Yes, today is my birthday. . .the big 3 - 1  Spent the morning cleaning up the hurricane damage.  Mostly just the trees around my house that either came down or are seriously leaning.  I went out and bought a chain saw and got to work.  I grew up in upstate NY and my family heated our house with wood stoves which meant that I cut, hauled, and split tons of wood growing up. . .literally.  Today was the first time in years that I've operated a chain saw.  Even though it is hard work I enjoy it.  There really isn't much else more manly than a gas-powered chain saw.  In a little bit I think the family and I are going to go ice skating at the Ice House in Wilmington then maybe we'll go fishing again in Surf City, another activity I haven't taken part in since I was a kid.  My wife and kids got me a fishing rig for my birthday along with some frisbee golf discs.  Seems they think I need some hobbies that the entire family can enjoy.

MBA classes are back for the fall semester.  We started with an introduction to the Industry Practicum.  Unlike the Learning Alliance we are able to choose our clients and our teams.  For a minute it kind of felt like survivor in class as people tried to figure out who would be working with who.  Some of the groups were content sticking together while other people preferred to work with members of other teams.  Personally, I've been working in academic teams for the better part of the past four years and I'd rather do my own thing at my own pace to my own standards.  I do not care if I have to do four or five times as much work.  A little hard work never hurt anyone.  I reached out to the plant manager where I work but it seems that he is too busy so I contacted a local auto repair shop that I've done business with during the past few months and they gladly accepted.  I'll provide more details about all that in future posts.

We also started an Information Systems course this week.  I'm a bit confused though.  This course is Information Systems and Technology and in a few weeks we'll start Information Systems and Analysis.  That all makes sense but what doesn't make sense is that the professor told us that her specialty is more from a business standpoint of information systems rather than the tech side of things but the professor we'll have for the information systems and analysis course is more of the technical specialist.  Do you see the problem?  It would seem that they have the professors reversed.  Just saying. . .

Either way, it'll all be good. . .especially since my loving wife just brought home sushi for my birthday lunch.