The Graduate.

This weekend I graduated from Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business. I now officially have an MBA, although I finished classes about 7 months ago. So now I'm tired, happy, and sitting in the airport with my wife and my huge diploma next to me. Here's a brief chronicle of events:

Thursday - arrived in Pittsburgh only slightly late. No trip to this place is without some capacity of airport drama. At least my luggage wasn't lost this time - the plane was delayed by about 20 minutes due to nose landing gear "issues," which were solved by "routine maintenance." When we arrived in Pittsburgh, we were fortunate to land almost simultaneously with my parents, who were in the process of getting a rental car. Woohoo! - no cab or shuttle fare for us. We made the half-hour trek to the all-too-familiar Residence Inn on Bigelow Blvd, tossed our things in the room, and landed at Joe Mama's for dinner because my parents were in the mood for Italian food. The place took its time getting our food to us, but it was downright delicious. Seriously, everyone's meal was a knockout. I ended up taking half my linguine with chicken, artichoke, and a lemon creme sauce back to the hotel because Mrs. Badger's pizza was so delicious I had to finish it off first, thinking my food would keep better. On a side-note, I didn't end up finishing my pasta later because I was told I had the breath from hell for the next 14 hours. Lemon, artichoke, chicken, mushroom - a molotov cocktail for the breath from hell?

Friday - I woke up and went straight to the workout room at the hotel. This was a good idea since I probably ingested something on the order of 4,000 calories per day while I was here. For lunch on Friday, I was picked up by the coolest Madman in Pittsburgh and sought out some fine spicy Parmesan chicken wings and enjoyed typically riveting conversation. Afterward it was onto the CMU bookstore, where I picked up a shirt, cap, and indecision as to which diploma frame I wanted. Friday night was the arrival of the three-years-in-the-waiting trip to Monterrey Bay for myself and my "exactly one guest" (inside joke/annoyance) Mrs. Badger. The dinner was delicious as expected. Afterward one baby-less couple insisted on going out, which we weren't originally planning to do until Saturday night, but decided "why not?" We went to Doc's on Shadyside and our group consumed no less than 15 pitchers of Pittsburgh's Yuengling beer. I'll get some pictures up later.

Saturday - Still drinking. Ha! Er, we got back around 2 and I stayed up drank no less than 10 cups of water, knowing I'd really regret it in the morning if I didn't. When I woke up, I felt like ass anyway but went to the exercise room regardless. What dedication! Soon enough we were eating brunch, getting the logistics of the ceremony down, and getting in our cap and gowns. The graduation ceremony was a bit of a blur, but I can say that my little group definitely outscreamed everyone else's when I crossed the stage, which I'll never forget.

Saturday night we had a fine meal at an old railway station and extremely interesting conversation with an entrepreneur and family friend, so I'll be writing another chapter later, because it's time to hop on the plane!