Thoughts from State: updated

So last week, I published the TFS that I wrote a couple years back. Today, I'll share some thoughts that are a little more recent. It's really whatever works for you, but things have changed a little since I wrote that one, so what works for me is different.

*I now stay in the main conference hotel. This change came because, as a judge/volunteer, it was easier to go upstairs to my room after a late night of helping "behind the curtain"... versus walking back to a hotel by myself, at night, downtown, in the cold.
*Take a reusable water bottle. This might be a little more practical than buying a gallon of water, especially with the restrictions that students might have (like not wandering off by themselves).

*Pack snacks. This rings true especially for me, because I'm gluten free, but there are lots of times in between events and things where finding a snack was annoyingly hard or expensive. I'll have a post about what, exactly, I took to State this year. (I realize that's not much help for THIS year, but, well, oops.)
*You don't need as many regular clothes. I always forget that and end up packing regular clothes for all days, and then spending 90% or more of my time in business dress or pjs.
*Bring slippers. I always forget, and I always want them.
*WiFi might not be worth it. Now bear with me for a second. I'm not saying it ISN'T. I'm just saying that you really need to think about it. Last year, I used my laptop for google maps and watching a DVD of Veronica Mars. The former used the internet, the latter did not. However, my phone has google maps, and it's own internet. I wasn't in my room for long periods of time, because I spent most of my time doing judging or behind the scenes stuff. I'm not sure if I'll get it this year, but it's something to consider first.

Some things, of course, are the same.
*Still find the Starbucks. Judging starts at 8am. They provide coffee and tea for us, which is great, but if I have the option to hop off to a Starbies before, that would make me much happier. That wouldn't be possible if I had to search for the Starbucks that early.
*State is still cold. Seriously. That's all.
*Business clothes still need to be tried on before you leave. I'll add to this and say that you should try to match as much as possible. If I could have three different blouses match with one pair of pants, that would be great. Or, just in case, two pairs of pants... who knows what life will bring. Don't forget a belt and any socks that go with shoes. Check for undergarment compatibility (ladies, trust me on this one).

I'm sure I'm forgetting things, but the entire weekend of last year's SLC is kind of a blur. I was so busy and had so much fun. State this year starts NEXT WEEK WEDNESDAY (Thursday for me), so expect a post after that with all the new tips and tricks, for both judges and competitors. Good luck to everyone competing, and if you are, let me know! I'd like to say hi!

college update

Last week was a little hectic.
And by a little hectic, I mean really freaking hectic.

I had an accounting ethics midterm due Wednesday, two midterms on Thursday, and rehearsals Thursday & Friday. Deadlines at work were Wednesday (and the 20th)... so that was fun.

The Grad Gala at my university was the 14th and 15th of this month. All it is, really, is all of the stuff you need (or don't need) for graduation - cap & gown, lei (I go to an Island university. We wear leis at graduation), an alumni shirt, a graduation shirt, pictures, the graduation DVD... all that nonsense. There are tables for the alumni association, career services, and grad school stuff. It's great - a little overwhelming - but also nice to be able to deal with it all in one place. Luckily for me, it's in the building that I spend most of my time in. I bought my cap & gown on the first day and the lei and t-shirts on the second day. I hadn't quite decided if I wanted them on day 1. Like I said, it was a little overwhelming.

I've elected to not take the GMAT because it isn't required for me to get into the MBA program at TAMUCC. There were a lot of factors that played into this decision, but the main one was not wanting to spend $250 on a test that I wasn't ready for, that would only be useful for getting into a school that I probably wouldn't go to.

My grad school application is due November 15th. I think. I hope.

I've got a rough draft of a finance paper due on the 29th. Exams on the 3rd and 4th. Shows starting on the 6th. MFT (major field test) on the 8th. Finance project due on the 10th. Capstone presentation on either the 11th or the 13th. Ethics presentation on the 19th. Exam on the 25th. One final paper due December 2nd and another final paper AND a final exam due on the 4th. I think I have a final exam somewhere in there.

I want to throw up.

let's talk about capstone: basics

So quick recap - I'm a business major. Finance and accounting. I love them both when they're taught properly (read: I'm falling back in love with finance and generally happier with my classes this semester). At TAMUCC, business majors have this class that is fondly (lol) referred to as "capstone". It's a management class technically, but it combines everything we learned in business core classes. It's a huge, semester-long group project. There are five people in my group - four girls and one guy. I'll say right off the bat that I had my doubts. The guy and I have been friends (or classmates, at least) since I started college, and we were dead set on being in the same capstone group. One of the ladies in the group, I had in a different group project (the first group I ever really liked, actually), so when we found out we were in the same class again, we agreed to join forces. Now we had three out of six (at the time). The other two ladies joined the group, and we were able to be the one group in the class with five people.
Score.
I'm pretty comfortable with the group we have. We all seem to get along pretty well, and we laugh and panic and have inside jokes about falling off cliffs and jumping out of windows. We're only a little bit of the way in to the semester, but our first presentation is tomorrow (ack!) and I think we'll survive.

It starts with Macro Environment analysis - so everything outside of the industry. Demographics, political/legal, sociocultural, technological... things I'm forgetting. It's basically the big picture. From there, we look at the firms we choose to put in our industry. We hit a snag here because we put firms in the industry that didn't belong there, which left us scrambling tonight to fix it. There was also another little hiccup because we looked at the 10-Ks from 2013 instead of 2014 (which gives you 2013 data... as opposed to 2012 data from the 2013 10-Ks). Anyway, all that is fixed now, so it's just putting the powerpoint together and actually figuring out what we're going to say. That'll happen tomorrow morning. The stress will be over in about 14 hours. (Still definitely wanting to panic...)

I planned to write a little more on the actual process of this, but it's late and I'm sleepy. I'll write another post with the things we need to fix after the presentation.

82 days until graduation.