Exams Are Over

In addition to exams being over, 1/8 of my MBA education is done, as well. I can't believe how fast time is going by. It seems like just yesterday we moved to New Haven, but that was 4 months ago!

Anyway, about exams. All I can say is that it was a humbling experience. The exams were extremely challenging and so was taking three three-hour exams on three consecutive days. I am confident that I did fine on all of them, but there were a lot of challenging questions that pushed the limits of what I had studied. Econ was the hardest, I felt best about Accounting, and Data & Decision Analysis I think I did pretty well. Overall, it was a good experience and I learned a lot about the subject matter and myself.

After our last exam the school treated us to pizza and microbrews at Bar: The Bru Room, a hip New Haven pizzeria. It was nice to talk to my classmates about the first six weeks and what their hopes are going into the next set of classes. Speaking of the next set of classes - there is no rest for the weary... During exam week we received some emails from the professors who will be teaching the next set of classes about upcoming assignments. I just got done printing off the syllabus for each class to find that we have assignments due on Monday.

Back to work!

Another two weeks has flown by...

And next week will go even faster. Unbelievably, I have mid-terms next week! The funny thing about it, however, is that I am really looking forward to it. My mindset toward school has really changed since I got here. Knowledge and understanding, not grades, are my motivation...so spending 15-20 hours studying for an exam doesn't seem like a bad thing. After mid-terms I will have a whole new set of classes; again, something I am looking forward to.

In addition to classwork, I have been working on my resume and internship possibilities. I am also trying to decide if I should pursue a Graduate Certificate in Development Studies from the Yale International Relations Department.

Next time I come up for a breath I will make sure to post how exams went...

Special Guest Blogger: My wife

Doug thought I would make a better blogger than he on this topic, so here it goes......

Since Doug and I are so far away from our Michigan friends and family, Doug's sister decided to throw us an unconventional baby shower. All of our wonderful (and very generous) loved ones spoiled our little baby to no end by sending us all sorts of fun gifts in the mail throughout the last month and we got to open them all today! We ate molasses cookies, drank hot apple cider and welcomed tons of baby stuff into our home. We had a great time, although we were overwhelmed with everyone's generosity.

It's amazing how much STUFF babies come with: stroller, carseat, crib, blankets, bath tubs, bottles, highchair, stuffed animals, toys, a swing and many, many other brightly colored things. We are well on our way to being prepared for this baby - at least when it comes to all the gear. We've still got a lot to learn about taking care of a newborn and raising kids, that's for sure. Thankfully, my friends here are experts in cloth diapers, nursing bras and butt paste so I'm not lacking any guidance in that department:) This baby is going to change our lives for the best in ways we can't even imagine - we just can't believe that it's only a couple months away!

Thanks for having me on your blog, Doug - I've had a great time:)

Reasons Why My Wife Is In The 99th Percentile

Number 1: Two weeks ago I said to my wife, "We have been having dessert too frequently." So, she didn't buy any ice cream or do any baking for the past couple of weeks. This past weekend, however, I completely went back on my previous statement and said that we needed to have dessert. My wife's response was to make 4 dozen of my favorite cookies, oatmeal butterscotch. They are fantastic!

Number 2: My friends and I have been trying to carve out some time for a round of golf. My wife, first of all, thought it was a great idea for us to hit the links. When we were having a hard time coordinating everyone's schedule, she said to me, "I know how much you want to go golfing, so why don't you and I go. I will just drive the cart so you can play."

Number 3: After reading Gandhi's autobiography, I was surprised by his pride. My presumptions about Gandhi led me to believe that he was a humble man, but I found his writings to the contrary. He seemed to boast about the righteousness of his experiments with truth and denial of self. After expressing this to my wife, she sent me the following exerpt from a C.S. Lewis sermon.

"If you asked twenty good men today what they thought the highest of the virtures, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you asked almost any of the great Christians of old he (or she!) would have replied, Love. You see what has happened? A negative term has been substituted for a positive, and this is of more than philological importance. The negative ideal of Unshelfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves, as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point. I do not think this is the Christian virtue of Love. The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ulitmately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire."

Number 4: My wife has to be the most beautiful pregnant woman to have ever walked the earth! Not to mention that I haven't heard the faintest complaining about the changes her body is going through.

Number 5: I haven't packed my own lunch since school started.

Number 6: My wife sent me a reminder to update my blog so that the people who care about me can keep up with us.