Visting PearsonVue Test Center Indianapolis
Last night was the night to finally get up to the northside and check out where I am going next week for my test. I know right where the Pyramids are, but I wasn’t sure where in the building I was going. But it is pretty easy. Suite 2080 on floor 8 is right off the elevator. One less thing I have to worry about on test day, where I am going. (Plus I got a Christmas gift that was only available on the northside.)
With less than a week left now until my test, I have a lot of mixed emotions. Questions about whether I am ready or not, but relief that I am done studying. It is challenging, and I appreciate the focus I have had to have in order to reach my goals, it emulates what I will need to do when I enroll in an MBA program and prepare me for that rigor. But I do like having a sense of finality, that I can move onto something new, and it will feel good to get back to some sort of normal life, even if it is only for a little while.
One Liner’s Comedy Club
Originally, today, both Sarah and I were supposed to go downtown to do the thanksgiving baskets with the Revive Group as a servant project. But, since I got out of work so late last night which messed up my lifting plans, I went this morning instead. Dave and I had a tough week getting to the gym, and this was really important to me. I gave Sarah the option of waiting for me until I got back to go down, or she could go without me. She went without me, and she was done really early because by the time I got back just after 10, she was home again. There wasn’t that much to do, so it probably worked out for the best.
We went out and ran some errands. We finally got me some new shoes, we stopped and got some wax for Sarah’s new paraffin bath, and the third stop we made was at Petsmart. I had been meaning to go look at the puppies, we had gone a couple of times with no luck since we got Nokes last February. We saw a full bred Shar-pie there, and we knew we were meant to stop by today. This dog looked exactly like Nokes, the coloring, the size, the tail, except for the head which was obviously different. But we are convinced that Nokes must be a Shar-Pei, Retriever, Shepherd mix. The dog was cute, named Zeus, with big slobbery jowls.
We left without another dog, good for us. We made a couple more stops, including picking up a new bone for Nokes, before getting back just around 1 pm.
I got right to work. I had intentions today to do a full GMAT before our plans later started. I worked hard, but didn’t quite start early enough, and I had to stop at about 4:40, with the last section left at 1:15, and our dinner plans starting at 6. I was bummed that I had to stop the test, but I was hoping that I could come back to that section, it looked as if the test was on pause.
So, while Sarah got ready, I played some Jr. Pac-man. We still didn’t leave on time, I almost cold have completed the test.
We met up with Dave, Paula, Katie and Patrick at the Oaken Barrel in Greenwood. I know one of the guys who started the restaurant, this was one of the places I had always wanted to try. It was Dave’s birthday, he’s a youngen’, and he wanted to go out for dinner and then do One Liner’s Comedy Club afterwards. Worked out great, two things I had been meaning to try.
Dinner was very good, and Dave got a desert for free in the end. It was a good time.
One Liner’s, now that was something else. I had thought, “You know, I should do a long writeup on this place”. The service was horrendous, abhorrent if you will. But our main Comedian was hilarious, so it was a little bit of a paradox. I thought I could do a long writeup on him too, but it is hard for me to focus long enough on those things that are less important with so many very important things going on right now.
So, the service. It was like they were running credits cards by hand via the Pony Express. It was so slow, they had one person running the checkin and even that person’s pace seemed comical in how long it was taking. The second guy that came up front was not nice to people coming in, was short with them when asked simple questions like “Where do I go after I have my tickets”. If you hadn’t been there before, screw ya’, because we weren’t telling you where the main stage is. For a new timer, it wasn’t apparent to us that was for sure. Just a low class operation that looks terrible on the inside.
Once inside the stage area, again, pretty low-quality. Granted, I haven’t been to a comedy club before, so this sets the bar for me. I hope there are other places that are a little bit nicer. Maybe in proportion, the cost for admission is lower, so they don’t have as much money to keep things clean, or have walls instead of black curtains. I don’t know… In relation to the cost, they force you to buy two things off the menu, which is a croc too. I would almost rather pay 2-3 dollar more per ticket then to feel this social pressure to buy something off the menu just because. We just had a huge dinner, and I didn’t feel like eating or drinking anything else. Not to mention, I had a GMAT to come home to, so I wasn’t drinking any beer that would make me sleepy. Just low class I thought.
So, the first comedian, Will C, no creativity laced with a ton of crass, offensive, and attempted shocking humor. We were glad to see him leave.
But Michael Mack, the main performer, Great! Very creative in his stand up. He did the whole singing comedy with a guitar. Some of the songs were short, some were long, but they were funny. That wasn’t the original part. He had a couple of bits that were something I hadn’t seen before. He grabbed some names from the crowd, women’s names, turned the lights down low, and then just singled people out and sang a song about them. The names were randomly matched with whatever person he saw, but he did some great ad libbing, and the planning songs were funny. Then, the last bit, was faces of rock. This left everyone shocked and roaring with laughter. I personally loved the Queen Song Bohemian Rhapsody, he did an awesome job from there to the end. I would go see him again with someone who hadn’t. He was crass and vulgar, but at least it was mixed in so it didn’t feel like he was hitting you over the head with it.
After the show was over, everyone pretty much went home. It was an early night.
It wasn’t until I got home that I found out that my test timed out. I was upset, that I had essentially wasted one of my practice tests. But, now I know. It truly is like the real thing, even though it is on the home computer. I studied a little bit and went to bed.
GMAT test date set
Last week in some of my time off I finally made my appointment to take the exclusive and challenging exam. My GMAT date is in the middle of December, so if it wasn’t real before, it sure is now.
At least I have a date to focus and plan around. If it was open ended, or early next year, the amount of time might have been intimidating and been harder to stay focused for so long.
I have to get up to Pearson Vue on the north side of Indianapolis, just so I know where it is and where I am going so that is one less detail I have to worry about on test day.
Tennis, Rotheblog launch & Candlelight
After church today I got to talk with Jim a little bit about his experience with the GMAT. He went to U of I, and he had the good fortune of having Cummins help with his education. He did really awesome on his exam, and I got some good information that helped me focus my direct that much more and my plan of attack.
When we got back from church, we ate lunch with my parents quickly, and then they had to leave. It is always sad when visitors go, I know both Sarah and I always visit slumpsville for about the hour following their departure.
Eventually I went and played the Jr. Pac-man for about an hour. Sarah stayed upstairs and continued to read her Harry Potter book.
I got back to work, and started finishing up the final details to launch Rotheblog. I didn’t finalize everything before Dave and I got in touch. We were going to play tennis today, the second and last time this year before it got really cold. Sarah headed out to go to a candle light party at Paula’s, and I met him at the tennis courts. We played until about 6:30, the wind was really bad today but my outcome was favorable in general.
Right after I got back I finished up final details and launched Rotheblog and sent out an announcement to friends. Man, my bulk mailing list is really outdated and I had forgotten that it was really difficult to manage that in Gmail. Sarah got back and we took the dog on a walk.
We talked with her parents at about 8, tonight was game 7 of the baseball ALCS series between Boston and Cleveland so there were no cartoons.
At about 9:30 I sat down and talked with a freelance client, trying to finish that up and have one less distraction while I am studying. I didn’t do much for the rest of the night, ending up passing out in front of the game downstairs, I was beat. Red Sox won 11-2 and advanced to the 2007 World Series.
One GMAT down, one to go
I got up with plenty of time in the morning to get a better grip on what was going down for my test.
I figured out that somehow, I got registered for two practice exams, one at Kelly Business school, and one at U of I. I was glad that I was registered for U of I, because as of last night I thought I was going to have to travel downtown, which is in general, that much more of headache when planning for time.
I reviewed what was on the test, one section I hadn’t gotten to yet in my practice book, so I just glanced through that information and headed on out.
The test is grueling to say the least, staying focused, watching your time, looking critically at the problems and weeding out the incorrect answers. I did just a touch better than I thought I would, in unfavorable conditions with people walking in late, lots of noise, etc.
It was about 12:15 when I got back, and everyone was about ready to go. The plan was to bike the great Indianapolis Monan Trail, it was surprising that we hadn’t taken my parents on it before now. We had some lunch, packed the bikes, and headed downtown. We found out regular spot, pumped up the bikes and away we went. It was a gorgeous day, great sunshine, warm but not hot, I couldn’t have asked for a more picturesque setting.
We went at a leisurely pace, but we still did nearly 30 miles, biking farther north on the Monan than Sarah and I had earlier in the year with Dave. We went all the way up to Carmel. The trip back wasn’t as smooth, there was quite a bit of wind. But I had a great time biking with dad, side by side, and talking about life.
Everyone was hungry when we got back, so we quickly made a decision on where to go to dinner. We chose a place just up the road, Madison Grill on Madison and Troy. It ended up being less than stellar. Everyone but me got the ribeye special, and it didn’t look good, and the deserts we got were a way below average. Mom and Dad took us out, so I feel bad saying that, but at least Mom felt that way too that overall, it wasn’t the best place to eat and I doubt we will eat there again.
When we got back we sat down and watched the University of Michigan game against Illinois. The Boston game was going on too, so we flipped back and forth to see who was winning. Michigan ended up winning their game and so did Boston. Good news for Michigan, they need to recover from a terrible start, and with a win Boston has now forced a game seven on Sunday night.
I got a little bit of play in on the Jr. Pac-man before we all went to bed.
Choosing a date for the real GMAT
I think I have decided to wait and see what my test score is from the practice exam to guage when to take the real GMAT here in Indianapolis. I am still on the fence about how important it is to push to get into Kelly, and I want to see if I have a good base to start from with my score this weekend, or if I will need to study that much longer to be ready.
If I get a good score, I will hope that there are still test dates open in November. If I score not where I think I should, then I will have to see what my timeframes would be if I would wait to apply officially in April. That would give me time to take the classes necessary to go to Kelly as well for the pass/fair statistics and accounting courses.
