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.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Free Time
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.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Fall Semester, the retrospective
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.
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.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Thanksgiving rules
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.
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.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Bloomberg Training- Update
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.
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.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Bloomberg Training
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.
Friday, November 13, 2009
My Dog Loves Baked Cheetos
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.
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