Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Happy Earth Day!

One of my friends sent me a text message this morning requesting that I reply with 3 sustainable things I did today. I doubt I'll text her back, so I'll give them to you: 1) I always use a re-fillable tumbler for my coffee in the morning, 2) I actually washed my butter container so I can re-use it again for left overs (thanks mom for that tip), 3) I re-used my water bottle from yesterday all day today. I wish I could say I rode my bike to school and work, but at this point in time that is infeasible for me, so this is all I've got!

I don't think this was scheduled b/c of Earth Day, but tomorrow for our Strategic Management class, we will have 3 guest speakers from Walmart who helped kick off their sustainability plan. Our class has read a case on this subject as well as another article recommended by our guests. This is such a cool opportunity for our class. Whether you like Walmart or not, fact is in recent years they have really catapulted the sustainability movement and are by far a leader in the industry. This guest series is bitter sweet for me because I will not be able to be there tomorrow. I'm sad to miss it, but excited because the reason I am missing it is for my new job. We have a spring 09 line review with the buyers of Sam's Clubs in the morning and are hoping to get some new products in the clubs!

Last time I was on here I mentioned the upcoming Indian dinner. Well, it came, it passed, I conquered, and it was fantastic! A huge "THANK YOU" goes out to all my awesome classmates who cooked for us and who hosted us! Another "thank you" to them b/c they toned down the spice so I didn't break out in a sweat!

Tomorrow I have my final in Global Logistics so I'm going to get off here and start studying!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

April showers

Today is Easter, and it's a rainy one! Yesterday was beautiful though, and I am excited to say that I got my first little sunburn of the season! This is great news because in the middle of May a few of us are going to the beach for Justin & Allison's wedding and I need a little bit of a tan so I don't blind people.
It's so hard to believe that we only have about 3 weeks of school until graduation! It will come so fast, and that worries me a little because there is still so much to get done. One of my projects which is due is a import/export plan for logistics. Michael and I are planning to import dickies (the fake turtlenecks) from Vietnam to the US. Fortunately our route should avoid pirates! However, just for fun, I think pirates will still be included in our presentation :)
This next weekend our classmates from India are cooking us a dinner! They did this last year and it was so good! I even actually think I handled the spice pretty well.
Well, I'm off to be productive for the rest of the day!

Monday, April 6, 2009

Yay for spring!

It seems like so much has happened since my last blog.

A week ago last Friday some classmates and I attended a luncheon for the Walton Business School Advisory Board. Not only was the lunch a great networking opportunity, but it gave us a chance to give feedback on the program to past graduates of the school who continue to offer their support. I was really impressed at the number of alumni and how proud they were to be graduates of the U of A business school.

The next day was the MS Walk. It was cold and rainy/snowy/sleety/whatever other weird weather Arkansas wanted to throw our way. However, we were Team MBA and nothing was going to stop us! (at least from starting the walk :) To those who showed up and walked... way to go! To those who slept in... I don't blame you! Whether you walked or not, our team raised almost $5,000!

Last week school was a little obnoxious, really not school, just a couple assignments. We did have a guest speaker from Kraft in our Global Logistics class who was fantastic. It was also Anna's birthday and we got to go eat at one of my favorite Fayetteville fares, Hugo's!

Yesterday I worked a water station for the Hogeye marathon. This is a great event for the town of Fayetteville. 100% of the money raised goes to non-profit organizations. Every year a dedicated staff volunteers their time to putting on the race. From what I saw, this year's race went great with few if any mishaps. From what I was told, this year also posted record attendance!

Today T.Boone Pickens spoke at the University. I really enjoyed his talk and now plan on looking more into his plan on energy independence. Also, tonight Pres. George H.W. Bush is speaking on campus, but I was unable to make it.

I really need to blog more often because this one is too long! I'll be back tomorrow with some more information on what else is going on!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

MS Week around the MBA program

This Saturday is the MS walk in Fayetteville. Several of my classmates and I have raised money and are planning on participating in the walk. However, I am currently hearing thunder outside and for the next two days it is supposed to continue storming and even possibly snow on Saturday. Rain, Snow, or Shine I will be anti-MS on Saturday, but rain or snow and I will also be anti-walking-outside.
Today we had a bake sale to raise money. I baked chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies, but due to the extra 5 minutes my peanut butter cookies spent in the oven they never made it to the sale.
As far as school goes this week, SQL server has become my enemy! If anyone knows code and wants to volunteer to help me out, I'm all for some tutoring!
Ok, I have to get back to work now.

Monday, March 9, 2009

3 class days until Spring Break!!!

Wow! My last semester of grad school is half over. To be honest, I'm a little sad. However, that also means it's spring break time! Thursday we have a test in strategic management and an outline due for a presenation in logistics and then we are out!!! (well, for a week)!

So, last time I was on here I was getting ready to go to Chilirhea. It was delicious! At the same time, it snowed all day and was cold!! Luckily we had plenty of hot chili to warm our bellies! A big thanks goes out to Cory for hosting the event! I'm sure if it was warmer we would have stayed longer, but it ended up being the perfect day for a fire and a movie, so a few of us watched some Big Lebowski!

Arkansas weather is crazy. Last Saturday was around 20* and this weekend it was in the 70's to 80's! I love the warm weather and it really makes me excited for spring! Add that to the fact that it's once again daylight savings time, and I can now start running after work again and not be freezing in the dark!

Well, I have just finished a long evening of an SQL assignment for Enterprise Resource Planning and writing a chapter summary for Strategic management, so I am going to get off here and get ready for bed.

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Chilirhea 2009 in the snow!

Well, there's a little dusting of snow outside this morning and it happens to be the day of Chilirhea! With an expected high of 29 outside and the fact that I'm cold natured, I almost thought of not going, but I have been promised heaters. :) I'm not really sure what to expect from today because I have never attended Chilirhea, but I do expect much great food from my classmates and others!

This past week flew by! I went bowling two nights, attended the suppy chain symposium, worked, did some homework, and other than that, I'm pretty sure this week didn't actually have 7 full days in it.

After Chilirhea I will be studying today for our upcomming Global Logistics test on Tuesday.
I've got to get some breakfast and get ready for Chilirhea now. I'll let you know how it goes later.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

No more SAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was a day of bittersweetness for our class. We had our first test in ERP over Business Process Management and SAP. This was the bitter part... The sweet part is that we are now done with our SAP lab assignments (at least I'm 90% sure). So, I do realize that SAP can help businesses, but...that is one of the most un-user friendly programs I have ever delt with. I'm glad we're finished with the lab assignments!

So, in my last post I mentioned that our class was in a bowling league. Monday night I filled in for another one of the guys in my class and got the chance to witness one of the most amazing things I have ever seen... A guy on the lane next to us bowled a 290!!! He had a spare on the first frame and then 11 strikes following. It was incredible! I did not bowl a 290 (not even if you add my two games together)!

Today after our test we had our class pictures. It's crazy to think that in May we will already be through this program. Although it has been lots of work and time spent in small study rooms, I think we will all miss it.

Tomorrow is Thursday and so our week will be wrapped up for classes. I have a meeting in the morning before class with my group from our case presentation to prepare our presentation for the supply chain conference next week. There's a pretty impressive line up as far as speakers go:
Janet Kavinoy, Director of transportational infrastructure congressional and public affairs for the US Chamber of Commerce
Johnnie Dobbs, EVP logistics and supply chain for Walmart stores
Rod Franklin, VP product development/contract logistics for Kuehne + Nagel
I don't want to type anymore, so hopefully you get the picture.

It's pretty cool because last week in global logistics class we read a case on Kuehne + Nagel.

Ok, well, I'm going to get off here.