Still Alive

One day, I’ll return to writing for my own sake.

In the meantime, this is what is going on right now:

Evan is thriving in middle school. The girls are swarming. It’s bad. Last Thursday, after some really strange symptoms that had been going on sporadically, we were told that they thought he had a brain tumor. More about that experience on another day. I just can’t right now. He is seeing a pediatric neurologist in a few days and we’ll hopefully get to the bottom of it. In the meantime, I am trying not to unravel in my worry by focusing my attention on the fact that the head CT was negative. I am instead focusing on other things: that–for the first time ever–this kid has friends; that girls love him and I actually have to worry about what goes on when he is not supervised with a girl, that he is now wearing small men’s clothes, that he has that goofy ‘stache coming in and his dad is going to have to teach him to shave.

Zach is…Zach. He refuses to have anything to do with a toilet. I am tired of having to buy Pull-Ups. Or worse yet, diapers. He still sleeps in a diaper because Pull-Ups leak too much at bedtime. I would let him feel that discomfort with the idea that it would motivate him, but he just sleeps through it, thus we sleep through it, and we wake in the morning to a child with a rash and blue lips from sleeping in soaked pajamas. I cannot deal with neither the grossness factor or the health risk of that. We encourage. His preschool teachers encourage. We have purchased every toilet-learning device known to man, looking for the magic one. Currently, that is this cushie Prince Lionheart insert that seems so comfy that I wish it would accommodate adults.He has no desire whatsoever. But what is he doing? He is speaking plainly, counting, saying his alphabet, (crudely) writing his name, singing songs. (Please do not mix up the order of he verses of “The Wheels on the Bus”!) In May, this was the child who could literally say nothing that a stranger could understand. So I am not sweating the potty stuff. We’ll get there. He always does, doesn’t he? He’s still my little wonder–smart, cute,  funny, sweet.  He’s just Zachy.

John is making me proud everyday, He has lost over 50 pounds since the fateful day over the summer when a doctor I respect came to me to tell me that he could have died at any second from the blockages in his heart. His BP is down. He is down to only one medication for diabetes, and that dosage even had to be cut in half. His cardiologist cleared him to run at home after he outgrew the mild exercises at cardiac rehab. His cholesterol was actually low at his last check, so his medication for that was cut in half. The beta-blacker was stopped after he exhibited no need for it. He was wearing a size 40 waist in the summer. He is down to a 34, and those are falling off, but we’re holding off on shopping for more, since he’s built up to 2-mile runs daily–any little bit of weight he has left will melt off as his endurance gets back up there. His doctor says he only needs to lose 9 more pounds to be ideal body weight. If he loses 18 more, he will be back down to his post-boot camp weight from his Marine Corps days.

And me? I’m hanging in there. I have–wait, let me count–8 more weeks left of school. I start my capstone next Saturday. My paperwork for graduation is submitted. I am off of work. Blame some little boys who cannot seem to get their dirty laundry in a hamper. I tripped on some dirty clothes and fell down the entire flight of basement stairs on my left leg, with it ricocheting off of each step on the way down. They thought stuff was torn. Instead, I found out that every piece of cartilage in there is inflamed from the trauma. So it has been injections, PT, crutches (for about 5 weeks). I am finally to the walking stage, but only for very short trips and in transit. I cannot stand or walk for long periods at all. (Read: I can limp to my class and sit in a chair, I can walk to the car and get in it, but I can’t do shopping trips, etc.) I’m just hanging in. Also, I remember lamenting on here how I hated undergrad corporate finance. It has nothing on the 600 level.

That’s all.

I’ll be a blogger again one day, I swear,

Just Stop It, Already

Okay. I was avoiding this. I really was. I just did not want to get into it.

I have to get into it. If you have a Facebook account, and I am assuming you do, have you logged on lately? Have you seen some of the anti-Obama, anti-Romney crap that has infiltrated the Facebook wall? It’s everywhere, making want to go into Facebook rehab for the next few months to get away from it all.

Every four years, we do this. We mudsling. We bring up irrelevant crap that doesn’t have a damned thing to do with anything that matters. I don’t need to see Obama’s birth certificate. I am assuming the democrats would not go to all of the trouble to nominate a candidate that is ineligible to serve in the role of POTUS. I don’t give two shits about how much Romney has made in his business ventures. I am assuming his practices are legal and indicate a sharp financial mind if he has truly made a lot of money.

So today, I log on and I see this was shared by a respected friend (who happens to have some differing political views, but who cares about that? Not me). He didn’t make the photo, but someone did.

Some (okay, many) have made Dubya a villain. And he went to Harvard Business School (HBS for those of us in this B-school world). And Mitt is a Harvard MBA. OMG, they are evil, evil brothers. There is nothing there about how they stand for the same things, of how they are cut from the same political cloth. Just that they are both Harvard MBAs and it must be a terrible thing. Guilt by association? Should we stretch this to cover all MBAs? Are we all evil? Maybe. Maybe not.

The person who can build and run a successful corporation is one who can lead. One who knows how to work with a budget and allocate resources appropriately to ensure the greatest amount of productivity. One who can look at a big picture and see where cuts can be made and where more is needed. One who can work with a team to turn nothing into something. A good leader. One who can inspire those under him or her, motivate subordinates toward a common goal. Bridge the gap between personal and organizational interest so that they are in alignment to get the most from the workforce. Put the best people in the best positions for them in order to maximize the use of everyone’s talents. Recognize where changes need to be made and has a working knowledge of how to effectively implement those changes in a systematic manner in order to do so with the least amount of ripples. Appreciate the contribution from every participant, from the smallest to the largest roles. In fact, a good leader sees no small roles, just different ones.

Interesting. Exactly what an MBA education teaches. And HBS is one of the best, most selective B-schools on the planet. (If I am correct, I think they are second only to Wharton, but I stopped looking at all of that once I got into my top-choice B-School.) As a matter of fact, my school has adopted the case method made famous at HBS, and for all of my 600-level courses, I had to purchase a digital course pack from HBS through which to study these cases.

So I may be biased, but I see an MBA from a top B-school as a strong point. Not the only selling point to be considered. Just like anything, it does not ensure success. You can teach, but if someone doesn’t have it, they, well…they just don’t have it. I could take voice lessons, but I would still have the warble of a dying cow when trying to sing. But don’t discredit someone for the wrong reason. I can live with the fact that your decision may be different than mine if it was made in an educated, logical manner. Not based on alma mater or who one’s classmate was in 1975.

So please, as this campaign process continues, can we just stick to the issues? Can we be civil and logical and not insult the intelligence of the American voter in the process? Can we talk about taxation, education, FUCKING HEALTHCARE? I mean, isn’t that what matters?