Thursday = Almost Friday!

Music: Jack Johnson- Banana Pancakes
Mood: Strangely pumped

I think I'm a morning person. Crazy huh? Last night, I got sick of the trend of sleeping at 3 or 4 in the morning each day for the past week and a half. So last night, I decided to go to bed at 1am (wow, right?) instead of stay up to do work. I woke up at 8:15 this morning and wrote and wrote and wrote about Rousseau and the French Revolution (this was my second draft) until my 12:30 accounting class. I was surprisingly productive, and I'm glad I got that out of the way. (I still have to proof-read again, but it should be good.) Meeting with the TA with a rough draft yesterday was really helpful and gave me more guidance. Apparently, I was the first person to go to his TA office hours, so he was glad to help. Morals of the story: [1] wake up early to do homework.. you'll have tons of energy and feel better about yourself and [2] go to TA office hours for help, they'll realize you're putting the effort into it and really help you out. [now if only I had time to go to the ACCT office hours... sheez! I'm not behind in that class, but I'm not exactly ahead either. I think I'm scraping by.. but I really do understand all of it... or at least I think I do]

So I reread Tuesday's post and I realized how sort of depressing it was. It seems like this week has just been bad for everyone in general. So instead of talking about school and classes and work and obligations, here are things I've noticed this week:
[1] The Iran president visited Columbia this week and said some really crazy things.
[2] Heroes premiere was Monday! I'm so excited about this series.. it totally makes mondays worth it
[3] The UAW went on strike against General Motors for two days, but then finally reached a plea agreement: http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/070927/gm_uaw_risks.html?.v=1
[4] Diet Dr. Pepper has a strange smell to it
[5] The Astros are NOT last in their division!!!
[6] The Red Soxs better clinch the AL East title.. and then go on to win another world series!
[7] You can get things monogrammed (ie. dress shirts) on JCrew.com [ehm.. i have a birthday coming up. hahah]
[8] Google was established today (Sept 27th in 1998 according to my iGoogle), hence the 9 in the google.com
[9] I realized my yahoo weather application was stuck on my hometown's weather for the last four weeks.. I feel like I've been lied to this whole time!!!
[10] Both Google and Microsoft are thinking about taking a stake in Facebook, which some reports say is worth 10 Billion
[11] I have a delima: facebook has applications.. which I absolutely hate! but there's this thing called the FSX (facebook stock exchange) which allows you to practice trading and things like that) it sounds really cool.. . but think it'll (1) make me violate my no applications stance on facebook and (2) make me even more addicted to facebook than it already is... sooo. to FSX or not to FSX.. that is the question

Well, I hope this was entertaining for you all. I've got a Philosophy over Plato's Republic on tomorrow at 11am. I haven't really started studying yet, but I'm honestly not very nervous. Is that good or bad? In management, I think it's something called the overconfidence effect or something like that. Oh well, I'll hit the union starbucks later tonight after a shower and making the final touches of the french revolution paper. I cannot wait till Friday! It means the end of this week and the weekend.. which means the volleyball game, Kansas State game and other activities that don't involve Plato, Rousseau, journal entries, or harvard business review.

Oh... and does anyone else read post secret (www.postsecret.com)? there was this one about being lonely... "I bought the coolest phone on the planet - but it still only rings as often as my old phone did." Then a reader responded: "I feel the same way. I often wonder why I even have a phone because I rarely receive calls. If there was a way we could contact each other that would be cool. My phone number is 605-212-7787 (with permission).Sincerely,Ryan (with permission)." Isn't that Crazy? Reading this secret and Ryan's reply made me really appreciate my friends this much more. I don't know what I would have done this week without my friends to give me support and let me vent about how horrible the week has gone. So friends, if you're reading this: Ya'll are the BEST! =)))

And with this, I bid ya'll farewell and Plato hello. See ya! Holla!

Work Work Work.

Music: Xtreme- Te Extraño
Mood: Sleep Deprived

So. The new Starbucks in the union takes BEVO BUCKS. That's good news for my wallet, bad news for my sleep schedule. I have a history paper about Rousseau and the French Revolution due on Friday. It's an upper division history class, with history majors and seniors. I'm quite worried about how I'll do on the paper. I stayed up till three last night working on an outline and then today, I hope to actually finish the paper so I can run it by the TA to review ahead of time before I turn it in on Friday. I love this french revolution class. It's so interesting. Though it's tough and requires so much reading (we're concurrently reading about four books right now), it is one of the classes I'm really enjoying this semester.

Also on Friday, I've got a Philosophy test over Plato's the Republic. Being in Plan II and Business Honors, so far, has been good. I really enjoy learning both in the business context and in just overall acedmeica (with Plan II). But honestly, Philosophy is now making me disguised with Plan II. I went into my professor's office hours this morning, and he basically said that my "elementary education" was really bad and that all the questions I asked him in office hours were "common sense." Most professors would appreciate you stopping by their office hours to talk about the course and to clarify any misunderstandings, but I left this hour today feeling like crap and lower than scum. Not a good way to start off the day. I just don't understand who says that to people. AND it's probably too late to switch philosophy professors. At least it's the TA that grades the essay tests and not the professor. C'est la vie.

Relating to sleep deprivation: http://health.yahoo.com/news/179663
"...researchers said lack of sleep appeared to be linked to increased blood pressure, which is known to raise the risk of heart attacks and stroke."

On top of this, remember hearing studies saying that coffee was bad for your heart, and the other reports saying that those studies were not justified. So who knows, maybe college is just tough on the body. But is it all worth it. Sometimes, I wonder if college is even worth it? I know... it sound strange that here I am, a UT sophomore, questioning the point of college, but I've thought about this for a while. College seems like just a foot in the door to opportunities. Perhaps we can call it a weeding out process. but realistically, what we learn here in the classroom can only be applied so far. okay, i'm probably NOT making any sense. of course we need college to get a higher education to become more specialized in a field and get jobs. but is that the ultimate goal? what is the ultimate goal of college and classes? I mean, I'm motivated to get things done and do well in my classes.. but why? because a good GPA and good grades are important to landing a job with a good company. But what does these numbers mean after graduation? Kind of like high school... my HS GPA, SAT scores, and extracurricular activities mean nothing on paper anymore. I suppose it is the experiences I have taken from that that build up on life. ok. enough ranting about nothing. Career week was last week, and I'd have to say that it was pretty successful for me. There are some companies i'm trying to target and hopefully I can land an internship for this summer. That's where i'm conflicted as well. I had an internship this past summer, and I had a great time! But I also want to study abroad in a spanish-speaking country, maybe Spain or Argentina. But I have to decide whether I want to go during the summer or during the fall semester, and if so I need to make sure I'm in the right classes. I just feel i've been too busy to evaluate what I really want to gain from this semester.

Ok enough ranting. Moral of this post-- set a goal for this semester. What do you want to accomplish? Good Grades? Value Added Learning? Internship? Study Abroad? (or what have you?)

Well, I probably won't see daylight all week, so until then. Have a GREAT week!

Tired and Stressed...TGIF

Music: Samsung- Ring 2 (my cell phone alarm clock)
Mood: WEEKEND.

Wow. Finally, this week is OVER. I've been so busy with:

• Career Fair (Wed)
• BBA Mock Interview (Thurs.)
• Diversity Dialogue Dinner (Thurs.)
• Plato
• French Revolution
• Espan~ol
• Accounting
• BC
• life.. in general.

I swear, Thursday felt like Friday. On Wednesday night, after I finished my Acc't hwk at 2AM, I treated myself to some online shopping retail therapy.. some good 'ole Astros gear .. a new Astros cap! woot. though the 'stros are not doing well at all.. at least they beat the Cards Thursday night 18 to 1. and now we're not last in the NL central rankings. But yea, after acct and then online shopping.. I moved on to write thank you letters to various companies I met at the career fair. I'm really interested in a few particular companies and hopefully can get an interview with them for possible summer internships. So going to bed at 4am was not a good idea, because on Thursday, I had a 10am mock interview... not the brightest idea.. I swear, the sleep debt I've accumulated since Saturday night is making me crazy. In my mock interview, I was in such a daze that I felt the room spinning, and it appeared as if my interview's head was growing bigger and then smaller. Strange huh? A lack of sleep can do that to you.

Moral of the week: SLEEP. There's only so much you can do.... Diet Dr. Pepper, Tea, and slapping myself to stay awake ... before your body just gives up and craves sleep. What I really want to do is take an afternoon off to just lay out by the pool and soak in the sun. Who's with me? Next Friday, I have an essay test in PHL over Plato and also an essay for French Rev. connecting Rousseau and enlightenment to the causes of the revolution. I'm supposed to start this stuff this weekend, but I've got BC informal retreat from Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon. So this Sunday and this whole next week will be crunch time until Friday. eek. We'll see how I handle it. I think I just need some time to relax and get away from everything for a while to clear my mind.

At least I haven't had to do this:



Oh, and another thing: whenever I see people and they ask "how's it going?" the first thing that I say is "oh, tired and stressed..." Now I'm starting to think it's part psychological. Sort of like the self-confirming or self-fulfilling prophecy. I know I have a lot going on and I'm running on practically no sleep, but at the end of the day, when I crawl into my bed, I can say that I've really done a lot, and that's worth all the sleep deprivation and "stress." Maybe it's kind of an euphoria in a sickening, disturbed kind of way. but hey, whatever works for me right? I'm loving school, and I'm loving life. It's just that this live I love is so busy that I barely have time to appreciate all the things that I've done here at UT. This week has been particularly busy because of career week on top of school and homework. Recruiting is like a full-time job in and of itself. Next week, I should be able to concentrate more on my academics.. well.. I kind of have to as well if I want to excel on my PHL and HIS exam/essay. In any case, thank goodness it's FRIDAY.

Oh did ya'll hear about the Univ of Florida police and the taser during Kerry's visit?? I think it's pretty ridiculous and feel excessive force was used. What are your thoughts?

Ésta es la vida.

Music: Kellie Pickler- I Wonder
Mood: Tired

You know that feeling when you just want to crawl into a corner and escape from the world to have alone time to not be doing anything and not having any worries at all. I want that. Since school's started, it's been non-stop, almost 24-7. The GYM is the part of my schedule I look forward to the most simply because it provides me an outlet to get away from all the pressures of school, orgs, and what-have-you. There's no feeling of contentment in life like jogging on the elevated track with not a worry in the world. Just for those 30 minutes or an hour. Just me and my music. The highlight of my day.

This weekend was the kickoff of a great year of Business Council! From doughnuts at 7am to formal orientation, meeting the new members and getting closer to the returning members is exhilarating. I'm totally glad I got elected onto BC last year and am excited about what is in store for this year. I'd say my favorite programs put on by BC are Case Comp, VIP series, and MES! I don't know what it is about me, but I find gratification from planning events to completion and seeing the impact it makes on others. Being that proxy that enriches the business education of my fellow business students is extremely satisfying. I think that's why my career search is such a challenging one. I really just want to do so many different things in life that it's hard to find one career that encompasses all my passions and desires.

Speaking of careers, career is in full swing this week. This evening was the Company Night sponsored by HBSA, which allows students to network with recruiters the day before the McCombs Career Fair. Then tomorrow is the Career Expo at RecSports. I hope to go to the career fair for about 2 hours, just to look around and tough bases with the recruiters of my target companies. Other than that, I'm not really to excited about recruiting. It seems like last year this time, I had more time to go to company events and do the whole recruiting process. This year, it seems so rushed. We're already in the 3rd week of school, and it seems like forever. But in any case, for tomorrow, I'll have my suit on, my resumes in my padfolio, and a go-getter's attitude. I'm really not sure what I'm looking for right now. I'm extremely interested in consulting, but I'm also interested in academia. So Wednesday will be filled with class and the career expo. Then our first BC meeting is tomorrow at 7pm where Dean Gao will be giving his State of McCombs Address. I'm so excited about tomorrow's mtg because applications for the case competition committee open, and I cannot wait to get people on the committee to help make this year's case comp a huge success!

Then on Thursday, I've got a mock interview at 10am and then the McCombs Diversity Dialogue Dinner at 6pm. I love the D3 (Diversity Dialogue Dinner) because it gives you the chance to interact with recruiters while at the same time enjoying a free 5-course meal! So this week will be extremely busy. I cannot believe it is already almost Wednesday. It's like I blink and half the week is gone. I've got a PHL test next Friday and my French Revolution essay over Rousseau is due next Friday as well. I'm trying to stay on top of the ball and get some studying and essay writing in before the weekend. For the weekend will be BC filled.... informal retreat is from Saturday morning till Sunday afternoon. So that's basically my entire weekend. Shurg. I'll manage, I'm sure.

Oh I was watching The Office Season I the other day, and the episode about healthcare policy cracked me up! Haha. Dwight is sooo annoying. I'd hate working with someone like that. Sheez. The Office is soo good, but watching it irks me sometimes because I totally feel for the employees at Dunder Mifflin!










The Office is a great way to get away too. hahah. For now, I ought to get back to reading about Rousseau and the French Revolution. Y necessito practicar mi español porque tengo una pueba mañana. With that, I'll leave you with a funny postsecret:

We Remember

Music: Daft Punk- Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
Mood: In Remembrance

Six years ago today, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing. The year was 2001. I was in 8th grade. I remember walking into the classroom of my first period English class with Ms. Rice, and the TV was on with live footage of the North Tower of the World Trade Center in flames. I had no idea what was going on. At first, I thought it was an accident, that some airplane had lost control and accidentally hit the tower, but then we saw a second plane fly straight into the South Tower, and at that point, I knew this was no accident. As the first period bell rang to dismiss us to second period, we froze in horror as we witnessed the towers collapse. No one could believe what had happened. For the rest of the day, parents had begun to show up at school to take their kids out of class. In fact, if I remember correctly, the school was only about 60% full. Because school officials ordered all TVs turned off, we were left in the dark about flight 93 and other possible attacks. There were rumors that the White House, the Washington Monument, and even Camp David were attacked by the terrorists. Today, we reflect on the past six years. We reflect on where we were that fateful day, and we remember all those who lost their lives and all those who were affected.

Today was a peculiar day. Campus seemed less crowded than normal. It was a bit overcast, but other than that, it was pretty normal. I love my Tuesdays and Thursdays because I only have one class on Tuesdays and two classes on Thursdays. But, Accounting class seemed to have taken forever to sit through, though it was interesting material. Assets, liabilities, equity, credits, debits! Yippee! No really, most people I spoke to last year were like "Accounting.. you'll hate it!" But I really don't have a problem in it (yet...). I actually like doing it. So maybe it's a hate it or love it subject. Adding up the assets and making sure its equal to liabilities + equity is fun, especially when you get to the end and it adds up correctly! Haha. Additionally, it's interesting to see how much money is passed around in businesses. Think about it. When I buy a new pair of, say.... sunglasses, I get the plastic frames, the lenses, and the brand image of the sunglasses. In return for the transaction, the company gets cash from me. However, you've got to think about the suppliers of the plastic, the suppliers of the lenses, the distribution costs, the production costs, the building to produce the sunglasses, hiring workers to manufacture the glasses, the marketing department to convince consumers to buy your brand, the accountants to balance the books, the designers to make appealing sunglasses.. and so much more. It's fascinating how that pans out to support a business. OK.. i'll quit being so nerdy now.


So Undergraduate Business Council elections were today. And boy am I glad they are over. I've gotten so many facebook solicitations for people telling me to vote for them. And walking through the business school, candidates following me, trying to shove brownies, dum-dums, and other goodies in my hands to solicit votes. I remember doing this last year to get votes, and I can't remember being that annoying. Well, best of luck to all those who ran. I got elected on to UBC as a freshman representative last year, and I'm so glad I'm part of such a great organization! This year, I'm also hoping to do Texas Blazers, which stands for service, spirit, and leadership. I know quite a few people on Blazers, and based on their experiences, Blazers seems like a great organizations to be a part of.

With that, I've got to get ready for a consulting company's info session at 5:30. Tonight's hwk includes:

• Read for Mgn't
• Read for French Revolution- Rousseau and Origins of the FR
  
• Do Spanish hwk
• Read Plato bk. 7

Here's a secret from the website PostSecret I thought was good.

Where does the time go?

Music: Keith Urban- Your Everything
Mood: Busy

Craigslist is an amazing website. You can find pretty much whatever you want on it. My friends and I were looking for a futon and got one for $60. So this week, besides searching for things to buy on craigslist, I spent a lot of time being busy with recruiting and school work. I went to a consulting firm's info session on Thursday. I spoke with one of the company recruiters who was a BHP/Plan II alumni, and he really made me more interested in the consulting industry and encouraged me to apply for an internship. However, he said that sophomore interns are very rare in consulting. Next week is filled with company info sessions and prep-workshops by the BBA Career Services, so I'll be extremely busy with that. I also have to work on cover letters for various companies.

In addition to being a BBA Blogger, I work as a BHP Student Recruiter, where I communicate with prospective students and answer any questions they might have about the program or college life in general. I also give presentations about BHP to high schoolers who visit the campus every Monday and Friday. This Friday was my first presentation, and it was really exciting. I remember it was only two years ago I was in their shoes, weighing out my college choices and debating what I wanted to major in. I'm really exciting about being a student recruiter! I even will get my own business cards! (and I've got a photoshoot on Monday morning so my picture will be on the BHP website)

So besides school and work, I've been working on the Fall Case Competition. I'm chairing the competition, and I've been communicating with the numerous corporate sponsors to arrange company judges and other competition details. The Case Competition is on November 3rd, and applications will be due the previous Friday. I encourage everyone to participate!

With that, I'm think I'm done for tonight. I haven't gotten any work done this weekend, and I've got a long to-do list sitting on my sticky-notes on my iGoogle homepage. I suppose that's what Sundays are for. Tomorrow will be filled with reading for management, philosophy, and french revolution and also doing accounting problems! Yipee! But it has been a great weekend! We beat TCU (which I was kind of nervous about at the beginning, but the second quarter was great!). 

I leave you with a video that always cracks me up!

Godzillatron

Music: Michael Buble- Everything
Mood: Collegiate

So thank goodness for three-day weekends...

The football game on Saturday was interesting. We didn't exactly do a great job, but we won. (unlike Michigan.. OUCH.) We dropped to 7 in the AP and USA Today polls. We play TCU this Saturday, and I just got my tickets today (after waiting a ridiculous 1.5 hours in the LASP draw... I've NEVER waiting in line for LASP tickets... crazy). But yes, Saturday's game was fun. The highlight of the game was when my friends and I ended up on the Godzillatron. In the middle of the 3rd quarter, there we were, the four of us, cheering our heads off, making fools of ourselves on the Jumbotron for 84,000 other fans to see. Haha. It was definitely crazy!

Bot now that the weekend is over, it's back to classes, studying, and working. I thought I was ready for the year to begin.. now it seems that everything I do seems to monopolize my time. This semester, I'm taking 19 hours (3 of which are the internship credit hours). I'm also taking ACC 331H, MAN 353H, SPAN 312K, PHL 610QA, HIS 353, and BA 151H. I'd say this is mymost challenging semester this far.

ACC 311H- I'm totally excited about my first accounting course, especially after my internship. I gained so much hands on training this summer and learned the basics of accounting from an industry perspective; now I'm ready for textbook accounting!

MAN 336H- This class seems interesting. I took the Myers-Briggs test and the Big Five test this weekend. This spring, I scored ENFJ- (Extroverted- 67, Intuitive- 12, Feeling- 25, Judging- 78) and this weekend, I scored ESFJ (Extroverted- 56, Sensing- 1, Feeling 25, Judging- 1). It seems that I've changed to sensing by one point and a bit more spontaneous (as noted by the decline in the judging points). I'm not sure what exactly this means, so maybe I'll find out in class on Wednesday.

SPAN 312K- I was considering studying abroad in Singapore, but after I took 2nd semester Spanish last year for Plan II requirements, I'm considering studying in either Spain or another Spanish-speaking country.

PHL 610QA- This is the philosophy class required for my Plan II degree. Right now we're reading Plato's The Republic, and Socrates is annoying me right now because he has to challenge everything that everyone says. There's going to be so much reading involved with this class!

HIS 353- This is an upper-division history course on the French Revolution and Napoleon. I'm taking this class because Plan II requires an early and late history course. I took Western Civilization (early) last, last summer, and I decided I wanted a more interesting history class than just Western Civ (late). The French Revolution is interesting to me, but again, this class is going to require so much reading. We're reading Rousseau's Social Contract in addition to other historical commentaries about the French Revolution.

BA 151H- This class is, I'm assuming, like BA 101 for sophomores. We are required to sign up for the mock interviews on September 20th. I've already signed up, and I'm ready to go!

So yep, that's my schedule for the semester. I'll be working a lot(I mean A LOT! 5 books over the French Revolution, 5 Books for Philosophy, Accounting, and management and a foreign language on top of that). I'm not even sure if I'll get to see the daylight. But oh well, I'm really interested in ALL of the classes I'm taking and really want to learn about everything, so no complaints there. It's just a matter of managing my school work in addition to my extra-curriculars and jobs.

Earlier today, I spent some needed time on the McCombs Online Recruiting website, searching for jobs and interviews I qualified for. There are several I'm really interested in and sound appealing, so I dropped my resume off. One of the companies requires a cover letter, and I haven't written a cover letter since who knows how long. So I've got to do that. Without BA 101 forcing you to write your cover letters, update your resumes, and contact companies, it's more of an effort to do recruiting. But hey, we all need jobs right? So yep, time to whip out my BA 101 course packet or do some browsing on the BBA Career Services website to find out how to write a great cover letter. However, I'd say we're lucky compared to other business schools becase we not only have the resources at hand, but we also have companies comming to the university to get face-time with the students.

In addition to having to manage recruiting and trying to get another internship for this summer, I'm also working as a BHP Student Recruiter. I had my training today, and I'm supposed to make the presentation to the students on Friday. I'm excited about my role as a student recruiter because I'll get to interact with high school seniors and help them through their application process. I know I had some worries about my application when I applied, so being able to help others will be rewarding. Also, I'll get to know more about the business school than I ever thought possible!

Well, that's it for now, I suppose. Oh, my friend and I are trying to buy a futon for the dorm room. We've looked on Craigslist and what not. If you or someone you know has a futon that they want to get rid of or sell, please let me know.

Also, Brandon Backe is BACK and pitching tonight against the Brewers!!!! After being out for a year due to elbow sugurey, it'll be a treat to see him pitch, So I'm sure I'll be watching the Astros game tonight alongside Plato and Rousseau. (If you don't know, I'm a HUGE Astros fan, though I'm not a fan of their current performance. I think it'd be so much fun if I could somehow do a summer finance internship with the Astros. How amazing would that be? I just don't know where to start. Hmm never mind, scratch that, I just checked Astros.com job opportunities, and they do offer internships but without pay. After interning this summer, getting paid and housing provided, I don't think I could accept an internship without pay. Oh well, I'm sure I'll find something that interests me.) [sorry... this blog keeps going on random tangents and what not]

But yes, happy tuesday to everyone and here's to a short, four day week! Hook 'em!