Times like these make me hate college.

Ok, so I know that most people's week's leading up to Thanksgiving are rough, but I think I just need to vent.

I'm SICK of college. Seriously, SICK OF it.

Here's my schedule, if anyone cares.

Monday- Spanish Presentation

Tuesday- Accounting Test

Wednesday- Spanish Quiz

Thursday- My 19th Birthday

Friday- Spanish Test

Monday- Management Paper Due

History Paper Due

Philosophy Paper Due

Just thinking about what I have to do is pretty depressing. =(

D-Town

Music: This Is How A Heart Breaks- Rob Thomas
Mood: Apathetic

I spent my afternoon in the 1st floor of the UTC in the McCombs Media Services Lab. I had to convert all the DV tapes from the case competition to wmv so that we could put them online. What I expected to take only an hour at the most turned into 2.5 hours of waiting. I first had to import the DV files into the computer, then in turn, convert the file to wmv so that Media Services could put online. So, here they are, for your viewing pleasures, the finals rounds of the Fall 2007 Case Competition. Case closed.
1st place- Black Ink Consulting

2nd place- Delta Consulting Group

3rd Place- T&G Solutions

Non-Placing Finalists:

Paradigm Solutions

Team Maverick

I also went to the gym today. I'm still preparing for the 10k on Thanksgiving Day. I haven't signed up yet because I'm not sure if I'll be able to do 6.22 miles.. but I really want to! I just did 1/2 miles on the treadmill and then got sick of the treadmill, so I went on the indoor track, and did a mile sprint, and called it a workout. Nonetheless, I really need to prepare and build endurance. My goals is to do the 6.22 in under an hour.. Which I think is totally doable.. but we'll see.

And today, I finally got my flight information for my office visit at the Hedge Fund company. I really hope this goes well, as this is my target company, and I would love to spend my summer working in Hedge Funds. To give you an idea of my schedule tomorrow. My flight leaves for Dallas at 8AM, meaning I'm catching the 6:44 AM airport flyer bus to the airport... which means I'll wake up around 6. =( Then after a string of 4 interviews and lunch, I'm catching a 4pm flight back to Austin that'll have me on the ground by 5. Then I'm going to catch the airport flyer back to campus and then make it out to the UT volleyball game against A&M! Tomorrow will be a busy day.. I'm just glad I don't have to do any work for classes tomorrow (this means no Philosophy, no French Revolution, and no Spanish... all my liberal arts classes.. hahah!) Oh well! I'll tell ya'll how things go later.

Oh, and today, I met with a study abroad adviser. We ruled out Spain because only a few business classes are offered in English. Thus, I'm pretty set on going to Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. All I need to decide now is what I want to major in. If I do the iMPA program, the adviser recommended that I postpone my study abroad because of a needed MPA class. However, if I do finance, things could work out. So I'm not sure. So I need to get the syllabuses of the different courses offered at HKUST and then make sure they'll transfer over to UT credit by getting approval from the various departments. I'm probably going to take FIN 357 and OM 353 (i think thats the course number) and then 2 humanities classes to fulfill my Plan II requirements for Art or Music or Dance History.

Well, I need to get to bed if I want to wake up at 6am tomorrow.. I've got my boarding passes printed as well as information about hedge funds and the company to read up on so I'm more familiar with the industry and the company. G'night Austin, Good Morning Dallas!

and because everyone loves Disney! Here's a happy picture:

A Calm Week, maybe?

Music: Young- Kenny Chesney
Mood: Tired

So after case competition, I just slept until the 5k the next day. On Sunday, I ran in the Susan Komen Race for the Cure 5K. My time was 28 minutes, which I'm okay with. I would eventually want to get a 25 or even a 24 minute 5k. That means shaving off about a minute or so per mile. But nonetheless, running in the 5k was a moving experience. I was my first race, and I really enjoyed it. Running amongst cancer survivors and others who were running in the memory of loved ones who have fallen victim to breast cancer was moving. My fund raising goal was $100, and I was actually able to make it. My parents donated $50 and a coworker from Detroit also donated $50, so I was extremely happy about that! =) Now, I'm training for the Houston Turkey Trot 10k on Thanksgiving Day. The Turkey Trop 10k goes to help senior citizens though the Sheltering Arms Senior Services charity. I still have to sign up for this, but I think I'm up for the challenge. 10K is 6.22 miles. I'm hoping to do it under an hour.

In other news, school is going well. I have a lot of homework to catch up on because I didn't have this weekend to do homework. I have over 200 pages to read in French Revolution. I have a paper over the Terror of the French Revolution due on November 19th. I also have a philosophy paper due on November the 19th as well. I have to read so much for that paper as well. I'm writing on revelation and how God communicates with his followers. We've read two texts about Christianity. Today, I just finished read The Bhagavad Gita, and next I need to read about Confucius. In Management, my group is still working on our consulting project. Our group executive summary is due 11/12 and then our presentation will be the week following Thanksgiving. Oh, and I also have a management reflection paper due on 11/19 as well. So though my birthday is Nov 15 (Thursday), I won't be able to relax and celebrate too much because I basically have 3 papers due the Monday after my birthday. =( I also have a lot of stuff to do in spanish as well, a cultural presentation, a quiz, and a test too. Ekk. Haha. Well, enough ranting about what I have to do, I bet everyone has so much to do leading up to the Thanksgiving break.

Oh good news as well. The Chemical company I interviewed with in Houston last Tuesday extended me an offer for an internship this summer. Their company internship program as a rotational program. I'm still waiting on offers from other companies before I make a decision. I hope to have my offers on my table and be able to make all my decision by November 15th. The company I interned with this summer extended me an offer in Audit for this coming summer. They gave me till November 15th to accept or decline the offer, so I've passed this offer deadline to the other companies I've interviewed with, so I hope to have my summer plans finalized by November 15th. =) I had a phone interview with an entertainment in California for a position in Audit. For some reason, the company also had me interview for a position in corporate tax, even though I'd be more interested in audit. They told me that usually, it takes about 4 to 5 weeks to hear back from them, but they said they'd rush my interview review so I could have a decision from them by Nov. 15th. Oh, and so on Thursday, I followed up with the hedge fund company I'm really interested in interview with in Dallas. I got a response from the HR contact, and based on my situation, she was able to set up an office visit for me. Thus, on Friday, I'm flying up to Dallas to do second round interviews. Ekk. I'm excited but I know I'll be worn and tired! Gah.

Oh, and tomorrow is the Fast-A-Thon! I'm super duper excited about this. I've pledged to fast for hunger from 5:30 am to 5:30 pm with the Muslim Students' Association. For every pledge they get to fast, money will be donated to the Austin Food Bank. My friends and I are getting up and going to Kerbey Lane at 4:45 to eat and enjoy ourselves. Then we're going to start fasting at 5:30 and then break fast at 5:30 in gregory gym. =) I also got a flu shot today. It was pretty traumatic... I absolutely hate needles and sharp objects... scissors, blades, knives, etc... ekk. talking (I mean typing about it freaks me out), but so I waited in line and then went into the booth at Gregory Gym. There, they had about 15 tables each with a nurse with tons of needles, bandages, and sterilization pads. I walked in and it hit me like a ton of bricks.. Inside, I really started to freak out and could feel that I was about to hyperventilate, but I stopped, took a deep breath, and got my shot, and then got out of there as fast as I could. It was pretty traumatic.. haha.

Oh well, that's pretty much all that's going on. It's now pretty late.... and I'm going to wake up at 4:45am to start fasting, eat, and then go back to bed.

Final Countdown

Music: The Final Countdown- Europe
Mood: Relaxing.. just a little bit

So I'm sitting here in finals, enjoying the third of five finalists presentations. I'm slowly losing steam, but I'm alive. So after lunch, the company representatives gave presentations, the finalists were announced, and then the non-advancing finalists received feedback. At 1:30, the first finalist began their presentation. I'm so excited that this competition is coming to a close. I'm running on fumes right now, but I think competitors, company judges, professors, and the students have enjoyed the day, and in the end, it was all worth it.

Just two more presentations, judges deliberations, and then we'll announce the winners. Then I'm hitting the sack!

Case Competition

Music: Left and Leaving- The Weakerthans
Mood: CASE! EEK!

So, here's a live update about case. Currently, it's 10:45am. I went to bed at 1:30 AM this morning and was up by 5:30 Am at the B-school getting ready for case competition. Nonetheless, I am sleep deprived and ready for this day to end. Everything ran pretty smoothly, however, the only goof we had was that HEB did not include coffee cups with coffee, so people were having to drink coffee out of plastic cups. Which is pretty unprofessional. However, we were able to scrounge up some coffee cups from Wendy's and the remainder from CVS. Also, we were going to video tape all the rounds instead of just finals, but I made a goof and didn't get enough video tape to record 35 x 4 teams for each room. Thus, we're only taping the finals rounds.

But other than that, everything is going well. Rounds are running and things are going smoothly. Jason's deli is supposed to come in about 7 minutes now, so I'll probably have to go tend to that in a second. I'm excited about case being over. I think from here on out, things should be going on smoothly (cross my fingers)! And after case is done around 5pm, I'm going to take a nap, get some dinner, then sleep! Then the next day.. i'll wake up to run a 5k.. THEN finally, after that, I think I'm going to crash... but too bad I have 200+ pages of French Revolution, philisophy, spanish, and tons of other crap.

OK, after running random errands, I'm back. Jason's just got here, so we're about to start lunch. See ya'll! Updates to come after this day is over!

Case-love!

Make it STOP

Music 1: One Day I'll Fly Away- Moulin Rouge
Music 2:What's Left of Me- Nick Lachey
Music 3: A New Day Has Come- Celine Dion
Mood: Spent

See a trend in the music? Sappy songs that let me know that there's still hope in the future, and that I'll survive, some how.

I want a break. I want a day, a whole day, 24 hours straight, of not having to check email, answer phone calls, study, make to-do lists, recruit, work on case competition. I'd even been willing to compromise on just a half-day. Mother Nature, please inflict us with a hard snow storm tomorrow... Please? =( I'm begging you.

I'm sleeping so little and preoccupied with so many things that even when I'm sleeping, I dream I'm making to-do lists of things I need to get done. It is pretty depressing. Right now, I feel like I'm a prisoner in my own life. Everything thing I do, I enjoy doing, but I feel like I'm just up to my neck in commitments. I mean, I'm doing a good job of juggling everything, except sleep. Which is starting to take it's toll on me. I'm just sick of this. It's making me moody and irritable. I just want to do nothing. And even on the weekends, though I get to go out some and relax a bit, it's just NOT ENOUGH. Make it stop. Just let me be like Hiro from Heroes so I can just stop time and relax for just a bit. Ugh. Or slap me silly and wake me up from this dream that is my life. I don't understand. Some days, it's seems like all is well. Then other days, I feel like I'm just ready to drop everything, give up, and just crash on my bed. But in the end, I know I'll survive. It's just hard. =(

Oh, and PS. my office visit was all right. I literally flew in, caught a cab to the offices, did 5 interviews with different managers and directors (including an informal interview during lunch), then caught a cab back to Hobby, and flew back to Austin. Hence, it was exhausting. It wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be. Oh well. I really felt like a business traveler... catching the flights, going around in cabs, wearing a suit, eating with the "clients," etc. It was certainly a good experience. But that's enough for me to just call it a week. I'm ready for the weekend.. IE. Sunday (after case). Good night.. off to go dream about things I need to do.. and dream about actually getting them done... =O

Business Trip!

Music: Postal Service- Clark Gable
Mood: Flying

So this past weekend was pretty amazing! Not only did I get to hang out with friends and relax a bit, I was also able to get a lot of homework done in preparation for my interview in Houston on Tuesday. I'll talk more about that later. But this weekend was great! Halloween weekend is always fun! It's always nice to see what creative costumes people come up with. I saw the usual pirate and princesses, but I also ran into Bjork and Spinelli (from Recess)! I also spent much of my weekend preparing for the case competition.

I had to finalize the rooms, the teams, and the seeding of the teams. I'm happy to say that originally, I was only preparing for 16 teams of 4, however, due to a large number of applications, I increased the total number of teams to 20. To my knowledge, no McCombs case competitions have ever had 20 teams competing. To accommodate for the 20 teams, I had to do a last minute room reservation, change my breakfast order, and also change my order for Jason's Deli. Then, on Sunday afternoon, I received the case from the case authors (also UT alumni). From then, I had to prepare for Kick-off by making CDs with the case and case guidelines, and then I made 20 hard copies of the case to distribute to the teams for case. This definitely was a lot of work but it is all rewarding. All the countless hours I have put into the case competition have been worth it because of the gratification I get from putting on a great competition that will allow other students to learn and accomplish a lot. The case competition is this Saturday, November 3rd starting at 8:30 AM. The finals round of the case competition starts at 1:15PM and is open to anyone who is interested in viewing a case competition.

So yes, today was Kick-off. It was really exciting to see all the teams in one room. Handing out the cases was rewarding because it signified the start of the competition. This week, my committee and I still have to confirm with the judges their participation, make the resume books, make name tags, finalize food arrangements, and confirm room reservations. Also, something new were doing this year is video taping all the prelim and final rounds of all the teams and providing the video tapes to the teams so they can view their presentation and improve for their next competition. Ok, i think that's enough talk about case competition!

So yea, my "business trip!" Tomorrow, I catch an 8:45 flight to Houston to visit the downtown offices of a company I'm really interested in interning with this summer. After a round of interviews and lunch and more interviews, I'll head by to Austin on at 4 PM flight. It'll be rough, but I'm extremely excited. It sounds pretty lame, if not cheesy, but this will be the first time I'm flying because of business. I'll be wearing a suit and everything on the plane and pretend to blend in with all the other business travelers. Haha. I'm pretty stoked. This is my first office visit, so yea. We'll so how tomorrow goes. Anywho, I probably should get to bed. I have to wake up tomorrow to get to the airport in time! Wish me luck on my first "business trip!" =)

Oh, and did ya'll know that Frank Warren from Post Secret is coming to UT on Nov. 1st. And Sherron Watkins, the Enron whistle blower is coming to speak on Nov. 5th. So I'm excited about both visits! =) yaya!

To me, I'm not sure if this person really does have a great life. How do you define happiness? I certainly don't view happiness by material wealth. Obviously, money does open doors to help enjoy life, but it isn't the key to happiness.

And as a BHP Student Recruiter, I encourage students to write their own essays, even if their parents demand that they write the essays for their students. Obviously, school really want to see students as they truly are. Be true. It's unfortunate how pressured today's students are by their parents. I'm fortunate that my parents let me do whatever I wanted regarding college applications. My dad helped me keep track of deadlines and edited my apps to make sure I had all the documents, but other than that, my parents took a hand-off approach to my college applications, and I'm glad for that.

I just thought this postcard was cute. So many times, you can see people who obviously have feelings for one another, and you just want to reach and out shake them so they realize it!

Ok, well off to bed! I'll inform ya'll of how my office visit goes! =)