Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Hello Concrete Pavement

At 8:51 this morning I put my pencil in my backpack and put that bubbled in grey scantron in the test basket. I was a free man walking down the stairs of the chemistry building and two thoughts crossed my mind. First, damn it's cold outside. Second, so I'm done huh?

The last 4 and a half years have built up to this moment. Ok, maybe they really build up to actually walking down the aisle, shaking President Gates hand, and receiving the diploma. However I know I passed my classes and I know in my heart I have received a college degree.

When I first started here at A&M, I'll admit I didn't enjoy it all that much. College life was not meeting my expectations. Today, my opinion of the place has not changed all that much. I still feel this school has a way to go if it really wants to become one of the truly great public schools in America. However I'd be lying if I said this school has not provided me with some amazing opportunities. I've worked in New York, studied business in Europe, and got to meet some truly remarkable people all along the way. Young and old. Now even though the job market is supposedly still tight, I have several offers with 2 of them being in my top 3. I am grateful.

This may just be my last post. Still with either job I take, come on we all know it's going to be Ford, I might be laying on that hotel bed bored and lonely with thoughts running through my mind. Still if I could leave any advice, unfortunately I'm too young for it to be words of wisdom, it'd be this: Never Settle, Always Dream. Life isn't about getting from point A to B, just as college isn't from Freshman Orientation to Graduation. Life is everything that happens inbetween.

A manilla envelope or my fate.

Here I was standing (not sitting because I was too nervous) about to open up that plain looking envelope with David Hoffman typed in the center. Was I about to receive an offer that most likely I would accept or was I about to receive a letter that would end up being the complete opposite? Turns out it was the latter.

The letter basically said while they were pleased to meet me and have the opportunity to learn more about me, at the time they did not see a match with my experience and their opporutnities. Funny thing about it, I was OK with it. I wanted this job and if they called me saying that I received the wrong letter I would still be interested in the position. Still overlooking Michigan from the Hyatt I was OK with it.

Is there fate? I don't know. I'm someone who really likes to think that we are here on Earth and control our own destiny. Still there I was really wondering if there is another plan for me, a better more suited plan. I've had nothing but amazing experiences these last four plus years at college. Maybe there was more than my own doing in respect to these experiences.

What I'm going to remember most from Michigan is not the facilities I saw, the case I did(which I really did love my answer), or the crash dummy tests I witnessed. What I enjoyed were meeting a lot of different candidates throughout the US. Utah, Arizona, Penn, New Jersey, Boston, NY, LA, and the list goes on. Almost everyone I met also was a genuine person. I was talking to students in their late 20's wrapping up their MBA to a student a Northwestern at the top of his game. No one was really full of themself. A simple descriptive word in everyone's college dictionary, they were cool. Last night I sat at the loser's table, but as corny as it sounds felt like a winner. Here was a group of 5 of us sipping on our expensive hotel drinks just getting to know one another. As the night continued students retired to their hotel room or had to hit the road for the drive home and probably a longer one now. We said our goodbyes, wished each other luck, and smiled. As I shared an elevator with a Boston girl, we held the elevator door open long enough to say goodbye. She said isn't this weird how we get to know one another and leave. I said it's interesting, but makes life fun. Really it does. Here were these people that I only got to know for a couple hours, but have left a footprint in my memories. Maybe like the tides of the ocean on the beach they will fade away, but it happened and I enjoyed it. I hope I'll remember them, and if that Indiana girl drops her engagement and our paths cross again well that could be a completely different story.

As our hotel shuttle van drove to the Detroit aiport, REM's "Everybody Hurts" was playing softly through the speakers. Everybody does hurt sometimes. We would never know and appreciate happiness without the bad and dissappointing times. Other opporunities are awaiting and I can already see the light underneath the next door waiting to be opened.

T minus 4 and a half years coming to an end.

There is really two countdowns when you enter college. There's the one countdown that includes the end of your college career. The friends you say goodbye to, the town you might hate but have become accustomed to disappearing in your rearview mirror, and the memories, like polaroid pictures fading away after so long. This will be an entry in itself when in slightly over two weeks I will be considered a college graduate.

The other countdown ties into it, but for me is separate. The countdown till you work your first real job. You go to college to learn about yourself, develop relationships, and basically mature to a certain degree. However you wouldn't go to college if it did not lead to a job. A career filled with hope, that will soon become just as cluttered as your email's inbox.

Let's go to the beginning. I love cars. Love them. Trucks, SUVs, convertibles, sedans. Love them. I grew up with a 1930 Model A in the garage and a dad who could fix it. I've seen several different vehicles take those oh so coveted garage spots, while older models baked in the sun and became snow covered in the winter. I've driven from Montana to Texas alone. I've driven to New York from Texas. Shoot, I even even driven a vehicle in Europe. I love cars. I came to A&M wanting to design them. Wanting to give shape to the next Corvette or the new Grand Cherokee. Engineering classes broke my compass and in its place was a pen to work out the business aspects. Still, same industry, still the same love.

I tried everything. I've flown to Detroit to talk to representatives. I've even sat down with a designer in his studio to share my aspirations. I've mailed resumes, I've made calls, and have gotten horrilby lost in websites. I also networked at my current job which in all honesty has now put me on a plane to Detroit. 4.5 years have come to this two day affair with Ford. It's amazing that a college career consisting of 1640 days comes down to a measily two. Now let's just hope I can answer questions intelligently, keep food off my suit and a smile on my face for the next 48 hours.