Warriors Opening Night

Yes, tomorrow my beloved Golden State Warriors open the 2006 season against the LA Lakers. I am cautiously optimistic, as I have been the last 12 years, that we might be lucky enough to make a playoff appearance this year. I doubt we will, but anything is possible. Hey, some people still think George Bush is the greatest president ever, so anything is truly possible.

UCLA got crushed this past weekend by WSU, so that sucked -- but at the end of the day, we'll always be a basketball school based on tradition and booster money allocation. We might have a few good football years here and there, but for most UCLA fans that just serves as gravy. Florida and Texas are the best football/basketball schools out there, but their academics aren't quite the same as UCLA's.

Got an A- on my Service Strategy midterm -- happy about that considering the weekend prior was the ND-UCLA game and the weekend trip in Chicago.

Student Loans

Even though I would never trade my business school experience, (note to readers: for those of you ever interested in an MBA, I am of the opinion that it will be two of the best years of your life in terms of learning new material, exposure to different industries and meeting some of the brightest people you'll ever associate with) the ever looming shadow of student loans is a pain in the ass. I don't even owe that much, but just the thought of handing over much of my signing bonus to pay down a big chunk of debt is painful. But like they say, everything comes with a cost -- put it this way, I'd rather place an $80K bet on myself and my ability to succeed than invest it any other way (unless I was prescient enough to buy Google stock, that is).

Next semester, my final one, I am taking Mergers & Acquisitions, Financial Information Analyis, Inegrated Marketing and either New Venture Finance or Entrepreneurship. Should make for a good final semester.

Ouch

Well, let me first acknowledge that the trip out for the UCLA-Notre Dame game was as fun as expected. In fact, for the first 58 minutes and 58 seconds, it was even more fun than I could have ever imagined. Somehow, some way, UCLA was beating Notre Dame in South Bend...the stadium was quiet and we were 1:02 away from a landmark win in Karl Dorrell's reign as head coach -- alas, it was not meant to be. The details are too painful to write about in detail, but suffice it to say that a struggling ND offense that we had held in check all day went 80 yards in 3 plays to seal our fate. What a game. It would have been SO sweet to win, but it wasn't meant to be. The luck of the Irish struck again -- I have a myriad more thoughts on this game...including why I am glad I don't live in Indiana, why Karl Dorrell is a conservative football coach whose days should be numbered (Hello Karl, you have a middle fo the road team with a chance for a HUGE upset -- go for the win.) and how football is life in South Bend.

I need to go on a massive diet after this weekend...a man can only eat so much crap and drink so much alcohol before his stomach completely revolts.

Recruiting Season

Even though I know my full-time gig will be exhausting and time-consuming, I am remarkably happy that I am not participating in any on-campus recruiting -- I see some of my classmates scurrying around in suits and it takes me back to last year's stresses, concerns and anticipation. i can definitely empathize with what they are going through -- the good news is that it is a great job market and everyone will end up with jobs that they want...Haas getting ranked #8 in BusinessWeek's latest ranking doesn't hurt either...

For any prospective students in interested in Haas, let me just tell you it was 80 degrees today and its slated for much of the same through the end of the month...not bad.

UCLA-Notre Dame game

That's right -- yours truly is headed to Chicago this weekend to catch the UCLA-Notre Dame on Saturday in South Bend. We're going out with about 15 people -- staying in Chicago all weekend, but taking a 20-person bus loaded with alcohol to the game. Should be an absolute blast other than the fact that ND will probably beat us pretty bad. I can live with that though -- I'm going more for the road trip and having a good time in Chicago.

My part-time job is going ok -- it's tough to get some stuff done because some of the resources are severely lacking -- it is nice to learn and make some money though.

Went to a great restaurant the other night for a friend's birthday -- NOPA in the Panhandle. It's gotten a lot of buzz lately and I have to say its well-deserved. The food was great and the service was timely, yet not too much of a nuisance. Great ambiance, too. I would recommend you try it.

Haas #8 by BusinessWeek

In a bit of good news, Haas was ranked the 8th best business school in the country by BusinessWeek -- a nice coup for the school. I'd agree that the curriculum is probably not as good as some place like Wharton for those interested in finance positions, but I was able to get a job -- and my friends will attest, I am NOT the smartest kid in the world...

Anyway, readmore about it at the BusinessWeek site...

Office Dynamics

Isn't it odd how each office, no matter the industry, has a unique culture all its own? It really is amazing. My current office is extremely quiet during the day with people working away, but come afternoon, people are talking loudly, playing music and even watching movies in the conference room. Definitely a departure from my summer experience.

Now that I have accepted my full-time offer, I need to get comfortable with the fact that I will be spending 12 hours a day in a classroom and living in a hotel for 7 weeks. Yup -- that is the deal. The new associate class spends 7 weeks in NY undergoing training -- seems like a long time to be away if you ask me. Oh well, it'll be fun meeting my new colleagues -- hopefully, my office has a good incoming class.

In other news, did my annual Warriors season ticket draft -- I ended up with opening night versus the Lakers, Spurs, Rockets, Nuggets, Mavericks and Clippers -- I rounded out my picks with teams like the Hawks, Pacers, Sixers and another team that is slipping my mind. I have to admit, I am really excited for the season to start -- somehow, I feel like the team will be better this year -- even if they don't make the playoffs, I feel like there is a young core of talented players that can be the foundation of an eventual playoff team.

Movie Review: The Departed

So, i went with a couple friends to see "The Departed" on Friday night -- before I get into the review, let me just comment that the new addition to the San Francisco Centre which includes Bloomingdale's is pretty nice -- we walked through the men's department to get to the theater and it made me want to go shopping for some new clothes. Anyway, I digress...

Simply put, the movie was excellent -- not for the faint of heart b.c there was a fair amount of violence and graphic gunshot scenese, but the movie came together very well. The performances of the star studded cast was also superb -- I thought both Leonardo DiCaprio and Jack Nicholson were fantastic -- the only downside was that the movie was really long and a tad predictable at times. Other than that, it was filled with great cinematography, a good plot and a few surprisingly hilarious moments especially courtesy of Alec Baldwin.

By the way, the new Century Theaters now boast Pleather seats -- comfortable, but they make odd noises if you move about too much...

Warriors Post

It has been awhile since I posted about my favorite basketball team, so I thought with training camp underway now is as good a time as any to write about my squad. Each and every year, I promise not to get excited since the Ws always let me down....however, the hiring of Don Nelson has me pumped...I know the Western Conference is ridiculously stacked and the Warriors have not really changed their roster (except adding my man Dajuan Wagner), but somehow I feel like Nellie will add 10 or so wins to their record...I know it sounds foolish, but a man has to have something to look forward to, right?

Accepted my Full-Time Job Offer

Well, after much thought and consultation with loved ones, I have decided to accept the full-time from my summer employer. It was not an easy decision given the short-term costs of the position, but I feel strongly that the long-term benefits will far outweigh the costs. Since I'll soon be back to working 90-100 hours a week starting next July, I will try and enjoy my second year at Haas the best that I can.

I would post more on this topic, but I have discussed it with my family and significant other so much now that I am burnt on the issue. I will post more in the coming days.

New Job

So, it is my second week on the new job and I still haven't been given much substantive work to do -- I hope that changes soon, b.c as nice as making money is, I want to learn some new skills that will be applicable to my full-time job next year.

I decided that my next (and last semester) at Haas should be filled with practical classes -- I am thinking of taking Mergers and Acquisitions, Financial Information Analysis, Corporate Financial Management and something else. Sounds fun, huh? I know, not really.