ABP Terminated

Due to a personal issue, I could not work on the ABP case until around 5PM Sunday night. People have been working on it all weekend, but I thought I'd give it maybe 5 hours or so. I ended up working on it 13 hours straight, just cranking on excel until 6 in the morning. And I still thought there was a lot to do, but I didn't have any more room, so I stopped it there. It was a great report: It looked fantastic, and it had some eloquent writing and excellent calculations. Most of all, it looked pretty strong.

I never really grasped that break even and margin business they all seem to love, so I went about what I do best: capital structure and leverage analysis. I analysed their capital structure pro forma the merger and projected the cash flows out to 2010, discounting back to time zero and adding in a terminal value. Then I made the charts gorgeous. It was worth the 2 hours of sleep.

I floated into the group meeting late this morning with my regular double fisted coffees. Alvaro said, "You are so calm today. Go print out your case. Everyone's rushing to print." I did feel out of place today. Like completely devoid of passion. Calm. Almost dead.

I kept a low profile in decision analysis and marketing because I had not read the cases. In between classes I went to get Alvaro a couissant. I knew he wanted one. He always gets one inbetween 1st and 2nd classes. And before our Organizational Behavior test I printed out the powerpoint file I had made on Trust in Boss-Subordinate Relationships. Marco seemed interested, so I just gave my copy to him. I feel better when I give people things for some reason. It just makes me happy.

I cranked out the OB exam almost flawlessly and was one of the first ones done. Talked to Damiaan in the work rooms before Spanish, then took the Spanish test. I had not studied, but I ended up cranking it out pretty quickly. I think the Spanish teacher was annoyed that I had took so little time to finish it, but I knew I did great.

Went to pick up a package from the post office and listened to the Beatles on my IPOD. It's amazing the people you see in metros. There is an old couple, carressing each other gently. There is a girl, standing alone, almost crying. There is a impeccably dressed man in a suit. There are teenage boys with mullet haircuts singing Melendi. And then there is me, with my IESE MBA bag and crisp copy of the Financial Times in the cradle of my arm.

And then tomorrow, there is my first salsa meeting at Mojito Club. I cannot wait to put on my dance shoes again.