The Weekend

Music: Bon Jovi- Livin' on a Prayer
Mood: Relaxing

Texas beat Iowa State 56 to 3! And LSU was upset by Univ. of Kentucky! Sweet, this truly is the season of upsets. Haha. And Cal was beat by Oregon State. Sheezz. Who is going to be in the BCS Championship then? Ahhhh.

So far, this weekend has been great! It's nice to know that this coming week will be relatively mild. No crazy tests or any extreme stress-inducing assignments. So this means that this weekend can be pretty laid back. Obviously, I've got some homework to do, like reading for French Revolution, Philosophy, and Management, but other than that, I'm taking a nice break from school.

In fact, today, after sleeping in, getting brunch at Kinsolving, I watched last Monday's episode of Heroes. That was sooo good, and I am anticipating Monday's episode. Afterwards, I went to Gregory Gym to lay out by the pool and enjoy the sun and good weather. So this weekend has been great so far. It's finally nice to take a break and not have to worry about studying for tests or worrying about completing assignments!

Well, I guess that's all I have for now. I'll return to the Red Sox vs. Cleveland game. Go Sox!!! =) I love Boston and the Red Sox (only second to the Astros, of course!). In fact, I'd love to maybe intern or even work in Boston after college! =)

Email Galore

Music: Maroon 5- Wake up Call
Mood: Anxious

[[If you haven't seen the music video for Maroon 5's Wake Up Call, check it out. It's pretty amazing!]]

So it's finally Friday, and my insane week is coming to a close. There's only one thing between me and the weekend-- my Spanish test at 3pm. Other than that, despite three tests, this week has been pretty mild, though my grades are kinda meh right now. I took my accounting test on Tuesday and got it back on Thursday. I did pretty good, but not as well as I would have liked to. I mean, there's just no telling what to really expect. The management test on Wednesday was fair, though I sort of guessed on one of the short answer, so we'll see how that turns out. On Monday, there was a bomb-threat at the UTC so my French Revolution class was canceled. I got my French Revolution essay back on Wednesday, and I was very satisfied with the grade I got. That was my first history paper, and I'd say I did pretty well, especially for my first upper-division liberal arts class. So school-wise, all is well. I'm just sort of nervous about my Spanish test because I mean, I know the material and the grammar, I'm just worried about the vocab. In fact, I arranged to meet with my professor at her office at 10 today, but she wasn't there, so instead I'm tying away in the Mill lab. Hopefully she can meet with me at 12 before my test so I can ask her some questions.

Throughout the week, I was reading on yahoo.com and noticed two interesting articles:

• People spend more time with their computers than with their loved ones
• Email-free friday

I can say that I relate to both articles really well. I'd say I spend a lot of time on the computer.. from reading online articles for classes, blogging, facebook, and of course, email. However, I try to spend as little time on the computer as possible simply because it's a waste of time. I think technology is helpful and good, but I feel we're becoming more dependant on computers. For example, I live off my outlook calendar to tell me what I need to do, where, and when. Oh, and yesterday, I set a new record... 50 received emails from various people regarding various things... imagine that.. a lot of it was organizing the case competition with my committee. But today, my goal is to receive as little emails as possible. Maybe even an email-free Friday, which is virtually impossible. But yea, go technology. At least I haven't gotten addicted to a Blackberry or a PDA. If I had one, I'd be on email all the time. but as of now, I just check email in the morning when I wake up, and then when I return to my room in the evening around 6, before dinner. Then when I'm studying and have my computer on, that little pop-up telling you have new email is always a distraction. So in short, Email but a necessary evil. Grr.. my question is what did people do before email? I remember getting my first email account in like elementary school.. it was a yahoo account and had something to do with a Pokemon character.. charzard maybe? But yea, I think we've come a long way from then.

Also, the end of the week means capture the flag at the capitol with HBA. I'm excited about that because CTF at the capitol is always fun. If you've never done it, you have to before you graduate!

Ok, since ya'll know I'm also a BHP Student Recruiter, I have to do another shameless plug:

Business Honors Program Sophomore Transfer Info Sessions
Thursday, October 18th, 5:00 pm in CBA 4.304
Wednesday, November 14th, 5:00 pm in CBA 4.304
Open to all freshmen interested in the BHP!
Learn about the application process and speak with our staff
Tiff’s Treats will be provided

Well with that, I hope everyone had a great week!

Oh sweet, I just got a call from a chemical company I interview with last week.(I thought it was last week, but I just checked my calandar, and apparently it was on Monday. yes, this past Monday.. wow, I have lost my sense of time). But yes, the person I recruited with just called me and told me they want to invite me to visit their offices for sort of a second round interview/get to know the company! So hopefully this is a good sign. I'll need to arrange with the company when to visit, transportation, etc. But yay! That's exciting!

Ok, I need to jet out of here. I have Philosophy in 5 minutes. Horray for discussing the concept of the Trinity, pre-destination, God's foreknowing, and the idea of Grace. See ya'll! =)

Three Tests Next Week + OU Weekend = Stress?

Music: Ben Folds- Brick
Mood: Content

OU Stinks. Grrrrr. And it's not like they did any better than we did, we just had that silly fumble and interception. Texas needs to stop throwing away games. Now we're 0-2 in the conference and 4-2 overall... sheezz. I'm definitely looking forward to the Purdue vs. Ohio State game and the Florida vs. LSU game. This year's college football is pretty insane. Hook 'em!

On the subject of sports, is anyone following the MLB playoffs? I'm excited that Boston is doing well. And that the Yankees literally got BUGGED OUT. ouch! Also, I'm cheering for the Rockies as well b/c their ball club deserves to do well. Speaking of baseball, I'm still a huge ASTROS fan. In fact, look what you can buy on mlb.com....


It's a Dreamseat Houston Astros Recliner for the low price of $999.99, down from $1295. Again, my birthday is Nov. 15th. Tehehe. Just kidding. I don't think that thing would match anything else in my dorm room, much less fit in my room. But, imagine having that in your room. How insane would that be?

So, this past week was good. No tests, no real pressures nor commitments in any classes. Just some regular homework here and there; the usual. In management, we had a reflection paper due where we analyzed a work experience using the management concepts we learned in the past six weeks. I wrote about my internship experience this past summer and discussed how well I was treated as an intern and how I was motivated to learn and accomplish my goals. And from writing this paper, I was able to reexamine what I'm looking for in a company and what I really want to do with my life. Since this week was not so busy, school-wise, I spent more time recruiting. My interview on Tuesday went well. Then on Wednesday, I went to the Night Prior for a hedge fund company. I'm really interested in this company, as it would be nice to gain exposure to the finance industry. I had an 8am interview with them, which was very informal, so I'm not sure how I did. They just asked me some questions about activities on my resume and some other questions, then they told me more about the company and the responsibilities I would have as an intern. If this interview went well, they said they would fly me to their offices to visit the firm and do a second-round interview.. so that's exciting... hopefully that works out! Also, some friends I know who are also sophomores interviewed with this same company, so best of luck to them as well. Hopefully many of us get offers for an internship.

All the internship interview's I've gotten were through dropping my resume online on McCombs Online Recruiting System and also meeting the recruiters at the career fair. I think we're really fortunate to have the No. 1 recruiting services of all business schools, according to the Princeton review. The Online Recruiting System is such a huge asset. To be able to drop your resume to job postings and then be screened and schedule an interview on the system is pretty amazing. I guess sometimes, we don't realize how lucky we are. I don't know how I would be recruiting for internships right now with out the system. So this is a hint... USE the resources here at McCombs. On Mondays and Fridays, I give a Business Honors Program info session to students interested in McCombs and BHP. Often times, they worry about how large the school appears to be, and think they can't get the personalized education that the ivy-leagues and private schools promise. What I tell them, and this convinces them, is that such a large institution like UT has so many resources that smaller/private schools cannot provide to the students. The thing is the students have to take advantage of the resources provided to them. I tell the parents and prospective students that nobody is going to be coddling you to push you to get a job or brining the opportunities to you. It's really what you make of the resources available and taking initiative to get what you want. So yea, enough with my rant about taking advantage of opportunities. But yea, You can do whatever you want here at UT...
"What Starts Here Changes the World" (said in a Walter Cronkite voice). Haha.

So as ya'll know, Case Competition is coming up.. applications will be out within the next week, October 15th to be exact. And I'm sort of FREAKING out. Case is in about 4 weeks. My committee has our first meeting next week where we'll discuss food, judges gifts, resume books, etc. Ekk. I need to arrange things so I can spend money for the account. I have to get publicity up, signup forms ready, judges and corporate judges ready. I need to arrange t-shirts and the actual case. All this in four weeks. So do me a favor- promote the case competition to your friends; form your own team; get ready to sign up!!

And if I don't write to ya'll next week, I apologize in advanced. I've got three tests. Accounting on Tuesday, Management on Wednesday, and Spanish on Friday. I studied last night (yes, on a Friday night) till 1. Woke up again this morning and studied until Kick-off time. So I think I'm somewhat ready for accounting (knock on wood.. lol) I just need to do the practice test and then some reviewing, and I think I'll be ready. For Management, I need to review the concepts and go over what we've discussed in class. I'm not too worried about the management test because I've stayed up to date with my reading and am fairly comfortable with the material. I just need to put it to memory and then be able to apply to different situations. The Spanish test on Friday is pretty basic. It's over two chapters, but nothing really new. We leaned vocab about the environment, cars, relationships, and age. We also did some grammar stuff about nonexistent antecedents and conjunctions, both which are in the subjunctive tense. So I think I'm good for Spanish, I just need to review. But yea, I was going to go to Dallas this weekend, and it really would have a tons of fun, but I really need to study and prepare for the tests instead of having fun in Dallas and then being stuck on the road in traffic. Hope everyone who went to Dallas had a blast!!!

Hook 'em! Oh and Transformers comes out on DvD October 16th! I'm excited about that. I'd say it was one of the best movies of the summer. And I still really want to see Across the Universe! Oh and how strange is this? A couple, who works, met, and got engaged at a Walmart, got married at Walmart today... Imagine that? Crazy!

Intrinsic Motivation?

Music: Dangerous- Ying Y ang Twins
Mood: In Deep Thought

Wow. Texas Football has really let me down. I went to the Kansas State game until it started down pouring during half time. After I left, we just kept losing.... I'm not looking forward to the OU game and I don't expect it to be too good. Oh, and I read the Sunday and Monday Austin-American Statesman where they did a tw0-day report on Texas Sports and the expenses. Apparently, Texas Athletics will spend $107 million this year. Additionally, Texas Sports spends about $210,000 on each of its 510 athletes. http://www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/longhorns/09/30/0930utsportsmain.html
I was so surprised. At least our tuition doesn't go to pay for athletics, but I still think it's crazy how much money goes into Texas Sports. And apparently, the money made from collegiate athletics and donations to college sports is tax-exempt. Read the article for more information. I read the article Sunday night instead of doing homework... but I think it's worth it.

So this week is relatively mild. However, for me, it's been filled with Company Night Priors/ Meet and Briefs with companies. I'm recruiting with various companies and hoping to get an internship for the summer. Today, I had an interview with an oil and gas company today for an internship in energy commodities, where I'd be doing analysis, projection, forecasting, etc. for the commodities area of the industry. To prepare, I talked myself through some possible interview questions. My roommate, who is a Junior MPA student, overheard me practicing and we got on this long conversation about motivation and how we define success. Now, this was at 12am when after I just finished accounting and was preparing to go to bed for my 9am interview today.

So, we got on this long conversation about what motivates me and what drives me to success. I find that in the business world, we're motivated and urged to get jobs and success is measured by the companies we recruit with and the amount we make. There's so much pressure at the business school to be ahead in the "rat race" and to stay ahead to get the interviews and the internships. Many people are extrinsically motivated to achieve success because they care about what other people view them as. People view the go-getters and high achievers as such because they've accomplished so much in the business world. But I guess the question was what comes first, the success or the extrinsic reward of approval from society? Just a random question that we were wondering last night. For me, I'd say a lot of what I do is intrinsic motivation. But what exactly does that mean? I'm motivated to do well in my classes and achieve success because I enjoy pushing my self, setting goals, and being challenged. Why do I stay up late each night slaving over homework? Why do I spend so much time doing extracurricular activities? What is my motivation? I'd say most of it is intrinsic. I genuinely find satisfaction in challenging myself in my courses and truly understanding the material. I also enjoy the actives I'm in business council because of the benefit it provides for others, not because of the recognition I get for putting on these activities. That's my motivation. What motivates you?

Well, the rest of this week is pretty simple. I've got a mangement essay due on Tomorrow that I still need to start. And I'm going to give my shameless plug about case competition:

The actual competition is Saturday, November 3. Case applications are due Friday, 10/26

We have two info session on Mon, 10/22- 5pm- GSB 2.122 and Tues, 10/23- 5pm- GSB 2.122.

The prizes are absolutely fantastic:

1st Place Team- $2,500 + USC Case Competition
2nd Place Team- $1,000 + MIBC (McCombs International Business Council, Nov. 14-17)
3rd Place Team- $700

With that, I bid ya'll a great week and see ya'll later. I'm off to the gym.. I read somewhere that some people think sweat thearpy helps relieve stress. I really think it does because it's a way to get away from all the pressures and such of society.

Oh and one more thing, ya'll know I'm the BHP student recruiter. I got business cards today... I feel so professional and "mature" because I've got my professional business cards with my name on them. And I can give them out to people!!! Stop me when you see me, and I can show you it.. and I'll even give you one! =)

Ok off to the gym! See ya'll!

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?