More pictures: Fall Rugby Club Social

Showtime leads a rousing rendition of "Flywheel (An old man told me)"

Mike calls the group to attention
I'm awe-struck with the proceedings

Fall Rugby Club Social

In the great tradition of Rugby Clubs worldwide, our HBS RFC held a season kick-off social Friday night at the local Irish pub. Fortunately this bar (Tommy Doyle's, in Harvard Square) has a private basement bar that our team used for the initial part of the evening, consisting of learning the songs our team sings, as well as learning some of the other traditions of the club.

After a few hours of beer and "music", we headed upstairs to the main bar to join the other revellers from Cambridge and Boston, before finishing the night out at the Hong Kong, or simply "The Kong" to those who are initiated. (Famous dive bar above a Chinese restaurant. Signature drink: The scorpion bowl. We had many).

A rousing chorus...

...and my long-awaited solo.

Ushering in the EC

After a long break, I'm back in Boston to start my "EC" (Elective Curriculum) year. I spent the summer working for BCG's Toronto office and had a great time, so I'll be going back full time come September. This brings with it a few advantages:

- Large numbers of days off are built into the EC schedule for the job search. Since I'm not undertaking one, this translates directly into free time for Glenn
- Evenings and weekends when others are attending extra-curricular company events, I'll be watch "24" on DVD
- Because I signed while still technically an employee of BCG, they didn't officially terminate me as they would a normal summer student. This means the second year of my MBA is treated as "Training", and I can expense my rent and food (and a litany of other items) up to the amount of my signing bonus. This is a massively tax-advantaged way of taking this element of my compensation, and I still smile thinking about it.

I also managed to configure my schedule pretty well, in addition to getting some great classes. Missed out on "The Entrepreneurial Manager in a Turnaround Environment", which I was really gunning for, but managed to get "Energy (The economics and politics of the industry)" as well as "Active Investing in Illiquid Assets", which is supposed to be one of the best courses.

Most of these fall on the Monday/Tuesday part of the schedule, with Wednesday being a little lighter, and Thursday/Friday are downright silly (most days start at 10:05am and finish at 11:25am).

On the downside I've got a terrible cold. The first week I was going crazy, running a couple times a day, rugby practice etc. Then I went home for Alex & Yun's wedding (Great time) but slept an average of 3.5 hours per night, and I think that did it to me. (Just a few days in Ralf's shoes and I crumble).

What's worse than skipping rugby practice today (it's taking place as I type this) is that I'm drinking chamomile tea, and there's a scented candle burning on my desk. The team needn't know.