Jim Warsaw: There Will Only Be One Warsaw

I first met Jim Warsaw in October of the fall quarter 2008. It was homecoming weekend and I knew he was going to be in the building. I had an idea of what he looked like from pictures I had seen, but it was hard to recognize him when I first ran into him in the halls of the business building.

He was severely hunched over and appeared to have a very difficult time walking. It was hard to believe that this is the man who founded the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center and grew it to become the premier undergraduate and MBA level sports business program in the country. But as I approached him, he looked right at me until he was right in front of me and said a very confident and sincere, "Hello!"

We had a conversation right there in the hall and he was great to talk to. He asked me everything about myself and was genuinely interested in my experience thus far with the Center.

Jim did amazing things for the Center which bears his name. He has always been heavily involved in Center activities and has maintained close contact with its students and faculty. I have watched him with alumni and his friends and it has always impressed me how they treated him. My observations indicated that they respected him not only as a friend but as a mentor and as an example.

Despite the short amount of time that I have known him, I felt like he was my friend. I will miss him.

Jim has been battling Parkinson's disease for the past 15 years. Recently, he developed an infection after surgery on his back. On Wednesday, he passed away. (http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-james-warsaw26-2009apr26,0,6099570.story)

It is sad to see him go so soon. In June we will be celebrating the 15th anniversary of the founding of the Warsaw Center and in particular to honor Jim. We were planning on him being there, but instead, it will be a special evening in tribute to the legacy he leaves behind.

In May we will honor him as well with the 3rd Annual Jog 4 Jim 5k. The race has always been organized to raise awareness and funding for Parkinson's research. To make a donation in honor of Jim, please visit this site: http://www.teamfox.org/siteapps/personalpage/ShowPage.aspx?c=nrLXJ0PFKuG&b=4815191&sid=agKQLYMwEdKJLYNBJlH

Jim accomplished amazing feats in his life and was a friend to many. He will be missed.

What?! Cereal?!

I called my dad today just to check in and see how things were going at home.

Dad: Did you finish study for today?
Me: Yes.
Dad: So, now, you must be reading.
Me: Yes, I am.
Dad: Good. Are you resting?
Me: Soon.
Dad: Good, good. Did you eat?
Me: Yes.
Dad: What did you eat?
Me: I don't know, I just ate some cereal.
Dad: Cereal?! Cereal is morning food, you know?
Me: I know.
Dad: Why you only eat cereal? No money?
Me: No, I'm fine. I just ate cereal. It's fine.
Dad: You have no money? Cereal no good. Only in the morning. Go buy spaghetti and make spaghetti.
Me: Okay. I will.

So I get off the phone with him and go about my stuff and four minutes later my phone rings, and it's my mom.

Me: Hello?
Mom: Miliam! Why you only eat cereal?!
Me: What?
Mom: Daddy says you only eating cereal.
Me: (Grrr.) Yeah, I ate cereal tonight.
Mom: Why you only eat cereal? No good for you. You have no money?
Me: No, I'm fine.
Mom: Then why you only eat cereal at dinner time? That is morning time food.
Me: I just didn't have time, that's all. It's not a big deal.
Mom: Really? You not lying to mommy?
Me: I'm not lying. I just didn't have time. That's all.
Mom: Okay. Next time, don't eat cereal. That is morning food.
Me: Okay. I won't.
Mom: You need money, you tell mommy.
Me: Okay.

Who knew my parents felt so strongly about cereal?!

Here's the follow-up to this post: Part II

"Reply All": Not So Dope

So, here's something awesome I did today...

But first, a little bit of background:

A couple of weeks ago, four of my classmates and myself entered the Microsoft Advertising Digital Challenge (MADC). The MADC is a competition open to graduate and undergraduate level students. The premise of the challenge is to develop an advertising campaign aimed towards the college-aged audience for Office Live Workspace. If you have ever used GoogleDocs, Workspace is similar, but has the added benefit of sharing files using all Windows Office applications.

We had about a month to prepare for the competition, but with finals preparation and spring break right in the middle of it all, when it came down to it, we ended up putting our entire campaign together in 3-4 days. On the day it was due, we worked ten hours straight to tweek and finalize our written proposal and accompanying PowerPoint presentation to email to Microsoft. The deadline was midnight and exactly 11:58 pm, we sent it in. I seriously did not think we would get it in on time, but by some miracle, we just barely made the cut off. It was awesome!

Just last week, three days after we sent in our proposal, we found out that we had beat out 136 teams to make it into the top 10 of the competition! We were invited to New York to present our campaign to Microsoft Advertising Executives at the end of April to compete in the semi-final and possibly final rounds of the competition. I was in San Francisco with school when we found out and it was so exciting! Woohoo!

Crappy thing about it is that we have to fund our own trip out. Yeah. Poopy.

Thankfully, we have been able to receive assistance funding from our school to help us out. In all instances, we actively made requests to the Warsaw Center and the Graduate School administration. Both have very generously offered to essentially cover airfare and hotel to make our trip possible and so that we can represent our school.

So here's the kicker: We received an email today from the Director of the Business School informing us of the great news that we would be receiving financial assistance for our trip. In all of my uncontrollable excitement, I hastily hit "Reply All" and sent the following email:

"so dope. So i guess we just find a hotel and book then get reimbursed? so great!"

And right when I sent it, I knew I would regret it. Little did I know that the initial email that I had "Reply All"ed included not only the Director, but the Dean of the Lundquist School of Business, the Director of Fiscal Services and the Director of the Warsaw Center. Awesome.

"So dope." Who says "so dope"?! More like "so embarrassing." I felt "so lame" about it that I had to send apologetic emails to all unintended recipients. My Warsaw advisor replied with "word" which I thought was pretty funny, but I have not heard from the others. Man. So embarrassing...I feel shame.

A lesson to everyone, do not "Reply all". I could rather say be careful when you "Reply All" but I just say, do not do it. Too many predicaments have come of it. Just start a whole new email thread if the list of recipients isn't too long and move on with your happy life. It's just not worth the risk.

Hamsters Rule

Thanks to Christy, I have been on a meeping/mewing spree for the past ten minutes.

Hamsters are awesome and never will I deny them.

The 6th

I was recently "tagged" by Jennie Doezie of "Dozieland" to post the 6th picture in my collection of photos on file. Luckily, this was it. It could have been really boring, really ugly, or really embarrassing. Luckily, it is one of the acceptable sort.

Oh this pic. There was a time when I was confident that I would get that internship at adidas. But at this point, when Starbucks is telling my MBA class to start out as a barista and REI is saying we should really considering a retail job in one of their stores, I realize that this summer may not be my adidas dream come true. But I am not all without hope. There are other options almost as great and involving adidas just as well.

I am still crossing my fingers.

I tag the following to post their sixth:

Sarah Zobell
Heather Feather Smith
Emily
Kim Atchley
Catherine