Posts Tagged "homework"
Blog: use it or lose it
[source]
Sometimes its a good thing that I don’t have a blog editor. It’s bad enough knowing that it’s been weeks since my last post but to drive by the good old blog and see a nice little reminder note that I’m a horrible blog mother and I abandoned my dear blog baby AGAIN? I just don’t want to worry about that.
So I wish I could really update you on what’s been going on but there hasn’t been much between my dad’s hospital stays and my severe procrastination on my term projects for school [which, by the way, I received A's on. Score!].
Oh, so can I tell you how I was presenting my industry analysis on Major League Baseball [seriously, obsess much?] and halfway through my presentation I had a momentary freak out and worried that I was boring people? My presentation just kept dragging on and on and ohmygosh how much more talking do I have to do?! I was fascinated by my research but I don’t think everyone shared my excitement. Oh well. I’m just surprised I got away with an A on that paper. I felt very accomplished; especially knowing that I was up for almost 24 hours to get that done. Go me.
Note to self: NEVER do that again.
I was seriously thanking God that I didn’t have a job to worry about showing up for. If I did, I would have been so screwed. At least once I printed my paper and presentation, I was able to get some sleep. Sleep was it’s own best reward.
Oh! I do have the pictures from the photo shoot the bf and I had with Eddie way back in February. If you’re on my Facebook then you’ve already seen them, but if not, then just you wait. Hopefully I can get them posted here this week. Let’s hope I didn’t just lie to myself there.
So here’s what I have on tap for potential blog topics [while we're already setting up expectations]:
1) My shipping debacle with Alibris and subsequent distress it caused me at school [me? Unprepared? SHENANIGANS!]
2) The photo shoot – complete with pictures!
3) Dealing with grief – this is probably more for me than anyone else but I’m certain it’ll help. Me. Of course.
4) Having cable! And a new TV! Well, hopefully a new TV. Depends on when the PX gets their act together. Get your act together, Post Exchange. THAT’S AN ORDER!
5) Why I’d suck as a Army soldier
6) Poll some ideas for a new blog makeover – what features should I beg the bf to add?
7) I’m still running! Wait, did I even tell you I was running?
Hopefully this will be enough to grease the gears of my mind and keep the Blog Protection Services agents away.
Read MoreThe one where I make it up as I go along
I’m supposed to be working on my term projects for class and I thought, it has been a while since my last “Legally Blonde Chronicles” post and since I just watched that movie the other night and I’m allegedly working on one of my term projects at the moment, this would be a fantastic time to update. I mean procrastinate. Wait…crap.
Actually this entire quarter has been an exercise in procrastination. I’m taking Industry Analysis and Strategic Marketing with a couple of my favorite professors. They are my favorite for vastly opposite reasons. The first is pretty intimidating at first brush and while the lectures have the tendency to be pretty dry, I definitely come out feeling like I just learned a whole lot. Plus his exams are killer. Okay, not really killer, but he expects a lot of information and whenever you get a good grade on it, you just know you deserved the heck out of it. I always moan and complain about teachers and classes like that but deep down I love and savor the challenge. He was a lot like Dr. George, my favorite professor at Michigan, in that way.
This was the same professor as the Economics class I took last summer so I was well aware of his teaching styles. My crowning achievement this semester is pulling an A- in my midterm without reading from the main source book. Ha, take that Michael Porter! Sure you get the last laugh because you still get royalties from your book but still. I don’t care. Though, completing the exam without having to read his book was quite the feat but I was so proud of myself when I managed it. I remain astounded by the lengths I will go through to avoid reading something.
But now I’m stuck writing an industry analysis on Major League Baseball. We have three weeks left in the quarter, including this week, and I barely made a dent. Seriously, I probably only have two good paragraphs so far. I am not looking forward to settling down to figure that out in the next two weeks but it’ll get done.
My marketing class is with my other favorite professor. He’s awesome because he’s so laid back and let’s class out an hour early every week. He’s definitely endeared himself with the students. But I also feel like I learn stuff while I’m in class, probably because he’s able to elicit such great discussion from EVERYONE in class. When was the last time you were in a class where everyone wanted to participate? That doesn’t happen very often. But we always have a good time and there are times when we’re just laughing about one thing or another.
I’ve got another term project for this class: constructing a situation analysis and three-year marketing plan. I picked Hulu…not exactly sure why but I did. Thanks to having to present our situational analysis, I was able to create the basic skeleton for that first part which has made completing it somewhat easier. I have completed the full write up and am now onto tackling the marketing plan portion but I’ll probably save that for tomorrow. It’s late and I know I don’t intend on summoning the strength necessary to focus on reading. But considering I’m schedule to present next week…this thing is getting done this week. I need next week to write up my industry analysis!
Deadlines are the best motivator, for real.
I am looking forward to the end of the quarter. I really need the time to focus on my job search. I need to be doing something with my time during the day. Plus, I’d like to relive the feeling of wasting an entire day guilt-free. Man, those were the days.
Read MoreDon’t call it a comeback…
Hi again! Yes, I’m still here with all my fingers and the ability to type still perfectly in tact, so there really isn’t a good reason for my rather spotty attendance as of late. Remember back in the day how I would write every day? Those were the days. But to be honest, I wouldn’t go back. Sure my blog gets neglected every now and again but just stop to think about how much time I would have on my hands to crank out posts like that everyday?
Exactly.
So I’d much prefer this set up. Sure I don’t get to blog as often but honestly, my job satisfaction is what’s more important here. That said, along with being busy at work, I’ve had a pretty busy quarter at school, with research projects and take home exams and all. It’s been a little nutty around these parts and while I’d love to apologize and say that postings will become more regular, I won’t because I can’t promise that. Life is what it is but I will try to post somewhat regularly.
Anywho, I never got to tell you about the main thing that’s been going on at the office: moving days! With some promotions and what not earlier this year [mine included – more of a lateral move but it was a promotion over what I was doing before. So yay!] there were some need to shuffle a few desks. I spent the first half of the year halfway across the office from my boss, which made it nearly difficult to keep track of him. I have no idea how I was expected to know where he was if I could barely see his office from my desk!
My boss was able to move first, probably about a month or so before my area was set up, so I went from at least being able to see the window of his office to not being able to see him at all! There was plenty of walking back and forth clear across the office because I was too hardheaded to use the phone but a little exercise never hurts. But I was able to move into my new spot the second week of August and it’s nice. It is a little smaller than my previous spot but it’s in the corner of a different section of the office that is much quieter and has less foot traffic so I can actually focus on what I’m working on instead of looking over my shoulder to see who just walked by.
What I liked most was the chance to finally build a cube up, decoration wise, to what I want. Yes I had that chance at the first spot but there was just so much stuff that I had to keep that I wasn’t able to do what I really wanted, especially since space was at a premium. But now all the space is mine to do as I wish and I definitely put my stamp on my cozy little nook; it actually feels like my cube. Though the best part is I’m only a few feet from my boss. Under normal circumstances that would not be ideal, but in this case it is since we get along and it makes it easier to keep track of his whereabouts. Trust me, makes life much easier.
I have a few things I need to update you on, like my new haircut [yeah, I know: FINALLY] and the merits of virtual hairstyle programs, my thoughts on this latest quarter of grad school and maybe even some baseball goodness? We’ll see how that goes.
Read MoreIt’s deja-vu all over again
On this long weekend, instead of being outside, roaming from picnic table to cooler to the grill a la Yogi Bear, I sit at home, attempting to work on my marketing report project for class.
It’s like undergrad all over again!
Of course, when I say “work on” I really mean watching TV, randomly wandering around the internets [I need to distracting sites! One can only check Facebook so many times. Oh wait, I think one of my crops are ready for harvest!] and doing practically anything not directly related to my project, like cleaning my room, though I could easily argue that the mess was mentally distracting and now that it’s all cleaned up, my mind is open and free to think! Of course, I have managed to fit in some remotely related project activities, like weighing packages.
Weighing packages? Oh, I didn’t tell you? My marketing report is on my fudge. Yes, the crack fudge. Or as Pat likes to call it, “chococrack.” Since I revamped the recipe to make it a bit more me [though I am still working on some additional tweeks], I thought it would be a fantastic topic to do my report on, especially since I get a lot of questions about whether or not I should sell it. I figured, since I have to do a thorough research assignment on the possibility of actually going into business, this would be a great fit.
So that leads me to here. Needing to do a bit more research and the only problem is that this research is online, meaning it’s just so easy to wander away down the road to read the latest news update, or check up on some blogs, look at my TweetDeck or see if that crop is ready for a harvestin’.
Nope, not yet.
Sometimes I think I’d be more productive on a computer that doesn’t have internet connection; then I remember we had those. They were called typewriters. But then I realize that it doesn’t matter, I would find a way to not focus on the work and get myself distracted. Maybe that rug could go for a nice vacuuming. Or hey! look! SOLITAIRE!
And to think, I haven’t even had a nap today. I guess that happens when I sleep through the night and wake up at 8:30. Ahh, 8+ hours of sleep. And no ants!
Oh, the ants. They ruined my Friday morning. I was prepared to sleep in on my first day of my four day weekend except they had other plans for me. Other plans that included bothering my mom so much that she felt compelled to CLEAN the room she was sleeping in. And clean it so loudly that I woke up. AT 6:30 IN THE MORNING.
And when I emerged from my room, disheveled and confused, she looked at me and said, “Oh, you’re not going to work today? I’m glad you’re up. NOW I CAN VACUUM.”
And she did. Oy vey.
Read MoreIs it over yet?
Seriously, this week could not end soon enough. I know it’s only Thursday but I had so much for school this past week it’s not even funny.
The quarter system for school is kicking my hapa booty something fierce. I’m so used to having four months to slack off but that doesn’t work when you’re only in class for 11-12 measly weeks. Weeks?! Weeks go by quickly if you’re not careful.
So everything kind of came together this weekend. Big surprise, I know. I had an Economics midterm [thankfully it was a take home!] to work on PLUS I had to bust out a slab of my fudge for my Marketing class project for a focus group I conducted this week AND write up a chapter summary. Wonderful way to spend the weekend huh?
But I’m so glad that I’ve got what I needed to do done. What a relief. Now I’m just waiting for the results of my midterm. I’m usually not this nervous over an exam but the professor had mentioned that people don’t tend to do well on his exams by writing a few paragraphs. At which point my heart sunk because that’s my exam writing style [kind of hard to believe huh?]. I get in, write what needs to be said, and then get out. What’s the point of writing 3 pages when you can say the same thing in 1? That’s just wasted time and energy. I’m like the exam ninja. Or the Marines. We don’t mess around.
The only time I do wander around is when I don’t really know what to say. Alas, that happened a few times on this exam since I was so freaked about making sure I had all the information in a vain attempt at not making my answers consist of a few paragraphs. But by the end of it, I was just so mentally tired that I just wrote what I knew and tried to pretty it up. That is why my first answer was two pages and my next two were merely 3-4 paragraphs.
I think he broke me.
But that’s okay. Now I have a better idea of how he writes his exams and soon will know how he grades so I can be on the up and up for the final. That’s next month [see, the weeks are getting out of control!]. And maybe this time I’ll actually make sure to read the chapters? That would probably be for the best.
This coming from the girl who wrote an entire term paper on a book she didn’t read.
And got an A.
Man that was awesome.
Let’s hope I can score a repeat of that feat.
Anywho, so the fudge focus group amounted to rave reviews. The hard part is always going back over the feedback and hearing the dissenting views, mainly: too much maple or too sweet – though I did get a few “I don’t like nuts” [that’s what she said!] as well. But the sweet and maple thing I already know. I have to make some revisions to the recipe and try it again. I’m hoping to keep some of that signature flavor in the fudge but just tone it down a bit.
But I am most excited about making time to create and try out new flavors. I have a few ideas at the moment but I just haven’t had the time to fully investigate them. Would this be something I could eventually pursue as a real business entity? I’m hoping I can use the analysis that I have to create for class to help figure that out but I need to make time to really figure it out. Seems to be a constant theme. I need more time. I can probably squeeze more time if I spent less of it on the internets. Hmm.
<b>Quote of the week:</b> “I don’t think you can legally sell your fudge. It’s like crack. Save me some of that chococrack.”
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