See You in Saigon

First, some unfinished business. In my April 5th blog I mentioned/revealed that I wrote a column for the business school newspaper under the name "The Chef", and while for those of you who aren't recent Michigan grads you probably don't care, but it cause some ripples, minor ripples, at school. When people found out it was me they were very surprised and some people, in what must be the backhanded comment of the century, said "You can't be The Chef. You're not that funny". Um, thanks, I think?

Last Friday I graduated. Donzo. In theory I'd been "done" for a while, but when that last grade officially came across the transom and was posted, well, that's when it became official...official that I am a Master of Business Administration. Business...um, Mastered it, oh and Administration...Mastered that ish too. That anyone calls me a Master of anything is laughable, but whatever. Graduation was somewhat anti-climatic but nonetheless I had a great weekend with my parents and they finally got to see Ann Arbor sans rain which I was happy about. I know how it goes when you graduate from undergrad. You tell all your friends that you'll keep in touch and some people are good at it and some are horrendous at it. At Michigan I had all my closest friends all within a short walk of me and the most sad part about leaving is that simply won't exist anymore, ever. So for those of you who do a bad job of staying in touch, just think about how little effort it takes to call someone once every few months and talk for ten minutes. Of course, if you don't care to do so then don't bother but I'm just saying that it really isn't that difficult. Without writing a saga, I'll just say that these past two years were two incredibly busy and absurdly awesome two years. If I could do it all over again I would do it exactly the same. I had dinner with some friends my last night there which was Cinco de Mayo. After a great meal and some drinks it was time to go home and pack up and I walked back to campus with a friend who I will be traveling with in June and July. As we parted ways he said, "I know this is the only time I'll ever get to say this, but 'I'll see you in Saigon'", and we both laughed because the next time I'll see him will be in Vietnam where we will begin what I'm sure will be an insane five-week jaunt through SE Asia. I refuse to believe this crazy ride is over until I'm sitting in a cube on Day 1 of work.

I got up this morning at 6am, put the final touches on cleaning up/packing up and headed out on the road. The early wakeup coupled with not burning the candle on both ends, but absolutely torching the candle on both ends as of late, and my aversion to caffeine made the drive today absolutely hellish. At about 9:30am I could sense I was getting dangerously tired. I thought back to the trip to Australia and the billboards we encountered every few miles in Victoria. They kept saying things like, "Tired? Take a nap" and "Naps save lives". I thought to myself, well that's a great idea but I'm going to power through this, but I was just dying out there and it wasn't safe. Then, and I swear this happened, Men at Work's "Land Down Under" came on the radio (in Ohio?) and I believed it to be a sign and pulled over at the next rest stop for a 30 minute nap. Truth be told, I struggled on the road all day, and I'm running on fumes right now, but I'm home and in my old single bed from back in the day and I intend to sleep in tomorrow and then come downstairs and open a fridge that contains more than mustard, eggs, jam, butter, and Miller Lite and make myself a hearty healthy breakfast. And on that note, this Master is closing the books on May 6th 2009.