Day One of the AOM Conference

So within five minutes of showing up at the AOM Conference , I saw one of my professors who wrote a recommendation for me. The next sign of being in the "right place" was when a doctoral student sat down by me and complained of not having thoroughly read a paper he must critique. We had a great chat about motivations to get a doctorate, about how his own process is going (he's in his fourth year and feeling bogged down), and then he told me to email him because we share the interest of entrepreneurship. Then I went to my first session - a discussion of qualitative research. I ducked out early because my alarm scheduler changed my times on when meetings were happening and I am annoyed because I was really enjoying the talks. I certainly didn't feel like I was dumbfounded by what was being said, though some of it referred to the work of people I am not familiar with (obviously). Still, I felt comfortable. As I was walking to the next program (on the wrong time schedule), I saw a second professor of mine - the one who suggested I attend the conference, and probably my biggest cheerleader for this new step outside of my wife. She and I talked about what schools I'm applying to, and she helped me rule out certain ones and convinced me not to overlook others. It was great to catch up with her because she's such a positive, friendly person. I stopped by a kiosk (not wanting to slip back into the session I left) to check email and write these thoughts down for my own purposes, but I thought I'd share them with anyone interested in what I'm doing in California.