:Nintendo Widow

Ernest image courtesy of theezreview.co.uk 

Reality is starting to set in. Even before classes began, it was easy to spot the first-year students. Their heads were buried in course packets and statistics books. While the second year students were playing foosball, the n00bs were organizing their dayplanners and scheduling team meetings. I know because I was one of them.

I’m not terrified and maybe I should be. I mean, my brain is about to be crushed, juiced, and then remolded into a high-speed business machine.

Just to give you an overview, we have two classes everyday with a three hour break in between. For now, I have class from 10:30-12:20 and 3:30-5:20 Monday and Wednesday, and then classes from 8:30-10:20 and 1:30-3:20 on Tuesday and Thursday. On Friday, we switch times according to section. We either have a four hour block in the morning or a four hour block in the afternoon. Did I mention that I have a day planner? I don’t know if my puny brain can handle the schedule much less managerial economics followed by accounting.

In between classes, I plan to meet with my team, catch up on reading, research whichever projects are due, catch a quick nap, and possibly eat. If I combine some of these activities, I just might survive until Christmas.

No Comments

Today I met another student who did some very cool projects before beginning business school. After working for a major TV network, he returned home where he and his cousin formed their own production company. They then wrote and produced a documentary about the water supply in southern India. There’s much more to the story than that, but I can’t give any details since I haven’t seen it yet.

After taking it on the film festival circuit, they sold it to PBS. Kickass. I mentioned that he should do a screening at the business school.

Anyway, I’m impressed.

No Comments

I worked out at the university gym today and damn was it nice. I’d forgotten how nice some school’s facilities can be. I went to a public school for undergrad and it had very very nice rec facilities. I didn’t take advantage of them though because I happened to work at the rec center and I kind of got sick of being there.

After shelling out fifty a month to go to a small, crowded private gym, I absolutely loved using all of the shiny new workout equipment just waiting there for me. I realize that it may be a fight to the death to secure a treadmill once the undergrads return, but I’m thoroughly enjoying the peaceful, open gym for now. I might even go hit the giant new pool on Friday after class. Like I said before, I need to get in my workouts now while I still can. I know my diet will rapidly deteriorate once classes start, but I can at least try to delay some of the pounds that are sure to pile on as happy hours and long workdays increase.

Ohmygod the gym is nice. *drool* It should be for what I’m paying in tuition! Sorry, that was my mom coming out a little.

2 Comments

In the last week or so, I’ve met most of my classmates. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I’m thoroughly impressed/surprised by the jobs some of them had before. I’m not talking about CEOs or international spies, but other unusual vocations. Today I found out that one of my fellow classmates has been a deep sea fisherman for the last twenty or so years. Not only that, but he ran a boat that fished for king crab in the Bering Sea. This is also known as “the most dangerous job in the world.” I thought the guys doing that looked like the captain from Jaws, but this guy looks really normal. Hmmm..he seems normal too. I think it’s really cool that he’s returning to school. I totally want to have a beer with him and hear some real fishing stories.

No Comments

Orientation is going well. We’ve heard from the business school dean, the assistant deans, and current 2nd year students. We’ve also had an inspirational speech from a local entrepreneur as well as a communications workshop.

Even though we haven’t officially started school yet, we’ve been invited to five functions in the next week. I went to one tonight and I plan to attend three more. I can see how it will be difficult to manage my academic and social life since there are so many interesting activities going on in the evenings. So far, we’ve had bowling and table games. Tomorrow we have an optional charity event, then a happy hour, then a welcome potluck and then a welcome bbq. I can see how people can easily gain weight during this program.

My schedule for tomorrow? Attend orientation and then hit the gym. Who knows how often I’ll get to go once school starts?

No Comments

Here is a short list of cool things about the UW MBA class of 08.

1. Unlike last year’s *huge* class of 120, we only have 91 students. This breaks down into about 45 students per class. I’ll actually know the name of each person in my class…..weird.
2. After checking out my peers at Jump Start, there are plenty of women in my program. Go ladies!
3. As expected, the number of international students is high. This makes me very happy. One of them teaches Chinese and has offered to teach anyone a little bit of that language. I’m game.
4. Not that I expected anyone to be a jerk, but everyone is so nice and non-egotistical. Granted, I’ve only known these people for seven days but they seem pretty darn cool so far.
5. And finally, everyone I’ve met has interests outside of B school. I won’t be working with a bunch of grade-grubbers or robots. These are people I’d hang out with even if we weren’t required to sit in the same room together for 20+ hours a week.

No Comments

That’s pronounced FOO-ball.

Despite sleeping in quite late, I made it to the MBA huddle on Saturday afternoon. The huddle is the UW MBA group dedicated to tailgating before each home football game.

The weather was great and the walk down there was pleasant. A lot of the first-year folks were there as well as plenty of second-years. Also the food and drinks were plentiful. Even though I don’t really care about football, I had fun visiting with everyone and just talking about the program in general. Danny skipped this event, but he said he’s interested in some of the upcoming ones. We agreed that he would only go to the events that interested him and I would go to the other ones without him. He’s already attended one Pub Club evening and I think he’s coming to the welcome bbq next week. He just wants to make sure that I don’t skip events because of him. Since we live pretty close to school, it would be dumb for me to miss on-campus stuff especially since I can call him to come get me when I’m done.

No Comments

My test today did not go as well as I had planned. I still did okay (it was an open-note test), but I made a bunch of stupid mistakes that were caused by the cardinal sin of test takers: I did not read the directions. How many times did my 3rd grade teacher tell me to read the directions first? Obviously, not enough.

While my instinct is to beat myself up about this, I’m trying to just move past it. If I was going to mess up, it may as well be on a pre-test that does not affect my GPA. The one positive thing is this: I didn’t miss any of the hard stuff. It’s the stupid, little stuff that tripped me up. As Danny pointed out “You would have read the instructions three times if it were a final. Don’t stress over it.” This is true.

On a positive note, I think my presentation went fairly well. Even though I went into verbal rapid-fire mode half way through, I remained confident throughout the speech. I know I have plenty of stuff to work on, but at least I didn’t underperform in one of the few things I truly enjoy.

Lead week starts on Monday. We also got our class schedule today. It makes sense in a weird way. Let’s just say that I’ll be at school a lot, but I won’t have to be there at 8:30am everyday. This is a good thing….at least for this quarter.

No Comments

Joyful and Ting-tastic

For the last few weeks Danny, aka the husband, has been engrossed with the game Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. I can’t say I’m a big fan of this game, but maybe it’s just because the music is slightly irritating. The only videogame music I ever really liked was the sound the sega dreamcast made when it was in standby mode. I would hear the soft ocean sounds and it would put me right to sleep.

Anyway, Tingle is a character in the Wind Waker game. Danny described him as a fat little fairy (really, he is a fairy) who sails around. He probably does more than that, but I quit listening. Tingle is kind of a bizarre character, but he is not always in the game. You have to encounter him during your travels.

Tonight, I was sitting upstairs playing on the computer when Danny called out “You wanna see Tingle?” I whipped around in my chair so fast I scared the cats. I then ran down to the living room and got to see the magnificent Tingle. It was kind of a letdown. I’m sure Tingle is cool, but I need to watch him do something except wiggle around and ask Link for more treasure maps or whatever.

After checking on Wikipedia, it looks as if Tingle is much more popular in Japan than in the US and he has appeared in several Zelda games. Next year, he gets his own game titled Mogitate Tingle no Barairo Rupee Land which roughly translates to Tingle’s Freshly-Picked Rose-Colored Rupee Land. Now THAT’S a game I could get into.

No Comments

I have an accounting test tomorrow morning. Since I’ve been waking up after 10 and getting to school for my 1pm class, getting up for a 9am test will be a little rough. Woe is me.

The test should be fine. It is open-note and it is more of a skills quiz than anything else. If it covers what we’ve had on our homework, then I should be alright.

After the test, I have a public speaking/presentation assessment. I have to speak on an assigned topic for three minutes. My speech will be videotaped and evaluated. Afterwards, I’ll get tips on how to improve my speaking and presentation skills. Not to sound sick, but I really enjoy public speaking and I don’t think this will be too bad. I’m a little nervous, but after the resume workshop on Tuesday, I doubt if anything will phase me.

This weekend is pretty open. I might check out the MBA Huddle tailgate at the football game, but that depends on the weather. I’m not a big football fan (despite being a native Texan) but I am a cookout fan: hot dogs, chicken, burgers…it all sounds good.

No Comments