OwenBloggers: Isaac - MBA '08

Living in the "bubble"

There exists little doubt that my life closely mirrors that of the average hamster.  The Thanksgiving Break really drove this home for me, and now I'm scratching at the plastic in desperate hopes of finding the escape hatch...

I show up here at school, say, 8:30.  I hustle from class to class.  Sometimes I'll break out of the bubble to taste the sweet, fresh air of freedom. I'll grab a quick lunch, but then it's back to my cage...  Around midnight I'll begin my drive home, crash into bed, and sleep until 7 when I get up and repeat the process again. 

Outside of a quick glance at the Journal in the A.M. and a cursory visit to some time-wasting websites, I have no idea what is happening in the real world.  Most of the time I wont be able to guess the day of the month. 

And I was sorta ok with all this...

Last week ruined it for me.

Until Thanksgiving, I had forgotten what it was like outside my quaint plastic enclosure.  Now I am reminded of what I'm missing...   and I'm gnawing at the walls for Christmas. 

Only one thing stands in my way: Finals.  Finals are going to take my little plastic hamster ball and kick it down 3 flights of stairs.  Finals will be the 3-year old neighbor's kid squeezing the crap out of me until I finally bite back.  Finals will be the hamster wheel of death; a sadistic torture device that seems to have no end to it's cruelty.  

But I will survive, they'll let me out of my plastic hamster ball for 3 whole weeks.  Honestly, the thought of break is all that's keeping me going.  That and about 2 gallons of coffee..

Thanksgiving Break

So Thanksgiving Break is turning out to be not so much a "break". Turns out it's just a normal week; projects are still due, but you have the added difficulty of traveling added into the mix.  To be honest, this bums me out.  I have been so looking forward to a "break" that I didn't read the fine print on the syllabi.  Turns out, there is an accounting case, a marketing case, a business plan speech, an operations case, and tons of reading due the first part of next week.  What are these people thinking?

 

I've enjoyed my time off so far.  My wife and I drove up to Connecticut to see her family; we did the drive over 2 days so we could spend more time together.  I really needed that.  But now I'm sitting in her parents living room, books spread out all over the place; why didn't I just stay at Owen this week to get all this done?

 

The good news is the MOD is nearly over.  3 more weeks.  Maybe over Christmas break I'll get some more time off... oh, no, nevermind.  It's job hunting season.

It goes to 11

For some reason I'm the only person in my ops group who has seen Spinal Tap.  Tried to make a reference to it today, and, it didn't go over so well. 

Absolutely Exhausted

 

 

Sitting here in the 810 Cafe (breakroom/coffee shop in Owen) about to fall asleep.  I've gotten less than 4 hours of sleep the last 3 nights.  Cracked open the first Redbull of the day; I'm sure it wont be the last. 

Accounting test didn't go well... woah, deja vu.  But, despite that, I left the exam smiling; our accounting Professor, Richard Willis, is an absolute riot.  He's an excellent teacher, but he also throws in a little humor to boot.  Today, for our "midterm celebration", he wore a full tuxedo to class.  I kid you not.  Somebody took a picture; I'll post it later.  I almost lost it.  I walked into class all stressed out--- only to see the prof up there in formalwear. 

Made the test a lot easier to take- thanks Willis. 

You gotta love that kind of energy.  We have a lot of that around here, and it's one of the best things about Owen.  Profs here arent snooty self-involved academics; most are real people who really care about students learning the material and enjoying the experience of B-school.  It makes you feel like you're part of a community.

Off to Finance... thank god the test in that is weeks away.

Fall has arrived

 

Nashville weather develops multiple personality disorder this time of year.  It was 43 degrees one day last week, pushing 70 yesterday, and cold and rainy today.  I took the above shot from my patio this weekend... when I got up this morning, all those leaves that just started to change Saturday have by now all left their trees.  It's amazing how quickly the weather swings around here. 

Classes are really bearing down on us all.  Two big projects due this week, more next week and a midterm in Accounting Wednesday.  I'm pretty much living in Walker now, to the point I even know what librarians are on staff what days...  

So where are we with MOD II? I'm in Accounting II, Finance, Marketing, and Operations.  Going into this Mod, I would have said I would be in love with Marketing and Operations and hating Accounting and Finance.  Right now, I feel exactly the opposite.  Marketing just railed me on our first paper... which I'm not too happy about... and Operations seems to include a whole lot more ambiguity than I had expected.  Accounting is taught by a fantastic professor, but the material just isn't gelling like it should... hope it solidifies by Wednesday. 

I need a life. See Exhibit 1. 

 

 

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