Helen's Razorback M.B.A. view

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-22T18:37:00.000-07:00

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!

April showers

2009-04-12T07:13:00.000-07:00

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!

Yay for spring!

2009-04-06T19:18:00.000-07:00

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!

MS Week around the MBA program

2009-03-26T09:01:00.000-07:00

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.

3 class days until Spring Break!!!

2009-03-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

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.

Chilirhea 2009 in the snow!

2009-02-28T07:49:00.000-08:00

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.

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

2009-02-18T16:48:00.000-08:00

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.

Living the busy life

2009-02-10T21:28:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a while since my last post. Not much has really gone on in the last week, other than the tree cleanup around town. However, this week is proving to be much busier. Monday we had an SAP assignment due over the master data portion and entering new materials and requisitions. After class I went directly to Land O' Lakes for work which has been very busy recently. Yesterday Iwas working on some possible scenarios for our butter if another brand goes into Walmart stores nation wide.
After work and after the gym was the most exciting portion of my day.....Bowling!!!
Our MBA class has a few teams in an intermural league. Last night was an all guys night (I didn't know this until I got there), but I got to step in for Norris who couldn't make it. (Norris better watch out or I might steal his spot) After bowling I headed home to work on a case assignment which was due today for strategic management. This case (BMG) was much better than the last one we did on Monsanto.
Today at school I went and visited the career fair held at our school. I made some contacts with Casestack, BNSF, and Unilever. I also think I will have an interview soon with Campbells for a supply chain analyst position. It's a rough job market out there for everyone. Even Walmart announced today they were letting go of about 700 or so jobs here in Bentonville. This only increases the competition for jobs in the area. However, many companies came to the career fair today.
Well, I just got home from co-ed bowling night and I think I'm going to go to sleep. :)

An appreciation for camp stoves and fire places

2009-01-29T08:00:00.000-08:00

This is me standing by one of my trees.

For those of you who are not familiar with where Fayetteville lies on the map, it lies exactly to the north of the places that basically never get winter weather and directly to the south of the places that often get winter weather. In translation, whenever some winter precipitation falls in Northwest Arkansas, let's just say people get excited. Usually this excitement is somewhat over exaggerated and those of you from the north would find it to be somewhat annoying.

This week Northwest Arkansas received winter weather. Not the fun white powder snow everyone wants, but the rain/icy rain that freezes to everything it touches. The 5 o'clock news last night (which I got to watch because for some reason my house got electricity back even though none of the businesses close by had electricity) called this storm "Ice Storm 2009." This has proven to be rather correct and descriptive but dull. I think it looks more like a tree terrorist has become raged and attacked every tree in the area.

Last night on the news the weather report showed the ice accumulation totals for the entire northwest area. Sitting right on the map where my house would be was the highest amount at 1.5". The news described this level as "devastation." I don't know if I classify this as devastation, but there are a few cars with trees on them, some houses with trees on them, several downed powerlines, and the majority of the area is without electricity. I do know, however, that this storm has succeeded in closing down the University of Arkansas for 4 days!!!

As we have had no school and no power for a few days I have really not worked on any homework, but have cleaned my house, built a fire, cooked random things on the campstove, put on all my ski gear and took my dog on a walk, sat, and tried to read a book (when it was light outside).

Well, now that I have electricity and the sun is shining I am going to go try to get some work accomplished. I will likely go in to work at Land O' Lakes if they have also re-gained power. Imagine being a vendor for Walmart and having no power for a few days. I bet things are going to be a little crazy back at the office.

Attached are some pictures so you can check out "Ice Storm 2009."

This is my neighbor's tree. Basically every bradford pear in the neighborhood looks exactly like this one. Do not plant bradford pears where you might have an ice storm one day.

This is a nearby street to my house. You can't see very well, but there are several trees on the road and on the houses.

loving that today is the middle of the weekend, not the end

2009-01-18T07:52:00.000-08:00

Usually Sunday is bittersweet because it is a weekend day, but the last weekend day. Not this weekend! MLK day is tomorrow, so no school!!! I will be going in to work tomorrow, but no big deal.
As far as what I have on my agenda for classwork...
This weekend I will be working on a case assignment for our Strategic Management class, navigating through SAP for Enterprise Systems, and beginning research on sustainability and global logistics for my Global Logistics class.
Currently I am very glad I took an extra class last semester because with only three major classes this semester I now have more time for work and for doing other things (this is why I actually went to the gym multiple days this week :)).

Well, today is a beautiful day in Fayetteville, so I am heading out to enjoy it!

Back in the daily grind

2009-01-13T19:38:00.000-08:00

The first two days of our last semester have now come and gone.
This semester my earliest class starts at 9:30. On Mondays and Wednesdays I don't begin until 11:00!! As of Sunday night, my plan was to go to the gym monday morning and get some erands completed before class. What actually happened: I slept in, got my stuff ready, and went right to class :) I did go to the gym after I left Land O' Lakes though! Today I had two classes, worked on some work at my house, returned to the gym, and then headed to Bible study.

After leaving the gym...my thoughts on Fayetteville: My favorite part: I know people everywhere! My least favorite part: I know people everywhere! (Long story I'm not getting in to)

Hopefully tomorrow morning I'll do a better job of getting up and being productive before class!
I'm excited about tomorrow evening because I'm going to a cookout for one of my friend's birthdays! Hopefully after getting back into my workout routine I'll be able to move, but I'm not counting on it! I'm already sore!

Break's almost over and orientation has begun

2009-01-07T20:02:00.000-08:00

After spending last week working hard not to be useless, spending this week helping out with orientation is helping me ease back into school mode. I'm a mentor for the MBA program, meaning I've been appointed to help answer the questions of new students and assist with their orientation. The idea behind this program is that as a mentor we can better relate to the situations new students are coming from and we can answer their questions honestly.

Working orientation has been a real good time this week. Not only has it been a good time meeting all the new students, but it has also stimulated some walks down memory lane with my classmates (these stories are too long or inappropriate to be discussed in detail).

The first day of orientation is mostly the typical boring house cleaning duties, but then that night the new students have an overnight retreat at a local camp which allows them to get to know eachother. Tuesday morning is what I would consider to be the most fun of the days of orientation where the new students play leadership/strategy/icebreaker games. I was so fortunate to be scheduled outside on the basketball court :)!

Today the new class spent the day working on a business case and preparing a presentation for tomorrow. As a mentor I was off today (which left me plenty of time to work all day, boo!). Tomorrow the students will present their case solutions and get a little taste of some friendly MBA competition.

Friday the mentors will also have the day off as the new class has a retail immersion day. This is a cool day and includes touring some great retailers and even a Walmart distribution center, which is very impressive.

This weekend I am going to visit my best friend so I can catch up with her and see her new house. I'm so excited because it will be a great way soak up the last weekend with no looming homework :)

Christmas break is so close I can almost smell it!

2008-12-04T14:04:00.000-08:00

With only 2 more days of regular classes until we start finals, my attention span is fading fast.
Luckily we have plenty to keep us busy.
I feel the need to keep you involved with what is going on in our classes:

One brightside to the economic downturn going on is that it provides us with lots to discuss in class. This morning in our retail finance class we reviewed current articles on retailers and discussed what problems they are facing, what led to this current state, what could retailers do to make sure they will survive times like this. In this class we also recently just turned in the final part to our retailer site evaluation project where we were able to utilize the Gadberry Group's household data for locations.

In accounting we are working on our last group project before our final next week. For our assignment we are evaluating Lowe's financial statements.

Our Leadership/management final is Monday! whoo hoo! One class will be done!

Currently as I type, I am in tlog strategies clas looking at a total cost analysis for intermodal transportation.

Ok...well speaking of being in class...I'm going to go back to trying to pay attention.

An end to a busy week!

2008-11-21T15:49:00.000-08:00

I haven't taken the time to post in a couple of weeks, so I thought I might give an explaination and catch you up.
A week ago Thursday was the kick off to the FedEx International Graduate Logistics Case Competition. This competition brings 12 of the top logistics programs together from around the world to compete right here in Fayetteville. It's a great networking opportunity with fellow students and employers. Executives and representatives from companies such as Unilever, ABF Freight, FedEx, Walmart, General Mills, Transplace, and more attend this event.
For the first time in 12 years of the competition, our team from the Walton College placed in the top 3!
So, anyway, I was at that event all the way thru late Saturday night with one day left to prepare for the school week which included one project, a presentation, a paper, and a test being due! Needless to say I am so happy it's Friday and that next week is Thanksgiving!!!

Well, now I'm off to celebrate! Have a good weekend!

Birthday TLOG celebrations

2008-11-06T12:37:00.000-08:00

Horray!! It's Thursday!! This is very exciting for several reasons...
To begin with it is not only my birthday, but Nhan's (Classmate), Fran's (my sister-in-law), and Emily's (a friend). What can I say, November 6th is a big day! To make it bigger...Fran (mentioned above) has a baby due today! The little one hasn't showed up yet, maybe too much pressure, I don't know. :)

So today in class we have a guest speaker. Burton Weiss and others from USA Truck came in to talk about the strategies they are implementing in order to move from a "good" to a "great" company.

Busy busy bees

2008-11-02T21:13:00.000-08:00

This semester is already half over and I feel like it has just begun. Mid-terms are finally over which is very nice and I took most of the weekend to relax and enjoy some time with some friends in-town for homecoming. I even got to carve pumpkins for like the first time in maybe 20 years. It was really fun, even though my pumpkins were made fun of (by myself included). However, I'm fine with letting a year go by before I am expected to do this again. :) Here are my pumpkins... In both of the pictures they're the ones on the far right...

So, I haven't filled you in yet about my assistantship. I am working part-time for Land O' Lakes for the summer (yes, the butter and cheese) for their Walmart account. While I have been spending most of my time analyzing sales through Walmart's retail link system, my boss has given me a fun project to work on recently. I am preparing the presentation for a line review with a Walmart buyer. If the buyer accepts these products, Land O' Lakes will have a great opportunity in a total new category for the Walmart team. The line review is next week, so hopefully all goes smooth.

Well, the fun weekend of Halloween and a Razorback win is over, and it's back to the books tomorrow. Luckily no tests this week, hopefully I'll get caught up on some projects that are coming due soon.

A taste of a day in tlog

2008-10-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

So, wow! I believe that a major part of school is learning not only what you want to do in life, but more importantly, what you do not want to do.
Today, I have added one more item to the "do not want to do" list. Binary Programming!! I do not want to do this for a living.
I know this after working on an assignment for our Tlog modeling class which ended with an awesome problem about binary programming. Oh, well, it's over now.

For my next Tlog class (strategies): Today we had a recruiter in to talk to us about Crane Worldwide Logistics. That was kind of fun!
After he was done we discussed the major opportunities that lie inbetween the industries of Express, LTL, and TL shippers!!! (Add this to the list I am not interested in!)

Class is over now! Whoo Hoo!

procrastination...not recommended

2008-09-29T16:35:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday (that's in two days) is our first test in accounting. It is Monday night after 6 and I have yet to begin studying....so, I thought, what a great time to add a blog entry. :)

Once my test is over, this is going to be a pretty good week. I am attending a workshop on executive interviewing on Wednesday night, which is just in-time b/c I have my first real interview on Thursday. I will be visiting a company I made contacts with at a networking event held by the Walton MBA last week. I'm excited b/c I think this company will really fit into what I am looking for once I get out of school. I'll keep you posted.

Well, I really need to get busy with studying now...sorry so short.

BBBBQ and career fairs!!! Whoo Hoo!

2008-09-24T18:46:00.000-07:00

So, my favorite week in Fayetteville, AR has arrived!!! Today was the first day of Bikes, Blues, and BBQ! For those of you not from this area, this is the largest charity bike rally in the nation. There will be about 100,000 motorcycles in Fayetteville and about 300,000 people will visit the event!! Even though I know nothing about motorcycles, I know I love good food and music!

It's now Wednesday and it's been a pretty busy week so far. Monday night we had a special networking event to meet with prospect employers. My classmates and I all made posters to show off our summer internship experiences as company represntatives came around and visited with each of us. I made some contacts with some companies that I had previously not considered, so that was great! Tuesday was our career fair where several companies come to recruit both MBA students and undergrads. Some examples of attendies are: colgate, nestle, walmart, target, j.b. hunt, campbells, etc. I was able to make a second contact with the employers from the previous night and feel like I have really made some progress.

Well, it's now about 9, and I have put off my homework long enough. I'll post some pictures of BBBBQ later this weekend for all to see.

Hooray for Thursday!

2008-09-18T14:01:00.000-07:00

There are several great blogs out in the e-world that you could be reading right now, so I just feel privileged that you are visiting mine. Make sure to check back often as I will be updating posts at least twice weekly.

So here we are already in week 4 of the semester and I feel like we just began last week.
I know this sounds weird, but I'm excited for an extended class session tonight. Our Retail Finance class is having a 3 hour session to learn how to run a location intelligence software program. We have a guest visitor from the Gadberry Group who will teach us all he can in the limited amount of time about finding the right data needed to make wise retail location decisions. Hopefully I will be able to actually apply this information in order to help my current employer decide on future locations.

Once this extended session ends, the weekend begins! The hogs have a big test this weekend with Alabama in town. Go Hogs! I'll be back with more updates next week.