The MBA Student Voice

Thanksgiving with the Dean

WHEW!! Now that Finals are over, have a chance to catch up on my blogging. Let me start with how I spent my Thanksgiving.

Since coming to LA I've had an ever-growing number of new and memorable experiences. My latest such experience was my first US Thanksgiving. Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving the second Monday of October, and while the general traditions between Canadian Thanksgiving and US Thanksgiving are quite similar, it was still exciting to partake for the first time in such a major American holiday. It was made that much more special as I had the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving at Dean Olian's house with some of my other colleagues. 

Having never been to a dean's house (or a principal's house although I have been to the office a few times o_O), I admittedly had some butterflies not knowing exactly what to expect. What followed was a really fun evening with interesting conversation, amazing food (turns out the dean is also quite the chef!) and even some singing. Below is a picture we took after dinner was over. It's clear you're looking at a bunch of happily fed people. Notice that I almost got caught off at the left. So close to improving the picture!

Special thanks to Dean Olian for hosting a great event. And if you aren't following her already on Twitter, you may do so here.

--JP

~The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts.  No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.  ~H.U. Westermayer

Picking Up The Slack

Most of the other UCLA Anderson students are sitting the Capital Markets final today; as my regular readers will remember, I passed the waiver exam for this course, so I'm sitting at home in my PJs with Mrs. V watching my beloved Manchester United play Wolfsburg in the Champions League, while my fellow classmates are regurgitating put/call strategies and bond pricing. 

So since they are in the exam, I'll pick up the slack on the blog.  Really, it's the least I could do. 

Offside!  Welbeck buries the ball into the back of the net, but is deemed offside.  United should be ahead 1-0!  If Welbeck is offside, it's by a foot.  Mrs. V has already learned the offside rule and determines that...she'd rather go back to bed than watch football. 

This week we have four exams in four days.  Yesterday was Economics, today Capital Markets, tomorrow Data and Decisions -- a fancy title for statistics -- and then Accounting.  Followed up by what has been billed as one of the most appealing nights at the pub, then the annual UCLA Anderson ski trip - this year, Breckenridge, Colorado. 

GOAL!  Brilliant cross by Nani and the shortest man on the pitch, Michael Owen, deposits it into the back of the net.  Perfect end to the first half.  The crowd in Wolfsburg is stunned.  I cheer; Mrs. V decides to celebrate by going to the store to pick up milk.  Must be some strange United tradition I've never heard of.  Either way, Wolfsburg need a result here or their Champions League season is over.   

I've been really impressed with the guys in the section who have kids.  I can't imagine going through this quarter as I did, then coming home to kids.  They say the MBA program is a great time to have kids -- the alumni of the International Business Association say that "MBA" stands for "Make Baby in America" -- because you have some flexibility on your schedule, especially after the intense first quarter.  

Second half underway.  Another dubious off-side call negates a great scoring chance, this time for Wolfsburg -- I'm unimpressed but will take it.  Dzezko, their main attacking threat, has been awfully quiet today.  Let's keep it that way.  On our side, Nani needs to be introduced to Welbeck over a coffee.

My classmates are out of the finance exam.  We are now halfway through exams. I know this because Ezra just sent around a video to Bon Jovi's "Living On A Prayer".  (Get it? "Ohhh we're halfway there | Ohhh-Oh! Living On A Prayer!").

They score.  This time Dzezko finishes off the header in the box. 1-1. Grumble. Made worse by the cheerleading announcer.  United fans are unimpressed and make loads of noise. I love the German tradition of the announcer saying the first name and the fans giving the surname, though. 

According to Google, today is the birthday of the creator of Popeye.  I was a Popeye kid; spinach is still my favorite vegetable.  One thing I am not doing a good job of is eating vegetables -- especially this week.  The goal for next quarter?  Eating healthy, learning to play golf, and six-pack abs.  

GOAL!  It all starts with Gabriel Obertan and Antonio Valencia come in for Nani and Welbeck.  Maybe now they can get that coffee together.  Obertan makes an instant impact, cuttin garound two Wolfsburg defenders, then making a brilliant pass to an unmarked Michael Owen, who calmly puts the ball behind the net.  I cheer like Alex Ovechkin after a goal.  Mrs. V celebrates by folding laundry.  I'd help but don't want to distract myself from writing this post.  Just five minutes to go! 

GOAL! Surely it's over now.  Wolfsburg are upset that no penalty was called on United after Riether was stopped by Darren Fletcher; Fletcher moved the ball quickly in transition, and Owen found himself all alone with the keeper.  Owen drops it over the keeper and into the net, calm as you like.  United take the match and are top seed out of the group to the knockout stages. Wolfsburg are done as CSKA Moscow take the second spot. 

I love football.  Now back to Accounting. 

-- Sreesha

The Calm Before The Storm

I can't think about it anymore.  

Finals start in 10 hours, 19 minutes (but who's counting?) and I've now hit the point of no return for tomorrow's final.  Which means either (a) I'm ready and confident, or (b) I'm a complete muppet.  

I'm not sure which is more likely. 

Tomorrow's exam is open book, open note, open computer, no internet.  I feel like I know the stuff well enough, and there's no point in memorizing formulas or doing any last-minute cramming because anything I don't know, I can look up.  

Famous last words.  

* * * * * *

There were two great alumni mixers last week, both of which were student-organized through the Marketing Association and the Entertainment Management Association.    

I'm continually impressed with how active the UCLA Anderson alumni are with the school.  So far, of the alumni that I have met or called, they have all seemed very open to hearing from current students and very helpful with helping us with our career search.  Last week was no exception. 

We also had two interesting speakers at the two events: Thomas Crahan, National Manager of Product Planning at Toyota, came to the MA event; John Fogelman, a board member for William Morris Endeavor, spoke to the EMA.  

Mr. Fogelman also gave us a great gift -- a NERF gun with three foam bullets, which of course meant that there was an ensuing NERF battle in the atrium of one of our buildings -- which I inexplicably missed but was clued in by my good buddy and fellow blogeteer John Park (he didn't tell me who started it, so I'm guessing the culprit was J-Park himself!).  I made the mistake of leaving my NERF gun in my flat, which of course meant that Mrs. V shot me when I got home the next night from campus.  Grumble.   

(By the way, I think she really likes how intense the business school program is.  She spent most of this evening downloading 80s television shows from Hulu.  Tonight it's 21 Jump Street, with Johnny Depp.  If I walk by and see Mario Lopez and Tiffany Amber Thiessen on her computer screen, then I should take her out someplace.)  

* * * * * *

Two non-Anderson things to bring up.  Firstly, even though I am not a Penguins fan, I do enjoy catching the Empty Netters blog hosted by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Seth Rorabaugh.  Great read for hockey fans. 

Secondly, after spending Thanksgiving driving back and forth between Westwood (where UCLA is) and  Mrs. V's relatives in Burbank and Glendale (about 30-45 minutes away from UCLA), I strongly feel that the next governor of California needs to institute driving re-education in this state mandatory for all California drivers license holders.  Here's the syllabus:  

* Module 1: Manual Transmission.  After this module, students will have an appreciation for the fact that some cars require the driver to manually change gears ("Manual Transmission"); students will also understand that when on an inclined road, one should leave more than 2 millimeters of space between one's own car and one of these vehicles.  Extra Credit: Students will be encouraged to drive Manual Transmission vehicles around town (these must be purchased by students separately). 

* Module 2: Blind Spots.  After this module, students will be able to disprove the myth that if Driver A can see Driver B, Driver B can also see Driver A.  Students will also have experience with the difficulties of merging onto a motorway when another drive is in the student's "Blind Spot". 

* Module 3: Lane Management.  After this module, students will have explored how the UK's rule of banning undertaking coupled with requiring drivers to move to a slower lane if a faster car is behind, allows for traffic to flow faster, thus helping all drivers reach their destinations faster.  Students will also appreciate how the UK's motorways has fewer traffic accidents per capita than motorways in California, even though speeds in the UK are routinely 2-3 times faster.  

Failure to pass the course will require a student to sit in 100 hours of government-managed traffic for experiential learning of the three modules above. 

I bet only 20% of Californians could pass this course, and that's including 5% who are celebrities and get away with anything.  

That's all for now.  See this space for the post-finals quarter recap!   

-- Sreesha