A Moment of Silence

The Northwestern community is shrouded in grief today due to the untimely death of football coach, Randy Walker. As an avid fan of Wildcats football and a part of alumni community, I am deeply saddened to hear that the life of such a caring and dedicated man was cut short. My thoughts go out to his family today as I continue to realize how short life really is.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday, Jennie!!! (Or is it Jenni?)

Rolling on the Floor in Tears

This had me laughing and crying for about 5 minutes last night.

"Look at me posing. I'm such a stud."

Maybe y'all had to be there.

Wish Me Luck!

I'm headed off to Berkeley tomorrow morning (and I mean early morning) to look for an apartment. I'll be there until Saturday afternoon, and I'm extremely nervous about the whole thing. Please send all good thoughts and prayers my way in hopes that I will find an apartment. See y'all at the end of the week!

The Countdown Begins

I just realized that I have about six more weeks left in Chicago. Correction: It's probably more along the lines of 5 weeks since I'll be in the Bay Area looking for an apartment next week.

Speaking of apartments, I have this horrible fear that I won't be able to find one during the 5 days that I'll be out there. What if I don't find an apartment? Will I have to live out of a shoe? What if every 2BR apartment within a 3 mile radius of campus that is close to both a Bart stop and a bus stop has been rented out? I know that these are things that I need to not worry about. Pray that I'll find somewhere to live that's within my price range and convenient for both Law McGraw to get to work and for me to get to school.

But for all of you in Chicago, I will definitely try to get together with you as much as I can over the next couple of weeks before I leave. And look forward to an invite for a party to celebrate the past 25 years that I've spent in the Windy City. If y'all are lucky, the ol' drunken me of circa 2002 will be in full effect.

Anxiety Attacks

I've been having anxiety attacks recently and I don't forsee them going away for the next 2 years.

Things on my to-do list:
1. Find an apartment
2. Buy a new laptop
3. Figure out how to get my car to California
4. Pack up all my stuff
5. Learn statistics, accounting, and finance
6. Convert my resume to the Haas format
7. Take a self-test on quantitative methods
8. Sign up for orientation events
9. Take several career assessment tests
10. Buy new business clothes

I'm utterly scared of what's to come.

Even More Congratulations!

Further congratulations are in store for Law McGraw's graduation from law school! Last week was spent with the entire McGraw clan exploring the city of Chicago and enjoying all that it has to offer. This mainly meant eating rich meals at Giordano's and Fogo de Chao, laughing until we cried at Second City, and watching the Sox win. Interspersed into there was a trip to Hyde Park to watch Law McGraw graduate.

Law McGraw and I in front of the U Chicago Law School (aka "the black box")

The entire McGraw clan and I with the graduate

Apparently, individuals receiving some form of doctorate degree get to wear a fancy robe with velvet and a tam made of velvet. Plus, they get hooded. This makes me rethink my entire MBA choice. Maybe I should have gone to law school instead.

Congrats to Law McGraw on his law school graduation!!!

Congratulations!

It's a girl!

I wanted to congratulate the Brennemans for their little bundle of joy, Simona Lucille. She's such a beautiful baby.


And just think, she's the same age as Brangelina's baby. :)

Call For Help

I need to buy a new laptop for b-school, and I'm looking for any kind of help that I can get. The last laptop that I bought was a Dell Inspiron 4150 when I graduated from undergrad 4 years ago. It doesn't have Intel Centrino or any of that fancy wireless business, so I figured that it was time to shake hands with the rest of technology. I'm thinking of getting a Lenovo, since that seems to be what all the cool business people use. I just don't know if it's worth the extra money. Does anyone know whether an Intel or an AMD CPU is better? And what's with these new widescreen models? Does anyone still make the traditional screens?

Seriously, any computer techy help is needed. I will buy you loads of ice cream cones in exchange. :)

The Second Elderite to Go

As promised, here are the pictures from Danny's wedding. He was the second Elderite to be married.

Ani and Danny being crowned during the Armenian ceremony

Danny and Ani entering the Bellevue for the reception

The First Dance

Cutting the Cake (Don't the cake and Ani look beautiful?)

Jeff (Fellow Elderite and Groomsman) with Bri

Danny and his sister Caroline

Kirk (Best Man and Fellow Elderite) and Steph

Danny and I

Sarah (Fellow Elderite and Kemperite) and Juan

Nancy and Caleb (My Favorite Expectant Parents)

Lauren (Fellow Elderite and Kemperite) and John

Me, Lauren, and Sarah

The Kemper Whores Ready to Party

Robb, Me, Lauren, and Ken

The Entire Northwestern Crew

The wedding was truly beautiful and I had a great time seeing all of my fellow wildcats again. Congrats, Ani and Danny!

My Boyfriend's a Lawyer, But...

that has nothing to do with me.

I initially didn't want to blog about this, but it's something that's been nagging me for the past couple of weeks. At Danny’s wedding a couple of weeks ago, I ran into an ex-boyfriend from my freshman year at Northwestern. Let’s call him “M” for Mistake. I know that that may sound harsh, but it’s the best way that I can summarize my feelings about the whole relationship.

M and I chit-chatted about what we had been doing the past couple of years. I told him about my years doing engineering and my recent switch to investment banking. I also told him about the upcoming move to the Bay Area to attend Haas. He told me about his graduate school experience and his new job as a consultant. Things were going fine until we started talking about our current romantic relationships. He told me that his girlfriend was living in the Bay Area and they were doing a long-distance thing. I told him about Law McGraw and our plans of moving to San Francisco together. The real killer was this:

M: So what does Law McGraw do?

Jodyann: He’s finishing his last year of law school. He has a job lined up at a law firm in San Francisco, so we’re going to be moving out there the month before Haas starts.

M: Oh wow! He’s a lawyer! Well, you really did well for yourself! You snagged a lawyer!

And that angered me so much! Out of everything else that I’ve worked so hard for, I would hardly consider having a lawyer boyfriend as my most significant accomplishment. It’s not as if I went on a hunt specifically for a lawyer. Even if Law McGraw was a starving artist, I would still love him and consider myself to be the luckiest girl in the world.

This isn’t the first time that something like this has happened to me. Any time I run into someone from my past, they’re always impressed about Law McGraw being a lawyer. What about everything that I’ve done in my life? What about all the years that I spent learning organic chemistry and fluid dynamics to be an engineer? What about my promotions and raises? What about my GMAT score? What about my acceptances to business schools? What about the fact that I’m truly happy right now? Aren’t all of these things a better indicator of how well I’ve done for myself?

Why must people assess me based on Law McGraw’s chosen career path?

What Scares Me

It's my second to last day of work here, and although I'm extremely nervous about what lies ahead of me, I have to admit that I'm happy. It's scary to think that this will be my last day of work until May or June of 2007. It's scary to think that for the first time, I will no longer be receiving any paychecks and will be going into debt. It's scary to think that that I'm moving 2000 miles across the country. It's scary to think that I'm leaving behind all of my friends and family in Chicago to meet a whole new group of friends and to become part of a new family. It's scary to think that I need to learn how to study again. But the scariest thing of all may be that I need to share a bathroom with a boy.