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.
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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.)
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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
