My dog is named Swayze

When I am not generating sales leads for the Local540 , I have been writing for the Fayetteville Flyer . I wrote about the baseball Hogs a few times as no one else with the Flyer wanted to, but more importantly, I recently wrote an article concerning the credit card reform that recently passed through congress. As the summer progresses, I will continue to write about developing business news. It will give me a chance to keep up with current events and possibly open up some communication with Flyer readers.

Steph and I have recently decided that we want to take our dog camping. This is kind of a big deal for us since he is kinda crazy. When we originally set out to get a dog, we imagined ourselves as the kind of people that would take our dog camping, and for rides in the car, etc. Unfortunately, it has never worked out that way, but we are working on it. He has been going on more and more car rides with us and he has gotten pretty good about them, he has been staying relatively calm. But camping will be the big one. We are terrified that he will run off or bark all night and keep our friends awake, but we think that with some work we can accomplish our goal. We are looking to take him camping in the fall, so as of late we have been letting him wander around outside in our front yard off the leash. It has gone surprising well. He really doesn't run off very much, but when he does, we call him back with turkey pepperoni in hand waiting for him.

New Grizzly Bear album tomorrow. I have been looking forward to this one for a while. I really got into Yellow House, and feel they are poised for something special with this new one. We will see.

Creativity in business

One of the main reasons I choose to study the arts during my time in undergrad was because it seemed like the arts would allow for me to pursue a career that was challenging, but also allowed for some creative thinking. At the time, business seemed boring. Mundane. All business, no fun. Just a series of processes. Well, like most 18 year olds, I was wrong. I started my internship with Wonderstate media last week. It's unlike any job I have ever had in a lot of ways, but there are two reasons that stick out. One, there are only three of us, and the other two guys are really good friends of mine. Two, it's a new business. Working for a new, relatively unknown business that is just starting to make itself known and just starting to attract customers is a totally different experience for me. That is where the creative part comes in. How do we make the public aware of the products and services we offer with a limited marketing budget? Good question, I'll have to get back to that one.

My sister turned 21 late last month. It's weird how nothing really makes you feel older than when the people around you begin to get older. Anyway, taking her out last weekend pretty much drained our funds for this weekend. So, Steph and I went to a local bar called the Smoke and Barrel . Pretty much every weekend they have bands playing, with no cover, and cheap beer. Perfect for those weekends when you don't have a lot of money to spend.

Grades are in

I received the last of my grades this morning, and all is well. For anyone that is nervous about entering business school without having a lot of experience, education or otherwise, should know that as long as you devote enough of your time and energy to learning the material, you will be fine. I am living proof. The fact that a program has let a person in is proof that they are intelligent enough to do well, then it is just up to how hard someone is willing to work to be successful. During orientation, my mentor said the key to doing well, even beyond prior experience, will be to manage your time well. She was right.

I have watched a bunch of movies over the past week of freedom I have had. One of the movies I watched was Apocalypse Now Redux. Wow. Easily, the best war movie I have ever seen, and probably, one of the best movies I have ever seen period. I totally recommend it to anyone whether they are a fan of such movies or not. I appreciate that some people may not want to sit through a 3 hour and 15 minute movie, so you would probably be alright with the original cut instead of the Redux edition. Before I watched the movie I knew the Redux edition had an additional 50 minutes worth of movie over the original, and as I watched it before reading about which scenes had been added, I was able to pick out about 45 of the 50 additional minutes that had been added. That's the thing about additional scenes, usually they are pretty easy to pick out, or to recognize why they were left out in the first place. But, if you are the kind of person that can watch a three hour movie, go for the Redux. In my researching after seeing the movie apparently there are a couple other editions of the movie that are like 4.5 and 6 hours long or something. That may be pushing it.

Lazy Days

My entire April was a furious storm of deadlines, group meetings and test preparations. Now that's it's May, there is none of that. I have spent the last two mornings drinking coffee and being lazy. It's been pretty awesome.

Anyway, I have been watching a lot of baseball and sport related television, and my absolute least favorite sport fan base is the Cubs. Full disclosure, I am a serious Cardinals fan. I have a lot of friends who are Cubs fans so they should know that the comments that are about to occur, are not directed toward them, and really, no one should take anything I say serious (it's all in the spirit of trash talking), but for the most part, Cubs fans are the biggest bunch of crybaby bandwagon fans ever. That being said, there is another sports fan base that is beginning to get on my nerves even more, and that is Yankee fans. The Yankees are always spending the off season spending ridiculous amounts of money on players that had a good year previously. It seems that team chemistry always takes a back seat to whoever is hot. The sad part is that it seems Yankee management has to do this in order to keep their fans happy, then if the Yankees start off mediocre through the first 30 games, which they have, Yankee nation is ready to fire the coach and proclaim some of their off season acquisitions as a waste of money, etc. Seriously, Yankee fans, chill out. You guys are making yourself look like even bigger crybabies than Cubs fans, and it's sad.

I don't start working until Wednesday. I will start with Wonderstate media, and probably toward the end of the month I will start working with my contractor friend. We will be redoing a kitchen. Should be fun.

Cinco de Mayo

For Mexicans, Cinco de Mayo is a day to celebrate the Mexican army’s unlikely defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. This year, for me, it is a day to celebrate having completed 33.33% of a graduate degree. In about 5.5 hours, I will definitely be done for the semester.

As I reflect on the past 5 months, I think about how I almost backed out of going back to school. Before the semester started, as I was about to resign from my previous job, I started to get cold feet. Was it smart to quit a well-paying job during a time when people were getting laid off left and right? Did I really want to spend the money on a MBA? After graduating with a BS, I vowed to never go back to school, and now I am going back on my promise, is that smart? Business school, I don't know anything about business, and now I am going to graduate school for it, is that a good idea? All these questions and concerns were racing through my head as I typed up my resignation, scared to death of what was going to happen.

Now, 5 months later I know all the answers to those questions. Undoubtedly, going back to school was a smart idea. I am glad I didn't chicken out. I have learned so much the last 5 months, and the best part is that the things I have learned are rooted so much in everyday life. The education I am receiving is so practical and will benefit me so much that I am glad I broke my personal promise of never going back to school. Aside form the education, I have met a ton of really smart, interesting people. This is not confined to classmates either, we have been fortunate enough to meet some very successful business persons that have shared some great insights into what it means to be successful, etc.

Most importantly, through this experience I hope to get a job that I will find interesting and fulfilling, and that I will now be qualified to have. My last job was super boring, sometimes it felt just one step above busywork. I am not naive enough to think that my next job will be my dream job or anything like that, but I am confident that this past 5 months have been the biggest steps I have ever taken towards getting there.