Week One Recap

Well, the first week is done. Since my last post, I had my first investment, and ethics classes. I also had my first meeting for the Shollmier fund. I considered it more of a meeting, rather than a class, because it seems like there will be more discussing among the group, rather than lecturing from the professor. But let me back up a little. The finance track within the Walton MBA allows us to actually manage a real portfolio of assets. This is not fake money, this is the real deal. We are actually going to be creating our own asset allocation and managing our own portfolio. It will be an excellent chance to get some real world experience in portfolio management. This was a major reason I choose the finance tack over marketing, entrepreneurship and supply chain, where else would I get the chance to learn how to manage a large portfolio such as the Shollmier fund? Probably no where. It is going to be a great resume builder.

Steph and I tried a new restaurant today, it is called Little Bread Co . It was excellent. They bake all their own bread and serve delicious sandwiches. Also, their desserts are pretty ridiculous, in a good way. They had cookies as big as my head.

First Impressions

Today was the first day of the Fall semester. I had two classes today, the first was Managing and Leading Organizations. This looks to be a very interesting class taught by a very interesting person. His name is George Wibben and he has been very successful in the business world. He has a lot of experience in supervising, so I expect to learn a lot from him.

The second class today was Accounting. I feel like I am going to learn a lot of valuable information in this class, a lot of information that will come in handy once I rejoin the workforce. The professor, Dr. Bouwman, seems to really know his stuff.

Tomorrow I will have my first Investments and Shollmier Project classes, and on Wednesday, I will have an Ethics class. That will be my schedule for the semester.

One week from this Friday we will have our summer internship presentation competition. The six best presenters will present again a week later, September 11th from 1-3pm, at the Walker Hall auditorium. If anyone is interested in the Walton MBA at the University of Arkansas, this would be a great chance to get an idea of what our summer internships were like.

Pre-School Checklist

Steph and I went out Saturday night, and one thing was made very clear, the students are back. Dickson Street was in mid-semester form. With the return of the students, it's time to get serious about getting ready to go back to school. I purposely took this week off to get some things done before going back to class, here's the list of things I need to get done this week....

• Get some books. I like to get books early because it improves my chances of getting them used/cheaper.
• Haircut. The beginning of the semester looks to include a lot of networking events, etc.
  
• Dry-cleaning. Same reasoning as the haircut.
• Spend some time getting bored. This sounds weird, but I am about to spend four months of not having the luxury of getting bored, I plan on taking full advantage.
• Run as much as possible. Sometimes it's hard to find enough time to exercise as much as I'd like to during the semester.
• Make a pizza for Steph.
• Shop for school supplies. This is always fun for some reason. I think I just like getting new pens.
• Work on my summer internship presentation and poster. I want to get a head start on this stuff because I don't want to have to worry about it as much the first week of school, which always seems super hectic.
• Get a travel coffee mug. Contrary to popular belief, 8 o'clock classes are not awesome.
• Possibly prepare for a garage sale. I love getting rid of "stuff".

One last thing, checked out a new restaurant in Fayetteville this past weekend, it is called Hammontree's Grilled Cheese . It was excellent. Of course, they serve grilled cheese, but they use really nice cheeses and offer an array of quality meats that can be added to your sandwich.

Post-internship assignments

I am currently in the last week of my summer internship, so I have started to think about the three assignments associated with the internship that I will have to complete over the next month. The three assignments are writing an executive summary about my experience, create a presentation about my experience and design a poster about my work this summer. A couple weeks into school I will be giving my presentation as part of a competition. The competition will include all my classmates and will be judged by Walton College department members and corporate judges. Winners of the first round of competition will then compete a week latter in the auditorium of the Walton College. It serves as a great chance to meet some local professionals and talk with them about the experience we have gained this summer.

The poster will be displayed at the Internship Showcase Networking Event in September. This will also serve as a great chance to meet some people in the business community and start talking with people about possible employment down the road.

Class starts less than two weeks from today. Scary. Shopping for books is right around the corner.

Been a While

I have seriously neglected this blog for the past month, but I have had an unusually busy month. So, that's my excuse. I took three trips out of town and finished up working for my contractor friend. Doesn't sound like much when it is summed up into one sentence, but it was kinda crazy.

Anyway, school is less than three weeks away. I am currently wrapping up my internship with Local540 , as next week will be my last week with them. It has been a great experience. My biggest take away from the internship will be the amount of time I spent networking and generating sales leads. It was fun to be out of the office meeting and talking with people. After next weekend, I will spent the last week before school starts getting school supplies together and working on the paper and poster I will need to do for my internship. I will also find some time to relax, because once school starts back up, finding time to relax gets a little more difficult.

Just as exciting as the start of school, is the start of football season. Today will be the Razorback's first practice. I've got a good feeling about this year, or, I should say I think it will be better than last year.