"I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...but there's all this crap in the way..."

One of my group members said this last night, and I can't help but totally agree. We're SO CLOSE...but there's still SO MUCH TO DO?

How is it that the last three weeks of the semester have been busier that all of the others (perhaps combined)? We have so much stuff due, and so many groups to coordinate with, and things to research, and papers to write, and tests to study for, OH, and there's that work thing...ugh

We're at least having a good time with it all. We're all so ready to graduate that we're occasionally delirious, which just makes life entertaining.

Let's see, what do we have left?

• Retail Strategy: we JUST finished our last presentation (like an hour ago), so all that's left in there is the take home final.
• Retail Finance: we have part four of our semester long project left, two cases to analyze (which, honestly, are NOT getting much of my attention or precious time), a final case analysis and prep, and the final work up of our project (yes...all of that...and we only have four days of class left...)
• Strategic Management: we have an exam, a thousand articles/videos to still read, and (we think...) another discussion board to participate in (although we haven't heard anything about it...). We also have an optional final, but I REALLY REALLY don't want to take it...

So, Dead Day is Friday... I can't believe we're almost done! We've got exit interviews and parties coming up, all making it that much more real. Geez...

Okay, gotta go figure out what the IIRR for Kroger is...

I'm fairly sure my brain is rebelling

We have a midterm today. A big, scary, no-one-knows-what-to-expect midterm. I've been studying for three days...my brain has actually stopped absorbing information. So...blogpost!

I have to distract myself for a little while in order to restart my brain. I'm finding it to be more and more difficult to study the closer May gets. I make myself do it, but it's almost like nothing it sticking. It's frustrating. I just have so much to do that my limited mental capacity is overwhelmed and my normally receptive brain becomes a stubborn two year old shouting "Nu-uh! No! No more studying!" *sigh*

I mean, not only do I need to study for midterms, keep up in class (which is WAY harder this semester than it has been...we have SO MUCH TO DO), apply for jobs, keep up with jobs I've applied for but that aren't panning out OR rejecting me (frustrating, BTW), and go to work, I also have all the normal stuff like taking care of the puppy and cleaning the house and being social and grocery shopping and showering and occasionally eating and sleeping and...*system failure*

I need a break - not because I need to rest, but because I need time to actually do stuff for me, not for other people. I need work and school and life to leave me alone for a few days and let me catch up on being a normal, functioning adult. I feel like I'm constantly sitting on the verge of a panic attack, and it's not conducive to, you know, being productive and what not.

So, maybe writing a blogpost wasn't the best plan...now I feel MORE stressed. Great. Exam in an hour and my brain is still whirling around in a spinning rainbow of death and I can't find the force-quit button...

...gonna go get more coffee and google "cute baby animals"...

UPDATE: that was terrible


[remainder of update not included due to the fact that I'm too upset to write an acceptable post explaining why it was terrible - trust me, you wouldn't want to read it]


Is it graduation yet?

Procrastination Post!

I'm posting this so that I'm no longer tempted to sit here and tell you about my week. I have my one and only final tomorrow, and I'm supposed to be studying...but blogging just sounds so much more appealing.

Latenight-studyoverloadinduced-crazyperson-logic: if I post something short, I won't feel tempted by the option of blogging anymore

...this makes perfect sense!

So, yeah, that's it. Must go study accounting...

Turkey Hangover

Just got home from St. Louis...Thanksgiving break was great (it's possibly my favorite holiday - I love family gatherings, and this one is usually the biggest for us), but the Sunday after break is probably my least favorite Sunday all semester. I tend to get "holiday vision" (kinda like tunnel vision, but lined with twinkle lights and snowmen), and coming back to school for a measly two weeks after such a short time at home is icky. My brain does its best to ignore those two weeks and pretends that once I hit Thanksgiving break, I'm done for the semester...I'm not. I got back to Fayetteville and opened my to do file, and this is what I saw:

Yeah...*sigh*

I look at this...and I KNOW I should start working...but I'm overwhelmingly unmotivated. There's Christmas music on the radio, and hot cocoa in the cabinet, and twinkle lights EVERYWHERE, and a Christmas tree in my car just begging me to bring it in and set it up (I'm very VERY motivated to do that...)

So, new plan: I do an assignment, and I get to put up a piece of decor. This will totally work...right?

In other news, the Razorbacks won and are now #7 in the BCS (FINALLY, some recognition!). Also, I got a new camera this weekend! A Cannon SX130. It's beautiful and has 12x optical zoom (and I got it for $150 off!). Expect many photo-ful uploads in the future. Til then. 

UPDATE (10:30 PM): ...the tree is up, I have hot cocoa, and none of those aforementioned assignments has been done...oh well

Hurry up, Thanksgiving!

Life is a little crazy right now - I feel like I'm running out of time to get everything done! Over the next week, we have a paper due, a presentation, another India class, and our first final. Not to mention we need to finish collecting data, start writing our research paper, finish another presentation, another project, another paper, and study for finals (all before December 2nd...eeeek!).

On top of that, I'm throwing a huge dinner party on Thursday (the busiest day I have this week...naturally), and so the house needs to be cleaned, food must be cooked, decor put up, etc. It's a lot and there simply aren't enough hours in each day to do what I need to do (and sleep...which I require...well, the people I interact with require it of me...)

At least work has slowed down. The past few weeks have been INSANE - trying to get this huge report ready for Walmart. We finally turned it in, though, so we can breathe a little (which I need right now).

So, yeah, you might not hear from me for a few days...

But, if you find yourself at a loss for things to do this week, you could always take my survey (in the post below) OR you could go enjoy this open house - I've mentioned Riffraff several times before. Kirsten, the owner, is a U of A grad, and she's brilliant. Her store is precious and if you're looking to find some unique gifts for the holidays, this is the place to go. Yay for supporting local businesses!

So, yeah, that accounting test I was so worried about?

Easiest exam EVER! I'm not kidding. I finished in like 30 minutes (which is unheard of for me...probably 'cause I usually check and re-check my answers somewhere around three times, but whatever). I was actually a little worried I'd missed something, like an essay question or instructions that said "please answer in pig-latin"...it couldn't have been THAT easy, right? Wrong. Everyone else seemed to think the same thing.

So, good news guys! Our exams are occasionally simple and to the point. "Did you pay attention in class, do your homework, and study (even a little)? You did? Well, yay you! You'll do great!"

I spent the rest of my day running around Fayetteville, delivering invitations to a party I'm throwing next week (on November 18th...if you can figure out the theme based on the date alone, we should be friends).

I love planning parties...probably more than most things...and this one has been in the works for about a year, so it should be awesome. There will be an entire update dedicated to it, no worries.

To those of you currently judging me (you know who you are): "Psh." I'm passionate about something...and employers like passion, right? This is a good thing!

After my invite delivery adventures, I spent a few hours at Rick's Bakery (one of the best places in Fayetteville to do homework), updating a survey and finalizing it for distribution. Once it's ready, I'm going to post a link on my blog. If you're a kind hearted individual and want to help out a few MBA students, we'd love to have you take it...please? Check back for the link. 'Til then, readers!

GWIB Meet and Greet

I know it's been a little while, but a) life's been a bit routine (i.e. uneventful & boring) and b) I went to St. Louis last weekend to hang out with Mom & Dad and didn't do ANYTHING productive. It was wonderful! We went to the salon, and shopped, and had lunch at this cute little diner, and drove aimlessly around small towns...yeah, I don't feel bad at all for taking a weekend off.

Now, however, I'm back to reality. We have an accounting test tomorrow that I'm NOT ready for (and that I'm supposed to be studying for right now...) and a presentation due, and another paper next week, and a survey that has to go out, and then more tests/papers/projects/presentations in an endless loop until December 11th...sigh. We do get a couple of days off for Thanksgiving, so that'll be nice.

We do have a fun event coming up this week, though. I'm part of a brand new RSO on campus called Graduate Women in Business and we're hosting a meet and greet this Thursday at PF Chang's (in Rogers). It's a time for the girls to get together and talk about life and what not (with other girls that are going through the same types of things). If you're interested in the program (even a little) and would like to come hang out with us and hear a little more about it (in a fun, half-priced-super-tasty-appetizer-filled atmosphere), you should join us. The invite is attached below. Everyone is welcome (yes, you too, alumni, faculty, and staff!) and we'd love to have you stop by! I mean, think about it, girl time AND lettuce wraps...can you really say no? Didn't think so.

Midterms? Psh. No big deal. (Oh, and Lauren & I rock at shuffleboard)

The level of calm that surrounded this semesters midterms (for me, at least) was a little unnerving. I’ve always been one to kinda panic about tests (the Type A overachiever in me freaks out), but not this time. Like I said before, they didn’t sneak up on me – I felt prepared. And so, I didn’t do a whole lot of additional studying…it felt kinda surreal.

We started out with our Leadership exam on Monday. I studied an average amount – I went through and made my “review pages” like I always do, flipped through the book skimming over passages I’d marked and making sure I hadn’t missed anything on my sheets, but that was about it. It went well – I ended up with a 98% (aside: it should have been a 100, the ONE question I missed was rigged…the rest of the class agrees).

The exam I was most worried about was on Tuesday – Marketing Research. I think I was worried simply because there was no “best” way to study…and that just made me nervous. I filled out the study guide then went over it pretty thoroughly with a friend. We discussed the more “vague” areas and looked over the analysis problems we’d done. That was about all we could do, but I didn’t feel super prepared still. I went home and skimmed through several of the chapters and went over the study guide one more time before I felt comfortable enough to sleep. I did alright on that one, too, another 98% (don’t scoff, that’s a 98% with a 12 pt. curve…so yes, it’s “alright” not “good”).

Wednesday was our Ethics FINAL. It’s an 8-week class, so instead of a midterm, we just had a final. I probably studied the least for this one – mostly under the mindset of: it’s ethics…shouldn’t I be able to figure out the answers…? Well…yes and no. The class covered a lot of theory, so I made sure I went over those several times. I made review pages and flipped through the slides (and skimmed through the book that was never officially assigned to the class but that I have thanks to a classmate who’s taken the class before). I ended up with a 92%...for how I studied, I’ll take it.

So, midterms are over now! Yay! We’re halfway through. Does this semester seem to being going by really fast to anyone else?

In other fun news, we had our Fall Social last night. We all met up at Powerhouse and mingled with the part-time (MMBA) class as well as a few prospective students who'd come to hear more about the program. Afterwards, several of us went over to Sideways for a game of shuffleboard. The boys made the mistake of letting us play Guys v. Girls. Lauren and I beat them 23-9. Yeah, we're awesome like that - not competitive at all :) 

War Eagle Arts & Crafts Festival is this weekend. Check back for updates on that. 'Til then.

This is sort of an update

Schedule for the week?

Monday - Midterm, Class, Study, Work, Dinner, Study
Tuesday - Class, Midterm, Work, Study, Dinner, Meeting, Homework
Wednesday - Class, Final (yes, final), Meeting - then? - FREE TIME!

Hopefully I can give a full update on Wednesday. That's about as much as I can handle right now (I'm typing this during my break tonight...during which I'm watching Castle and NOT feeling guilty about it...well, not totally).

More later - 'til then.

Week 'o Networking

We started out this week with our first midterm – accounting. Surprisingly, I was not all that worried about the exam. Just as surprising, midterms didn’t sneak up on me this year like they always do. I wasn’t at all caught off guard, which may have attributed to how easy it was to prepare. I think I did really well, so yay! (UPDATE: I made a 99%!)

After the exam, the rest of the week was, in a word, fun. I had an “interview” on Tuesday, that I think went very well (fingers crossed!), and on Wednesday, we spent the entire day at the Center for Retailing Excellence Annual Conference. Before I continue, I should warn you, I’m a bit of a geek…okay, that’s out of the way. Now, you know how some people get excited about going to a concert or seeing their favorite sports team play? Well, I was that excited about this conference. Why? Well, Kevin Roberts was one of the speakers!

Are you staring at the screen thinking “who on earth is Kevin Roberts?” Yeah, not surprised (if, however, you do know who he is, we should be friends). For the rest of you, Kevin Roberts is the CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi and the author of Lovemarks – the book that made me fall in love with this crazy business we call marketing. If you haven’t read it, you should. It’s brilliant. As is he. Click the link on his name for more info.    

Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed by his presentation. It was hilarious and informative and interesting – I could be biased, but I was pretty impressed. He included some pretty funny videos, too (links below…but read the rest of the post first, please). The rest of the conference was good, too. Bill Simon & Bob McDonald spoke along with several others. Plus, there were a lot of “networking breaks” for us to meet some of the presenters (I got to shake Kevin Robert’s hand!...yes, I know I’m a geek…we already covered that, move on). I think we all really enjoyed the conference, and I’m glad we were able to go (especially for free since none of us could have afforded to attend without Walton’s help).

On Thursday, our week of networking continued with a visit to Saatchi & Saatchi X’s office here in Fayetteville. We met with several people (one from each of the divisions) and got a tour of the office. We got some useful information out of it as well as several business cards (which are always nice).

Today was fairly uneventful – I worked from home since my bosses are out of the country again. A friend is bringing her puppy over later to spend the weekend with us while she and her husband travel to Dallas for the game on Saturday. Gigi is pretty excited – she wiggles every time I say Bella’s name. A puppy sleepover should make this weekend fairly entertaining. I’m sure there will be pictures.

Oh, almost forgot, those links to the videos. Here you go. Enjoy!

Cadbury - Gorilla

Cadbury - Kiddos

Remind me, why did I want come back to school again?

So...it's exam week. What does this mean, exactly? Well, it's different than I expected...

As an undergrad, exam week meant very little. Honestly, I rarely had finals. I was always lucky enough to get the teachers that didn't want to grade finals if possible, so we either: didn't have one, I didn't have to take it, or we took our "final" during the last few weeks of class. This made for a rather easy, stress-free exam week (even if it did mean a few extra all-nighters the weeks before).

This year, life is NOT that easy. Apparently, in grad school, exam week involves temporarily moving into one of the study rooms at Walker, consuming nothing but gallons of coffee and the occasional piece of gum, and becoming so focused that all of your conversations involve references or analogies to the subjects you're studying...

To be honest, I look back on exam week as an undergrad with a bit of nostalgia: non-productive study groups, hour long coffee breaks, color coded index cards, and just enough stress to keep me up for 1...well, 2...okay, maybe 3 extra hours.

Grad school exams are so very different. I have NEVER been this tired. And, oddly enough, even though these exams are harder and more important, I can't seem to motivate myself to stay up. I actually hit a point each night where I think, "What's more important, the next eight pages of notes, or my soft, warm, comfy bed?" Sleep almost always wins.

What makes this exam week even more difficult is the fact that we aren't just taking exams. We've had two additional assignments due (one of which was a group assignment) and I'm still working 15 hours a week (in Bentonville). No problem, right? Nope, that's fine, just let me tack on another meeting and a few study groups to my already full schedule (if I don't learn anything from this program, at least I'm coming out with EXCELLENT time management skills). I mean, really, look at my schedule for the past week:
 
Friday: Work 8 - 5, Drive home in traffic, Isys homework, Study for Marketing, Work on Finance
Saturday: Work on Finance, Group meeting for Isys, Networking event in Springdale with the Dean
Sunday: Church (which didn't happen), Work on Finance, Study group for Marketing
Monday: Study for Marketing, MARKETING EXAM, Study for Econ
Tuesday: Study for Econ, ECON EXAM, Tutoring session...

...and this week has been fairly uneventful - usually I have to add in class time, community service projects, social events, etc. Not including time I'd like to spend talking to my roommate or playing with the puppy or sleeping or eating a decent meal or grocery shopping to cook a decent meal or doing laundry or cleaning my room...I need a few more hours in my day.

The upside? This will be over soon. Just two more exams (Econ and Isys) and I get 3 months off to re-charge. I know I wanted to do this (to come back to school, to live this life for a little bit longer), but it's moments like this, where I'm just deliriously tired, that I wonder why...

I'll let you know next week, when I've had enough sleep to remember