Mammoth Moments

I feel like I just went through a US undergrad experience.Yes, my weekend in Mammoth with the FEMBA class was EPIC. (I hate how overused that word is, but trust me, this time there's no better word for it.) 6 villas, 60+ attendees, and memories to last a lifetime.

FRIDAY:

The weekend started on an ominous note, with flights to Mammoth being cancelled due to heavy snow and blizzard conditions. But that didn't faze anyone. The affected folks just rented cars at the last minute and drove up/down. That kind of commitment to fun set the mood for the entire weekend.

SATURDAY:
The morning was spent on the slopes. It snowed all day and there was a ton of powder which actually wasn't such a blessing. Snowboarding and skiing were both kinda painful. But I'm glad we all went because on Sunday the conditions were so bad that the mountain was inaccessible.

Saturday night we had a group dinner outing followed by a huge party hosted by Santa's Workshop. What is Santa's Workshop you ask?

Well, Santa's Workshop was the awesome villa which I and a couple other 2013s shared with a bunch of 2011 FEMBAs. Among other things, we had Christmas lights, stockings with our names on them, mistletoe,and hand-made ice luges! Yes, the enterprising guys actually designed and carved multiple ice luges. I've never been more impressed with party preparations. To complete the picture, our crew even dressed in Santa and Elf outfits while greeting the rest of the FEMBAs to our abode. Without getting into too many details, let me assure you the party was a grand success.

SUNDAY:
We woke up to a completely white world outside. We had received some 18in of snow overnight and it was still snowing so we had to stay in. But if we couldn't go to the mountain, the mountain had to come to us, right? So that's exactly what we did. The guys built a sled run outside our villa and we rode plastic sleds down it. It was AMAZING and totally worth the soreness experienced the next day. The rest of the day was spent in the hot tub and sauna, cooking Mexican dinner, playing Taboo, building a snowman, and more partying. In my more inspired moment, I attempted to bake cookies and ended up making one giant cookie because the batter expanded in the oven.

MONDAY:
We all braved the snow, the slippery roads and falling trees and drove back to our respective homes. Mammoth received the heaviest snowfall in 40 years this past weekend and southern California received the heaviest rainfall in a long time. And despite that, I hear one of the vans drove back in the rain with only one barely-functioning windshield wiper, held on by a shoelace! I need to get the details on that story. Between the ice-luges and this, I must say we MBAs are really creative!

This trip was easily the most intense and funnest networking event one can attend. I could get used to such getaways after every quarter end. A huge applause and thanks to our classmates who took the effort to set this up! 

1 down, 11 to go!

A bunch of new friends, a ton of newly acquired knowledge, few gray hairs, some extra pounds, and a boot-camp of final exams later, I'm done with my 1st quarter of MBA! I now have 3 glorious weekends off until winter classes begin! Yay!

All in all, the past three months weren't as bad as I imagined. Sure, it was really hard giving up Saturdays and balancing work with studies, but the excitement of doing something new and meeting new people really made up for it.

However, yesterday was brutal. 7 hours of exams! I had the stats paper first, followed by a break and then the OB paper. By 4pm, with an hour to go, I was already ready to walk off from the OB paper - I was that tired. To make matters worse, all our laptops heated up the classroom and it was starting to feel like a sauna in there. On the bright side, it only made us appreciate the subsequent happy hour celebrations more!

Now that life will momentarily return to a semblance of normalcy, I look forward to getting back to all the activities and loved ones that I've been neglecting. The holiday season feels extra special this year. :)

 Happy Holidays everyone!

Tale from the road

En route to work this morning - Unusual traffic jam on the road leading to the freeway. I was stuck right before the ramp, such that it was impossible to turn around and neither could I make it to 805-N ramp.

After the car had only moved 5 feet in 5 minutes, I decided to act smart. I got on the 805-S ramp (which was accessible), planning to turn around at the next exit.

Turns out other people had had the same bright idea so the next exit was jammed as well.

So I decided to take the exit after that one. I hit the accelerator hard, and promptly zoomed right past the next exit. Shit.

Just as I finally got off 805-S, my phone started buzzing. I looked away for one second to see who was calling and managed to miss the 805-N ramp.#$%!

After waiting (cursing) at the longest red light in the world, I got back on another freeway and exited near my office.

Being unaccustomed to that route, I proceeded to make some more dumb moves. Like hanging out on left-only lanes MULTIPLE times when I needed to go straight. I literally circled all around my office campus before I made it in.

It took me 50 minutes to cover 7 miles to work today. Other colleagues from my my neighborhood who just stuck it out in the jam made it to work in 35 minutes tops.

Certainly not the smartest day of my life!