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There’s a Blackberry, an extensive to do list, a rich leather blotter, an idle coffee mug. There are family pictures on the wall. These are all nice things – fragments of a life – but not for me.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not philosophically suggesting that accumulated material possessions provide little insight into our inner selves and should be disavowed. Literally none of these things are mine.
Assuming that yours truly is neither a thief nor a stalker, from where you sit this may sound a little awkward. From where I sit, it’s a lot worse. Summer at the office has been something of a peculiar nomadic experience. As the intern in a sprawling corporation cramped for space, I am merely a squatter in an obtuse game of musical desks. Tomorrow the wedding pictures will change, different children will be tacked to different walls, and the to-do list might be ta-done. But it will all be the same.
As my ravings rue my roving, I live a simple truth: it’s the little things that count. For I can be well paid and well treated - and even well written (or so I hope) - but without someplace to hang the proverbial hat, to leave my own dirty coffee mug, or to set a simple dish of mints, there will always be something amiss, something afoot. And speaking of being afoot, I must be a-foot and on to somewhere new today.
Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’ve been an intern at the ScottsMiricle-Gro Company for about a month now, and the first thing I have to say is thanks for the vacation days for the Fourth.
I started the Monday after finals week, which isn’t exactly a relaxing vacation away from the sleeplessness of exams. Regardless, my first weeks came and went just the same. The first good decision I made was to not wear the newbie uniform on my first day (ok, it’s not really a uniform, but it would suffice to say that 11 out of 12 interns/new hires were dressed in khaki pants and a blue button down shirt).
In the following weeks, I’ve been pretty disappointed at the marginalia of my new existence. At times, I’m little more than a glorified chimpanzee adapted to the digital age. (By digital age, I mean that I make copies electronically in excel rather than at a Xerox machine – although I’ve done that too). More specifics, actual projects, and humorous observations of interesting employees will follow at a later date.
But before you decry my trite existence, I’ve been promised meaningful projects involving capital budgeting and forecasting for the coming weeks. Whether they materialize or not will be a different story; evidently another pathetic intern has delayed them thus far.
As the saying goes, “For want of a nail…”
The strangest thing happened this past weekend when I went back to Cleveland (where I’m originally from) – I felt at home. For the first two years of college, every time I went home it just felt like an extension of high school. I didn’t hate it, I just felt restricted and confined compared to my newfound collegiate freedom. Consequently, going home was tolerable but not something I really looked forward to – with the exception of doing laundry and getting free food.
That being said, the recent trip was shaping up to be a similar experience when I found out that there was a high school graduation party Saturday night. I immediately thought back to the summer after my senior year of high school where every single weekend was spent going from party to party. I remember being so sick of grad parties by the end of summer, and I envisioned the same fate for my weekend.
In actuality, it turned out to be a reunion tour for the group of friends that grew up together in my neighborhood, and one of the best weekends in a long time. I spent the night catching up, playing cornhole, and eating and drinking with some old friends. It really doesn’t get any better. Instead of leaving after I had eaten and said the obligatory “congratulations,” we stayed well into the morning hours. For the first time in a while, I really felt at home.
Here in Columbus, the last finals marked the end of the quarter on Thursday. I finished thirty minutes ago.
Last Friday through this Thursday was a blur of studying, coffee, and…well studying – I mean it’s finals week. From Thursday after exams through about seven hours ago, I caught up on sleep and worked. That’s it. Today, I bought some clothes for my summer internship that starts Monday, and cleaned. and cleaned. and cleaned.
Don't get me wrong, I’m a pretty neat and tidy guy most of the time, but when I said that during finals week I only studied, I wasn’t exaggerating. Maybe a couple of things got neglected, like the floor I can’t see in my room. Or every single dish, pan, and glass that transformed into a dirty, leaning monstrosity anchored somewhere in my kitchen sink. Or my bathroom that, well let’s not go there.
Fear not. My hands may be permanently pruned, my back may be permanently bent, but my house is clean. So for me it’s finally summer. And for you, this is the end. I’m off to celebrate, relax, or anything but work.
-- Cheers to Summer
As my Nth cup of caffeine bearing goodness develops in my French press, I debate whether the circles under my eyes or my coffee looks darker: inconclusive.
Around the 7th week (out of 10) in this quarter, I blinked and suddenly awoke to discover that three weeks past without warning and I have finals tomorrow. It was all the usual routine: class, study, work, rinse, repeat, and - as usual - exams are here before I can say "Tanzanian dark roast coffee."
Anyway, that's always how it goes. Every time I tell myself, after barely squeaking out an A (hopefully), that from now on I'm going to keep up with the course work and not have to put in a week of exclusive studying with only occasional sleep right before finals. Every time it doesn't really happen.
Well, my coffee has brewed to perfection, and since I haven't learned my lesson yet, I have hours and hours of studying before I sleep this week
After Sunday's heart-to-heart, my girlfriend and I were considering a big step in our relationship. I was still uneasy, but after significant deliberation, I decided that we could try it. In hindsight, I am so glad that we did.
Maybe I should back up a little bit.
About six weeks ago, my girlfriend decided that fish are pretty exciting and of course, she needs one. Ok, great. That's fine, so we (I) purchase a beta fish, some food, a plant, ect… and he lives pretty happily in an average size vase.
Now don't get me wrong, this was a great addition to my - not my girlfriend's - apartment, but after the first week or so, watching this fish swim around in a half a gallon of water was about as exciting as watching paint dry. However, the interesting part quickly became watching my girlfriend interact with the fish. And by interact I mean watch, follow, feed, tap the glass, and try to pet the fish (which she denies).
So, this past Sunday, we decided to upgrade to a 10-gallon tank with a few more friendly fish. With this arrangement, the fish are entertaining, but now there is about 20 inches of glass for my friends' heads swivel back and forth in front of at every movement of the active fish.
If you've ever been amused by watching strangers approach "the cutest baby I've ever seen" and make ridiculous faces and strange noises to coax a slobbery giggle out of the besieged child, you know what I'm talking about - and it's very funny.
In short, if you can put up with fish, rabbits, puppies, or any other remotely exciting creature, I would highly recommend it. Not only for the enjoyment of your companion, but for the entertainment of watching people enter a different world where they can make fools of themselves to entertain your new friend (and you).
A little kitchen makes a huge difference.
Even though my stove is about the size of my little sister's easy bake oven, and my microwave didn't come with the (dorm)room, the kitchen makes all the difference in the world. So the stove top is too small to fit a pan on each burner, and setting the oven dial at 250 yields actual temperatures between 200 and 550…I still wouldn't trade it for an OSU issued microfridge and dorm room.
By the end of last year, I was getting awful tired of campus dining. Even though OSU offers more options than any other school, I not only got tired of the food, but of having to walk to a dining hall, order food, wait an excruciatingly long amount of time in a crowded (market)place…just to get a meal.
This year I don't have that problem. It helps that I like to cook, but even if I'm not trying to out-cook an iron chef, it's pretty great to just be able to make a box of mac-n-cheese on my own stove, in my own apartment, and on my own time.
Like I said, a little kitchen makes a huge difference.
I've been living in an apartment for three months now, and it's great to get out of the dorm, but it sure is different. I've complied a list of ten things I've learned and would have liked to know going into this quarter. Anyways, here it goes: Number 10 - Cost.
It costs around eight thousand dollars for three academic quarters to live in a average dorm room and eat on campus. That’s a lot of money. A proactive student can find a reasonable apartment at a reasonable distance to campus for around 350/month (4200/yr)…or you could live in a hole in the wall place (complete with actual holes in the walls) like mine and pay less than 250/month. That’s less money.
This is the same analysis I went through last year, and 4200 sounded a lot better than 8000, but that doesn't take into account food and utilities. I budgeted food for 50 a week and that's been adequate as long as I don't eat out too much and my roommate doesn't eat too much of my food.
It's utilities that are claiming too much of my paychecks. All these costs are split between my house mate and myself, but basic cable and internet is still $40 a month (no phone). Electric is about $25, and the gas heating costs for the winter remain to be seen but I am guessing it will be around $20 since we keep the apartment at near freezing temperatures. Also, we paid $100 at the beginning of the year for water.
Now this adds up to about 6000 (with rent of 350/month) for an entire year, which is at least $2000 better and 3 months longer than a dorm. The problem is that all dorm costs are just paid at the beginning of the quarter, and it's a lot of money but it's done with. In my apartment, rent is due on the first, my electric bill usually comes on the 8th, the gas bill arrives on the 18th, and the cable bill comes on the 24th. So every week I have a new bill to pay, but it's definitely worth it.
Lesson learned: apartment life is cheaper, but it sure doesn't feel like it.
After procrastinating, making excuses, and generally disappointing myself for nearly an entire quarter, I've made a resolution to blog at least once a week, come hell, high water, no time to sleep, failing exams, extreme malnutrition, communist censorship punishable by death, or any other trifling excuse to not write.
Now I realize this is kind of like making a New Year's resolution to lose fifteen pounds over a decedent piece of chocolate cake, but here's my first step in prioritizing my responsibilities.
Without question, this past quarter has been by busiest yet, and between the tests, projects (more about a cool tensegrity project to come) and work, my time hasn't been extremely well managed, and in that mismanagement, I haven't been able to do some of the things I really enjoy - writing being one of them.
Like I said, here's my first step to writing a lot more this year, and I hope I'm not the only one who enjoys it.
And Go Bucks, beat M*ch*g@n.
The chronicle of my epic summer will follow at a later date. For now, it will suffice to say that I recently returned from an extensive and disastrous trip through the Sahara.
As you may or may not know, I'm a business student with a double major in Accounting and Finance. (Hence the ridiculous number of business related classes.) Last year I knocked out most of my GEC's and a couple of basic business classes, so this year is focused primarily on the core business classes. Anyway, here's the rundown of my current classes and my general sentiment towards each.
Architecture 426 - This one counts for a GEC instead of physics 112 in my physical science category. Now I took physics 111 last Spring and decided to take ARCH instead of continuing because I didn't want to spend the extra 8 hours a week in a physics lab and because architecture seemed generally interesting to me. Little did I know that I had opted to take a structural engineering course that serves as a preliminary weeder-outer for architecture students with a professor who is definitely a natural engineer not a teacher.
Accounting H211 - The first (official) academic introduction to my accounting major. Overall, it's not a bad class, but then again I haven't had any assignments (there are none) or tests yet. At least (I think) everything makes sense. Oh, it's also at 8:30 AM, which definitely requires a cup of good coffee if I plan to stay conscious for more than fifteen minutes of class.
Business Management 330 - a continuation of statistics H133, which essentially ruined my life last Spring quarter. To my surprise, the teacher, Bonnie Schroeder, great at what she does - teach. Although the class is a lecture with 250 people, I can definitely say that I've learned more in the first three weeks than I did all Spring quarter. Not that I really enjoy statistics now, but it makes sense, and I can deal with not loving the class if I understand it.
Business Management 331 - nothing like Bus-Mgt 330 (thank god). It is actually using operations research models for linear programming and decision analysis - I have no idea what that means either, but I am doing pretty well in the class. I took the first midterm last Wednesday, and I am waiting to hear on Monday how well I did. At any rate, the class isn't bad, it's something all business majors have to take, and I would definitely recommend Dr. Mark (Christobek).
Yesterday it rained in Cleveland for the entire day, it's raining this morning, and thunderstorms are forecasted for the next few days. Discouragingly, I've been spending the better part of my summer working. I have come to the realization that I spend more than half of my life away from home and at work, including time spent sleeping.
I work for a Northeastern Ohio painting company, starting most of my days with a 7:00AM trip to the warehouse. I usually make it home between 7 and 8, in just enough time to shower, eat, and fall asleep. The weekly routine is the above, repeated six times with Sundays off.
So when it started raining, I decided to catch up on some things I missed throughout the summer - including posting to my blog.
Although it's not the summer my friends are having - going out every night, sleeping in, and taking road trips - it is what it is. Besides, I can't seem to find a money tree, cash cow, or other source of finance that doesn't involve working.
However, all this money is going to good use. I bought a new car at the beginning of summer: a 2001 Saturn L200, a new camera, and there's always school to pay for. Don't get me wrong, summer has actually been pretty good, and if I didn't work I would have felt that I was wasting a lot of time.
It's actually nice because I'm really looking forward to going back to Columbus, moving into my new apartment, and only working 20 hours a week during school. For the last month and a half of summer, I plan to enjoy working, buy a lot of stuff for the apartment, and appreciate not having class.
Here's to a great rest of summer and the next year in Columbus. Cheers.
Amanda V. posted a comment asking, “Hey, how is the weekend and night life at OSU? I'll be coming there soon and I'm just wondering."
I can speak to the quality of the night life and weekend activities at OSU on every weekend of the year except for three - the weekend before finals week in Autumn quarter, in Winter quarter, and in Spring quarter. (This is why I'm posting at 11:30 on a Friday night; next week is finals.) So, I'll do my best to answer your question.
First, let me say that I definitely love going to a large school. 50,000 people is huge, but once you get over not knowing every single person in your city of a school, you realize that the size translates into opportunities. Opportunities for majors and classes. Opportunities for clubs and activities. Opportunities for illegality and trouble. And opportunities for entertainment and parties.
But seriously, the night life is amazing, and there is always so much to do. My advice would be to meet as many people as possible the second you get here - talk to people in your dorm or meet people in class. An on campus job is also a great way to form some connections. Trust me, between you, your roommate(s), and your friends, you should have plenty of stuff going on each weekend.
Most of the bars on campus are 21 and over, but there's always tons of house parties to go to. A lot of people don’t have class on Friday, so Thursday's also a big party night. (Actually any day that ends in "y" is a party night.) I'm not trying to be your mother, but it can actually be tough to remember the real reason you're going to school and not go out every night. It will be more of a challenge to not go out then to find something to do.
Best of luck at OSU next year, and have a great summer. Please feel free to post any other comments or questions.
I've been talking about summer a lot lately, and the best part is the reason I'll be working 65 hours a week. I'll be buying a new car at the beginning of summer and working like a madman to pay off the money I'll have to borrow from my Dad (thanks Dad) to purchase an pre-owned automobile. (When did "used" items become "pre-owned," and does this seem ridiculous to anyone other than me?)
Anyway, I'm looking forward to having a car, especially a new one. I love driving and not being able to have a car as a first year student is killing me. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to buy, but I plan to start looking when I go home for Memorial Day weekend. The basic wants are what you would expect: low miles, newer, and hopefully an imported car. (I've had major problems with my Pontiac Grand Am and I'm swearing off GM cars for a long time.)
But the major requirement, and the one that is significantly curtailing my selection, is that the car cannot be an automatic. It's not about the car being faster (although that's nice), it's not about getting better gas mileage (although that's really nice), it's not about laughing at other people's lack of coordination and inability to use both feet and both hands to do different things to operate the car (although that's really funny), it's simply about having control over the car. As I said, I love to drive.
I've been looking at the online inventory of dealers near home, and I can't wait to test drive some cars and eventually buy one. I'll have my first chance in less than a week; hopefully I'll find something good. And after that, I have the insurance payments to look forward to.
Lately, the portion of time I spend not studying (which is larger than it should be) has been largely devoted to looking forward to summer. Recently I decided that to work for a painting company over the summer. I'll be able to work 40-45 hours a week, be outside, be paid well; it seems pretty close to the perfect summer job.
Throughout high school I worked for Malley's Chocolates, a company with multiple locations around Cleveland that sells chocolates and ice cream. So in addition to painting, I'll be spending a few nights a week as a eminent ice cream concoctioneer. Although I'll be spending 65 hours a week working, it should be a nice change from lectures, studying, and tests.
More than working and making money, I’m looking forward to home cooked food. Don't get me wrong, the food at OSU is phenomenal compared to any other college, but I like to cook and I love to be able to go to my kitchen and have food. This dorm room is significantly cramping an up and coming Emeril's cooking style (as in nonexistent, it's a dorm room).
I'll get my first taste this weekend for Memorial Day, and although I've got a couple cookouts to go to, I'm already planning my other meals. So here's to good (home cooked) food, barbequed, baked, boiled, or just prepared in my own kitchen. Six days and counting!
As I have mentioned before, I have the privilege of working at Ohio State’s development office and talking to a large number of alumni. One of the issues I’ve been hearing a lot about lately is OSU’s choice of Bill Clinton as the Spring commencement speaker. Alumni either ask where they can get tickets to hear the Second Coming of Christ..err Bill Clinton speak, or ask why OSU picked Satan himself to deliver an evil commencement address.
Personally, I think that Slick Willy is about as innocent as O.J. and was a pretty bad president, but who cares. Actually a lot of people care, but they shouldn’t be up in arms over a speech to be given by a Democratic president impeached by a Republican Congress.
First of all, Clinton’s views on world issues are still well respected and he is very much an influential person in the U.S. and abroad. Not to mention that we have this nice little part of the constitution that says something about free speech. So yes, I think that Clinton should not only be speaking, but he might have something relevant to say to graduating seniors.
Perhaps I’m being ridiculous, but I just wish that people would take the blinders off and be reasonable. So I will leave you with the (ideal) words often attributed to Voltaire (but actually written by Evelyn Beatrice Hall) “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.?
It hit me today that most colleges are out of school by now, and we still have another month. Never mind that OSU goes back to school at the end of September, a month later than everyone else; I'm ready to be done with school now. And to make matters worse, the next four weeks are filled with papers, midterms, and finals.
But today, it isn't the next four weeks, and I just didn't feel like being in school. As a humble first-year student without a car, I got as far away from class as I could. I went to the Ohio State Oval beach. Now, geography majors will quickly point out that Columbus is in the middle of Ohio, and the middle of Ohio is no less than 150 miles from the nearest beach, but that never stopped a desperate college kid.
As Ohio State does not own secret waterfront property or import vast quantities of sand every summer, The Oval is home to sun worshipers, Frisbee tossers, and students pretending to study outside. So I spent the better portion of my Saturday on the oval, alternating between sleeping in the sun, studying (barely), and throwing some disc.
Of course it can't last forever (well it could, but some of us try to do better than just barely passing), and I have massive amounts of reading to do for my Russian class. At least I get to read good books — Dostoevsky right now. But, I have 150 pages to finish before I do anything else tonight, so until next time...
One of the classes I'm taking is a Comparative Studies class, which essentially focuses on the perception of America around the world. Instead of a traditional text book, we have a collection of books and various essays to read, which is great for me, because I enjoy reading. We're reading everything from Neil Gordon's The Company You Keep to Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation to essays written by foreign author Orhan Pamuk. (I would highly recommend both books and Pamuk's Snow.)
In one of the recent essays I read, I was struck by the phrase "American Scripture." American scripture simply refers to the plethora of writings that espouse the ideals of America. Everything from the Declaration of Independence to authors like Hemingway to speeches from MLK and JFK is included in "American Scripture."
Every time I hear about Paris Hilton doing something stupid, or turn on the TV and have to sit through celebrity "news" before I can here what is actually going on the in world, I am a little bit embarrassed to be an American. After all, this is the image, the Hollywood, MTV, surgically altered and photoshopped image (speaking of the photoshopped fake image - don't you feel a little cheated?) the world sees.
But the more I think about American Scripture, the more I realize and appreciate its significance. I believe that there is hope, to resurrect America's image from the depths of celebrity gossip, to disassociate the ideals of America from American citizens behaving like idiots at home and abroad. Even though the practice of book reading is everything but extinct, I just hope that if this American scripture and literature is printed, at least the world reads the cliff notes.
I walked out of my interview last Saturday feeling a little apprehensive about my performance. I felt like I answered most of the questions pretty well, but when it came to the mock announcements and training session I had to complete, I didn't think I rated so highly. By the time I was walking back home, I knew that I couldn't change anything, so I'd just have to wait for their decision. If only it was that simple.
While waiting, I also had a Russian midterm on Monday to study for, which wouldn't be so bad if I didn't also have to get ready to schedule Fall quarter classes Tuesday, write a rough draft of a research paper for a Comparative Studies class, study for a Statistics midterm on Friday, and get ready for my Econ midterm this Monday. Wow.
At any rate, a supervisor from work called after my midterm on Monday to offer me the job, which I gladly accepted. I start tomorrow, as a supervisor, at Ohio State Calling: as an excited, nervous, an anxious soon-to-be-supervisor.
So, it has been a good week and a busy week of studying and waiting. But it's over now, (except for the Econ midterm Monday and the final draft of my research paper due on Tuesday. But then again, it's only my first year, and it's really just starting.
Tomorrow, at half past one post meridiem (told by sun dial), my public execution shall commence. Ok, so it probably won't be that horrible, but I do have an interview for a supervisor position: an interview which has a nasty reputation for being extraordinarily tough. To make matters worse, dorm rooms at college are sufficient, but small and unable to hold everything but the kitchen sink... or in my case the ironing board.
Earlier I discovered that, in its dormancy, my dress shirt had become dismally wrinkled, and it desperately needed to be ironed before my interview. Now ironing isn't really a big deal at home. But I soon realized that neither an ironing board nor water are indigenous to my dorm room, and both were seemingly necessary for use with my borrowed iron.
With a little effort, a little ingenuity, and a little luck, my shirt and I escaped unscathed and less wrinkled from our ironing experience. After that, I've resigned myself to hoping that my suit didn't acquire holes in my closet, to hoping that I can find matching socks, and to hoping that it doesn't rain on my walk to the interview.
Nothing feels as good as skipping out on your responsibilities. I was supposed to work today — furthering my illustrious career as a glorified telemarketer. I work for Ohio State Calling, which is actually a great job, but I just didn't feel like going today. Ohio State calling is essentially a part of the University's development office, and the employees call alumni to talk to them about Ohio State.
However, today was simply a problem of motivation and the general sense of apathy, which often infects me. To make things worse, the only reason I had to work today is because I blew off work last Thursday. So, as enticing as talking to alumni for hours sounds, I decided in favor of a little sunshine and comfortable weather.
Accordingly, I called into work and politely informed my supervisor that I would not be working today, hung up the phone, and instantly felt better. I now have the whole afternoon and evening free from work, and bosses, and obligatory phone calls. And then I decided; forget alcohol, drugs, or even old-fashioned honest achievement, I'll just take on large amounts of responsibility, dread performing those responsibilities, and then systematically blow them off.
Of course, this state of bliss won't last forever. In fact, it won't last past 11am tomorrow, which is when I have to work again. But until then, it'll be great. And until then, here's to snubbing responsibilities. Cheers!
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