Moving-Part 2: Let's pack our own boxes!

Guest post by Susan (John's wife)

Our goal for moving progressed from, "Let's save money as much as we can!" to "Let's save our sanity as much as we can!"  

And here's how it went down:

First, we thought about loading up a truck and taking a road trip to see all our dear friends and family on the way to Boston. It would be a big trip! So memorable! With stops at Fort Leonard Wood, MO, St. Louis, MO, Evanston, IL, Cleveland, OH, Northampton, MA to Cambridge, MA (quick shout out to all our friends and family in those cities!). 

This thought was quickly revised when our littlest Kang (oh, how I love him!) cried in the backseat on a 30 minute road trip to H-E-B during Houston rush hour traffic.... No good.

So maybe not big road trip. But maybe John can drive the truck by himself. That means Susan will have to take one (wonderful) nursing baby, one (wonderful) toddler all by herself through airport security, ride in a 3+ hour flight, push the double stroller to baggage claim, pick up the pack and play and the suitcases, and somehow push the stroller and the bags to get outside the airport to meet a taxi, and.... No good.

So maybe John doesn't drive the truck. But maybe we can save on miles and get these tickets that have one stop. Our trip would start out leaving Houston around 1pm. After an hour and a half layover, we'll arrive in Boston at 8:44pm. Probably get to the new house around 9:30pm with one (so sweet) nursing baby and one (so sweet) toddler who have not slept well all day and will be up way past their bed time.... No good. 

Wait, we already got the tickets.... No good.

So maybe we don't save on miles and spend more money and change the flight to a non-stop flight that arrives at 3pm. Good! So good!

Oh, and what about our things? Well, maybe we can save money by packing our own boxes. Boxes? Yes, that we can do. Let's pack our own boxes! 

Where did we get the boxes?

John found them on usedcardboardboxes.com. 

It came with tape, markers, and packing paper. Really awesome.

As for other logistics:
We used moveline.com to find a moving company.
We used Plaza Auto Transport to move our car.

By the way, we decided Isaac's room is the best place to store all the boxes. So now our toddler's room looks like this:

Moving- Part 1: "Where going, Momma?"

Guest post by Susan (John's wife)

Well, there's a reason why John's the LGO fellow and not me... because I think moving to Cambridge is enough of an operations problem for me! Seriously. It really is.

So first, we had to decide on a destination. In the words of our toddler, "Where going, Momma?"
We went back and forth and back and forth (and back and forth) about trying to get on-campus housing or not. We were really torn because we liked the idea of being on-campus with other graduate students and their families and the activities and resources for kids (hello playground right outside my back door!). Not to mention the great cost-savings. But we also liked the idea of moving straight into an apartment and trying to get settled before school started. Finally, after countless hours on housing.mit.edu and more hours on padmapper.com (mostly John doing the hard work there!), we decided to try to minimize the number of moves and move straight into an apartment.

Home to MIT Sloan (only a 12 minute walk!)

This decision was also greatly helped by the fact that there was a list of apartments from LGO '14s and '13s who were leaving. John was able to visit several places during Open House for admits. We are really grateful for all the LGO's who were so helpful during this decision process in sharing their insights with us. John was really helped by an LGO '14 family (Mike and Jamie Chun) who generously hosted him when he visited MIT for Ambassador Day and Interview Fest. (Small world: John and Mike both went to West Point and Jamie and I were both psych majors at Smith College! Also, my maiden name is Chun! No relation though. If we were it would have been a really small world.) It turned out that the Chuns were going to leave for his internship so we'll be moving into their place, which is bittersweet for us because it would have been so much better if we could have been in Cambridge together!

We liked the location of Kendall Square because of the proximity to school. We really like to spend a lot of time together as a family and cutting down on John's commute time will help with that. Being close to campus will also be convenient for when we want to participate in any of the on-campus graduate family activities. We also hope to be able to use our home to welcome others (as the Chuns so generously did with us), so if in the future, you or someone you know is in need of staying somewhere, please think of our home! So we will be paying much higher rent, but we believe that for the reasons mentioned, it is worth it.

After we had an address, planning the operations problem of moving could begin. John is so future-oriented that planning comes so naturally for him. This is obviously a big blessing when it comes to things like planning our move and I am so glad that he is good at it. But sometimes I find myself saying things like, "can we plan what we're going to do next weekend instead of next year?"  

Why LGO? Why now?

Why LGO (http://lgo.mit.edu)?
I think this question can be divided into two questions: Why a full-time MBA and why MIT LGO?
Why a full-time MBA?

To provide a little background, last year (Fall 2011) while applying to GE I was also applying to full time MBA programs. I had gotten into Northwestern's MMM program (MBA/MS Engineering management) and was sorely tempted to take that offer rather than GE. What turned me aside was that I thought at the time that I wanted to dedicate my career to the energy industry. Moving to GE in Houston seemed like a no-brainer at the time rather than taking time off to go to school.

When I started at GE (April 2012) I thought that I wanted to work in Energy. Through the Junior Officer Leadership Program (JOLP) at GE I was planning on experiencing working in various business functions to gain a broad background in how a large industrial business operates. During my time at GE I realized that I had holes in my business know-how. Also, even though GE is not a top-MBA recruiter, many of the executives at GE had an MBA. After realizing that I did want to pursue an MBA, I had to decide between going full-time (and leaving GE) or going part-time while working.

I applied to and was accepted into UT Austin's part-time MBA program in Houston and was preparing to join the class of 2014. Before classes started, I realized that I wanted to pursue a full-time program rather than a part-time program. I ultimately decided that if I was going to get an MBA I should go full time and try to go to the best fit program I could. I did not want to ever regret my decisions, and I am sure I would have regretted not pursuing a full-time MBA later on in my career.

Two years during this stage of my career seems like a long time to take off, but I think in the big picture it is not that long. I have heard numerous people further on in their career tell me that they wish they would have taken time off to go to school (and a few who were glad they went part-time as well) and really immerse themselves in an MBA program. Having 100% post 9/11 GI Bill helps with the cost of school (I will only have to cover living expenses).

Why LGO over other MBA programs?
After I decided to pursue a full-time MBA I had to think about which schools to apply to. What helped me with this decision-making process was that at GE I had a chance to interact with colleagues in many different functions. While working as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt I found that I enjoyed working on process improvement. This translates pretty well into MBA programs focused on Operations.

The main two programs that came to mind when I thought of Operations was Northwestern's MMM program and MIT's LGO program. I applied to both programs and was accepted by both. Deciding between the two programs was very difficult for me. At Northwestern I would have had more freedom to pursue different internships (MIT LGO internships are primarily with partner companies), in addition to living close to my wife's family. In the end I chose MIT LGO because of the strength of the overall program. The business programs are peer programs, but MIT's engineering school is arguably better than Northwestern's.

Also, another large draw towards picking MIT LGO was that the program was so closely tied in with industry partners (called 'partner companies' at MIT LGO). The list of partner companies included most of the companies I would like to work for post-MBA (http://lgo.mit.edu/partner-companies/partners/) so having a guaranteed internship with one of the partner companies and exclusive recruiting with them sounded like a great deal. Many of the partner companies exclusively recruit from MIT LGO for their post-MBA operations roles. Also, it did not hurt that I would not have to pay any tuition at MIT (LGO has a generous fellowship) compared to having to pay around $20k at Northwestern.

Who am I?

I'm John Kang and will be starting the Leaders for Global Operations (LGO) program this June as part of the class of 2015. Coming along with me is my beautiful wife Susan and our two sons (Isaac and Jonah). We will be moving from the Galleria area of Houston, TX and are excited to live on the east coast again (my wife and I both went to college nearby MIT).

Currently, I am wrapping up work with GE Power & Water as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (as a member of the Junior Officer Leadership Program). Before this I worked as an Engineer Officer for the US Army stationed primarily out of Fort Leonard Wood, MO. Before the Army I studied Mechanical Engineering for a BS (from the United States Military Academy) and MS (from Stanford University) with some course-work and research in energy and robotics.

I decided to start this blog for 3 reasons:
1. To archive my journey as a member of the LGO class of 2015.
2. Provide a service to those interested in the LGO program (LGO bloggers who have come before me have helped me understand the program much better than if I had to rely solely on the LGO website).
3. To keep my friends and family updated on my progress through this program.

Some of the future blog topics I will be covering are:

• The application process
• Visits to MIT LGO: Ambassador Day, Interviewfest, and Open House
• US Military Veteran perspectives at LGO (I am not the only US Military veteran in my class)
• The move process from Houston to Cambridge for a family of four
• Why LGO and why now?
• Why not stay at GE?
• Why did you pick Engineering Systems for your MS?

I have had some problems with blog.com so I am starting this blog anew. If you would like to read some of my old posts about leaving the Army and working for GE, see this link: http://johnkangw.blog.com/