PerfectMike.Com

I’ve been meaning to write up a blog post for a few weeks now, and I just couldn’t seem to find the time. The idea behind my post was that I realized that a few things are all going to be happening in the month of December and I’ve started to really look forward to it.

The first big thing is that I will be graduating from business school. In some ways it feels like I just started, but it’s been a pretty intense journey. Taking double courses the entire way thru, and finishing in roughly 15 months, all while still working full time hasn’t been easy. It will be nice to fully reclaim my weeknights and occasional saturday for matters other than school.

Secondly, this will be the first December that Stacy and I get to go home to our families during the holidays. Since we moved out to California, she always had to work during the holiday season, but since she is now independently employed, we have the freedom to go back home. It will be great to spend Christmas with the family again.

Thirdly, December is my birthday month, so I’m always looking forward to that. But this year might be interesting if Jawk’s idea to go to Vegas works out.

And overall, I just think December will be a good time to look back at accomplishments, enjoy time with friends and family, and then start to look forward to the coming year.

Just a quick update on my MBA progress. I recently completed BUS202 – Managing in the Global Economy and got a B+. I’m glad that the class is over as it was a real disappointment. The course curriculum was not executed well and the only highlights were the guest speakers from BMW and Ericsson. The class was so disengaging that I began to lose interest in the entire program.

The good news is that it is over, and I am back engaged in two courses for the second session of the summer semester.

• 200W – Research and Communication
• 238 – International Marketing

For the 200W course we are focusing on a qualitative research project on companies within Silicon Valley incubators. The 238 course is focusing on taking a prototype product from Project Enable and putting together a comprehensive international marketing plan.

Last night I put the nail in the coffin for my Financial Management course by taking the final exam. I think it went fairly well. I still need to throw dirt on the coffin by finishing our last case study assignment, but it shouldn’t be too hard to finish. Tomorrow night I will take the final exam for Managerial Decision Making Analysis, which should also be fairly easy, and then a short hour or two of work to finish that final project and this session will be a wrap.

Next session with be BUS 202, Managing in the global economy. And possibly an elective. Not sure.

I haven’t written to give an update on my MBA in quite some time so I figured this would be as good of a time as any. The spring semester of the part-time program at San Jose State University begins right after the new year, so I am already midway thru the two courses that I am taking. Both classes are core requirement classes:

• BUS220 is Accounting Principles
• BUS250 is Managerial Law and Ethics

Continue Reading

I’ve been pretty busy this week so I haven’t made any posts. But I wanted to give a quick update on a few things going on, so I will just touch on them all quickly.

• I took some photos for an upcoming article. I think people will enjoy this one.
• Thanks to the advice from livingoffdividends.com, I bought some NLY stock the day before it announced it was increasing its dividend.
• I survived my two midterms in my first semester in business school, getting an A and a B.
• I started making the purchases for my father’s high dividend portfolio, but I will provide more details on that later.

And that’s about it. I have a bunch of homework to get done today, so I am going to get back to that now. Peace!

If you read my last article, you may think that I am far from living what Tim Ferris describes in The 4-Hour Workweek, and you would be right on some points. I recently began listening to the audiobook, and have a long road ahead of me if I were to implement all of the workplace related changes, but some of his philosophies on life I seem to already be living.

In the first chapter of the book Tim discusses a gold medal winning skier, who also ran a very successful and profitable business. Prior to them winning the gold medal, the skier’s coach told him that he was not practicing enough, and that he needed to drop the business while he focused on skiing. The skier didn’t think so, and besides the business was successful, so he didn’t want to give it up. Rather than choosing one or the other, he chose both. He moved to Australia, practiced with a more flexible team, and then won the gold medal. All the while, still running his business.

So when you look at all that I am doing, I am choosing “both” like the skier. I don’t want to give up work, or anything else at the expense of school, or vice versa. The topic of business school specifically is up for another debate, as I don’t think Tim has a high opinion of MBA programs.