Steve's Trojan MBA Blog

Some ‘Splaining To Do

2006-10-10T22:43:00.000-07:00

Whoa there!

It’s been a long time and again I apologize to everyone for lagging so much lately. I’ll try to go back and touch up on some of the highlights since I last posted, here we go:

September 11-17

We wrapped up midterms which was great, and on Monday we had our Accounting class which was coupled with Finance, and we discussed the Sarbanes Oxley Act which is a very interesting act passed shortly after the Enron, Worldcom, Global Crossing, etc. collapses due to their “cooking the books.”

Wednesday of that week we had out Junior Achievement day. That day about 200 members of the class of 2008 (almost our entire class) went out to two local elementary schools to teach the children (kindergarten through 5^th grade) different business and economics topics. I was paired up with another member of my class and we taught a 3^rd grade class about cities, mainly city planning. It was truly a wonderful experience, I love being around kids (I am still a kid at heart) and it felt good to have the children look up at us enjoy what they were learning. Quite a few of them wanted me to stay “forever” and the majority were sad to see us leave. I also got to play kickball for the first time since high school (when I did something similar at the elementary school I attended).

Thursday we had our International Mixer (we have social mixers every Thursday), and this one had an International theme, I helped out at the table serving Mexican food, and even had my mom make some flan (like a custard) which people loved. It was great to try different foods from so many different countries (Japan, Korea, China, Israel, India, Russia, Ireland, the list goes on).

Saturday was the USC vs. Nebraska game (USC’s home opener). We had a final that next Wednesday so I spent the morning on campus studying –one of the most difficult things I’ve every tried to do as it was difficult to focus on while people were outside tailgating. The game was pretty good; we won so that made it all the more enjoyable. Oh, and the tailgate was ridiculous!!! The people we tailgate with wend wild this season, they have a plasma tv, an lcd tv, satellite, four bbq’s, four tents, just crazy!!!! It was great!

September 18-24

Wednesday was the day of our first final (for our Strategy class) we were just in school for a month and we already had a final!?! Leading up to this there was a lot of studying and prepping for our final, which was a case study on Samsung; specifically their semi-conductor business. I felt pretty good about it and now it’s just a matter of waiting for our scores. Later that evening we had a corporate event to attend where I met some wonderful people which ended up with an interview opportunity for the next week.

Saturday was day one of what would be many team meetings over the next seven days. Our team met on campus to continue working on our group project for our Strategy class (yes, the one we just took our final for). We met from 11 am to 4pm then I headed to my parents house. USC played Arizona on the road; we had an EXCELLENT BBQ at my parent’s house. My mom won a bet against my friend Edgar’s father (soccer game in which the Chivas beat Club America). We had carne asada, chicken, and short ribs. The game was OK, the defense really stood out which was nice to see. We had a great turnout (over a couple dozen people) and everyone had a good time (really tasty food makes it easy for that to happen).

Sunday our team met again to wrap up our Strategy project, we were on campus from 11 am to 11pm – what a day! Needless to say, we got it done, and then

September 25- October 1

This was team meeting/teamwork week. On Monday we turned in our Strategy project.

Tuesday we met to discuss how we would present our work in our PDL (Professional Development for Leaders) class which was on Friday. We also met to discuss our Statistics project which was due on Friday. We decided to split up the work and meet up Wednesday morning at 9am. We got a lot done as a team over those next 12+ hours. We went over our presentation, and discussed the Stats project.

Later on Wednesday I had my interview. I met with 5 people and I felt it went very well, everyone I met with was really personable, and I really felt at home. It reminded me of the Commercial Lending department at NMAC- like family. We’ll see what happens next, I will keep you all posted.

Thursday we wrapped up the Stats project then went home to go over our presentation (individually first). On Friday, we turned in our Stats project, then went over a few rehearsals during lunch- we were looking good! Then it came time to present, and we had technical difficulties as all of a sudden, our powerpoint presentation went haywire, it began flipping through slides (and it had nothing to do with timing settings or anything like that) and it would not let us click back to previous slides – a true distraction/disaster in the making! We then shutoff the powerpoint presentation and the team did an excellent job of adjusting. When it was my turn, we were almost out of time so I had to adjust. All-in-all I think we did a good job and we were commended by many of our classmates for being able to finish our presentation even though we had no slides (thank goodness I was able to memorize my piece). After that, our teamwork week ended, they threw quite a bit at us, but we were able to survive and thrive!

October 2-8

Finals week!!! Three finals in three days (Tuesday - Thursday). Nothing but studying until the finals were completed (that and a little USC vs. Washington State football game). I stayed at my parent’s place Monday night through Thursday morning so that I could maximize my time – I ended up saving at least an hour a day on the commute. After the last final on Thursday I went to visit my grandparent whom I hadn’t seen since school started. It seemed like forever since I had seen them, I missed them on a few trips I took to their home when they weren’t there. Thursday we also had DirecTv installed at our place, finally we have some tv!!! So far the results from finals week have been very good, I definitely feel confident about my abilities!

Friday we had to be back on campus for a Finance refresher course at 8am which was pretty rough. Then I played some racquetball, I hadn’t exercised in about a month!

Saturday I went to the USC vs. Washington football game and helped out with the Marshall School of Business tailgate, and I ran into my former elementary school science/P.E. teacher and football/basketball coach. It was great to catch up with him and hangout with many of classmates. The game, on the other hand, was a bit too close for my liking but my boys hung in there and pulled of another victory. Then I went home paid bills, and cleaned up my room, things I hadn’t done in quite some time.

Sunday I attended my niece, Sofia’s baptism and got to spend time with some more family whom I hadn’t seen in a long time. I ate cupcakes for the first time in ages, haha!!

Until next time!

P.S. – Sorry for not getting back to you sooner Chris, I appreciate the email!

Oh whatta week!!!

2006-09-11T23:30:00.000-07:00

BUSY!!!

Wow, so a lot’s gone on since the last time I posted…I’ll try to mention all the important stuff…

The weekend of 26^th - 27^th I think it’s safe to say I was doing some reading and most importantly studying for my Midterm on Wednesday the 30^th, and oh yeah, we had some economics homework to turn in on the 29^th. On the Sunday, I studied w/ my friend Aaron who helped me out quite a bit (he also engineered the world’s greatest cheat sheet –which was permitted).

Monday & Tuesday 28^th 29^th class, homework, study

Wednesday Aug. 30^th Midterm (Monica hasn’t even STARTED her MBA program and I already have a MIDTERM!?!? Anyway, I felt I did well, one down two to go. Aaron and I played some racquetball to get some exercise in (another thing that I haven’t been doing enough of).

Thursday & Friday 31^st & 1^st. I had a memo to turn in on Friday, and I began studying for my Econ & Accounting Midterms which were the next Wednesday & Friday. We were then surprised to find out that we were given an additional homework assignment for Econ that we had to turn in the day before the Midterm. Oh yeah, we also had a strategy assignment due on Tuesday as well…let’s recap, two assignments and two midterms in four days…what a week, I can’t wait!!! Friday I took Aaron, his wife Aya, and daughter Emma to my uncles restaurant in Culver City. Had a nice dinner, some margaritas, and ended up also catching up w/ my uncle, two aunts, my uncle’s friend, the waiter Juan, and my friend’s Mark’s parents – it was like being at Cheers.

Saturday 2nd – USC vs. Arkansas. USC 50 – Ark – 14: enough said!!! Dominating performance, great way to kickoff some serious studying for the next two days. I had a bbq at my folks’ place and invited some friends from the MBA program as well as the usual suspects (you know who you are).

Sunday 3^rd- More studying w/ Aaron @ his place. We wrapped up the Econ HW and studied more economics. His wife Aya cooked up some mean Pork Katsu…some of if not the best katsu I’ve EVER had!!!

Monday 4^th - (thank God it’s a holiday!) After working on my strategy assignment, I headed out to Aaron’s house for some more studying.

Tuesday 5^th – I turn in my Econ HW & Strategy assignment, go to class then guess what? Yup, some more studying (this school thing is a WHOLE LOTTA WORK!!!) I didn’t leave campus until about 11pm.

Wednesday 6^th – Take the midterm, again I felt pretty good about it. Then, after the midterm, more studying, but this time it’s for accounting. Aaron and I come up w/ a study sheet and review it as well as the cases our professor assigned us.

Thursday 7^th– Go to class and then study some more! The whole week I didn’t get home until after 11pm, rough, but it builds character (or something like that).

Friday 8^th – Accounting midterm comes and boy did I feel beat! The good news is that many of us felt it was difficult (lower mean, higher standard deviation, I guess that’s the good news). After the midterm, we had training for Junior Achievement which is a program by which people (college students, professionals, etc) teach elementary school children about business, economics, finance, etc.

Then one of the students had a BBQ at his place nearby campus, food and drinks, what a way for us to all get together and relax FINALLY!!

After that, my team had a meeting w/ our Professional Development for Leaders class professor to go over our personal presentations.

Then another BBQ at a couple friends’ (Carlos & Gustavo) place in downtown. Then some more food and drinks, then off to another friends’ place for some more food & drinks, then to our final destination – Santa Monica, then home to sleep it off.

Until next time!

ps – Congratulations to my friend John & his wife Jean who found out they are having a baby!!! And to my former boss/director, Mark, for his new position at Toyota Financial Services. What’s up Dave S.!

Pss – sorry if this post is written so poorly, I’m in a rush as I want to get to bed shortly after midnight. I just wanted to write something for you guys to chew on for a minute.

Lagging!!!

2006-08-28T23:01:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the lateness of this post (so now I have to cover over a week).

Sunday 8/20/06: laptop crashed (blue screen of death)!!! AGGHHH!!!

Monday 8/21/06: Started off poorly!!! I got about 3 hours of sleep the night before; I was tossing & turning the whole night (I think it was the spoiled milk that I consumed way too much of). I somehow got through the day’s classes OK but hit a wall in the afternoon. I don’t remember much of this day as it was last week

Tuesday 8/22/06: Slept much better, still not enough to make up for a bad start, that’s about all I remember of Tuesday – ahh, but it felt GREAT to have Wednesday off. SO I got home and studied/did homework to try and keep afloat.

Wednesday 8/23/06: Supposed to be a day off, but somehow I find myself on campus to learn about how to use our libraries’ electronic resources – Good Lord, there are tons!!! Then we had our MBA Club Fair (which I went in hoping to only join 2-3). So I ended up joining the LMBA (Latino Management & Business Association), AFA (American Finance Association. I got the crazy mint green shirt to go with the membership too- yikes!), GREA (Graduate Real Estate Association), Toastmasters, and MBA (Marshall Brew Association – yes that’s right, brew as in beer – that should be an entertaining one!). So I walked away with a few shirts, $200 poorer, and more obligations than I originally intended, wish me luck! The first three are the one’s I am mostly going to be focused on.

Thursday 8/24/06: Back in school; after class I worked on a stats homework assignment with some friends. Then we had the weekly Thursday social mixers, this was the first one w/ the entire Marshall grad school (full-timers- 1^st & 2^nd yr. students), part-time program, IBEAR, EMBA, etc.). $2 for 3 delicious tacos, free beer, and your program-mates, what more could you ask for? Afterwards, we went to play some Texas Hold ‘Em with some 2^nd yr, students. Except for the getting home @ 12:45am, it was great to be w/ the second year students who helped us out quite a bit, offering their advice.

Friday 8/25/06: FRIDAY!!!! We had presentations to present(?) in front of our teammates, which was great, we got to know a little more about each other. After classes, I stayed for about 3 more hours and sat in on some TA sessions for Stats & accounting. They were very helpful, but the drive home was brutal. Then I got home, went to have dinner w/ two of my best friends, we came back home to smoke some stogies and have a few beers – just relax and unwind – much needed. As was seeing Monica via our webcams, I miss her a lot, but we’ll be ok!!!

Saturday 8/26/06: study, do some homework, relax, reinstall the OS on my laptop, help out my pops w/ some plummin

Sunday 8/27/06: Went to Mass (finally, it felt good to do that since it had been about a month since I went to Church last), my parent’s home, and then my friend Aaron’s home to study for stats (and have dinner).

Until next time!

Ps – thanks for the emails Kathy, Mauricio, George, Red, and anyone I missed!

School Starts

2006-08-19T12:56:00.000-07:00

What the???

Boy what a week it has been. It started off a bit sadly as Monica (my fiancée) headed out on Sunday morning for school – she’ll be attending Penn State for her MBA as well. The good news is that she arrived safely to State College so I feel better about that, but I definitely miss her.

This past week seemed like a month all rolled in one. We’ve been really busy as a whole (the entire class of 2008). By Thursday we were all worn down and Friday was still to come.

You definitely learn a lot as the pace is extremely fast- I’m already behind, but that’s ok, because I think just about everyone else is too. These blog posts may be done once a week instead of the daily deal which is what I would have preferred. Thanks for the comments George, and yes I have to be the big brother because I don’t want anything posted that shouldn’t be posted. Charles, appreciate the link to that website, I’m definitely going to have to check it out!

OK, school…Monday & Tuesday were a bit of a blur, but I do remember working on my Stats homework those days. Tuesday night/Wednesday morning I can remember as brutal. I was up until 3am reading for all the classes we had (Econ, Accounting, Strategy, and something else, I just can’t remember). Wednesday (a day we normally wouldn’t have class) was brutal as we had class until abut 5pm, then went to wrap up my stats homework. We met on Tuesday & Thursday in small groups to work on the assignment which is really the only way to get things done, and done right. It’s great because we all end up teaching each other some the more difficult concepts as well as build some camaraderie.

Thursday morning I woke up tired as I was up until past 1am reading some chapters and doing homework for that day’s class. I drank my first full can of Rockstar energy drink – it was my first full dose of any energy drink actually- which I took in class to keep me focused on what the professor was saying. Then I played some racquetball w/ a classmate- Aaron. I’d never played and suffice it to say, I lost pretty bad, and I got some blisters on my feel – lesson to everyone, tie your shoes tightly before playing sports in which you make sharp cuts. It was fun (it definitely beats running) and it was the first bit of exercise I had done over a month.

After another late night of reading and doing homework, Friday morning rolled around and TIRED would be an understatement. Just about the entire class was drained and the only thing that kept us going was the fact that we could sleep in the next morning. This was our first day of class that would be mimicking a normal day, class from 8-9:20, 9:40-11, lunch from 11-12:30, then class from 12:30-1:50. Then ran a couple errands and went to my parent’s house to say hello before heading back home to connect my DSL (which of course didn’t work). Here it is, Sat. @ 1pm and I just woke up from about 10 hrs of sleeping – that felt GREAT!

Until next time – PEACE!!!

Steve

Catching up...Aug 4-11

2006-08-11T17:59:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts everyone, I’ve been swamped lately with school, moving/settling in to my new place, and trying to spend as much time with Monica -my lovely fiancée- as possible. I’ll recap this last week beginning with last Friday and TAM (Teamwork at Marshall) Day.

Friday, 8/4 – Unfortunately our core didn’t win the event (but we didn’t finish in last either). It was a fun day, everyone was excited and we all had a great time. From the water balloon launching, team-knot tying, people lifting, to the barbeque, it was great!

The past weekend was productive, as it dealt with just putting the finishing touches on the house (electrical stuff mostly) to moving in (just the bedroom). It was busy and tiring, but definitely great to get it accomplished, although we’re not fully moved in by any means.

Monday, 8/7 – We got a much needed late start (11am) and listened to a presentation regarding all the different student-run organizations available to MBA students. It was very good and there are several organizations I want to join, but you have to be careful as to not spread yourself too thin. So I have to narrow it down to maybe 3 that I’d like to not only join, but become very involved in (the MBA- Marshall Brew Association is an interesting one as the name suggests). After that we had some 2^nd year student panels w/ each covering different topics such as internship search, MBA Life, & Academics. I only stayed for the internship search one as I had to get home to continue the move-in process. A Costco run was next, I went with Monica and Erick (my roommate) and it was a painful experience – because of how much we spent of course, and Monica came through and fronted us the cash – thanks beautiful!

Tuesday, 8/8 – This day was the Career Resource Center, “CRC” day, where we learned a bit about how the CRC was going to help us out throughout our time here as students. The first half of the day was about making personal assessments and giving us the tools to do so. Then we had a Q&A lunch session w/ the director of the CRC and finally we broke out of that and had discussions w/ the different “Vertical” leads and recent alums. A Vertical is basically a job function that you’re interested in, the two I am interested in are the Financial Services & Real Estate vertical, and the Company Finance vertical. The sessions were great, I made some great contacts and am planning to follow-up now that I have a chance.

Wednesday, 8/9 – This was our first day of Stats class. The professor – Gareth James is GREAT! Somehow he manages to make Stats fun and interesting, which is huge because it’s difficult for a lot of people to get excited about Stats. After class we had a Marketing session in which we were given our first team project – to create a new beverage (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) and create a marketing strategy for it (including distribution, pricing, differentiation, packaging, slogan, and our target market) and we had about 24 hours to do so. Then we had another team building session called Artic Survival, I think we’ve all done it. The task is basically to get in teams and see how you would rank certain pieces of equipment depending on the situation, in this case stuck in the Artic. After this task we met up w/ our group to discuss the beverage – did I mention we had to literally create the drink for the judges to taste? We finally came up w/ our beverage and we called it “Suicide” it was based off of the old game or Suicide where you’d select several if not all the drinks at a fountain machine and mix them all together to come up with something new, then we added a kick by adding in an energy drink. I didn’t wrap up my night until 1am – we haven’t even started school and this is happening already???

Thursday, 8/10 – On the way to school I got a speeding ticket – great, at least I'm consistent!! I am open for any suggestions on what I can do to remedy this situation (i.e . how to fight it in court/allow me to attend a driver’s ed course to drop the ticket off my record). We had our stats class and then we had our presentation, which went better than expected. Our Core had some fantastic presentations (we later were awarded w/ the most exciting presentations among the cores). Then we had a break, and many of us went to a local Mexican restaurant (La Barca) which is famous for its margaritas (and good food too). I fan in to mone of my fraternity brothers, Cesar aka "La Eme" one of EVERYONE'S favorite friends, it was reall cool to see him there. Then we came back for another barbeque and awards ceremony. Our group won for most creative product/presentation - a great way to kick it off for our team! Then Monica and I went out to for a farewell dinner for Monica with some friends. We all had a good time and it was definitely good to catch up with them.

Friday, 8/11 – No speeding ticket on the way to school which was a nice way to kick off the day. All I had today was my stats class today and it didn’t begin until 1pm so this morning I was paying bills, and that sort of stuff. Next is another farewell dinner with some of my friends (OK, they’ve become Monica’s friends too, but it was through me that she met John and Jean). I am looking forward to some delicious Korean BBQ!!!

Core B Baby!

2006-08-03T23:25:00.001-07:00

Today was kicked off w/ a discussion about the Art of Crossing Cultures - a very useful topic as 25% of our class is made up for international students. It’s important that we all know about each others customs as we will be working in teams with students from across the globe, an in order to communicate effectively we need to be aware of our different behaviors.

At the conclusion of the discussion we were told about what Core’s and teams we were on. Think of the core as like your homeroom of which there are three (A, B, & C). Your teams are subsets of about 5 people who are all in your core.

After lunch we had a team project called Meta 4, it was a team building assignment (although it was very vague, only two rules and really no other direction). It was a great project which we learned quite a bit from – we also learned that we did better in this assignment that many teams made up of CEO’s. The record was held by an undergraduate group (the record was later tied by another core – A, I believe), so that took a bit of wind from our sails, however we did finish in above average time.

We later had our first Core meeting, it was awesome! I think our Core has the most spirit/pride (or we’re just the loudest). We got to learn a little about tomorrow’s activities; anytime you’re in gym shorts, t-shirts, & hats should be tons of fun! Last year’s Core B was the winner of the competition and this year we hope to continue that and go Back-to-Back!

Next was our case discussion about SAS (Scandinavian Airline Services), it was an excellent discussion, a good prep to what our case discussions will be like.

Finally we had our Thursday Social Mixer (food & beer always makes for good times). I met the rest of my teammates and am definitely excited about my team; I am looking forward to working w/ them over these next two terms. I met with and talked to a lot of my classmates as well as members of the 2007 class. Afterwards I met w/ a few of my Core members (Janet & Dave) to discuss some plans (chants) we had for tomorrow- it should be the best day of the orientation, very spirited, competitive, rowdy (in a good way), informative, and did I mention fun?

Talk to you all later!

Steve

PS – Shout out’s to Monica, Art, Charles, Chris, Shahab, Jo Anne, Don, Brett, George, Lance, Mike, Esther, James, Will, John, Rolando, & Red/Edgar.

Orientation - Day 3

2006-08-02T22:39:00.000-07:00

Today was kicked off with a welcome from our Dean, Tom Gilligan, then we had a discussion on team building- an important concept that employers see as an extremely important skill for today’s professionals/leaders. It was an excellent discussion lead by Prof. Dave Logan. I found out that my learning style is “Informative” meaning I like to make informative decisions. The negative is that we tend to take a long time to make a decision; the positive is that we usually end up making the correct decision.

Lunch- Cajun food- it was really good! Afterwards we went over the Academic services at Marshall. After that I went home to continue unpacking/moving-in. I am still looking for internet & phone service, unfortunately the carrier in our area isn’t the one I want, but that’s life!

I just finished reading my (21 page) case for tomorrow as they ease us into the program. Tomorrow we also find out what Core we’re in – and who our core-mates will be - so it’s definitely going to be an exciting day for everyone.

Charles, thanks for the comment, and the hook up on the video game. "Shout out's" to Monica, Masami, Ozzie, Rolando and John too.

Until next time…

Day 2

2006-08-02T00:37:00.001-07:00

OK, day two is in the books (although it's now officially the beginning of day 3).

Today we had a lot of discussion on business ethics (or normative analysis as Dean Harrington likes to call it). There were some great discussions that got us all thinking about the many different situations we can be in as business professionals and about how our decisions can affect so many people (employees, senior management, shareholders, the community, etc.). We also touched on the Marshall Honor Code which was good, it's a great document created by Marshall Students during the 2002-03 year.

The highlight of the day was heading out to the Union Cattle Company (a bar in Hermosa Beach that is owned by an SC alum). I'm a native of the South Bay, but I had never been there- my mistake, the place it quite large, and has some great views of the beach. It's great to get out and be in a social setting with your incoming class, 2nd year students, and alumni. And there was some mechanic bull riding involved which is always a fun thing to watch.
I want to thank my fiancée Monica for joining me to the event, it's always a great to spend time together and have a good time. I want to say hello to Masami & Charles who emailed me today to check up on me as well.

Well it's time to go to bed now and get ready for Day 3 - Peace!

Steve

Steve's MBA Blog

2006-07-31T21:45:00.000-07:00

Today (7/31) was Day 1 of Orientation - it was pretty rough at first because they embedded into our brain exactly how tough this first year is gonna be. I knew it was going to be very difficult, but when they're constantly telling you about it, you start to wonder, "what did I get myself into?"

The second half of the day was much better, the Association of Graduate Business Students pumped us up, and then the head of the Career Resource Center, Pete Giulioni presented us w/ some news that made us all feel better. He mentioned that the avg. salary (salary + signing bonus) for 2006 grads was $100K+, I can get used to that! He's been responsible for USC's rise in the rankings (#10 in the Wall Stree Journal) and he's been an all-star, maybe more like Hall of Famer, since he arrived at USC about 2 years ago.

Then we had a Welcome dinner with the keynote speaker, Bill Shumard, President & CEO of the Southern California chapter of the Special Olympics. He's a very interesting person, with quite a few USC ties (including a stint as the Associate Athletic Director @ USC, he also worked w/ the Dodgers in the PR dept.) it was a wonderful eventas we also learned about Challenge for Charity which the USC Marshall School of Business is involved in. The two main benefactors are the Special Olympics and the LAUSD. I am definitely looking forward to getting involved in "C4C"

And now, I am home looking for internet service, telephone line, & directv as I scramble to get moved in and settled in to my new place by the end of this weekend.

PS - Happy 30th Anniversary to my parents & grandparents (56 yrs I think)!!!
I also want to say hello to my wonderful fiance Monica (Love ya!), and my boys Edgar, Erick, Mark, and Victor (in alphabetical order).