Done with Finals!

Section A Post-Finals Rooftop Celebration (gotta love that LA December weather)

I just got out of my last final a little while ago, putting an unofficial close to my first quarter at UCLA Anderson.  I'm not overly optimistic about my grades on the 3 exams this week, but the classes are all curved so hopefully it's alright.  Nothing I can do about it now, so might as well go out and celebrate.  Since Anderson canceled the post-finals mimosas for today (I think some electives still have finals left, so they didn't think it was appropriate) one of the girls in my class offered up her apartment's rooftop to host an afternoon section party.  Other sections are having similar events planned at bars in the area, so depending on our energy levels, we may meet up with other people out on the town later this afternoon/evening.

Another rooftop party picture

It's definitely a relief knowing my class responsibilities are done for the quarter, although unfortunately that doesn't mean I can shutdown on MBA-related activities for the next 3+ weeks. I have to write up stock analysis/recommendations for two assigned stock as part of my application to Anderson's Student Investment Fund, which is due on Wednesday.  There are also 3 summer internship applications due in the next week that I need to put together cover letters and applications for (and I think possibly a couple more due before winter quarter starts).  Additionally, there is a decent amount of follow-ups and logistical issues that need to be worked out for the Career Night I'm helping plan in early January.  And finally, I also should probably prep for interviews which (if I get interviewed for those internships I'm applying for) would take place in early to mid January.  But most importantly, of course, I have a ton of activities planned with friends and family in the DC and NY areas during that time too.  But otherwise, it's going to be a low-key vacation.

We Must Protect This House!

Gonna combine a few random things from the past week into this post.  Sorry, no pictures right now.

Last week Kevin Plank gave a talk at the business school.  I've heard him speak once before (he was the keynote speaker at my undergrad business school graduation), and knew it'd be an interesting talk.  For those who are unfamiliar with him, he's a Maryland alum, and the founder and CEO of Under Armour.  While playing for the Terps football team in the mid 90's he thought that the cotton t-shirts that athletes wore under their jerseys got too heavy and uncomfortable from sweat, and looked to create a new shirt.  He tested out a few prototypes, thought he had something that could work, and then using his grandmother's basement as a 2-man office, he set to start his business.  Fourteen years later, Under Armour is responsible for revolutionizing athletic apparel and has become an industry leader, clearing $1 billion in sales this year.

I always enjoy these type of entrepreneurial success stories, and find them pretty inspirational. Entrepreneurship is pretty big in MBA programs, and at Anderson in particular, so I hear people talk about this kind of stuff a decent amount.  It really makes me wish I had a brilliant idea.  Doesn't have to end up being a billion dollar company, but building up your own idea and turning it into something real, and being your own boss sounds really exciting to me.  But alas, I haven't found that idea quite yet.  (And I have to add the link for the ultra awesome Under Armour commercial from a few years ago, starring Ralph Friedgen)

So segueing into my current planned career path, I attended a nice little invite-only networking with PIMCO (largest bond manager in the world) on Tuesday.  I had attended their company presentation last month, and met with one of their reps for an informational interview a couple weeks ago, which is why I assume I was one of the people picked to attend this event.  The event was held in a lounge in the W Hotel here in Westwood and featured an open bar and some nice horsdevours.  Those perks are nice, but for two hours it felt like a pre-interview (with beer).  For the entire time I had to work the room, rotating around the various PIMCO reps by inserting and removing myself from "circles of death" (our nickname for group of students standing around a company representative at these type of events).  Ask intelligent questions, sell myself, sound eager about the position, rotate to the next person.  Rinse and repeat.  Very draining, and I just don't feel comfortable in this setting quite yet.  And after all that, I won't even know if I get invited to the first round interview until next month.

So that's my last career related event of the quarter (it's going to pick up big time in early January though), and I also had my last classes of the quarter last week.  Crazy how fast it went by.  To celebrate the end of classes, my section's C4C (Challenge For Charity = the big year-long volunteering and fund-raising competition b/w west coast MBA programs) reps organized a happy hour/charity event.  An Anderson alum from a few years ago bought a sandwich shop in Westwood and turned it into a sandwich shop/bar, and he agreed to have our section in for the event.  Two of my classmates guest-bartended, and all of their tips plus a % of all sales during the evening went to the charity.  It was a fun celebratory evening.  I shotgunned a beer inside of a bar for the first time, and better yet, sick children are going to be better off because I did.  That made me feel good inside.  Until I woke up the next morning, and didn't feel that good.  But I digress.  Also, at the end of the evening after the rest of my classmates had disappeared, I stuck around and chatted it up with the owner of the bar for awhile.  By the end of the conversation I really wanted to buy a bar.  Finance is quickly sliding down the list of career aspirations. 

And finally, I don't think I mentioned the update on the roommate situation on the blog.  It turns out since he's getting married in a couple weeks that he'll be moving out over winter break.  He's getting out of his housing contract, so I assume Weyburn will try to fill the spot as soon as they can, but not sure if that will happen right away or not since moving in and out of grad housing mid year is unusual.  Either way, I'm looking forward to it because it's going on 3 am right now, and I can still hear Call of Duty coming in through the walls.  It's been over 15 hours and counting today.

Sports in the Pacific Time Zone

O'Briens Irish Pub in Santa Monica, the local Giants bar

Besides bragging about the sunny weather, I think the LA topic I talked most about with friends before moving this summer was the adjustment to the start time of west coast sporting events.  Since my favorite teams play the majority of their games on the east coast, the consensus seemed to be that it would be really inconvenient to follow my teams on a Pacific Time Zone schedule.  Midweek baseball and basketball games would be starting while I'm still on campus.  Weekend football and college bball games would be kicking off at 9 or 10 am. 

The jury is still out on this one, but so far it's definitely hasn't been bad, and in fact, I might prefer it this way for a few reasons.  The weekdays are typically too busy for me to be watching entire games anyways, but if I get back home around dinnertime, the timing works out pretty well that I can get a bite to eat while watching the end of an east coast game.  I rarely used to watch entire Sunday and Monday night football games b/c they usually didn't end until near midnight, but now when those games end there's still a full night ahead.  Previously, if my teams were on west coast road trips, I wouldn't know if they won until the next morning, but now all games throughout the country are final before I go to bed.  And I've actually enjoyed this football season where the games start up in the morning.  I don't usually sleep in too much anyway, so it's not like I'm setting an alarm to watch football and it seems to clear up much of the rest of the day with the games front-loaded.

Staples Center for Knicks-Clippers

I think I anticipated going to sports bars more often to watch the Giants or other games (oh how I miss you Carpool), but that really hasn't been the case.  That's the one negative I've noticed; that if you want to go out to watch a morning game it's tougher to get yourself, and others, to go to a bar at 10 am.  I did recently find a Giants bar in Santa Monica which I went to last weekend.  That was pretty fun, since everyone there seemed to be transplant New Yorkers and were all rooting for the same team.  It also meant I got to order a breakfast burrito and Irish Coffee.  Not sure if I'll make it out there again with finals coming up and then winter break, but it's good to know for next year.

In other sports related news, I attended the Knicks-Clippers game here in LA a couple weeks ago.  The Clippers live deep in the shadow of the Lakers in this town, so tickets are real easy to come by (a ton of $5 tickets were available on Stubhub). I brought a couple of my friends from class, including one international student who had never been to an NBA game before, and it turned out to be a good one.  Despite it being a matchup between the 5-8 Knicks and the 1-12 Clippers, it was actually one of the most entertaining NBA games I've been to.  Blake Griffin, the Clippers' highly touted rookie, put on an absolute show, scoring 41 points including a variety of spectacular dunks, but more importantly to me, the Knicks had a good showing themselves, and got the victory.  I'm not sure if another Clippers game is going to top this one, so I might as well start saving up now for Lakers tickets.