The Reckless Hair Growth Experiment

In my opening post back in September, I announced my exit from corporate life so that I could pursue answers to a myriad of questions. One of these questions was:

“How long can I really go without shaving or cutting my hair?”

To the chagrin of my friend (Codename: BYU) who insists that my hair gets worked into every conversation, I feel the need to provide an update regarding the answer to that question. Unfortunately, I harbored some of my corporate sense of decorum and felt the need to trim my hair and my beard prior to my campus interviews.

The hair fell victim first, with as minimal a reduction in length as could be negotiated with the hairdresser. Her instructions were to keep me from looking like an executive while maintaining some aura of responsibility. Judging by the fact that I felt it was too short and my father felt it was too long, I’d say she hit her mark.

The beard was up next. I began with a close trim, but was unhappy with the look. So, I decided to drop back to a goatee. Despite having sported one years ago, I hated it this time. Thus, I shaved it off completely and went sans facial hair throughout the interview process because I felt that showing up with half a beard might signal a lack of interest in the proceedings.

Since then, I have restarted the Reckless Hair Growth Experiment. The beard is back, but has been kept relatively trim. The hair? That’s another story. Well, two stories, actually.

STORY NUMBER ONE

As I prepared to turn my house over to a renter the first of May – three months since aforementioned haircut – I found myself in and out of Home Depot more than my financial adviser would like to know (IRA contribution looking a little thin this year, bro). On one of the final trips, there was a wait at the paint counter and before long I had drifted into one of my patented Waking Comas of Thought. Suddenly, I was jarred back to reality by a woman behind me saying, “Excuse me”.

My mind raced to decipher what I had done while spaced out that could have impeded her quest for paint and I rotated to catch her eye, simultaneously brushing my hair back behind my ears. “Yes, ma’am?” I replied.

“I just had to tell you that you have AMAZING hair.”

I thanked her and attempted a sheepish grin to camouflage my swelling pride when she followed with:

“Seriously. I mean, every woman I know would KILL for your hair.”

Uh, wow. I mean, I think I have a pretty nice mane, but would have never considered it worth a capital offense. Despite the fact that she didn’t seem to indicate that men would want my hair, slightly (but just barely) infringing on my masculinity, this fueled the desire to keep the Reckless Hair Growth Experiment going, which leads us to:

STORY NUMBER TWO

Several weeks later, I was out with some friends when the malted hops induced a call from nature. While attending to business, I heard a voice from behind me:

“Dude, your hair is awesome!”

A couple of things:

1. Having your hair raved about by a guy is a little strange
2. Having your hair raved about by a guy in the men’s room is really strange
3. Having your hair raved about the duration of your time in the men’s room is uncomfortably strange

Seriously. The guy would not stop talking. I heard his entire hair story: how he tried to grow it out, then got a bad trim, then gave up, but was now re-inspired to try again after seeing my awesome hair. I assure you that none of this is hyperbole. In fact, I just saved you several minutes of your life by condensing his monologue. The encounter was not one that I really enjoyed, but upon learning that my hair was now changing lives I decided I had to keep the Reckless Hair Growth Experiment going.

***

As of this posting, I still haven’t cut my hair. Well, not since the pre-interview trim. It’s so long now that a gal in the church I visited on Sunday told me I looked like Desmond from the TV series LOST.

It’s also not long enough to be a bother while running in the oppressive Florida heat and humidity. I’ve been rocking a bondi band for two months (thanks, Sis!), but have recently had to go one step further. Maybe one step too far.

It’s so blasted hot that I’ve been forced to acquire a rubber band from my niece to pull my hair up off the back of my neck. I know, I know. To make matters worse, I was struggling to admit the need for two hair accessories while running and had to “borrow” it on the sly to avoid asking for it. The only one I could find was hot pink. Yes, God has a sense of humor.

I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to keep this up, but for now the entertainment value is outweighing the desire to cut the Reckless Hair Growth Experiment short. Pun intended.

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Missing In Action

It’s been over a month since I posted about accepting the offer at Florida State. The long lay-off was not intended and I actually have several things to write about. Unfortunately, I just haven’t been making the time. So, I’m going to answer a very popular question in this post and then get back to more developed thoughts on a regular writing schedule.

Some people thought that I was living some sort of super relaxed dream life before. These people seem to think I must be about to slip a lack of activity coma now, because this question keeps coming up:

“So, what is it that you do now that you REALLY have nothing to do?”

The truth is that I did take about a week “off” to celebrate. Those that know me well understand that celebrating involves good food, draft beer, or single malt scotch (preferably some sort of combination of the three). Many of people wanted to toast the completion of this phase of the journey and I was eager to oblige.

After that, I had to start taking practical steps to extract myself from life in Atlanta and make a smooth transition to Tallahassee. I started packing up non-essential items to store at my folks house, completed some yard and house projects, and invited a couple realtors over for a tour and a market evaluation talk. Turns out, that there isn’t much market to evaluate. Well, not in a positive light, anyway.

It turns out that many of my neighbors could not actually afford the homes that they bought. I know…you are shocked. You’ve never heard of this. It is almost certainly a phenomenon occurring entirely within my neighborhood. Well, maybe just my zip code. As (bad) luck would have it, nine of the last ten home sales in my zip code (for my house size) have been foreclosure or short sales. The lone bright spot was over nine months ago. If that doesn’t scream “panic attack” then this will. Six of the seven current competitive listings in my zip code are foreclosures.

If you would like to know what this feels like, please follow these simple steps:

1) Calculate the equity that you have in your current home
2) Withdraw that amount of money in cash
3) Set the cash on fire
4) Just as your hand starts to burn, drop the flaming cash in a toilet
5) Flush

What you’re feeling is a collision of the “this seems fake” chuckle and the “holy crap, what just happened” stomach churn. Alcohol seems to help the sensation, but only momentarily.

I know some of you think I’m exaggerating or that I’ve adopted my old college roommate’s philosophy (“All of my stories are BASED on true events”), but I am serious. It was so bad that one realtor, knowing she was competing for my listing, actually said, “I think you should just rent this…for a long, long time”. She was complimentary of the condition of my home and conceded that it was “worth” far more than the others currently listed (which were in varying states of disrepair). Unfortunately, in the age of the internet no one will ever look at your house if it’s significantly more than other similarly sized homes and, thus, will never know it’s true value.

I really, really didn’t want to be a long distance landlord while trying to complete a PhD, but here I was confronted with the reality that by the time I sold my house, paid the realtor, fixed the nit picky things buyers demand, and cashed my check, my proceeds would probably only cover the down payment on a climate-controlled storage facility in Tallahassee. I ran this by my sister, a veteran of several Florida real estate transactions, who informed me that I would not be able to afford climate controlled storage:

“This is Florida. No one has a basement so everyone has a storage unit. They’re way more expensive down here.”

Sometimes, a lack of choices makes the best decision. Armed with the knowledge that I had no viable option, I dug out a contact for a woman who started her own property management firm. We met a year previously at a Chamber of Commerce event and I had filed her away as a “maybe one day” contact. I issued her firm the challenge of leasing my home quickly and told her if she could get X dollars per month, I would pay them to manage it, too. Within hours of the sign hitting the yard calls started coming in. A deal was closed in less than one business day after it was entered into the FMLS system. These gals are good. Even better, the tenant is slated to sign a two-year lease the day she moves in, postponing the majority of my real estate fears until right about the time I’ll be studying for comps (God chuckles at my prayers for “better timing” – I seem to struggle to accept that He’s in charge sometimes).

So, what have I been doing for the past month? I’ve been reluctantly launching a real estate empire.

Next stop: House hunting in Tallahassee

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Odds & Ends

The pace is beginning to pick up in regards to school decisions, and the next few weeks should see quite a bit of activity. Rather than generate a new post for every “yes”, “no”, or “maybe” that I receive, I thought it would make more sense to create a list with up to date information about each school and where I am in their process.

So, across the top banner of the page, you should now see a tab marked “SCHOOLS”. If you click here, you’ll be taken to an alphabetical list of the 19 schools and a brief statement about where things stand. For subscribers, I am not sure if you’ll receive an update every time I make an addition. If it bothers you (either way) let me know and I’ll attempt to adjust things.

Why is the list alphabetical? Well, the rankings system proved to be impossible to update logically after my phone campaign. Sure, I could have updated it emotionally by subtracting points for the schools that wouldn’t talk to me, but that didn’t seem very helpful or worth the time and energy. Thus, I have abandoned overall rankings in favor of re-seeding the schools after I make campus visits.

As a preview of things to come, I’ll be working on several posts this week, with topics including:
1) pro bono consulting for Santa
2) channeling Ben Matlock and Steve Jobs
3) top 10 things I’ve learned since firing myself

Feel free to lobby for your favorite topic or to submit your own idea.

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Family Ties

My family is really only interested in one of the schools I applied to. I know, I know. I’m sure they’d be thrilled for me to get in to a program anywhere, but Pop has informed me that Seattle is almost the inverse of our current location and Mom has discovered that Stillwater is a tad remote (meaning it’s not actually possible to fly there commercially).

Adding more fuel to the fire, Sis & Co. just moved relatively close to the program in the Sunshine State. So, she and bro-in-law are dreaming of occasional free childcare and Mom and Pop are hoping for 2 for 1 visit possibilities. No pressure. Except:

“BUT WAIT; THERE’S MORE!”

~ Billy Mays

Turns out that the Sunshine State program is also my mother’s alma mater. And her twin sister’s. And their older sister’s. And their mom’s. And my cousin’s. To say that there was a little bit of interest in my Tuesday phone interview with Florida State would be an understatement. Folks weren’t exactly tailgating prior to the call, but it was close. Don’t believe me? Keep reading.

You see, Mom is not just an Florida State alum. She’s a Florida State FANATIC. Every Saturday during football season, you will find her perched in front of the TV, decked out in an FSU baseball jersey and various other Chief Osceola (or Soh Cah Toa, as I call him) necklaces, medallions, and other associated paraphernalia. Pop affectionately refers to the ensemble and her “shirt and shit”. I suppose it’s her contribution to the football team’s success.

Given that, I just had to laugh when, about a half hour before my interview with FSU’s PhD program director, I get an email that says:

Thinking of you__  Got on my “shirt and shit”!!!
Love,
Mom

That’s correct. My mother actually got on her “game day” attire for my PhD interview with her alma mater. Nah. She’s not invested at all. But, she might be onto something. I felt like the interview did go really well…

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Jack of all Trades, Master of None

Today, we drop in on the blog of economics professor and acclaimed author Steven Landsburg. His first two works (The Armchair Economist and More Sex is Safer Sex) are two of my favorites. He has a third book (The Big Questions), which has found its way into my library but that I have yet to read.

Landsburg’s most recent post is a celebration of the life and work of, in his words,

“Nobel laureate and all-around intellectual curmudgeon George Stigler”

I realize that I could be accused of skimping on an actual post of my own today by using Landsburg as some what of a stand-in, but I have several reasons.

1. I’m not finished with the post I want to publish next.
2. I want a somewhat relevant (to my journey, that is) reason to introduce folks to Landsburg. Agree with him or not, he will certainly make you think.
3. His most recent post includes an excerpt from a Stigler piece on “the consequences of competition in the market for higher education”.

This post, and Landsburg’s blog, certainly aren’t for everyone, but to entice you to give him a few minutes of your time, I offer this quote from Stigler:

“there are at most fourteen really first-class men in any field, and more commonly there are about six.”

In context, you should know that Stigler is speaking about academic departments at universities and colleges (hence the somewhat related topic to my academic journey); however, I believe this truth carries weight in many other endeavors. The overarching premise of the argument (or rather, the implication of that statement), is that no one entity can have the top people or pursue excellence in every field. Want non-academic examples? Here are the first few that came to my mind.

***

Think back to Jack Welch’s mandate that GE lines of business would be #1 or #2 in their respective fields. What happens if you’re not?

“fix, sell, or close”

At GE, if they couldn’t be the best at it they focused their attention, and allocated their resources, to the areas where they could.

***

Think about Jim Collins’ Hedgehog Concept from Good to Great. The number one question to ask yourself, Collins says, is:

“What can you be the best in the word at (and, equally important, what can you not be the best in the world at)?

Collins goes on to state that even if you have a core competency, it doesn’t mean you can compete at the highest levels in that field. You have to find the limited areas where you can.

***

Think about Olympic track athletes. They focus on a single event. “What about decathletes?” you ask. “Aren’t they good at everything?” My point exactly. They are quite good at several events, but hardly great (world class) at any.

To prove the point, I researched the 2008 Summer Olympic results. The decathlon gold medal went to Brian Clay of the United States. Clay was the fastest of all 40 decathlon competitors in the 100m sprint; however, he was only faster than 3 competitors in the 1500m event. Further, I took Clay’s 100m decathlon time and compared it to the 100m medal event. In 7 of the 10 qualifying heats, Clay’s time of 10.44 seconds would not have allowed him to advance past the first round. In fact, at that speed, Clay would not have made it through qualifying for USA’s Olympic 100m team. He would have been watching the Olympics on TV.

***

I think about this common trait of the most successful few in any endeavor and I think about my own life. I enjoy many things and pride myself on being well-rounded. I plan to continue to pursue multiple hobbies, but when it comes to my livelihood, I know I need to narrow it down. I’ve already taken a few steps in that direction (transitioning out of engineering into management), but I know I need to do some more pruning. In a way, that’s what completing a dissertation and obtaining a PhD is all about.

Again, click here to read the excerpt from Stigler on Landsburg’s site.

Otherwise, I leave you with something for us all to think about: What are you spending time, money, and energy on that’s better spent in an area where you can become one of Stigler’s “fourteen first class men”…or women?

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