Hello again, and Happy December! You may wonder why I haven’t written since way back in August…I have two words for
you-- grad school. Even though UNM
is probably one of the least stressful MBA programs around, between that and
working and planning business school happy hours, and church potlucks I run out
of time. But that doesn’t mean I’m not perpetually sending you mental
updates. Now I have the task of
summarizing the last 3.5 months in less than 3.5 months.
I’m officially 75% finished with grad school and will
graduate in May! Today I’m starting Christmas break with a flight to Orange
County to catch up with some truly lovely people before heading back to Concord
on Monday where I’ll chill until sometime in January. Hopefully I’ll get to see
some of you while I’m gracing the golden state with my presence.
This will be my first time back to CA since August and I was
feeling all lame about never going anywhere but then remembered I went to AZ in
October and PA in November so I haven’t exactly been bound to Albuquerque. My Arizona trip was preceded by my
sister et al. and my parents coming to visit. Theoretically they came for the International Balloon Fiesta
but I will spare you the details on that disaster. After a week with them in New Mexico we went to the Grand
Canyon. They all think I’ve been
there before but I had absolutely no recollection of that so I was completely
awestruck. I’ve attached a picture of Julie and baby Stella and myself (Stella
was obviously thrilled to be there).
PA was great too, I stayed with the Grieco’s and they have college-aged
children so weren’t shocked by my wake-up time (plus I saved them money since
they didn’t have to feed me breakfast and lunch).
Work is interesting.
If you recall, I started working with a man who is in the early stages
of developing a mentoring and tutoring program. I’m learning a lot about start-ups, and Judaism and
teamwork. Yay. About once a month
I consider quitting but I’m quite confident that God plopped this job right in
my lap so I need to keep it (plus I get paid). Next semester I’ll still be working for him and also be a
research assistant for one of the professors on campus (they pay for tuition!).
What else to say…the weekend before last I hosted a
Christmas party. I made a pot of soup (gasp!) and cider and people brought over
way too many cookies. My roommate
Raquel and I both pulled out our fancy bow sweaters (another reason why we
shouldn’t shop together) and took this lovely picture.
Evidently you don’t have to be a citizen to get a New Mexico
driver’s license; we’re very non-discriminatory like that. That’s all fine and dandy for driving
but the feds doesn’t like it so maybe starting in January my NM driver’s
license won’t be proof enough for any federal agencies such as TSA. Basically that question, “do you need a
passport to go to New Mexico?” will soon be answered “no, but you do need one
to leave.”
On that note, MERRY CHRISTMAS, I hope you’re able to reflect
this year on the amazing love God demonstrated by sending His Son (and keeps
demonstrating through His Holy Spirit).
