Hey Everybody,

Sorry I have continued to be so bad about staying in touch, but it does not seem to be something that I am particularly good at. Anyways, I am writing this letter to update you all on what I have been up to during the past months and to share my plans for the near future.

As most of you probably know, for the past year or so I have been living and working in Madrid, Spain. Since returning, I have been living with my girlfriend Alicia in her incredible apartment in the very center of Madrid. For those of you that are familiar with the city, the apartment is about 100 yards from Puerta del Sol. As you can imagine, I have had a great time, and while I have not been as active socially as my first time in Madrid (less partying), I have made a number of friends, and for a change I have actually gotten somewhat settled.

Of course, when I say settled that does not mean stationary. Since arriving in Madrid I have managed to do some travelling within Spain including climbing the highest mountain in the Iberian peninsula (Mulhacen), visiting several small Spanish towns and villages including Toledo (as in Toledan Swords), Sigüenza, Jaca and Cuenca, and of course some larger cities as well such as Zaragoza (where Alicia is from), Barcelona, and Granada. I have also taken several trips internationally, of which the most interesting was definitely when I took a month off to travel around Tanzania, Kenya and Zanzibar over Christmas with my friend Parveen. The trip was great, and I got to test out a new camera and lens with around 50 rolls of film. You should be happy to know that at least some of those pictures turned out ;-> So if anyone feels masochistic, you are always welcome for a slideshow ...

Okay, now I know what you are all thinking, Steven just goes to random places, travels and never actually does any work. Well, contrary to the popular opinion this is not the case (I do have a job after all). When I first arrived in Spain in May of last year I was not really sure what I was going to do or where I was going to live (not even the continent). However, I got really lucky and the first day I was in the country I received an unsolicited offer with a small Spanish telecoms consultancy. Because instead of me going out begging for a job, the job came looking for me, I was in a much better position to negotiate and I managed to get a decent salary (although still fairly poor by US standards). Anyways, at the job I have had several projects, ranging from HORRIBLE where I was consistently working 80 hour weeks in an environment I hated and with people I did not particularly like to my current role where I am doing project management for some really neat projects for a great client.

So, since everything is going so well for me I figure "time for a change" and that leads me to the next part of this letter - what I will be doing in the near future. As many of you know, including some that may know in far more depth than they would like (thank you VERY much: Tom, Lynne, Parveen, Nisha and Jenjen), last year I spent a great deal of time and effort putting together some MBA applications at a number of schools. Well, I am pleased to report that surprisingly enough I was accepted at USC's Marshall School of Business (a top 20 business school for those of you that don't keep up with these kinds of things). Even more surprisingly, I managed to get a half tuition scholarship that should save me around $33000 over the course of the two year program!!! But, as you can imagine with a $33000 covering just half the tuition, the remaining tuition, other expenses and cost of living in LA without income will still make me a very poor student.

My current plans are to continue working in Spain till the end of May (yippee, less than two weeks!), then to stick around Spain for the month of June taking it easy and travelling a bit. Then in July I will head back to Maryland to visit friends and family and to start preparing for my move to LA. Finally, towards the end of July I will be moving out to LA in order to be ready for my first day of school on August 15.

There is however one small disclaimer that I would like to put out. These plans are quite likely to change. I actually just received a call from my boss yesterday and apparently they are so desperate to keep me on till they can find someone adequate to replace me (of course that's impossible ;-> ) that they are now starting to offer me all sorts of bribes and other incentives to extend my last day. But regardless, I will be starting school in August, so by mid-July at the latest I will be in Maryland.

I hope everything is going great with everyone, and I am looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible when I get back to the US.