The Itinerary

Here's a condensed summary of the itinerary for my 20 day road trip, with the planned lodging in parenthesis.  Allen Kolko is going to be joining me for the first 12 days before flying out of Denver.  Then I'll be solo riding for about 5 days before meeting up with Tom and Mark for a weekend in Vegas.  Just using the cities I'm sleeping in as endpoints, Google Maps estimates the trip at 3,819 miles and around 70 hours of driving.  When all is said and done, I should easily clear 4,000 miles on the trip. I just hope the Civic is up for it.

8/3 - Leave from NY and spend the night in Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh Marriott City Center)

8/4 - Afternoon Pirates-Reds game (Fairfield Inn and Suites Cleveland Avon)

8/5 - Cedar Point amusement park (Courtyard Chicago Arlington Heights)

8/6 - Afternoon Cubs game, evening in Chicago (Courtyard Chicago Arlington Heights)

8/7 - Milwaukee (Rochester Marriott - Rochester, Minnesota)

8/8 - Sioux Falls (Fairfield Inn Sioux Falls)

8/9 - Corn Palace, ?? (Dakota Inn - Kadoka, SD)

8/10 - Badlands, Mt Rushmore, Wall Drug (camp at Custer State Park)

8/11 - Custer, Jewel Cave, Dinosaur Park (camp at Custer State Park)

8/12 - Sturgis Bike Rally (Rodeway Inn Sundance Mountain Inn)

8/13 - Devils Tower, drive to Denver (Residence Inn Denver Downtown)

8/14 - Rockies game (Residence Inn Denver Downtown)

8/15 - Allen flies out of Denver airport, Mt Evans (camp at Colorado National Monument)

8/16 - Colorado National Monument, Arches National Park (camp at Arches)

8/17 - Arches, Goblin Valley, Capitol Reef National Park (Bryce Way Motel)

8/18 - Bryce Canyon (camp at Tex-X Campground)

8/19 - Grand Canyon North Rim (camp at Zion National Park)

8/20 - Zion, drive to Vegas (Bally's Las Vegas)

8/21 - Vegas (Bally's)

8/22 - Vegas, drive to LA (my new apartment!)

Punta Cana Recap

Some beachside shade at our resort in Punta Cana

Got back from an all-inclusive resort week at the Iberostar Bavaro in Punta Cana with Dan and Brad a few days ago, and it was definitely the relaxing vacation away from emails, grad school/road trip planning, and other distractions that I needed post-work and pre-grad school. The weather was pretty terrible the first 4-5 days of the trip (overcast or pouring rain the entire time), but that was really the only negative of the trip and the weather was perfect the last two days.

The food was all pretty good and available at all hours of the day. There was a dinner buffet which we ate at 4 of the nights, and then we also went to their a la carte steakhouse, Japanese restaurant, and Mediterranean restaurant the other 3 nights. Besides dinner, our favorite meals were breakfast, lunch, second lunch, afternoon snack and late night. Drinks were pretty good too and made waiting out rain storms a little more fun. Brad and I managed to cut through the cocktail menu for every possible fruity drink they advertised with no shame whatsoever, while Dan enjoyed a steady stream of El Presidente cervesas, and of course, whiskey and cokes.

Late night activities were somewhat limited and low key, but we still stayed up later most nights than I originally had expected, between our resort and the sister resort next door (Iberostar Dominicana) that we had access to. Our lobby bar stayed open until 1 am and featured the friendliest of the staff that we met during our stay. The Dominicana had a night club which looked fun if you either enjoy dancing or hanging out with high school kids, but that doesn't describe any member of the PCP. We spent a decent amount of time at the sports/karaoke bar trying to guess the Spanish headlines on ESPN Deportes, listening to Tatyana wreck havoc on our eardrums with the same two songs every night, and humoring Brad as he suggested tequila shots every three minutes. The Dominicana also had a small casino which none of us used. Gotta save up my gambling energy for Vegas in three weeks. The evening was usually concluded by hitting up the late night buffet, and then heading back to our room to hear the overindulging college kids from Chicago upstairs retching in the middle of the night. You just can't take Americans anywhere.

Other random trip highlights: driving through town to see a man holding a gun up at a store; our tour excursion rep Gerkins who might have been soliciting us a prostitute as part of the tour excursion package; Gerkins on the last day looking ready to cry and refusing to look us in the eye b/c we didn't take him up on that offer nor booked an excursion through him; "Everybody...clap your hands..hip hip... everybody!"; explaining legume allergies to hispanic busboys; the waiter calling Dan a baby for not drinking wine; remembering "tenedor" means fork; two days of snorkeling; the "raising your beer bottle to everyone who walks past our patio to see what reaction you get" game; ping pong, War, Set, and Egyptian Ratscrew; not using any Imodium on the trip; Bahama Mamas; milky cream ice cream; celebratory cigars; refusing to sleep before our 4:10 am airport pickup on the last night; and, of course, the Wild Card.

End of an Era (Part 2)

Happy Hour at Carpool with the Capital Markets crew

Wasn’t originally planning on writing so much about leaving Cambridge, but the more I think about it, the more important I realize it's been in my life.  In addition to being where I go all day to get paid, it also has been the center of my social life for much of the past 5.5 years too, especially the first few years.

I seriously could have started a blog five years ago just dedicated to the social aspect surrounding Cambridge, some of the crazy characters that have passed through the office, and the wacky adventures we all got into at happy hours and hanging out on weekends.  Unfortunately I didn’t, and it’s too late for that now, and besides, this is a family blog.  I’m trying to keep these posts squeaky clean.  But anyway, at least for me, the Control Department definitely debunked the theory that college is the last really fun years of your life.  We had around 80 employees under the age of 25 working closely together, with supervisors who weren’t much older.  Some people were put off by the immaturity and spouts of unprofessionalism that such a young group displayed, but if you didn’t let that bother you or distract you from doing your job, it was a really fun group to be a part of.  Wednesday and Thursday happy hours became as much of the weekly routine as Friday staff meetings and team breakfast Tuesdays.  It definitely made the transition into the working world a lot easier, and gave me a social circle in Arlington since most of friends from school still lived in that distant state, Maryland.

Team happy hour at Clarendon Ballroom rooftop, circa 2006

When I joined the Capital Markets Group in September 2008, I figured that my days of partying with coworkers was over, and although the happy hours were certainly less frequent and intense, I found the new group to be a personable, fun loving crowd.  We turned into a pretty tight knit group for the most part, especially around lunchtime when it was seen as a crime if someone made alternative lunch plans without the group, and I've made some good friends in that time.

So anyway its been a little bittersweet leaving after so long at the firm.  But my final week there was great.  For the most part people have been going out of their way to make me feel special.  We got a nice lunch at Ted’s Montana Grill on the company on Wednesday (actually one of the few times Cambridge has paid for anything while I’ve been there), my lunch crew let me pick our destination the other four days this week to make sure I hit up everywhere I wanted to before leaving town, and we had farewell happy hours on Wednesday and Friday.  But most importantly, I got surprise ice cream cake on Thursday, which was quite delicious. 

Well I think that’s enough reflecting on Cambridge.  I’m unemployed now and will be for the foreseeable future, but I’m looking forward to using this time off to get the most out of my time as a student and use this opportunity to best prepare myself for whatever is next.  But before any of that, I’m mostly looking forward to my seven day all-inclusive vacation in Punta Cana which starts tomorrow.  It’s gonna be some solid relaxation before all the flurry of activity and last minute road trip planning that’s waiting for me when I return for the road trip.  I’ll write up a vacation summary next week after I return.

End of an Era (Part 1)

A really grainy picture of Cambridge's Arlington office 

After over five and a half years, Friday marked my final day working at Cambridge Associates.  If you told me back in January 2005, how long I would end up working there, I probably wouldn’t have believed you.  But then again, there are plenty of other Cambridge stories that would have sound even less believable. 

Although it’d be tough to find someone who would say our day-to-day job activities were always stimulating and personally rewarding, from a professional standpoint I certainly can’t be upset about the way everything turned out.  Starting out in the Control Department when I did enabled me to move up through promotions very quickly, gaining leadership responsibilities and client access very early on, giving the resume a nice boost.  I spent over 2.5 years in the Analyst position which is longer than most, but the flexibility and lax time-demands of the position allowed me extra time to study, which was instrumental in helping me pass the first two levels of the CFA program.  Whereas some other colleagues left the company earlier, and then struggled with job security when the recession hit in 2008, I never had a fear of losing my job.  I eventually transferred into the Capital Markets Group because the old position had gotten stale and I wanted to wait out the recession while I decided what to do about business school.  Although the work wasn’t as interesting as I had hoped, and I didn’t move up the ranks any further, I spun it nicely on my grad school apps and ended up getting into some good schools, while also passing the third and final CFA exam.  I’m hoping that when I start looking for jobs again next year that the well-known (in the investment industry) Cambridge name, along with the CFA and an MBA from UCLA will make me a pretty marketable candidate. 

I’m still thankful that I turned down that American Express Financial Advisor position (basically a sales position) when I was looking for jobs as a senior in college.  The Cambridge job offer came a month or two later, right before graduation.  It was my only other offer, so I kinda backed into that at the last minute, but I can’t deny that my time here turned out way better than I would have expected professionally and prepared me well for the next step (whatever that might be).

I already wrote a lot, so I’ll add the rest of my Cambridge review in a post later.

Trying Out This "Blogging" Thing

Damaging yet another U-Haul truck during my temporary move from the Ballston apartment to Dan's new condo

So I’ve decided to start this blog to detail one of the more significant moves in my life thus far, the transition from living and working in Arlington, VA to moving and becoming a grad student in Los Angeles, CA. I’m writing this mostly for myself, as a way to document my activities and thoughts surrounding this period in my life, and to chronicle the three week cross country road trip that I have planned to get to LA. If anyone else finds it interesting or a way of keeping tabs on my trip, then that’s always an added bonus. I’ve never blogged before, so I’m not sure how much I’ll like it and how much I’ll keep up with it, but I at least hope to keep it up until school starts. If I’m enjoying the process and find the time to keep it going as orientation and classes start up, then I’ll try to keep it up in the fall too.

Mets-Os game with Brad

Actually I really wish I had started this up earlier because the past few months have been a whirlwind of activity, a lot of which has been directly related to my upcoming move and trip. I’ve known for several months now that I’d be leaving the DC area (my home of almost 9 years) at some point over the summer, and that has definitely motivated me to see as many people and stay as busy as possible before I left.

Since I returned from a weekend in NY for Mother’s Day, this is the first weekend where I really haven’t had any recreational activities planned, partially because I still have to put the finishing touches on my move out of Arlington. In that time I’ve moved apartments within Arlington, sold all of my furniture, attended a soccer game in Philly, met up with future classmates who live in DC, caught up with extended family and past co-workers at some Mets-Nats baseball games, went camping in West Virginia, attended my final company picnic, went offshore fishing, attended a bachelor party and multiple bbqs, and was a groomsman in Jon and Jackie’s wedding. The majority of my free time in between these activities was spent taking care of pre-MBA issues (housing, financial aid, getting a laptop, etc) and planning my upcoming trips to Punta Cana and LA. 

Arlington, VA

Fortunately I was able to nab one of the few available spots in a furnished apartment in graduate housing for the coming semester, so housing has been less stressful than for many of my other future classmates, but there still has been a ton to think about and plan to get ready for school.

Anyway, I think I'm just going to add one more post to reflect on my time at Cambridge, but the next one after that won't be at least a week until I get back from Punta Cana. This blogging stuff is tough, I already need a vacation.