It's February? Seriously?

               Well, another week down kiddos. I started my new internship at the library and I think I’m going to enjoy it. It looks like a lot of putting together resources for business students and analyzing how much current resources are used. Mainly, though, everybody at the library seems really cool and it’s going to be nice place to work.

               I also got work back rolling on our partnership with the women’s shelter. We’re finishing up our deliverable for the finance team and starting work on a fundraiser for the shelter. Graduate Women in Business is back, too. This semester we’re just concentrating on bringing some speakers and recruiting a new group of women for next year. GWIB’s been a real test of trying to find what works.

               Anyway, here’s a rundown for this week:

                              1) We’ve got the big ERP simulation competition this week. My team has been trying to work out our sale strategy, but, honestly, once the simulation gets going everything gets crazy.

                              2) Grant writing’s first assignment is due—60 pages of reading and a couple pages of writing. This is the easy one.

                              3) Dina Howell is coming to speak on Thursday. It’s a lunch and learn, hopefully we’ll have Qdoba…(They always get Qdoba for the big speakers.)

                              4) I’ve been re-watching Ugly Betty. The US version and I found the original Columbian version, Yo Soy Betty, la fea, subtitled in Spanish[1] online. I’d forgotten how awkward the comedy was on these shows. It’s almost unbearable sometimes. (I have the same trouble with 30 Rock. I thinks it's because I do the same things as Liz and Betty sometimes.)

                              5) I get to go to Chicago on the 28^th and 29^th to visit United Airlines headquarters and Saatchi & Saatchi offices. Hopefully, the unusually warm weather persists.

               That’s it for this week! I should get more exciting…eventually!

---

[1] I can read and speak Spanish, but my hearing skills have gone rusty on me. Plus the subtitles help me learn the accents faster. 

Yup, still posting!

               Has it been a week?[1] Anyway, I’ve been busy applying for jobs and going to class. I’ve applied to a couple of sales analyst positions in the area, associate spots at a couple of management consulting firms[2] and the MBA-specific programs at Sony and L’Oréal. There’s an internship in Dublin this summer that I’m considering applying. It seems like a great opportunity but, to be honest, I worry a little about how expensive it will be to live there. The application is due this week, though, so I have to decide fast!

               Classes have been good. We’re doing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) simulation in my Enterprise Resource class and the software reminds me so much of how software used to look back in the day.[3] Still, the simulation is a good, interactive way to get experience with ERP. (Not that I would necessarily want to do ERP, but you get me.) This coming week I’ve got a bunch of meetings to bring the new students in on Graduate Women in Business and the Women’s Shelter project. I’m really trying to get something accomplished with both of these but I’m getting a little stressed about running out of time.

               On the good news front: 1) I found my old copy of Age of the Empires II, so I’ve been nerding out on that; and 2) I’m going to be working this semester for the Business Librarian and will hopefully get to make book-forts.[4]

Until next week!

---

[1] It must be. I’m watching a new Project Runway as we speak.

[2] Symphony IRI and Innosight

[3] My parents had a computer at home when I was little (think pre-school) that they got to do taxes. It ran Dos and used actual floppy disks.

[4] Exactly what it sounds like.  Preferably you get someone else to build one near you and can throw wads of paper at each other. Maybe play some bombastic symphonies while you’re at it.

Miss me?

               Well kids, I’m back. It’s been a bittersweet break for me. On the upside: I have an adorable new nephew (those are my parents and niece pictured with him), got my chairs repainted and some more house decorating done and got a brand new sewing machine for Christmas. I also made a couple of scarves, one for my roommate and one for my friend Thomas,[1] and read a couple of books.[2]

               On the downside: I am no longer doing the entrepreneurship project and the offices for my internship have been relocated and so I have no internship.  It’s like being back at square one with no plans and no fallback, right now. I’m just applying at everything that seems interesting or I think will get my resume in front of a company; circulating my resume and stalking company websites for jobs. However, it is exciting because I really have no idea where I’ll end up now.

               Classes this semester are shaping up to be interesting. I have strategic management, enterprise systems and grant writing for the social sciences. Strategic management will definitely be very useful and enterprise system should also be eye-opening because I don’t have a lot of experience with ERP. Grant Writing will, hopefully, open the door to some freelance opportunities and it’s also part of the Cross-Sector Certification program. If I get a job in Fayetteville, then I might be able to complete that certification, which would open up some opportunities in the public sector for me.

               Alright kiddos, that’s it for this week. Hopefully next week I’ll be all positives!

---

[1] Thomas’ is pictured. It’s a shorter version of the Doctor Who Scarf.

[2] Ready Player One and reread The Quiet Man and Other Stories. 

Link!

Before I forget and the holidays pass us by I wanted to do a shameless plug for a friend's website: My Diamond Obsession. This is a startup by a Walton MBA alum and it's super cool! So check it out.

P.S. If  you still haven't gotten me a present, I'd like this.

I'll Put Something Good Here...Someday

So class is officially done. All I have left is studying for my accounting and investment finals and finding Christmas presents for people. The trouble with being swamped with class and work is that you wind up buying all your Christmas presents the week before Christmas. But! I’m am swamped no longer and in a couple days I get to spend a whole month reading, watching movies and playing with my new sewing machine.[1]

               Here’s the short list of books and movies that I’m going to take out over break:

               -Neal Stephenson’s Reamde

               -The most recent season of Doctor Who

               -The new Pedro Almodovar movie

               -And a John Le Carre book

               This weekend I got to go shopping with my mom. We ate some Qdoba and I spent too much at Sephora.[2] I also went and saw It’s a Wonderful Life at TheatreSquared with some friends. It was an impressive production. There were only few people to play all the parts and the set was perfect for it. Today, I studied some, cleaned some and watched La Femme Nikita with Thomas.[3] This will pretty much be break, other than the studying part.

               Anyway, I hope you guys all have great holiday plans. I’ll try to blog over break, though I can’t promise it won’t be really boring…

---

[1] Did I mention that? I got a sewing machine with some of my Christmas money. It’s super cool with a bunch of stitches and button-hole options. I’m really nerding out about this.

[2] Can’t help it. You get me next to that Tarte counter and I’m done. I want all the pretty colors of eye shadow, lipstick and blush. I don’t even really wear that much makeup; I just like all the stuff.

[3] Prior to the busy-ness of this semester, Thomas and I would have movie night every Sunday night. We’re reinstituting that. 

1 Week!!!!

Hello again, I bet you missed me last week. (And, of course, by missed I mean spending your time doing fun stuff with your family and eating too much.)

               Good news: My entrepreneurship team—Boston Mountain  Biotech—got  into a business  plan competition at the Ivey Business School in Ontario, Canada. Two other UA teams got into the competition also so it looks like we’ll be booking the whole plane.

               Double Good News: 1 week of class left!!!! Things left to do[1]:

                              1) Final edits on my Community Development paper (Due Monday)

                              2) Revisions on business plan (Due Tuesday)

                              3) Leadership final (On Wednesday)

                              4) Investments presentation (On Thursday) 

                              5) Entrepreneurship presentation (On Thursday)[2]

                              6) Work. (Always awesome!)

               I’m looking forward to Winter Break so I can see my family and take a break(ish). I say “ish” because I’ll be working on the business plan, repainting 2 dining chairs and trying to clean the house.[3] Don’t worry, though; I’ll be blogging away about repainting chairs and reading books!
               Following up on my last post, I have finished the four seasons of Burn Notice on Netflix. I plan on watching the fifth over break, along with the sixth of Doctor Who. In the meantime, I've been catching up on episodes of The Next Iron Chef: Superstars and Nikita. (Nikita seemed a logical progression from Burn Notice.) I know you love hearing about my TV watching habits.

'Til next week kiddos. 

---

[1] I do have three finals the next week but I’ll handle those when I get there.

[2] This is a big deal. The winner gets first choice on competitions that only allow one team from each school.

[3] It’s gotten really messy. 

Dt.Cokes and Rice Krispie Treats: or How I Get Things Accomplished

     First draft of the business plan is done—well minus financials but that’s not my area so I can’t really do those—and all it took was 1.75 seasons of Burn Notice and half of a box of Rice Krispie treats.[1] Though to be honest the work is just beginning, because now we’ve hit the stage  where it’s about fixing the weak spots in our plan and the problem with that is that about the time you get one weak spot solved  five more pop up. We’ll get there; we’ve got a great team.

   In other news, it’s finally scarf weather and you know what that means? It’s time for me to crochet some scarves. I bought some yarn, pictured right, the other day. It’s nice, soft wool yarn, which is perfect for scarves. I plan on making a one for me with each color, but I bought extra to make some for friends and family.[2] I’ll try to post some pictures of the finished project.

   Guess what? Two days of class/work this week! (That’s all I really have. I’m just really ready for Thanksgiving break and a couple of days off with my family.) After the long week that was last week—btw, I passed everything—it’s just time for some days off.

   In GWIB news, we’re having a Tacky Sweater party. If you’re a prospective student, MMBA or alumni, we’d love to have you. It’ll be Dec. 9^th from 7:30-9:30 at Grub’s. Tacky Sweaters are must. (Though, we’ll loosely interpret tacky.)

   Alright, that’s it for this week, kids. Be good and have fun.[3]         

---

[1] I don’t think I’ve mentioned this but I love Burn Notice, probably as much as I love Doctor Who. Obviously, I have a thing for quirky group dramas that involve solving a problem—one with power tools, duct tape and cell phones and the other with a sonic screwdriver.

[2] Hopefully by now you’ve figured out that I like projects, especially projects that involve making or fixing things. This also seems to explain my love of the shows mentioned above.  

[3] My mom once told me that. Then my friends and I joked that if you graphed “be good” and “have fun” using a Venn Diagram the circles wouldn’t intersect on a 3-D plane, which involves my friends and I circling our arms out to the side like the bunch of nerds we obviously are. (Oddly enough, this also seems to explain my love of the TV shows mentioned above.)