Random Sunday

• As the last weekend in summer comes to an end, signs of Autumn's arrival are already beginning to appear in Pittsburgh - most noticeably yellow and orange-hued leaves on the trees. This is actually a very beautiful, pleasant time of the year in the Northeast - at least before the leaves all drop and the temperatures start peaking out in the 50's. Although it was a tad chilly last night, the temperatures have thus far not undergone their major realignment; in fact, according to WeatherBug it is a semi-balmy 82 degrees outside right now. So shorts and flip flops for now, at least, though the inevitable is just around the corner. This also means that my road trip to Vermont is rapidly drawing closer; more on that later.

• With two projects and 66 units - the maximum allowable without a petition to the Associate Dean - you would assume that I would be busy to the point of not being able to enjoy life. Not so at all. A big part of the reason why is that my systems project, while technically 24 units, is consuming far, far less than that. While I am swamped with far more meetings this semester than at any point before in my academic career - actually a good thing, considering my soon-to-pass entry into the world of consulting - the work load is really no more intense than in past semesters. In fact, because I have zero technical courses this semester (no coding!), I might even venture as far as to say that my workload is a tad more relaxed this time around. And along those lines...

• ... I can't believe that I am actually saying this, but in some ways, I can't help but feel that Pittsburgh - and even student life at Carnegie Mellon (!) - are starting to grow on me. I have found a social group that is fun to hang out with, and I just generally ignore the anti-social, nation-based cliques at Heinz. Yet another illustration of Richard Florida's "great sort", perhaps? I work hard, but party hard as well. Consequently, I'm not remotely as miserable as I was for much of last year - and, nearly at the halfway point of the first Mini, I do not envision this dynamic shifting. Who knows? Perhaps by the end of the semester, I may even be able to proclaim that my time at Carnegie Mellon was, in fact, not all that much less enjoyable than my UF years. That in itself will require a profound restatement of the views on "change" that I developed last year...more on those thoughts later, as the semester progresses.

• Do you ever feel as if you should have come of age in another decade? While I am proudly and unabashedly a kid of the 1990's - my iPhone littered with Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys, Smash Mouth, and Third Eye Blind songs - I have as of late been thinking of the 1970's and realizing that, in so many ways, my soul belongs to that decade and the sweeping social changes which came about during that epoch. Not that the 1990's were exactly a staid period of our history, but I can easily envision myself as a 70's-era radical, taking the first major steps to battle for environmental action, women's rights, and LGBT equality, cheering when Nixon was forced out of office and attending the very first Earth Day. Not to mention the music of the time...

• Speaking of social progress, I am officially attending the March for LGBT Equality on Washington DC, on October 11th. I am extremely excited about this - appropriately, my first time in our nation's capitol and for a critical issue of our time - and I'll be sharing more details as the time draws closer.

• Speaking of LGBT-related issues, I'm quite awkward at approaching guys. A large part of this is the somewhat strongly introverted nature of my personality; I don't think I'll ever be the type who can go to a bar alone and walk out, 5 hours later, having met a bunch of strangers and made 10 new friends. But the sheer fact that I actually do so many things now that would have been utterly incomprehensible as a 14-year old reveals just how much I have shifted along the introvert - extrovert axis (while unquestionably remaining an introvert, albeit a much diluted one.) On the consulting and career side of things, I can't help but wonder if this might one day stand in the way of my career progression, particularly from the angles of being an effective networker and a good seller. At least I've heard, independently from several different parties, that most of the "selling" done in the consulting world does not revolve around the stereotypically high-pressure cold call or golf outing...I could simply never imagine myself enjoying or being effective at those types of activities. As far as networking goes, I feel that I have acquired a moderate level of skill at doing this, but only in academic environments; building my South Florida network of both friends and business acquaintances is going to be one of the major challenges of my early 20's. But I'm up for it!

• I attended a Ramadan dinner last night, and found myself yet once again thinking of my "African American woes." Here I was, a gay secularist, surrounded by Muslim students, many of them foreign-born and not even fully adjusted to the Western way of doing things. And yet, I felt perfectly at ease and comfortable, engaging in a conversation about the Hajj and even correctly answering a series of questions on the Muslim faith. I attended a Jewish Passover Seder once before with a very close Jewish friend and felt the same level of comfort; these are, if anything, cultural learning experiences to me and a celebration of my passion for diversity. Though again, as politically incorrect as it might be to say it, I know beyond any doubt that I would be immensely uncomfortable if forced to sit through a Sunday sermon at a predominantly Black church. Here comes that cognitive dissonance again. All-white environments? Not really a problem, I'm used to them and playing the "token" role. Attending cultural events for non-Christian faiths? Fun and interesting. Hanging out with mostly foreign friends? Their nationalities never even cross my mind. Having a Hispanic and Catholic housemate? Also never even crosses my mind. But surrounded by Black people, particularly Southern ones? As illogical - and perhaps even troubling - as it might be, I cannot sit here, straight-faced, and pretend that I would not be incredibly uncomfortable in those situations (I have in fact been in such environments a few times before, and was clearly out of place and felt an immense desire to leave.) Why? I feel that much of it has to do with what I wrote earlier - the simple fact that there are indeed some profound cultural, personality, and lifestyle differences between myself and most African Americans, particularly between myself and Southern and rural groups in our demographic. I'm still essentially at a standstill with my thoughts in this area - no longer willing to simply ignore this "inconvenient truth" but not sure about how to proceed - and will certainly write more here as my thinking progresses. Or, if any of you have thoughts and would like to leave feedback, I would certainly be grateful...

• Apparently, Big 4 partners are quite secretive about their LinkedIn acccounts. Why, I'm not sure. In any event, perhaps it is my attitude around social media that, like many Generation Yers, might potentially harm my career. Though it's not as if I allow folks from KPMG to see my photos and other sensitive information, I still, via Facebook, allow everyone to know my age, my political beliefs, my lack of faith in God and religion, and my sexual orientation. Why? Those are all things that are key to who I am, and I never have problems bringing them up in conversations (politics and religion not so much, but I have briefly and politely stated those beliefs to work colleagues when asked in an obviously non-judgmental manner.) I find this type of stuff to be quite interesting, particularly since my synthesis project involves research on social media for a company whose primary customers are, let's just say, not folks born after 1980. I don't think that my generation is necessarily wrong - not counting the fools who blindly share all types of personal info with any random stranger - nor do I feel that older generations are unnecessarily constrained. Different models, different generations. I'm sure that kids born in 2020 will view us as the restrained, Victorian ones...

• When a board of any type has over 10 - 12 members or so, it grows unwiedly and counterproductive. Simple, and all I'm saying there...

• And, on a closing note, I was quite glad to see an innovative application of IT in the non-corporate world via a Human Rights Campaign email sent to me recently. One of the main points of the email was to celebrate the introduction of a bill in the House to repeal the infamous Defense of Marriage Act, which currently strips all Federal benefits from married same-sex couples. This was hardly innovative in and of itself, but the email also included a link to an online form to thank your Congressman for supporting the bill. How did they know that my Congressman supported the bill? As it turns out, based on my address on file with HRC, they were able to dynamically query their membership database, identify my Congressional District as Pennsylvania's 14th, and my Congressman as Democrat Mike Doyle - who had, in fact, indicated his support for the bill. I'm assuming that in Republican districts, members were sent links to excoriate their Congresspeople for supporting discrimination. Way to go HRC for this great use of IT, and way to go Congressman Doyle for standing up for equality!

See you guys next week!