Next up: vacation.

On this week's episode of "Grad School"...

After worrying about the finance midterm, the exams were handed back, and Joe got a 94!! Now if he can only do as well on this case write-up that he had to hand in, then that would truly be a miracle!

In the exciting world of technology management, Joe was so excited about learning about how patents work that he could barely keep his eyes open for the entire class!

After class, Joe and the gang (L, BG, D and J) went to Our House, where the infamous "quarters night" took place. It was more subdued this night... just a few pitchers and some funny stories of Joe's past rap career and everyone making fun of him for it. And we enjoyed watching professional karaoke guy belt out versions of "Don't Fear the Reaper" and "Baker Street." I think L had eyes for him (just kidding, L! We know the guy was a weirdo).

(On a side note, "Baker Street" will now always remind me of the Howard Stern version of that song, with "Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-booooey" in place of the sax...)

Unfortunately, "Grad School" will not be seen next week due to spring break. A very special episode of "Blossom" will have to fill the spot.
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Today work hasn't been too bad, especially with Amanda out. I took a little longer lunch today to get some vacation stuff... some Reef flip flops, a GBA video game for the plane, some snacks. We leave for Aruba on Saturday morning at 6:30 AM... I can't wait!!

I'm thirty.

I haven't had any time to write in my blog for the past couple of days, but now I am going to take a much needed break from busy work and update this shit now.

So the weekend was fun. My dad came on Friday, and of course he had another ailment (this time, the gout in his foot). We were also cat-sitting Hunter, Chillier and Prof. K's really cute cat. And Jack was still here. It was busy, but it went great.

Friday, Melissa and I went with my dad to Red Sauce for some yummy Italian food. Saturday during the day, we went shopping... to Best Buy and Olympia Sports for my birthday presents (a new awesome digital camera, a new wireless card for my laptop, and a Tedy Bruschi jersey). Saturday night it was nine of us going to the Stockyard in Brighton. All the cool people were there... Chris, Red and Steve (Steve, yeah, Steve! I missed that guy so much!), Jack, Melissa's parents, my dad, and of course Melissa and me. I had a yummy steak and took some cool pictures of the gang. Jack made a nice toast for me calling me "the coolest old guy he knows."

Sunday wasn't too eventful... breakfast with my dad, Jack back to Syracuse, and dad back to NY. We still had the kitty, and I had to work on this paper due for Finance class (which is due today).

Monday was the big day. The big THREE-OH. 30. Didn't feel like anything different, you know? It was nice to be off from work for Presidents Day. It snowed, so I had to do a little shoveling. Bill and Jen came over to discuss our case write-up, and although we did put together some exhibits, it still sucked ass. And my sister called, surprisingly. It was an ok conversation... telling me about the baby and how the rest of the family are retarded. Gee, like I didn't know that?

So tonight is class... and I have to hand in this crappy Finance paper. Seriously, this is the worst paper I've ever written. I'm embarrassed by it. But you know what? I don't care. It's not really my fault... we haven't learned any of the techniques to figure out how to come up with any answers for the analysis, and it's not easy to just read and figure it out. So there was nothing I can do... and my group feels the same way. And hey, if we all do bad, we can't all possibly fail, can we?

And after class tonight, the rowdy gang and I are heading back to Our House (the scene of the crime from last time, aka quarters night) for a drink or two to celebrate my 30th. After classes tonight, we'll need it.

Busy busy busy.

On this week's episode of "Grad School," we witness Joe's busy week.

First, his friend from NY, Jack, is in town for a computer conference! Joe deals with his coming home late, doing laundry at midnight and leaving the lights on when going to bed, but he's still a good guy! And he helped increase the speed on the wireless internet connection!

In class, Joe and the gang had a Finance midterm! Everyone sucked, but for some reason, Joe was the first to finish in the class. Is that good or bad? We'll find out next week. But there is also a case write-up due next week, and poor Sue is going to be away next week so she has to hand it in by the end of the week (today!) The case is so confusing, and it's hard to even figure out what to do!!! Will the rest of the group be able to get their shit together an figure out what the hell to write? Again, stay tuned for next week!

And once again, Tech class was B-O-R-I-N-G. Joe feels ok, though, due to the fact that S is in his group... S knows everything. BG and L ran off to get a snack at the cafeteria, and they got to witness some girls being auctioned off there!

Yesterday, the Joe and Melissa household got a new guest for the weekend... Hunter the kitty (our friends Chillier and Prof. K are going to NY for the weekend, so we're catsitting). Mr. Hunter is really cute, but he can be weird sometimes... he woke Melissa and Joe up at 5:45 with his loud meowing, as well as drooling all over Melissa! Tonight, there's a new guest... Joe's dad (aka, "Big Al"). So with Melissa and Joe, along with dad, Jack and kitty, it's going to be an interesting weekend!

Tonight, while Joe goes to pick up his dad, L, Bill, D and BS are heading to this bar on Boylston for one of those MBA Connections "meetings." Basically, an excuse to go somewhere and play quarters all night. Those bitches better give Joe some funny stories. And maybe the infamous AB will be there!

On next week's episode: The weekend! Joe turns THIRTY on Monday, and tomorrow night there will be some celebrations going on. And on Monday, there will be a group meeting at the Joe household to go over the case write-up, and hopefully there will be some cool people over to have some drinks! Until then...

Is there any time to eat, sleep and breathe?

First the weekend:

Friday night I bought Melissa her Valentine's Day present - an iPod shuffle. Perfect for her to take to the gym.

Saturday evening Melissa went to that sex toy party and had a fun time. I hung out in the city with Chris and had a fun time too... we saw Theo Epstein (GM of the Red Sox) walking down Boylston, went to a cigar bar, and went to this awesome restaurant called Bob the Chef's where I ate the best fried chicken I've ever had in my life.

Sunday my finance group came over to study for three hours (Melissa went to her parents for the day). And my friend Jack came by in the evening... he's staying with us for the week and he's participating in this computer conference going on in the Hynes Convention Center (LinuxWorld). Jack's a cool guy... we've known each other for about ten years now, and he can work wonders with a computer!

Next up on the agenda:

The next few weeks are going to be incredible busy. This week, Jack's here, and I have a finance midterm on Wednesday. My dad comes on Friday for the weekend. Saturday night we're gonna have a dinner for my birthday... about ten people. Sunday Jack and my dad go home. Monday is President's Day... and my 30th birthday!! Melissa has to work, which sucks, but I can get some schoolwork done. That Wednesday I have a finance case writeup to do, and I have to try and work on it in the next few days because one of the girls in my group is going to be away this weekend. And it's not an easy case!! Then the end of that week (Feb. 26th) we leave for Aruba!

I hope I don't have a nervous breakdown before we go on vacation!!

Bad day.

What a day.

My day had barely begun when my boss, A, called me into her office to discuss some "issue" that came up yesterday. It wasn't supposed to be a big deal, there was just some miscommunication with one of the part-timers in our department. But A had to make it a big deal, and basically put the blame on me, which was totally uncalled for.

I actually yelled back at her... the first time I've ever really done that. I just couldn't take it anymore, especially when she kept pushing and pushing until I couldn't take it anymore.

I then tried avoiding her for most of the day, and was mostly successful. L was even cool enough to meet up with me for lunch to let me vent my frustrations. And then at the end of the work day, I spoke with Other A (the head boss who's nice) and told him what happened, and he totally agreed that she overreacted, and told me not to worry about it. That was nice to hear.

Then I learned that the sex toy party for tomorrow night - no guys. I guess I should have realized that (since it's usually like that). Ah well... more time for studying, I guess.

And I bought Melissa's Valentine's Day present... an iPod shuffle. It's a tiny little stick, and holds up to one GB of music!

The boring episode.

On this week's episode of "Grad School"...

Nothing interesting happened! Finance was boring, Tech was boring. If you use TiVo to watch this show, don't go back and watch it!

But next week: the excitement begins!

Melissa and Joe have been invited to a sex toy party Saturday night!

Group meeting for Finance takes place Sunday morning!

Joe's friend Jack is staying over for the week and arrives on Sunday!

There's an exam in Finance class!

My dad will be coming to visit next Friday!

And in eleven days, Joe turns the big three-zero! 30!! What will everyone do for his big day?

Joe also has a dilemna! Melissa wants to buy Joe a nice birthday gift, but Joe has no idea what he wants!! So if anyone reads this (all three of you), submit your ideas!

Parade!

I stopped by the parade for the Patriots this morning... here are some pics!

Bruschi! 

Brady! 

Trophy!

Patriots.

My past few days:

• Friday I went to this MBA function at a bar near school. AB invited me, and D from class met us there too. It was really uninteresting - it was AB, some other random girl, and about four or five older guys from the executive MBA program. I was so happy that D came, because at least I got to hang out with him and talk. Everyone else was really boring!
• Saturday I had the second Leadership Skills class. It was interesting, but what sucks is that there was a multiple choice exam I had to take online, and I thought I'd ace it, but I got a 68/100. I was shocked! The questions were extremely confusing, and it seemed like there were multiple answers. I will make a point of that to the professor when I e-mail him my final paper and mini case writeup.
• Sunday was the Super Bowl. Pats-Eagles. Melissa and I went to her friend from work, M (and her husband M). We had chili and chips and peanuts and watched the game. It was a sloppy game, but the Patriots pulled out the win, 24-21, to win their third SB in four years. I'm happy for them... I'm a Jets fan first and foremost, but I'd consider myself a Pats fan too. I don't hate the Pats the way I hate the Red Sox. Tomorrow is the parade, and I'll probably go check that out.

The lost episode.

Ok, I promised that we'd air the very special "AB" lost episode. So here goes. It's going to be hard to remember every detail, but it was so funny that I will do my best. I won't talk in the "third person" like I did before, though.

Last week: I got a random e-mail from this girl at school, AB. She writes:

Hi Flux,
My name is AB and I am a student in the MSF / MBA Co-Op program here at school. I understand that you are completing your MBA through the part-time program while working for [your company]. As I continue to research companies within the consulting industry, I am extremely interested in learning more about what you do for [your company] as well as the dynamics of the company. Would it be possible to talk more over lunch at your convenience? Thank you for your consideration.

I have no idea who this girl is, at all. So I responded, telling her I didn't know what info she wanted, but if she wanted to meet, I suppose it would be ok. And we met yesterday for lunch, and like I said, it was normal, not weird or anything.

But the real funny part: of course, I have to yap about this to everyone I know. And I guess I have to watch what I tell things to, because there are some weird individuals out there in the world. So, the day after I got the e-mail, I received a random instant message at work from someone, telling me that it's the girl who e-mailed me. I asked how she got my IM name, and she said it was listed in the directory when she looked me up at school. I didn't think that was possible, knowing I definitely did not put my IM name on there, but I went along with it.

At first, everything seemed normal. "She" asked me some normal questions about my job, work experience, and she told me some stuff about her work experience too. All of a sudden, without any warning, she asks:

"Do you like hot oils?"

I'm like huh?? Now I know it's got to be a joke. But I went along anyway.

She tells me that she likes to rub hot oils on the person she is talking to because it eases the tension talking to someone. She'll do it in public, wherever. And she explains, "my parents were hippies, and I live an alternative lifestyle."

Ooooo-k.

We keep going, and the conversation goes back to normal. But she brings up the hot oils again. I tell her, "is this a joke?" And she goes "no, why would it be?" So I keep pushing for her to either meet up so I know who this weirdo is, or to find out that it is really a joke. I asked what she looks like, so I know what to look for, and she says "5'2'', blonde, some say I have a hot body." I even told her that I was married, and she says "oh, that's too bad, do you want to have relations anyway?" So I say, "how about we just meet up and TALK, so I know you're not just joking."

Finally, the IM scandal was over, after this person revealed himself to be my friend BS, my friend from school who was in my marketing group last semester. He is also known to be a disturbed individual who would do weird things to male professors to get a better grade.

The moral of this episode is: don't tell BS anything.

A two part episode!

Yesterday, on "Grad School," the best show currently not on television:

A two part episode! Is there anything better than that?

Part One:

Background: Last week, Flux received a random e-mail from a girl from Northeastern, AB, asking about the company he works for and if she could meet for lunch to discuss "the dynamics of the company." Joe, curious, agreed to meet, and that meeting took place during yesterday's first episode.

(Don't worry, we'll have a prequel describing the background of this story).

Flux and AB had lunch at Applebee's, and she asked a bunch of questions about the company. This girl was about six feet tall! She used to play water polo from a MA college, and is originally from San Francisco. She met the CFO of Flux' company on a plane ride, so she did a search for Flux' company, and guess who came up in the search!

So this girl seemed normal enough and not some weird stalker, so the whole thing was not as weird as Joe had originally thought it would be. The buildup to this point was what made it more weird, especially since Joe told everyone he could about the e-mail and the meeting!

(From watching this awesome show, you get the idea that Flux likes to run his mouth off about anything he can to whoever will listen.)

AB did ask if Flux knew of any analysts from his company that could help her further with more questions. Flux said he'd try and find out. What will happen? Stay tuned...

Part Two:

Another four hours of class on a Wednesday night! In Finance, the class had to watch an old video about some people in a company figuring out if it was worth it to buy some new equipment, using NPV and IRR formulas. You could feel the delight of the class, who was lucky enough to be a part of this special screening!

In tech class, the class was taught about the "exciting" world of disruptive technologies and S curves. So exciting that Flux was fidgeting and changing positions a million times, BG kept rolling his eyes, and L kept twirling her hair.

The quote of the night: after Flux finished a gulp of his Fresca soda, L leaned over and said, "Is there any vodka in that Fresca?"

That might not have been as good as her past comment to BG about "beer before bitches," but it basically summed up the whole night.

Finally, the class was spared further punishment when 9:20 came around! But since J was not in class tonight, Flux was forced to take *gasp!* public transportation home! Oh, the humanity!