Friday, August 22, 2008

Back at Wharton West!

Well, numerous Facebook and Twitter posts have let some of you know by now that I'm back at Wharton West. (Well at least Dan P, that dude noticed my Facebook post about five minutes after I posted it. The Facebook machine continues to grow, and I'm now a fan of FB for Blackberry.)

Why am I back at WEMBA? This time it's to audit Prof. Siggelkow's class, MGMT 701, Strategic Planning and Control. It's purely because this was one of those classes I wished I could have taken, plus it's only 3 weekends as a .5 unit course. The biggest reason is that it's free for alums!

There are FIVE Class 32s in there (I'll leave out last names): Frank, Mike, Charles, John, and I. One of us has a cool boss, one of us is his own boss, one of us is in between jobs, and another told his boss that he needs to repeat Term 5. Guess which one is false? And no, we didn't hang out at the Old Ship or Le Meridian afterwards. Nor sleep in the poker rooms. After after the ridicule that Raggy got from KFC when he posted a message to our email list that he was auditing a course, none of us admitted we were also heading back. I wonder who else is in MGMT 806 with Raghav. I know you 32s are back at work wishin' you were hanging out with us in the back. It's nice to live here in the Bay Area.

I gotta admit, it's kinda weird being back at WEMBA. This time I'm much more tan, relaxed, and able to concentrate. Larry still remembers me, although the look on his face made me think that he was thinking "what is wrong with that guy?". Since as auditors we are banned from talking in class, it's entertaining watching the unpreparded 33s get cold-called. I found myself thinking of former cohort classmates as certain people in the class responded to Siggelkow's questions....

As I recall, this was about the time last year that all I could think about was the one month break between the first weekend and the next real one. With the international trip in between (they are heading to China), I told a few relieved 33s that it's all downhill from this point on. And it really is.

Anyhow, it's off to sleep to wake up early to head over to class again tomorrow morning.

-Chairman P