"You know what I hate? When people say all change is good. That's crap." -My professor

As my family would be delighted to tell you, I don’t really like change all that much. As long as it has taken me to admit it, I’ll agree that I resist change because it makes me feel anxious and uncomfortable to some degree. And you know what? That is totally normal. :) In fact, my Georgetown Change Management Advanced Certification program told me it was. Anyhow, I’m learning all about change in Booz’s latest venture with Georgetown University. You can learn more about that here:

So, at the risk of you thinking this is an academic write-up (it’s not) I thought I’d share some cool stuff after spending 11+hours there Monday and Tuesday. These are all pretty quick, cool things that you should look at: Did you know?
This is amazing. As an “STJ” (Myers-Briggs speak), I love data/numbers/details … so I thought this was really interesting. The world is changing faster than I can think.

And this, and only maybe a little bit :) because I was in Stockholm 2 weeks ago. How do you make people change? Here’s one idea… turn stairs into a piano.. Thefuntheory is a VW initiative. I love the concept.

I also got to have a formal dinner in the Riggs library at Georgetown. Really awesome little room with small staircases and ancient books galore. You can't really tell from the picture, but those are the floors and at the bottom is where we had dinner. Filet Mignon in there... obviously they've treated us really well. I'm excited to be part of the program. I'll graduate in November right before I turn 26!

I had an awesome professor today too (maybe the most captivating speaker I’ve ever heard) that in mocking our Booz Allen/government acronyms (he didn’t know who he was dealing with) he said we need to be more like Indiana Jones due to the shrinking ETBS. (ETBS = expected time between surprises) Haha. Our world today is, according to him, “more, better, faster” and we have to be able to predict what will come next. Shit happens, we need to deal with it and move on, so he said at least. Nice idea... in theory.

In line with More, Faster (I don’t know about better) there is Walmart. Check this out – It shows the progression of stores in the US. Insane! Also crazy to hear how Walmart deals with selling to any vendor who wants to put something on their shelf. They conduct the meetings all in Bentonville, Arkansas in a room without windows, coffee, or chairs. Sometimes they stand in there negotiating for over 6-7 hours. Wow.

Back to real work tomorrow but as much as that sounds like I've been relaxing for the past 2 days, I have been doing absolutely anything but.

K-something blonde.

merry strasmus!!

I took the opportunity on Tuesday night to brave the borderline anxiety-disorder-provoking metro ride down to the ballpark. I had to see if the hype was really true about this strasburg kid. was he really the "baseball jesus?" Okay, fine, who am I kidding... I just wanted to be in on the excitement. And it was really awesome to be there with 41,000 other baseball/nationals/washington/excited fans. Seriously. The stadium was freaking packed. I was stoked.

My favorite part of the whole evening was how amazingly quiet the entire stadium got when Strasburg would throw a pitch. I can't imagine many things that could quiet 41k people. And that concentration and respect lasted through the whole 7 innings he was on the field. You couldn't quite hear a pin drop, but you could hear the baseball hit the mitt. You could also see that curveball. :)

All in all, I am so glad I was there to witness the future legend. 14 strikeouts. Not bad for his first night...

i'm moving !!

so excited. put down my deposit for a studio condo in ballston. some of the perks are a rooftop pool, movie theater room, granite countertops, and GIGANTIC closet space.

that's one thing off my to-do list. wahoooo!

Reality bites :-I

I'm back to the grind and boy is it not like vacation. I'm so happy to be home but there is so much going on. Things that are currently on my plate or mind:

1. Finding a new apartment. I put my 60-day notice in my current building which even though I already knew I had to move makes it all the more scary that come august 5th I better have found another place or I'm homeless. Don't they say moving is one of the most stressful things in life? And I haven't even started packing my closet yet :)

2. My annual performance assessment at work. My company takes these very seriously and it couldn't have fallen at a better time than over my 2 weeks abroad... Ready, set, catch up! Charlie looked at me working at it all "on my own time and not client time" of course and asked whether everyone takes it this seriously. The funny thing is I've been slacking so far!

3. My mom is home recooping from surgery and I can't be there to help her... Yet. Be there soon momma!

4. As soon as I got back, 3 days later my client left for 2 weeks vacation. So much to catch up on and decide and too little time. Chuckles.

5. Friends I miss. Weddings, birthdays, and 6 college bffs staying with me over July 4th weekend, oh my. All good things. All so exciting!

6. Starting my change management course at georgetown in a week and a half. Should I mention I have to read a whole book and write a paper before it starts?

7. And of course, you all. My avid followers :) I know I haven't pleased one dear fan with failing to add photos (ingin bilder) to my last few posts, but know I haven't forgotten you and will get to it when I can.

k via iPhone
(trying to multitask at least and blog while metroing to the nationals game tonight!)