EMBA Survival

Electives - my preferences

We got a preview of next year's electives this weekend.  I'm not sure which ones will be available yet, but what follows is a preliminary list and my current preferential ranking:

                                                                                                                                                                       

841 Economic Environment of   Business	Core
901 Financial Statement Analysis	Accounting	8
957 International Finance	Finance	7
961   Business Law	IT & Entrep	6
823 Management Control	Accounting	3
Fall - ILW
865 Globalization of Business	Core
792 Investments / Portfolio   Management	Finance	7
884   Brand Management	Marketing	4
954 Financial Restructuring	Finance	2
974 Ops Mgmt -- Lean Six Sigma	IT & Entrep	6
International trip
985 Global Leadership	OB
927   Entrepreneurship/Intrapreneurship	Napier	Core
808 Marketing Strategy	Marketing	2
952 Mergers &   Acquisitions	Finance	1
Economic Incentives and   Organizations	Accounting	4
*** Confirmation Pending

If there's something that I really want to take and I can't get in, I can always audit it for only $100 after I graduate :-)

Speed Reading

My classmate, Rob Jefferies, sent this out...

 I had a few inquiries last weekend on what tools I have used to increase my reading speed.  The following are two books that I would recommend. I have used the first book personally and a close friend of mine has used the second one.  If you were to spend 20-30 minutes every other day during our summer break you could possibly double your reading speed.  I've seen about a doubling in my speed.   Speed reading really helps in lighter reading like IT, ethics, and marketing texts but it will not be huge help in Finance etc.  I can't recommend doing this enough it has really helped me out.

Breakthrough Rapid Reading  by Peter Kump (Paperback - Nov 1, 1998)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FBreakthrough-Rapid-Reading-Peter-Kump%2Fdp%2F073520019X%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1187920273%26sr%3D8-1&tag=wwwrobjefferi-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325

Triple Your Reading Speed, Fourth Edition by Wade E. Cutler (Mass Market Paperback - Jul 2003)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FTriple-Your-Reading-Speed-Fourth%2Fdp%2F0743475763%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1187920273%26sr%3D8-2&tag=wwwrobjefferi-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325

 

Making a little time for myself

Yesterday, I went to the gym and worked out with my personal trainer for the first time in weeks.  I'm pretty soar.  I'm so glad I did it - I feel much happier and better about myself.  I didn't at all feel like I had time to go to the gym; I feel behind on everything for school and even work.  But it's times like these when I'm totally underwater that I need to focus on my basic needs.  Somehow I'll get everything else done.  First things first - I need to take care of myself.

During the week-long intensive pre-term bootcamp, Prof. Al Napier suggested that we all maintain whatever exercise regimen we were currently maintaining.  I thought - that's not possible: at the time I was spending 4.5 hours/week in the gym.

Dropping to zero was not my plan.  I'll be happy if I can get back to 2 hours/week.  It doesn't seem like much, but it's so important.

I hadn't seen Al since the bootcamp back in July until last weekend.  He teaches Entrepreneurship to second year students.  But I ran into him on my flight back to San Antonio.  I think running into him nudged me into remembering his advice and helped get me back on track a little.