DarqByte

I understand there are plenty of voices out there with varying opinions on Apple’s new iPad, announced yesterday. For some inexplicable reason I want to voice my opinions too! Hey, I’m a nerd, I’m allowed to voice my opinion on matters such as these because I’m somewhat knowledgeable. That, and I’m a consumer of technology so my opinion does indeed matter.

Interface & Input

My first thought on the iPad is: looks neat. Really, it does. I think this style of computing could be the future. Now I know what you’re saying. You’re saying it’s been tried before, most notably by Microsoft, and it never took off. Well, a couple things regarding this point:

1. Digital MP3 players didn’t take off until Apple released one with a good interface.
2. Smartphones didn’t really take off until Apple released one with a good interface.

See the theme? Good interfaces. And this is yet again the difference that Apple has created with the iPad when compared to all other tablet-style computers that have come out before. If there’s one thing Apple is really good at, it’s interfaces. Sure, their interfaces might not hold up under the test of time when newer ideas and technology comes out, but when Apple does release new interfaces for products, usually it’s either groundbreaking in some manner.

And that’s where the iPad shines whereas previous Windows-based tablets never took off. They designed the interactions of the software around the input style of multitouch with contextual keyboards. The Windows-based tablets were just touch capabilities tacked on to the existing Windows platform, which didn’t work because the existing Windows platform was designed for a keyboard and mouse. The iPad’s interface is totally redesigned from normal computing. That, and it’s based off of the iPhone’s advances, which uses the same touch interface so they had a base of success to start with here.

Revolutionary? I think this is the start of a new wave of computing. Interacting more intuitively with technology is the way to go. I can just imagine humankind eventually getting to the style of computing seen in Minority Report and other movies that show more physically-based interactions with technology than using peripherals. I like the idea of using an iPad in the manner shown, as well as the keyboard attachment because it will likely be necessary at times.

E-Books

So let’s move on to the whole e-books concept. I got Laura a Kindle for Christmas because I knew she’d like it and she loves to read. I won’t get into the many reasons I got her the Kindle beyond that. I knew at the time of the rampant rumors surrounding Apple’s mythical tablet device and decided that I didn’t think the Kindle would be killed. So will it?

No, I don’t think so. First of all, the iPad will use DRM-enabled books like the Kindle does. Secondly, the Kindle is function-specific. Sure, the iPhone is multifunction as well and that’s one of the successful pieces of it. I’m sure it will be the same way with the iPad. But the Kindle is also much cheaper and will likely get cheaper still with the iPad announcement.

One other thing that the Kindle has going for it: the e-ink display. I know some people don’t like the refresh of an e-ink display, but e-ink requires no backlight. As a result, it is much better on the eyes. Additionally, the Kindle’s battery life is phenomenal compared to the iPad, again in part because of the lack of a backlight. And if the books are all available on the Kindle as well, it will always have a market.

I think the only way the Kindle dies out entirely is if books aren’t available on it but are for the iPad. I’m pretty sure that’s the only way that will happen. People want these devices for their content, so where the content is the device sales will go. I, for one, hope that books keep coming out on the Kindle so Laura can keep getting them. Even if they’re available on both systems, because the Kindle is smaller and easier on the eyes. Laura can carry it in her purse, but couldn’t with the iPad.

One more thing about e-books. There’s talk of textbooks appearing in the iBookstore for the iPad. If that’s the case and my textbooks starting this fall are actually available for the device, that may prompt be to buy it, so long as I can do book-like things with them, like bookmarks, highlighting, notes, etc. My textbooks for this spring semester weren’t available on the Kindle, but an older edition of one of them was, for $110 less. That’s why I want textbooks on a digital reader. Cheaper and much more portable.

Judging by what I saw of the book-related functionality, that seems almost like an add-on, “Oh, let’s try and take this market over too!” thing. The book-related functionality was definitely not the focus. I don’t necessarily think it was an afterthought, but Apple doesn’t seem intent on taking it over in quite the same way they’ve taken music over. But ultimately, who knows. Maybe they want to pwn Amazon after all.

Wifi & 3G

I find the whole $130 more to get 3G abilities a bit much. If I were to get one, I’m not sure I’d opt for the 3G capabilities. Not when I have an iPhone too, anyway. I can just tether it. But the pricing on the 3G monthly rates is good, especially with the lack of a contract.

Name

Yeah, the name sucks. They need a new one but it won’t happen. Oh well. I think even iAwesomeness would have been better…

Price

I touched on the 3G price hike a bit, but at $499 for the base model, that’s phenomenal given what you actually get for the iPad. And the iWork apps for $10 each is an excellent value as well. I’d probably opt for the mid- to high-range storage capacities myself, si”d spend anywhere from $600-$700 on an iPad. I guess I’d consider the 3G connectivity a little bit, but I just don’t see the pressing need for it… Although now just thinking about it, enabling tethering on the iPhone is expensive with AT&T, so maybe I’d pony up the $130.

Final Thoughts

Yeah, I like it. Enough that I’d consider getting an iPad over a MacBook Pro, which is what I want my next technology purchase to be so I have a more portable laptop than my current behemoth. I don’t really need an MBP, so an iPad might fit the bill for the kinds of things I’d want to use it for. Like I said, if this fall rolls around and my textbooks are available on the iPad, and significantly cheaper to purchase for it than in print… Likely I would become a new iPad owner.

Robert School, Technology apple, ipad, kindle

Some people know that I used to co-own a business. It was called Dambert Lush, it was an electronics e-commerce website. My friend Damian Sheets and I owned it. It never really took off, and a lot of the reason for that was that we had no money to start it. Aside from the fact that electronics e-commerce websites are extremely plentiful, we just didn’t have the advertising money to get the name of DL out there. It was running for over a year but we shut it down because we couldn’t ever get it rolling well. I re-bought the domain recently and have it pointed to DarqFlare Enterprises.

Anyway, I bring this up because my MBA courses relate to starting a business. I mean, one of the reasons I’m getting an MBA is because I eventually want to start a successful business and work for myself. That’s a theme I’m sure you’ve seen pop up here on my blog time and time again. I want to work for myself, that’s my ultimate career goal. Even if it’s working hard, I want to work for myself. As I’ve said before, right now my ideal job is working on OMGN for a living.

In any case, my accounting class’ textbook has actually made me more aware that I want to start a business again. There are examples all over that book of people starting businesses, and they’re obviously always in reference to accounting systems to ensure that money is kept track of appropriately. Some of these businesses have been started with very low funds, albeit more funds than Damian and I had to start DL. But it all just reminds me of where I want to be and where I’m at now.

The start-up funds aspect of businesses is what’s staring me in the face right now. To start many businesses, you need to have seed money. There are many types of businesses, but the two that have been covered so far in more detail in the text are service-based businesses and inventory-bases businesses.

Service-based companies basically accept money to provide a service. There’s no inventory costs really and the start-up cost for a business like this is pretty low. Hell, this is a kind of business I could likely start without any funds, but the problem here is that the income from the business wouldn’t be high enough to cover my family’s expenses. Yet another limitation on me right now.

Inventory-based companies typically have to purchase merchandise then sell it back to other companies or consumers to make a profit. There’s a considerably higher amount of money involved in getting these types of businesses off of the ground since they’ve got to get inventory and a place to put it. This was what Dambert Lush was, but since we were a dropshipper, we didn’t have to hold inventory. Still, our marginal profits were really low and there weren’t enough of them. No advertising, remember?

Anyway, all of this introspection on starting a business and going into the accounting of businesses this semester has really told me that, yeah, starting a business is hard work, is more of a crapshoot than it should be and that you’re very likely to fail many times before getting it right. I’m alright with that and I’d be even more alright with that if I wasn’t married. See, I’d be much more inclined to take risks since it would just be me that I’m impacting. But I’m not. I have Laura to think about and the potential for having a family in the future.

A lot of Web 2.0 companies have started with guys living in their parents’ houses. Many of these people starting these new successful companies were single when they started them. They had relatively low costs of living and a lot of time to burn. I don’t fit the bill at all. Now I’m not blaming Laura or using her as a crutch here, I’m just being realistic. I’d have a much better opportunity and chance of success if I were single, didn’t own a home or any pets and had craploads of expendable time to put towards a big project that won’t make me any money for years.

However, I’m not in that situation. So I have to wait. Wait until Laura and I have more money stowed away for me to start a business with. Wait until we have fewer monetary obligations than we do now (i.e. vehicle payments and student loans). And if we have kids, then that’ll impact the likelihood of my starting a new venture. I’m just trying to figure out if it’s ever going to be a viable thing, me starting a business.

As I’ve said before, really the biggest thing keeping me from working on OMGN full time is the fact that I have to go out and earn a living. If I could pipe all of that time towards the site, I have no doubt it would grow and get bigger and better in stature as time went on. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. All of the responsibilities and obligations I’ve built into my life make it impossible to spend the kind of time and effort required to build OMGN into what I want it to be. Sure, you can say “work on it a little each day and it will grow!” but it won’t ever grow enough. Sites like OMGN require constant updating, which isn’t something I can do and it isn’t something I can expect people to do on my behalf for free or very, very damn cheap either. It’s just not feasible.

So here I am, wondering if I’ll really ever be able to start a business anytime soon. Sure, when I’m in my 40s sometime we’ll probably be in a much better financial position to take a risk like that. But let’s say for example I’m 48 then. I imagine by then we likely won’t have big money-draining kids with us by then, or at least we’ll be charging them enough in rent to make up the difference (haha). I’ll be 48 with about 25 years generated in my 401k and plenty of time in Laura’s IRA. Other financial retirement accounts will likely have money for us then as well. At the end of my 40s, would I rather just bide my time until I can retire, which may be very soon in my 50s, or put a bunch of money towards a business that may jeopardize my family’s financial well-being?

I may need to adjust my priorities. I do like my life as it is now. I love my wife, I’m enjoying my pursuit of higher education and I know I’m fucking good at my job. Sure, I want to move up there as well, that’s another shorter-term goal I have for my career. But maybe this whole starting a business thing just isn’t in the cards. Maybe I should just look at my life, adjust my priorities and be happy. But then again, that’s not my style now, is it? I’m a bit like Laura in this regard. I want bigger and better things for my family, for my career and for me. I want to achieve things and leave my mark on this world. I don’t want to settle, I don’t want to sit stagnant and watch other talented people in the world shape this world. I want to take my place with those people. I just hope I can reconcile my desires for grandeur with reality.

Robert Life, School business, delusions of grandeur, mba, omgn

34 inches? I know what you’re thinking about but no, I’m not talking about that. 34 would be selling myself way short anyway.

The latest chapter in my whole “make myself look and feel better” thing has arrived. I’ve been putting off getting new clothes mainly because I wanted to complete my weight loss first. I didn’t want to have to buy a bunch of clothes in a stopgap fashion. Unfortunately, my last two pairs of jeans bit the dust, so I was forced to replace them. They were Levi’s, and they were built rather well. The only problem was that it was tough to find 38-30s that weren’t below my heels. They weren’t truly 30s so I kept stepping on them and wearing down the bottom of the pant legs. For the record, I really needed 37s, not 38s. They don’t make 37s.

Now I’m in 34s! 34-30s and they aren’t too long. This makes me a very happy person. I’ve lost at least 30 pounds and 3 inches off of my waist. Good stuff. I’ve recently begun making progress again and I anticipate hitting the 175 mark by the end of this month or early February. That would be 35 pounds off since I started nearly a year ago. I think my target is 160, but I won’t really know until I get there.

I recently looked at photos of me when I went to just the mustache, the Robstache. Wow I’ve lost weight since then. I do look better. Still got further to go. Additionally, I’m going to try to start running in the mornings with Pepper (and potentially Laura). I was supposed to start this week, but being excessively tired when my alarm went off put the kabash on things. Hopefully I’ll start tomorrow.

And if I do start tomorrow, wow what a day it will be. Today I start my next semester of MBA courses. In 50 minutes, actually. I’m in Lied Library right now. But because my classes are on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I’ve signed up to play soccer on Wednesdays. I was originally waffling on the decision, but Laura’s support for me switching days and the fear of getting really out of shape spurred me to sign up. In any case, tomorrow’s my first Wednesday day of soccer on a new individual coed team, and for some odd reason we have two games tomorrow… What the fuck. Two games? A doubleheader? I’ve done it before, but by choice not by facility scheduling. Running in the morning plus two soccer games in the evening. Wow.

And that’s not the end of it! I told my Thursday soccer team I’d make the games if they were late enough, which is basically 9pm or later. So the 9:10 game this Thursday? Yup, I can make that. And I’m hoping to run on Thursday morning as well. Which would make three runs (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) and three soccer games from Wednesday morning to Friday morning. Wow. See why I think I’ll hit 175 this month?

In other news, I wish I had endless time to do everything I want to do. Not only am I trying to find time to work on OMGN 4, I want to write a memoir about my video game life until, well, now. I think it would be very interesting because I don’t think there’s much of anything like that out now. And I’m a pretty good example of someone who gamed a lot when they were a kid and make the transition to being a responsible (well, at least I think so) adult with a married life and a job and other normal responsibilities.

This brings me to another subject: video games. Specifically, the original Atari joystick. See, my friend Jonathan recently got a tattoo in Elvish from Lord of the Rings. He loves it and I’ve always wanted a tattoo and I’ve always loved video games. I wasn’t 100% set on what tattoo I wanted but I knew I wanted a video game-related one, especially after seeing Anne’s roommate Ed’s “Mario 1up” tattoo he’s got. See, I didn’t want a tattoo that was system- or franchise-specific, I wanted one that represented video games as a whole. Now I know the Atari joystick is still Atari, but it represents so much more than that these days. And I’m asking Jonathan to give me a nice illustration of it so I can verify I indeed want to get it permanently marked on my body.

Laura’s been making sure I really want one, and I do. I am, however, curious to know what you all think of it…

Anyway, that’s it for now. Chat at you all later when I know more about my spring courses and I can let you know if I think I’ll be on track to continue my pursuit of a 4.0.

Robert Athletics, Life, Musings, School soccer, unlv, Video Games, weight loss

My inaugural MBA semester is over. I took one final last week in Stats because Organizational Behavior did not require a final unless you wanted to take it. Today, I got my grades.

Aced, bitches! I aced both classes! Boo-yah!

I am very happy with this result. I went into this degree with the intention of doing as good as I possibly could. I want to continue my trend of increasing my GPA at each new higher level of learning. My unweighted high school GPA was 3.4 (weighted, it was over 4). My undergraduate GPA was 3.56. And now I’m starting off my graduate GPA with a stunning 4.0!

Granted, it’s only two courses. It might be more of an achievement if I was taking a full load of four courses. The mitigating factors here are that I’m also working full time and I’m married. I want to actually spend time with my wife. That, and since it’s graduate-level courses, I want to really be able to apply my time and thought towards the course material. This is stuff I really want to learn.

So I’m tooting my own horn here, and rightfully so! I don’t do it often enough. Well here you go, the reasons why I absolutely rock right now!

1. I had a 2 1/2 year gap between undergraduate and graduate courses. Significant layoff, and I still performed! Time off an be a killer because the longer you’re in school, the more of a rhythm you get into.
2. My graduate degree isn’t in the same field as my undergraduate degree, let alone my current job.
3. The Stats course is basically the filter course for the MBA program. It knocks people out that are unworthy.

And I friggin’ aced them both! Hell yeah! Obviously I’d love to aim for a 4.0 GPA after I’m done and get my degree, but I’ll settle for better than a 3.56. Honestly, I’ll settle for getting the degree regardless of the GPA, but as a personal challenge to myself, I want to get a 4.0.

Robert School 4.0, gpa, mba

So it’s the end of the year, and you know what that means! Yes, it means final exams at the end of my first MBA semester and self evaluations at work!

Food Poisoning

Unfortunately, it also means I got food poisoning… Not that it happens every year around this time. The last time this happened, Laura was either a Copy Editor or the News Editor for The Rebel Yell back when we were both in our undergrad studies at UNLV. That time was really awful, this one was just as bad.

To be truly honest, I’m not sure 100% that it was indeed food poisoning, just as back then I’m not sure what it was either. All I know is that I couldn’t keep any food or water down for very long and there were times (specifically, when I wasn’t keeping said food or water down) that I felt I was going to die. Not the most remarkable experience ever. Thus, I had to stay home from work yesterday, which I didn’t want to do, but hey… Not much I could do about it. I was pretty incapacitated.

Hell, I even considered playing some Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 that Laura got for me as a just-because surprise gift (She rocks! Love her!), but I couldn’t focus or concentrate enough to even do that. So I just laid on the couch, intermittently sleeping and “watching” TV and trying to eat and failing.

Today, though, I’m mostly back to normal. Still don’t feel quite right, but I can eat & drink and operate like a regular human being again. I anticipate tomorrow being 100% again.

Final Exams

So enough about food poisoning! Let’s address final exams. Rather, final exam. Just one this time around.

My Organizational Behavior class was structured with an optional final. This means that if you ended up with a decent grade, you shouldn’t take the final simply because if you do worse on the final than the grade you had going into it, you could seriously damage your grade. Thus, I checked my grade. Yeah, with that big beaming A staring me in the face, I’m not taking the final. Boo-yah!

So I only have one final then, and that’s Stats. Ugh. Not the class I want to be taking a final in. I’ve been doing alright in there and I have a shot at an A, it seems, but my group project needs to be pretty solid and I need to get roughly a C or so on the final to get the A. I think I can do it, and I really want to. I’m aiming to have the best grades of my educational career in the MBA program. So far I’ve accomplished bettering my grades at every level, having gotten a 3.4 (unweighted) in high school and a 3.56 in undergrad. If I can better that getting my MBA, then you could say I get better with age.

Self Evaluation

So it’s the end of the year and self evaluations are floating around work. That doesn’t really make me the happiest man on the planet, as I get to sift through an entire year’s worth of work to figure out what I’ve done well, what I haven’t and to note any accomplishments. That, and I’m not particularly good at being assertive and promoting myself very well.

These are things I’ve been working on improving in myself lately, with some mixed success. I figure this self evaluation will be one of my first opportunities to be more assertive and sell myself better within the company. I still haven’t moved up and I want to, so this is a prime opportunity to voice that.

I’m also never really sure how to rate myself. I never have been, really. Like when asked what my level of experience is with different technologies, such as HTML, CSS, PHP, Java, etc. I never know what to say beyond Intermediate. I want to say Expert, but when I say Expert, I take that as meaning I’m leaps and bounds better than your average programmer with those skills and technologies. When I say I’m an expert at something, I intend to convey that I’m THE FUCKING MAN.

Indeed, that feeds into my assertiveness and self promotion. I really should give myself more credit than I usually do. I know that I’m an integral, vital part of my department here at work and that a lot of the stability here is due to me (and my tremendous boss Randy Kochis, to be sure).

I do feel that since I’ve got such an effective boss that I’m a bit overshadowed and get pigeonholed too easily. I just feel that it’s difficult to really shine in my department here at work because Randy is so good at what he does and can take on more and more responsibilities easily. He’s actually one of the people I’m trying to model some of my career after, not a bad example if I do say so myself.

So yeah, my whole point here is that self evaluations are around again and I just hope I don’t over- or under-value myself too much this year. The first year I did these I undervalued myself pretty badly when compared to my superiors’ evaluations of me, and last year I overvalued myself just slightly…

Maybe I’m just destined to be a code monkey the rest of my life??

Robert Life, Musings, School, Work assertiveness, final exams, food poisoning, mba, self evaluation, self promotion, unlv

So I figured I’d give you a progress report on me in the MBA program as well as some other stuff. This’ll be relatively brief as I don’t have long to write.

I’m taking two classes, as I’ve mentioned before, stats and organizational behavior. Stats is pretty blah for me. I’m somewhat interested in the subject material, but the instructor is really tough to learn from. I don’t think his teaching style works too well for me, and a lot of other students in the class feel the same way. Nonetheless, I think I’ve currently got a high B in there, so as long as I can at least maintain momentum, I’ll pass. But I want an A, dammit.

I’ve been writing numerous case studies and doing group projects and craploads of reading for organizational behavior too. I actually forgot to print and bring the one due today with me, so I have to book it home to print it and bring it back to UNLV with me. Garr. But I’m enjoying the class nonetheless.

Finally, my meeting with the Career Services office ended up with them suggesting to me to work on OMGN for an hour a day. And I’ve been trying pretty hard to keep working on it. I posted my first review up on the site in a long time and I’ve been working on and off on the new database structure and codebase. I’m hoping to have it deployed sometime next summer, heh. It’s gonna take some time.

Well, gotta go!

Robert Development, School forgetfulness, mba, omgn, unlv

Robert Life, School, Work assertiveness, employment, mba, promotion, strengths, weaknesses

Finally, my long-awaited post about my adventures in the UNLV MBA program! Well, really, I’ve only completed one actual week of courses, but there’s so much more to talk about involving this program. Hopefully I’ll keep this shorter than 2,000 words.

Prep

So obviously I had to prepare for the program. I won’t go too far back into the history of my taking the GMAT and applying for the program. I’ve already talked about that. I never really came out and said it but yes, UNLV accepted me to the program.

I met with some officials for t he program and they suggested I consider doing the joint MBA/Masters MIS program. Since I considered at one point to pursue a Masters in MIS, I’ve taken it into consideration. Right now I decided to go for an MIS emphasis, but should I decide to increase the number of courses I’m taking per semester, I’ll probably move up to the joint program.

I decided to do most of my prep work such as getting a parking pass and books during the orientation week they had for us. Basically, the last week of summer before classes started saw us hitting campus Monday through Thursday from 5:30pm to 8:30pm to become oriented. Haha. Friday was a food & drink mixer at Bahama Breeze (yummy jerk chicken there).

Orientation

I began prepping for orientation before I even got there. They required business casual dress for all five days of orientation, and unfortunately, I didn’t have a week’s worth. I never have to dress up for work, so dressing business casual for an entire week would have seen me wearing the same pair of pants all five days and very likely having to re-wear a shirt or two. I don’t know how many shirts I had.

So that Monday I ran to the outlet mall near work during my lunch break and grabbed two more pairs of pants. Now I had three (or so I thought, I’ll touch on that later).

Since I get off of work at 4pm and orientation didn’t start until 5:30pm, I decided to hit up the bookstore and see what books I needed to get. Since they were pretty cheap, when compared to how much collegiate books can cost, I bought them on the spot. I also looked at backpacks because I needed a new one. Didn’t buy one, though.

The first day of orientation was really a true orientation. We got to meet many of the people involved with the program, including the coordinators of the joint degree programs. We got a couple presentations on how to get the most out of the MBA program and got to meet a lot of our fellow MBA students.

So Tuesday rolls around… I went and bought three nice shirts during my lunch break again. Now I finally had enough clothes to wrap up the whole week. I even went with a couple lighter-colored shirts as I’m starting to want some diversity.

I ran by parking services before Tuesday’s proceedings to buy a $3 plastic placard to hang from my rear-view mirror to put the parking pass on. Hurrah.

Tuesday saw a presentation on, well, presenting. The presenter was in the College of Education and he was giving us tips and ideas on how to be better in front of crowds and audiences because managers typically have to make presentations. We eventually divided into groups and mock presented to each other. The groups then decided on whom to send in front of the entire audience to present theirs. I nearly had to go for mine, but my group-mate Chris ended up going after I defeated him in Rochambeau. I rarely lose at that game.

Before the collection of students on Wednesday, I ran into the Student Union and got a couple things done, such as re-setting up my computer systems logon and I got my new RebelCard in. Saw Sean Conolly in there as well, which was nice to see him again.

I also swung by the bookstore again and got my backpack. Well, it’s not a backpack but a side bag. I like it better that way.

Wednesday saw us in the first of two full days of team building, led by Stoney Alder, whom teaches the Organizational Behavior (OB) class I’m currently in. The day was marked with different team-building exercises and discussions, but at the end we played the prisoner’s dilemma game. Basically, the game is built on the trust between the two sides. If they trust each other well enough then both will do well together. If they don’t trust each other, both can get screwed. It’s much like the ending of The Dark Knight where the Joker tries to get one of the two boats to blow up the other.

Ultimately, my group was turned into two teams and we actually trusted each other, ending up with the best score out of all of the groups and earning extra credit points for the OB class. I was the leader for one of the teams. Made me feel good.

On Thursday I just wrapped up a couple things before orientation, but nothing big. Stoney was leading things again and this time we had an exercise where we were all executives of a multi-national corporation who were figuring out who to hire for a new peer position in a new location. Each of us know part but not all of the requirements for the new position, and we had to combine all of our knowledge to rule out candidates for the position that didn’t fit the bill.

I should point out that yet again, I was the group leader… Interesting. But we came to our consensus and all of the groups listed who their candidate was to hire. We were in the minority, actually, on who we picked. Stoney started going the other way saying that the other main candidate the groups chose would be hired, but I decided to stick up for my team because we were dead certain we were right.

After explaining how we ruled out the other candidate, Stoney asked one of the teams that chose the other candidate “How did you miss this?” Man am I happy I spoke up.

Friday was the mixer at Bahama Breeze. I didn’t have anything to do before-hand so I just surfed the web at work before heading there. It was fun, but nothing noteworthy to report.

Classes

So I started classes a week ago. I have classes on Monday and Wednesdays from 5:30pm to 8:15pm after work. My first class is Statistical Methods (SM), my second is OB. They’re interesting, but require a decent amount of work. Besides some menial things, I didn’t really have any homework to do. On Wednesday before classes, I ran by the bookstore to get an expandable folder for papers as well as a notepad for notes. I also grabbed an organizer from the Student Union (free!) so I could keep track of all of the crap I had to do.

Oh, I should mention that my courses are all reading ahead required. So rather than reading after the topic is discussed in class, we’re to read beforehand. It makes more sense this way, actually.

So at that point, I finally had everything I needed to actually take classes. Books, notepad, expanding folder, bookbag… Well, save for a piece of software my statistics class needs me to get, but I’m wrapping that up early this week.

For the weekend, I definitely had the first chapter’s homework to do for SM. It wasn’t hard, really, it just required a lot of flipping back and forth in the book and my notes to figure out what to graph, etc. For OB, I had to write up an example of a bad management situation I was in and explain what pitfalls there were, if any.

Of course, I also had to do all this reading ahead for the class discussions, which I’ve already done…

My weekend was filled with busy stuff for my classes. We have to do case reviews for my OB class and the first one potentially due is this Wednesday. I decided to write up my rough draft over the weekend and send it in to Stoney, assuming he’s still willing to do a look-over on it before I finally do turn it in. So I’m trying to stay ahead on the larger projects by getting some of them done early or at least rough drafted early.

We also have a semester project in SM to explain, using statistics, some issue. I think my partner and I are going to try to get a good head start on that going here in the near future as well.

All in all, I think I’ve got a good start going. I’m being much more responsible on my graduate level courses than I was on my undergraduate. I’m doing all of my assigned reading ahead of time, and I’m also doing multiple reads on separate days/times so I can try to really absorb all of the material. And I’m going to try to leverage my classmates for studying and proofreading of my papers so ensure I’m doing what I can to get passing grades.

Busy, but I think I’ll be alright. Having next Monday off will be nice, that’s for sure. I’ll try to keep any future MBA updates a bit less detailed than this, which ended up being… 1585 words long. Wow.

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