Right. So I'm back in school.
I'm in the Professional MBA program at the University of Utah. It's a night program for people who don't have quite enough experience for the Executive MBA program, however it is still ranked as one of the top 50 MBA programs in the country. Not too shabby.
The only problem is that it's at the U... and I really like it so far. I mean, business school is practical. I like that, and I'm okay with liking that. My angst comes from not hating studying at the U.
I'll be honest. I wasn't always a Cougar fan. In fact, I didn't even want to go to BYU for my undergrad at first. And I didn't really root for their teams until I'd been there for at least a few semesters. But then I landed an awesome internship in the BYU Athletic Communications office (a job I wish I still had, frankly) and things really changed.
I sat court-side at basketball games and in the press box at football games for two years. I got to know the players, the coaches, the administration, and the fans. Well, okay, I'm still not really fond of regular BYU fans, but I loved the majority of the other folks. And throughout my tenure there, my hatred for the U became quite ingrained in me because the Y and the U are like faith and fear. They can't exist in the same place at the same time. There is natural animosity.
I longed for Utes to lose. And not just athletically. In life. I wanted all Utes to be the embodiment of EPIC FAIL.
But note that those sentences are are written in past tense. That's not just because I'm now a student there (I still cannot bring myself to refer to myself as a Ute). It's like I'm starting to believe that the U isn't really a horrible place.
I mean, I caught myself the other day admiring a t-shirt with a U logo on it. Come on! What the crap is that all about? Really. It's like I'm living in Bizarro World right now and Fargas is my mail carrier.
I convinced myself that going to the U for my graduate studies was a prudent thing to do, but I always said "I'll use them for their diploma and get the heck outta there!"
But mine is a soul conflicted. What I once thought I think no more. The U isn't so bad. My first class has gone really well. I like what I'm learning, and I like a lot of my fellow students. I like being on a college campus again, and I'm okay with that campus being adorned in red.
Please don't misunderstand me. When the Utes and Cougs square off in anything, be it on the gridiron or the ballroom dance floor, I'll rise and shout the live long day. I still bleed blue.
But maybe I'm okay with my classmates' successes, at least in the classroom anyway.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Baby Names
So my wife and I are having a baby next month. We both agree that it feels like she's been pregnant forever, but the due date has crept up on us rather quickly. I have to say that I have soooooo much respect for women, and even more now that I have lived with a pregnant one for nearly 8 months. What they do is EPIC, and my wife is awesome.
One of the main topics of conversation that my wife and I have had ever since we got engaged has been baby names. However, now that we're nearing the time when we'll actually have to settle on one, that conversation has dwindled.
And I'll tell you why.
Before she was pregnant we lived in a baby-name fantasy world. We could mention and discuss any name under the sun because it was all hypothetical. Girl names seemed to come more naturally to both of us, so we talked about names like Penleigh, Amelia, Lucy, Olivia, Anne, etc. with differing opinions and a light attitude. Boy names like Max, Brian, Andrew, and Miles also came along, but less frequently and with less excitement.
Then she got pregnant, and the hypotheticals got a little less hypothetical, but still somewhat hypothetical because we didn't know the sex of the baby. Discussions became a bit more thoughtful, but the names didn't really change. And with the newly-added seriousness of the convo, a new tool was introduced.... The List.
Now, in the interest of full-disclosure, I must admit that I don't believe my wife will fully agree with this blog posting. She will dispute some of the particulars, and that is mainly because my wife and I think about things differently. Neither one of us thinks "better" than the other, just differently. Just like Andy and Dwight's pay-checks in "The Office." It's not that one is better than the other, just different. (Insert smiley face here and anticipate loverly wife's comment below.)
You see, my wife LOVES spreadsheets. She loves organization and accounting and boring stuff like that. That is one of the many reasons why I love her so much. We like different but complimentary things, and we have different but complimentary talents and abilities. And that's where this List comes in to play.
She took all of the names we talked about, compiled them into her guilty-pleasure... Microsoft Excel, and we got down to business. When a new name came up she added it to the list and marked it "yes," "no," or "maybe" with each of us having equal veto power. When we found out our firstborn will be a boy, we luckily were able to disregard most of The List (for now).
I write "luckily" because The List really hasn't made life easier. In fact, I've got a real beef with Excel for false advertising, but that's for another day and another post. Really it comes down to those complimentary differences in thought processes my wife and I have.
I'm a quick decision-maker. I hate loose ends. Sometimes that works in my favor, and sometimes it does not. My wife is much more thoughtful than I am. She makes sure her decisions are well-grounded and safe. That way of thinking works in her favor much more often than my way works for me.
And it is precisely this difference that has led to a lull in the baby-name discussion. I've felt uncomfortable going over the same names time and again, and she's felt uncomfortable when I've tried to use the commitment pattern to make her choose six weeks ago. I even made her pinky swear, but it didn't get me very far.
But for now we've reached a happy medium. After all the back and forth, I feel like we have at least a narrow enough list of names from which to choose once Mijo gets here, and Lynne feels like she has enough options that she's not tied down. At least that what I hope she feels like.
So now we're six weeks away from having and naming this baby. We've agreed that the boy will not be named until we meet him, and I love that idea. We still talk about names here and there, and it is pleasant and productive conversation. All in all I've appreciated this discourse and what it has taught me about myself, my wife, our relationship, and marriage in general.
That being said, though, anyone with a good idea or a campaign to name our kid after him or her should post a comment below. I guess it's possible we could still be swayed...
One of the main topics of conversation that my wife and I have had ever since we got engaged has been baby names. However, now that we're nearing the time when we'll actually have to settle on one, that conversation has dwindled.
And I'll tell you why.
Before she was pregnant we lived in a baby-name fantasy world. We could mention and discuss any name under the sun because it was all hypothetical. Girl names seemed to come more naturally to both of us, so we talked about names like Penleigh, Amelia, Lucy, Olivia, Anne, etc. with differing opinions and a light attitude. Boy names like Max, Brian, Andrew, and Miles also came along, but less frequently and with less excitement.
Then she got pregnant, and the hypotheticals got a little less hypothetical, but still somewhat hypothetical because we didn't know the sex of the baby. Discussions became a bit more thoughtful, but the names didn't really change. And with the newly-added seriousness of the convo, a new tool was introduced.... The List.
Now, in the interest of full-disclosure, I must admit that I don't believe my wife will fully agree with this blog posting. She will dispute some of the particulars, and that is mainly because my wife and I think about things differently. Neither one of us thinks "better" than the other, just differently. Just like Andy and Dwight's pay-checks in "The Office." It's not that one is better than the other, just different. (Insert smiley face here and anticipate loverly wife's comment below.)
You see, my wife LOVES spreadsheets. She loves organization and accounting and boring stuff like that. That is one of the many reasons why I love her so much. We like different but complimentary things, and we have different but complimentary talents and abilities. And that's where this List comes in to play.
She took all of the names we talked about, compiled them into her guilty-pleasure... Microsoft Excel, and we got down to business. When a new name came up she added it to the list and marked it "yes," "no," or "maybe" with each of us having equal veto power. When we found out our firstborn will be a boy, we luckily were able to disregard most of The List (for now).
I write "luckily" because The List really hasn't made life easier. In fact, I've got a real beef with Excel for false advertising, but that's for another day and another post. Really it comes down to those complimentary differences in thought processes my wife and I have.
I'm a quick decision-maker. I hate loose ends. Sometimes that works in my favor, and sometimes it does not. My wife is much more thoughtful than I am. She makes sure her decisions are well-grounded and safe. That way of thinking works in her favor much more often than my way works for me.
And it is precisely this difference that has led to a lull in the baby-name discussion. I've felt uncomfortable going over the same names time and again, and she's felt uncomfortable when I've tried to use the commitment pattern to make her choose six weeks ago. I even made her pinky swear, but it didn't get me very far.
But for now we've reached a happy medium. After all the back and forth, I feel like we have at least a narrow enough list of names from which to choose once Mijo gets here, and Lynne feels like she has enough options that she's not tied down. At least that what I hope she feels like.
So now we're six weeks away from having and naming this baby. We've agreed that the boy will not be named until we meet him, and I love that idea. We still talk about names here and there, and it is pleasant and productive conversation. All in all I've appreciated this discourse and what it has taught me about myself, my wife, our relationship, and marriage in general.
That being said, though, anyone with a good idea or a campaign to name our kid after him or her should post a comment below. I guess it's possible we could still be swayed...
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