Strange weather

You know weather is strange when Detroit area TV channels start referring to it as a "nasty storm". I mean, it was about 65 and warm all week. Today poured rain (which was good b/c my car was dirty), and it's supposed to snow a lot tomorrow. We're a bit east of the bulk of today's crappy weather - but it's on its way here. I still don't get how the temperature can drop about 30 degrees in a day or two.

At least I don't have class tomorrow, so I won't really have to leave my apartment if I don't want to.

Thanksgiving Break is here!

Yay! I really need this break. Actually, I'm more excited about the lack of classes than I am the holiday. I intend to spend this break working on some extracurricular stuff that I have to do, and really get cracking on a couple of these peojects I have. Oh, and catch up with reading, clean my apartment, do laundry, etc., etc.

Our finance midterm was yesterday afternoon. I found it to be deceptively easy. I use the term "deceptive" because it's always possible that I missed something competely - because it seemed to be very straightforward. What's more likely is that I overthought something and talked myself out of the right answer. But, in talking with my classmates after the test, I got almost exactly the same answers. So that means that either we all did really well or bombed it completely. I think the former is true, so the mean will probably be pretty high. I'm not complaining though. It could have been worse than it was. Much worse. Although I'm glad I didn't put more effort into this than i did.

Despite partying Friday night and Saturday during the games, a lot of MBA's needed some post-finance drinking, so a bunch of us went to a bar near campus. I had a blast - it was great to hang out, cool to chat with people, then all of a sudden, I looked at my watch and it was midnite. Then 1am. And it was still going strong. I don't remember the last time I was partying that late on a Monday. Needless to say, I struggled through my classes today.

But, in 20 years (or 20 minutes), I won't remember the finance midterm. I will remember making some awesome friends (crazy events recently made me realize just how awesome it is to have these people as friends).

:(

Oh well. So we're 11-1. We're not going to the National Championship. Yes, that late personal foul call was bogus (even more bogus than the "roughing the center" call). But I'm proud of our boys. We played better than I expected (remember, we barely beat Ball State). The game was incredible to watch, unlike other highly anticipated games (in the pac-10). And no, I don't want a rematch.

I wonder who OSU will play in the desert. I wonder who we'll play at the Rosebowl. I'm wanting to see a OSU/Florida National Championship and a Michigan/USC rosebowl. That would be awesome!

T-4 hours until gametime

Crazy couple of days.

The Marketing Symposium was awesome! It was great to get to network with companies that I may have missed during the regular recruiting process. 28 of them came, and I made some pretty good (new) contacts with key companies. Plus, corporations bring a lot of free stuff that they intend to give away. :)

I've really started to see differences in companies, and have narrowed my industry and company focus. I have a few target companies in mind, but I'm not going to list anything specifically online. But when evaluating companies, I'm looking for type of assignments, approach to training, career path, and more importantly location. Location doesn't necessarily mean California, but the thought of moving to some cities isn't that appealing. I can do anything for a summer, so I'm still keeping more umm, "less desirable" locations open. Of course, I actually have to have options before I start making these type of comparisons. I'm also still going to be maintaining contacts at companies i don't intern with because you never know what can happen. Hell, a part of me wishes I met with General Management/Rotational Program recruiters since that's a potential interest of mine also. Oh well.

I'm pretending to study finance, but actually excited for football. I'm VERY excited for the game, and really sad that Bo Schembechler passed away before he had the chance to see it. And as strange as it sounds, this may help us. Despite the somber mood, I can see the team playing to "make Bo proud".

Go Blue! Beat Buckeyes!

Football game or warzone?

Umm...OK, so I had heard that Ohio State fans are crazy, but i had no idea.

We got this email the other day, and I'm not sure what to think of it yet. I went back and forth between driving to Columbus or watching the game here, but decided to stay here because of the stupid finance midterm Monday and because I don't feel like driving down there and back and having to remain sober all day. Plus, the Cal/USC game had better be on a TV. All season, up until last Saturday, I was saying that USC was going down. But last Saturday told me anything can happen: Cal losing to Arizona?!?!?, Stanford (gasp) winning a game -- poor Washington.

Anyway, back to the email. I'm copy/pasting a part of it:

We know that it can be uncomfortable being in an opposing team's environment, especially when the stakes are so high. We would like to offer a few suggestions in order to help you stay safe and have a positive experience this weekend:

--Try carpooling to the game; if possible, drive a car with non- Michigan license plates.
--Keep your Michigan gear to a minimum, or wait until you are inside the stadium to display it.
--Stay with a group.
--Know and obey the laws regarding alcohol use.
--If you are of legal age to drink, use alcohol in moderation. Stay in the blue.
--Stay low-key; don't draw unnecessary attention to yourself.
--If verbally harrassed by opposing fans, don't take the bait.
--Avoid High Street in Columbus.

If at any time you feel unsafe, you should call 9-1-1 for assistance. U-M campus police also will be available in Columbus to support our fans.

I've never been to Columbus, but is this really necessary?

Fall B Update

So, Fall B is 1/3 done. I'm not sure how time keeps flying. I'm also not sure I understand this weather. In the 2 weeks of Fall B, we've had massive cold, enough snow to stick, followed by 65 degree weather (which felt WARM to me), and (yet another) series of rainstorms. I really don't know if this is "typical" Midwestern weather or global warming, but it's strange to me.

Fall B is supposed to be "easier" than Fall A. It's certainly less "quant" than Fall A is (my only quant class is finance, and that doesn't seem to be too hard). The other three: Marketing core, MO (Management and Organizations), and my elective require almost no mathematical skills whatsoever. But I'm comfortable with quant. I kind of miss it. Yes, I'm a dork...

This term is very teamwork and presentation focused. I have groups for all of my classes, 3 of them have presentations. Class discussions are more lively and there's more cold-calling. I'm actually enjoying the discussions and some of the material more than I thought I would (particluarly MO). The tricky part about group work is well, finding time to work as a group. Between recruiting activities (case interview prep, mocks, presentations), extracurriculars, and case competitions, it's hard to get everyone together. Thn once we do get together, it's hard to not let old work habits come back into play. At work, it's easy to be aggressive to get things done, and even a bit of a hard-ass, but at work you are almost always working towards the same goal. In my experiences here, nobody wants to be overly assertive since you don't want to be "that guy (or girl)" who pisses off all of your classmates. I'm guilty of it too...it's going to be a learning experience to try and assert myself w/o alienating others.

OK, to bed now! Mich/Ohio State game this weekend!

Wake-Up Call

Some things are just unacceptable.

Especially when those things are eerily similar to other somewhat surprising events.

Oh wait, I'm a b-school student now, taking management this term and I took strategy last term. Hmm...let me come up with a leadership lesson.

I know! How about not spending so much time projecting on the future that you forget to take care of current business activities.

Time to bundle up...

It has been cold lately. Earlier this morning (around 8am), it was 27 degrees. At one point yeserday afternoon, it was 30 degrees (or 19 degrees with windchill according to weather.com). And yesterday it snowed. A lot. Well, not a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, but a lot considering it was November 2. I know I'm in Michigan, but it's not supposed to be this cold this early in the year. Sigh. Thank goodness I have a nice long heavy wool coat. And a hat. And gloves. And a scarf. :)

It's gonna be a LONG winter!