Advid Enthusiast

So Excited

I'm so excited!  I have one more three page paper to write and the semester is OVER!  Phew!  13 weeks ago, I thought it would never, ever get here!  It also marks the countdown for me... I will be able to say I have LESS than one year of school left... which just might give me the gas to continue through the next five classes. 

There's something magical about this time of year.  About a week ago, I took a stroll through the Boston Common, the night there were going to light the tree.  Everyone was lining up to get the best spots and there was a big stage and what looked to be big festivities.  I didn't stick around for it, but it was sort of inspiring (or invoking of my holiday spirit?) cheer.  Everyone was bundled, thought it was rather pleasant out and they were playing holiday music.  Unfortunately, the past few years, I haven't been able to dive into Christmas like I have in the past.  School keeps me out of the mindset and then once it's over, BAM! I feel like Christmas is right there.  Snuck up on me yet again.  Last night I wandered through Macy's and browsed all the sale... secretly wanting to get many items for myself. I left, proudly, empty handed.

This year, my boyfriend and I adopted a family for the Christmas season.  A little boy and his struggling single mother.  The little boy did not ask for much, a few lego toys and a skateboard and I am delighted that I could make sure he is able to have toys to unwrap underneath the tree this year.  It was cool to buy presents for someone you'll never meet and just hope that they bring his mother relief in these tough times and hours of entertainment for the little boy!

Happy Holidays!

November

Whoa... a month later?  Yikes?  Where did the time go? Oh, I know!  It went to classes twice a week, MIDTERMS and work full time!

That's right, I survived mid terms.  I had a 10 page paper and a big presentation tomorrow.  That's right.  Tomorrow night.  And it's Thursday night tonight.  Which means I get to spend part of my Friday night in class.  Ish.  Did I mention this semester I have THREE Friday classes?  :(  Let's hope people show up to class tomorrow, after all part of our presentation is getting a discussion going amongst our very small class! 

I have a very good friend who is due to have a baby in SIX days and she just presented her thesis last night, which means that a) not only did she write a thesis (which is So AMAZING to me), but b) she's done!  Lucky duck!  I am so jealous!  Her husband took her out for a fancy dinner afterwards to celebrate.   I wonder what I will do to celebrate? Fancy dinner?  Par-tay?  Trip of a lifetime?  Oh the choices... Luckily for me, I have an entire year to mull it over and decide on exactly the right way to kick of the start of the rest of my life! 

I'm registering for class tomorrow morning... can't decide what to take just yet.  I only have 800 left... the other four are free choices.  Do I take 800 now or save it for the last semester?  I can't decide!

Have a great week!

The Return of Fall... and Football Season.

it feels like we went from summer to fall in zero to 60... (or 60 to zero, if you will).  This feeling may be further magnified by my week in Mexico in September.  It's been over two years since I had a vacation where I legitimately relaxed and savored every moment of a vacation.  From reading three or four books to poolside drinks to delicioiusly, long dinners to coffee and a USA Today on your beautiful balcony each morning.  There was nothing about our vacation that was on any one else's terms, but our own.  Luckily for me, my boyfriend and I's terms about the same, so there was little disagreement ever and just pure enjoyment of the Mexican Riviera. 

And then, upon landing at Logan, reality hit.  I had class the very next day, Monday and I had missed the first one was I was out.  I think the class is going to be really interested and focus more on the "soft" things that I like - like strategy.  There will be debate amongst our 15 member class and our professor is prepared, knowledgeable and has a touch of humor.  While initially I thought the class might be "easy", it won't be.  It might seem light on work, but it is heavy with thorough cases and proper analyzation will be necessary to prepare for class.

My other class, a core on legality and ethics, is incredibly fascinating.  It's not a class that would have jumped out at me from a course catalog, but I find the debate between what is legal and what is ethical to be a very interesting one.  Just when you think you have made your stance, a classmate offers up a different point of view and your once solid opinion is no longer so solid!  That is, if you can even come to a opinion in the first place, many of the cases and issues we study are so A or B, but wait, there's a C... and also a D.. and maybe an AB.  I find it exercises my mind and teaches me to think beyond your initial viewpoint.

As is the case with all part time students who work full time, work has finally proved to be a difficult juggling act.  In the past, I have been busy, but not so busy that I couldn't do readings throughout the day or work on other school work.  It was a nice balance using downtime for other responsibilities.  However, I am not so lucky this semester.  Upon my return from vacation, I found my job responsibilities had increased to include yet another boss to support.  For the first time in two years since I joined the company, I said  no.  I knew my capacity had been reached and that any further work would only jeopardize the juggling act that is my daily job.  Unfortunately, it was not a choice and I left the VP of HR's office feeling a bit overwhelmed.    Since my return two weeks ago, I  have been at a fast paced fury 9 or 10 hours a day.  My bosses are busy executives and they want things done now, yesterday and in a sec. 

I'm not questioning why the decision was made, I'm sure it's justifiable and for good reason.  However, given much of what I have learned over my two years of courses, there are ways to get things done without making your employees feel walked on and upset.  Is there a fine line between manipulating (if you will) an employee to make he/she feel like she came to the same decision or approaching an employee with a dilemna and solving it together to get the outcome management would like to achieve?  Versus, just handing down an order?  I work for an amazing company and normally agree with most decisions coming out of there, but this one, I don't.  So, instead of causing a fuss, I mentally tuck it away for a later date.  A later date where I desperately need one of my employees to take one for the team.  The personal experience will get tucked away alongside all of my valuable case studies and courses and i'll make sure that someday, when I am on the management team, that I foster a different sort of relationship.

Right?  :)

Happy October!

Year Three

Holy Moley!  I'm starting Year THREE already!  Ooofda.  (As we say in Minnesota!)  What should I wear?  Shouldn't I have an outfit picked out on my bed for the first day of class!?  New shirt, shiny new shoes? (For the record, I do not.)

It doesn't feel like it's time to head back to school.  Summer was a disapointment to all.  The entire month of June it rained and drizzled everyday and I wished that I had just taken a summer course.  Why not right?  It's not like I was missing beach days and al fresco happy hours?  July and August were summer-esq, but my one week of vacation was in MN and we were treated to unusual high 60 temps and breeze.  Instead of boating, fishing and beers on the water, it was movies and beers inside the lake house.  Fail!  What was nice was having FOUR months off... I read a ton of books (All four Twilights in two weeks.  Don't judge.  I caved.)  I did a lot of cooking, a lot of working out.  I watched a lot of really bad TV.  I got a promotion.  I got busy at work.  I survived another round of layoffs.  I helped lay people off. 

This semester, I am taking two classes.  One elective, one core class.  I voted against doing back to back classes one day a week this semester and instead am favoring one on Mondays in the early session and one on Wednesdays in the later session.  In previous semesters, I have worked out systems and built in homework time, so I am thinking that that library time might be on Tuesday nights... or possibly after my early class on Mondays.  It's so KEY to get into a routine and build in that study time.  Once you get behind in readings or homework, you feel overwhelmed and it starts a vicious cycle for the rest of the semester. 

I think the best advice is to do what works for you.  Everyone is different.  As I have said before, I am a B sort of girl.  While grades are definitely important to me, it's not what I define my MBA experience on.  What's important to be is that I learn how to be a critical thinker, a problem solver (not a problem finder), that I understand business models, learnings from case studies and can become a strategic business partner.  It's not as important to me to learn textbook terms and focus on minute details.  Many of my classmates spend hours a week, many of them, in my opinion, frivilous, pouring over their books and case studies.  I hear them mention how many hours they spend working on various assignments and often times I am surprised.  I have to remind myself that everyone learns in a different way.  Everyone needs to get what they want out of their own education.  Sometimes I feel guilty when I didn't spend an entire Saturday in the library like others do.  But, I value my Saturdays and build study time into the rest of the week.  It's my groove.  It works for me.

(And just so you don't think I am too much of a laid back surfer, you should know that I have already done all my readings for my first class tomorrow night.  Syllabi printed, case studies read, check, check! )

One of my only hesitations about this semester so far is that I do not have classes with any of the friends I have made over the last six (or was it seven?) semesters at Suffolk.  I have made some really great friends, some great B school allies and this semester it's essentially like starting over!  Whether we're just on different paths for the semester, or many of them have graduated, I'm sure I'll recognize some faces, but there will be many unfamiliar ones as well.  :(  Bummer! 

Good luck to all those going back. 

Summer Break

I sense of relief washed over me this afternoon as I hit Send on my digital dropbox and submitted the last lingering To-Do of the semester.  Presto - like that, I am a free woman for just over 4 months. 

I'm not sure why, but this semester has been particularly challenging.  It was loaded with papers and group work.  In one of my classes, my group was pretty spectacular, in the other class, it was frustrating to say the least.  It is one of the biggest challenges of course work - as it seems like there are always a few that don't pull their weight.  OR, they do the work and it's completely unfit to turn it in and you spend hours redoing the work.  It makes you want to pull your hair out.

Also, the library is where people should do research.  Even grad students don't get the fact that our library is virtually accessible online!  Hello!  Log in, search and it's all at your fingertips!  Amazing!  Every bit of research you would want - at your fingertips at home or work!  It even has the Google Scholar search and a link!  I'm still shocked that my class mates think it's okay to use Wikipedia as a reference.  Much less, copy entire sections FROM wikipedia, and then insult to injury, don't even cite it properly.  It's appalling and I wouldn't doubt that professors see it all the time. 

So despite my obvious frustrations with our group work, I did learn quite a bit this semester and actually enjoyed some of the work.  Doubled up on Tuesdays was a little much, but I can't say I wouldn't do it again.... I highly recommend a global consumer course to people as it's informative, yet entertaining and thought provoking. 

I enter May with all this time on my hands... what to do... what to do.  I already started a new book last night and I am quickly filling up my calendar with dinners and outings.  Not to mention that Boston is supposed to grace us with some seriously BEAUTIFUL weather this weekend.  70's and sun.  Yes Please!  After such a stressful semester, exactly what my soul needs is a bit of life.

And with the final click of a button, I seal the deal on 11 courses under my belt and another seven ahead of me.  I have decided to take these seven over the course of the next three semesters at a leisurely two at a time.  Which puts graduation at a definite Dec 2010, which is about a year and a half away.  Seems like a long time, but I'll have both of the next two summers off... so I think it's not so bad considering!

Enjoy your summers, I know I will!

16 days and counting

There are approximately 16 days left of the semester... not that I am counting.

Oh wait - I totally am.  Spring fever is here, and there are books and magazines that are starting to pile up on my nightstand.  I keep adding to this pile, as if I might be able to start on it earlier, but this semesters class load is ensuring that that is NOT a possibility!

In past semesters, I think I have been semi blessed with a balanced class load... but it seems as though this semester is extremely heavy with final papers.  Before the end of the semester, I have TWO group papers that are about twenty pages long each, one 30 minute presentation, two case studies and my own 10 page single spaced paper that has to be written on myself.  It's a bit overwhelming - even without adding in the weekly readings that have to be done for the two classes between now and then. 

How does a girl manage? 

I would say, by getting ahead.  I have taken it upon myself to set up schedules for the group to finish our papers.  I have started compiling research during my downtime at work.  I have pre read case studies on the bus.  I have started writing before I needed to write.  I find that if I proactively manage all the million things i have to do, that they seem less daunting.  The more I am proactive, the less I lay in bed at night and wonder where I will find the time to accomplish all that needs to be accomplished. 

My last day of class falls on Tuesday 4/21.  Which also happens to be the day after a three day weekend. Not just any random three day weekend, like Presidents Day or Columbus Day, but one of the most significant three day weekends, behind Labor Day Weekend and Memorial Day weekend (respectively).  MARATHON MONDAY WEEKEND!  Oh wait, it's also called Patriot's Day, but I digress.  I love Marathon Monday for a plethora of reasons... a) the energy behind the race is contagious and b) the Sox are at home... thus providing two forms of pure entertainment less than a mile from each other!  I think this year will probably be spent working on all the things that are due the next day, but I have a good friend coming in to actually run the marathon, so this year it's personal to me and I am going to work my butt off to have school be done as to not interupt!  That's how I find it best to manage such a hectic schedule - balance the extremely courseload with discipline and the things that are important to you!

Happy Spring all!

March madness

It's been a crazy busy few weeks.  Not only am I finally busy at work, but school has majorly picked up as well.  We're on spring break this week, so it's a chance to catch up, but we'll see about that!  I feel like I am a wee bit behind, especially since we only have five or six weeks left and there is SO much to do before then.  A lot of it is group work, but sometimes I feel like that is more work than just getting it done yourself.  In addition, I have a major case of SPRING fever!  It was a beautiful weekend here and it was great to be outside and feel the sun on your face!

Also have to start picking classes for the summer and fall.  Not sure, but am hoping to skip the summer session and just take classes in the fall.  Would be great to have FOUR whole months off, don't you think?

Busy bees

I love three day weekends.  I think there should be more of them.  I would gladly put in 10 hour days, just to have a three day weekend EVERY weekend.

I'm extremely busy lately.  My classes this semester are keeping me very busy - mostly with group work.  There's good news and bad news about group work.  The good news is you can collaborate with each other, come up with better ideas.  The group can carry you when you are feeling lazy or less than smart.  The bad news is sometimes, there are just too many head chefs in the kitchen, or it's too difficult to coordinate busy schedules.  This semester, I have volunteered to write the early cases studies, in hopes that come the end of the semester, I won't have to do as much when I will probably have spring fever.  That meant this weekend was busy writing, writing, reading, editing, sending, etc.  I love getting stuff like this out of the way, it brings a sense of control and calm over the remaining bit of the semester.  (Though, it will still be busy, just maybe less busy.)

I must get back to my reading.  At least I can say I am definitely interested and intrigued this semester!

Ready, set, go.

And the semester is off and running!

It's been sort of a strange start to the semester for me.  Like I mentioned before, I am taking two classes, both on Tuesday nights.  I missed the entire first night of classes for a very important work function, so I am attempting to play catch up.  Usually, not much gets done the first night of class, but I do now agree that there is a lot of useful information held the first night of class.  While I don't normally advocate for skipping class, I especially encourage you to NOT miss the first nights of class, ever! 

One of my classes was cancelled due to the inaugeration last week, so technically this was my first FULL week of class.  It went well.  My Tuesdays are definitely long, but I ate before hand, brought a snack and was prepared with coffee and soda and water.  While Tuesdays are brutal, it is nice to have the rest of the week to myself!  (sort of...)

But that is changing next week!  Next week I kick up my advertising class on Mondays (not through Suffolk, but through work).  It's crazy how having two days a week where you get home after 9 pm can really throw a wrench in your ability to relax!  I think I really enjoyed my time off and I got spoiled. (I cooked every night, I went to the gym all the time, I drank wine and watched TV.)  Now I dread knowing that if lucky, I only stand to go to the gym three times during the week at most and that any sort of social life beyond school will further detriorate that.  BOO!  But such is the price to pay right?  For being smart and getting big signing bonuses upon graduation and such right?

Speaking of which.... It's a scary time out there right now, so I am ever SO grateful to have a job.  Granted, I am semi slow, so there are days where the time seems to just tick by, but whenever I entertain the thought of looking for a new job, I remind myself that I am lucky to have one.  I've debated, going back and forth within, look or stay, look or stay?  Ultimately, I have decided that it's safe to stay here right now, in the safe comforts of my fun, decent paying job, rather than entering the scary, scary world that is the job market right now.  I have sympathy for anyone who is searching right now and after my boyfriend got laid off, I know the feeling.  He recently accepted an offer and we are very excited.  I took him out to dinner at his favorite sushi place to celebrate, because that is what excellent girlfriends do.  I think he's rather enjoyed his vacation time and he's taken the whole thing much more in stride that I would have - a trait I hope to inherit if the roles are ever reversed.   I've spent two months being insanely jealous of his relatively open days and on the flip side, he's been a saint taking me to work every morning.  Oh man, will Imiss my driver... :)  

stay warm... it's chilly out there.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  I hope all of your holidays were joyful and relaxing!

So, I am gearing up for yet another crazy busy spring semester!  In '09, I am taking two MBA courses and also helping to run the Advertising Course again through work.  It's like taking a full time MBA course, but doesn't count towards the MBA, but will hopefully once again allow me to network with a bunch of Advertising big wigs and it's something solid to put on my resume.  Also, I'm a veteran at the program this year since it's my second year, so I have it down solid and should be able to help run a bigger portion this year!  However, it makes for a very busy semester - considering the Ad course is on Mondays and I have TWO MBA courses on Tuesdays...

I'm not sure how I will manage those super long Tuesdays.  My only hope in retaining a bit of sanity is that I think my two courses (both of a global nature to me) are going to be very interesting.  If I had accounting and finance back to back, I might not survive... but these should not be too bad. 

Note to self*** Pack dinner. 

My winter break has been wonderful, though incredibly fast!  I had many days off work, which allowed me to fly home for the holidays and also spend five days of vacation here at home in Boston.  I didn't think it was possible, but I was ready to come back to work.  Another day off and I might have gotten bored.  Instead, I am caught up on all my magazines (smart ones of course!) and even read a book (woo!).  I am well rested.  I am well fed, but managed to drop a few pounds over the holidays.  I have a new kitten addition to my little family (me, the boyfriend and new kitten). Overall, I feel healthy and spirited for all that 2009 can bring my way. 

I am ready for school to kick up again (though another week of school vacation you won't hear me complain about).  Finishing up in the fall marked the HALFWAY point for my MBA.  At this point, I am halfway through my MBA and have another 9 courses to go.  The good news is that many of my classes moving forward will be ones of my choice and taking, so I can't complain that I have no interest or am bored!  YAY!  I think that is a HUGE milestone and that the MBA graduation degree is a downhill roll from here! 

So optimistic I am so far in '09...