S I D E D I S H

Tower Tales

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:14:00 +0000

Hello blog-o-sphere! It has been a little while since my last post as I have begun graduate school. Along with my busy class schedule I am involved in some extraciricular activitie. One of them is called the Tower Restoration Club. It is a cause worth checking supporting.

In our club president brought to our attention this video about the Thunderbird Tower. It is an interview with the three living presidents (ex and present) of Thunderbird School of Global Management. It's a great video about some of our school's history.

Vader Jive (Darth That is...)

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:34:00 +0000

I found this one when I was checking the business headlines. It will take about 10-minutes to watch so enjoy.

Interest rate cut!? Sweet…aw, snap, there’s small print…

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:36:00 +0000

Out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of a headline announcing that the federal government was cutting interest rates on federal student loans over the next few years. By 2011 the Stafford Loan is going to see a cut from 6.8% down to somewhere in the neighborhood of 3.4%. That’s a 50% cut equating to thousands of dollars less that must be paid back. I was instantly taken in by this exhilarating news. Upon reading the small print I was very much dismayed to find that the interest rate cuts would only effect those going into undergraduate school. For those of you (i.e. myself) going into your graduate studies (and quoting one of my favorite movies): forget about it. For a country that preaches education and training in advanced skills this makes it very hypocritical for those of us starting our graduate studies. Do they think that just because we’re getting advance training that is will guarantee more money immediately upon graduation? To Washington DC: Do you think you can throw us a bone?

G-mat, [dʒiː.mæt])

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:47:00 +0000

I am taking the GMAT once again and it no longer seems like the beast that it once was. It is now more of a pain in the bum than anything else as I’ve already been accepted into a graduate program. The impulse was there to give up on several occasions but in the end I did persevered though not with the higher scores that we all hear about from people who merely “took a weekend class and then aced it.” On this little tidbit: with the exception of a chosen few I believe that a lot of these people are full of poo and only out for a good razz –they had a hard time too.

A huge challenge of the GMAT was it’s psychological nature. I knew the material but there were always the constant fears of taking longer time than I should on one problem or not enough time on another. There were the questions with the seemingly obvious answers that may or may not have be wrong. I took the test on many occasions getting a less than desirable score that were simply the result of a bad day. There were always the constant thoughts of:

“The GMAT is going to keep me out of graduate school, it’s going to keep me from my dream.” OR
“Why the heck do I have to take this thing anyway?”

The simplest answer that I ever heard to the question was: “Just Because.”

It is only now, in pursuit of “free money” to reduce inevitable debt, that I have chosen to engage the beast once again. I am very much more relaxed than before and it’s great to not have a mind full of doubts. The only part that I don’t like is that I need to shovel out another $250 to GMAC. A little tip for those of you in the early stages: try to get a decent score (something 630 or above seems standard) because it can get expensive.

For those of you who are still on the other side of that great chasm called “The admissions process” hang in there. Someone wants you because it is not necessarily all about your GMAT score. There are schools, great schools in fact, that DON’T actually put too much emphasize on the GMAT score and that really DO look at the fit of the individual. So, you may very well need to take the GMAT multiple times. Hang in there folks!

Technorati Tags: Taking the GMAT,Coping with the GMAT,Why Take the GMAT?,Do I need to take the GMAT?

GMAT Test Prep Software Issues!

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:36:00 +0000

Hey GMAT takers (and retakers!)

What's shaking? It seems that there are issues with installing the current GMATPrep® Test Preparation Software from MBA.COM. People will install it and then they will get an error message. Here are the instuctions to stop the error message:

Configure the AVG software to prevent it from scanning the GMATPrep file during installation.

Open the AVG program. From the Tools menu, choose Advanced settings and then choose PUP exceptions. Click the Add exception button.
Locate GMATPrepSetup.exe as the file you want to exclude from the virus scan.
Click the Add button to save the setting.

Install the GMATPrep software.

Exclude the GMATPrep directory from being scanned when you run the application.

Open the AVG program. From the Tools menu, choose Advanced settings.
In the left pane, select Resident Shield and choose Exceptions.
Click the Add path button and locate the directory you want to exclude from the virus scan, normally Program Files\GMATPrep.
Click the OK button to save the setting.

Source: http://www.mba.com/mba/thegmat/downloadfreetestpreparationsoftware

There’s No Place Like Home…

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Fri, 01 May 2009 12:12:00 +0000

It has been quite a while since I’ve made an entry of any kind to this blog. For the one or two people who may or may not be looking back at this page: I apologize.

Anyway, these days I am living in Kansas City, MO (or as I have come to learn: KCMO) and I guess it actually isn’t half bad. Also, I’m only here for about 4-months so, as they say in Melbourne, that’s alright! Since coming back I’ve been trying on and off to find some type of part-time employment on at least a part-time basis. With that said I am also feeling the effects of this recession. It was getting me down for a while hearing:

…We’re not actually looking for anybody right now. It’s not that business is bad but we’re being careful these days. Maybe give us a copy of your resume (or fill out an application) and we’ll give you a call if anything opens up. We’ll definitely be interested in talent like yours when things pick up again…

…and that’s the basic story I’ve been hearing everywhere. I’ve since shifted the mind set to the fact that I’m going to be in school come August and right around that time is when I’ll be eating my own words wishing for the good old days.

Grace Jones (aka Strange)

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 10:57:00 +0000

The other day I saw Grace Jones perform here in Sydney at a free show. It much more than I thought that it would be. Previously my basic thought process was that she was a freak of nature. Now after the show. Yes, she's still a freak of nature but then she is also a truly creative and unique artist who really appreciates her fans. In own words, "You'd better be good to my f*ckin' fans!" The back story is this: she was doing a version of "Pull up To my Bumper" and at some point during the show she started inviting her fans up to the stage to pull up to her bumper. Anyway, as all songs eventually do, it ended and the fans were being ushered off of the stage by the guards. Some of the guards were being a little rougher than they should be and that's when Grace caught wind. Enter the quote.

Standing Out

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 13:34:00 +0000

Earlier today Amber and I had a conversation with one of our good friends on a subject that is very near and dear to the heart of anyone who has applied to graduate school. It is a subject that is also very much a sore spot for these same people. This subject is of course the graduate school application process. It begins with hours and hours of preparation for the GMAT. After this necessary unnecessary task of taking the test is completed, (sometimes taken many times!) the search for the perfect school has to be preformed. Once the list has been narrowed down to a few choice selections the application process must be completed. A large part of this task is the essay writing process. The questions usually sound something like this:

Why our school?
What are your short and long-term career objectives?
How and why will a degree from our school, combined with your past experiences, enable you to achieve objectives?
How would you make the world a better place?
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Tell us about a time that you failed at something that was important to you.

Response can have require lengths ranging from 100 up to as much as 1500 which means that it can be very difficult to stand out from the crowd. The answer to this one involves getting help from people who have gone through the same process because guess what: they have probably all gone through the same thought process. It's reading the questions and then staring at the blank screen. You find yourself wishing that the essays would write themselves but unfortunately they won't. It can get very discouraging. It can feel as if you're spinning your wheels; you can feel like you getting nowhere fast.

My only advice is this: don't be afraid to read other essays so as to explore different writing styles and ideas -they can really get the creative juices working. Once written have your friends read them over for you and be ready and open to criticism remembering that it is all constructive. It was you after all who asked them for the help. If this is impossible to accept their input without taking offense then try not to use someone that you live with.

Happy writing!

Accepted!

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:19:00 +0000

Yesterday I received an e-mail informing me that I was accepted to Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, AZ as a part of their class tradtional MBA program in their class of 2011. Tith this said I could not be happier. It is totally amazing to be accepted to -especially considering that it was my #1 choice. It's like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. Next comes the fun step of solidifying funding through a mixture of scholarships, grants and loans. Obviously I prefer the kind of money that doesnbt have to be paid back but a dream is a drea right? Dig.

Prepwork (Who doesnt like getting new toys?)

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 23:49:00 +0000

Yesterday Amber and I went absolutely crazy with shopping for nesssities for our trip to Thailand. I am very happy to say that I bought all sorts of new toys. I bought some new shirts (you, know the ones with the bamboo material), some new sandels (not Chaco! I'm trying something new called Rafters), a new headlamp (Petzl Tikka Series -I totally needed one of those!) and the holy grail of boardies (aka board shorts) complete with lazer sealed seams. This Monday night will be our prepack event to see if we need to get anything else though we are planning on packing light as a lot of the other nessesary items will be much less inexpensive there. More in a bit!

It's been a long time

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 22:23:00 +0000

OKAY! It has actually been a long, LONG while since I wrote in my beloved blog.
In the time between now and my last entry I have began to live life here in Sydney. I’ve been so busy in fact that I have not had the time to do any chronicling of my journeys. Admittedly it has not really been anything worth chronicling because as we all know it’s exciting to move to a different country and even more exciting to start making money. However after a while there are those things called “real life” and “settling in”. It happens to everyone –yes, that includes you Mike you cheap bastard! (Are you done renovating yet?????????)
As you have already guessed the biggest bit of news is that I have a killer position with Pfizer Australia as a Demand Analyst. They even like the work that I am doing. I can tell this because my boss decided that he would go away on vacation even though I have only been on the job for about three weeks now. In other news, what I hope to be my only school applications, are now submitted which means that now all I have to do is wait for a reply back from the schools. The schools that I have submitted to are Thunderbird (My #1!) and Olin. If all goes well I should be in early stages of male pattern baldness from the stress of my exams. I’ll let you all know when I hear back.

I am happy to say that, for what I think is the first time ever, all of my Christmas parcels have been sent out. They should love what they get. I tried to get as creative as I could this year as I am in Australia. With this task done my lovely lady and I have now shifted our attention to getting ready for our trip to Thailand (yes, despite all of the recent events!) We will be visiting Phucket, Koh Sumai, and Bangkok. It will be a great Christmas on the beach though admittedly I am missing the snow big time. It's kind of a weird feeling actually. I look out the window and it's raining. Did you know that two inches of rain equals about 20-inches in snow? Yeah, the rain is a total misuse of perfectly good precipitation. It's totally raining on the plans of skiers everywhere.

While on our vacation Amber and I are planning (in no particular order) to: ride an elephant, sit on the beach, go snorkeling, take a Thai cooking class, go shopping, and go on several hikes. I'll be sure to post plenty of pics after the fact.
Anyway, I really must be running now. Talk to you all later. I need to have a discussion with a certain camera shop sales man. That’s a story for a little bit later on.

MoeVision

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:07:00 +0000

Here is the progression of my Moe!

This was in the early stages when my moe began to poking through. If you squint you can almost see it.

This one is a little bit further along in development. It's getting nicer.

At this stage it was really freakin' uncomfortable. It began to iritate my lips.

This is just before I was about to cut it off. I was so happy!

Solid

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:22:00 +0000

We were sitting down enjoying our morning coffee and we started talking about CDs that have withstood the test of time. Here's our list in no particular order (more will be added!):

1. Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill
2. Collective Soul -Collective Soul
3. Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine
4. Buckcherry - Buckcherry
5. Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet
6. Michael Jackson - Bad
7. INXS - Kick
8. Gearge Michael - Faith

Billy Elliot

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 06:43:00 +0000

Last night Amber and I went to see the musical Billy Elliott: The Musical co-written by Sir Elton John at the Capital Theatre here in Sydney. It is a story about a boy who is taking boxing lessons because it is what boys are supposed to do. in reality though, he has absolutely no wish to participate in the sport. At the end of one class his teacher has to get going so he leaves the keys with Billy Elliot to give to the teacher of the next class. Billy obliges but only after realizing that he doesn't know who the teacher is let alone what she looks like. The next class turns out to be a ballet class. He "accidentally" ends up participating in the class and it is revealed that the little boy has a natural talent. You might say that, for a straight kid, he has 'perfect' technique if you know what I mean. (Wink, wink). To get the rest of the story you'll have to go see the show.

Over all it was a great story done in two acts. The first act was a more coherent story and the second act was decidedly more Tommy-ish in style with a whole plethora of well done dance numbers. The show is well worth seeing.

Before the show even began Amber and I learned a little something about child labor laws in Australia. It turns out that there were about 4-5 different children playing the character of Billy Elliott. Apparently labor laws here allow children to only preform about one show per week.

Mr. Muggles

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:12:00 +0000

I'm going to create a mental picture for you and then I'll explain where the heck the thought came from.

Picture being the family pet. Let's say you are a dog and your name is 'Mr. Muggles'.

Your owner, we'll call him Fred, is talking to you. He's saying, 'What a good little dog. Oh, do you know how good you are Mr. Muggles? Oh, who's the good doggie? Do you want a treat? Huh, do you? Treat?" as he mashes your head.

Your tail is wagging and all you hear is, "Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Mr. Muggles, Blah, Blah treat, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Treat?"

The point:
I was in cycling class last night and the teacher at the front of the class room was giving instruction. I could not understand one word of what she was saying. I understood, "Begin, Faster, slower, and thanks for coming in." If I were Mr. Muggles I would be wagging my tail thinking 'treat'?

The lesson:
Here in Australia I still have to realize that I am in a foreign country and that, even here, language barriers do exist. Cheers!

My First English Breckie

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 10:16:00 +0000

Today I had the first English Breckie of my time here in Australia. It was the usual pouched egg, ham, fried tomato, and toast with a log black (aka cup of coffee). I have to say that it was delicious.

Eagle-Eye Needs Glasses...

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:06:00 +0000

Two days ago Amber and I decided to explore one of the movie theaters here in town. Our quest led us to a movie theater located in Chinatown down by the Hay Market. The of movie choice was ‘Eagle Eye’. It started off okay but then the first big bang ‘em up chase scene happened. At the end of this particular the scene FBI agents played by Rosario Dawson and Billy Bob Thornton (?) stepped out of the totaled car seemingly concerned only with what time it was. By the end of the movie, Billy Bob was subdued by a US Army Predator and Rosario survived a fall unscathed after falling into a lake of liquid nitrogen. She had to help the airman who had fallen with her because he had broken his leg.

Stuck in L.A.

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 07:39:00 +0000

We're not really stuck in L.A. -it just sounded like a cool title. Right now we are actually just on a layove. The anouncer says that it will be another 20 minutes while they refresh the plane. I have to say one thing before I go: BUSINESS CLASS RULES!

The Journey Down Under

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 00:26:00 +0000

After about a week of some severe stressing, Amber and I finally had our apartment closed out and our car arrived to take us to the airport for our flight to Australia. We got to the airport with our mountain of bags only to find out that our flight had been canceled as the plane never arrived. Luckily the airline put us up in a hotel. So here I am in the JFK Courtyard Marriott waiting for tomorrow to arrive.

Pretty much the entire plane ended up here -what a a debacle. The airline if footing the bill for the hotel along with meals. The room is nice but the food....I had a chicken burger and Amber had teriyaki salmon. Mine was barely edible and Amber's was barely that. Before actually getting the food we sat for a very long 45-minutes before we even saw our food. I got my burger and then by the time I finished mine Amber's came out. The couple sitting next to us finished eating the main course and then they ordered thei rdesert:

Woman: Excuse me, we would like to order our desert.
Waiter: Your cake will be right out...
Woman: Wait...what kind of cake are we getting?
Waiter: Oh...chocolate and cheese cake...
Woman: Can we order what what we want?
Waiter: ...oh...yes, of course...what would you like?
Woman: Two pieces of cheese cake please....

Long story short: ridiculous. There are people downstairs even now still waiting to sit down and then maybe get some food. If all goes well tomorrow we will finally be in the airplane and heading to Sydney.

In about another 16 minutes I the presidential debate will be beginning so I must now wrap this up.

The A Train (Chambers)

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:59:00 +0000

As the A train was creeping up town we made a stop at Chambers. The announcer, in one of his few comprehensible times, announced , "..and path train in service to Jersey!" He sounded very enthusiastic about Jersey.

Right before the train doors at chambers closed a guy walked onto the train asking us for money. No one actually looked at him as he walked up and down the car talking. Here's the only part of what he said that I can remember, ""....if I can't be a good crack head how can I be a good Christian? God bless, y'all!" Then a few people gave him some money and then he disappeared at the next stop.

Long live the MTA!

I heart Needles

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:59:00 +0000

Today I got my shots for my trip to Australia as my lady and I are probably going to be doing some interesting traveling in that part of the world. Have I ever said how much I hate needles. Well I do and I almost passed out.

Now, some people might call this being wimpy and it is but there is a name for this type of wimpiness. That name is the vasovagal reflex. First, due to your wimpiness, your heart beats faster and your blood pressure goes up. Then your heart slows down to make sure that you brain gets enough blood and that causes your blood pressure to fall. Finally may sweat, get pale, nauseous, light headed (you get the drift) and then you may or may not pass out. A quick way to fix it is to lay on your back, elevate your legs, and breath deeply. Note that it may take upwards of 20 mnutes to begin feeling like normal. When getting back up don't do it really fast as you may then pass out anyways.

I Love New York

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:56:00 +0000

At my Thunderbird Hospitality Weekend I had the opportunity to meet one of the cast members of the from the still asleep hit reality TV show "I love New York". The cast member in question is T-Money. I remember thinking that I had seen this guy somewhere before but I couldn't remember exactly where that was. I was going to let it go until his buddy, for whatever reason, just came out with it. I think he was embarrassed. Why on earth would someone be embarrassed at being on TV? I mean the guy is now a Reality Television Star. We're talking at least E-list here.

Go to this link. He is the guy at the 18-second mark about to be beat down by New York.

How soon we forget

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 03:40:00 +0000

I was at the airport this morning and everything was going rather smoothly. I checked in and even got decent seat assignments. Security was cleared without a hitch. After I put myself back together I made my way to my gate so that I would wait for the first leg of my flight to Arizona.

Walking down the hallway I noticed a lime green duffle bag just sitting under seat. There was no one anywhere around the bag. Being the good citizen, I made my way back to the security check point to tell someone about it. Security merely looked at me, shrugged, and then said not to worry about it. I blinked once and said, "Okay."

Essentially security didn't even lift a finger.

The point: Why does America seem to forget so quickly? Something bad happens and everyone is all up in arms and ultra paranoid. If anything is out of place even an iota then the area is cordoned off and all of the "right people" are called in to investigate. Not too far after an event, the extra precautionary measures, like breathing, are soon taken for granted and forgotten about. Security becomes more worried with the guy who isn't taking their shoes off at the security point.

NTPS 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:43:00 +0000

Live coverage of the NGS 2008 (a.k.a. NYC Trapeze Pro Spectacular)

'Touched' (Again)

noreply@blogger.com (Franz) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:53:00 +0000

My iPod Touch died on me again.

I eventually figured out that it was a software corruption issue. I was downloading multiple application updates directly to my Touch when the battery died in mid-download cycle. After that the unit would not get past the initial boot screen. I went to this link to figure out how to fix the problem: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1808.

The result is a total factory reset of your unit and a little bit of reconfiguring...go Apple...I guess.

I have a huge complaint about the iPod Touch. Why, I repeat, why does it have to do the back-up every single time? Does Apple realize that it takes hours, I repeat, hours to do this? What a pain in the buttocks.