Tonight was the five-year class reunion for my MBA class.

It feels a tad fradulent, me going to these things. (Me and my ever lasting identity crisies … but I digress … ). There we are in an opulent building, eating opulent appetizers and hearing about a $50M "gift" to the school of business to (drumroll) … double the size of the school of business. Isn't that exciting?!? (ggrrr …)

The event had two parts. At first, all the guests mingled together. The school organizes the reunions to run in five-year segments, so all the x2 and x7 graduates, going back 40+ years, were all together in the atrium. Lots of white hair and white guys in suits. Next, we split off into our cohorts for dinner.

Our little cluster, the 2002 cohort, is considerably more diverse, although my buddies J and C and I were the only women who showed up from our class. In total, about 10 of us were there from our class. We started with a part-time group of 60 students in 1999 and, as I recall, we were the first class to achieve 50/50 gender equity. Several of our profs were there and they seemed to gravitate towards us. One came and ate dinner with us, saying that our cohort was his favourite ever – he toasted us at the beginning of the meal. (Maybe they all say that …) The official photographer for the evening said that we were the happiest and cheeriest of all the groups she was going around and snapping.

All that was very nice … but I noticed different things. None of us had any blackberry-like devices or, if they were present, they weren't consulted. We listened to each other and laughed with each other. I remembered all these weird dudes and their quirks – and then I remembered what good people they were. One of us works for a cancer research centre (the same one Ahhnold visited yesterday) and is running the business end of things there. One of them works at a very high level of management for our power generation grid – yes, he gets paid well, but he also is trying to manage more electricity with fewer resources. He is also one of the nicest, nicest men you'd ever want to meet. Another fellow, possessed of both an MBA and a P.Eng, runs his own home renovation and design company and LOVES what he does. He has done a number of renos for another classmate who raved about his work, esp. the level of precision, detail and passion.

(Aside: I was really hoping to see Totally Amazing Guy With Beautiful Eyes there but apparently he couldn't make it. OK – I think my credentials are pretty clear on where I stand about who I'm normally attracted to … but this fellow is a real gem of a human being (with lovely eyes) … well, as the saying goes, I would cross the street in a heartbeat for TAGWBE. Maybe he'll be at the next reunion in five years … )

I don't know what I thought when I signed up for the MBA in 1999. I thought I'd hold my breath for four years so as to not pollute myself with toxic, anti-human motives. I realized I didn't have to. People use their skills in a myriad of ways.

It was a good night.

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