Travis Loves Heather!

October 23-25

Thursday morning we got up before the sun and went to the airport. Max flew back to Denver and I met Brian past the security checkpoint to hop on the second leg of his flight into San Francisco. We metMom and Dad at the hotel and wandered up to Sebastiani to take a tour and taste some wine. It was fantastic, we got to taste som fresh Syrah grapes they were harvesting, and enjoyed a really lovely afternoon all around the Bay.

Then it was wedding time. Lots of bows to be tied and cake to be decorated. Brian was so patient, and I am so glad that Mom and Dad joined us to celebrate!

Heather and Travis said "I do," outside on the back patio, and we danced the night away with her family and friends. It was good to visit with all of the Adlers, and I got to meet Travis' family for the first time. I had actually met all of the other bridesmaids on a previous visit to Berkeley, so it was fun hanging out with them and helping Heather. Sunday morning we got up and checked out of the hotel, and caravaned into San Francisco to brunch with Dad's friend Gary. He has a beautiful apartment downtown, and we enjoyed watching the fog roll in as he showed it off and shared some wine in his newly remodeled

kitchen. It was the perfect weekend getaway, and I really enjoyed spending time with everybody there. We all headed back to the airport together, and I flew back to Phoenix to dive into the second module of the tri, while Brian and Mom and Dad headed back to Denver.

Home Sweet Home

Alright, I will admit that I lost track of the past six weeks, and am belated in these updates. So bear with me, but you will get the full story!

October 17-19
I got to fly home for the weekend between the first module and Career Week. It was a very mixed experience for me. First of all, it was a phenomenal weekend to be in Boulder. The aspens were gold and the ash were bright red, and the sun was brilliant. I was able to see a lot of friends and family that I have been missing, and after the previous week's frenzy to complete so much coursework, it was good to be able to catch up on sleep in my own bed.

I received an email that weekend informing me that I had not been nominated for the module in Monterrey, Mexco that I applied for. This was particularly disappointing because the opportunities to study abroad and be exposed to Thunderbird's international relationships is the reason I chose Thunderbird over traditional MBA programs closer to home. Being home and being confronted with all of the things I have sacrificed to pursue this program, and then realizing that I am not going to be able to participate in everything I wanted to was extremely difficult for me. Existing in a state of perpetual physical and emotional exhaustion is a lot to overcome, especially with no light at the end of the tunnel.

Everything at the house was so comfortably familiar, and I was ecstatic to see Bosco! He was hilarious, every time he saw me he would do a double-take and get excited all over again. It was heart-warming to see that he recognized me and missed me as much as I miss seeing him everyday.

At the end of the weekend, I said goodbye to Brian, and Max flew back to Phoenix with me. I had a few workshops here and there throughout Career Week, but for the most part I was able to relax. Max needed to see Jack and Lisa before he left the country, so we took a day and drove up to Jerome. It is so pleasant up there, I love being able to get away and retreat from this hectic world I live in. We had a lovely visit with them, and then returned to Glendale...

Stop This Train...

It is finals week for the three of our classes that are only one module of the trimester. That means we have four other classes that go through the entire tri, and on top of finals we have normal classes and assignments due.

Friday we had a three-hour class, Sat we had our accounting final, and today we had to turn in paperwork corresponding with our Career Management seminar presentations tomorrow. This is going on day #8 straight of school - and it keeps going through Thursday! There were two things that got me through the weekend: autumn has arrived in AZ, and at the end of the week I get to go home for the weekend WITH NO HOMEWORK!!!

The weather cooled down to a lovely 75 today, so I was glad to take a break and do some laundry, and wandered around campus for a bit. It is empty - everybody is burried in the library or working with a group in a student room somewhere. It's nuts - even the Pub was closed last night - on a Saturday!

Another thing that has been hard this week is that I've been sad I missed Brian's birthday. From what I hear though, he had quite a celebratory weekend! It's a lot harder than I thought it would be, giving up the little things... A few people I have talked to mentioned that CO might be getting some snow this week, so the fact that it is just now getting pleasant outside is a shock to my system. Inside I am ready for sweatshirt-and-hot chocolate days and Halloween decorations, and here I am grateful for a windows-open day. But I will get my fill, I just have to survive the week. Then we can have a belated birthday(I promised to get up with Bosco and let Brian sleep in on Sat!) and some seasonal appreciation.

Here are some pics from this afternoon. At top is the Wall of Welcome, which says "welcome" in 30-some-odd languages and has a quote from Socrates, "I am neither Athenian nor Greek, I am a citizen of the world." Middle is my mailbox, at the apartment, and the bottom is my favorite study spot(not frequented, mind you, but definitely preferred!). Hope all is well and that wherever you are the leaves are changing...

You Brighten Up For Me All of My Days

Last Thursday I got to drive to the airport to pick up my husband for our anniversary weekend visit. I was running on two PB&J's, a few cookies, and about three hours of sleep in three days. Accounting spreadsheets and statistics had been consuming me all week, which left the rest of me feeling guilty about not keeping up with econ and orgnizational behavior, or any other regular human habits. Defeated and broken, I pulled into the arrivals lane at Sky Harbor and have never in my life been so excited to see him!

It took me most of Friday to recover, and Brian was extremely patient with my morning meetings and loose ends. After everything got checked off my list, I joined him at the pool and we had a relaxing couple of hours melting under the palm trees. My last commitment for the week was actually an audition for the campus cover band, Global Sounds. They told me I had a "rock star name" and some "tight pipes," and invited me to sing with them!

Friday night I took him to see the Rockies play the Diamondbacks at their fancy new stadium with the retractable roof. They put up a mild effort, but the Dbacks won and celebrated with a surprisingly spectacular fireworks display. It was late when we got back to the apartment and we fell asleep eating ice cream and watching the debate.

It was GLORIOUS to sleep in on Saturday! It just so happened that the AVP was in Glendale for the weekend, so Brian got us tickets. It was Kristin's birthday, so we took her for the morning matches and hung out in the Crocs tent for a while. It was fun enough that we went back for the beginning of the championship matches that evening, and left early to eat at Buca's to celebrate with some other friends. Then home for cake, and another full night of sleep.

Sunday was hard for me. I woke up wishing I didn't have to say goodbye, and thinking hard about what I am doing and why I am down here. I desperately needed a break from school, and being able to be myself and be unconditionally loved for who I am was deeply refreshing. Brian is so supportive and convinced that we are doing the right thing, but I am not sure yet. Grad school is not healthy! This lifestlye is hard on everybody, it's ridiculous. And to think about what I gave up to live in Glendale?!

Anyhow, I pulled myself together and we had a nice breakfast and stopped at Castles n' Coasters on the way to the airport to slip in a quick 18 holes of put-put. It was very fun, even though it is still triple-digits hot during the day. After that I said goodbye at the Bush line and returned home all alone to ease back into my reality.

This week has been better. We're just gearing up for the stats exam Friday, then I get to switch gears this weekend and start catching up on my other classes. Mid-terms are just around the corner, which will be followed by my long weekend in CO! I am ready to visit - see the new house(ok, new basement and fresh paint will seem new to me!), snuggle with Bosco, and enjoy the fresh air! It will be great to see Mom and Dad too - I know I took for granted how easily accessible they are, and am ready for some hugs.

Thanks for all of your thoughts, it is nice to know I am loved by a universe that doesn't care how quickly I can calculate the kurtosis of a random assortment of monthly phone bills. I miss you all but I can't believe it is already October!

Three years and counting...

What a wild month! Last week was a milestone week for us. I had my first graded assignments and my first exam, and it was also the first time Brian and I have seen each other since the move in August. We both flew to Pasadena to spend the weekend with The Gustins. It was a welcome break, and it was great to relax and have some family time. Friday we walked down Venice Beach, which is quite the experience. I thought Pearl Street was wild - but there were some outfits that even topped some of the crazies in Boulder. We continued up the coast to Santa Monica, and hung out on the pier for a while, then drove through Beverly Hills and into Hollywood. We walked the sidewalk and saw all of the stars, and then ate dinner at the Pig 'n Whistle - which was delicious! No star sightings, unfortunately. Maybe next time...

Saturday we did went back to the coast and enjoyed Marina del Ray. It is a beautiful harbor and a quaint little collection of restaurants and shops. We had some live music and a little bit of wild dancing...and some yummy mexican food. Then we took a harbor tour and got to see luxury yachts owned by the likes of John Travolta, Lucy Liu, and Nicholas Cage. The staple vessel is caled Attessa, which takes a crew of 15 to run and has a helicopter pad on top of it! About $27 million worth of incredible...

Then Sunday we slept in and had a great breakfast and wandered down Colorado Blvd near their apartment. We went to their brewpub to watch the Colts play, then headed to the airport. We were both surprised to figure out that my flight to Phoenix was actually the first leg of Brian's flight to Denver, so we got an extra couple of hours together. I got off the plane and headed home to study, and Brian returned to Bosco and Crocs.

Good news for this week: I passed my accounting exam, which is definitely positive energy I need to push on through the next round of mid-terms. And today is our third anniversary so Brian is flying in tomorrow for another weekend visit. It will be fun to show him around my new world, and introduce him to the new people I have been spending all of my time with.

Hope everything is going well wherever you are!

ThunderHi

Oh my goodness, this is a wild group of people! Not only are we scheduled up every minute of every day, but they are cazy!

Orientation started yesterday, with a mass meeting and introductions of the student leaders. Then we broke into our cohort groups with whom we are blocked into classes for the first term. There are eight groups total, which are all named after a "desert animal," but I wasn't aware that there are Broncos and Mustangs in the desert... I am a Scorpion, paired with the Tarantulas in the Arachnid group. Before they fed us pizza we had to participate in the ThunderHunt, which was trivia-based exercize that sent us all around the campus taking pictures in various locations. It would have been more fun perhaps, if I hadn't been around campus for a couple of weeks already, or it was cooler than 109 outside.

We finally finished the race after about an hour, and surprisingly we came in third! It was quite a relief to be released. My roomate Kristin is a Falcon, and she was about as tired as I was so we went home and hung out. I'm really glad I am not the only nerd who prefers my pajamas to the ThunderPub on a Saturday night! She is great and I think we will get along really well.

Everything is Thundered around here, to the point of being quite ridiculous. It's kind of witty sometimes, but all of the titles and nicknames and places amuse me. For example, you can go to the ThunderShop to get a Thundershirt to wear to the Thunderlympics on Friday, which is the warm-up for ThunderIdol. After the talent show you can go to the ThunderLab and log into your T-Bird account and do some online ThunderStalking while you are browsing resumes looking for ThunderLove. This, of course, is only a viable activity for ThunderSingles. Myself, being an espoused student, will visit the ThunderGym to work off the ThunderSlices and ThunderBurgers they fed us for dinner. Then I might go check out the ThunderKids' pee-wee soccer game on my way back to the apartment.

All in all, last week was pretty good. I made some friends with people who I will not have classes with, which I decided is a good thing because after I am sick of my classmates I will have other people to hang out with! I am comfortable with the area now, and have found a local strip of decent restauraunts that should keep us occupied for a while. I am missing my ThunderSpouse and my ThunderPet and wishing I was at home to help with all of the crazy construction and cosmetic repairs. Hope things are well in your world! Hopefully I will be posting some pictures this week.

ThunderBye!
MK

Too Hot to Samba

When I went to bed last night, the weather boy on NBC told me it would probably hit 108 Monday. So I deliberately picked out an outfit that would be business appropriate, but breathe while I walked to class, and then keep me warm in the super air-conditioned auditorium. Tougher than it sounds! I finally got my act together and made it to class on time. They had little name tents and magnetic name tags waiting for us at the table - alphabetically of course - so I get to sit on the aisle directly in front of the prof all day. He was fascinating though, he is from Australia and earned his PhD at Washington, then taught at Rice. Easy to listen to, but I could not for my life interpret his handwriting! Thank goodness for powerpoint.

I have pretty much lost my attention span. I did really well for the first three hours, and when the break came around I had not been thinking about it. Then, we had two more hours till lunch, and about a half-hour in I started thinking about food and could NOT concentrate about the amortization schedule of Home Depot's 2006 Balance Sheet. So the afternoon was fairly excruciating as well. Then the ten minute walk back to the apartment(I'm not exaggerating - it's a ten minute walk across the street and around campus to get to the lecture hall - but in 108 it feels like a half-hour!) all I could think about was a nap!

Two triumphs today: I figured out how to program the VCR, and I must have absorbed something today because I am already done with my homework! I met two girls from Boulder. One is older and only grew up there - she's been in South America and on the East coast since she graduated from Boulder High. The other one, however, moved down here from The Summit, where Jay and Angie used to live across the street from us. How random!

After the sun goes down I am planning to sneak out for a dip in the pool. It's not as warm as I remember them being, so hopefully it will be refreshing enough.

Hope all is well wherever you may be.
Love,
Merix

Many the Miles...

It was a good day for driving. Brian and I got up early Friday and hit the road, hopping on I-70 to Utah, then down through Moab to the Navajo reservation, and onto Flagstaff. I love the Rocky Mountains, and road trips through the Western Slope always grow my appreciation of the beautiful geography right outside our doors. There are so many landscapes and colors that change constantly from Boulder to Phoenix! Passing the Flatirons, majestic in the purple pre-dawn, then coming over the Continental Divide to the striking rocks in sun and shadows, and moving on to the maroon plateuas toward Grand Junction. Then all of a sudden you are in Utah, surrounded by vivid red stone and soil, with its divine fluid stability. The plateaus spread out and melt into creams and roses of the desert terrain. It amazes me to see the layers in the rocks, and watch how they have moved and changed through history. Then Arizona has its own mountains, with full, tall pines and short barby bushes. You have to get pretty close to Phoenix to find any Saguaros, but they have their own stories to tell.

We stopped in Jerome, to visit Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jack. We had pretty good timing, pulling in as they were getting closed up for the day. We had a wonderful evening with them, enjoying a bit of rain and some cool temperatures. What a nice weekend retreat from the desert!

Saturday we had a liesurely breakfast and got back in the car to drive to Phoenix. The apartment complex I am staying in was not ready for me at all. They had not prepared any paperwork, and even with two different prospective residents on the phone all week, were unaware of our situation as roomates looking for a five-month lease. It took about an hour, but I got keys. It's not bad - we'll certainly be comfortable for the term.

We unloaded the car in about 15 minutes, and then set out to get the essentials - dish soap, toilet paper, water, etc. Brian had the genius idea to raid the Dollar Tree - we spent about $60 and I was pretty set aside from stuff to go in the fridge! He spent the next few hours trying to convince me I needed to buy a futon, so we shopped for furniture. I did find a lamp and a table and a "desk" that really only fits my laptop. But with my little air mattress, my bedroom is sparse but comfy.

Sunday was hard. We got to sleep in for a bit, and then get to know the neighborhood some more. Then I had to take Brian to the airport, which was not fun. After he made it through security I set out to find a financial calculator for class, and drove around for about an hour looking for an office supply store. No dice, but I definitely have my bearings now!

Thanks for all the calls and emails! It's so nice of you to think about us. I'll let you know how class goes - Mon-Fri 8:30-5:30, phew! Hope I make it...

T minus SEVEN days!

The to-do list is growing as our date of departure looms nearer. On top of beginning to collect myself to live in Phoenix for the next four months, there is a man painting the basement, three men pouring concret in the back patio, and four men with jackhammers and saws cutting cement and re-bar in the garage. Not to mention the fact that the entire contents of the garage and basement seem to be piled around every available surface on the main floor.

But, it is time to close this chapter and move forward, and I can only giggle at the irony in the fact that we are ALMOST finished with the construction at this juncture. Trying to finish up the transition at work has been a challenge, and working on nailing down details about moving next weekend has been defeating. But Brian has been continually encouraging and is ready to check out the campus where I will be spending all of my time. Colorado has been priming us for Arizona with our recent heat wave, which is supposed to continue this weekend!

I hope to keep in touch, and appreciate your thoughts as we embark on the journey. We will be driving all day Friday, and Brian will fly home on Sunday evening. Then, it's off to Economics Bootcamp for me on Monday...

~Merix