What was I thinking?

Argh! It's happened again.

I'm working on a textbook to use in my MBA Operations Management course. I am just picking it up again, after some work on it last fall. In my draft of Chapter 4, "Organizational Effectiveness," I had written:

"This is the essence of any decision-making: balancing between trade offs, e.g., which is more beneficial, something that is lightweight or sturdy? Is being flexible or efficient more important? Good decision making considers those parameters. For example, my son in the marching band... It is also important to understand the factors that impact the potential benefits and the risks in realizing them. For example, my apartment in Altamonte Springs..."

What WAS I thinking?

I put those examples in as place holders and reminders to come back to and finish.

OK, so my son in marching band was supposed to be an example. Well, I remember when he came home in 6th grade and asked if he could be in the marching band at school. I said that he could, since he was avidly playing his trumpet. Having grown up in the Northeast, where high school football is played on Saturday mornings, with little fanfare, little did I realize:

1. High school football games in Georgia start in mid-August and continue through Thanksgiving, EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT.
2. Away games, since he attends a private school, are FAR AWAY. My pre-teen was traveling on a school bus, at night, to small towns that I have never heard of, without a cell phone or ME.
3. He would not be able to play soccer for the school in the fall.
4. I would be expected to attend all of the home football games.

So, how did I view that as a trade off? Was it band for soccer? His enrichment for my comfort zone around his safety? Giving up Friday nights, instead of enjoying them? (For the record, I do enjoy going to the games, now -- and have even ridden the bus (which I do not enjoy) to some of the away games.)

Or was I just offering this as a bad decision, from the standpoint of being ill-informed about the trade offs? This will take some mulling, if not more blogging.

As for the potential benefits and risks for my apartment in Altamonte Springs, I am stymied. This was my first home, post-college, when I had first started working for IBM in Orlando, Florida. I definitely traded off an easy commute (being close to the interstate highway) for a quiet balcony (being close to the interstate highway). But benefits and risks? The only thing I can think of is that one of the reasons I chose this apartment complex is that it had a pub and a pool. Since I did not know a soul in Orlando, and am not one to go "clubbing," much less by myself, I thought this would be a safe way to meet people. So the potential benefit was a social life. But what was the risk? Too much of a social life? Too much sun at the pool?

I don't know -- but I DO know I'll need to come up with a better example for my class!