Author: Dan Dickinson

In which the word "halcyon" enters my head

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In spite of having the day off, I got up at 8:00. Or rather, I was forced to get up, since our cleaning service comes at 9:00 on Fridays. I considered transplanting myself to the den and putting up a “keep out” sign on the door so I could keep sleeping, but this seemed silly and impractical, cleaning not being the quietest of activities.

I showered and went out for some breakfast at Fran’s, then walked down to Church & Front where I sipped hot chocolate and read my book at the Second Cup. A little after 10:00 I walked over to Nicholas Hoare and spent an hour perusing, finally settling on The Angel Riots by Ibi Kaslik. I needed a new book as I just this morning finished A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius, which has been sitting on my shelf for…8 years, maybe? I have tons of non-fiction I want to buy, but I’ve found I’m less interested in them as long as I’m also reading a textbook.

My plans for the rest of the day involve catching up on work email & news feeds, tidying up a bit and possibly tormenting the cats. I’m starting to dig the idea of a 4-day work week.

[tags]fran’s, second cup, nicholas hoare, ibi kaslik[/tags]

No, not that CSI

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There are some things I know about myself. One of them is that I simply cannot survive in a club. The music, the translucent people…all hideous.

Why was I even in a club? Well, let me back up: after finishing the exam today we had a ceremony at our corporate headquarters this evening, the first graduation ceremony of two, and most of us went out to celebrate afterwards. I’d never heard of the Brant House; having seen it I wouldn’t have picked it, but I’m not most people, and most people seemed to like it. Put it this way: any place that offers bottle service, and attracts people who would want bottle service, is outside of my wheelhouse.

I stayed long enough to be respectable (i.e., not a pussy) and then fled to safety of my home where I could guarantee the percentage of real people (my wife = 1/1) and control the music that was played. In this case, “Million Star Hotel” by The Constantines: low enough not to wake my wife, but loud enough to expunge all the disco blather and Def Leppard remixes from my head. I scarfed down some food as soon as I got home (dinner was disappointing; at least my friend Russ gave me half his fries) and now I’m typing this, reveling in the knowledge that I don’t have to go to work tomorrow.

Oh, and I’m now officially a Fellow of the ICB (or CSI, or whatever it’s called now) as well as a silver medalist. Imagine my excitement.

[tags]mba, brant house, icb, constantines[/tags]

80.759%

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So endeth the classroom portion of our program. Please tune in tomorrow when I write the exam.

Just tidying up a few things before I head over to the bar for the traditional pre-exam pizza order. A some point tonight I suppose I should also review my notes or study or something. I’m not too worried. I was talking to my CEO today and he asked whether the exam would be tough or a slam dunk. It was then that I realized I’m sometimes too honest for my own good.

[tags]mba[/tags]

61.518%

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Caught up on work. Responded to emails. Read news feeds, both work and non. Watched some baseball. Had dinner at Alice Fazooli’s. Cruised past my old Delano office. Had a beer with some friends in the bar. Cleaned up my Blackberry. Read my book. Investigated Twitter clients.

I’d say that I could get used to this, but…s’my last time coming up here.

[tags]mba, delano, alice fazooli’s[/tags]

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Easiest course ever. Not that I mind a light workload as my brain is clearly ready to turn out the lights on this whole program, but I kind of feel guilty. Shouldn’t I be learning a little more than this?

Whatever. To the bar!

[tags]mba[/tags]

The loss of an old, tasty friend

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Last night I saw some Google hits on my blog with the keywords “js bonbons closed”, and just now Duarte sent me this link. So I guess that confirms it. The website has been replaced with the host’s default page too, so…fare thee well, sweet chocolate shop. I loved you very much.

The Chowhound page says they closed for family reasons. I wish Jenn Stone and her family the best with whatever they’re facing.

[tags]js bonbons[/tags]

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Clearly, I will not be eating here this week. Lunch was Subway. Dinner tonight it looking to be Hero Burger. I expect this trend to hold up as long as things like “turkey cutlet” are the star attraction.

Today was a rough day for many people. I needed about 4 more hours of sleep than I got, so this morning I had coffee for the first time in fifteen years. It’s as disgusting as I remember, but the caffeine helped. I can tell I’m going to fall asleep around 9:00 tonight though.

At least it’s an easy week so far. Prof isn’t bad, lots of breaks, and so on.

[tags]mba, subway, hero burger[/tags]

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Can’t talk. Tipsy.

It’s 1:24 and most of us just went to bed. This is, by far, the most silliness so late into the night we’ve experienced on any course.

There was streaking.

That is all.

[tags]mba[/tags]

"Would it surprise you to learn that I am 1/8th Mighty Choctaw?"

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We watched two movies yesterday, neither of which was especially good:

  • Six Figures (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was a Canadian flick, based on a novel, very moody, well-acted by some and by others, not so much. I can’t think of anything especially wrong with it, it just wasn’t very interesting.
  • For Your Consideration (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was, sadly, the worst of the Christopher Guest genre (because surely it’s a genre now, and surely it should be named for him) so far. A Mighty Wind was the low point before this, but at least it had several funny scenes; I think I only snickered once or twice during this entire film. I didn’t feel bad for any of the characters either, just…meh. I guess my “meh” was a common reaction; the word translates pretty nicely into a 51% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

[tags]six figures, for your consideration[/tags]

Look at all the people running! How inspiri-zzzzzzz…

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The Sporting Life 10k route ran past my building today. Around 8:30 I heard the Chariots of Fire theme song (seriously…on loudspeakers) and looked down to see all these runners streaming down Adelaide. I took a few pictures, which were awful; thankfully Nellie got out of bed and took some proper ones.

The shot below was taken straight down from the corner of our balcony, to the intersection of Church & Adelaide.

More pics at my flickr account.

[tags]sporting life 10k[/tags]