A Friday in the Life

So it's 10:30 on a Friday night and I've been home from school for a little over an hour. I should be working on my final paper for Analysis of Business Problems right now, but I just can't seem to convince myself to turn off the music and buckle down and write about car panel contracts. Isn't that strange?!

It has been a LONG day. (Ooh! And Michael Jackson just came up on iTunes... another 3 minutes of definite non-paper-writing is in my immediate future!) After sleeping far too little - it was worth it to see Royksopp and ride around Barcelona on the back of Huy's moto making fart jokes - I was shocked when the alarm went off at 7. The odd thing is that, no matter how tired I am, I always bolt out of bed in the morning. I think lately it's because our hot water runs out after 2.3 minutes so having the first shower is key... there's nothing like the threat of a cold shower to get you moving in the morning.

Anyway, classes were more or less the usual today. Morning meeting (most of it was spent discussing the accounting homework, which had confused everyone) and then accounting class. Then we had Analysis of Business Problems, and a case about a guy who makes this great sales pitch and closes a deal, only to have his boss completely screw it up for him. (Now Queen has come on! Keep Yourself Alive! I love it when every song is better than the last.) At lunch we had an additional Managerial Communications "optional" class scheduled and afterward was Organizational Behavior. We acted out the roles of supervisor and subordinate after the subordinate gets a bad review. Cedric, who sits next to me, was the subordinate, Ramiro. I was Ivan the regional manager of a Colombian bank. Cedric has a habit of occasionally yelping things out in a falsetto voice that makes me laugh until I cry. Sitting next to him can be dangerous. So it goes without saying that our faux conversation was... interesting.

After class the OB professors had arranged for a guy to speak to us who actually worked on the Fluxys crisis communications team during the big Belgian gas explosion disaster. It was very interesting, but unfortunately I was also very tired and knew I had 2 hours of Decision Analysis Crystal Ball review ahead. Plus the heat was blasting at school today so everyone was struggling to stay awake all day. I think they're trying to keep us slightly subdued. ;) We have too much energy!

So yes at 5 I started reviewing all of the Crystal Ball exercises we've done since midterms. Franz, our professor, organized two sessions (one was yesterday, but I had a team meeting to discuss the ABP final paper) in the computer lab to review everything we'd learned so far using Crystal Ball. It was only supposed to go until 7, but he ended up helping Jill and me with one of the problems until nearly 8. I don't think that's something professors at other schools would generally do. I totally understand how to do this stuff when I go through it with Francis or when we do the exercises in class. But if I look at a case by myself and have to just figure it out, I'm hopelessly lost. So the review session was really helpful. I'm hoping that lots of pracice over the next couple of weeks will be enough to carry me through the final. After I write this paper, it'll be time to really focus on studying for the accounting and decision analysis finals. Oh, and also time to plan my birthday party! :)

At 8:30 I stared the walk home from school. My ipod is from Christmas 2002 and has decided lately to only have a battery life of about 30 minutes, no matter how long I charge it. Crystal Ball told me tonight that I might have a new one in my future... ? Right? Anyone? Anyone? Anyway, the crappy battery life on my poor old ipod is the reason I always carry the Shuffle as well! So never fear because, in the end, I was able to get all the way home with a dancy spring in my step. Which is exactly the way you're supposed to walk home on a Friday night!