Tripology: The Walton MBA Years

Last Post

2010-04-29T19:10:00.000-07:00

This is it. This will be my last post. I am all but finished with my MBA. I have one last final this Thursday, and then we walk Saturday. Last Thursday I had my last official day of regular classes. It was a surreal and somewhat anti-climatic moment for me. Nevertheless, now as I am about to embark on a totally new challenge I wanted to look at my investment into getting an MBA, and evaluate whether or not it was a good or bad one. I will be using a NPV analysis, under the following assumptions.

Beginning with cost. I estimated the total cost of my loans by using a student loan calculator on the internet to see the total amount I will have paid by the time I finish paying off the debt in 20 years. I then split this amount into 20 equal yearly installments, and discounted it back to present using the risk free rate that corresponds to that year's expense (1 year rate for amount paid a year from now, 2 year rate for amount paid in two years, etc) . Using the risk free rate as the discount rate here is appropriate given this could be considered a discretionary expense. Once I discounted this amount back to present, I added the opportunity cost of being in school over the past two years, which was roughly a year and a half's salary. Adding these parameters together gave me total cost.
Cash flow estimation. I made a lot of assumptions here. First off, the future cash flows I projected are the future differences between the salaries of what I probably would have made pre-MBA compared to what I am likely to make having completed an MBA, until age 67. To estimate these two salary amounts into the future, I started with what I was making before the program, and what I will be making once I get out. I included yearly increases of 1% each year, mostly to cover inflation (although, according to Dr. Rennie, this is a drastically undervalued estimate of future inflation, as we will all be burning dollar bills to stay warm sometime in the near future). At each five or six year interval I estimated a raise or promotion in each stream of future salaries, with a 5% increase in pre-MBA salary vs. an 8% increase in post-MBA salary. In each stream of salaries I stopped increasing the amount toward my golden years (as I start going insane). This happened at age 55 in my pre-MBA salary, and at age 60 in my post-MBA salary.
The discount rate. This is definitely the biggest assumption I had to make. Looking on the internet for an appropriate discount rate for increases in salary due to acquiring an MBA was nearly impossible. One study used a discount rate equal to the treasury rate, which was pretty stupid in my opinion, while a handful of other studies used a variety of different rates for no apparent reason what-so-ever. So, I decided to use a multitude of rates, starting with 6%, and increasing 2% until reaching 16%. If I had to guess, I would say something around 10 or 12% seems the most appropriate. Results found below.

So, from a purely financial standpoint, it is easy to see that my investment into obtaining an MBA was a good one. As always when preforming an NPV analysis, the results are dependent on the quality of the assumptions, and although all of my assumptions aren't completely sound, I kept a fairly conservative tone throughout so I feel good about it. However, this valuation does not capture all the intangible benefits I gained throughout this entire experience. I have just spent 18 months surrounded by some of the smartest people I have ever worked with, and made some really good friends along the way. So, considering those added benefits, I would say I have drastically underestimated the value of obtaining a Walton MBA.

So, after it's all said and done, would I recommend that someone go back to school and pursue an MBA? My answer, NO WAY. After all, the value of my degree decreases as more and more people earn MBAs. But, if someone was dead set on it, I would totally recommend the University of Arkansas. It is a great school that has great people associated with it.

One last thing, thanks to my wife. She deserves an honorary degree and apologies from most of my professors for what she has had to endure throughout this experience.

Good luck to everyone as they do whatever they are doing.

2010-04-25T08:49:00.000-07:00

This is my last Sunday of studying. I will be glad to have them back. Before entering the MBA program, Sundays were my favorite day of the week. It was a day to just relax, watch some movies, do a little laundry, wash the dog, etc. Kind of like a catch-all day. Since graduate school started though, Sundays have been a day of doing large amounts of homework and studying like crazy. I actually should be studying right now for an exam in ERP tomorrow, but I am having a really difficult time staying focused. Mostly because ERP is super boring, well, studying for an ERP test is super boring.

Anyway, just three tests and two presentations left before it is all over. I can't wait, I am ready for the next challenge/phase of my life to begin.

25th

2010-04-16T07:52:00.000-07:00

The University of Arkansas Full-time MBA program was recently ranked 25th of all public graduate schools by Us News and World Report. This is a huge deal. Not only were we ranked 25th in the nation, but we are 3rd in the SEC, and 1st in the SEC West. The ranking is based on information from our class concerning GPA, GMAT, work experience, etc. So, that is a pretty cool feeling.

This ranking really speaks to the quality of education you receive when getting a Walton MBA. As I have said, I have been very impressed with the professors, administration and fellow classmates throughout this whole experience. It's nice to see others recognizing that as well.

Currently, I am in a weird place. I just got over a crazy couple weeks, and now I am about to enter a crazy couple weeks. But, over the past couple days, things have been relatively calm. It's nice, but also annoying. I would rather just finish up everything and relax later.

Payback

2010-04-14T07:39:00.000-07:00

Today, I will have my exit interview for the Walton MBA program. Honestly, my experience has been about 98% good, and that is more than one can hope for going into a graduate program. I have learned a ton, met some really interesting and smart people, and I am definitely better prepared for a career in business than I was coming into the program (by a large amount). So, on most fronts and considering my biggest requirements coming into the program, I am very satisfied. However, that doesn't mean I don't see any areas that could be improved on, and these are the exact areas I intend to bring up in my exit interview today. Hopefully, by doing this, the program can be improved on even further.

Three weeks from tomorrow. That's it. It will all be over three weeks from tomorrow. Between now and then, I have a huge presentation to present to a board of Wal*Mart executives, an ERP report and presentation, one more take home finance test (probably going to be brutal), one ERP exam and one more strategy test. It's not going to be fun, but at least that's all that's left.

Sunday Mornings

2010-04-11T06:23:00.000-07:00

In four weeks time, I will have Sundays back. Since starting grad school over a year ago, Sundays have been a day to get as much homework done as possible. I try to start around 9 in the morning, and will work on stuff until dinner. Today is no different. I am going to try and get a strategy assignment done, work on an ERP assignment, and read over a rough draft of my advanced finance course project. Getting as much done as possible today is important since the coming week is going to be busy putting some finishing touches on our Wal-Mart project for strategy. We present to the Wal-Mart strategy group the week after next, so we need to be as prepared as possible.

Anyway, I need to finish my coffee and get to it......ugh. It's too nice outside to be stuck inside thinking about business.

2010-04-07T08:03:00.000-07:00

I have been guilty of blog neglection as of late, but I have some pretty good excuses. Assignments in ERP have taken up some considerable time, and we have been putting the finishing touches on our quarterly holdings report for the Shollmier fund. But those were the easier assignments. I just spent all of last weekend working on an Advanced Corporate Finance test. It was freaking brutal. I worked over 12 hours on the thing. As I have always said, I am not a fan of take-home or open-book test, they are always way harder than regular tests. But the good news is that after last week, and this week, and the next week, I will have turned a pretty significant corner in totally completing my MBA. My last final is less than a month away, and graduation is a month from tomorrow. Holy crap. Well, gotta go, ERP starts in less than an hour.

2010-03-24T05:40:00.001-07:00

Spring break is upon us, which means that I have five weeks left until I have completed my MBA. This is both an exciting, and a terrifying feeling. Exciting for obvious reasons, I am really looking forward to being out of school again. It's terrifying because I still have no post graduate employment lined up. At this point, I have a handful of pretty good prospects, which is encouraging, but ultimately, none of that matters until I sign my name to an offer. More and more my wife is talking to me about having some sort of party and inviting people into town for my graduation, but I told her I am not sure I will be in the mood to party if I don't have a job. She hates this, but I can't help it. The main reason I returned to school was to be able to get a better job than I had coming into the program, and if I don't accomplish that goal, then I don't know how happy I will be on graduation day. Anyway, hopefully I will have a job by then and will be able to fully enjoy graduation, because I will really only get one chance to celebrate my official graduation, and it would be unfortunate to miss out on that because I am unemployed.

I have a haircut appointment this morning. I am a notoriously thrifty individual, so I have always hated getting haircuts. What a waste of money. You get a haircut, then 2 months later you need another one, and so one. In the past, to avoid this expense, I have grown my hair out to my shoulders, had my friends cut my hair in the backyard, and gone to really cheap haircut places. Well, those days are over. Long hair in the business world isn't ideal, and I have had one too many really terrible haircuts from backyard and discount barbers. So these days, I am spending more on haircuts than I ever have in my life, and I actually don't mind it. The peace of mind I get from going to someone that actually knows how to cut hair is worth the extra money. Plus, the quality of the haircuts is far improved.

Anyway, I need to get my day started, I have to finish my course project for finance today, and it might take a while.

Traveling Woes

2010-03-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

I traveled for an interview this week. The interview was in New Jersey and consisted of two days of activity. I was apart of a group of about 15 candidates, 8 of us from the University of Arkansas, and the rest from various schools on the east coast. The first night in New Jersey we had dinner as a big group. They had employees of the company sitting at the table with us discussing various aspects of the company. It was an interesting way to really understand what a company is all about. They were really honest about their company culture and its impact on its employees. The next morning, we had an all day assessment which consisted of a couple group activities, an interview and a case competition. All in all, the whole experience was kind of fun. That was the good part.

The very, very bad part of the trip were all the traveling woes I experienced. Before this trip, I had never had any problems traveling by plane, but that all changed. Our intital flight from XNA was canceled, which by the time we got that figured out, we eventually ended up in Jersey 2.5 hours past our originally scheduled time, leaving me very little time to get ready for the dinner that night. We got back to the hotel from dinner pretty late, and had to get up very early. It was a constant time crunch.

On our journey home, in the Memphis airport I finally got a chance to relax and little, and was really looking forward to getting home. Well, our gate was changed, twice, and we had to walk clear across the airport (which was no good for me, I had just had the biggest plate of BBQ nachos ever). Once at the new gate, we found out that 20 of the 55 passengers weren't going to be on the new flight, luckily I was one of them. About 20 minutes after that, they announce that the flight is canceled altogether. Now, we are stuck in Memphis at 8:30pm, plus I have to be in Fayetteville in the morning, no exceptions. I only had one choice, rent a car, and drive the 5 hours to Fayetteville, which is what I and another candidate did. I got home around 2:30am, and from all the traveling and interviewing, etc, I was totally and utterly exhausted. It was a really, really long couple days. But, I should find out about the job pretty soon. Fingers crossed.

2010-03-14T16:03:00.000-07:00

Had a very restful weekend, which is good because I am about to have a long week. I've got a big interview Tuesday, and I start a new internship Wednesday. I am really looking forward to the internship because it will be the first time since I quit my job to enter the MBA program that I will actually have some real work to do. It will definitely be a refreshing change from school work, even though it will drastically cut down my free time. In preparation for the internship, I taught myself how to iron. Google knows all.

NCAA brackets were just released and I already have a rough draft. First run through I had three teams from the Big 12 in the final four, and I don't even like that conference. I had to make some adjustments, now I have 2 teams from the Big 12 and 2 from the Big East, but I have Kansas all the way. I will make some further adjustments over the next couple days as ESPN analysts sway my picks, but Kansas will stay my winner. Not that I like Kansas, but they are freaking real good.

2010-03-09T14:21:00.001-08:00

We have a really late spring break this year. My sister goes to Missouri State, and they are on their spring break right now. We won't be on spring break until the week after next. Meaning, once we get back, there will only be like 5 weeks of school left. That's crazy. Anyway, much like last year, I have zero plans, and also much like last year I will probably spend some portion of spring break working on my course project for Dr. Jandik's finance class. Last year it was corporate finance, and we had to calculate WACC for a multi-segment firm. This year, in advanced corporate finance, we have to value a firm's stock using a DCF model and a comparables model. It is actually pretty cool stuff.

Midterms are over, although this semester has been the easiest I have had since starting the program. Of 4 classes, I only had one test. First semester I had four tests.

May 8th is the official graduation day meaning someday before that I will have officially completed all requirements to earn an MBA. That "someday" is less than two months away. I can't wait.

2010-03-03T12:23:00.000-08:00

Strategy test tomorrow. Time for blogging is thus reserved for breaks between studying. The test is partially open note, which I am not a big fan of. I have found that when teachers allow for open book tests, the tests end up being way harder than they would have been had it not been open book. The hardest tests I have encountered in the MBA program were logistics exams first semester, and they were open note tests. Anyway, I've got class tonight until 9 so I need to get back to these strategy notes.

2010-02-27T13:14:00.000-08:00

Got up early this morning and took my car to Wal*Mart to get an oil change and to have my tires rotated and balanced. I purchased the tires I currently have on my car in 2006, at the time they asked me if I wanted to purchase lifetime balance and rotation for 8 bucks a tire, which I did. Since then, I have balanced and rotated my tires 4 times, for free. Actually, by this time, I have made money on the deal. It made me think, man, I am really sticking it to Wal*Mart on this one, then I realized, while getting my tires worked on, I spent 40 bucks on an oil change, and almost 200 on groceries. Wal*Mart wins again.

While I waited on my car, I built a "goals" speadsheet for the next two years. I like building spreadsheets and budgets and stuff like that, I don't know why, I just do. Anyway, with my spreadsheet I can enter in a prospective salary of a job and see if it will allow for Steph and I to reach a couple of our goals the first two years out of the MBA program. The spreadsheet accounts for all of our expenses, which can be adjusted to any cost of living change we experience if we move. So, now I know for sure what kind of salary I need, what kind I want and what kind I would be thrilled with.

Got inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma society. It is a pretty cool honor considering before

entering the MBA program I had never taken a business course in my life. I graduated with a Bachelors in Psychology, so the type of course work I experienced in the MBA program was something very foreign to me. I would be more excited about it if I had already reached my ultimate goal of finding post graduate work. Being inducted in this society, and even my upcoming graduation, is hard to fully enjoy knowing at this point I will be unemployed in two months. But, I am trying to stay positive....

2010-02-25T13:23:00.000-08:00

Took a much needed break from school work last Sunday and went and saw Shutter Island. It was really boring, which is unfortunate, because I really like Scorsese movies. While there, we saw John Pelphrey walking out of a movie at the same time we were walking out of Shutter Island. That guy is super tall, which is dumb to say because you expect him to be tall since he played basketball in college, but still, his tallness surprised me. Since we lost to the winless in conference LSU tigers last night, this is probably what Pell is doing right now....

Went to the University of Arkansas career fair this past week. Past career fairs had always been disappointing due to a lack of interest from recruiters, but this time was different. I think it mostly had to do with graduating in a couple months as opposed to a year. I actually had one interview stemming from the fair, and think I might have at least two more down the road. But we'll see. I have learned not to get too hopeful or discouraged in this job hunt.

Other than that, not much going on. My team got second place in a cereal selling simulation game using SAP. It was nice retribution from my Markstrat days, in which my team got last out of the whole class.

No plans for this weekend yet, expect for getting some rest. I am exhausted.

2010-02-21T16:04:00.000-08:00

I told Steph the other day that I can't wait for this period of my life to be over. All its been for the past two months is school-homework-job searching, school-homework-job searching, and repeat. This has turned out to be the most stressful and busy semester of all, which is definately disappointing. I was hoping the worst of it was over. Its not, I am right in the middle of it.

However, I did get to meet this little person yesterday....

...her name is Remy and she is my best friend's new baby. They live in Houston now so this was the first time we got a chance to meet her. It was a pretty surreal moment, kind of like the first time one of your friends gets married. Not surprisingly, seeing Remy gave Steph "the fever", really bad. Yeah, it won't be too long before we have one of our own. I think it will be pretty cool.

But until then, school-homework-job searching, school-homework.........

Wednesday, February 10th recap

2010-02-11T11:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a long one, here is how it went...

8-9, gym
9-10:30, read
11-12:30, class
12:30-1:30, lunch
1:30-5:30, job searching and reading
6-9, class
9-11, typing a paper

Glad its over.

Anniversary Weather

2010-01-30T17:28:00.000-08:00

Last year, on January 26th I believe, I experienced some of the worst weather of my life. There was a huge ice storm that broke tree limps and downed power lines. I didn't have power for 4 or 5 days. My wife and I had to stay with some friends who graciously let us invade their lives for a couple days. It was terrible.

So, when the weather was calling for another storm this year, almost on the anniversary of last year's, it was no wonder that people got freaked out. We stocked up with groceries and waited for the storm. We got a pretty big one. An inch of ice with 6 or 8 inches of snow (see picture above, Dickson St before it got real bad) on top of that. But, our electricity never went out, so it really hasn't been that bad. We got a little stir crazy today so we went to Hugo's (a Fayetteville staple) to grab a burger, and then we went bowling. Winter Storm 2010 was way more fun than Winter Storm 2009.

It has been harder and harder to concentrate on school. Getting a job has become priority number one, so hopefully that happens sooner rather than later so I can stop worrying about it and concentrate on having some fun before I re-enter the workforce. Not that my classes aren't interesting, especially Strategic Management. We've not had a course focused just on business strategy, so it is pretty interesting.

3000% Return

2010-01-27T13:01:00.000-08:00

A bunch of friends, and my wife and I, went down to Hot Springs this past weekend to bet on the ponies. I had never been to Oaklawn before, nor had I ever been to the horse races. We left Fayetteville Saturday morning around 8, and made it to Hot Springs in plenty of time before the first race started at 1. Immediately upon getting to the track, I bought a burger, a beer and a race program. It was time to get rich.

Not really. I think in going to the track you have to expect to lose money. I did. I expected to lose all that I took, but that is not what happened. I actually hit a .50 box trifecta on the second race, earning me $90 on a $3 bet. Not bad. During the next 6 races I won an additional two bets, for considerably less money, but still at a profit. All in all it was a pretty exciting day.

That night we all went walking around downtown Hot Springs, which is a pretty cool area. There are a lot of old spa houses that have since closed down and been turned into museums. We ate, went to a couple bars and called it a night. The next morning we got up early, ate some breakfast and headed back to Fayetteville.

It was the first time I had been out of Fayetteville for something other than the holidays in a while. It was nice.

MBA Party and more movies.....

2010-01-18T14:07:00.001-08:00

Here is a picture from an MBA party this past weekend. The party was put together by Stacy (second on the right) for all the incoming 2011 class and the outgoing 2010 class. It was a good chance to meet some of the new class. It reminded me of entering the program last January and being really excited about learning, and getting to know my new classmates. It's not so much like that for the 2010 class anymore. We are all just pretty ready to be done and working again. I like this picture because it is comprised of the group of people I spent pretty much all of the first semester with (from the left, myself, Stacy, Alisha, and James). We had three classes in which we were group mates, and we spent many hours working on projects and being really terrible at Markstrat (a simulated world of marketing). Looking back, it was a really hectic and unnerving time, but working with these people helped a lot.

Watched a couple movies I had already seen the past couple days. The first was 2001: A Space Odyssey. In watching it I was reminded of the fact that this movie came out in 1968, and at the time probably blew people's minds. Since then, advancements in special effects and copycat versions of Kubrick's space traveling escapades have dampened some of the movie's effect, but it still is weird as hell and definitely leaves you with more questions than answers once its all over. But, that was the intention of the movie. Even though everyone picks up on themes of evolution, the evils of technology and alien life, few people could probably totally agree and what is really going on in the movie. Which, for me, makes it pretty cool.

Last night, I rewatched Inglorious Bastards, and I liked it way more than the first time I saw it. I am a pretty big Kill Bill fan, and it seemed like Tarantino used some of the same music and visuals in IB, which I found distracting. Also, it bothered me that in the English subtitles when someone spoke French sometimes "Oui" was spelled "Yes" and sometimes it was kept French and spelled "Oui". I wouldn't care which one he used as long as he was consistent. Anyway, the scene in the basement where they are meeting up with the German double agent is really freaking awesome. It was even more awesome that Steph fell asleep during that scene only to be awoken when the guns started going off. It scared the crap out of her, and made me laugh and laugh and laugh......

New Semester/Final Semester

2010-01-13T14:15:00.000-08:00

The new semester has started, and I am taking four classes. Four classes left between me and graduation.

The first class is Enterprise Systems which will introduce us to ERP systems, specifically SAP. I have never worked with SAP, so I am looking forward to learning about it because I see it mentioned on a lot of job opportunities. The second job is Strategic Management. This class seems really interesting. I don't quite fully understand what all the class will encompass, but anything that has to do with business strategy is interesting in itself. After that is the Shollmier fund project. This is the same investment project course I was taking last semester. This time around I think we will focus more on fundamental analysis and valuation methods in contrast to last semester which was more technical. My last class is tonight and it is called Advanced Corporate finance. It is taught by a professor I had in the first semester, Dr. Jandik. He is a great person to learn from so I am pretty excited about this class.

Other than these classes I will be looking for jobs when I get the chance. In all honesty, it is stressing me out pretty bad, but I have plenty of time to find a job before graduation and I have a couple decent prospects. We'll see........

Spring 2010

2010-01-09T08:40:00.000-08:00

I'm ready for school. The break was good for some relaxing, job hunting and movie watching. But, now I am ready to finish up the last semester and enter the working world again. Steady paychecks and no "homework", that will be nice.

Since my last post I have continued on my movie watching binge. I decided to watch a couple movies I have never seen but felt like I should have. Namely, Wall Street and The Godfather. Both were awesome. I doubt I would have liked Wall Street as much this time last year as I did this year. A lot of the suspense in Wall Street is based upon having a fundamental knowledge of finance. So, I enjoyed it.

The Godfather was even better. I have tried to watch it before, but I never gave it my full attention and often became bored very quickly. Not this time. It is a three hour movie, but it doesn't feel like it. am looking forward to sitting down and watching the second one soonish. I hear it is better than the first.

Well, I bought books and school supplies for the last time a couple days ago. Hopefully this is an exciting and productive last couple months of school. Last semester was grueling. The first semester was a little less grueling. Hopefully, this one is just right. It's crazy to think that in about four months the saga of returning to school will come to a close. I am looking forward to it.

End of 2009

2009-12-31T11:54:00.000-08:00

In 2008, I got married and in 2009 I quit my job and went back to school. It's been a crazy couple years, and 2010 looks to be no different. This year, I will graduate from the Walton MBA program, and hopefully begin an exciting and successful career.

Exciting, successful careers never seem quite as far away as when looking for a job. I have spent this week looking for work. Not my favorite thing. I plan on spending a lot of time next week and the first couple weeks of school looking very diligently for work.

The break has been good, but I am beginning to welcome its end. Steph and I spent some time with her family over the break, and that was a really good time. This break has been really relaxing and has given me a lot of time to do some recreational reading and to catch up on some things here and there, but I am ready to get this last semester over and start working. I am ready to start solving some real world problems again.

Free Time

2009-12-19T07:45:00.000-08:00

Currently, I have more free time on my hands than any other time of my life. It is nice, but kind of weird. I have made good use of the time though. Christmas shopping, job hunting, a couple interviews, sleeping, and catching up on some movie watching. Actually, I have been almost averaging one movie a day. Here's what I have watched thus far....

Kill Bill 2- My favorite QT film. Well, maybe I should say the Kill Bill as a whole are my favorite QT film, because Vol 2 is only as good as it is set up to be from Vol 1. Anyway, it doesn't get much better than the fight between B and Ellle in Bud's trailer. Gives me chills.
Every F***ing Day of My Life (Documentary)- This is an HBO film about a women who had been the victim of domestic abuse for 20 years before killing her husband, the film is based on the 4 days of her life leading up to going to prison. Extremely sad, but very good.
Taken- When this movie was first coming out earlier this year, it looked pretty good, but then it got really bad reviews, so I decided I didn't want to see it. But, it has been on HBO a bunch this month so I decided to watch it. The movie is not technically good or anything, but I enjoyed it.
Drug Store Cowboy- A movie about drug addicts that rob pharmacies. I originally wanted to watch it because it was directed by Gus Van Sant. It was a pretty interesting movie, but I probably won't watch it again. It is one of those.
The Departed- When I first saw this movie, I didn't get why people were so excited about it. Since then, I have seen it a handful of times. This movie is really subtle in its awesomeness.
Tom Petty: Runnin Down a Dream (Documentary)- Want to watch a four hour documentary about Tom Petty? If so, then this documentary is for you. It's really good.

I think that is about it. It's been a nice break.

Fall Semester, the retrospective

2009-12-12T10:08:00.000-08:00

Done. The fall semester has finally come to a close, thank goodness. Coming into this semester I felt like it would go way smoother than the previous, but it didn't. It was just as, if not more, challenging than the spring of 2009. But it is all in the past now, only one more semester to go before this whole saga comes to a close. Until then, here were my personal highlights from the past semester...

Investments- This was a really good class. The content was really interesting and it was taught by an interesting and extremely knowledgeable professor. Not much more you can ask for out of a class. We spent a lot of time talking about market efficiency, CAPM, stock markets and the dreaded bonds (bonds are so freaking confusing).

Management- I really got a lot out of this class. Before entering the MBA program I had a couple jobs in a management role, but I never quite got the hang of managing others. Looking back at that time, I could have really benefited from taking this course. Going forward, the ideas and techniques I picked up in this class will help me alot.

And now, for the lowlights....

November- Not the whole month of November, but there was one particular week in November where everything, everything hit all at once. I think there were two tests, a couple assignments and a job interview that required me making a presentation on very short notice. Not fun.

The week leading up to my brother's wedding- My brother got married in early October, in Oakland, on a Thursday. Not the most opportune time to be traveling. In order to make it out west I had to reschedule exams and do a bunch of work early. This stressful time was only exacerbated by a huge assignment being given to me on really short notice in our Shollmier project class. Again, not fun.

Arkansas losing to Florida- I am so glad that Tebow is out of the SEC for good. That loss to Florida was really tough to take considering the refs pretty much had it out for us. I am not a big fan of blaming refs for losses, but that seemed pretty blatant.

The first half of my birthday- This year my birthday was during finals week, which meant I spent a good deal of it studying. But hey, that's grad school for you.

Thanksgiving rules

2009-11-27T18:50:00.000-08:00

I am freaking tired of eating.

Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday. It's really relaxing, and I love pecan pie.

I am taking advantage of this little down time, because once it's over, I will be busy up until school ends. With papers, finals, projects, presentations, etc, I will be in a school coma until the 11th of December. At least it will be over after that, until January.

Tomorrow, Arkansas v LSU. One of the most anticipated football games of the year for any hog fan. I was talking to some people today about how I feel that Arkansas considers LSU a big rival, but that LSU just thinks we are just another game. Oh well, they can think whatever about us as long as we keep beating them.

Bloomberg Training- Update

2009-11-21T15:00:00.000-08:00

Bloomberg training is over. It was surprisingly exhausting. Good news though, I am done being professional developed. For those that may not know, the Walton MBA program requires you to fulfill 48 hours of professional development in order to graduate. I have had trainings in Excel and PowerPoint (super useful), studied negotiations (super interesting) and now have been introduced to a huge list of Bloomberg functions (super useful and just regular interesting).

Choosing between going full-time for a MBA and going part-time was a decision I debated for a long time being entering the program. Eventually, I chose full-time and I believe I made a good decision considering my situation at the time. For anyone else having a rough time making a decision, you should know that if you chose to go part-time, and have to be in class all day one Saturday a month, as bad as that is, you will be well feed. Trust me. The part-timers had class today and me and some fellow full-timers went and raided some of their food spread during a Bloomberg break. They had all kinds of cookies, chips, fruit and other snacks. Ridiculous amounts of food. And coffee. And before that, they had a bunch of BBQ for lunch.

Worst thing about being in a training all day, didn't get to watch the Hog game. Oh well, at least we won.

Bloomberg Training

2009-11-19T07:20:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to mention something really cool. We just received a bunch of new Bloomberg terminals in our trading center. When before we only had 2, now we have like 12. In addition, tomorrow and Saturday we are having all day Bloomberg training sessions. This kind of experience will really come in handy when interviewing for finance positions. The only problem is that part of the training is on Saturday. Not only am I not a fan of doing anything school related on Saturdays, but the training is also during a Hog football game. We are playing Mississppi State this weekend, and it should be a good opportunity to see the Hogs actually beat a SEC team. I am going to record it and try my best to not have the outcome spolied before I can get home and watch it, but that usually never happens.

Super ready for the holidays. So far, my professors have been very cordial with the amount of work assigned over the holidays, but we still have three days worth of classes to go, so there is ample opportunity for them to lame out turkey day.

My Dog Loves Baked Cheetos

2009-11-13T14:22:00.000-08:00

This is my dog, Swayze. As the title of this post suggests, he loves baked Cheetos (among other foods). Why am I writing about this? For no good reason, that's why. The past couple of weeks have been terrible. Two tests, a big group project, GA work and a couple job interviews that came out of nowhere made for a hectic couple weeks. Today, I met with my mentor for the first time, and since then, I have been taking advantage of a well deserved afternoon off. It has been great. I watched some TV, did a little laundry, went to the gym, and shared some Cheetos with my dog. Tomorrow the plan is to tailgate all day before the final Razorback game in Fayetteville this year. I am thinking about trying to get ahold of some tickets. I haven't been to a game yet this year and I usually try to go to one. Anyway, the point of all this is that I am chilling out today and tomorrow before it is back to the school grind Sunday.

The semester is coming to a close which means that I am almost 66.66% done with the Walton MBA program. I wonder what I'll be doing one year from this exact point in my life? I honestly have no idea. That's pretty cool.

Mid-terms, Round 2

2009-11-05T11:20:00.000-08:00

Last semester each class had two in-class tests, a midterm and a final, and they were all scheduled around the same time. This year, I have two rounds of midterms. One has past, it as back in mid-October, the next round is next week. I have an investments and an accounting test next week, plus I will be proctoring student evaluations for six classes. I also have a lunch meeting with my mentor that was assigned to be by the graduate school. So, I am pretty busy, but what else is new.

Last week's interview went well, and I am supposed to find out about a decision sometime this week. It's Thursday, so I assume I should be hearing fairly soon.

Big football game this weekend. Arkansas has had the year that most expected, not good, not terribly bad, just a little below some middle ground between those two. This week it's South Carolina, gotta be those guys. If we can end the year 7-5 we will be in pretty good shape for a bowl game.

Job Searching

2009-10-27T08:06:00.000-07:00

As I believe I have mentioned before, I have hit a little pocket of increased free time as far as my school workload goes. As a result, I have been looking for jobs like crazy.

I hate looking for jobs.

There is something about trying to impress someone using only a single sheet of paper that is utterly ridiculous and demoralizing. Here is a short list of reasons why job searching can be a serious pain....

Where are the jobs? At times, searching for job openings on a companies' website is way harder than it should be. Sometimes it seems like companies purposely make finding the actual job openings as painful and time consuming as possible. Maybe they do this to weed-out those individuals with no patience for hunting through all the gibberish. I don't know.
Don't leave me in the dark. I hate it when companies never get back to you. If I spend the time to fill out all the information required to apply for a job, at the very least, I feel entitled to a response from the company. For the most part, this hasn't been an issue, but sometimes, they never even let you know. That's totally frustrating. To this point, yesterday I applied for a job and I was turned down within 5 minutes. Either my qualifications made it a no-brainer for them, or they are really efficient with their hiring practices. Either way, I know to move on.
Why do I have to both submit a resume, and recant my job experience? This is probably my least favorite aspect of job searching. Sometimes companies want your actual resume, plus they want to you basically retype your resume into their predetermined format. What is the point in that?
When applying online, making salary requirement a required field. I know this is important to a lot of companies when making hiring decisions, but how am I supposed to gauge how much I would require for performing a particular job duty if all I know about the position is from the little bit of information provided in a single job description. This seems like something that should be a required discussion much later in the hiring process.
Feeling like you will never get a job. This is the worst. When you've applied for 50 jobs and have zero to show for it, you feel like you are destined to deliver pizzas the rest of your life.

As I said, I hate job searching, but at least this search will be way easier than any I have had before. Receiving a Walton MBA has given me the opportunity to apply for all types of jobs, that before, I would never have been qualified for. This encourages me through my search.

Plus, there is one thing I always tell others to remember about job searching, one day you don't have a job, the next you do. These things tend to happen out of no where and all of a sudden. So, even though I was just turned down for another job (literally, as I type this), I could get a call tomorrow from someone wanting to interview me.

Big Interview

2009-10-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

With the second semester mid-terms over, we are offically halfway through the program. That's an awesome feeling, but also kind of scary considering I don't have a job lined up after school yet. The last couple of weeks I have slacked on job searching in order to study for tests, but this week and probably next week will give me a great window of opportunity to get back to the search.

While on the topic of job searching, I have a pretty big interview coming up. It's the kind of interview I have heard that MBA students can expect. The interview is with four people, the controller, assistant controller, the mangager of financial reporting and the head of audit. These are some big players in the company. The interview is scheduled to last two hours and the company head quarters are located in another state, so they are flying me to the interview. I have never been on an interview of such scale, so I am both nervous and excited about it. We'll see how it goes....

Went camping last weekend. Every year a big group of my friends have a camping trip, this year we had it on some private land so we could be as loud as possible. Pictures to come.

Back from Vacation?

2009-10-14T12:34:00.000-07:00

The past three weeks have been crazy busy. I know I say that a lot, but the past couple weeks have been especially busy, and it's all these guy's fault.....

Not really. My brother got married last week, and he lives in Oakland. It was the first time I had ever been out west. During the trip, we went to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco to check out the sea beasts, picture above. So, it wasn't the sea lions that caused me to have been ridiculously busy, it was these guys.....

This is a picture of my brother, Shane, and his wife Jenn. They got married last Thursday so I missed about a weeks worth of school to go to their wedding. It just so happened, that their wedding fell right in the middle of midterms. So, since last Monday, I have had two midterms, one final, and been to Oakland California. It was pretty nuts, but totally worth it. They got married in the Berkley hills, needless to say, it was pretty incredible up there.

At this point, I am pretty much caught up with all that I missed since I was gone, and it is a really good feeling.

In other good news, since I last posted, the Hogs have scored many touchdowns, and even won a couple games. Thank goodness. This week is Florida, so I am keeping my expectations low.

Also coming up this week is the MBA etiquette dinner where we will be taught how not to eat like savages while in a professional context. In all seriousness, at first I thought this sounded like a waste of time, I mean, I know how to eat with my mouth shut. But, as I have mentioned to people outside the MBA course of the dinner, they have said they wished they would have had such a training before they got out into the professional world, so now, I am kinda looking forward to it. Should be a chance to get some helpful information.

Touchdown

2009-09-26T14:24:00.000-07:00

Hey Arkansas, get a touchdown. (It's halftime during the Alabama game).

Another week down. I thought that this semester was going to be a little more easy going compared with the last. I figured I was used to being in school again, and my classes would be more similar in coursework than my classes last semester. It wasn't going to be so bad.

Well, that has not been the case. My classes are difficult, but interesting. I expected that. What has made this semester really busy has been the job searching. Last week I spent about 7 or 8 hours total looking for a job. Applying for one job often takes me about a half hour because of all the personal information you have to provide, plus the writing of a cover letter, which takes a while because I always try to tailor it specifically to the job I am applying for. I would really, really like to have something lined up by the end of the semester. Fingers crossed....

Well, the game is about back on, so I need to get back to watching it, and getting super frustrated.

2009-09-18T06:11:00.000-07:00

It's Friday, that means the busiest week of school to date is over. Today, I don't have to even go to campus, that feels outstanding.

This Saturday is the Arkansas, Georgia game. It's the first really exciting game of the year, so everyone is pretty pumped about it. It's too bad that it looks to be rainy tomorrow. It has been raining everyday for the past 10 days or so, and I for one am pretty tired of it. Rain tomorrow will definitely dampen tailgating efforts which is a shame because we have some friends with the best tailgating setup ever. They converted an old news van into a razorback machine equipped with TVs, a beverage dispenser, etc. It's a blast. If it rains, I am sure they will still be tailgating, but it won't be quite the same.

This semester in the MBA program is when job searching really gets amped up. I have already applied for a handful of jobs, and talked with my old employer about possibly returning. I would really, really like to have something lined up by the end of this semester, but we'll see. It's tough out there right now.

Myself and a couple other people in the finance tract have applied to be in a group that will compete in an investment research project. The project consists of researching a company and making a decision on their equity for the future. The team will eventually compete against other universities,with the eventual winners competing in Hong Kong. That would be pretty cool.

Fantasy Football

2009-09-13T14:08:00.000-07:00

I never used to watch the NFL, so I certainly never used to play fantasy football, but all that changed about three years ago. That was when a friend of mine, who also never watched the NFL or played fantasy football, convinced me to give fantasy football a shot. He told me I didn't need to be a football expert to enjoy playing, plus there is betting involved and that is fun, so I gave it a shot. As a result, today, I watch as much NFL as possible and constantly check my fantasy teams (that's right, I have more than one now) to see how they are doing. I have never had a winning season, but I still have fun playing.

Whoever invented fantasy football should be living a lavish lifestyle all at the expense of the NFL, because the number of people who are now interested in the games, and watching the games, thereby increasing ad revenue for the NFL, etc, has had to have been greatly increased by the invention of fantasy football.

Watched the second half of an outstanding documentary called When the Levee Broke. It is an HBO documentary by Spike Lee all about Katrina, the destruction it caused, the people affected, and the completely disgusting mishandling of the disaster by the government and other groups. It was very interesting, but about 4 hours long, so get comfortable.

It has been a weekend of distractions, which has been nice as this upcoming week looks to be a long one.

Holiday is Over

2009-09-08T10:58:00.000-07:00

Labor Day weekend was nice and relaxing. Did some homework, watched the game, drafted for my fantasy league. That was about it, now back to the grind.

I have class today at 4pm, then another class at 6pm that doesn't end until 9pm. Then, I have class tomorrow morning at 8am, and I won't be done until 1pm. My schedule is weird, nearly 2/3 of my classes are packed within a 23 hour period. So, as I sit, I am about to embark on nearly 10 hours of class in a fairly short time frame, after which, I will only have an hour and a half of class left until the end of the week. It is the weirdest schedule I have ever had.

Besides the weirdness of my schedule, the next two weeks appear to be very busy. Tomorrow, after class I have a mock interview with Boston Money Management. This will be a good chance to get some interview practice. Then, later this week I meet with t.he professor I am assisting and figure out a way to squeeze 15 hours out of my week to help him. Next week, on Monday we have out poster presentations about our summer internships at the alumni house. Then comes Tuesday. Tuesday is going to be a long day. I will be attending the career fair, then the Realtime Economics professional development meeting, then an investment meeting, then 4.5 hours of class, then it's straight home to sleep. Then 5 hours of class on Wednesday.

After all that at least we'll have a sweet football game to watch. Hogs and Dogs. Get'em Bobby.

Leadership

2009-09-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

I got up early today and went to the gym. This has been a regular occurrence for me for about the last month. My schedule is such this semester that the best time for me to go is in the morning, and I like it better that way. Anyway, I don't know about anyone else, but the gym is where I get a lot of my thinking done. This morning I thought a lot about what it means to be a leader.

Our Management and Leadership class has really stimulated my thinking this semester. It is thought by Mr. George Wibben, a man who considers himself a pracademic instead of an academic, mainly because he has learned what he knows about leadership from being in the workforce and through trail and error rather than from a book. His insights into what makes someone a leader and a person that others want to work for have been very interesting. Latter on in the semester we have to define what our leadership philosophy is, and that is what I spent most of the morning thinking about. Mr. Wibben has laid to rest some of the preconceived notions of what a leader is and how a leader should act, and made it more about a personal style. It has been very interesting.

Latter on this afternoon, I will be presenting in the first round of the summer internship presentation competition. Then, the weekend begins......FOOTBALL!!

Week One Recap

2009-08-29T13:29:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-24T12:50:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-17T09:19:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-11T08:52:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-06T12:57:00.000-07:00

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.

Batting 1.000

2009-07-10T09:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I presented my first ever sales pitch to a prospective client, and yesterday I got my first sale ever. So, I am 1 for 1, batting 1.000. I was able to sell a local business owner a complete web presence package offered by the
Local540. And I can say without a doubt, the knowledge I gained this past semester in Retail Marketing, plus the experience from the handful of presentations I participated in toward the end of last semester, helped make it happen. The Retail Marketing class I took helped me to better understand why someone would make a purchase. It got me thinking about what need our company could fill for local business owners, and what would be the best way to communicate that. It got me thinking about what we have to offer that goes past just a tangible object. Making the sale was a really cool feeling, but it was also cool to be able to apply what I have learned so far to a real life situation (and have it pay off).

Since Steph started working this week so we decided to have a celebratory dinner last night. We went to Bordino's. Bordino's is a fancy Italian restaurant located right on Dickson Street. The food was great.

Tonight, I am going to the Walton College Summer Social, head here for more information. Afterwards I will be going to Smoke and Barrel to see a band called The Good Fear. It is comprised of a couple friends of mine, and I can say without bias, they are awesome.

July 4th

2009-07-05T12:51:00.000-07:00

July 4th is one of my favorite holidays. This year our friends, the Gills, threw a party and it ruled. We spent the afternoon playing washers, and the evening shooting off fireworks. This year Steph and I bought one huge firework, instead of a bunch of small ones. It worked out perfect because a buddy of mine bought a bunch of small fireworks, so our's was the finale. Some good friends of ours also came down from Kansas City. It was a blast.

Also, Steph got a job. Thank goodness.

The summer is halfway over, so school is right around the corner. I am more than refreshed from the first semester at the Walton College. This Friday there is a summer social for anyone interested in persuing a MBA through the Walton College. I offered to help out with it, answer questions, sign people in, that kind of stuff. I attended last year's and it was a good time. It is a great chance to meet some faculty with the Walton College, and talk to others who are also interested in the program.

Work, food and movies

2009-06-27T11:37:00.000-07:00

I just finished up my second stint working for Local540 and the Fayetteville Flyer . This time around I have really been focusing on the selling Local540 to local business owners. I have gone on numerous sales meetings with my supervisor, and hence, now feel comfortable enough to talk to prospective clients about it. I developed my own sales presentation based loosely on my supervisor's, but I added some key elements that I think will really improve it. We will see. Switching back to my contractor assistant position is kind of coming at a bad time as I have really picked up some steam with Local540, then again, the extra time will get me a chance to practice and get event hat more comfortable with my sales pitch. I am by no means a salesman, so really, I need all the practice I can get.

Steph and I have been in a restaurant rut. We have been going to the same three or four places routinely for the last couple months so we have vowed to be more exploratory as far as restaurants go. Yesterday, we went to Petra Cafe . It is a local Greek restaurant, and it was freaking delicious. I got a lamb and beef gyro, side salad and a bowl of lentil soup for an extremely reasonable price. Everything was super fresh. It was awesome. For lunch today, I went to Geraldi's with my Local540 coworkers. I split a pepperoni and meatball pizza with my friend. It ruled. It was a classically good pizza, but the meatballs really set it off.

Last week we rented Man on Wire . It is about the wire walker who walked a wire between the World Trade Centers. That's all I'll say about it besides you should see it. It was outstanding. Especially since I feel like I haven't really seen anything good lately.

Hogball

2009-06-20T08:25:00.000-07:00

Hog baseball has come to an end for the season at the hands of the mighty LSU Tigers. Yesterday's 14-5 loss was a schooling for the Hogs who really didn't stand a chance. They were coming in with no pitching, and a bunch of position players having to play out of their natural position. Arkansas pretty much left everything they had left on the field when they played Virginia on Wednesday. It was awesome to see them on the biggest stage of college baseball and play well. Should help with recruiting.

With that said, baseball is over, which means football is around the corner. For anyone that hasn't gone to a "football" school (the UofA is defiantly a football school), even if you are just a casual sports fan, football season is a freaking blast. It's so much fun that I start to get excited about it in April, and the excitement just builds until August.

When I first moved to Arkansas in high school, I didn't know anything about football, and I didn't care either. How things have changed. I think it is just this town. It's excitement over Razorback football is contagious and after a while there is no fighting it, you become a fan of Razorback football. You may never become a fan of the sport itself, but when you wake up on Saturday morning you can't help but be pumped. All anyone cares about is the game and you can feel it in the air.

Soon there will be tailgating, BBQing, yelling at opposing team's fans, enjoying beverages, hours and hours of football watching, etc, etc.

Notice I didn't mention anything about the team having to be any good for football season to rule. Truly, it doesn't matter, it helps, but ultimately,it doesn't matter. Football season is still a blast.

That being said, I think we will be pretty decent this year, a little better than last, but not by much. Our timing on offense will probably still be a little off with a quarterback that hasn't played consistently in a couple years, but our defense looks to be better. At least we will have some linebackers this year.

Ready for School

2009-06-13T07:51:00.000-07:00

The title of this post is a little deceiving. It's not that I am so ready for school to start back up or anything, but the sooner it stats back up, the sooner I will be done with my graduate studies, and the sooner I can begin my new career.

I have looked for some jobs in Fayetteville, and other cities in the Midwest, and a lot of them have stated they prefer to have someone with an MBA. It feels good to see that, as my bachelors in psychology was never really a selling point in any of my previous job searches.

Plus, I am just looking forward to the possibility of moving out of Arkansas. Steph is all for it. She has lived in Arkansas for nearly 20 years, and I have lived in Fayetteville for about 12 years or so. We love it here, it really is beautiful, but we are ready for a change, if it happens. I will also be way more confident in my ability to find a job in a new city after graduating from the Walton College.

I am about to switch back to working for the Local540 . It will be nice to get a break from remodeling the kitchen we are working on as my body is beaten and bruised from all the labor.

Bad weekend for the Joneses

2009-06-04T14:29:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted in a while, mainly because I started working with a contractor friend of mine, and I have pretty much been exhausted during each and every moment of my free time. It has been fun. But as the title of this post suggests, we have just come off a monumentally bad weekend for two reasons.

One, we went floating. Sounds harmless enough, right? And it would have been if either Steph or I had ever been floating. We went with a large group of people and had expected to both be paired up with experienced canoers, but that's not how it ended up. We ended up together. We floated the Mulberry which we hear is not the best river to learn how to canoe on. Long story short, we tipped (a lot), got dragged along rocks, and I lost my wedding ring. It was 6 hours of misery.

Two, and the main reason for the crappy weekend, Steph lost her job.

So, we are pretty ready for some good things to come our way.

My dog is named Swayze

2009-05-25T14:09:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-18T18:14:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-12T10:28:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-07T08:21:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-05T09:21:00.000-07:00

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.

Summer is coming

2009-04-29T17:42:00.000-07:00

School is winding down (6 days left), so, more and more I have been thinking about the upcoming summer. I don't have a whole lot going on, as of right now. Usually, I make it up to St. Louis to see the Cards play, which is always one of the highlights of my year, but I don't think I will be able to make it this year. Mainly because the only plans I do have conflict with going to St. Louis. My mother's side of the family has a yearly fish fry, and this will be the first year I actually make it. I am really looking forward to it. There will be a bunch of family there that I rarely get to see, and they always provide an entertaining time. It will be cool.

Other than that, no plans. No doubt I will spend my fair share of evenings hanging out with friends and enjoying beverages. I don't feel like I have seen them much lately, I have some catching up to do.

11 days

2009-04-24T18:06:00.000-07:00

11 days until I can officially put my first semester of grad school in the books. With that said, this is going to be a pretty awful 11 days. I will pretty much have my face in a book, my laptop or on my pillow for a couple glorious hours sleep, until the 5th of May. Then, my brain can rest, and I can hang out with my wife.

My summer internship search has officially come to an end. I will be working with Wonder State Media. They are a start up media group currently running a couple of the websites totally centered around Fayetteville and Northwest Arkansas. Find them here, www.fayettevilleflyer.com and here, www.local540.com. Working with them will provide me with the experience of knowing what it takes to start a company from scratch. It will also give me a lot of marketing and sales experience. I am really looking forward to it. As for income, I will be working some construction with my friend.

Oh, and I picked my tract for grad school, I am going with what I intended to do from the very beginning, finance.

Baseball season is in full swing again, and I couldn't be happier.

Class on Friday?

2009-04-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right. It is 8 in the morning on a Friday and we have class. It will be the only time this semester that it will happen, thankfully. The class itself won't be bad though. It is for Supply Chain, and it is based around some simulated supply chain game. It should provide a chance for us to apply some of the things we have learned this semester. Plus, it only lasts half the day, so that is nice as well.

My summer internship search has officially come to an end. I have had a handful of interviews, but unfortunately, nothing panned out for me. Thankfully, I believe that I will have an opportunity to work for a local business run by a couple of friends of mine. It would be a great chance for me to learn how running a small business works. Also, I might end up working with a contractor friend of mine. I have never worked any kind of manual labor or construction, but oddly, I am kind of looking forward to it.

Bacon Day

2009-04-11T09:29:00.000-07:00

Today is bacon day. A good friend of mine is turning 30 today, and to celebrate, he is hosting a bacon day. A day to celebrate pork. He has asked people to bring bacon inspired dishes. Steph and I are just now putting the finishing touches on some bacon ice cream we made. I have heard someone is bringing some bacon toffee, which sounds really gross to me, but we will see. My friend also bought a 50lb pig to roast. I am sure someone will also bring the bacon explosion thing. Which also sounds pretty gross to me, but Steph had some a month ago and she said it was really good.

Last night as I was loading some new music onto my ipod, my computer froze and I had to restart it. In doing so, I erased my ipod. There are few things in this world more annoying then erasing the entire contents of your ipod, then having to spend the next hour and a half reloading it. Which I did. But the fun didn't stop there. As I was reloading it, I found that there was a bunch of stuff I didn't have in my library, so this morning I have a stack of CDs I am in the process of updating my library with. It sucks, but it must be done. An ipod is a rare product for me, in that if it ever breaks, I will immediately go out and get a new one. That's just the way it is.

Glad the past week is over. School has been zero fun lately. Looking forward a much needed break from it.

Unlucky

2009-04-04T12:54:00.000-07:00

As of tomorrow, my wife and I will have been together for 7 years. When we got married back in October, I figured we would stop celebrating our April anniversary, which is the anniversary of our first dating, and only celebrate our new wedding anniversary in October. My wife quickly informed me that I was, in fact, wrong. We now have two anniversaries a year.

So we "celebrated" today by going to Cherokee Casino (about 35 minutes away). I had grand ideas of getting rich, or at least winning enough to buy a Dyson vacuum (lame but true). It took us all of 20 minutes to totally go bust at the blackjack tables. So, for my lifetime, I have gambled twice, played for a combined 35 minutes, and lost a combined 150 dollars. I am going to forgo doing the math on these figures. I know it's not good.

Bracket status: Failure

2009-03-30T17:53:00.000-07:00

Another year down, another ten bucks thrown down the toilet. Thanks March Madness. Actually, thanks Pitt, Kansas, Syracuse and Memphis. Thanks a bunch.

Our marketing group may have finally pulled itself out of the Markstrat basement. We have been consistently last in our industry, last by a lot. But this past week, we pulled within a few stock points of not being in last, we were almost second to last. That may not seem very exciting to most, but to us , it's a big deal. We have always put a lot of work into Markstrat, but have never seen any positive results. Maybe things are turning around for us.

I've got a couple interviews coming up in the next two weeks for summer internships. Hopefully, something works out. The semester is coming to a close, and I've yet to secure any work for the summer. It's a weird feeling for me, I've not been unemployed since I was 17.

The Finish Line

2009-03-27T15:26:00.000-07:00

Found out yesterday that our last final this semester will be on May 5th. It's a cool feeling knowing that the end is getting close. It's not cool when I realize the amount of work that needs to be done between now and then. So, so, so much to do.

One of the tasks I need to address soon is which tract I will choose to pursue as I continue my graduate education. The Walton College offers four different tracts: marketing, finance, entrepreneurship, and supply chain. Right now I can't decide between finance and marketing. Marketing would fit better with my psychology background, but finance really appeals to me. I like them both, and I don't think I would be making a mistake choosing one over the other, but my decision will affect the rest of my time in school so I want to make the best choice. More and more I lean toward marketing, especially since I'm not opposed to staying in this area, and with the size of the vendor community in Northwest Arkansas, it would make a lot of sense.

My weekend officially started about 1 hour ago, after I finished my finance test. It's not due until Tuesday, so I have some time to review and double check my answers before I turn it in.

No real plans this weekend, besides relaxing. I might go to the gym tomorrow, and I need to buy some cereal, but that's it.

Back to Reality

2009-03-23T17:08:00.001-07:00

Spring break has come and gone. The highlight was definitely a trip Steph and I took this past weekend to Kansas City (about 3.5 hours away) to see some friends. We spent all day Saturday hanging out on their front porch, and playing washers in their front yard. It was a nice, relaxing end to a spring break that was filled with a little more school work than I wanted. I needed to get caught up on some things and get a head start on others, so it was a necessary evil. Even with the school work, I found time to read The Watchmen then see the movie, go to a razorback baseball game (which is free for students), take my dog to the vet, and get caught up on some TV watching. So, all in all, a spring break well spent.

I also got a chance to see Rachael Getting Married. It was good, but I don't ever want to see it again. It left me totally exhausted.

Tomorrow morning I have a phone interview for a summer internship. The interview was set up through the Career Center within Walton College. The Career Center has been an incredible asset. I have never had a phone interview before, so I am not sure how not being able to pick up on visual cues given by an interviewer will affect my performance. Hopefully it goes well, I am pretty excited about the position.

The Basics

2009-03-14T11:34:00.000-07:00

I am a 28 year old, recently married, graduate student originally from St. Louis but currently living in Fayetteville Arkansas. My main interests are running, music, sports (baseball and football), films, and spending time with people who make me laugh. But, as of late, most of these activities have been put on hold, as I decided to go back to school.

After spending 3 frustrating years working in the social work field after receiving a BS in psychology, I set my sights on new, more personally satisfying endeavors. The business world. Yeah, I didn't see it coming either.

I worked in accounting for a while before deciding to go back to school. I choose to pursue my graduate studies at the University of Arkansas' Walton College. It has now been 2 months since beginning my quest for the Walton MBA, and it is safe to say that my decision to attend the Walton College was a smart one. I have been completely satisfied with my experience to this point. The classes are interesting and challenging, taught by some of the most knowledgeable people I have ever had the chance to learn from. Also, the facilities are outstanding. Walker Hall really was build with the student in mind, and it shows. To top if off, the administrative staff has been very helpful with all my questions and concerns, which has been great, because I tend to have a lot of questions and concerns.

Right now, I am on spring break for the first time in five years, and it is great. I have caught up on some much needed, stress-free sleep. The past two weeks were consumed with mid-terms, so I am taking every chance I get to relax and give my brain a rest, because when school starts back up, I expect it to get even worse.

There's your 28 year recap.