Thursday, July 31, 2008

Hello world!

Welcome to LFM Blogs. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Wow! The default first post was so good that I just could not delete it. So anyone who knows me would be very concerned to know that I am blogging. Blogging is really not my cup of Dr. Pepper (I hate tea, so saying my cup of tea seems silly). So why am I blogging? I thought I would try blogging because it is something that I am uncomfortable doing, and I need to step outside of my comfort zone every now and then. Odds are that only Lisa (that's my wife of course, seen below) will read this anyway.

[caption id="attachment_17" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="Lisa and Drew at Bell in Hand"]Lisa and Drew at Bell in Hand[/caption]

The other thing compelling me top write a blog is that I used the LFM blogs when I was researching schools to apply to for an MBA. It can be a very stressful time, and sometimes while trying to write the countless application essays you need a little inspiration. To cover the questions that everyone interesting in applying to top business schools has (at least these are the top questions according to the businessweekly message board you are probably also reading), my fGMAT and GPA were just below MIT's average but pretty darn close. I was a little light on work experience (3 years total) but I made up for it with my extracurricular activities which showed my leadership potential (I am far from being a great leader). This was my first year applying and I honestly did not think I would get accepted. I was applying to get some experience with the process for future years. To show you where I stood, two other programs flat out turned me down. The point is, pick a few schools and apply. You never know. I know plenty of people with low scores who got in.

As for the LFM (Leaders for Manufacturing) program, it is awesome. Your first summer is intense but totally worth it. I'm going to call school "work" for now, but honestly it is not as intense as work and often times it is much more interesting. 6 days a week I probably average about 10 hours of work a day between class, group work, and individual homework. 8 AM to 5 PM is pretty much booked with class and group work, which can make it hard to run errands. I still have not transfered my driver's license from Florida to Massachusetts's, and I have been here since May. In fairness to me, I've been to the RMV (not DMV like I am used to) 2 times already. Apparently only a copy of your lease or a utility bill will work for proof of residency. It's not that I could not take off one afternoon to get it done, it is just that the driver's license is always a lower priority item. Prioritization is one thing this program teaches you how to do quickly.

As for Boston, it is great. I can say that now because it is not freezing cold (of course my new Maine friends lauged when Lisa said Boston would be cold).

Ahh, the cat has joined me on the couch and is trying to prevent me from typing. I have a cat named Pinch. The way he is sitting in front of my laptop and clawing my chest you would swear he also does not want me to blog. The cat just may be smarter than me. Anyway, that is my favorite thing about cats. Cats only want to be loved when it is inconvienent to you. Did he come sit on me anytime today that I was watching TV (yes you have time to watch TV in LFM)? No he did not. He waited until I was typing and then sat right between me and the keyboard. Cats are peculiar. By the way, he is named Pinch because it looks like someone pinched off his tail. He was born that way and of course when I had a litter of kittens to choose from, I took the deformed one. I worried no one else would want him.

[caption id="attachment_21" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="Pinch in a box"]Pinch[/caption]

Back to Boston. So I have lived in Florida all of my life (since I was 4 anyway) and at no time did I live in a city, so Boston is a major adjustment. As I said before, I don't have an active driver's license. That would be absurd in Florida. I've gotten used to taking the T (subway system) and definitely enjoy not spending the money on gas.

Well that is enough for now. I'll post some more ramblings later.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Leadership Reaction Course

This is another post that was back dated to reflect when the event took place.

Leadership Reaction Course (LRC) is a great teambuilding event we do in the summer with LFM. We take a bus to Ft. Devins and use their course to solve problems as a team (we were broken up into teams of 6).

[caption id="attachment_52" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="Start of the day"]Start of the day[/caption]

Our team moved from station to station solving different problems. Problems often involved getting people and or supplies from point a to point b with a limited amount of resources.

[caption id="attachment_62" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="Kash moving a barrel from a to b...without touching the ground (it was lava...ok, it was a minefield)"]Kash moving a barrel from a to b...without touching the ground (it was lava...ok, it was a minefield)[/caption]

This required the team to crawl, slide, and jump across a number of obstacles.

[caption id="attachment_49" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="Here I am spotting Amy to make sure she does not fall.  Amy kicks butt so I had an easy job."]Here I am spotting Amy to make sure she does not fall.  She did not need any help.[/caption]

Each team member took a turn being the leader of our group to practice their leadership skills and at the end of each obstacle we reflected on our work as a team and on the leaders performance.

[caption id="attachment_56" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="Honestly...who reads instruction?"]Honestly...who reads instruction?[/caption]

In the end we had fun and got to practice our leadership and team-work skills while reflecting on those skills (reflection IS extremely important).

[caption id="attachment_53" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="Jon peeking over the fence"]Jon is peeking over the fence[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_54" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="Mike T and Jon peeking over the fence"]Mike T and Jon peeking over the fence[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_55" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="I have no idea what Mike N is doing...but he looks good doing it"]I have no idea what Mike N is doing[/caption]

Saturday, July 5, 2008

4th of July

So this post was not actually written on July 5th but it was a heck of an event in Boston so I thought I would recount our day of fun. To start the day I highly recommend going down to the area around the park and City Hall to take part in the historic festivities. Obviously the foreign people in the program would probably laugh at my idea of American "history" (see Eddy Izzard's Dress to Kill for a hilarious overview of white history and a number of other points of interest). To be fair to the foreigners we are ONLY 232+ years old, but I still like American history.

After the history/culture stuff, you HAVE to attend a bar-b-que. The fun house of the LFM group threw an awesome bar-b-que with an abundance of hamburger, chips, and beer.

[caption id="attachment_27" align="alignnone" width="180" caption="The heart of the bar-b-que, the food. Yes we had tofu for the vegetarians.P.S. tofu is practically a sin"]The food[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_28" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="Party Inside"]Party Inside[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_29" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="Party Outside"]Party Outside[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_35" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="Back in for Rock Band"]Back in for Rock Band[/caption]

After the bar-b-que it is time to head to the Charles river for some fireworks. They tell you not to sneak up onto the roof of the Sloan buildings, but honestly...the view is awesome from up there.

[caption id="attachment_37" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="Group on the roof"]Group on the roof[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_38" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="MIT on the roof of Sloan (MIT)"]MIT on the roof of Sloan (MIT)[/caption]

I wont deny that the cops came and kicked us off the roof just before the fireworks began...but that did not ruin the view for those who snuck back up when the cops left. :-)

[caption id="attachment_40" align="alignnone" width="180" caption="Fireworks"]Fireworks[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_41" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="Skyline"]Skyline[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_43" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="Crowd Below"]Crowd Below[/caption]

Thanks to Margo, Chris, and Joonhaeng for the photos