Thursday, December 13, 2012

an update on recent happenings



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).

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