TGIF

Ah, spring. The weather is warmer, the days longer, and I move one season closer to school. Nothing too much school-related to report, though. Someone described this process like a car trip, where you do a lot of activity to pack the car but then have to wait a while until you actually leave. I think that's pretty accurate to describe my current feeling of waiting to quit my job and start school.

Still not a lot of progress on selling my apartment. A few weeks back I got an email from a former coworker, who had heard I was selling and said his sister was looking to buy in this area. So, hoping to avoid paying the 6% realtor commission I held off hiring a realtor and focused on this opportunity. Unfortunately, that now fell through and so I'm going the traditional route. My new realtor tells me that similar apartments in my area typically only are staying on the market 3-4 months, even with the current market conditions, so there's still a good chance it'll be sold either before or soon after I move to Evanston.

In other news, I joined a Dek hockey league, and our first game was last night. Unfortunately we lost 5-2, but the score was close until the end of the game and the team we played has gone undefeated each of the last two seasons so I don't feel too bad about the loss. Definitely a lot of fun, but also definitely a wake-up call that I need to get back to the gym more regularly.

I'd like to thank the Academy (aka Clear Admit)

I've been nominated for Clear Admit's Best of Blogging award! I really should check the email account linked to this blog more often, since the email came almost a week ago. Congratulations to all the other nominees - I'm up against some pretty impressive competition so it's an honor just to be included in the same list.

In school news, I've signed my lease on an apartment in Evanston, so that's all set. I'll be at 1500 Chicago next year, which is a pretty popular building among Kellogg students. The building is in a great location - just across the street from a small park and a few blocks from all the downtown bars and restaurants. Kellogg will be about a 15-20 minute walk. I'm pretty excited to get out there. A few other admitted students I know are moving at the start of August, and it'll be great to be able to enjoy Evanston/Chicago without any work or school to worry about. Unfortunately still no progress on selling my current condo.

I also ordered and received my new laptop (I'm assuming my work will want their laptop back when I resign). I decided not to go with the Kellogg Laptop Program. While the prospect of having Kellogg IT repair any potential problem or replace the laptop was attractive, I just didn't like the laptop model they were offering (a Lenovo ThinkPad T500). I'm sure it's a great laptop, but it's a full-size model so it's kinda big and heavy. In the end, I chose a Lenovo ThinkPad X200, which is smaller and about 60% of the weight of the KLP laptop. I did spring for a 3 year onsite warranty and laptop protection plan (covers just about any damage that can occur, even drops and spilling liquid on the laptop) to replace the KLP repair service. I had a few ThinkPads at work, and they held up very well despite the abuse of a heavy travel schedule, so I don't think repairs will be much of an issue though. So far, I love the X200. It feels very light and while it's a compact laptop, the screen is still a good size and the keyboard is comfortable to use.

Update

Wow it's been a while since I updated, but to be honest things have been pretty routine. A few odds and ends:

I sent in a rental application for an apartment in Evanston. It's for one of the buildings I visited at DAK so I have a general idea of what the apartment will look like, but it's a little weird to sign a lease on an apartment I've never seen. Not weird enough though to justify another trip to Evanston. The landlord said I would get one of two apartments (the first option may not work because the current resident is trying to renegotiate his lease ending date) both of which are on one of the top floors (6 or 7) and have a nice view of Chicago, so that would be nice. As soon as they receive my application fees later this week, they'll process the application so hopefully I'll have a signed lease within the next few weeks and I can cross that off my to-do list. Now I can shift my focus to getting my current condo sold. (If anyone is interested in buying a very nice 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo in central NJ send me an email.)

I'm still waiting on my Kellogg financial aid information. I got an email earlier this week from the financial aid office with some follow up questions on what I submitted to them, so I'm planning to follow up with them today to make sure they have everything they need. I'm not expecting much, but I'd like to know what my package will look like.

I think that's about it for now. The NYC Kellogg admits are planning another happy hour in a few weeks. I'm excited to see the R1 admits again, and to meet the R2 admits.