A Capitalist Brew

I am anxious to get back to work on my dissertation and plunge into the second essay.  This is the one that I would submit to a mainstream, top finance journal as opposed to a lesser real estate journal.  The more I can get into this essay, the closer I am to being able to say I am half done.  Yet, I cannot seem to find time to work on it at all.  The sickness (I cannot rid myself of the sore, scratchy throat) and all the obstacles just seem to leave me spinning my wheels.  There were family things I could not avoid…the doctor’s appointment and extra time at home due to Brooke’s pink eye, the “quick” morning alignment that turned into an all-day affair, etc.  Today I am really angry at the department’s contribution to this cycle.  I know that people considered to have “light” loads of assistantship responsibility get more proctoring assignments.  So, I am not sure why I got a full load of proctoring assignments for the semester when I not only have my own class but also have more than 150% of the assistantship credit as other students due to the fact that I am also helping Z with research and proctoring.  Grrr.  Right now I am just working to get work done for the next class and treading water with everything else.  I am not sure how to get myself out of this rut.  Maybe an extra few hours of work on a weekend would get me back on track.  I am still working through this madness, but something has to get better soon.

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Coming off the end of the week and reading this book, I was feeling a good amount of momentum to get papers read, make lesson plans, and get to work on the next chapter of my dissertation. Then the cold lurking in the background for the past week decided to take another whack at me. I got slower and slower until I crashed in my reading chair while Scott got Brooke ready for bed last night. I woke up this morning still feeling bad and took some cold medicine. I was sure it was daytime medicine, but my body reacted in a way very similar to the time I accidentally took nighttime medicine before a real estate exam. I have been trying to gain some speed all day, but now I am behind schedule again .  Why is it that we work and work and work and finally gain enough momentum to glide along for a short time and then (SMACK!) we are knocked down yet again?  It is hard to reach the production possibilities frontier under these conditions.

How is that post for a strange combination of physics and economics theory?

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For the most part, things improved or at least found a conclusion later this week. Here is a recap:

• Teaching: The week got better and maybe even ended on a positive note. Today I covered one chapter in less than 50 minutes and wondered if it was worth that much coverage. This was basic time value of money concepts and problems that I think they should have found easy and elementary. After class one student asked me if I had additional problems like that and thanked me for that coverage since the previous professor teaching the class did not do anything like that. So, I am feeling better knowing we are moving into the material where my strengths lie (at least for the next few weeks). I can do mortgage problems in my sleep (or nearly so since last semester I did them hopped up on nighttime cold medicine). I do have to say that I am baffled by the fact that I have a MBA student in the class who was supposed to get permission from Z to be in the class and then talk to me about what his additional work would be. He as not talked to me, so he may be surprised when it comes time for grades.
• Seminar: Newbie professor was tough but not as defensive in class this week. I think she knows we are trying and getting there. I am hoping I came off as less of a moron than the previous week.
• Gym: I made it to the gym this week but only once, and of course while I am there running I get a call from Brooke’s school to come pick her up because they think she has pink eye. Focus on the positive…I made it to the gym, I ran for almost 25 minutes without stopping, and I have lost 4.5 pounds in the past 2.5 weeks.
• Cleaning: Cleaning ladies showed up Thursday morning at the right time, but it was now the wrong week. Scott and I talked and then decided to cancel the service for now. With Luke crawling all over, we especially want to be sure that cleaning is being done the way we want it to be. We are committed to working together to do it ourselves, and the money we will save is going to allow us to finally purchase the Dyson I have been wanting since we moved here.
• Clients: The client who kept emailing me the same question finally got my emails…after I sent 6 of them.

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You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energeticAt your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you’re not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

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Have you had a bad day today? Chalk it up to Blue Monday. I don’t know the scientific details (though I am interested in reading about this study), but evidently some British scientists through a bunch of factors into a model that determined this is the most depressing day of the year. Depressed yet? I have to admit that I am suffering from the blues today and that earlier in the day I was so irritated that I thought climbing into bed until tomorrow was the only solution. My reasons, however don’t have much to do with the factors highlighted in this study. Still, this is a list of the things that nearly made my head explode:

• Teaching: I somehow flew through all the material I had prepped for class today and then some. After 15 minutes in class I started to worry that I was going to run out of material. As a result, I was not as ready to discuss the final topic as I should have been and really fumbled around it a bit. It is nothing a good numerical example on Wednesday will not cure, but it is disappointing that I let this happen. I need to get material prepped into the next chapter, but I am not sure how I will find the time for that.
• Clients: First, a client who has caused me an enormous amount of grief over the past few weeks decided to cause problems this morning. This person only takes action on the account when they cannot access the data, which makes it a fun relationship. Thankfully, she is not a client any longer. Another client sent in a ticket that they moved their account in March 2005 and wanted a refund. They have been billed monthly since this move (which we never got notice of), and just now did they decide to say something about it. Thankfully, they did not cause a big fuss over my suggested solution.
• Skirt: Before starting the semester I bought a skirt on sale at Express. It did not fit great, but it was relatively cheap and something I could work with (considering I had not found anything else meeting those criteria). The skirt was originally priced at $64.50, but I got it for less than $30. Seriously, the person who priced that garment was kidding themselves. There is no lining in the skirt and it is not a great fabric. The skirt was worth nothing more than what I paid for it. Well, maybe much less than that. I went to use the ladies room after wearing the skirt for several hours and realized that the zipper had pulled apart from the skirt leaving a gaping hole for my butt to peek out. Lovely. I hope I didn’t flash my class or anyone else. Luckily, I had a long T-shirt underneath a jacket and was able to keep covered and make my way back to the office and to the car. I vowed that I will never buy another skirt from any store not bearing the name Ann Taylor on the sign.

I am not usually much of a complainer and feel bad about the nature of the last two posts. I hope I have gotten it out of my system. I am excited to see my favorite local weatherman, James Spann, make the rounds on national television tonight. He was on Glenn Beck earlier tonight, and he is supposed to make an appearance on Hannity shortly.

Tuesday morning edit: James Spann got pulled by his station from all the Fox network shows on which he was scheduled to appear…boo!  Also forgot to mention a client who keeps emailing asking the same question.  I have now replied 5 times.  My replies are not bouncing, but he is not getting them in his inbox for whatever reason.  He continues to send the same email, and I continue to send the same response.  I am trying not to get irritated and to laugh to myself about how many more times this will continue. 

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It has been one of those really obnoxiously frustrating weeks for me. Let me enumerate the ways:

1. I did not make it to the gym at all this week. I am very mad at myself for this. There were changes to the schedule, Monday off, and then I spent a ton of time cleaning up on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I hope to get back on track this week.
2. Number 1 leads into my second frustration with our cleaning service. They have come every two weeks on Thursday morning for two years…no problems. They recently underwent a change in management, they fired all the cleaners, and now they have been totally unreliable about showing up (though the quality of the cleaning may be slightly better). They were okay for the first two times. Then in December they didn’t show up for three weeks. Then they tried to come again the following week, but it wasn’t their day to come. They asked if they could come Wednesday or Friday mornings, and I said that would be fine as long as we got a call ahead of time to let us know they were coming at another time (we have to be home because we have a Doberman in the house). They show up Wednesday, and we are not ready for them and have to turn them away. We did not receive a call. Then they didn’t come Thursday or Friday and did not call. I cannot be the one to call the office about this because I will lose my mind with them. Every other Thursday morning was no problem for two years. Why did it suddenly become so complicated? This is not the way for new management to keep clients.
3. My last seminar class is very frustrating. For one, it is supposed to be about financial markets but is actually about corporate finance. We already had a seminar in corporate finance. We were also “lucky” enough to have another seminar entitled investments that was also about corporate finance. This is what happens in a department where there is hardly anyone doing research in an area other than corporate finance (which 75% of the students in my year are not choosing as their specialty area). Seriously, when the professors have to get together to make sure they are not covering the same papers, clearly these are not three distinct classes. Anyway, it is not only the subject matter that is frustrating but also the professor. She is a new professor fresh out of her doctoral program. She wants to structure the class as she had it rather than how it is done at our university. I am trying to cut her some slack imagining myself in the same position and am not saying that change is bad. The problem is that she has done a horrible job conveying her expectations to the class. We have to start giving presentations this week and still have no clue what it is that she actually wants us to do. She has a heavy accent (far worse than other students I have known from China) and talks very quietly. I cannot hear or understand her even though I am only sitting 10 feet away. To make matters worse, she is being extremely defensive about how she is running the course and seems to be going on the attack every time we ask a question to clarify her plans and expectations. We are not off to a good start, and I have now developed a really bad attitude about the whole experience. I know I should try to keep an open mind, but the doors pretty much shut when she started attacking me for explaining the question of another student. Newbie Professor also seems to be of the philosophy that she suffered during her Ph.D. program and is going to make us suffer too. For all but one of us, this is our last course. Trust me, we have already suffered.
4. Z has suggested that he would like me to defend my proposal before going to the ARES conference in April. He thinks it would be a good signal to the market. I think he might be smoking crack. Evidently there is some disconnect between where he thinks I am and where I think I am. Plus, I am not sure how I will be able to get all of that work done in less than three months with Newbie Professor expecting me to read 150 pages of research a week that is completely unrelated to my work. I will keep plugging along and see what happens.
5. Today I had not one, but two, idiots exiting the dollar store jump out in front of my car. One idiot actually took off running across the street without looking and forced me and a car coming the other way to both have to slam on our brakes. Then there was another older idiot who just started walking without even looking and then looked at me like I was the crazy one. Clearly I have to remember that I need to allow for a 100 yard idiot buffer zone around dollar stores. Not going in is not enough, you need to avoid driving by them too.
6. I am sick.  I have a sore throat and feel achy and tired.  So not cool.  I have taken some Airborne today but need to run out tonight for the Zicam.

My two joys of the day:

1. Luke is officially crawling after we enticed him with the remote control. That kid seems to love gadgets as much as his Daddy.
2. Brooke got a Minnie Mouse stuffed friend at Target today. She has been carrying her around since then telling Minnie that she loves her so much. It is very cute and makes me smile.

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This site has officially moved from its prior location to the domain capitalistbrew.com. There is a forward set up from the old location to this new one, but please note the new location in any bookmarks or blogrolls. Thanks!

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We had extra moderately edible Nutrisystem food left from Scott’s diet (see this post for an example of non-edible food), so I decided to give it a try in an attempt to jump start my weight loss.  I have not weighed in during the week, so I have no idea if it is working.  I do know that I am miserable.  I am grouchy and find myself craving food that I would never normally eat (like milkshakes and Butterfinger bars).  Most of all, I really miss my carbs.  I get carbs, but the Nutrisystem plan packs in a lot of protein while keeping carbs to a minimum.  I love carbs, and sometime I find myself daydreaming about bakery rolls and bagels.  This is why I don’t diet.  I will be happy when this week is over and I can go back to normal but healthy eating.  I could not keep this up for months.  I don’t think my family could stand it either.

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This week, my brand new toy was delivered. I figured it was a good use of some of my grant funds that are supposed to be used for educational purposes. This new laptop has everything that I wanted in my previous laptop but didn’t have…a gorgeous screen, faster processor, good video card, gobs of space and memory, and firewire that will let me capture and edit video from our new video camera. I am still getting used to the idea of widescreen, but I don’t dislike it. So far I have just been working on getting everything transferred and working on the new computer, but I look forward to actually working on the video editing as soon as looming research deadlines are met.

I thought a lot about switching to a Mac since it is the new thing to do. I like the idea of not being so beholden to Microsoft, but I don’t have anything bad to say about Dell. We have never had any problems with our Dell computers. In the end, I just couldn’t justify double the price tag between the Dell to the Mac.

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Today my friend, Q, successfully defended her dissertation! She is pretty much my only real school friend, and this has been a long time coming for her.  This was also the first defense I have been able to attend, so it was a great learning experience for me too.  At least I have seen a defense and have some feeling of what I will have to do and what to expect.

News on my research is also good.  Last night I was going to post about how I was nervous to meet with Z this morning to discuss my first paper draft for him.  But then I was so nervous that he was going to tell me the paper was abysmal and I would have to come back here and repeat his words.  I couldn’t do it.  So, I waited.  And the verdict was nothing so horrible.  Z didn’t really have any major problems with my paper and only had a few suggestions for how to clarify my results and improve my contribution/motivation section of the paper.  So, I should be able to get something done in time to meet the FMA submission deadline and get the kinks worked out before the February 1 deadline to hand this in to the department.  Then on to the next paper.

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