|
Name: neener
School: USC Marshall School of Business
Status: Employed...finally
E-mail: Click here!
Reason for blogging: I'm incredibly self-absorbed. |
 |
I'm listening to...
::"Stay Beautiful," The Last Goodnight
::"Spaceman," The Killers
::"Green Light," John Legend
::"Superstar," Lupe Fiasco
I'm watching...
::24
::The Office
I'm reading...
::Taiwan, A Political History, by Denny Roy
::The Devil and Miss Prym, by Paulo Coehlo
I've just seen...
::Slumdog Millionaire
::I Love You, Man
::The Reader
|
|
|
 |
Dancing the Night Away I am recovering from a night of singing and dancing. I am so tired and sleepy. Last night was Marshall Idol, our school's karaoke version of the TV show, which serves a good cause: raising money for C4C, a charity organization. Disregarding singing ability and taking only "entertainment value" into consideration, there were some mind-blowing performances, including our new AGBS president doing Neil Diamond; a breakout performance by a PM-er doing "Baby Got Back"; a very drunk Chang-er doing "Easy Lover" with his very patient partner, Viv; and of course, me, YJ, and Jacqui as the C-premes singing "Stop! In the Name of Love." The judges included our management accounting professor, the Program Office director, and our core's very own Murph, who threatened me earlier that we were "going down," but ended up being very nice. It was tons of fun, and the music on the dance floor after the contest was great, too...If clubbing were like this every time, I'd go clubbing more often. Dubya (and her very cute new haircut) and Jenny were there too and did spectacular jobs as proxy photographers for me.
I was very nervous before the whole thing and was in total "I'm gonna vomit" mode, but everything turned out really well, considering that (1) we couldn't get the songs we wanted, and ended up choosing something the day before, (2) people were dropping out of our group due to illness, (3) traffic was bad, so Jacqui couldn't meet up with us to practice until one hour before the show, and (4) Jacqui had never heard of the song before and had to learn the choreography (by YJ and yours truly), the tune, and the lyrics in less than an hour. When we got up there, the mike was way too high for me, and by the time Seth adjusted it for me, the song had already started, and I got totally thrown off. I totally blanked out on the tune and on the choreography, and I couldn't hear myself, so I just grabbed the mike and hung onto it for dear life. Looking back at the video, I'm surprised I was on-key at any point (I did such a poor job compared to when I was practicing) or doing the same dance moves as YJ and Jacqui. YJ and Jacqui, as expected, did an amazing job on stage, showing everyone exactly how sexy the Core C ladies are. The adrenaline rush after performing was like nothing else, as was the onslaught of support from our fellow students and faculty.
Some choice lines from the night:
Andrew: "Mark...why are you holding two drinks?"
Shimi: "Uh...because I bought this one...while I was holding this one!"
Chang-er: "Before we start [performing], I just want to say that activity-based costing has changed my life, and I used to allocate overhead to direct labor, and now there's a whole, like, window of opportunity that has opened up to me, so I just want to thank Professor Young for giving me that love."
Murph: "Your singing was like two dolphins mating..."
Chang-er: "Dude, who doesn't love dolphins? I mean, give me a break, all right?"
Murph: "I haven't seen moves like that since my cousin had an epileptic fit."
Murph: "I've never actually seen someone make love to a microphone stand quite like [Neener]."
At some point, I'll try to get some pictures online....
Right now, I am working on an operations management assignment on inventory. We are supposed to manage inventory for a hypothetical company and answer two questions about inventory management strategies. I tried all these wacky equations for determining the optimal order size to maximize profit, but it turns out that I get the best results when I randomly guess. So I am thinking of writing the following in answer to my prof's questions:
1. What was your purchase decision process?
"My decision process consisted of guessing random numbers. "
2. Did you develop a general rule for purchasing decisions?
"No. But if you need to me say something, my general rule is to guess."
Then again, the prof might not appreciate that answer...
Midterms and Other Stuff Finished all my midterms. Got some of the back. Let's not talk about them.
Ran for VP, Information Systems. Lost. Let's not talk about that.
Going to perform at Marshall Idol, a charity fundraiser where students karaoke. We'll see what happens...
Post-Exam Euphoria Two exams down, two more to go! I'm experiencing post-exam euphoria and can't get back into study mode, although that's what I should do. Being the procrastination queen, I started rooting through some old papers and found a little something I jotted down when I was obsessed with finding funny things for my unix "signature." Here it is:
"Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."
---Joe Theismann.
The Dizzying Heights of Madness You know something is wrong when everyone in your class starts making IT jokes and using datacomm metaphors. I think studying for our IT midterm has driven us all mad.
Macro down. Three more midterms to go!
Midterms.. Are upon us. Oh, intrepid MBA student, beware!
My Cover Letter for a Marketing Position at a Canned Goods Company [Name and Address of Recruiting Manager]
Dear [Name],
I am a first-year MBA student and am writing to request an interview for the marketing position at [company name].
I developed awesome analytical skills and communications skills at my previous position, which is exactly what you said you wanted in your job description. Not only was I entrusted with such complicated mathematical operations such as multiplication and division, but I was required to give in-depth presentations on complicated tasks, e.g. training new hires how to replace the ink cartridge in color printers. That's not all! As my supervisor can attest, I work very well in teams, until someone on the team disagrees with me. Then I do a pretty good job of making everyone's life a hell on earth. But that's ok. The experience of being kicked off my team taught me that I am also very effective and productive when working alone!
I think that I would be a perfect fit at your company because of the skills I bring to the table as well as my enthusiasm for your products. For example, I just love your fruit cocktail, and I would just love to be able to work on the marketing team for this product because it is very obvious to me that not enough people are buying it, and dammit, it deserves to be in every home in the country! Asians are an untapped market, and fruit cocktail is excellent with almond tofu, which is a very popular dessert. Please find attached my marketing plan centered on this unique selling point (can you say, "competitive advantage?"). And guess what? I am Asian, so I am perfectly qualified to help you on marketing strategies for this group. Granted, I can't speak any Asian language, I am completely Americanized, and I have very little insight into any Asian culture, but I'm sure that's a shortcoming you can overlook.
Thank you for your time and consideration, and I hope to hear from you soon. You can do no wrong with someone like me in your organization!
Sincerely,
Neener
Wait! Rewind that, please At the Superbowl half-time show, Justin Timberlake tore off part of Janet Jackson's top, which resulted in a lot of rewinding and debate as to whether her breast was really exposed and/or whether she was pierced. Without the ability to zoom, it was hard to say, but I guess this settles it: http://www.drudgereport.com/mattjj.htm.
Flattery Will Get You Nowhere If you're going to try to get something out of a stranger through flattery, here's a tip: make it somewhat believable. You wouldn't say to Quasimodo, "Hey, handsome!", would you? No. You wouldn't. Some old guy decked out in tennis gear with a tennis basket and everything came up to me after I was done hitting tennis balls erratically all over all three courts at the local junior high and said, "You're pretty good. Are you on the varsity high-school team?" Puh-leeze. First of all, there is no way anyone could mistake my old ass for that of a high-schooler. Second, we're in freaking SM, where the varsity team is actually really good. Third, if you pit me against even a beginner junior-higher, my ass would be toast, something that even the most casual observer would know within 2 minutes of watching me. He obviously wanted me to get lessons from him...but his lack of subtlety did him in. So remember, when using flattery, make it believable. I think this tip will be very helpful for MBAs who are trying to brownnose their way to a job.
|
 Get your own blog!
 Stay updated. Subscribe.
 Stay updated. Add this feed to My Yahoo! |
|
|
When I learn a new word, I'll put it here so you can learn too!
EBITAS (noun):
Abbreviation for "Earnings Before Income Tax, Amortization, and SGARA." Next week, find out what SGARA is.
Click here for previous "new words." |
|
|
