I hope to open up and share ideas and thoughts that occur to me as I begin, work through and hopefully finish my doctoral program in Accounting at Texas A&M. I hope not to be negative or complain all the time. And, I hope you find me to be interesting and a bit unusual
What a year! A year of transition, a year of quasi-new beginnings.
Towards the end of 2010, I made the decision to try my luck applying to graduate schools for accounting Ph.D. programs. Somehow I ended up with two offers, maybe three if the University of Florida had their act together. Anyway, Missouri and Texas A&M accepted me into their program.
Ghetto Announcement Sign
It certainly wasn't an easy decision. Certainly a lot of factors to think about... number of cohort members, compilation of members, location, compensation, faculty. Fairly comparable programs, but the fact that there was only one other student in the cohort at Missouri was a huge factor. In March, I decided Texas A&M was the place to be.
There were two amazing weddings I attended in 2011. The Loebs (in March) and the Gaetanos (in June and in Kansas City). Best memories from the weddings:
Guys standing in the Loeb wedding approaching me right after the ceremony asking if I was sitting on phone books. Apparently, I have a REALLY long torso. Stop makin' fun of me, ROB! What are you, 45?
Finding out the photo booth had an asian inspired hat. This happened:
Friends you can't take anywhere...
3. Singing Meatloaf as loud as possible to Dunja Stefanovic. You're welcome, Dunja.
4. Luke Ernst bringing dice to the reception and rolling a 7 off of Katie Loeb's wedding dress. EPIC!
Gaetano Wedding:
5. Power & Light District. That place is amazing! Wild world of open air drinking with food and bars everywhere. Thanks to Brad Boldt, people started calling me "'The Iceman' Paul Wall".
6. Uncorking a bottle of champagne with a sword. I want to learn how to do this!!!
7. Dancing like a maniac with strangers. Everyone loves a fun reception, especially one where you can act crazy and not care.
June was my last month in Chicago. Certainly, it was difficult to leave Crowe. Great people to work with. In fact, the people kept me there. And, it was VERY difficult to leave Chicago. I managed to establish a great network of friends from all types of circles. DePaul, Crowe, Purdue people, kickball... all great people. No shout outs.. I'll tear up... especially you, Kyle Conforti.
Thankfully, I had a great going away party. Most memorable night of my 8 years in Chicago. All my favorite people in one place for an amazing night. Well, most all my favorite people... some couldn't make it. People traveled up from Texas and from Ohio, and we had over 100 people on a boat on Lake Michigan. Open bar, fireworks, perfect weather, great people. Can't ask for much more than that.
Great and epic party. Going away party part deux in 2012? Stay tuned...
In July, I moved to Texas to start my first semester as a doctoral student. I'll have to say being a college student again comes with it's challenges. I feel old on a campus of 18-22 year olds. Transitioning from not having to do all that much after work to having homework to do isn't fun. But, there are definitely some sweet perks. Like how everything is cheaper in Texas (gas and $3.75 movies.. oh and $6 pitchers of beer), and how there are student discounts everywhere. Student tickets to football games on Saturdays is great. Cheap tickets, first pull... wish TAMU had a better team.
I've been incredibly blessed to have a solid network of friends in Texas before I moved back. It's made the transition a hell of a lot easier. I love the people I've had in my life since high school, even those since 5th grade. If I'm ever bored, I know I have a place to crash in a more fun city. I've been introduced to a lot of great people through these old friends, in particular the Houston people. HoustonHolly, Sarah, Reagan, Kara, Nicole, Joey, Katie, etc... SO AMAZING! Fun and enjoyable people who like to have fun and do fun things. Like... BINGO (attended one time, and was the first in the group to win!) and brunch.
I have to say that I've been incredibly blessed with amazing fortune this year. Great friends all over the country and I'm continuously adding new friends. I've experienced a lot of fun events this year, and great opportunities keep popping up. 2012, you have a lot of work to do to be anywhere as epic as 2011... but I have faith you'll be able to match and surpass 2011's greatness.
Recap: Acceptance into Texas A&M's Accounting PhD program, great weddings, amazing friends, perfect going away party, new people, college life, college football, bingo...
The Future:
2012 is already shaping up to be an amazing year. In August and November of 2011, I found out that my best friends (James and Courtney Burkett) and my sister and brother-in-law, respectively, are expecting. I'll be an "uncle" and a real uncle in the same year. So excited. Courtney and James, if you're reading this... you know I'll make a great "godfather" to Baby Bea!
Here's to a great 2012! Work hard, be nice, and enjoy the ride.
With the Golden Globes announcing their nominations this week, I have to say that the best actor category is a true "who's who" of Hollywood. I'm always skeptical of the nominations because it seems like awards are too political. Seeing the perennial George Clooney nomination, made me wonder if his new role in The Descendants was any good. I'll have to admit, that I enjoyed the movie very much.
The Descendants is a story about a Hawaiian family that can trace its history back to the last King of Hawaii (hence the title) told in the perspective of the head of the family, George's character. The movie opens with his wife in the hospital after a boating accident. You come to find that she had an affair with some local realtor. And, while his wife is in the hospital, he and his two daughters seek more information about this dude. At the same time, the family, along with a generation of cousins, are practically being forced to sell family property on Kauai... a huge tract of virgin Hawaiian land that would yield a very large sum of money for all family members....
One thing that Clooney's character reminded me of is the idea of cynicism and its place in society. How easy is it to be a cynic? You don't get the promotion you think you deserve... CYNICAL! You're late to work, it's raining, and a car splashes a puddle on you... time to be CYNICAL! You get dumped... why not hate the world and be CYNICAL! (just examples... not a meditation on my current life) It's become the norm to blame other people or at least take out frustration on other people for negative situations we, as people, find ourselves in. Doesn't it suck how the better road is usually the tougher path to take?
So where am I in the world of cynicism? Full disclosure... I love a good rage. The problem with being a person who is expressive with emotions is that sometimes... emotions get the best of me. Both good and bad emotions can come out full throttle. I'd like to say that I turn most of my negative emotions on myself... what could I have done differently, where did I go wrong. You can call bull shit on that, anyone who's reading this.
I'll end this post with this quote... "If you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen." - Conan O'Brien in his farewell speech. Something to work on, something to be cognizant of... and go see The Descendants. It's worth a trip to the theater.
Today, I made a one-day trip into Austin to visit some long time friends and family friends. It's been 3 years since I've been to Austin, but there's still a lot of familiarity to the city. From College Station to Austin takes about 2 hours, driving on all minor roads...
Between Taylor and Hutto is this intersection (not sure what it is really...) called Norman's Crossing. Everyone has heard of the Urban Legend of the spirits of some murdered children pushing cars away from a bridge. Well, in High School I distinctly remember a group of us driving to Norman's Crossing, putting the car into neutral to see if they rolled away from the bridge. The second part of the urban legend is to put baby powder on the rear of your car, in which finger prints appear. Obviously, this is stupid because bridges are usually crowned and the finger prints are your own...
I also drove past the spot where I flipped over my bike and was bleeding everywhere. Luckily, there were no cars around at the time and we were by a hospital. I definitely remember a nurse wrapping my wounds.
It's also bizarre how your car just drives itself in the town you grew up in and how you associate certain places with people. For instance, Yucca Drive... The Burketts. Taking the back way from my house to The Burketts would yield seeing Kelly Tryce's old white station wagon, and a drive by Caroline Fisher's house just to see if she was outside... I'll admit what everyone once knew, I was definitely into Caroline in high school.
Also, Austin wouldn't be Austin without this:
I remember seeing this car and thinking how cool it would be to see this on the road... it never moved.
Someone should put this up on all college campuses. I'd be curious to see the contrast in responses from DePaul and Texas A&M. Student bases are totally different.
Here are a few things on my list:
1) Become certified to skydive solo
1a) Skydive on every continent
2) Have something (Street, Building, School, Gallery, Terminal, etc) named after me. Could you imagine living on Paul Wong Way?
3) Celebrate New Years Eve in multiple time zones.
