OwenBloggers: Brad (AOA) - MBA 2010

Missing: Oak tree... kinda tall... has leaves.

If found please contact Brad

The setup...

Take a look at the Vanderbilt logo. I'm referring to the V with the center void removed in the shape of a white oak leaf and acorn. Pretty spiffy, huh? I doubt most people give it a second look, but when I first started looking at Vanderbilt, it is one of the things I noticed. Don't ask me why, it just stuck out. Too much time doing desktop publishing I suppose.

The point here (and I know that I tend to wander a bit) is that I pictured Owen, with streets lined in mighty oak trees dripping with Spanish moss (this is the south after all, and my head is a strange place indeed). Imagine my surprise when I arrived here for my interview to find no oak trees in sight. I asked all sorts of folks (Students, employees, and others to remain nameless...) about the mysterious missing tree phenomenon, but not a soul could explain the connection between the school and the oak leaf. With things shaping up the way they were, I was contemplating a blog rant about the relevance of an oak leaf logo, when there aren't any obvious oaks around .(if they are around, they are well hidden... which makes me wonder who is going around hiding oak trees [ a topic for a future blog perhaps] ).

Ooops, silly me...

So before I sat down to write my rant... I decided to do a little research. After all, who wants to look like a jerk in print. (I'm much better at it in person). I looked through the Vanderbilt website and found no specific mention as to the significance of the oak leaf. The internet is a big place, and I did find a glimmer of hope... both are nearly useless tidbits of information... but I thought that since tomorrow is the first day of Orientation, why not share...

Fact #1 – The Vanderbilt family arms contains an oak leaf and acorn, symbolizing strength and longevity.

Fact #2 – On campus the “Bicentennial Oak” is thought to be the oldest living thing on campus, having survived the American revolution.

I'm not sure which anecdote plays a larger role in the oak leaf symbolism, but either works for me. Maybe there is more to the story... anyone what to chime in here? Good luck to everyone tomorrow during orientation... hopefully this paradox will provide some form of distraction as the minutes tick by... it has certainly been enough to keep my mice busy in their wheel...

The Square Root of Evil

   

Ok.. .so its not really evil... but it is worthy of discussion... First, let me say that the professor is quite pleasant, the work isn't exceedingly difficult, and the schedule has been very adaptable. So why write about it in a blog? Aside form my narcissistic need to see my “name in lights”,  I have taken an informal poll – keep in mind I know only a few Owen 2010s right now ... I'm no Zogby - but time management has been a common topic of discussion.

    In the true spirit of mathematics, I'm going to go on a tangent – get it?! - bear with me for a moment, and I'll bring this back around...

    One of my personal goals for being an Owenblogger is to quantify the amount of time I spend doing things as an Owen student. One aspect of student life that I was eager to understand about MBA school  was “How much of my waking day is this investment going to consume?” The answer never really factored into the decision making process, but as a matter of being prepared, it remains an important  question that is still left unanswered. The problem is that I don't think anyone really knows. Though I haven't started school yet, I can easily see how personal time, projects, fun, and networking can all blend together so that the answer becomes very simply “alot of time”. Of course “alot” can mean different things to different people... 50 hours a week for work can be taxing for one person, and a vacation for another.

    So to bring this back around (see – I told you that I would)... I'm going to attempt to quantify the time I spend on Math camp. My hope is that others will chime in as well... don't be shy now... we're all in this together...

    I spend about 1.5 to 2 hours each morning doing math camp. This is not stats camp... I'll add that in later. I generally do this 6 days a week, trying to leave one day as a break. This pace has been good, but I have had to spend 4 hours twice now to catch up with the class “schedule”. There is MORE than enough information to spend all day reading and practicing. Since it is mostly review, I don't find it imperative to read and study all of it. I read through the e-book, watch the video with breakfast, and then work on the e-solutions odd sets. This has been a good mix for me, and I'm scoring as I should be.

    My math background is that I was a good math student is school (back in the day)... took advanced and AP courses, was a math tutor, and scored better on the math portions of the GMAT and SATs than written/verbal. (for those of you following along, you know I won't be winning any spelling bees.)

    I don't want to give the impression that the work is hard. I probably spend as much time chiding myself over the knowledge I “used to know” as I do reading and practicing. Since you are obviously reading this, how about chiming in, too? How much time do you spend doing doing math camp? What's your math background? Do you have a formula for success? Talk amongst yourselves!

Thankfully, There is more to life than Kickball...

Not that I don't like kickball, but my 20 year hiatus doesn't seem to have perfected my skills. Just as wine gets better with age, it would appear my kickball skills did not. For Owen students (past present and future) lucky enough to be in the Nashville area during the summer, there is an opportunity to join the Owen kickball team. Our first game was tonight (6/11/08), and we played valiantly.

Many of us have never met before, but we organized on the fly, cheered, and came together better than any improptu team I've seen yet. To our dismay, none of the other teams are as impromptu. I've seen small foreign militarys with less organization. They even appear to have read (and understood) the rules for “adult kickball” prior to arriving. What's that about?

Winning (or losing) aside, we are certainly a friendly bunch. It just seems to be something universal about the Owen community. On a grassy field, basking in the Nashville sun, the Owen  team took to the kickball diamond of glory. Our opponents were organized, calculating, and entirely too serious. Thankfully we didn't let their desire (and apparent ability) to be victorious ruin our efforts to have fun. I am usually pretty competitive, but in this case, with this group of people, I don't mind being the Washington Generals. (The comic foils for the Harlem Globe Trotters, for those of you in the back row) This is fun! I can't wait until NEXT WEEK... maybe we'll score TWO runs.

Stop the hemorrhaging!

Ok, this is the first blog after the move from Maine to Tennessee. Now that the dust has settled a bit, I have a few tips to pass on to those moving from one house to another. This was definitely a learning experience for me. I looked into local wisdom about neighborhoods and housing, but most of the conventional wisdom focused on apartment living. It may work for most folks, but its not for everyone. My wife and I (plus our 4 cats and a dog) fell into this category. Having never moved a household such a distance, I learned these handy-dandy things that I'd like to pass along.

1. Watch the Cash Flow (out mostly). I have been very surprised at the cost of moving. Sure the actual movement of belongs is expensive, but it is the cost of fees to start service, fees to stop service, surcharges, forgotten items, broken belongings, bribes, and the simply unexpected that hit you where it hurts. It is such a shock that it was my inspiration for the title of this blog. (A-ha!... Now the title makes sense... half way down the blog... but it makes sense...)

2. Pack organized. Resist the temptation to have a box full of "I'll sort this out later". This is good in theory, but after moving it will remain as a box of "I'll sort this out later". It either important enough to move, or chuck it and save the weight / fuel costs / space.

3. Not everything is valuable. My wife and I each had things that were "irreplaceable". Now that I have schlepped many of them over hill and dale, I realize that its just junk, and I'm a pack-rat. Sell it, get the cash, see item number one.

4. Get a hand truck. They cost $50 at Home Depot. They are very handy, and worth the $50. Think of it as cheaper than new knees / back. Friends work well too. Feel free to call me... you can borrow my hand truck.

5. Drug your pets. It might not sound "nice" but it is better for them. Ask your vet! It is like they are drunk. They'd normally be very stressed... when was the last time you saw a stressed out drunk guy?

6. Check out the neighbors and the neighborhood.  Go there by yourself, park the car, and walk around the block. Do the neighbors wave? Can you hear birds? The highway? The rat-a-tat-tat of semi-automatic weapons? Check out the grocery store.

7. Check for closets, attic space, cellar space. You have stuff, it has to go somewhere. It is easy to forget when you are walking through the "5th house today"... but some "flipped" houses trade out closet space to make a room look bigger. If you not thinking about it, you might get hornswaggled.

8. Get a good Realtor and trust them. Joe knows a guy. I don't plug people that don't deserve it, but Joe definitely deserves it. Joe Hach (lazy pronunciation like "Ha" as in Ha-Ha-Ha ) was recommended to us, and he certainly performed. I don't want to expound on him too much, but I'll bring up two points. First, he treated us with respect. We weren't spending the oodles of money his normal client base spends, but he represented us and treated us as though we were. He is a quality individual. We wouldn't have found our house without him. Second, he fought for us. When an issue arose, he used his connections to fix the problem. In short, he got it done. I recommend him to any buyer. I  have no experience with his abilities as a seller, though I would imagine him to be equally capable. http://www.jkhrelocationservices.com/

9. Visit the house. ... after a rain and when it has been dry. Its amazing what you can learn with polar weather conditions. In the same vein, get an inspection. It is worth every penny.

10. Stay focused on the real prize. Vanderbilt. Owen. MBA. All this work is only the first step in this adventure. It will be worth it. It is a pain, but get over it. Be flexible, things will not go as planned. Adapt and change. Be persistent... the folks at DirecTV don't always understand what you are saying. Just call back until you get someone that does. Trust me, it may take five phone calls. Take a deep breath. In with the good... out with the bad...

Well, apparently I am a gas bag. A simple post turns into a dissertation. I can't help it. At least its not in Iambic Pentameter... Questions, Comments, Problems go below!

Pardon Me For Blogging...

I have never participated in a blog before, but much of my future path seems clear to me now, so it seems I must learn to blog... well. My name is Bradford Cayer, Brad works just fine. I have always lived in New England, most recently in Maine, and after numerous so-cold-it-sucks-the-air-out-of-your-lungs winters, I am looking forward to the change. Before everyone warns me about how hot Tennessee can get (I'm getting that a lot up here right now), please understand that I work in 95* weather wearing jeans. I actually like it hot.

So my "thing" is problem solving. From card games to "we have no money, and the bills are due", I enjoy the the challenge of solving puzzles. Want to hear about my life story? How'd this come about? What kind of problems? Where can I get an signed copy of your autobiography? Ask me in person, its too long for a blog. The point is that I have always pursued business, because of the unique sets of problems that seem to accompany enterprise. It just the way I tick.

And then came college.  I have always been personable, or at least thats what people tell me. (the ones that like me, anyway).  That's why Hospitality seemed to be a natural fit for me as a career choice. I earned my undergraduate degree in Hospitality Management from the University of New Hampshire. Cow Hampshire to New Englanders. Through a unique series of events (again, life story available in person) I was given an opportunity to work as a manager trainee at a family owned resort facility in Maine. I took it. It was currently under construction, and as luck would have it, it was never completed. Humph. The story that goes with that is a long one, too... but the cliff notes have something to do with a lack of funding, business plan revisions, and a unicorn. (Ok, I made up the part about the unicorn). When all was said and done, I had agreed to work to transition the business from plan A to plan B. It was an incredible challenge, and a very valuable experience.

Enter Owen. More realistically, enter the idea of graduate school. I applied to numerous schools, as everyone does. I had my "reach", my "safe" school, and my "I bet these will work". Vanderbilt was my reach. Boy, am I looking forward to attending Owen. At first there were three factors that made Vandy the ultimate choice. First, I am looking to pursue a healthcare MBA. Some of the schools I looked at offered MBAs, MHAs, or some combination to move towards healthcare management. In each case, it seemed like one side (healthcare or business) was weak. Simply put, no school seemed to be able to provide a rigorous, balanced education in both aspects of their program. Which leads to reason number two. The healthcare MBA has a submersion set that sounds AWESOME! Coupled with volunteer hours, I am hoping to soak up as much of the nuts and bolts of health care delivery as possible. The third reason was reputation. Everyone knows exactly what I am talking about here, why beat the dead horse.

The Fourth reason, can only be expressed with a visit. My wife and I came to welcome weekend in April. Wow. I have never felt so welcome... EVER. Lets not forget I'm in hospitality. Owen was amazing. We met so many friendly people, and even took an alum we met out for pizza. I had already decided that Owen was for me, but after I visited, knew I belonged here.

Moving forward from here... I hope to become an entertaining blogger. Not Eddie Izzard entertaining, but more along the lines of Douglas Adams. Specifically, I want to get your attention, and hold it long enough to talk about something of value. Whatever the topic of the blog, I would love for every reader to participate. One of the most exciting things about welcome weekend was seeing the variety of folks that have accepted the invitation to attend Owen. I can't wait to see how all of these different perspectives converge. We learn best from each other. A blog is a forum, right? In return for your unquestioning devotion... I will make a promise. I will always try tell the truth as I see it. I do that anyway, but here you have it in writing. I have nothing to gain by fluffing up Owen. I'm not likely to get a scholarship anytime soon. I'd rather keep quiet than tell someone else's "truth". So if you ask me a question, I'll answer it. Period. I think its a pretty good deal really...

This concludes our broadcast today... like it? Don't like it? let me know! Maybe I'll agree, and make a change. All in all, I think its a pretty good blog. For those of you only half paying attention, some of these one-liners were meant as jokes. They might not be funny, but they were meant to be funny. I know I laughed.