Saturday, September 26, 2009

Touchdown

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.

Friday, September 18, 2009

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.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Fantasy Football

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.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Holiday is Over

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.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Leadership

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!!