Archive for the 'Sun Devil Life' Category

quarter of the way there and a sharp dose of reality

Published on October 2, 2008 in Sun Devil Life. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

I really thought I’d be writing more about school life on this blog, but I find I am not.  So here is my forced attempt at fixing that problem.

ASU student: Jeremy Scott

ASU student: Jeremy Scott

As of this week I am in my sixth week of school.  Last week I completed the first round of tests in all my classes.  I had widely mixed results.  In my Financial Analysis class (FIN302) I am currently sitting at 100%.  I am glad, it is a business school general education requirement and my instructor challenged us to beat the one honors student, and I did (ha ha).  In my Financial Institutions class (FIN331) I am at 72%… below my standards for sure but easy to recover and I have the option of dropping this class without consequence for reasons I will explain later.  Finally, in International Management (MGT 302)… um, er, 60%.  If you’re reading this and you know me at all, that 60% is my first, and hopefully my last D grade on a major assignment in college.

I am taking only three classes this semester.  I purposely set this schedule for a few reasons… first I was at the time very unsure about my major, second I was a little concerned about my ability to balance work, university courses, and home life, so I wanted to take it easy, and third, “easy” to me would still have been 12 credit hours, but I couldn’t find 4 classes because of my late registration.

Lets take some baby steps through these bits of personal history that led me here.

WP Carey School of Business at ASU

WP Carey School of Business at ASU

Leading up to my “graduation” at MCC, I was dead-set on a Business Management degree.  That is what I was working towards.  My career goal is Socially Responsible Entrepreneur and I thought Business Management would have been for me.  An acquaintance of mine who is a WP Carey School alum suggested I was down the wrong path, as the Business Management degree at ASU teaches you middle management for a Fortune 500 company, not how to start and grow your own company.  I chewed on this, and changed to Finance as I felt that of the other choices I could have made, Finance could offer me the most useful toolkit for my career goal.  But the decision was one that never sat well with me.

As I had previously alluded to, it took an act of God to get my university registration through the red tape, so by the time I was able to register for classes, already late into July, I found most classes full.  I was luckily able to register in two business gen. ed. courses but was also forced to take one Finance-only course.  In my first day of classes, my Finance 302 professor told me a story of his days as an undergrad and how he chose a marketing course as a last-semester business school elective only to find that his “numbers based” mind could note cope in the “creative based” marketing course.

While everyone else (all Finance majors) were laughing, I was horrified.  While I am proficient with numbers, I hate them.  I am a deeply creative person, from writing to web design to creative problem solving.  His unsolicited insight into his past prophesied an opposite like story for my future as a Finance major.  I knew right then that Finance was not my major… I don’t love numbers and I am very creative!

I left that class, found the student lounge, and logged into the student services web site.  While downloading the course requirements for Marketing, Management, and Supply Chain Management, I found a new Business Management in Entrepreneurship degree.  It was tailor-made for me.  It turns out that during my one-year break from school, WP Carey school added the new major.  Three weeks later, I was transferred into the program with no looking back.

So anyway, here I am, a quarter way through my first semester at ASU.  My major is changed and my grades gave me a sharp dose of reality that university requires a different kind of student than junior college.  With  mixed results heading into midterms I face some real challenges to my future as a scholarship-funded student.  Where do I go from here?

Back to School Tomorrow

Back to School Tomorrow

In FIN 302: Financial Analysis it will be full speed ahead.  My comfort with numbers and my intuitive understanding of ratios will guide me to a curve-setting grade.  My instructor is brilliant, an excellent lecturer, and uses slideshows, tests, and quizzes he wrote himself.  He is a fair grader and a great teacher.  My plan is keep it up and relax at the end of the semester with a strong grade.

In MGT 302: International Business I will need some adjustments in study habits. Now that I am in a management sub-major it is critical that I turn this grade around.  I am allowed to drop one test so I figure if I can excel in the other three tests, I’ll be able to put the D behind me.  I have met up with a small student study group that I plan to study with for the future tests, and given the additional attention I intend to dedicate to course, I am sure I can turn this around.

FIN 332 Financial Institutions I am not as sure about.  The teacher is frustrating me because he is modifying the university approved syllabus and literally ignoring the book because he feels that the news on the economy is rewriting the book.  I agree that the changes in the economy will result in a drastically rewritten book in the next edition, I don’t think this loose-cannon approach to teaching is a better alternative.  If his tests get easier because they are primarily current events based, I will be able to turn it around, but if he continues to dabble around reading Wall St Journal articles and then test me on book content, I will drop this class and face no consequence, as the class doesn’t count in my new major.

So, here we go, onto the rest of the semester.

stories from the first day

Published on August 26, 2008 in Sun Devil Life. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

i. picking a seat:

I forgot how much I enjoy watching people pick their seats on the first day of class, and today, after a year off of school, I was given the opportunity to see it again.  I arrived early, like I hopefully will every day now, because if I am late it will mean I missed my bus.  Seated eleven minutes prior to the instructor’s and 67 of his 70 students’ arrival, I saw person after person file in through the door.  Oddly enough, though there were two doors, everyone used only the east entrance… why and whether people will learn of the other door’s existence are questions that may be answered later.  But it wan’t what door they came through that I was interested in, it was what they did after the door shut behind them.

Each one looked around before taking a place.  During their visual survey of the room, they displayed their thoughts through their facial expressions.  These expressions informed me of the motivation that led them to the seat where they eventually sat down, and also gave hints into what kind of student they would be.  There are those who purposely picked the front seats, mostly because they’d rather have the back of their head stared at than look in the eye the students they just embarrassed with that excellent question and even better test grade.  In the back and far left and right are the timid, whose effort so far has gotten them by but they prefer not to be called on or involved in discussion.  Of course, there were those who sat near or next to friends and acquaintances from prior classes.  Their search for safety in the unfamiliar could suggest either an excellent study team or an insecure student who will rely on the support of his or her fellow student.  Either should yield a higher grade but not a curve-setting one, since their relationship should also act as a distraction.   Finally there are those who purposely place themselves in the speaker’s cone, that place where the instructor will “look for friendly eyes” when speaking.  These people are okay with the knowledge that the instructor will see them, and interact with them, that is what they want.  It is these people you must be scared of, they set the curve.

As for me, I chose my seat in my favorite area, just off center in the second row, near the center of the cone.  Fear me.

ii. smell of soap and perfumed poo:

Even a small school like Mesa Community College, which I attended for five semesters and two summer sessions, can feel like a labyrinth of buildings, passageways, and dead ends.  On the day I graduated MCC I knew the location of only nine restrooms, the ninth having been discovered while dressed in graduation robes at the line up.  I needed to pee before the three hour ceremony.  Someone from the nearest building’s academic department was nearby and suggested the seemingly hidden bathroom in that building.  Anyway, I was hoping things would be easier at ASU but no cigar, I am as lost as I was on day 1 at MCC, except this time lost in a bigger labyrinth with seemingly fewer restrooms.

After my 9AM class ended, my breakfast beverages declared freedom and my search for a restroom commenced.  I walked three hallways on two floors in the BA building before I considered my attempt futile and walked across the grass to the MU.  Inside the MU I was expecting a map, but the recent renovations required such resources to be temporarily taken down and obviously the work team was behind schedule.  I asked some other students just to learn that many were new freshmen and others were looking for a restroom as well.  Descending to the lower level and turning a corner put me in another hallway and with still no sign to guide my way.  I passed a soda machine, the third I had encountered in my hunt so far; ironically they water you down more than they provide a place to release, but I guess it makes sense since bathrooms don’t earn marketing dollars from Pepsi Co.  Beside the soda machine was another hallway, and a scented draft found my nose.  As if produced by a potpourri of soap suds and perfumed poo, the musty unpleasant smell that only a public restroom could create gave me hope that an end to my quest was near.  Down the hall, through two doors, and alas a urinal and a long “ahhhhh….”.

On the way out I popped $1.25 into the machine for a 20oz Mountain Dew.  Highway robbery, they were $1 at MCC.  Three hours later, I need to pee again.  And the search begins anew.

iii. hot chicks looking unattractive.

When at MCC the Kirk Student Center, the community college’s sorry attempt at a MU equivilent, was my between classes hangout.  It often frusturated me that every table was occupied by Magic: The Gathering card player dorks and all the comfortable chairs were occupied by people napping.  No different in the ASU MU–except their are more soft chairs here.  Seated next to me is a girl that if awake and sittup up would pass my hotness test but pretty fails it asleep.  Seriously, why would anyone, especially a hot chick, think it is wise to fall asleep in a chair in the student lounge?  There is nothing more unattractive than a hot chick asleep in chair with her mouth open and drool on her cheeck.  Well, except for your grandma naked.

the wheels on the bus go round and round

Published on August 21, 2008 in Sun Devil Life. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .

I am writing this (though I won’t post this until later when it is edited and pictures are uploaded) from a Valley Metro bus.  I have lived in the Phoenix area all of my life and I have never rode the city bus system before.  There is a first for everything, I guess. I am riding the bus today to become familiar with one of my three transit options to and from school.  The city bus service is a key part of my three-fold plan to save lots of money this year–while also saving the earth a little bit too. (The other parts being: buy and ride a bike, park in free park-and-rides near school, and not buy a $780 campus parking permit.)  For a first time on the bus, the experience has so far been neat and exciting.

The Evil Scary Bus

The Evil Scary Bus

I started my first day of public transit by missing my bus.  I was aiming to board the 11:54 AM bus but had to wait for the 12:09 PM one.  Since making it to class will be dependent on my making the bus, I learned a good lesson today.

The bus system in Phoenix, despite numerous public awareness campaigns, is operating on a tarnished image.  I haven’t ridden the bus before because of this image.  The busses are supposedly dirty, dangerous, slow, always late, uncomfortable, and poorly air-conditioned.  Also, the bus system is supposedly difficult to use, lacking on routes, and requires a person to be unnecessarily subject to the elements.

Though this is my first trip, I can say that so far none of the above it true.  The bus is clean, the driver was friendly and welcomed me on board, the passengers were normal people just doing their business, it was on time the entire trip, the seats weren’t super-comfortable but they weren’t uncomfortable, the AC worked well, and the bus schedule and web site are easy to use.  The bus system is spread out a bit, but every major north/south street in Chandler and Tempe has a route, so if I wanted to I could get around.

My biggest concern, and my family and friends’ greatest criticism of my plan, was how long it would take.  The trip took 43 minutes to complete.  In good traffic I can get to ASU in 20- 25 minutes and in traffic 25-40, so it took at the most around 20 minutes longer via the bus, but two of three of my trips to and from school are during the rush hour, which could result in the bus option taking no longer anyway.  Plus, at about $6-$8 in gas savings every trip, what is 20 minutes?  In 20 minutes I couldn’t earn $6 at my hourly job!

Overall, my first trip on the bus was educational and exciting, and it relieved many of my fears and concerns related to my school transportation plans.  I am sure I will share stories from my experience as a public transportation commuter in the near future.

Posted the Infinite MPG category as I chronicle my efforts to save money, gas, and the earth by communiting in Infinite MPGs.

its like riding a bike

Published on August 6, 2008 in Infinite MPG and Sun Devil Life. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

If I were to die today and God were to ask me how I liked the last month of my life, I’d tell him it was a pain in the butt and that ASU sucks.  July, for me, was nothing but running around getting ready for school.  Part of that adventure was planning my transportation to and from campus, which per Google Maps is 14.8 miles away.  While making these plans I was aware that ASU charged for parking.  I didn’t realize how much.  When I found out, I was flabbergasted.  An alternative was necessary.

To quote myself from earlier this week, ASU charges an ungodly amount of money ($780) to park on campus and an unholy amount ($280) to park in their glorified park-and-ride known as lot 59 (1 mile away and a 10 minute bus ride from campus).  Unbelievable!  I will be attending classes three days a week this semester, and three or four days a week next semester… so between 90 and 115 days this year.  At $780 for a year-long permit, it would cost me between $6.75 and $8.60 per day to park… or 2.5 hours a week of work.  Oh hell no, I value my time and money more than that!

So I did what every other cash-strapped student does… I consider a lot 59 pass.  At only $2.60 – $3.10 per day to park it was more reasonable.  But the FLASH (the free bus that transports students from lot 59 to campus) is notorious for being overfilled and sometimes rejecting passengers as a result.  If I can’t count on the provided bus to get me to class on time, why bother?  ASU has a hard-to-use transportation services website that offered a glimmer of hope: the UPass.  The UPass is an unlimited free-fare card for use on the ValleyMetro Bus and Light Rail lines… and is given to students for free.  Further research on my part revealed the location of a free park-and-ride two miles from campus with regular bus pickups.  My alternative was found!

During one of my many days getting lost in campus jungle of red tape with only a dull macheté as company, I noticed for the first time how big the campus actually is.  Walking, I decided, would be a ridiculous waste of time. Thus, I needed a speedier form on non-motorized travel.  Skates and Skateboards are fast–if referring to the speed at which the ambulance travels while transporting me to the hospital with compounded open fractures of the femur–but I needed something more subtle.  A bike!

This one idea transformed my entire outlook on life.  As my obsession with the bike idea grew, my continued distaste for high gasoline prices (20 cents a mile in gas, anyone?) and thieves stealing catalytic converters out from under your car while you shop for gummi bears and deordorant worsened. Suddenly the very prospect of the bike + UPass as a form of alternate transportation became the solution.  So I resolved to buy a bike.

But remember where this all started?  I am cheap.  Er, economical.  So I didn’t start my search for a bike at Target, I started and ended my search for a bike on Craislist.  In 30 minutes.

Last week, I went and paid $50 for my bike.  It isn’t a great bike, but a good one.  Well, good enough.  Its store brand (Murray), and was recently mechanically refurbished by a kind gentleman formerly a bike shop owner who passed his time in retirement warding off artritis by refurbishing bikes and selling them for nothing to young people and then using his time alone with them to convert them to Mormonism.  He failed with me but we still had a good talk, and I still got away for only $50.  I then bought a heavy duty lock, headlights and taillight kit, helmet, and some other accessories for another $95… bringing the total for the bike to $145… still half of the lot 59 parking fee.

Today, my day off, I installed all the stuff onto the bike.  The new “comfort select” seat was a must… considering that I want my balls to still work after biking around campus all year.  Minus a fresh coat of paint, it looked like new was deemed ready for my riding it.

Oh, what a joke.

I haven’t owned a bike for almost six years now… basically I got a car and then stopped using the bike.  Go figure!  I was a teenager with a driver’s license, I didn’t such a childish form of transportation any longer.  As such, I also haven’t rode a bicycle in that long: 6 years.

Ever heard that phrase “its like riding a bike”? Y’know, that one that suggests that certain skills can’t be forgotten?  Well, it would be nice if the term wasn’t a lie when taken literally.  I was able to operate the bike, but I have forgotten how to ride one.  I didn’t fall, but everything about riding like one did as a kid I now suck at.  I used to be able to ride with no handle bars... now I can’t remove a hand without losing balance.  I used to be able to take tight turns riding in circles with my neighborhood gang… now I need to three-point the neighborhood street!  On my ride, I nearly plowed down two pedestrians.  Its ridiculous!  I shouldn’t be allowed on the road.

And now, as I type this, my legs are burning in pain.  I rode 1 mile today… I’ll need to go 2.5 to get from the bus station to class.  And then reality sets in…