Results from the First Econ Test

When preparation meets opportunity, is that Luck or Success? I've heard it both ways, so the answer is probably whatever you say in your thesis or whatever book you are trying to sell at the time. Well, I was either lucky or successful on my first Econ test. At this point, I am no longer worried about sounding snobby or bragging on my post. I am focused on my actual experience, and keeping it in a journal to remind myself of the experience. For those reading, I hope you can share in my joy. I actually Aced the exam with a 100. I don't recall ever doing that in my undergraduate studies. I think my best written test grade up to this point was a 95. There always is a question that gets you caught up. However, I prepared for all the material on the test, and understood the concepts well enough to lead our study group. What felt really nice was that Dr. Estrada shook my hand today at the end of class. That felt great, because I thrive on respect. What really felt great was telling my wife the score, because it let her understand that I am out to do my very best for this family, and average is not my intention for this life.

The major challenge I now face is the fact that I have set a very high standard for myself, which can lead to disappointment. However, this is a major milestone for me, because I proved that I can certainly meet this challenge in my life.

I'm looking forward to some small breaks coming up, but I will have three or four assignments due in a span of 4 weeks. That's gonna be a challenge, but my group is finally getting our ducks in a row. If I haven't said it before, I really like my group (+1), we can accomplish a lot. I wish we didn't have to change after next semester, because we are powerful.

7 weeks down, only 83 to go.

Moment of Reflection

This week I had a very real conversation with a classmate that has left me considering my behaviors. The timing of the conversation was perfect, because today at church our pastor, John Burke, asked the challenging question of "are we acting like Jesus or the Pharasees?" John shared the story where Jesus tells Simon a story of two men owing money to a moneylender. The first owed 500 denarii, and the second owed 50. Both debts were forgiven and Jesus asked which person will love the moneylender more. Simon stated that it was the one that had more debt to forgive. Here is the one of the only places where love has a qualitative property. Typically, we don't think of love having different levels at least when it comes from the mouth of Jesus.

I love that Jesus was pointing out that the greatest sinners could be the greatest lovers of God, especially considering the only person willing to wash Jesus' feet in this occasion was living "a sinful life" in other words "sexually immoral". This all goes back to the fact that I was out of line when making comments about Eminem in class. I stated that companies may not want to have a celebrity endorsement if the man beats his wife. This was not the character of Jesus, and therefore I want these thoughts removed from my life. I hope that my classmates will continue to hold me accountable for comments. Especially, if I think I am being funny.

Another area of my life that I wanted to bring up today is that I really feel blessed in a friendship that has recently been created. At the end of last year I met up with another volunteer at my church that wanted to start meeting weekly. For all he had told me, he was married, had a kid and in about the same point of life that I was in. On our first meeting, we laid our lives out on the table and both decided that God put us together in this accountability group for a reason. I did not judge this person, and he didn't judge me. I'm glad to call this person a good friend after just 4 months. Through this set of meetings, I have been able to see my friend work to remove his selfish desires and place God and his family in the proper order.

Watching my friend's transformation reminds me that people really can change, but more than that God loves us regardless of where we are. I just need to remember that Eminem deserves the chance to no longer live in his past, but more importantly, I didn't earn the love that is gracefully given to me, instead it is a gift.

For everyone reading this, please help to keep me accountable in not judging others and help remind me to love without discrimination. Thanks.

Acknowledgment of God's Gifts

Today I don't want to focus on me, but I will start with a back story. Instead, I need to acknowledge one of the special people in my life. I lean on my wife heavily now that I am in school, but today I need to tell you about my precious daughter.

Last night was very rough for me. I began working on my weekly assignment of summarizing four chapters from a text that I personally am not impressed by. It was about midnight, and I decided to email the professor to let him know that I would have rather been given questions to answer than summarize my reading. There was no reflection in my opinion. Ironically, I hadn't checked all of my email accounts which would have let me know that the assignment was canceled, and we were to talk about the text in the classroom. So, I then retracted my original email and looked a little foolish. Checking the scorecard, it is midnight and I have not done any work that is due. I guess I was just warming up to do real work. I then stayed up until 2 working on laying out my research paper. Our professor stated that we should be wrapping up our papers right about now. Oops, I finally put a pen to the scratchpad last night. I ended up with a nice brainstorming effort.

That sounds typical for studying, but the kicker is that I have my alarm set for 5am so that I can go to ACE (Austin Christian Executives), which may be the source of my motivation to go back to school. I have missed a few weeks and I wanted to check back in with the group. I functioned at an average level of performance today.

As promised, here is the awesome story about my daughter. I picked Riley up around 6 tonight, and told her that I was really tired so I needed her help tonight. Whitney had plans to go out with her family and uncle, so Riley was going to need to help me out tonight. I told her that I really needed some sleep, so she recommended we pick up dinner and eat at home so that I could get to sleep faster. She is so thoughtful. I told Riley that she had to be a big girl and she needed to take care of her night time routine and go to sleep at the correct time. So, we ate dinner quickly and then I went upstairs to set up a video game that she was allowed to play until bedtime. I set an alarm on her cell phone. She knew what to do and when to do. She was so obedient. I did end up getting up to tuck her into bed, but I was so proud of her. I don't think I do much justice to the story as I still am operating on three hours of sleep plus 2 hours that Riley let me nap. I woke up because I wanted to see my wife before bed, and I thought a blog update might be nice.

I left out one detail, my daughter is only six years old, and she makes these responsible decisions all the time. She has a caring heart, considering the small neck massage she gave me while we waited for our order at Church's chicken. She likes that place because it has the word Church in it, how adorable. This child makes the decision to have more kids so incredibly simple to make. Thank you God for the gift of a beautiful, loving, responsible daughter. I love your perfectly designed plan.

First Econ Test Tomorrow

I wanted to capture my thoughts before I take the Econ test. In general, I feel ready for this test. I am only a little foggy on the Producer/Consumer surplus concept. I will look into that a little more this evening. I am comfortable with all the other items that will be on the test.

To follow up my last blog entry, I only missed one question, which I knew I missed after the test was over. Not bad for my first Master's exam. I learned a lot from that test. My preparation for the course is adequate, and I need to start focusing more on the projects that are due in 3 and 5 weeks.

The reason I feel comfortable with this test tomorrow is that on Friday, my cohort team (plus another classmate) had a conference call. We talked for two hours about the chapters. This was a quick recap. More importantly we scheduled a review session for Saturday at my work. Luminex allowed me to use a conference room to host the review, one of the many reasons I love my company. The review lasted for 4 and a half hours, but it flew by. I actually hosted the review by breaking each concept into the basics so that it would be easy to remember on the test. I was still a little confused on some concepts, but my teammates helped me when I made mistakes. I think that teaching others is one of my callings. I have been considering tutoring students for the last ten years, but it is starting to become something I really plan to pursue. I have my sights set on eventually teaching in the Concordia MBA program. I think it will be about 10 to 15 years after school, but I felt so rewarded to help others fully get the content.

If this is something that I really am suppose to pursue, I think God will make it very clear in some way. I don't want to replace the teachers before me, instead I want to give back to the program that is helping me.

That's all I have today. I'll post again after the test to let you know if I was as prepared as I needed to be.

Oh yeah, my family joined us today at my church, Gateway. That was so cool. They want to join us again next week, wow.

First Master's Midterm

Okay, you noticed I didn't post last week. I'm sorry to have placed this task as a low priority, but the truth is I was being a little selfish last week. I wanted to watch television one night, another night I had soccer, and I had to review 11 chapters for the midterm that came tonight.

The good news is that the time preparing for the test paid off. I know that an open-book test is simple by nature, but having highlighted the major items gave me a leg up, because I spent little time searching for answers. I didn't feel unnecessary pressure as a result. This was very beneficial, in my opinion.

Last week was a solid week in classes, but I don't recall anything major. I was excited that I received comments such as Great on my first marketing grades. The grading was very sensitive on some areas, so to see the word great really gave me a fresh "'atta boy" that was necessary. I remember being excited on Tuesday to show Whit the scores. I still feel the need to impress my wife, which I think is a good thing, because it shows how her opinion of me really matters. She has been very valuable when the load was tough two weeks ago. She wasn't feeling well, but she still offered some great comments after reading a few of my papers.

This week in class, we were given more of our graded assignments back, which I am glad to report everything has been a high A. Also, as I mentioned there was a test this evening. It was an average to low difficulty test considering this is a master's program. That said, it was the right message to the class. The message I took was, don't freak over these tests, it isn't the point of the program, the faculty is focused on getting the information into our minds and let us truly learn. The point of the tests is mainly to pace us, and make sure we are still hanging on. I know that I got tricked on one question, but since I know there may be cohort students from the North Lamar campus reading this, I don't want to give anything away. If they are reading this, they should know not to panic, because the test is exactly as he stated it would be.

After the test, which I most likely got an A on (fingers crossed), we discussed Super Bowl ads. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I studied for my marketing test so much on Sunday, that I forgot the game was on and missed the first 25 minutes of coverage. I probably missed the best commercials, darn. We talked about the Eminem Chrysler commercial which was very awkward in my opinion. That commercial was almost 2 minutes long, and considering the price of 30 seconds ads, that was probably worth 15 to 20 million dollars. What a waste, in my opinion? I did like the idea of rising up, and it had an underdog's theme, so maybe that was the right time for the message. But I don't think Eminem and luxury cars at the same time.

Tonight, I felt especially close to my cohort mates. I think that we, as a class, are really getting a great understanding of our personalities. I liked talking with students like Travis about the ads. Also, I think this is one of the most comfortable settings I have been in during my educational and work career. It is true that I speak freely and often in the course, but I think I am insightful and spur good conversation. It's ironic that I say that too, considering what happened in Econ class.

Before class, I spoke with Dr. Estrada briefly to get a little more comfort about next weeks test. He eased my nerves, and told me that we would go over it in class. In speaking to the class, it was evident that the Dr. Estrada believed as a class we may be really nervous, and he was trying to make concessions in order to ease the pain of this first test. He would offer a little helpful thing on the test, and more questions would arise, so he continued to concede every little tool he could think. I personally felt the need to speak out, even though I may have rubbed some folks the wrong way. I mentioned that I didn't find it necessary for him to give us much except for maybe the equations, as he has stated all along he would do so, because this is a master's program, and I don't think we should be living in a state of safe. Yes, we all want good grades, but I prefer the chance to be challenged. If I didn't want an honest challenge I could have bought a textbook, and took online quizzes. Instead, I really feel a strong call to leadership, but also it is very important to me that this degree is not a handout or a gimme to whoever pays for it. I want to impress my teacher enough that he feels comfortable saying that I deserve to be called a Master's graduate at the end of the program. I hoped others would feel the same, and I saw enough head nods that made me feel like other's feel the same way. I was afraid of ridicule originally, but I think I showed natural leadership because I didn't let that dissuade me from doing what was right.

Econ class continued with Estrada highlighting the main concepts that we have covered. We then jumped into indifference curves and budget constraints. it all made so much sense, because this is what we do when we go shopping every week. We are trying to maximize our utility and we have a limited budget, we want to get as much as we can, and there are some items that we are indifferent in buying. Again, I think that Dr. Estrada bends time somehow, because that class just flies by every time. Marketing not so much, maybe because there are so many items that are quickly jumped to. In econ, it is typically a single point that we drive home, maybe two or three facets to the equations, but generally it all ties together with a single theme. I know that I am weird because I enjoy Econ more than Marketing. Although, I am feeling better about Marketing each class.

I think I might post again this week after the study sessions to report how I feel before the first econ midterm. I wish I would have captured my feelings before the marketing test. I would summarize them as a little nervous but nothing major. We had the book as a crutch or a just in case. I wouldn't say I was cocky, I would instead say I was prepared.

Final thought, I was thinking today about my decision to get this MBA and the stresses that it entails, and I heard a song by Francesca Battistelli that rang true to me. In a song named "This is the stuff", she mentions a whole list of bothersome things that happen in life such as misplacing your keys or phone, or getting a speeding ticket and your already running late. Its cute, but there is a line that reminds me of something really important that I haven't been embracing much lately. The line is "In the middle of my little mess, I forget how big I'm blessed". That meant so much to me because not only am I blessed with this chance to go to school (which I could have easily not done, and avoided the stress), but really I am loved by a fantastic wife and daughter, additionally by such a great family that has always shown me such respect. Most importantly, I'm saved, by the best lover in history, and that is a big blessing.

Recovery From Last Week

I eluded to the amount of work that would be necessary last week, and was correct in my assessment of the load. I spent over 16 hours. We had a full plate and I didn't complain about it. Luckily, this week was different. I didn't write a blog entry earlier in the week because I was recovering from the stressful load. I actually got the chance to play some soccer this week to relieve some tension.

I'll just summarize the class this week, and keep the entry short. We performed another SWOT analysis in class over the iPad. I honestly think that we have spent too much time doing the analyses in class. We have read 7 chapters over the semester coming in to week 3, but have really only talked about 2 of the chapters. I think that the material in the book is good, but it really is common sense, plus I had an intro to marketing class at UT. They are almost exactly the same concepts, but there have been some changes in the last six years that have been captured in the text. The only part of this course that feels like a graduate level course to me is the Facebook fan page competition, and the research papers. Everything else feels like Intro. I am a little put off by that, but I still find myself learning through repetition. Previously, I was reading the text word for word and trying to put all the data in my brain for easy recall, but have decided this is costing too much. I am now going to scan the chapters for the highlights, learn the concepts, and then use the textbook during the exams (open book).

The Facebook Fan Page project got ramped up this week, and I'm excited about the fact that we have, as a group, something we are excited to be fans of. It gives us a chance to have an experience that is relevant, even though I still haven't joined Facebook. I'll probably join at the last minute, just don't count on it.

Economics - Here's where my excitement comes from this week. First, I was riled up because we lost points on our first assignment for items that we felt should have been given full credit. I agree with the grading now, but at the moment I think I didn't want to be responsible for my group losing points. I realize that we can use that to grow now. I think my group trusts me still. I have been responsible for keeping the communication between members. The real excitement came after a member of another group asked to me to tutor her and that they would be willing to pay for my effort. This was flattering, but I declined based on the fact that I don't have the time for one on one tutoring. Instead, we asked this member to join us for our study sessions. We started our weekly groups by meeting at a Barnes and Noble this week on Tuesday. The first meeting was 2 hours and we got through Econ chapter 1. Thursday, we got together on Skype for another 2 hours and made it through chapter 2. I actually think my entire team could easily get through these chapters after we broke each of the equations into what they actually stand for. I find myself driving these discussions, but I'm hoping my group members start taking the lead at some point.

I really felt that this was a good break week for me as there is only one deliverable for the week, but we have been working on our long term projects as well.

Realization that Facebook Matters

I try not to start every blog entry with "So...", but it feels so natural. It's the way you pick up a conversation after a few moments of silence. It reminds me of Dr. Ford's reference to SWWC in Week 0. "So what, who cares?" The conversation has made it to the exhaustive point that you have covered everything you need to say, and then there's this "So" followed by your personal call to arms. I'll come back to this later.

This week we talked about marketing insights and discussed the importance of recognizing fads, trends and megatrends. Trends are interesting in my opinion because in the early phase of adoption, people think they will be the next megatrend and try to encourage momentum. Going back to fads, its funny to think of the items that catch on in America, and even more hilarious how long these stick around. Key fads that were mentioned were silly bands and snuggies. Megatrends piqued my interest, because I'd love to be a part of creating a product that revolutionized the world. iPod has changed the way people work, play, exercise, travel, shop and I've probably not even stated half of the places iPod is marketed to. The iPad is next. What blows my mind is that they really just made the thing bigger added some futuristic touches and again every company is considering using this product in their every day business.

Ok, you were waiting for the segue, here it is. Our major project for Marketing class is a facebook fan page. [I'm probably suppose to capitalize the F, we know Zuckerberg capitalized on it.:)] I just can't get behind this movement. I see that it has mesmerized way more people than I can imagine, but I wonder about the marketing impact. I've been thinking SWWC for about 3 years now. Well, I have to do this assignment regardless of my desire, so I picked up "The Social Network" movie this evening at a Redbox (I can get behind the Redbox movement, sorry Blockbuster, it was nice while it lasted.) I hoped that the movie would help me to understand why people have such an insatiable desire to feel connected online. I didn't get my answer, in fact I felt like maybe I don't have what it takes to see a real winner of a product. Honestly, the company is valued at 25 billion dollars. The only positive takeaway I got was that I don't have to worry about getting sued by my friends. I feel so confused and I think I would like to read comments about what it is I am missing on facebook. I get this feeling that if people spent half as much time on social networking sites they could spend that saved time being helpful in the community. The answer to SWWC is apparently a lot of people care as well as a lot of businesses, too. Maybe, just Maybe, I am waiting for someone to make me a believer.

Marketing class flew by again this week, and I was so engaged in the conversations about the Hyundai Equus and Infiniti that I basically forgot to write anything down. This is becoming a "trend". I'm hoping that I can retain the information as a result of actually caring about the content rather than forcing it down my throat. I really felt again like this program is the right fit for me in where I am at. I wouldn't have gotten anything out of it three years ago.

Economics has a very professional feel to the class, and I really liked the way Dr. Estrada pulled three or four questions and answers together to make one larger question in the end. Questions about who bears the responsibility of an ad valorem tax, why are we outsourcing jobs, why not tax foreign companies for selling products to make our countries more competitive. These are questions that my coworkers and I will discuss in our break room at lunch but I always find that the engineers of the world all seem to think so similarly. When Dr. Estrada facilitated the discussion I found myself "chewing" on unfamiliar thoughts. This is why I'm sold on the cohort based system of education.

The work load last week was manageable since I was ahead in Economics reading, but this week looks to be twice as much work, and we need to get rolling on this facebook page. As a group, my four teammates and I are secretively creating a fan page (which I won't disclose on this blog), because the other groups are going to attempt acts of "corporate espionage" to help them gain more followers. For this reason, I hope everyone uses the correct privacy settings when joining the fan page.

Sorry so long, good night.