Category: MBA

65.822%

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

For the first time in ages (seriously, it’s probably been a couple of years), I got to play basketball in the gym. It was good to empty my head of everything but my foul shot for half an hour. A quick trip to Subway and I had sustenance for the evening…all set for studying.

I was a little worried about the course earlier in the week but I think it’s under control. I still don’t think I’ll be spending much time in the bar this week, but I’m feeling okay about Friday. We’ll see if I’m still of the same mind tomorrow.

[tags]mba, basketball, subway[/tags]

45.716%

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Canada’s oldest bookstore, The Book Room in Halifax, is closing. I don’t have any particular problem with it closing, I just thought it was cool that the oldest bookstore in Canada was in Halifax.

.:.

Today was challenging at times but things started to gel a bit toward the end. I’m going to have to do some work tonight; need to catch up and prepare some study materials. I still have some work work that I want to do but I don’t think I can spare the time. I don’t want to mess up this exam; it’s much too late in the game to mess up now.

.:.

I finally finished the Naomi Klein book this week. It drifted toward the end — I think the entire section on Israel was a little too micro to carry the same weight as earlier sections — but it was still a very interesting companion piece to this MBA I’m doing. It’s not as if Friedman worship flares up often, but there’ve been some discussions that in class that’ve sounded eerily similar to some neo-liberal scripture.

I think next I might read Incendiary by Chris Cleave (amazon | indigo). I didn’t realize it’d been made into a movie, so I’d like to read it before that comes out.

[tags]halifax, the book room, mba, naomi klein, shock doctrine, incendiary, chris cleave[/tags]

25.887%

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Thank god for Hero Burger. I couldn’t stomach the dinner tonight (veal, chicken something or other, snapper…not good) so a friend drove us to HB where I could get a veggie burger. I feel much better now.

I’m not sure how to feel about this course yet. I have no problem with the math and the logic needed to solve each question. I just don’t always know which logic and math is needed for each particular question. So that’s an issue.

[tags]hero burger, mba[/tags]

5.121%

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Granted, the competition was Rambo, but what does it say about our society that Meet The Spartans won the weekend at the box office? The movie has a 5% rating, fer chrissakes.

.:.

Today wasn’t so bad. The prof is pretty good at explaining things and I haven’t gotten lost yet, but I think it’s only gonna get tougher and I have to be careful not to drift off for a few minutes or I’ll be lost. I’ll have to stay on my toes this week.

[tags]meet the spartans, rambo, mba[/tags]

13/15

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Despite not having nasal passages clear enough to support running, the  no-chocolate thing seems to be doing some good. Lost 1.5 pounds last week.

  • Original weight: 233
  • Weight last week: 224
  • Weight this week: 222.5

.:.

I’m just getting ready to start the intensive session of my course. Just finished unpacking and having a snack, building up some energy before class begins at 1:00. This week won’t be pleasant — the topic is corporate finance — but I believe it’s the last tough course, and the third last overall.

[tags]fatblogging, mba[/tags]

I am a happy fellow

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

My assignment, the last for this course, is done. I finished it off around 10:00 and practically skipped — pranced, even — to the couch to watch the Canadiens-Bruins game on the PVR.

That’s the last schoolwork I have to do for a couple of weeks. Weeks, internet, weeks! On an unrelated note, there’s a bluebird on my shoulder and everything is satisfactual.

[tags]mba, canadiens, bruins[/tags]

An hour early

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I stopped at A Taste Above on the way home tonight. It’s a take-away ready-to-go meal place just up the street. Pricey, but good food and I felt like some quick pasta for dinner. I got there around 6:15…closed. Wha? You’re catering to the busy after-work crowd and you close at 6 PM? Brilliant. Dear A Taste Above: a little advice…send whoever’s in charge of your company on an introductory business course. You’re welcome.

.:.

Esquire breaks down Jerry Bruckheimer’s Laws of Science. Example:

The Law of Inverse Emotional Importance

Oftentimes an event may appear significant when in reality it’s not. When confused, remember this simple rule: The significance of any event is inversely related to the speed of its motion.

Proof: Pearl Harbor, about the devastating attack that pushed the U.S. into World War II, features more slow motion than Samba Night at the hospice center.

.:.

Must…finish…assignment. But don’t…want…to.

Inside/friend voice says: suck it up, princess. It’s due Friday, and after that I’ve got a couple of weeks off before going away on course again. It’s just that everything else seems to be SO much more enjoyable right now…watching hockey, thinking about big problems (opportunities?) at work, spending time with Nellie, going to movies, drinking beer, even running at 6AM…I’m loving all of it right now. The last thing I want to do is more school work.

Good thing my wife is a) supportive of me disappearing into a book for several hours a night, and b) fond of television.

[tags]a taste above, esquire, jerry bruckheimer[/tags]

The reasons for my masochism

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People occasionally ask me why I’m doing an MBA. Recently I’ve found it difficult to answer that; I’ve been down in the weeds of it for so long that it’s sometimes hard to remember why I signed up in the first place. So today I decided to write this, partly to explain it to people, and partly to remind myself. The major reasons:

Colleagues and managers told me I should. This wasn’t a reason so much as a driver. I actually wouldn’t have even considered it if a colleague, one of the first people I worked with when I returned to my company, hadn’t suggested I get into the program (my company has a special MBA program set up through a particular university). She was just about to finish hers and suggested I look into it. A couple of years later my new manager suggested I apply, and this time I did.

To assuage a bit of guilt. Yes, I have a business degree, and yes it’s from the same university from which I’m now seeking an MBA. However, my brain just wasn’t geared for learning in those four years, and what little sank in atrophied in the following five years as I took on a series of technical jobs. Around the time I signed up for the MBA I was back on the business side of things and starting to use those parts of my brain again, but I always felt like I hadn’t used those years as well as I could have. Signing up for the MBA helped me make up for that.

To create a good network of colleagues. Networking isn’t something I do well, or easily. It’s anathema to an introvert. My afore-mentioned colleague (and other people I’d since met who’d gone through the program) talked about the benefits of being thrown into a group of 30 people from all over the company and the networks that develop just by dint of being locked in a room with them. So far it’s worked pretty well; I know more people in different parts of my company (and country) now, and I’ve developed some pretty good friendships too.

I just always feel the need to learn something. Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, Dan’s gotta learn something new. I’m not happy unless I’m learning something on a semi-regular basis. As much as I’m looking forward to finishing this thing, I know that two months after I graduate I’ll take for German lessons or teach myself Python or sign up for digital photography classes. Actually, maybe I should delay the education for a little longer and sign myself up for a 10k…

Any of those strike you as weird? I’ve had people tell me they wouldn’t have signed up for four years of lost evenings and weekends for any of those reasons.

[tags]mba[/tags]

I'm a fine, fine fellow

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

In the summer I was struck by how much greener Toronto looked from our balcony than it does at street level. Now, with the leaves on vacation and the snow taking up residence, it just looks gray.

.:.

It’s not official yet — the paperwork still has to go through — but I heard back from our adviser today: we passed our final project. That effectively means that I am now a fellow of the Institute of Canadian Bankers. I’m now in the home stretch of finishing the MBA: 256 days left!

.:.

Poor Nellie’s not feeling well today. We had dinner at Fieramosca last night and were plied with a little too much Limoncello. It was supposed to be a quick meal, out by 8:30, but there’s really no such thing with us anymore. We kind of lost track of time somewhere around the sixth shot.

.:.

News from last week: Toronto councillor Giorgio Mammoliti asked for the army to be brought in. Not because of some snowdrifts, mind you. No, councillor Mammoliti wants the army to come in and crack down on gang violence.

Having had a few days to consider and weigh the councillor’s words, I have arrived at this conclusion: Giorgio Mammoliti is batshit crazy.

I’m all for curbing gang violence, councillor. I suggest you lobby for more police funding, or a special anti-gang task force. Perhaps you could move to ban handguns in the city, or increase funding to social programs that keep kids out of gangs. Any of those seem fairly reasonable, if not politically expedient. Maybe it’s my quaint inclination toward freedom, but I don’t think military occupation of a civilian area is something a democratically-elected politician should suggest.

Sigh…every time someone from this city mentions the army I just know the rest of the country’s going to make fun of us for the next three years.

[tags]toronto the gray, institute of canadian bankers, fieramosca, limoncello, giorgio mammoliti, gang violence[/tags]

UnZipped

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Here I thought taking some time away from the MBA would be nice and relaxing, but with work being what it is and with Christmas just around the corner, it’s still loopy. Still, anything’s better than reading about the effect of tax shields on corporate financing decisions.

.:.

Do you love yourself? Do you love good music?

If you answered yes to both of those, then ask yourself this: have you listened to Spoon‘s Kill The Moonlight? If you haven’t, then you were probably mistaken about the first two questions. Really, it’s one of the best collections of music I’ve ever heard. If you haven’t heard it, I can’t really give you a good reference point for comparison, even if you’ve heard other Spoon albums. Just do yourself a favour: go download it. At first you’ll only like one or two songs, but soon they’ll all grow on you.

.:.

I have signed up for The Movie Network and am planning to cancel my Zip account. It’s just not cost effective; I’m paying $15/month and not watching any movies. TMN, on the other hand, gives me a lot more immediate variety (as opposed to variety that I have to order) and access to TV shows that we want to see in real-time like The Wire and Dexter. Some day — like when the MBA is finished — we may go back to Zip, but for now it’s going bye-bye.

[tags]spoon, kill the moonlight, tmn, zip.ca, the wire, dexter[/tags]