Operational Report Complete and Migraines

What an absolutely crazy week this has been!  I am utterly spent and have the worst migraine...

This week, I had to be up in Anaheim, CA for work.  Round 23 of regression testing for a new version of software we're rolling out.  Regression testing is a little more intense than your typical system or unit testing...  Regression testing looks at every single nook and cranny to make sure nothing has broke as a result of some new code (this usually isn't the case!  You fix something, you break something).

On top of it all, our operational report for this business simulation class was due today.  So, this past week I've been up till 3am pouring over financial reports, ratio analyses, sales forecasts, R&D and operational goals, and tons of writing!  I'm pretty proud of our 15 page report.  My team did a pretty awesome job, so I'm pretty blessed to be working with them.

But... I am spent.  Time to get some much needed sleep.

On another note, the passing of Steve Jobs didn't help much.  For some people, his passing was like the passing of Michael Jackson for many people.  I have to say... I was a little depressed on Wednesday.

I know I'm behind on my comic reviews, but don't worry!  This week I'll be catching up on that.  Batman and Nightwing are probably two of my new favorite comics (I got in some comic book reading while trying to nap in my car before class)

Blog with you soon!

New 52! Batman and Robin #1 Review

Writen by: Peter J. Tomasi
Art by: Patrick Gleason


School work is absolutely killing me!  As CFO, the amount of work  needed for this business simulation is insane.  The part that makes me upset is that the business policy game manual continues to reference pro-forma spreadsheets that were never supplied to us!


Anyway off to the review...


~~
This is another title that never really got completely rebooted, based on my little knowledge of Batman and Robin.  I say this because Tim Drake, Bruce Wayne's son, plays Robin.  Obvious reasons being that if they completely rebooted Batman and Robin, there would be no Nightwing, right?


Anyway, there is nothing very revealing about this first issue except for a creepy bad guy that has his sights on Bruce Wayne.  Batman "celebrates" his parents death, giving the reader a little back story on Bruce Wayne and how his parents were murdered in front of him; thus, eventually spawning Batman.  Batman takes his son to spot in which they were killed (via sewers?  not sure why) and vows a new outlook on life: to celebrate their life (not their death).


My reaction?  Batman is a little bit of a sissy and Robin is a total jackass to his father.  Robin doesn't seem to have any respect for his father and Batman turned into an over-protective father.  For a 10 year old kid, he's given a very rebellious attitude that a teenager would have... He wants to do things his way and bum-rush bad guys with brute force -- usually not a good idea.


I suppose this comic was really to lay the ground work for the type of relationship Batman and Robin (father and son) have with each other.  It's not pretty.


I've read different perspectives on this comic... Some people felt Batman was a total douche to Robin...  Me?  I think Robin is an over confident little punk that probably should listen to his father a little more.


Writing: 9/10
Art: 10/10 (I love Patrick Gleason!  I'm a little biased because he drew a sketch of Kyle Rayner for me at Comic Con 2010)
Storytelling: 8/10


Overall: 9/10


I'm pretty sure that I will be picking up the next issue!

Another Night at Lestat's

Today, I spent the day with my business simulation group at Pepperdine University in Orange County.  We had a really productive day organizing our thoughts, calculating financial ratios / sales forecasts, and putting together our game-plan for the simulation weekend.  We also put together a draft of our mission statement.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with our progress.  I worked with most of these folks in our Finance class, and we all seem to work together really well.  I'm definitely blessed to have them around!

It's 8:47pm and I'm back at Lestat's (west location on Park Ave) for another night of study and homework.  Bring on the coffee!

PS.  At this location, there are ridiculous throne chairs!  I wish the older guy would stop watching movies and let me sit there!  Oh and the Irish Monkey is delish!

Study Night at Lestat's

If I had to sum up my day today into one or two words, it would have to be "School Night."

Today, I met with Tyler, Sopa, and Carolina @ Pepperdine's Irvine campus to go over our presentation of Edward De Bono's book "Six Thinking Hats."  We have a skit that we are going to perform that is pretty hilarious.

Afterwards, I made my way to Lestat's coffee house off Adam's Ave in Normal Heights for a night of GSBM 670X.45 simulation work.  A new friend of mine, David, introduced me to this 24/7 coffee house.  The place has a very "hipster" vibe to it: non-matching furniture, various art pieces on the wall, an eclectic genre of music playing in the background, and lots of people reading, studying, and/or conversing.  Some people may find this type of environment very distracting, but for me it helps me focus.  More and more I'm finding it difficult to read and/or study in completely quiet environments.  I usually end up dozing off. I think I might have a little ADHD?

It's about 11:55pm and I got a lot done!  I calculated the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) for the starting point of our company.  Now that I've calculated this percentage, we just have to make sure that our Return on Investment is greater than this and we'll create value for our shareholders.

The Crazy 10 Units!

This trimester, I'm taking 10 units towards my MBA at Pepperdine University:

• Organizational Dynamics and Managing Change
• Managerial Creativity and Innovation for Leadership
• Integration in Business Operations (aka Simulation)

Today was the start of the third class, simulation.  (Yes, I had class on a Saturday from 9am ~ 4pm).  Needless to say, I knew that this trimester was going to kick my butt.  This class is going require a lot of my time and energy.  The point of this class is to simulate the running of a business.  First, we have to put together a paper that pretty much describes how we're going to run the organization:

• How will we create value
• How will we manage the various operations such as inventory, etc
• How much money will we put towards R&D
• What kind of capital structure will our company operate with
• Will we offer dividends and how much

Stuff like that...  My initial feelings: overwhelmed, encumbered, frustrated, and kind of excited.  All of my classmates that have gone through the simulation tell me the same thing: it's a lot of work, it's not so bad, and the two day simulation is actually really fun.  Bad part.  I was nominated to be the CFO.  And I'm not a Finance guy (granted, I did  pretty good in Finance but still!! huff)

After we submit our operations plan, there is a two day simulation where we have to make a series of decisions:

• Increase dividends?  Build another plant?  Add additional lines?  Fire or hire workers?  What kind of quality and functionality do we want in our products?  For what market segments? etc. etc.

Based on these decisions, we receive feedback on how our company performed in the economic conditions the software imposes on our company.  We have to analyze the financial statements that get spit out, along with information on how the other teams (our competition) are doing as well.  It sounds like fun, but it's going to be a painful 6-8 weeks...

My other leadership classes are, luckily, pretty manageable.  No education-to-business projects or other huge projects.  Just a lot of reading...  Speaking of which... I think I have a couple of friends that would appreciate a review of some of the books we've been reading.  I think I'll put up a short review on CATS: The Nine Lives of Innovation, The Six Thinking Hats, Blink, and more...

Of course, I'll be taking my mental breaks... One good escape I've found is to write reviews on some comic books I'm following.  Yeah I know reading comics is a little "child-ish" but it's always been something that interests me and gives me a mental escape from my busy lifestyle.  Plus, writing reviews is a good writing exercise!  Reading and writing more will undoubtedly be a benefit...

Wish me luck!!

Day 5 - Happy New Year

My original plans were to try and to celebrate New Years with some friends in Pacific Beach, but with everything that's going on with the family, I thought that it would be important to bring in the New Years with my loved ones.  I am blessed with a very loving family.

There is a lot to be thankful for and I'm looking forward to what 2011 will bring.  Some things that I'm really looking forward to:

• China trip with Dr. Gertmenian (my econ. professor at Pepperdine)
• Ashley's Wedding
• Comic Con 2011
• Possible trip to Poland
• Learning Polish
• As challenging as it may be, attending Pepperdine University
• And whatever surprises that come along

 And of course, my resolutions:

• Regularly hit the gym
• Learn to cook
• Stay on top of my studies and homework
• Become more of a mentor and leader at work

Happy New Year everyone!  Be safe and have a great time tonight!