It's Official

I officially graduated from college, and here's the proof:



I know you're normally supposed to hang things like this in your office, but since my office will be my house... can this hang on the fridge?

My Sites: LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social networking site, very much like Facebook or Myspace, except it has a professional twist. Facebook and Myspace tend to focus on all the stuff that revolves around one's personal life, and not much on professional life. LinkedIn fills that gap. It's purpose, on the most basic level, is to facilitate the maintenance of professional relationships.

It allows users to enter professional information, including employment experience, both past and present, education details, and a lot of other information. It basically allows you to upload your resume. Then, the social networking portion kicks in. Based on where you worked, where you went to school, etc., it will link you to other professionals in that same position. But that's really only the beginning. Here's a screen cap of my public profile:

To see my entire public profile, go to linkedin.com/in/kregan.

Now, the beauty of this site is that it allows you to connect with business professionals from across the globe. The only requirement is that they have a LinkedIn account. And there are various ways you can find people to connect with. You can upload your email contacts and see if any of them have an account, you can search based on your past positions and workplaces and find colleagues, you can search for classmates that attended the same school when you were there, or you can just search them by name, email address, etc. Personally, I am only linked with 6 people (as you can see above), and while I have a few pending connection invitations, I plan to use this site liberally. By that I mean I'm not going to connect with people I don't know, like I sometimes have done on Facebook. (I don't have a Myspace, and don't even THINK about trying to talk me into it, I HATE Myspace). I plan to use this as a tool, which is how I think it was intended to be used, so having contacts I know and can communicate with will be valuable.

One of the great things about this site is that it's only open to college students and graduates. Hypothetically, you could sign up and falsely attribute yourself to a school or something, even if you didn't attend, but there is no value in that here. This is, and should be treated like, another way, in my opinion an easier way, to keep your business connections in order and potentially make new ones. I don't think this should be used as a tool to base hirings on, because it someone could just as easily lie about going to Harvard Law as they could about graduating with a major in underwater basket weaving from Kettering University. However, I think it is a very valuable personal tool for business professionals, and that is why I am using it.

I encourage all of my friends and others to sign up for this site if you haven't already. I think it can become, and is actually becoming, a very powerful tool. It may be new, but I think it would be foolish not to take advantage of the power of this tool, especially as it grows. If you are a member already, or sign up after reading this, I encourage you to seek me out and add me as a contact. If you're a reader of the Blogarrhea, you're a friend of mine, and I would love to be in contact with you.

My public address is http://www.linkedin.com/in/kregan, but you can also search for Kevin Regan and I believe I'm the first (and only) one that comes up. Hope you enjoyed the post, and I look forward to seeing you all on LinkedIn!

Kettering University: May the Stickman be with you

I am a senior in college, most of my friends are in college right now, and my brother is a high school senior deep in the college process, so I am quite familiar with the whole college environment. One of the aspects of that environment is the way high schoolers go about selecting colleges, and as a result, how specialty colleges elicit awareness and enrollment. Just like a school with a small sports program has to operate a bit differently than the big schools to try and compete for athletes, specialty colleges also have to operate a bit differently, and Kettering University is a perfect example.



Now, in my opinion, many specialty schools go about advertising the wrong way. They'll have commercials that say things you may want to know as a perspective college student, but they don't connect. The commercials are boring, and I stopped paying attention to them when I was in middle school. But Kettering U takes a much different route in connecting with potential students. Enter Stickman.



This was my favorite Kettering video. You can check out the rest of them here.

Now, let me give you a little background about Kettering University. First off, it's a specialty school in Michigan, and they specialize in mechanical engineering. You can get more specific information on that by clicking that link, but the fact that US News and World Report has ranked Kettering University as "the #1 University in the nation for Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering" in its annual "America's Best Colleges Guide for 2008" makes me believe that they're pretty darn good. Check out all Kettering's US News Best Colleges standings by clicking that link.

Now, back to the video, I think they do a great job of presenting problems facing a high school senior in a way that they can relate to, and then promote themselves as the answer in an honest way. Things that caught my attention were some of their references. They reference Star Wars, ninjas, even Woot!, one of My Sites. They also reference Halo, which everyone knows takes up a solid chunk of my college life.

I like the style and candor of the ads. They know who they're talking to, but that's obviously perspective college students, everyone knows that. The difference is they know how to talk to them. They know where they're at, they know what they're doing, and they explore that. I think this kind of advertising is rare in the college game.

So, if you're interested in taking Vehicular Crash Dynamics and Accident Reconstruction, a course which they offer, or just check out Kettering University, go to their website, www.kettering.edu. Maybe check out some more of those Stickman videos.

California, what's the deal?

I want to make a disclaimer before I start this post: I'm pretty drunk right now. I was out at the bars, since my term is done, and it's St. Patty's Day, and Bella and I are enjoying some time together before I hit the pillow.

Anyways, I was watching TV just now and saw that California tourism commercial. This one:

I had a few questions about it. First, why is California, the most populated state in America, running ads for people to come there? Is the California economy really struggling? Why the hell would they waste the money on this commercial trying to get people to go there? Maybe that's SOP, but I wonder how many people go there because of this commercial. Is it really worth it? Or does Cali have a surplus and decided to invest in this? It's pretty lame, with Governor Arnold and (ugly) wife wrapping it up. It doesn't say anything people don't already know, and seems kind of unnecessary.

Is that state in need of tourism? No. Absolutely not. So why the commercial (that I've seen 100 times)? Is it just a local (Oregon) commercial? I hope so.

I was just curious, any thoughts?

In other news, Dad, I saw two of your legal interns at a bar tonight. They both go to Oregon, and I feel really bad that I didn't remember their names. I recognized them and said hi, and they bought me a shot. I told them to tell you they did so when they see you, so hopefully they do. You should act surprised, and humor them, but let me know if they do, in fact, tell you, because that would make my day. Don't tell them I forgot their names please.

Anyway, hope you all had a happy St. Patty's Day.

Applying Google Earth to Solve Real Business Problems (Courtesy of Mr. Feely)

Hey Bry, just want to let you know that I'm kind of stealing your post. I read it and thought about writing the same one, but decided to just give you credit for doing it better anyways. Hopefully you don't mind the (potential) extra traffic.

This term, in my business school capstone class, we worked on projects for actual companies. The one my group worked for was YOLO colorhouse, a high quality, no-VOC paint company. Our project was essentially to identify new markets that they should expand into on the West Coast. We decided to use Google Earth, which had many awesome implications, including Bryan being asked to talk to the head of the business school about it.

This is where I throw you to his post to read about how we did it and why it was so awesome. Thanks Bry. Check out his post over at FeelyWorks, "Google Earth as an Analytical Tool", then come back and tell me what you think.

Fall term wrap-up

Fall term is now in the books for me, and it feels good. I was done yesterday, celebrated last night, and have played Halo almost all day today. It was the best day I've had in about a week because the rest were spent either studying for my finals or worrying about studying for them. I get a little anxious before exams, regardless of if they are big, so I really just sit and think about studying, which is annoying.

Anyways, I had 3 classes this term, and here's how they turned out:

Marketing Communications
This class was a required marketing class, so as I've come to realize, that means boring and easy. The only real work we did was create a marketing plan for Oregon Baseball. That was fun and pretty routine because of my athletic department experience, but time consuming. Our teacher was one of the weirdest, most flustered guy, which was pretty funny to watch, but annoying to listen to everyday. I think I did pretty well, and I can only expect to get an A- because that seemed to be the only grade he gave out all term. I swear, I've never gotten so many A-'s in one class ever. It became kind of a joke for everyone by the end of the term because everyone seemed to get that grade. But seriously, I'm hoping for an A-.

New Product Innovation
I was most excited about this class going into the term, and it turned out to be pretty cool, but really not that educational or inspiring. We created a product over the course of the term then went through the process of developing a marketing plan and everything. The product my group created was a water bottle top with a filter in it so you could filter tap water as you drink it. It worked for the class, so we went with it. I know I got a B in this class, and I'll take it due to the crappy partners I had. I don't even want to get into that.

Human Resources Management
I took this class because I heard it was easy, and it was, but I'm not sure it was worth sitting through. It was boring and not at all something I care about. At least I now know that I don't want to go into HR. Studying for this class was the worst because it was a 160 question multiple choice study guide that was all out of the book, nothing from class, but it was still easy. So easy that I finished my 50 question final exam, I shit you not, in 5 minutes. That's a new personal record by about 15 minuted for any exam, let alone a final. I expect an A, but I really don't know.

So there you have it. Overall a pretty good term. Next term is a Japanese class, a music class, and a business class. Should be pretty relaxed. Now it's time to hang out for a month and enjoy the holiday season. Christmas music here I come!

Innovation: The Easy Shot Liquor Bottle

This term I have a new product innovation class, and today we have an assignment due for which we had to create a new product or innovation and explain how we would sell it and do all that other stuff. My innovation was the Easy Shot Liquor Bottle. I got the idea from a bottle of mouthwash that I posted about this summer. I think it's a pretty good idea, and if you really want to, you can take a look at my write-up after the jump.

BACKGROUND
After a recent trip to the dentist, I was encouraged to start using fluoride mouthwash regularly to help prevent cavities. When I left the dentist’s office, I went to the grocery store to pick some up, and that night when I used it for the first time, I noticed something different about the bottle. It had a tube in it, much like one you would find in a bottle of soap, that fed into a cup that was built into the neck of the bottle. When you squeezed the bottle, much like pumping a soap dispenser, the cup would fill up with mouthwash. With a fill line on the cup, it was easy to get the right amount to pour into my mouth, and there was no mess because no mouthwash could escape the bottle without squeezing it. Immediately after using this bottle, I had an idea: the Easy Shot Liquor Bottle.

PRODUCT
The Easy Shot Liquor Bottle would use the same principles as the previously mentioned bottle of mouthwash. A plastic bottle that holds 750ml, the standard “fifth” in the liquor industry, that has a plastic tube that runs from the bottom of the bottle into an opening in the cup/neck at the top, which is 1oz., the standard “shot”.

The overall design of the standard plastic liquor bottle would be the same; the only things that are changing are the design of the neck of the bottle (adding the shot cup), and the way the liquid is dispensed from the bottle (squeezed into the cup and then poured out). While an entire new version of the traditional plastic liquor bottle would need to be produced as the shot cup is built in to the neck, I believe that this change is more of a component innovation than it is an architectural one.

OPPORTUNITY
Being a college student at the University of Oregon over the age of 21, I have experienced the ways different people use alcohol. One of those ways is end user consumption; the end user being a consumer who goes to the liquor store and buys a bottle for personal consumption. Say, for example, a college student.

Part of the college experience is going to parties, and at parties, students drink. One of the primary ways they do so is by taking shots. Pouring shots can be messy, with spilling and over-filling often occurring because the wide mouth of traditional liquor bottles lets the liquid out too quickly. Plus, not everyone has a shot glass handy. The Easy Shot Liquor Bottle combines a shot glass with the bottle, so there is no need for an extra glass, and because you squeeze the bottle to dispense the liquor, the user can regulate the pouring speed very accurately, so the risk of spilling or overfilling is greatly reduced.

The second type of consumption I see most often is at bars, and this is where this product may really flourish. In order for this product to work, the bottle needs to be plastic so that it can be squeezed. The liquor that is generally sold in plastic bottles is less expensive and more mass-produced, which bars use typically as their “house” or “well” liquors. If any other bar-goers are like me, they often choose the less expensive route when they go out, meaning they buy these “house” or “well” drinks.

I can assume, then, that a bar goes through a lot of liquor that comes in plastic bottles. I will also assume that bars aim to maximize profits as any other business does, and one way of doing that is limiting the amount of alcohol they put into their mixed drinks. Often bartenders use shot glasses for this reason, but over pouring and spilling still occur. This new design will allow bartenders to regulate the amount of alcohol they put into drinks more accurately and without the over pouring and spilling because the shot glass is built in. This results in accurate pours more consistently, as well as less cleaning costs with the reduction of shot glass usage.

These are the two main uses I see with this bottle, only because they make the desired jobs of both of those customer segments easier. However, there is one other major player in the equation: the distributor.

MARKETING
The above opportunities explain how this new product will benefit the consumer, but those consumers will not be the same consumers that this product will be marketed to. The bottle needs to be filled with liquor before it reaches the end users, so the consumer I will be targeting is the distributor. There are many different liquor companies in the industry today, so likely there are even more distributors, as some companies may contract out. The knowledge conditions that I would need to be aware of in marketing this product is who the liquor companies buy their bottles from, and where exactly in the process the bottles come in. Essentially, who do I talk to in order to get my product used?

It may turn out that I have to talk to a bottle manufacturer and sell them my design, which they will then take, sell to the liquor companies, and distribute. These are all factors I need to research. However, I will assume that I will be undertaking the production of the bottles, and pitching them to a liquor distributor myself.

The reason why distributors of low-cost liquors that come in plastic bottles should adopt my product is to both differentiate themselves from the rest of the cheap bottles that essentially look the same and also to possibly elevate their cheap liquor into the next class.

To the cheap liquor drinker, cheap liquor is cheap liquor is cheap liquor. However, if one brand comes in a new, better bottle, the consumer is more likely to buy it over the others. Also, the perceived value of the liquor may be higher because of the new bottle, and thus it would seem like the consumer is getting better liquor for less money, and would likely pay more for it. This increased price would likely cover any initial production costs of the new bottle, and eventually, when it becomes mass produced, profits would increase because of that raised price.

It may also be worth noting that the perceived value to bar owners of the liquor they may conserve with this design through reduced spilling or over pouring is in fact not that great, as any bar with a trained bartender should have minimal spilling and bartenders may still be generous with their pouring. Therefore, you should not worry about losing any sales volume because of this bottle.

Another, potentially money saving possibility is to use this bottle on higher end liquors. Some of the liquors that are produced in more expensive glass bottles could be distributed in this plastic bottle instead. The move to a plastic bottle would reduce bottle costs, but would also be justified to the consumer because of the squeeze bottle technology. Therefore, a plastic Easy Shot Liquor Bottle of your product could be sold for the same price as the glass bottle, but would cost less to produce.

I have spent some time explaining how this could be profitable for others, but it can also be a profitable venture for me. If liquor distributors begin adopting my product, I could then market it to their competitors as a way for them to keep up with the industry. If I can leverage one against another, without burning any bridges of course, then this could grow into a company that distributes bottles to liquor companies.

I could also choose to sell the design to a manufacturer who is deeper into the industry life cycle than I am, knows the business and has the capital, and this could be a competence enhancing innovation for them. In a perfect world, this design could even become the new standard. However, this is not a perfect world, so I must also be prepared for that not to happen.

POSSIBLE PROBLEMS
There are a few possible problems that I need to take into account in this venture in order to be prepared. For example, what if distributors and/or manufacturers are not anxious to adopt my idea? I could take my product to bars myself and try and get them to adopt it and load the alcohol in the Easy Shot themselves. I could also put the product in catalogs that bars use to order liquor products such as shot glasses, pitchers, etc.

I could market this product online to end users and bars alike, through either a retailer like amazon.com, or on a website I create for the product with streaming videos showing how the product works and how easy it is to use, and a system to order them directly from me.

While these routes are ultimately not as profitable as getting a big liquor company behind my product, I feel that this product is marketable for all the reasons I have mentioned, and will be a success if it is given enough of a chance.

School, the Blogarrhea, and Poop

That's right, poop. Allow me to explain. In my quest to ever-improve (and ultimately clutter) this site, I have decided that I'm going to use a recurrent post header for certain brands of posts. A visual cue, if you will (and I will), to what kind of post it is going to be.

Aside: This is a compromise basically on the whole "new blog" thing. I decided I'd just write multiple blogs, in a sense, but use these different headers instead of different sites.

For you as a reader, they will act as kind of a warning, like, "Hey, this is rant, read if you care" or something like that. So you see it and say, "Oh good, I'm not reading this". Hopefully it's the opposite reaction, but who am I kidding?

The two I have made already are for rants, which looks like poop (thank me later), and tech posts, and I may make others. Take a look at the headers after the jump (which is also new, and I like it, because it clears up the main page so it doesn't take so freaking long to load.)

The school part is just basically a heads up that I'm starting school soon. I got my books today, did my first big shopping trip yesterday, and had my first night of drinking, well, nights... Nevermind. But it's my senior year, I'm taking 3 classes a term, and I'm going to enjoy the hell out of it. I hope to get CRYBART going again soon too. Just thought you should know all thar. Enjoy the pictures.

Official Spring Term Grades

While it took all but one of my professors to submit my grades until the very day they were due, today is that day, and I have my official term grades:
As you can see, I got a 3.85 with all A's (2 being A-'s). I am very pleased, although not surprised, because as I said in an earlier post, I was kind of expecting these. It was a pretty easy term.

This will be my last "report card" that will have 16 credits on it. From here on in, I'm taking it easy with 3 classes each term (plus a few 1 credit design classes here and there). I'm glad the last two terms of 16 credits have turned out so well, with A's in some form in the last 8 classes, because that means senior year should be a fun one.

That's all from here, just wanted to give you the final results.

Spring Term Wrap-Up

Overall, Spring term was really easy for me. The workloads for each of my classes were really light, the studying for quizzes and exams was routine, and the exams were straightforward. Either I had an easy round of classes, or I'm getting pretty good at this "college" thing. As I said before, the studying seemed almost routine, and that's how a lot of the term went, which I think is a good thing, because that just means I know what I need to do by now. It also didn't hurt that in one class, my previous knowledge covered 85% of the course material. As one of the guys I work with (who was a graduating senior) said when asked how the last few weeks went, "I got pretty good at drinking." It's true. During finals week, I enjoyed a beer almost everyday. Some at home after a final, some at a bar before a final (I was confident). The Pub Crawl, as posted about earlier, was by far the most alcohol I had all week, but when your 21, beer just seems to quench thirst a little better. Anyways, onto the wrap-up:

Overall, I think I did pretty good. There's only one grade that's official at this point, one unofficial, one assumed, and one relatively assumed. I'll explain.

In Marketing 435, we had the option of accepting our grade after midterm 3, or taking the final to try and improve it. I had an A- after midterm 3 (I had the class high for midterm 2), so I was happy to take that and forgo the final. He didn't curve the class at all either, so I actually earned the A-. This one is official, it's on DuckWeb.

In Finance 311, I had transfered into it during the second week, so I was a little behind the intro, and was out of "book buying" mode, having done PLENTY of that the last week (business books are ridiculously expensive). This being the case, I just never bought the book. He said it would help, but I decided, "let's try a class without the book." (I have always bought the course books). Turns out, I went to class, played World Series of Poker on my phone the whole time, hardly listened and didn't take notes, and I did great the whole time, got an 89% on the final leaving me with an A- in the class. This is posted on Blackboard, but is not yet on DuckWeb, so it's technically "unofficial."

In Music 358, I was exposed to really random world music, and enjoyed most of it besides the 10am start time. I went to every class before the first exam: 57/60. I went to about two thirds of the classes after exam 1 and before exam 2: 57/60. I went to maybe half of the lectures before the comprehensive final: 70/80. Depending on where he cuts the A's and A-'s, I will have one of the two. Music does come really easy to me though, so that may have been a contributing factor.

Finally, DSC 340. This was the class that I knew 85% of the material before it was taught. Everything before the final was super easy (and inefficient, but that's a different story), but for the final he threw us all a curve ball by making it difficult. I think I still did alright on it, but it was harder than anything else we had done. I haven't gotten the score back for it, so I am a little unsure of my grade, but I think I am safe to say it's somewhere in that same A- to A range.

So there you have it, my Spring term in a nutshell. I think living in the house that I live in helps productivity, most of us in the same classes and all hard workers and such. Now, onto my senior year, where I take 3 classes a term, chill out, and graduate on time. I think it will be a great year too, because like I said earlier in the post, I think I am just getting good at this "college" thing.

Until next time, keep it tuned to the Blogarrhea, and have a great summer.

New Transformers Poster

This is the new Transformers poster. Have I expressed how much I want to see this movie? Yes? Well, I guess I just wanted to reiterate. I have seen dozens of clips and trailers and pictures, oh my. This thing will (hopefully) be the highlight of my summer. This and Die Hard 4. Then comes The Dark Knight and Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods (working title) in '08. Have you seen the new Batman suit? Please do if you haven't. Anyways, here's the newest poster for the movie. I am so pumped! July 4th! The next post will be a Spring Term Review, probably. Sorry, it's been a while, finals week has put a damper on posts, but it was pretty easy. Hope you look forward to excellent grades. I know I do. We'll see. Keep it tuned to the Blogarrhea.

Fall Term Schedule

Here's what my schedule looks like for next Fall term. I'm only going to be taking 3 classes per term next year because I have 9 left to take to graduate on time with a minor in music. I could graduate early and not get a minor in music, but I figure why not take the one extra class so I can get another line on my transcript?

The 3 classes I'm taking this term are:

• MKTG 420 - Marketing Communications:
  
• A Marketing concentration pre-requisite that deals with advertising, sales promotions, public relations, and personal selling.
  
• MGMT 415 - Human Resources Management:
• This class is a business elective not affiliated with any concentration, and since we have to take 2 business electives outside of our concentration, here's the first.
• MKTG 445 - New Product Development:
• This is a marketing elective designed for entrepreneurs, but it sounds so fascinating and relevant that I couldn't pass it up, even if it is hard. It deals with techniques for analyzing and developing new markets, and the pricing, communication, and distribution of new products or services with limited resources.

Then, I also enrolled in FIN 380 - Financial Markets & Investments as a fall-back class in case I find out I don't want to take MKTG 445. It deals with financial markets and security investment decisions, analysis of risk and return, portfolio policies for individual and institutional investors, and financial instruments. It's taught by a professor I got an A from in the last class I took with her, and Amanda is taking it, and it's a business elective outside my concentration, so I figured it would be a safe plan B.

So there you have it. Taking 3 classes should give me time to better study for the classes I'm taking and have more free time my senior year to hunt for a job, work with the athletic department, or relax and do nothing. All good options. Hopefully three 400-level classes won't be too overwhelming, but the one I'm in now (that I have a midterm in later today) is going well this term, so I think it will be alright.

Prognosis: Negative

So, I just wanted to jump on here and give you a little flavor of how my next 10 days are going to go. In total, I have 3 presentations, 2 midterms, 1 quiz, 3 assignments due, and 2 football events to go to, plus a bunch more.

Tomorrow, I have a marketing quiz at 2, then after that class, I have to run over to Autzen to do registration for all the VIPs at Coach Bellotti's Dinner and Auction for muscular dystrophy. After that, I have to come home, do a group assignment for DSC and prepare for one of my presentations next week. Friday, I have to wake up way early to be at the Mike Bellotti Classic golf tournament out in Springfield at 5:30am. From there, I got to class at 1 where I have an assignment due. Then, hopefully, I can take Friday night off, watch a movie, and get to bed early. (Honestly, I want to do that). The weekend will be spent studying and preparing for presentations. There are musical events that I need to go to for my music class, either Saturday at 3 or Sunday at 1, but that will be a game time decision. On Monday, I have a midterm at 10, then a midterm at 2 followed by a presentation in that same class. Awesome. Tuesday, I have a presentation at 4, and a football meeting at 6. Wednesday, I have a presentation at 2 (though it's super small). Thursday, I have an assignment due at Noon.

Friday, after my class at 1, I hope to God I'll be free for the weekend. All this crap I just listed is only the really important stuff I have to do. On top of that there's go into the office and get some more mailouts done, research my recruits, generally attend class, all while really wanting to be outside golfing, or doing anything else besides what I'll probably be doing. I might use this baby for breaks and stuff, posting whenever there's something worth taking a break for. Other than that, you might not see me for a few days. If you get bored, just watch all our videos we just made on YouTube. Check out our pages here and here.

Wish me luck.

Bomb Threat Closes Lillis Tomorrow

I got home from playing a little basketball with Ryan at the rec and got a cheery little e-mail (minus the cheery). It read:

Over the weekend, the University of Oregon learned of a bomb threat made against the Lillis Business Complex. Upon receiving the threat, the UO Department of Public Safety immediately contacted the Eugene Police Department and locked down the complex. Law enforcement experts then conducted a sweep of the facilities. No explosive device was found. While UO and law enforcement officials do not believe the threat is credible, the decision has been made to close the buildings on Monday, May 7, 2007 as a precaution. As a result, all classes, activities and other business scheduled in the Lillis Business Complex have been canceled on Monday. The complex will reopen on Tuesday, May 8 at 7 a.m.

Dave Frohnmayer
President, University of Oregon

I hear this kind of thing happens all the time (mostly during Finals Week), but this is way too soon after the VT tragedy to be playing games, and I'm thankful President Frohnmayer feels the same way. Especially since this is where most of my classes are and will be for the rest of my college days. I hope this is a one time thing, because campus could become a scary place if it's not.

Week 1

So, week 1 of Spring term is officially in the books for me. I don't have class on Friday's, so Thursday is my Friday. That makes Sunday my... fun day? Lame. Anyways, I just felt like writing a post about it, so here goes.

I have 4 classes this term, like every other term, and I have a feeling they may all bore me to tears. First is Music in World Cultures. That's just a lot of weird music I've never heard before and will probably have to struggle to appreciate. Next is DSC 340 which is an MIS class. Last class we learned how to convert numbers to binary, hex, and base-16 notation. Wow, what fun! Then I have Econ 311 which is essentially another math class, 'nuff said. Then there is Marketing 435 which is a class on consumer behavior. This one is part of my major, and what I'm actually interested in, but so far we've just re-hashed ideas I already know, so hopefully that changes.

You know what else is going to change? Next year, instead of taking 4 classes every term, I only have to take 3. Long story, but basically, I could graduate early if I wanted, but I would have to sacrifice a minor. Or, I could go the whole year, get a minor, and have a lighter load each term. I'll take what's behind door number 2.

As the term progresses, I may or may not give more updates. It depends on how awful my classes turn out to be. Right now though, I have to go give a tour of the athletic facilities to some kid who wants to walk on. GO DUCKS!

Back to blogging shortly

Just wanted to let everyone know that I got home last night and will be blogging sometime before the start of the new term, Monday. I've been exhausted and trying to catch up with friends before I head back to Eugene, so it may be another day or so still. I had a GREAT time in Vegas, and I'll be sure to fill you in on how it went. Here's what I plan to cover in the next (big) post (oh it'll be huge):

• Highlights of the Vegas trip, with pictures. (this will take up a lot of space, so be prepared to see and read.)
  
• The Ducks Elite 8 run and Aaron Brooks winning the college 3-point contest.
• My thoughts about next term (school)
• Anything else I think is important and/or noteworthy.

Thanks for sticking around. I should be up to the usual 1 or 2 + posts a day soon.

My Spring Term Schedule

(Click to enlarge)

This is what I'm looking at for next term. I'm taking History of World Music, another class for my minor, DSC 340 which should suck way less than 335, Econ 311 which is a substitute for Finance 311 which I hear is harder, and then Marketing 435 which should be fun. The things I don't like about my schedule are the late days and the big break between my 10am and 2pm classes. But I can't much complain, because I have Friday's off, which is still so unbelievably nice. Working 5 days a week when I graduate is going to suck. Anyways, there you go, my schedule.

The term thus far

This term has been odd. Nothing really has happened yet, and that's what's odd about it. It's week 3, and just today I had my first in-class quiz in any class. Last term I was waist deep in work, but not yet this term. I'll just give you a rundown class by class of my thoughts.

Finance 316:
Right now, we haven't really learned anything. Sure, we've been taught things, but aside from a few formulas (which are really just technicalities), everything we've gone over has already been taught to me in other classes. We've had one homework, due this past Sunday, and it wasn't too bad. We also have a stock market assignment where we follow about 6 stocks for the whole term and then write a report on it, so that's not bad either. I have a feeling though that I'm going to need to kick it into gear sometime, like I did all last term, but I guess I'm still waiting for that time to come.

DSC 335:
This is an operations management class in which we learn how to manage operations. That's essentially it. We've learned a bunch of different ways to organize, plan, execute, you know, manage various operations common to a business. The quiz I mentioned at the top was in this class, and it was solid. Not sure what I mean by that, but I guess it was a little long and a little more in depth than I expected. This class will probably force me to read the textbook, something I tend to avoid as much as I can.

Jazz History II:
This is the second part of the class I took last term, and there's nothing different about it at all. Everything you learned about the class I had last term applies to this class, which is nice for both you and me, but more me because I don't have to think as much. I know exactly what's going on.

Marketing 390:
This is a marketing research class. Or, at least, it's supposed to be. The first class, we did the whole syllabus thing and left. The second class, we all showed up, and we waited. 20 minutes went by, no professor, so we left. Third class, the TA came in and gave a 20 minute presentation, no professor, we left. Fourth class, note on the door, class canceled, we left. Finally, today, the fifth class, we have class. He apologized, he had a family excuse, and any of us would have done what he did. I won't go into it, but his daughter was having surgery and he needed to be there. So now we're off and running, and it looks like I made the right choice going with Marketing, because this is apparently the worst class and I'm enjoying the material. Good thing.

So, overall, there hasn't been as much work yet this term, which is kind of unusual to me since last term was all work all the time. Also, class expectations are a bit hazy to me so far, and the way these teachers give exams is also unfamiliar, so there should be a learning curve on my end coming up real soon. At least I hope it does, or I'll be way off. But that's the term thus far. More to come as it progresses.

Finance Project

In my finance class this term we have been given a stock market assignment in which we are supposed to pick 4 stocks by next Wednesday and ride them out through the rest of the term. It's a group project, and naturally my group wants to pick the most successful stocks we can. So I ask you, aside from Apple, which can't possibly go up anymore (can it?), which stocks should we go with? Maybe someone that watches Mad Money with Jim Cramer would have an idea? Ahem, Zach. Seriously though, any ideas?

Fall term final grades

Ladies and gentlemen, there it is, my Fall term grades. I wish I got cash for grades, because this term I got all A's. This is the best I've done in college so far. Plus, if you count that credit I got for my internship, the "Prac Teamwork II," I took 17 credits this term, which is more than I've ever taken, and it's not like they were easy classes (as you can see, all 300 level). I'm proud of my 4.0, and just wanted to let those of you who cared know how I'm doing.