Slapstick Yoga

OK- i got home from work and it's a gorgeous day out- there's clouds moving in from the East, but it's still clear in the west, so the sun is shining and it's nice and warm (24 C)

So- I put on my little yoga shorts and head to the patio and start doing yoga.

I do my Ashtanga and by the time i hit primary series it starts to rain. Nothing major, so just a little shower- so i keep doing yoga. Through Marichyasana II and III along with balance variation poses... etc... until i get to fish pose- at this time- my sticky mat is slick with rain and i cannot get grounding- but i figure i'd try for wheel pose anyways.

big mistake...

my hands slip out from under me like I they were on banana peels and boom! Right down on the crown of my head!

Hee hee hee! My noggin got a floggin!

I'm a Smurf!

After deliberation and careful analysis of the situation- it's official.

I am going to be a Smurf.

Michael G. Smurfit School of Business at the University College of Dublin has accepted me for the 2005/2006 MBA class.



I guess my head is still a little reeling- it's been a very intriguing process how it all came to pass.

I applied to 4 schools this year- and got into all of them- I heard from Surrey immediately and was offered a position in mid December. I heard from Bradford and Strathclyde in the same day both of them giving me conditional offers dependent on them receiving my transcripts at Bradford, and a successful interview with one of the professors at Strath.

All through this- I never heard a peep from University College of Dublin.

So- I ultimately accepted the Strath offerand I thought that was the end of it until about a month or so later. I received an email:

“Your application has been successful through stage of the process. It will now begin stage two. Please respond with a time to call you.”

I thought “Well- there's no harm in hearing what they have to say…” and a couple of days later I chatted with someone there- and the next day I got an email saying that my application has been successful…

Successful huh? You don't say…

Anyways- I spent the next 2 months trying to decide which was a better choice for me- they were both my top choices going in. In the end- I emailed some recent grads from both schools and it was totally put into perspective for me.

The grad who is a marketing manager for a huge fortune 50 company now in Toronto said that she didn't have much trouble finding a job after she came back- which I would ideally like to do.

She put it in the perspective that an employer is looking to hire a newly minted MBA. She has 21 resumes in front of her- 10 from Rotman, 10 from Ivey and 1 from the University College of Dublin. Automatically- UCD will stand out as adventurous, and creative and daring. Throw “Good looking” in there too- and that describes me to a "T".

Also- UCD just has a more recognizable name. Strathclyde could be a Community College for all the prospective employer knows. Strathclyde most certainly is NOT a Community College- it's good name is just more centralized in Europe and UK.

So- Now everyone keeps asking “When are you leaving? When are you leaving?” and the answer is: Early September.

In the meantime- I'll work hard, get a tan, run, do yoga, read, see my beady eyed friend (and all my other friends) and live passionately- because that's what a good MBA does.

Solving the monster problem

Last week- two boys: a 12 year old and a 16 year old almost crippled the economy of a small town near Toronto when they were playing with fire and the fire “oopsied” into a blaze that burned down the local plastics factory that was the second largest employer of the town. (What’s with me and fire this month?)

This week a troupe of boys in Grade 10 at a local prestigious Private school found themselves in hot water after posting some pretty horrendous and malicious anti-Semitic statements on the internet in a discussion forum. 3 are expelled, a half dozen others suspended.

Local Newsbytes are screaming that 12% of 14 year olds are having sex.

I think we see a pattern here!

I don’t want to defend malice, prejudice or monstrous stupidity- but these kids are not evil- they’re just silly and stupid. They didn’t mean to burn down the factory- the fire went out of control. The general consensus regarding the internet posters is that the boys don’t actually feel that way, it was just a case of one-up-manship. It was a competition to see who could shock the others more.

I remember what it’s like being an awkward and crazed teenager. Raging hormones, untempered, irrepressible madness of youth and young man combined into a deadly mixture of lust, angst and hunger.

We would all be a lot happier and healthier from these little animals if all of them were having sex by 14 instead of just 12%. Now- I’m not a pedophile- nor do I have any inclination to endorse pedophilia or statutory rape- but I think that if the little monsters hunkered down and spooned with their little monsterettes- we’d have one factory in small town backwoods Ontario saved, and a whole lot of rich families saved from heartache.