Carry on.

This trip to London was a very important eye-opening experience for me. London is a very vibrant city. In terms of the variety of cultures, there is no city in the world that I have visited that has more cultures within its borders. London is an adult’s city. It is a city for an adult to develop their professions. With all it’s bling and glimmer, I have decided that London is not the place where I can raise my family.

During my stay in London, I didn’t see one elementary or high school. The commute is long and it’s not geared towards raising a family. How can I expect to raise my son and daughters in an environment geared towards adults? How can my wife make friends with the neighbors or do the things that she wants to do if she is holed up in a small, cramped flat in the city? I can’t expect her to enjoy it their, or just endure for a few years.

So what should we do? Well, I have decided that taking my masters here in the UK is not an option for me. Although the educational opportunities and employment opportunities are very, very good, the price that our family will pay in terms of time together, outside influences, crime and quality of life are too high, even if we only spend two years here. The same goes for Manchester even though it’s a smaller city.

So far, Canadian or American based schools seem like the best option. Is the big city life the issue? Is there a big city out there that allows you to raise a family the way you’d want to? So far, Vancouver (if you can call it a big city) is the only one that I know of. If anyone out in the blogosphere has a city they can recommend, post a comment here. I’d really appreciate it.

Selecting a MBA program is a lot more difficult that I thought. I need to take, networking and future employment opportunities into account. I need to consider the effect the city has on raising my family. I need to find a place that my wife and children will be happy in. Leaving them in Vancouver is not an option for me. How strong is the Church in the area? Do they have a complete program? Do they have a temple that is accessible? Is standard of living high? Expensive? I must balance all of these factors with the reputation, educational acumen and quality of the school. Do they have an international, cross-cultural component? Do they have an Operations/Supply Chain management component?

I must prayerfully carefully consider all of these factors to make an informed decision. To find all of this information out, I must also visit each school that I will apply to. I must also include distance programs into the mix. So… I need to devote much more time in search of the program that I will select. I’m not worried. I have time. And I will take my family with me.

Here’s the new goal: Instead of taking my MBA in January 2008, I will extend my goal to start my MBA program to September 2008 or January 2009. I will make my final choice by January 2008 so that we can plan our future carefully.

I am so grateful for the support of Capilano College for allowing me to come here to London to find all of this out. Choosing to attend (and stay in) the Capilano school of business was one of the best decisions I could have made.