The Best of 2010

So I swore I would never become one of "those guys" and now look at me: I'm a deadbeat blogger. I swear that over the past month I have thought about writing many a posting. The only problem is that I like to write things that are fun. Or interesting. Or inspiring. I promise you that nothing I have done in the last 30+ days have been anywhere close to any of those things (well, except for the Santa Stumble, but that’s a topic for another forum).

Instead, the past month has been a barrage of networking, cover letters, job applications, exams, late nights, early mornings, and one awesomely bombed mock interview. I mean, it was bad. I’m not a complainer, so that’s not the point of writing this. No no, you see, I’m an excuse-maker. And I’m really good at it.

Therefore, here are my nine best things from 2010, in order and including Darden & non-Darden stuff.

9. Getting to have another “first day” of school
You might think it sounds dumb, but there is nothing quite like the first day of school for me. Then again, I am a nerdy loser. But nonetheless, nothing beats figuring out who is in your classes, meeting your professors, diving into the material, the whole atmosphere. Nothing was different about Darden, even if it is a much different environment and learning experience. At the end of the day it is still school. The only thing that could make it better would be if my mom could have packed me a brown bag lunch with a little note in it. Also, I haven’t really figured out who the cool kids are yet, but I know that I’m not one of them.

8. Vegas Trip
I would like to tell you more about this, but you know what they say about what happens in Vegas . . .

7. Back in the Valley for the Fall
I wrote about this earlier, but to reiterate, there is no more beautiful place to spend fall then in the Shenandoah Valley. From September to November the weather is perfect, the leaves are beautiful, and for the first time ever, I had D1 college football in my backyard. Even though the Cavs were just plain turrrrible, it was still an awesome experience.

6. Winning the Darden Brand Challenge


Given the brains of my fellow classmates, I really didn’t think I’d win anything academic at Darden except maybe Most Likely to be Voted Off an Island. But low and behold, my team won Darden’s annual brand challenge, a pretty big school event that pits first year students representing different brands in a competition to see who can create the most engaging, interesting, and insightful data survey and product exhibition. My team deserves more credit than I do, but I will still treasure my picture with Mr. Doughboy and will have the pink shirt for years to come.

5. Section E Darden Cup Domination
Another thing I wrote about earlier. Since the softball competition, however, Section E has rolled through several others and holds a comfortable lead going into the spring semester. Also, my play in flag football earned me the curious nicknames “Little Ball of Hate” and “Bret Michaels”. Not really if those are good, but considering my college nickname was Cupcake I’m going to take them as a complement.

4. Snowmageddon in D.C.
Well it was awesome for some reasons and horrible for others. But the back to back blizzards led to the following things: Three days of living in Glover Park (even though my apartment wasn’t there), Two awesome Georgetown basketball games at Verizon Center, One amazing 90s themed birthday party for myself, a 4:00a.m walk home from Logan Circle to Tenleytown (4+ miles), and exactly zero days off work (for me). Loved the snow, except that it didn’t go away until like April and D.C. gave up trying to plow it. Other than that, it was great.
   
3. Having myself as a roommate
If you’ve never lived alone, try it. It’s the best thing about moving to Charlottesville to me. I have people over when I feel like it, clean when I feel like it, watch whatever T.V. channel I feel like, pretty much do whatever I feel like. For those that know me, you know how incredible this is to me. I really hope I don’t have another roommate until I get married.

2. Doubling my # of Facebook Friends

You meet tons of people in business school. I mean the whole point of going to network. I never actually imagined that I would like so many of them though. It’s been the single most surprising thing about school and I’m really lucky to have met and connected with so many people.

1. Cruising Europe for 6 weeks


If you’re considering going back to school or even if you’re not, do some extended travelling at least once. I mean, 6 weeks wasn’t even that long, I wish I had done longer. But get out on the road, push your comfort zone and get a different experience. You will never regret it. The time I spent travelling this summer was definitely my best experience of 2010, maybe my life.


If you would like to contact the author, he can be reached at david.a.miller4@gmail.com.