Where I've Been!

Okay, this was one of the first applications I ever used on Facebook, you know, back when Facebook was awesome and just for college kids only. Man, those were the days. Anyway, here's Where I've Been:

I Suck At Blogging

I'll be the first to admit that I officially suck at blogging. Funny thing about that statement. I remember when I was a little kid, I had a teacher that used to tell us never to say "suck" because we weren't vacuums. I am really awful at blogging, I'm sure my teacher would approve of that.

Now here comes my excuse, I HAVE QUALS coming up next week!!! Yea, yea, "but Jadrian, you didn't have quals in May and you skipped that whole month." Again, I revert back to my previous statement, I suck at blogging. This may be the 13th time I've promised to be better. We'll see.

Back to the quals, or core exams, or prelims. Why are there so many names for this test? Is one actually any different than the other? If so, I don't know why. On the topic of things I don't know, let's say about 75% of what we've covered this past year. So here's the layout of what's coming up:

Today - 8:45 May 13, 2011 - STUDY, STUDY, STUDY, STUDY, FACEBOOK, STUDY
June 13 - Micro core exam (Perhaps my strongest subject)
June 15 - Macro core exam (My semi-confident exam)
June 20 - Stats/Econometrics core exam (I'm scared of this one, I have nightmares)
June 21 - Hello Texas
July 3 - Goodbye Texas

So yea, that's the next 2 weeks in a nut shell. I feel REALLY good about micro only because that's definitely my strongest subject. Macro, ehhh. That's a good description. I did really well in the second semester (A-), but I BOMBED the first semester (B-, which is really an F). And then there's stats, the devil himself would be scared of stats. I have studied for this one more than any of the others.

So, where am I? I've completed the the first semester of material from Stats, and about to dabble in the 2nd. I've done MOST of the recitations from the 1st semester of micro, and I've re-worked about 1/2 the problem sets in macro from the 1st semester. Notice a theme yet? I haven't touched the second semester. Ugh.

Back to work.

Becoming Entrepreneurial

Entrepreneurial, I've always hated that word, and every variation of it. I LOVE the idea of being an Entrepreneur and running your own business, but at the end of the day, that word has ALWAYS nagged me. I think it may stem from the fact that I can't spell the word, it's always been tough for me to spell, and I was even an Entrepreneurship minor as an undergrad. As we speak, instead of trying to type the word, I'm just hitting Command+C and copying it into the document.

So, back on to the topic of why I started this post! I've started my own business. And by started, I really mean I've filled out the beginning paperwork necessary to be registered with the city and state. Once I get the paperwork back saying I'm legit, I'll open a bank account and start ordering supplies and then accepting customers. I'm hoping to be ready to go by the time summer starts.

So what is the business you may ask? It's a convenience based business, which focuses on house cleaning. So what is convenience service you may ask? It's doing things you don't want to do, like walking the dog, picking up mail, delivering groceries, etc. If you'd like to see our website, here ya go:

www.ServingPullman.Weebly.com

We're hoping to get a full domain in the next month or so. Our goal right now is a customer base of 5 regular clients by the end of the summer.

Funny Econ Stories

So over the past two weeks, it's been pretty slow around the econ world, well, my part of the econ world. You know, the part that's within a 20 mile radius of Pullman, WA.

However, The Economist Blog did post an interesting article about how business students are the laziest students in the university setting:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2011/04/business_education?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/racetothebottom

Ouch! Stings a little, but I definitely can see they have a lot of valid points, and I'd have to agree with a lot of what they say. There are a lot of REALLY good students in the business field, but there are also a lot of lazy students that water us down.

Speeding Tickets, Ugh!

So last week I had a visitor come up and see Pullman and see me and Spencer. Well on the way home, I got a nice fat speeding ticket ($154) in a town that has a grand total of 5 police officers. It's been about 4 years since I got my last speeding ticket, and that price is the reason why. There was a little stretch where I got a speeding ticket each year. I'm basically giving the police department $154 and got nothing for it. So, is going 46 in a 35 worth it, not really.

As far as school goes, it's actually been kind of slow since Spring Break, which is really nice. I've been able to get a lot of work done and get started on my study plan for the cores. 9 weeks to go, and I haven't really started studying. Eek! I guess I'll start soon enough.

Oh! And I went biking on the Chipman Palouse Trail! It's a really nice trail, and I think I'll be hitting that path more often:

Legalize Online Poker

http://www.onlinepoker.org/infographics/legalize-online-poker/

Airline Travel Guide

I found this Stumbling, it was pretty neat. It lays out prices and guidelines for each airline. For me, personally, I'm more of a "cheapest available" flyer, but I know there are a lot of people out there looking for a certain airline that caters to their needs

Sales Productivity During the 2010 World Cup

Came across this little bit while floating through the web. It covers the "cost" of the World Cup in terms of loss of business productivity. If you click the photo, it'll allow you to view a larger version.


Sales Productivity Software - InsideView.com

Who Owns the US Debt?

Greg Bocquet at Yahoo!Finance released some number today on who actually owns the US debt. Mainland China ranks first, which is not surprising to many Americans. An average American would most likely be able to guess that China was the number one owner. However, more surprising is the number two ranking, Japan, which is only 0.2% away from the #1 spot. Combined, the top 3 own over 50% of the debt.

1. Mainland China
Amount of U.S. debt: $891.6 billion
Share of total foreign debt: 20.4%

2. Japan
Amount of U.S. debt: $883.6 billion
Share of total foreign debt: 20.2%

3. United Kingdom
Amount of U.S. debt: $541.3 billion
Share of total foreign debt: 12.4%

Click Here to See the Top 10

Spousonomics: Using Economics in a Marriage

So I saw this video on Yahoo! and now I want to get it and see what it has to say. It's got some good tips for young couples on how to use economics in a relationship. Here's a video:

Q: What do you call a Doctor who makes B's and C's in all their classes?

So I've come to the realization, finally, that economics is all about assumptions. Literally, each branch of economics has it's own assumptions that other branches think are wrong, and that's why their branch is "superior." It's really no different with my life outside of school.  I assume my officemates will help me if I get stuck, I assume Spencer will help me when I get stressed, and I assume that I will be able to finish all my homework before it's due. Yea....., I assume a little too much.

I'm not saying all that stuff isn't true, but it's gotten to the point where I feel SUPER lazy because I just assume I can get it done later on down the road. In fact, sometimes I feel like everyone around me is better prepared and works harder, and that I'm just a bum. Oh well. I don't care.

Let me rephrase that, I care about the program, I don't care what other people think about me. If I want to sit in my office and watch an episode of American Pickers while eating a cupcake, I'm going to do it. If I want to watch a movie one night instead of working on group homework that isn't due for another week, that should be fine too. Some people in my program have forgotten what it's like to be human beings with social and entertainment needs. Some people are just go, go, go, all the time, and never realize there are more important things in life then finishing your homework a week and a half early, which honestly, I don't know how they do it.

My mom told me a story once about school, and I'll always remember it; I also think it applies to this situation as well:

Q: What do you call a Doctor who makes B's and C's in all their classes?
A: Doctor

That's going to be my motto from now till I get that piece of paper that says you have to call me Dr. Wooten. I don't care if I failed a test. I don't care if I don't get my homework done till the day before. All that matters at the end of the semester is that I have a 3.0 average. All that matters at the end of this year is that I pass those three core exams. All that matters at the end of the next 3 years is that I come up with a kick-ass research idea. Bust your butt all you want, but at the end of these 4 years, we'll both be called doctors. 

So it's been a While... Part Deux

Yea, so much for that idea of  updating my blog at least once a week =/ Sorry about that. I had the best intentions of doing that, but life just got in the way. If you're reading this because you want to know how my life is going, then, I would suggest talking to me on the phone, or even Facebook, because I would probably like to talk to you as well. I've come to the realization that if it wasn't for Facebook, I wouldn't know about 95% of my "friends." My closest friends, however, I do chat with on a regular basis, so I still know about them, but the rest... I wish I could talk to more.

If I've learned one thing about Grad School, it's how to balance life. Yea, I've learned about Hamiltonians, positive definite matrices, gamma family of distributions, and consumer theory, but those haven't really impacted my day-to-day life. What I've really learned is how to balance my time with school, personal time, friends, and relationships. That's been the biggest challenge for me since moving to Washington. I've always been go, go, go and find time for myself in-between everything else. Only now am I physically saying "No" to work in place of personal time with friends. It's made my life SOOOOOO much better. If you ever feel like you don't have time for friends, then you really do need to just stop everything you're doing and take a break. Trust me, you'll come back to your work more motivated, more productive, and in an overall better mood. I guarantee it.