EMBA Survival

On the road again

Pictured here is the downtown San Antonio Greyhound bus terminal.  It's located conveniently right down the street from my loft that overlooks the riverwalk.  I took the bus to Houston for a couple of reasons.  First, it's cheap.  Secondly, and more importantly, It gave me a solid block of time where I was forced to read.  I got a ton done, in fact, I actually ran out of things to read and started reading ahead in Financial Accounting.  That's the good part.  See, I didn't underestimate how long it would take me to do the reading, I underestimated how long it would take me to get to Houston by Greyhound.  I showed up for my bus 30 minutes early, so I could stand in line.  Unfortunately, for no explained reason, we departed an hour late.  There's nowhere to sit while you are waiting, so I just stood there for and hour and a half with my binder open reading before we departed.  The trip itself was pleasant, except for the meat locker temperatures on the bus.  I was surprised to see some interesting sites along the road that I'd never seen before as a driver.  All I'd ever seen before were cows, trucks, and trailers.  This time, I saw an inexplicable dinosaur looking thing.  Honestly, at first I thought I was hallucinating due to some sort of brain-seizure from either the over-air conditioning or the over-studying.  Fortunately, I was able to snap a photo of the creature.   Be on the lookout for this thing next time you're on I-10 headed East between San Antonio and Houston.  I can't tell what it's made of, or what it's suposed to be, but it was a pleasant surprise.

lugging stuff around

I have two Targus computer bags now, a few things for work and a ton of stuff for school.  I swapped my things around, I'm now using my school bag for work and my work bag for school because everything fits better that way.  I often find myself lugging around both bags; that's  just part of the cost of doing business.  At least I'm getting some exercise ;-)  Many of my classmates invested in large rolling bags.  I hear costco sells nice ones at attractive prices.  I think that's a really wise idea unless you are physically strong, or if you are just stubborn, like me.

What happens when you fail to measure

What is true in business is often true in life, and vice-versa.  About a year a go, the nice lady that cleans my apartment accidentally broke my scale.  I've been meaning to replace it, and the year just sneaked right by.

During the Rice MBA preterm, we heard the stories that the average student weight gain is 10-20 lbs over the 22 month program.  "Yikes", I thought, "my pants already are too tight."  Back when I had a scale, I religiously measured my weight and % body fat.  I even have this cool spreadsheet that interpolates by day for the occasions when I missed.  It made it easy to say no to the freshly baked cookies.

The broken scale is a very lame excuse, but it's been about 12 months since I've taken stock of myself.

Numbers don't lie.  I used to be in shape.  I finally replaced my scale.  Today's numbers are damning:

			Interpretation from the user manual	My Interpretation
Input	Age	34 years old		Still young :)
Input	Height	5''11”
Input	Naked Body on Device
Output	Weight	182.2 lbs
Output	Body fat	22.0%	“Overfat”	No duh.
Output	Total Body Water	53.0%	“50 to 65% is Healthy”
Output	Total Muscle	134.8 lbs
Output	Physique Rating	2	“This person is flabby and pathetic.”	Oh no!
Output	Base Metabolic Rate	too many calories		Daily Double-bacon cheeseburger required
Output	Metabolic Age	41 years old		OMG. O.M.G.!!
Output	Bone Weight	7.0 lbs	“Average is 7.3 lbs”	Fine boned
Output	Visceral Fat Rating	7	"1-12 Indicates you have a healthy level of visceral fat."	Ick.

Numbers don't lie.  If you read the Venture Capitalists and CEO bloggers, they are always measuring performance from a variety of metrics.  You should too.

And so, I've converted my disappointment into resolve, and I took some additional measurements:
Thigh           20"
Biceps         12.25"
Calf                  15"
Shoulders  49"
Chest            40"
Belly             37" (oooohnoooo!)

Assuredly, I'll be keeping track of things again.  I'll report back in a year or so into the program and either confirm or deny the massive student weight gain claims.  I sure hope they aren't true!

Heed this story and apply it both to your life and your work.  If you cannot manage yourself, how can you be expected to manage others?

Before you get in - do this

Take a speed reading course.  I really wish I would have done that.  I'm by no means a slow reader, but given the incredible volume of material before me, I really wish I could go faster.  I wish I could recommend a course.  After a quick Google search, the marketing materials for this one look good.

Rice Class of 2009 EMBA Schedule - Year One

I've had several requests for this.  I'll be in Houston on the weekends highlighted in pink.

3rd weekend in a row

This is the third weekend in a row that I will commute to Houston for the Rice MBA program.  I have plenty of reading to do, so I'll take the bus this time and knock some of it out on the way there and back.

I'm glad I didn't take the train last weekend!

Evidently, passengers were trapped for several hours on the train when the tracks flooded...

team assignments

It is likely that you will be given lots of team assignments in you EMBA program.  There's nothing like meeting face-to-face and having a solid open discussion.  More on that later.  In this post, I merely wanted to point out a few obvious tips that will make your team meetings easier.  First of all, it's worth the formality to designate a facilitator, scribe, ground rules, and all of that.

Secondly, make sure you have access to a projector.  It's much easier than having everyone try to huddle around a single screen.

Bed #1

Previously I wrote about couch #1 and couchsurfing, and I consider myself fortunate.  As you can see, my good fortune has continued.  One of my classmates kindly offered me their spare bedroom on short notice this weekend.  I even received a nice email where everything was thought of with a nice professional map and instructions for getting there.  It's so pleasant to associate with people who have their lives together.  Gosh, I think this bed is nicer than what I have at home... 

Why am I in Houston again this weekend?  This Saturday prior to the first weekend of class, we have an accounting review/bootcamp for all of us non-accountants. 

hacking the san antonio airport

I used to think the cheapest airport parking was the City economy lot at $6/day.  Today I discovered a secret.  As you can see from the small sign, Budget rent-a-car also provides airport parking for only $4/day.  And they give you covered parking for only $5/day.  While we aren't talking about a huge price differential, every little bit helps when you are commuting to school.