minutes before putting them in the oven and I should have removed the oven pan from the lower oven shelf because I think that hindered the heat transfer to the bottom of the pans (centers and lower portion of the rolls not baked as well as I would have like).

If it's not obvious for that last paragraph I take my cinnamon rolls fairly seriously.

Hopefully next time they'll be good enough to share with my neighbors.

Gmail

I have a few Gmail invites; if anyone is interested in a Gmail account feel free to email me.

Promontory Point

Pa'lee and I walked down to the Point this evening and enjoyed what feels like Autumn coolness in the evening air. I shot a couple pictures of the waves on the Point - looking back northwest toward Regents Park and downtown Chicago. If it wasn't obvious I've been resizing the images on the front page to reduce download time; click image to see a larger version (albeit much smaller than the original).

Corks

It's won't fill a whole project page, but I thought I'd post a picture of a cork board a made late last year. I haven't found it's place yet in the new apt.

Nesting

Today was a nesting day - sleeping in thanks to a less than stellar night of sleep due to the on/off thunderstorms. And nearly finishing setting up the study and hanging things on the wall. I also nearly finished the laptop project but lacked an external keyboard for finishing setup. I also misplaced my wireless router - no idea where I either packed it or forgot it in the move. Pa'lee and I also worked on meal planning.

Last night we had a friend over and enjoyed my beef and potato roast. :)

I'm beginning to notice the differences between living in a home and a tower. I don't hear as much road traffic unless the windows are open (which we do to enjoy the very nice breeze) and when it rains you hear the rain hitting the windows in a way that you don't in a house. Since it's a new sound I also notice the Metra line.

Hyde Park

I spent a few hours meandering around Hyde Park today. It's a very interesting neighborhood with a mix of academia, commercial and various types of residential housing. The commercial ventures seem to be struggling. A number of restaurants were recently closed and vacant (sometimes unrenovated) space is noticable.

I happened to pass a closed-up building listed on the map as "old 10th Church of Christ Scientist." It would make a great theater or private home - on Blackstone just north of 57th St. :) Update: I heard that this building is going to be torn down. Very sad...

Finally, two new pictures from campus. The first is a small outdoor 'preachers pulpit' on the northwest side of the Rockefeller Chapel. The second is a shot of the winter garden section of the new building. They've sodded the entire area surrounding the new building and it looks great.

Oriental Institute

I arrived in Chicago yesterday, after two weeks in Indiana working on a barn (hopefully that page will be updated and added today).

After getting our lock oiled, because my key got stuck in the lock, I headed over to campus and got my official Chicago ID card, and my Chicago GSB card holder. :)

Over lunch I met Pa'lee and we sat on a park bench in the main quad, then walked over to the bookstore and the library (where I got my ID). She headed back to work and I headed to the Oriental Institute. I highly recommend a visit if you ever find yourself on campus, especially if the Mesopotamian Gallery is still open. I have a couple pictures, but this one is probably the best out there. The human-headed winged-bull is amazing!!

Broke down...

I told myself I wouldn't...but I did.

I haven't had a phone or phone plan for quite a while (which I've actually really enjoyed), but heading back to school meant I needed to return to the world of cell phones. But I didn't want to carry a Palm and a phone...so I broke down and ordered the Treo 600.

But got a decent price thanks to Amazon rebates.

Promontory Point

We have a great view of Promontary Point from our apartment along Lake Shore Dr. More pics later of the rest of our view including most of Hyde Park and even a bit of downtown. I'm playing around with a product that Google acquired called Picasa.

There is a small picture of Regents Park (the twin apartment buildings) from Promontory Point from this Point site.

Also, check out the history of Lake Shore Drive from the City's site.

Chicago GSB Building

For those of you who aren't on campus yet or who haven't been able to see the progress on the new building, these pictures are about two weeks old. I hear landscaping is coming along nicely...

If you're interested in Gothic architecture, check out this picture from the building just east of the GSB. Gothic Popup

Catching Up

It's been almost a week without high-speed internet (my visit to the Electric Brew last Wednesday), so I'm back attempting to update some of my projects with pictures and install MT Blacklist to block the mass of ads that I've found in my comments (11 from a single website).

crackheads + sparkplugs + engineer = funny

Check out this article from Craigslist. If you're offended by R-rated language please disregard the link.

Disclaimer: I copied the title from bloggenspiel.

Microsoft Automatic Update

This afternoon I attempted to check for Microsoft Updates and received the following message:

---------------------------------------------------------------
[Error number: 0x8DDD0018]
Windows Update cannot continue because a required service application is disabled. Windows Update requires the following services:
Automatic Updates enables detection, downloading, and installation of critical updates for your computer.
Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) enables faster, restartable downloading of updates.
Event Log logs Windows Update events for troubleshooting. To ensure that these services are enabled:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. Type services.msc and then click OK.
3. In the list of services, right-click the service name, and then click Properties.
4. In the Startup type list, select Automatic.
5. Verify that the service status is started.
---------------------------------------------------------------

Does this mean that customers *must* accept automatic updates in order to receive bug/security fixes? This could be particularly frustrating for dial-up users, which believe it or not do still exist.

Progress

A number of my projects are seeing good progress.

The transparent mirror (one way mirror) for the mirror project was received in one piece, although it is tinted, which I did not want at all. Hopefully it'll still work out.

I've successfully removed the front bezel from the laptop frame (after discovering small star-head screws under the rubber nubbins on the frame). And I've started to cut out the wooden box frame to mount the laptop in behind the frame. I'll check Michaels for a decent cheap frame that I like, and if not successful there I'll build one from a nice wood - poplar or cherry.

Dad and I started on the barn on Saturday. Actually he had already dug the holes and poured in concrete for the footers last week. I plan on setting up a project page dedicated to the barn raising, with a progression of pictures that I've been taking. So far it's been a safe working environment with only a few scrapes, banged fingers, and occasional non-OSHA-approved ladder use.

Goshen, IN

The road trip from Arlington, VA to Goshen, IN went very well. I left DC around 6:40 AM and arrived a little less than 10 hours later. Thanks to a breakfast at McDonalds (for some reason I crave McDs only on road trips...) and plenty of coffee I survived the toll roads and refueling pitstops.

Thankfully the Electric Brew in Goshen has free WiFi so I'm finally getting a chance to catch up on email and the blog. Goshen has a neat downtown (thanks mostly to the Brew) but many other spots are being restored. Unfortunately the truck by-pass that was put in a couple blocks away doesn't seem to the be the popular destination for trucks that it was intended for since every few minutes an 18-wheeler bbbrrrrummmmmssss down Main Street.

Saying Goodbye

I think one of the hardest things of saying goodbye when leaving is that it happens every time you see someone for the last time, so instead of having a sense of leaving and goodbyes in the final week or few days - the last month is just one long goodbye.

Thankfully though I got to see some friends the last night I was in DC, Thursday. And we enjoyed some yummy food and drinks at the Big Bowl at Market Commons in Arlington.

Orchids

I'll miss lunch-time walks to the Botanic Gardens. So I leave you with this until tomorrow, when I hopefully will have a successful trip report.

Find the Eye

The reality of living in DC is that many eyes are watching...and not just the squirrel's.

Last Day + Recap

I've been wrapping up work and have been negligent with respect to posting. Today is my last day. Although I don't officially 'retire' until the 15th.

Actually last night I went out with some former roommates and friends to the Chart House Alexandria (excellent salad bar!). And the night before I went to a GSB faculty lecture sponsored by the DC-Baltimore GSB Alumni Club. The lecture from 34106: Commercializing Innovation by Scott Meadow was excellent, and it got me much more excited about the next two years at the GSB.

I leave for my parents' place in northern Indiana tomorrow morning for a few weeks of relaxing and a barn-raising (literally, but not nearly as big as the link) - more on that in the future. And then I'll head out to Chicago in late August to settle in for a week+ before LEAD begins.

It is actually very surreal to experience 'lasts' - the last commute, the last morning trip for water, the last log in... It'll probably sink in a bit more in a few weeks - especially the lack of the DC friends, but I trust there will be new Chicago friends soon! :)

Transitions

For those of you who are entering programs or applying to programs this summer/fall, or anyone in the middle of a transition, I highly recommend Transitions by William Bridges. I first read this book about four years ago, and then re-read it a couple years ago. I'm currently in the middle of the transition from work to school (three more days of work after today...), and Bridges book is something I think about frequently. The 'in between' "neutral zone", as Bridges calls the period between the ending and the beginning, is where I'm at for the next couple weeks. Generally this can be the most difficult part of a transition...I guess I'll wrap up my final pre-program tasks: resume.

And I still need to setup MT Blacklist...

Other MBA blogs

the daily travails has a number of links to excellent MBA blogs, all of which I think you can find from League of MBA Bloggers.

- Mark has a great 'road-trip to HBS' post (and a cool picture of a blown-out tire) at Mark and Jie's Journey

- Hella has some detailed write-ups of Pre-Term at Wharton

DC Museums

I hope Chicago has some good museums that are reasonable (at least for a student). One of the best things about DC is the Smithsonian, a collection of museums - not just the red brick castle that most people think of when they hear the word "Smithsonian."

Over my remaining week in DC, I'll be taking a lot of pictures at most of the following locations and hopefully posting them here. Some of my favorite museums (only the first is really a Smithsonian museum) include:

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery - Asian and a specialized collection of American art Washington, D.C.

National Gallery of Art - I prefer the West Building (Classical) over the East Building (Modern), but the East Building does have a very cool Islamic Art exhibition. Below is an image of a painting by Claude Monet from the NGA site.

United States Botanic Garden - This is a great place to escape for lunch if you work near Capitol Hill (website was down as of 8/06/04).

Bonsai Collection at the United State National Arboretum - I've only been to this collection once, but it was amazing. They have a very nice online virtual tour including this nearly 400-year-old bonsai.

National Museum of the American Indian - Due to be completed in September 2004, I won't be able to visit this museum until a return visit to DC. I think this museum would be my favorite if it was open...

Mirror Project - Update 2

I am getting a new piece of glass shipped to me, thanks to Torstenson Glass Company. I'm looking forward to working on this - starting in about a week and a half when I spend a couple weeks in northern Indiana before heading to Hyde Park, Chicago.

New GSB Portal

The new Chicago GSB portal is now up. Check it out, especially the image of a detail from the new building's ceiling.

The portal update was definitely needed, and other updates are still in need of redevelopment (most notably the LEAD site and pages); but the new portal is a great start.