'Longhorn' Alumnus

Here's my latest post for the University of Texas MPA program. [And yes, I did graduate. But they thought it would be nice to have an after-graduation perspective on the blog.]

Wisconsin

We're there right now, sitting on big white boulders on the coast of Lake Michigan. It's beautiful and refreshing with the sun out and a pleasant breeze.

Before this, we walked along the Milwaukee Riverwalk, where we enjoyed the sculptures and by chance witnessed some college crew teams making their way back along the river after their race.

It's nice to have Janssen here with me. She flew out yesterday and will fly back to Boston tomorrow. I'm here for another week for work. It's all new and interesting and fun.

In a few minutes we're heading down to Edward's apple orchard in Illinois, where Janssen's family used to visit each fall around her birthday. We are looking forward to some hot donuts and apple pie with ice cream.

Tomorrow we are headed to Chicago to see my aunt and uncle and their three boys. Life is good. So is Wisconsin cheese.

I Was Once But a Student . . .

I took my last final exams today. I'm done! And let me tell you, there's a party goin' on right here - a celebration that'll last throughout the year . . . Celebrate good times, come on!

We also loaded all of our furniture and things from storage into a Budget moving van yesterday with the help of generous friends. I'm just hoping everything is packed well enough to survive our 3-day trip to Boston. We're leaving tomorrow morning. What's that song? I'm moving to Boston in the morning? Something like that.

To celebrate and remember all the good times we've had in Austin, as well as to mark our 4-year wedding anniversary, Janssen and I asked Ralphie to take some photos of our little family (you know, little as in the two of us). And she was kind enough to wake up early yesterday to oblige! If you haven't yet seen them (Ralphie's really good, don'tcha' know), you can see them here. Favorites?

And inline with our weekend cross-country drive with car in tow, would you rather:

A) Drive across the country in a moving van pulling a trailer with your car on it

or

B) Load all of your stuff in a pod to be dropped off at your destination, then drive in your sedan across the country.*

*Option B costs $500 more than option A, and puts an extra 2000 miles on your car.

Weekend Would You Rather - Refillable Tupperware

We went boating again this weekend with our generous friends, the Milletts (we're currently staying at their house until we drive to Boston at the end of this coming week), and they brought a big piece of tupperware full of cut up watermelon.

The boat was full of people, and the watermelon went quickly. When I got back into the boat after a brief dip in the water, magically, the piece of tupperware was full to the brim with watermelon again! I soon learned that it was an identical second piece of tupperware, not a magically refilling piece of tupperware. Shucks.

There was another piece of tupperware full of cookies. Really tasty ones. It also was emptied quickly, and at home, there was another piece of tupperware full of cookies as well.

I tried to decide which I would prefer to have - a magical, automatically refilled piece of tupperware with watermelon or with cookies.

Which would you rather have? Or is there something you'd prefer over these two choices?

Weekend Would You Rather - Memories

Would you rather

(a) Have a fantastic memory to the point that you retained almost everything

or

(b) Have your current, fairly limited memory?

Summer School

I just posted my last post on the "Live and Learn" blog as an MPA student at the University of Texas at Austin (I'll be officially graduated in just over two weeks). For your convenience, I've copied and pasted it here:

Last year at this time I was halfway through my first term as an MPA student at The University of Texas. It’s a little unreal to see some of the incoming MPA class in that same situation now. Next month they’ll have their first career fair. It all happens so fast and is, in my opinion, quite a fun ride. For any of them reading, good luck!

It’s even more unreal to me that in less than three weeks I’ll be done with my master’s degree in accounting, I’ll have taken (and hopefully passed) all four sections of the CPA exam (finished the last Becker video lecture just this morning!), and I’ll have just arrived with Janssen in Boston to move into the great little apartment she found for us. And when I say “little,” I mean it. We have to get rid of several pieces of furniture just to fit in there.

Taking classes during the summer is great, by the way. It’s hot and beautiful outside, and really cool inside (I’ve resorted to packing a sweater in my bag–no kidding). And somehow, despite the fast pace of the classes, summer feels more laid back than other semesters. That might also have something to do with my only taking 9 credits Summer compared with 13 and 15 during Fall and Spring. Not to mention the demands of recruiting season during Fall semester.

In other news, I’ve been asked to continue blogging after graduation to give students an idea of what the first year as an auditor is like for me. It’ll be fun to stay in touch with UT that way and to blog of my experiences in Boston. As always, feel free to leave comments with questions, thoughts, etc. I’ll update every month or two. Until next time!

"Just Keep Swimming"

Last month I wrote about how I woke up from my ever-increasing inactivity and subsequently lost 20 pounds (which was about 10 more than I knew I had extra) from March to mid-June. I also outlined how exercise and diet fit into my new lifestyle, and explained that I was especially convinced that losing weight was primarily a matter of eating fewer calories than you burn.

During the last four weeks I have struggled to keep that equation balanced. I haven't been sure how much more weight I want to lose, and yet I haven't wanted to gain any back. Not surprisingly, eating more calories has taken little extra effort. In fact, the more I eat, the more my body seems to want to eat. Does anybody else find that to be the case? It's crazy.

It's especially that way with desserts and junk food. The more I eat of it, the more my body seems to crave it. And the less I feel full.

When I plan out my meals and eat fruits, yogurt, cheese, whole wheat bread and other such things, I usually feel much more satisfied and healthy, and I don't have a constant urge to snack. It's a much better, less distracting, way of living.

The other thing I experimented with this week was increasing my work outs to daily rather than just three times per week. As I suspected, I easily made up for the extra calories burned by eating more those days. For me, it doesn't work to rely on exercise alone to lose weight (yes, I've decided I can afford to lose a few more pounds, so I'm going back into calorie deficit mode).

Notably, it takes much less effort to eat a healthy diet and lose weight when, by taking the time to plan and prepare, I know exactly what I can and should eat at each meal. This last month was more difficult only because I didn't take those steps (planning and preparing), and so I had to make decisions each time I ate.