B minor

Every year, the media runs out the door the day before Thanksgiving, parks the satellite trucks somewhere in the flow of traffic around the airport, and sets up to do travel woes live shots. Clockwork. Literally. And for a time, working in the media, I recall there being data to support the claim that the day before Thanksgiving was, in fact, the busiest travel days of the year.

This year, I think I’ve heard the term “busiest travel days of the year” about 10 times. Conveniently a little “one of” has been placed before the phrase most recently. I will even buy that a little.

But today! Today I heard on the television, the radio, and read online, that today would be one of the busiest travel days of the year. And when we took my brother to O’Hare today, there was the Fox News sat truck. Parked and ready. But guess what? There were no people there. Literally. O’Hare was wide open – moving cleanly – nothing to see. The highways to and from O’Hare… wide open – moving cleanly – nothing to see.

So. What gives? One of the busiest travel days of the year? Really? Really?

Last weekend I had the opportunity to step out of the HBS bubble, substantively, for the first time since I arrived in Cambridge on August 8. While it was certainly disappointing to have missed what I understand was an epic weekend with Section C on the retreat in Vermont, I had a really awesome time back in Chicago attending the wedding of two of my great friends from high school.

One of the first pieces of advice I got upon arriving at HBS was not to forget those people who had helped you get here in the first place, because they would surely be the ones to catch you on the other side of this merry-go-round. I think that’s a pretty important point. Especially when you realize how easy it is for you to let days become weeks before you’ve spoken to the people who are supposed to be your closest friends.

So this was a bit of an opportunity to reconnect with friends, get home, relax (albeit briefly), and plug in to what is going on in the world. (My mainstream media consumption waxes and wanes with the frequency of my Finance cases.)

As glad as I was to get back to the bubble and my new friends here, I am all the more looking forward to getting home for Thanksgiving again and spending some time with the family, actually relaxing, and otherwise taking long, deep breath.

While the Harvard Business School celebrates itself this weekend (100 year birthday party), the MBA RC class is enjoying its first real break from the insanity that is our schedule. Personally, I am sitting in my empty house (housemates all out of town) enjoying a lazy Monday afternoon, looking at another day off tomorrow, and enjoying the first feeling of boredom in about 2 months.

This morning I was fortunate enough to have a friend wake me up to go catch Bill Gates speaking at the HBS Centennial. (We were in the peanut gallery, watching via video, but it was interesting all the same). The man is something else. He seems to know something about everything – and not in the way that annoys me. He spoke at length about the work his foundation is doing around the world, and I have to say, you can’t sit through a talk like that and not wonder if you shouldn’t be pursuing something a little more “good” than you are. (And by you I mean me, so now you know what it sounds like inside my head).

I’m currently working on transposing my resume from the aesthetic format I prefer, to the one that HBS forces us to use in order to be included in the book-o-resumes. A completely understandable standardization, but a tedious exercise. While moving my bullet points about making television into the proper spacing and alignment I started to get the real feeling that this job search is going to be hard. Like really hard. Previously, I was casually approaching the resume situation from the standpoint that if it was good enought to get me into Harvard, well… Not so much. Perusing some of the EC (2nd year) resumes, I realized that there are some RIDICULOUSLY well-qualified people in this candidate pool, and we are all applying for work in what may be the most competitive job market. Ever.

So, not wanting to get bogged down with too much stress, I turned to eating.

Which then reminded me I need to go to the grocery store.

And the to-do list returns. Break’s over.

The week ahead looks busy. It’s the start of Entrepreneurship Week, which means there’s a ton of panels I want to attend. All three days (W, T, F) are three-case days, and the cases are thick – so there’s a lot to read. There’s an analytics reunion party Wednesday night. Resumes are due Thursday. There’s a Latin party on Thursday night. And by Friday I may just decide to barricade myself in my room. Because midterms start the following Monday. Zzzzzzz.

Wednesday is the start of the uphill battle that ends at Thanksgiving. I’m going to try to enjoy being bored for a little while longer…

Today I begin the trek to Chicago for Thanksgiving. I say trek because I’m not sure when it will end.

Currently the headline on Drudge reads: TRAVEL NIGHTMARE TO SPOIL THE TURKEY

Presently my flight clocks in as “on time” but under notes it reads “flight subject to flow control”

Don’t know what “flow control” means, but it’s making me wish I’d downloaded a movie onto my laptop before leaving for work today.

UPDATE: Flight is delayed from 6:00 to 6:25. It’s on.

UPDATE: Flight now scheduled for 6:55. 55 minutes late.

UPDATE: on board. Hoping for a 710 wheels up.