Go Frogs!

Tonight, I went to the TCU vs. BYU football game with my friends, Chris, Erin, and Mike. It was DEFINITELY a fun game....we had a good tailgate before the game (all 45 minutes before the game since it was Thursday and we were coming from work), saw some friends from grad school that we haven't seen in awhile, and got to watch the #24 Horned Frogs completely smash the #9 BYU-ers (anyone know their mascot?). It was a great night! And even better...I'm taking the day off work tomorrow, so I don't even have to worry about going straight to bed and getting up tomorrow. :)

Here is a very blurry cell phone picture of me, Erin, and Mike in front of Frog Fountain. Go Frogs!

Graduation Day!

This is the Hooding Ceremony for the MBA program...it was as much graduation as I needed. :)

Neeley School of Business MBA Class of 2007
The mandatory "Parents Flanking Child" picture

I went to the Reata Rooftop after to celebrate with some of my friends. I'm going to miss the ones that are moving away!!
Tonight my family is doing our celebratory dinner at Lawry's in Dallas! I can't wait. :)

Guess who's done with Grad School???

WE ARE!!!Had my last final tonight! I'm officially finished!

I have a problem.

I have a problem doing things that I think are stupid. This has really come to a head in grad school as they make us do a lot of things that I think are stupid....reading articles that have no point, completing certain "personality tests" and "leadership practices" tests, several pointless items of busy work from my GA that I know will not serve any good purpose, rearranging my schedule to hear speakers I'm not interested in to name a few. I know everyone thinks a lot of things are stupid, but my problem is that I procrastinate until the very last possible moment to do them rather than just getting it over with like most people. Luckily, I am ONE DAY OUT from being finished with my degree, but I have spent the last couple weeks trying to scramble and finish these pointless things, cursing the people that are making me do them all the while. I know its a long shot, but I'm hoping that I will encounter less and less of these dumb things as I go into my full-time job. Anyone else have this same problem?

You're Invited!

To a very happy day for me! I'm done with my MBA!!


The Hooding Ceremony is basically our graduation...I'm not going to the big ceremony the next day. If you're in the area, feel free to join for this joyous occasion followed by a reception....don't worry, I'm not expecting anyone but my family to actually come. :)

Oh Blogger, Where Art Thou?

All of my blog buddies...I am begging you! Please post soon! Every day I have been coming to my computer in the middle of my Integrated Project Hades, hoping for a little relief through some fun stories, neat pictures, and general updates. But alas! Everyone on my blogroll (except for Megan) has reruns!! Not that I can say much, and I know we're all busy. But just a little shout out to your readership would brighten my day...which I promise you, needs brightening right now. :)

The Most Frequent Conversation Today

As I said yesterday, I am on a team with a couple of interesting people. In my 4 hour meeting today, I think three hours of it were taken up by variations on the following discussion:

Me: We can't do that
Them: Why not?
Me: Because its not an option in the simulation
Them: Why not?
Me: Because the simulation writers didn't make it an option
Them: So why can't we do it?
Me: Because there is no way to put it in the system. Its not in the simulation.
Them: Well that doesn't make any sense. I want to do this!
Me: We can't do that
Them: Why not?
(loud crash as I throw myself out of the window of the third floor team room we're in)

P.S.
Thanks for the birthday wishes! And Megan, it wasn't belated. It was May 2. :) And Ty, you're just sick. haha

Thought and Quote of the Day

Thought of the day:
Why do fast food mexican restaurants ask you if you want hot sauce? They're going to give it to you anyways. They ask "Would you like Hot Sauce?" You say yes, they give you hot sauce. You say no, they give you hot sauce. You say "Do you speak English?" They give you hot sauce. I bet they could cut some overhead if they'd stop handing out so much hot sauce.

Quote of the day:
Some of you might have heard that for our Integrated Project, they broke up the team that I had formed and reassigned about half the class randomly. I get put on a team with a lady in our class who is....we'll leave it at "interesting." It hasn't been nearly as bad as I was expecting it to be (although its only been 2 days....8 to go!), but I have gotten some really funny quotes out of it, such as the following:

Today, we were talking about passwords people use on the internet. A guy in my group said, "I know a lot of people use their kids names and birthdays as passwords. So sometimes its really easy to figure out if you're not careful."

She says, totally serious: "That's why I use my kids' names and their conception dates."

Its going to be an interesting week. Please pray for my sanity.

Studying Fun

So I'm in a TCU team room right now with two of my friends, Andrew and Alfredo. We are supposedly studying for our Operations final that is tomorrow, but keep getting distracted. So I started singing a little song and without prompting, each person added on a line. It actually came out pretty well. Sing to the tune of "Frere Jacques" - Hope you enjoy our studying humor, cause its not far from the truth! :)

Emily: Motivation, motivation, where are you? Where are you?

Andrew: Someone come and help me! Someone come and help me!

Alfredo: I am screwed. I am screwed.

We also have studying fun with the quotes on our Google Talk. On Friday, we had our IT final which consisted of analyzing a case study about Schwab. My gtalk quote paid homage to Billy Madison by reading "Stop looking at me Schwab!" Right now, a guy named Hud has up a quote that has me cracking up because I just think of Trey, Kody, and the Bammel VBS a few years ago. His says "I'll price break you!" Okay, I know that none of these are really THAT funny, but we have to cling to what we can get - its MBA finals week.

3 Thoughts About Procrastination

1. I've heard of boredom eating. I've heard of emotional eating. Tonight I discovered a new one: procrastination eating. I have work to do, but I've got to eat dinner. So I make dinner and obviously can't work while I'm eating, so I start a TV show. I manage to drag it out until the end of America's Next Top Model and the American Idol results show. Time to work. Oh wait, I need something sweet - how about some fruit? So I eat a banana and watch Unanimous (disturbing by the way.) Okay, ready to work. Nooooo, I need a drink. To the fridge for a diet coke...and I see a pudding cup. That sounds good - I'll jst eat it really quickly and get to work. So I start watching Lost and eating my pudding. Well of course, I can't work until I finish Lost now. I have procrastinated for 2 1/2 hours solely through eating. And I wonder why I've gained weight since high school....

2. This week started out for me with procrastination at its finest. Tyson assigned a book for us to read (The Goal in case you were wondering) at the very beginning of the semester. The paper for it was due on Tuesday. He even puts on his syllabus over Spring Break "Don't forget to be reading The Goal!" So when do I start reading? Monday afternoon. I started reading around 3pm. 11pm: I finish the book (337 pages). I took an hour for dinner, 30 minutes talking on IM to my friend John, and 30 minutes on the phone at some point, so overall it took me about 6 hours to read. And then I still had to write the paper. This is when I stopped focusing quite as much - a few emails to friends back and forth in this time, but 4 am: I finally get into bed. My procrastination reached a new....would you call it a high or a low? Either way, I'm oddly actually a little proud of it! Kinda like a scar from a dumb fall you had years ago that you brag about even though it was really stupid....

3. Me being who I am, I procrastinated in sending out my donations emails for Race for the Cure (you only thought you were going to get away without me hounding you!) So now I'm still $150 away from my goal and realllllly want to meet it. I figure it kinda looks bad for the community service chair of the MBA program to not do well. SOOOOOO, take minute, donate to The Komen Foundation by clicking on the "My Donation Page" link! Seriously, $10 will barely buy lunch at Boston Market, but it can help save lives! $20 is less that you'll spend on a shirt, why not spend it on a little cancer research? Great cause + tax deductible = warm fuzzy feeling inside! Come on....all the cool kids are doing it!!

TCU Bookstore Fire

Dear TCU Students,

I know many of you were shocked by yesterday’s fire at the TCU Bookstore. Certainly watching the building burn and seeing the dramatic pictures of the fire used by the media might have been a little unsettling.

Many of you are asking what the university will do now. We don’t yet have all the answers to your, or our, questions. Engineers are looking at the building to help us decide what to do. What we do know is that TCU is committed to providing a new bookstore facility that will be aesthetically first class and will offer books, supplies, TCU labeled items and more in a convenient and efficient way.

We are also pleased that no merchandise was lost in the fire and that you still have opportunity to shop for your textbooks for class, school supplies, and purchase other Horned Frog memorabilia in the temporary bookstore located just in front of where the bookstore will be rebuilt.

As a pedestrian campus, we realize the importance of providing excellent services that are easily accessed. We will keep the campus posted regarding our progress related to the bookstore.

On a totally unrelated note, tuition for all education levels will be increasing next year by 15%. We hope that you understand as we strive to rebuild the bookstore...i mean...um...improve the quality of your education.

Sincerely,
Chancellor Victor Boschini

Spring Break! WoooHoooo!

I've already discovered that graduate school is very different undergrad in many ways, and this week I found another one....Spring Break. To illustrate my point, I am going to present to you a side by side comparison of this years Spring Break to last years Spring Break.

Saturday:
2005 - I am on a plane flying to Vienna, Austria. Get into my apartment at 11/12 Davidgasse and watch some German music videos on MTV.
2006 - Wake up feeling sick, trade out cars with Stephen so he can set up for the bridal show, spend my Saturday night at my friend Erin's house working on our consulting job for LSG Sky Chefs.

Sunday:
2005 - Go to church in Vienna, tour the city looking at LOTS of pretty old buildings
2006 - Work at a Bridal Show all day. Go to Dallas to go to dinner and a movie. This is the highlight of my Spring Break.

Monday:
2005 - Took tours of the International University, ate some German food, saw Stephensdom and generally hung out in Vienna. I think we went to Schonbrunn Palace this day too.
2006 - Sat in Smith Hall on TCU campus from 8 am til 4:30 pm working on consulting. Ate dinner, worked on Sky Chefs more

Tuesday:
2005 - Went to the UN, sat at the desk that has the United States name plate, saw Karlskirche, fell in love with Europe
2006 - Sat in Smith Hall on TCU campus from 10 am til 6:00 pm

Wednesday:
2005 - Vienna, Vienna, Vienna
2006 - Sky Chefs, Sky Chefs, Sky Chefs.

Anyone sensing a pattern? So now when people who are working try to tell me that I have it easy because I'm in school and get things like Spring Break, I'm just going to refer them to the fabulous week that I've had. I'm going to need a break to recover from my Spring Break! Someone tell me a fun Spring Break story so I can remember that they still exist. :)

Language Barriers

We have a few international students in my class, and have discovered that sometimes American colloquialisms don't quite translate in another language. For example, a Ukranian guy named Sergiy was wearing a shirt a couple of days ago that was what I think of as a beach volleyball shirt - a sleeveless t-shirt. You can definitely tell that Serg works out, and as we were about to go into class, my friend Caleb joked "Hey Serg...I don't think they'll let you bring guns into class here!" Serg, not understanding the joke said, very seriously "I bet they wouldn't allow rockets either."

On the other hand, some phrases are used throughout the world equally. One of my friends, Jaime, bought a Hummer H2 (we're all still in shock!). The first night he showed it to most people was at Doug's Goat Roast. Everyone was talking about it and someone asked a German international student, Julian, what he thought of it. Julian said (and its best if you imagine a nice, thick German accent as you read this) "In my country, we have a saying....that if a man buys a big car....(and now Julian turns bright red and gets embarrassed)...he is probably making up for being very little...somewhere...else...." We all started cracking up and Doug said "Yeah Julian, we have that saying here too."

Oh the fun of language translations!

You know you're too busy when...

Anyone who has talked to me over the past month has heard one of three phrases in our conversation:

1. I am about to go to a meeting
2. I am in a meeting right now
3. I just got out of a meeting

I feel like its all that I do now - jump from one meeting to the next. I get to school at 8 or 9 in the morning and leave around 7 each day because of them.

So when I got an email a couple of days ago from a guy named Brad telling me I had a meeting this Wednesday at 5, I really didn't think twice about it. I wasn't totally sure what it was about, but he is the current MBA community service chair and I am taking over his spot next year, so I just put it down on my outlook calendar and went on my merry way.

Today I showed up for the meeting at 5 and was really confused what it was about. They were talking about this golf tournament that is in April and how people were doing on their assignments and I realized...this is a meeting of the Supply Chain Organization! I am not even a supply chain concentration much less a member of their organization! But at that point, it was way too late to stand up and be like "Ummm...I'm not supposed to be here." So I ended up just staying and taking on an assignment of calling a guy from IBM who might want to be a sponsor! After the meeting, I talked to Brad and was like "I don't even know why I was there!" He said "Yeah...I was kind of wondering what you were doing here." and I said "You sent me an email saying I had a meeting at 5, so I just showed up!" and he replied "I did? OHHH! There's another girl named Emily in the group and I guess when I put Emily in my address book, it just popped up your name automatically! Well, welcome to the Supply Chain Organization!"

How sad is it that I am just so used to meetings that I will just show up when someone tells me I have one and assume I just forgot that I told someone I'd do something? I'm ready for life to slow down a bit!

Mr. Tate Goes to College

So my grandfather is in the hospital right now (nothing life threatening, don't worry) so we have had to figure out what to do with my Uncle Brian during the day. Brian has Down's Syndrome and hangs out with my grandfather all day every day, so figuring out the logistics of having someone with him has been complicated.

So today after my Operations Management test (Tyson if you're reading this one...your test killed me today!:) ) I drove to my mom's office and picked up Brian to come to class with me. Brian had his bag of goodies with magazines, DVD player, and walkman, sat down on the front row, and didn't pull out a single item the whole class! He just sat there listening to our stats professor talk about z-scores and the like. He did fall asleep for a little bit, but overall actually listened and looked at my computer screen! Then we hung out in a team room and Brian watched Grease while I worked and then we went to another meeting.

After subjecting an unwilling party to statistics, I was certain Brian would never want to go anywhere with me again! But apparently tonight at dinner, he told everyone about how he went to college today, showed them how I type on my computer, and told them all about how the professor (Dr. Dielman) talked to him and said "Hi Brian!" Overall, it was a pretty good day for Brian in college.

Here is Brian hanging out in a team room in between class and meetings.

Happy Bloggiversery!!!

While most people are celebrating a happy day with their loved ones, I'll be celebrating a different type of holiday....my bloggiversery. Thats right, folks. I have been blogging for 1 year today. 111 posts (including todays)...more comments than that....all in all its been a pretty good year. I'll have to take my laptop to dinner tonight to celebrate.

Okay, enough of that. A lot of you from Altamesa know Tyson Browning. He is a professor in the MBA program as well and I am in his Operations Management (OM) class. Well today he said that he was talking to his wife (Meredith) about making candy hearts with Operations themed messages, but decided against it because they might be a bit risque. So my friends and I took it upon ourselves to email back and forth for the rest of the class time making up OM themed candy heart messages. Here are some of them.....and yes, we are huge nerds.

• Be My Bottleneck
• You Increase My Output
• My utility is rising
• You maximize my flow rate.
• Process This
• Baby, I wanna "six sigma" you up.
• U Decrease the Variation of My Normal Distribution
• You control my processes.
• Wanna buffer my zone?
• You complete my sample
• The Variation in my Heartbeat is Assignable to U
• You Project My Band
• You’re just my sample size.

Happy Operations Management Day!

P.S. - We did pay attention too. I am a master multi-tasker; I can make up funny comments while learning all about p-charts, R charts, and x-bar charts. That's my official disclaimer so no one goes and tells Tyson that we don't pay attention in his class. :)

I ate Goat.

So Lindsey is going to kill me if I don't write a post about this. The rumors are true. I ate goat. My friend, Doug, decided to have a barbecue at his house in Granbury and invite our whole MBA class, but wanted to have a little spin on it - he wanted to cook goat. At first I thought he was kidding, and then I realized that it was Doug and he would be insane enough to actually do it. He then promised that he would have "normal food" for those of us that didn't want goat. I was thinking he would grill some hot dogs or hamburgers or something. So I make the 45 min drive out to Granbury, craving a hamburger. I get there and see what the "normal food" was....the side dishes. He had crackers and cheese and fruit, macaroni and cheese, and corn casserole. That was it. Besides the goat. So if you wanted to eat, you ate goat.

For those of you who will never have the joy of eating goat, it tastes a lot like lamb - very greasy meat with kind of a weird texture. It really wasn't bad...until I got sick the next day. I'm not saying it was the goat that got me sick, except to say that it was the goat that got me sick.

And now for the most disturbing part of the story that Doug swears is true and I really believe him. Doug has a 2 year old son, Alexander. Thursday Doug took Alexander to the petting zoo and he petted a goat. Friday Doug comes home with the dead, skinned goat that we ate and says "Look Alexander! This is what a goat looks like with no skin on it!" He claims it didn't affect Alexander in any way....I wonder if Alexander's therapist will say the same thing in 20 years...

What is the most odd thing that you've eaten? Have you ever emotionally disturbed a child?

Is there an Insurance Agent in the house??

After working on this project about creating an insurance company owned by TCU for almost 2 months now, I have come to the realization today that I don't know a thing about insurance companies! I know, you'd think I would have figured out that I have no clue what I'm doing a little earlier than this, but I was so focused on studying TCU's alumni that I never got around to actually learning about insurance! So now I'm sitting here staring blankly at a 37 page Standard & Poor's report about the Property and Casualty Insurance industry not understanding a word of it. And I was supposed to have a summary of it to my team 2 days ago. The words are seriously just going in one ear and out the other (I don't know if that analogy really works for reading, but whatever). Underwriting profits, earned premiums, written premiums, balanced line underwriters, regulatory pressures....couldn't tell you what any of it means. And I'm only on page 2. Who's bright idea was it for me to get involved in this anyways? What was I thinking? Oh for February to come when I can be rid of this and the other consulting job I got myself into. One of these days I'm going to have to learn how to say no.

Things I've Learned

I've learned a few very important things this semester in my MBA program. I thought I'd share them with you today.

1. To fit the greatest amount of information on a page (i.e. a 2 page cheat sheet) , expand all margins to .5 pts, make it 2 columns, and change the font to 8 pt. Arial Narrow. This allows for the most information in a readable font.
2. There is no value added in coming to a class that is mathematically/analytically focused (eg. Accounting or Finance). The professors should just hand you a list of subjects you need to know, give you the book, and be available to answer questions in their office hours. All you do in class is zone out and then teach it to yourself before the test anyways, why not put that 3 hours each week into something more useful?
3. You should never even contemplate missing a case class. In direct contrast with analytical classes, there is very little that can be done outside of class in studying for case class tests (short of forming the perfect cheat sheet. See #1). I missed one class this semester in our major case class and when it came time to evaluate the transformational leadership of Iacocca on our test, I was so far behind because I didn't get to discuss the merits of his case in class.
4. There is no point in being in an MBA program in your home city. Don't even entertain the fact that you will get to hang out with your friends that live here. I think Lindsey has spent more time with Katie and Stephen than I have this semester. She lives 2 hours away and I live about 10 minutes away, if that! Ridiculous!
5. Regardless of all of this, I am really enjoying myself and I know, despite the stress now, I am going to be sad when these 2 years are over.

Have a great weekend!

Emily

Finals Week

Or I guess I should say, final week and a half. In the MBA program, we have 10 days of finals - 5 days of tests and study day in between each. Then, after my last final next Wednesday, they hand us our Integrated Project case and 7 days of no sleep begins. But thats another story. Back to finals....

At first I was annoyed. Why not just have them all in 1 week and get them over with? But after having one day off and my first test today, I am so glad! It was nice to be able to leave my Managing People final today and not have to immediately think about my Corporate Finance final I will have on Thursday night. That is what tomorrow is for. And I don't even thinkI need a full day to study, so I'm going to get to sleep in tomorrow, study tomorrow afternoon, sleep in Thursday, and then study a couple hours Thursday afternoon before the test that night. In undergrad, finals week was so stressful. You spent all semester relaxing and then cramming everything in, leaving one exam and immediately stressing about the next one. In grad school, its completely switched! I've spent all semester working myself to death and because of the format of our schedule, I get to actually relax and take my time studying for the tests. I honestly think I'm going to get more sleep this week than I have since I started school in August. I never thought I'd say this, but finals week is going to be the best week ever!