Stuff I Should Have Been Blogging About, But Haven't, Part 2

Comic-Con (Again, This Time With Video)

There's a couple things I forgot to mention the last time with regards to Comic-Con, both of them relating to video.

The first is that I was interviewed by the video game publisher EA and was used in one of their online community videos. You can see that video here. There's a number of people speaking in the video; skip to 0:42 to see seven seconds of me discussing the magnitude of Comic-Con, as well as the economic impact of said magnitude on the availability of tickets.

Secondly, I wanted to share this little video that I made with the former MST3K/current Rifftrax members Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett, and Mike Nelson. In case you don't get the reference, it's too the movie 300, which was one of their most popular riffs. Forgive the fumbling in the beginning; for some reason, I couldn't edit that out without losing the last 4 seconds of sound.



François

So, how has François been doing since his misfortune?

Pretty good, as it turns out. He has a new home outside my apartment. His center limb has begun growing strongly, he has developed a lovely shade of red...

And he's made some new friends...


On a weird side note, one of my professors' first name is François. A little awkward, but I was sure to tell him - on the first day, no less - that he had the same name as my houseplant.

Speaking of professors...

School, So Far

Not bad. A little busy (of course), but not bad. Between class, Security Coordinator work, and my work in the Undergraduate Marketing Association, I'm definitely not for lack of things to do. And the classes themselves?

UGBA 103 (Finance): While I'm still not into this side of business (and thank God, with the financial market like it is), I must say this is marginally more enjoyable than accounting. So that's good.
UGBA 105 (Organizational Behavior): This seems like it can be a good class, but it doesn't feel like I'm actually taking it, mainly because it's had the least number of sessions so far. However, I'm still getting a good idea of exactly why working with the University sucks so much.
UGBA 161 (Market Research): This is really the one I'm here for. Interesting, relevant, and the professor (François) is a very nice man. The gem of the semester.
History 127 (History of California): The professor is hilarious in a bitter-professor sort of way, and this is one of those classes I would love to just sit in on. I'm sure it would make a great podcast, but the professor won't go near the Internet. The real problem with the class, though, is that I've been trained in Business to read books and papers a certain way, a way which is the polar opposite of how you should read them for a history class.

But, all things considered, I'm doing fine.

My Eating Situation

Okay, well, I don't have a meal plan in my current position. Right now, I'm fighting to be able to purchase an employee plan. In the meanwhile, I've been reduced to making my own food.

But y'know, sometimes it turns out all right...



I'll be back with more...

On Loyalty, Shirts, and Murders

In consumer behavior, I learned that there are four types of loyalty. You basically have a two-by-two matrix, where one axis is something akin to "relative attitude" (so, how much you like it) and the other axis is "repeated patronage" (how often you buy the product). The four types are:

No Loyalty (Non-Favorable View & Low Patronage): I have no loyalty to the MTV or BET stations.
Latent Loyalty (Favorable View & Low Patronage): I like nVidia video cards, but I don't buy them a lot, mainly because I don't need to.
Spurious Loyalty (Non-Favorable View & High Patronage): I dislike Apple, the iPod, and iTunes, but the time and effort it would take me to convert thousands of AAC files to MP3s makes me keep buying them. (Also applicable to monopolies, like old school Ma Bell.)
Loyalty: (Favorable View & High Patronage): I would say I'm pretty loyal to Nintendo products.

Really, the sweet spot for any company is pure loyalty, because not only will consumers purchase your products often, but when people are truly loyal, they will actually go out of their way to recommend you to their friends. It is a good day when a company achieves loyalty.

And I think a company has earned mine.

The company is called "Stranded." I've mentioned them before; I think they may be a branch of Target (to whom I also have high loyalty), because that seems to be the only place that carries them.

Why do I like them? A few reasons.

1. The shirts are soooo comfortable. I don't know what they do to the cotton, but they're so soft and nice, it's like you're wearing nothing at all. Yes, they're a bit on the thin side as far as shirts go, but that's the price you pay for comfort. (And it's not like they're transluscent or anything.)

2. The designs are badass yet classy. One of the main problem I see with a lot of graphic tees nowadays is that they are either funny and immature, or badass yet gang-member-making-you-look-like-one. Stranded tees are definitely, while definitely having a fierce side to them, still have an old-world style to them, which makes them seem quite classy. Just look at some of their shirts. They can make a koi fish look cool. That's pretty good.

3. They make crow shirts. I loves me some crow shirts. In fact, I just purchased my newest crow shirt when I was at Target this past weekend, prompting me to realize that I had become loyal. So, let's take a look at my crow shirts, shall we?

Oh, you'll notice I'm wearing my hat in all of these. No real reason. I just think the hat goes well with crow shirts.

If I'm not mistaken, this was my first crow shirt. Unfortuantely, it's dark-on-dark style make it had to see any crows on said crow shirt.

Here's a close-up of that las crow shirt, so you can better see the crows (and don't try to tell me that they're ravens. Even if they were, ravens are just a subspecies of crow).

Here's me with a brown crow shirt and a surprised look. Grandmother, what big eyes I have!

I really like this one. It has such a sense of transcendence about it. Plus, save for droppings and/or other apocalypse harbingers, you have to admit that it would be pretty cool to see a murder of crows descend from the clouds.

This is the crow shirt that I just purchased. Three interesting notes. First, it's a collared shirt, which I haven't worn (barring formal shirts) since high school. Second, this is actually a size small. A relatively big small, but a small nonetheless, so that felt cool. Third, you have no idea how I literally stopped the cart I was pushing around when I saw this in Target and said aloud "Crow shirt!" It was love at first sight.

Here's a closeup.

You may notice that three out of four of these crow shirts also feature trees (two of which are dead, one of which has a few scant leaves). Maybe this means I don't enjoy crow shirts, but rather dead tree shirts. Or perhaps this love of crow shirts is a throwback to my childhood, during which I would always since about three chartreuse buzzards sitting in a dead tree...except with crows...y'know, instead of buzzards...*cough*

Takeaway: I am now loyal to Stranded tees (go to Target and buy them!) and I've used "crow shirt" in this post 15 times.

Put It on Account...ing

I am finished with Accounting! Forever (in academic terms, at least)!

Huzzah!

My final was yesterday from 5pm-8pm. My sleep pattern prior to that had become...erratic, at best. Like, there was no rhyme or reason to it. Sometimes I would sleep from 9pm-1am, sometimes from 3pm-7pm, or any other off-kilter times. And I became quite hermetic. My door was always closed, mainly because I was an unsightly mess, eating a mix of Trader Joe's Salsa Verde (the best salsa in the world) and breath mints. Needless to say, I wasn't at my finest.

But who cares?! I'm finished with Accounting! The final itself, which I needed to do well on so as not to b0rk up my GPA, wasn't as bad as I was fearing. Still, I'm going to be no more than cautiously optimistic. But it's finished! FINISHED!

(As you may be able to tell, I didn't like Accounting. I think it's quite telling that I was no better than average in that class, while I was in the top 5% of both my marketing and consumer behavior classes.)

Oh, two more things!

I think I may have figured out what that insanity-inducing noise is. It's not coming from the walls themselves, but rather from the stairwell. I notice it has started only after someone has closed the door leading to the stairwell (which my room is directly next to), or when someone in the stairwell hit one of the metal handrails. Then it started. So, I think it has something to do with that.

Doesn't really make things better; the sound still drives me crazy, but at least I have some solace in knowing the source.

Second, I was watching the movie Amadeus the other day (I watch pieces of movies as I eat dinner, since I can't really do anything else during those 25 or so minutes). Thing was, though, I didn't realize that the thing was a two-disc movie. I only had one disc, and I thought that this scene was the ending:

Me: "........Huh."

And I thought No Country for Old Men had no closure in the ending. This didn't even have credits! Oh well, I thought, it's their movie, they can end it however they like. It took me a full day to realize that I still had an hour of movie left.

I immediately put it on my Netflix queue. Don't tell me how it ends!

Jerk: "Psst! Mozart dies!"

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Lucasfilm and the Presidio: Pictures!

So, I had my interview with Lucasfilm yesterday. I'll refrain from saying anything about it for the moment (aside from the fact that I overdressed), but I should find out by the end of the week whether or not I have the position, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed in a cautiously optimistic way.

In the meanwhile, I'll show you some pictures I took while at the place where I could potentially work! While this may not sound exciting, Lucasfilm is located at the San Francisco Presidio, which is, in a word, gorgeous. I had arrived early, so I walked around. I also walked around after the interview. I walked around quite a bit, taking in the scenery. These cell-phone pictures really don't do it justice. However, justice was never one of my strong points, so I'll show them anyway. Let's take a look.

The Presidio is a very green place. There are lots of trees. This tree was particularly large and interesting. And I also believe this is the first time I've gotten an honest-to-goodness lens flare in a photo.

More trees. The place was quite wide-open, as you can see. And although I'm completely ignorant about botany (by choice), I think those might be fairly robust Eucalyptus trees. Prove me wrong, science, prove me wrong!

So, this is one of the several buildings which encompass the Letterman Digital Arts Center, which houses the various branches of the Lucas Empire. While definitely modern on the inside, the outsides have a definite 1920s retro feel to them. This isn't the building that I would be working in, should I get the position, but it is the most red building, so that's worth something.

Okay, look at this picture and tell me with a straight face that your mind did not wander here.

Now, that is the building I would be working in, complete with an outdoor stream that seems to spring from nowhere. I wonder if there is something therapeutic about creeks and streams, because they always seem to make me feel better.

A pond mean to imitate celebrate the wetlands that used to exist in the Bay Area before it was all built up and industrialized.

I don't know, I just thought this was funny.

And this is the entrance to the main lobby. As you may be able to tell, there's a fountain there. And no, that's no munchkin on top, that's Yoda, whose not munckin nor elf, but an unknown tridactyl species. The Lucasfilm headquarters is actually pretty nice, because it allows people to come in and look, at least into the lobby. While that may not sound like much, the lobby is pretty decked out.

This, for example, was in the lobby. I'm not exactly sure who the guy is, but I'll hazard a guess and say he has something to do with King Kong.

Also in the lobby. A very nice statue of Boba Fett.

And this blurry fellow is, of course, Darth Vader. Compared with the Boba Fett costume, this one is actually somewhat disappointingly plain. And that heavily-padded codpiece has to go, Vader.

Betwixt the two villains is a cabinet filled with all sorts of knick-knacks, trophies, etc.

Shelves filled with the severed, shrunken heads of a number of characters. Somewhat disturbing.

And cute little figurines stand alongside books and Han Solo's blaster, which I never realized had a silencer before. Why a laser gun needs a silencer, I don't know.

Now, those shelves seem to house some classy books. For the most part, they seem to be dictionary's and hardcover books without the slipcovers. Honestly, I think this looks so much nicer than the modern personal library. Were I to become rich and have my own large house, I would decree that no book should be publicly viewable unless it had an "old-world" look to it.

This actually wasn't in the lobby, but in the belly of the building. It's one of the world's oldest film editing machines. There was plenty of stuff that seemed more interesting to take pictures of, but I took a picture of this because the recruiter I was speaking with told me I could. So, I did.

And finally, we have this blurry mess, in which I'm standing next to (and showing off my folder, for some reason) an actual suit of Stormtrooper armor from the original Star Wars movie. And here you can see how overdressed I was.

I blame Haas. I was told to dress in business casual. At Haas, that essentially means "Skip the tie; keep everything else." So, I arrive, snazzily dressed, and find that nobody else is wearing so much as a collared shirt. Hell, one of my interviewers was wearing a hoodie. Hopefully, they'll see me as some misguided youth rather than some business school prick.

Anyway, there you go. Pictures. I'll keep you updated as the week goes on!

Today, I Think, Will Be a *Good* Day

So...today is - finally - my in-person interview with Lucasfilm for the marketing position.

Cue the music, boys.

...Let's do this thing!

Cop-Out: Pictures! Pictures for you!

I've got a job interview today.

Then I have a midterm to take.

Then I have a program to present at.

Yes, I know I've been bombarding you with "I'm busy" notes, but I can't help it. I'm busy.

As some filler, please accept these random images of interest.

First, here is my new business card:
It's very simple and non-flashy, and it sure-as-Hell won't get me featured amongst the more imaginative cards. Now, if I had all the money I needed, I think I'd go for a card like Steve Wozniak's. But I don't, and this one gets the job done, while at the same time confirming my place in Haas. So it'll do.

Second, this is what my hair looks like when I wake up in the morning:

If only it was a bit cleaner and more symmetrical, I would never even have to mess with it at all!

Finally, here's that picture of the weight I've lost so far (meaning, by a couple Fridays ago).

I'm actually making this one a pure link. Click here if you want to see it. Don't click if:
1. You want to wait to see a more dramatic change later on.
2. You don't want to see me without a shirt on.

Okay, that's all for now. I promise more/better content in the near future...sometime.

In the meantime, wish me luck!

Keeping You in the Know

A few notes I'd like to put out there...

Note 1
First, I'd like to apologize about the slowdown of updates in the last week or so. Life's been kinda crazy. Not in a bad way, mind you. I'm looking for summer internships, and that precludes a bit of time and effort making phone calls, writing letters, doing research, etc.

(Also, it's midterm season.)

I was planning on talking a bit about the internship fair that occurred last week, but I'll hold off on that right now. Let me just say right now that I have an interview set up with one company, an application sent in and and a lot of talk with another company, and I'm on the lookout on a third (as well as a couple more).

I won't say who I'm most interested in, in case any or all of the companies are reading (hi there, companies! ^_^), but there were about a dozen companies I could apply for (had I the time!) so the fact that they made it through my "Round 1" means something. (If you really want to know, give me a call or shoot me an email.)

So, anyway, I would have been updating more often, but I've only been getting 2-4 hours a sleep a night as is, and I'm hoping to increase those numbers, not decrease them further. But don't worry, I still care! :)


Note 2
So, as you may remember me mention a few times before, I'm trying to lose some weight through a diet and exercise regimen. I thought I'd give you an update on it.

Namely, I've currently passed the 200lb mark (going downwards). Which is pretty good, considering I started at 232.

Now, last week I reached my halfway point toward my primary goal of 175 pounds. I decided to take a few pictures of myself to compare with some "Before" pictures like they have in all the commercials. It's pretty interesting.

I was considering putting them up, but am hesitant for two reasons:
1. Part of me wants to wait until I have reached my goal of 175lb to post the before-after comparison, as the change will be more dramatic.
2. The pictures are of me without a shirt, which - regardless of weight - may be an unpleasant experience for all involved.

I dunno. If you really want to see pictures, let me know. Otherwise, I'll spare the Internet this time.

Long story short, diet's going well.


Note 3
Remember to check out Elderly Apple! I know everyone's busy, but you can literally, literally see each day's idea (I don't specifically call them comics; there's no real punchline; they're just ideas) in 30 seconds or less.

If you happen to have an additional 30 seconds, please leave a comment. Both on EA and TLD, comments are my lifeblood. As trite as it sounds, they give me the strength to keep going. More comments = more enthusiasm from me! Plus, it gives you an opportunity to say something witty. Remember, though, that Elderly Apple Andrew is different from regular Andrew. So don't expect a similar interaction.

Finally, if you have 30 seconds more, please be sure to vote for the comic in the Top Webcomics Vote. The button's on the side of the site. The voting system's a little confusing at first, but spend a minute and you should figure it out. The more votes I get, the more notoriety Elderly Apple gets. Also, when you cast a vote, I will give you a random trivia fact that you (probably) didn't know before. This is updated every single day, so voting every day is the only way to know them all! Your knowledge is expanded, as is my user base. It's win-win!

So, that's one-and-a-half minutes total. I understand if you feel that you don't have the time. But if you do, please check it out. It may seem simple, but it really is a strenuous mental exercise, and I want everyone to experience it.


...Kthxbai!

And I Don't Even *Eat* Cereal Anymore!

Before I begin, a few pieces of good news:

1. I just got an acceptance letter yesterday for the UC Berkeley Undergraduate Marketing Association Creative Committee. Pretty much makes up for that other thing I didn't get into (which, by the way, I heard is having a little trouble).

2. After scrapping my crappy old resume and drafting a whole new one, I brought it to a resume critique workshop in preparation for and internship fair occurring today and tomorrow. With the exception of a few location issues, they said it was solid all around. Score!

3. A resident of mine who applied to be an RA got the position! Which is doubly impressive because apparently this year, 2/3 of the staff are returners (it was about 30-40% when I was applying), and so acceptances were low, even for perfectly qualified people. In fact, out of 250 people who were interviewed, only 37 got the job. So I am very happy for him (especially since I feel I had some hand in it. :P)

Okay, now with that out of the way, I wanted to bring up something fun that I saw the other day. While looking for pictures of cereal boxes to help me with my consumer behavior group project (see, it relates to the good news somewhat), I stumbled across this little website.

For those too lazy to click that link, it's for some old PBS Kids website called "Don't Buy It" which, though it apparently hasn't been updated in four years, teaches kids to be smart consumers and question what they see on advertisements and such (in effect, it's trying to foil my plans). Among other things, it talks about where the money you pay for products goes to, as well as how buying designer clothes is a waste of money.

(Quick aside: I was just at an Urban Outfitters the other day. I would really, really like to buy their shirts if they weren't thirty-frickin'-dollars!)

Wait, didn't I say I found this while looking for cereal boxes?

Well, yes. You see, when you type "cereal box" into Google, the second thing to come up is a little game on the PBS site where you can design your own cereal box, complete with color, box character, name, claim, prize, and...um, that's t. Truth be told, there's not that much variety, as each of those categories only has 3 or 4 options (with the exception of the name category, which apparently doesn't have a word filter. For shame, PBS!).

However, it's still possible to make something awesome out it. So, without further ado, here's Andrew Schnorr's custom cereal:
While I won't mention that the cereal the little critter is holding is obviously not the cereal that you actually get, I will mention that I think this might be the single most brilliant title for a cereal EVER!

Think about it.

The ads would be awesome.

And think about the scene inside grocery stores when kids ask for it.

Sheer beauty.

Well, that's all for me. Wish me luck at the internship fair!

All About the Super Bowl!!!

Just kidding. ^_^

I didn't even know who was playing in the Superbowl until the New York Times emailed me a "breaking news bulletin" announcing the winner.

So, rest assured, this will not be about the Superbowl.

Maybe, after I watch some collection of all the commercials, I'll write something about that. But as for the sport, I had absolutely no interest in it. Sorry, Patriots and Giants fans (if any).

However, seeing as I'm about to start my third week of school, it may seem logical to talk about what classes I'm taking this semester. So that's exactly what I'm going to do!

I'll start off by saying that I tried to give myself a less intense semester this time around, mainly because I'm going to be looking for summer internships this semester (soon this semester) and I'd also like to take part in a business case competition or two. Don't worry, I'm not in any danger of falling behind in my unit count. In order to have enough units to graduate, I need to take 27 total units over the next three semesters. However, in order to remain a full-time student, I need to take 39 anyway. So, I'll be A-OK.

I also tried to schedule my classes to begin relatively later in the day (that is to say, not at 8am and 9:30 everyday). And I think I was relatively successful in doing so. My "First-Class-Time" schedule throughout the week is
12:30-11:00-12:30-11:00-10:00

Now, while you may think this makes me look like the laziest bum alive, I think I can redeem myself my noting that my wake-up time throughout the week looks like this:
8:00-8:00-8:00-8:00-8:00

One of the reasons for this is because I'm currently on a new (and, so far, successful) diet and exercise regime.

(Quick aside: It irks me when people say, "Oh, you shouldn't do diet and exercise. You should do a change of lifestyle." What the hell does that mean? Seriously, the only difference between a diet and a "change of lifestyle" is how long you can keep it up. Plus, "change of lifestyle" sounds so new-age and pretentious. That is why I refuse to call it that.)

Anyhoo, I'm waking up at 8am every day so that I can go to our exercise room for 30 minutes of a high-intensity elliptical workout. No, it's not as satisfying as being able to type on my laptop when I was back at home, but the handlebars aren't positioned correctly, and I don't have as much time (especially when there are other people waiting). What I end up doing is downloading movies (nature documentaries, to be exact) to my iPod and watch them on a tiny little screen. Not very satisfying, but it gets the job done.

The rest of my morning time is spent taking a shower, checking out the Internet, and getting anything that needs to get done, done. Then off to class. And what are my classes? Well, let's take a look!

UGBA 101B - Macroeconomics
A required class. A lot of people in the economics department like to say "Macro makes up about 20% of economics, but it takes up 50% of economics lessons." That's seems so true. And it often seems as though it's less relevant and interesting to what I'm going to be doing than Microeconomics. However, the professor is very enthusiatic, so I appreciate that. It should keep me awake.

And, yes, there is a lot of talk about the current state of affairs in the country and the world. So it's relevant in that sense. So it's got that going for it. Overall, it seems like it's going to be okay.

UGBA 102B - Managerial Accounting
Another required class. As a recap, I hated financial accounting last semester. I did fine in it, but gah! is it boring and tedious and...blah. Well, managerial accounting seems like its more relevant to my purposes than financial accounting. You see, what financial accounting boils down to is the annual report for a company; the balance sheet, the income statement, etc. Lots of journal entries, lots of tedium, lots of ech. Managerial accounting, on the other hand, is about the internal accounting aspects; that is, seeing if certain practices are cost effective. And it has a lot less in the way of journal entries. So far, it's looking much better than financial accounting.

But still: Accounting. -_-

UGBA 160 - Consumer Behavior
Not a required class. This is, of course, related to my marketing focus, and I can tell you already, it's fascinating. The professor has some sort of experiment each session, where we learn about some new aspect about consumer behavior.

For example, did you know that in a blind taste test, the majority of people preferred the taste of tap water to bottled? Yet when people knew what they were drinking, the results skewed heavily toward the bottled water. It's all perception, doncha know.

A funnier thing is that my professor said in class, "Before this water experiment was carried out, many of the test subjects said that they could tell the difference between tap and bottled water, and preferred the bottled, yet when they took part in the blind test, they preferred the tap." What's funny is that when I was describing this experiment to one of my co-workers (also at Haas) he told me, "Oh, I can tell the difference between bottled and tap water." And when I tried to tell him that he likely couldn't he insisted he could. It's weird; we've been trained to "know" the difference when there isn't any real difference to be known!

UGBA 96 - Personal Finance
Another non-required class. Hell, I'm not even getting any credit for it one way or another. Why am I taking it, then? Simple: life skills. I've been told that classes such as a personal finance class are ones which many people which they had been able to take in college. And the opportunity is now presenting itself. So, I think it will be useful for me in the long run to take this class. Plus, of the three different lecturers, I've already had two of them, and I have a good relationship with them both. So it shouldn't be bad.

Classics 198 - The Star Wars Galaxy
"What the hell?"

I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that this was your first thought when you read that title. Here I have four different business classes and then one on Star Wars? Well, I think I needed to balance out all that serious stuff with something fun. So, I decided to take a DeCal. A DeCal, for those not in the know, stands for "Democratic Education at Cal". It's basically a class in which a student facilitator teaches other students. If you think that's a stupid idea...well, you're wrong. After all, this blog was the product of a DeCal. Show some respect, whippersnapper!

Anyway, I did a lot of preparation in choosing which DeCal I would take. There were 80 or so of them, but I weeded them down according to my own availability in the early evening (when the majority take place) and general interest. In the end, I narrowed the selection down to the Star Wars one and one about Lewis Carroll. I do have a genuine interest in reading Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, because the wordplay in them is very intriguing. However, a class about Star Wars, regardless of how academically useless it was, just seemed fun!

I did have some reservations, though. I was worried - honestly worried - that the class was going to be filled with socially awkward nerds who could finish a sentence without stuttering.
Nerd Voice: "N,no...that's...that's not what Darth...Plagueis would have said. He...he would have been...he would have been more patient."
And so on and so forth. And before you try to tell me I'm generalizing, I know at least two guys just like this. You know, the kind of acquaintance you feel awkward around. And I was seriously concerned that one or both would be in the class.

However, everyone seemed to be fairly normal. Well, there were some eccentric ones, but they were actually quite sociable, so that's a good balance, I think.

And, as an interesting note, I found out two days later that my facilitator is actually a resident in my building. I've probably seen him before, but just never paid him any mind. However, this puts us in a very interesting position. I don't plan on being in a situation where I don't pass the class, but even if I was, I could just tell him, "Fail me, eh? That sounds to me like a case of failure to comply with hall staff. ID, please."

(Oh, funny story: Notice that the class is Classics 198. Well, in order to get the class approved, the facilitator had to make a proposal to the department chair as to how the class was related to the subject. He admitted that his reasoning was a bit of a stretch: "Well, Rome used to be a republic and then became an empire, just like the Galactic Republic." Apparently, it worked.)


So anyway, that's my Superbowl school year primer. Any questions?

Free Masons Run the Country!

Hey hey!

As you may have been able to figure out, the trickling of updates is caused by the fact that this is that magical time of year known as finals.

I just had one today, so usually today might be considered a rough day, but it was actually quite a nice day, for the following 10 reasons.

1. I am fairly confident that I not only did well on the test, but may very well have aced it, 100%, which would guarantee me a high A in the class.
2. I arrived to my testing room 1.5 hours early. Now, the classroom is notorious for having the smallest little fold-out surfaces on their chairs in the entirety of the campus. However, there are two rather spacious tables in the room, meant to be a boon to any potential disabled person. Since there were none taking this final, and because I arrived so early, I had this entire table to myself (it would have actually been against the rules to share it, as we had to be spread out. Oh, well).
3. It was very good that the desk was big, because I had a lot of notes (it was an open note test; that's how the professor makes up for teaching nearly 50% more than the normal Econ class).
4. To prep for this open note test, I went through all the midterms and finals of previous years and made an index of every possible problem type and concept that came up for easy reference. When I mentioned it to others, they said they did something similar, but by the way they said it, it seemed as though mine worked better.
5. You know how they say you should take a test in an environment similar to your how you study (or is it vice versa)? Anyhoo, my problem is that I need music when I study. However, it's usually not kosher to listen to music while taking a final. "Whatever," I mused to myself as I put on my headphones. I listened to a single calm, unintrusive song ("Patzivota" from Cirque du Soleil's Varekai) on repeat for pretty much three consecutive hours. And the GSIs saw me, and they didn't seem to give a damn. And it really helped, I think.
6. I had a nice sandwich for dinner.
7. It was absolutely freezing (35 degrees, I later saw) when I left the final, but I had the foresight to bring along during the warm day my jacket and gloves...the gloves my mom says make me look goth. :(
8, 9. [Filler material]
10. We got an updated gradebook for my marketing class, which basically counts everything but the final (so about 80% of our total grade). While there weren't any rankings listed on it, I did some Excel calculations, and found that in the class of 180+, I am ranked 4th. Not too shabby.

So, that was my day...yesterday. Hmm, it's past 4am. Maybe I should go to bed.

There, But For the Grace of God...

Hello, hello!

Well, my Hell Week is officially over, and though I have a lot of reading to catch up on, and some assignments to do, my main pressures have been alleviated.

But let's take a look at what actually made me label this time period with such demonic flair.

Well, first, the last two weeks or so have all boiled down to Thursday. Thursday was the day in which I had to give a large and very important group presentation in my marketing class. This is a presentation that forced me and three others to meet a lot. And most of you already know my opinion on group projects (for those that don’t: I dislike them). So it was tough. And we made sure to be very thorough, even though I - the guy who always ends up being the de facto leader of every group I’m in - tried not to be in a leadership position for once.

So, keep in mind that I was either meeting up with people or actually working on this project during the course of these two weeks.

Now, last Saturday was the Amazing Bear Hunt. This was, without doubt, the largest and most intensive programs of the semester (and possibly of the year). We were meeting at least twice a week to prep for it, and working on it all other times. The program was essentially a huge photo scavenger hunt (much more intensive than the one I was involved with). It lasted 12 hours, from dawn to dusk, extended through San Francisco, and had over 300 clues for people in teams of 8-to-10 to find.

Because it was our first year ever doing this, we did everything from scratch. Websites, sponsorships, planning, clue-writing…everything. My main role was making the website (which is, as you may have been able to tell, necessarily similar in design to my old IDS 110 final project website), but I had plenty else to do as well. For example, I was one in charge of reading and responding to questions, concerns, complaints, etc. Not because I was necessarily ordained to do so; it was because nobody else ever checked the Gmail account. I also designed the logo (which I can’t show to you for reasons too long and uninteresting to go into, even for me) and the t-shirts.

Now, we’ve been planning this since August. But, as you may expect, we did extra work in the days leading up to Hunt. This meant packing and unpacking stuff, do this, doing that, etc. So, basically, my Friday was forfeit. But I still had to work on not only my project, but two midterms I had that week. So, I didn’t want to be wasting my time sitting around at some base camp in San Francisco. So, I told the team that I would have to stay in Berkeley.

In exchange for my absence, I promised to be the contact person, sending out text message notes and challenges to all the teams (all 25 of them). I also said that I would be that contact point for all the teams.

Wait, what?

Now, let me give you some background. I hate phones. I hate talking on phones. I prefer almost any form of communication (email, IM, face-to-face conversation) to phones. Don’t ask me why. There’s just something about having the obligation to pick up a machine after it produces this sound, only to speak with some disembodied voice. Now, if it’s someone I know and like, that’s fine. But when I have to talk to someone I don’t know, usually about a problem, I’m not so hot on that.

However, I figured that I wouldn’t have that many calls. People know what they’re doing, right?

Wrong!

I kept a little log of all the phone calls I got. And I averaged them for over the course of 10 hours (which is when I got the bulk of them). And I got, on average, a phone call every 5 or so. Over the course of 10 hours! Do you know how insane that is? It was like the third layer of Hell.

And it was a long day regardless. I woke up at 5am, and went to bed at 2am. And I was beat.

But it was over. At least, that part of everything was.

On Monday, I had an Accounting midterm. First, I have found out I really dislike Accounting (there goes my boyhood dreams of becoming a CPA), and two, I wasn’t prepared for the test. Regardless, my strategic studying paid of, and I only really lost points on multiple choice questions, resulting in a final score of 86 (which was not in any way bad).

The next three days were completely preoccupied with my group presentation. This was bad, because I also had a Microeconomics midterm on Thursday, immediately before the presentation. And Tuesday’s pretty much taken, what with my RA responsibilities and all.

Wednesday? Well, Wednesday pretty much just disappeared.

So I was stuck with Wednesday night to finalize and memorize my parts of the presentation, as well as study for the midterm. And, to put it simply, there was no sleep. Here, let me put a terrifying image in your mind. Imagine me (wearing my glasses to reduce strain on my eyes) taking a icy cold shower at 2:30am while downing a can of disgusting-tasting Full Throttle energy drink. (A quick aside about energy drinks: I think the reason they’re so disgusting is so people don’t get hooked on them.)

So, as the hours and minutes melted away, I found myself with less and less time to study for my Microeconomics midterm. And by 6am, I knew I had run out of time, because I had to get dressed (in my new suit!), and be at Haas by 8am in order to rehearse with my group.

So, 8am comes, and I meet with my group. Lo and behold!, my group hadn’t memorized their parts yet, even though the presentation was in a scant 4 hours. We found an empty room with a projector, set up our computer, and went through.

Now, I wasn’t using notes in any of our run-throughs. I don’t use notes. I don’t even have them tucked away somewhere. In all my years of theatre work, I’ve never had to ask for a line, and I wasn’t going to start here. Notes are a crutch, and I’ll be damned if I ever use them.

However, as Lady Irony would have it, I completely blanked out on one of my self-cues near the beginning of my rehearsal. I knew I wouldn’t forget it again, but still, one of my teammates said, “Do you have a set of backup notes?”

“Yes,” I said, “They’re in my backpack.”

“Well, maybe you should have them by the computer. You know, in case you choke.”

"…”

I swear, based on her reaction in the next several seconds, I must have given her the most unsettling glare ever. However, she brought it upon herself by insinuating that Andrew Schnorr chokes. As I told her upfront:

“Andrew Schnorr does not choke.”

(Quick aside: This same team member had previously made a comment in our preparations that had gotten the better of me [though I didn’t let it show that time]. When we were in slight disagreement about how to make a certain advertisement, she said to me, “Well, I know something about advertising. I’m in a group called ImagiCal. You ever heard of it.” My response? “…In passing.”)

The rest of the rehearsal went flawlessly…for me, at least. Note, I’m not trying to brag. Anyone who has seen me on stage knows I put my heart and soul into making sure I am flawless in front of my audience. However, my teammates somewhat stumbled through their parts. I was worried, but some of my worries were alleviated after our second run-through.

Thing is, though, the by the time we were done going through twice, it was 10am. I had one hour to study for my Microeconomics test. Now, it wasn’t as gloom-and-doom as you may be thinking. First of all, I’m not a complete dunce in economics; after all, it was my original major. Second, the test was open-note, open book, though that good news is tempered by the fact that the professor gave us over 100 pages of confusing handouts.

The main problem with the midterm, I knew, was going to be the wording of the problem. Our professor was famous for being tricky on the tests. So, what do I study if I know it’s open-note? The old midterms, of course. I figure that they’re the most condensed, relevant materials I could look at. So, the majority of my studying was finding where different problems (with solutions) were on the old midterms, and hopefully get enough info on the way to not need notes at all. However, 10:50 came too soon. I still did not feel prepared (nor should I have).

Now, there’s a prayer I say before all my tests. It’s a prayer I’ve said since high school, and it goes as follows:
Let me write what must be written.
Let me withhold what must be withheld.
And let me perform on this test to the best of my ability.

After that, I’d add on some “filler prayer” to complete it, like “I know this, it shouldn’t be an issue.” Basically, a little affirmation betwixt God and I about how I’m feeling.

Well, my little end-cap to the prayer this time was simple and sweet: “Give a kid a break.”

And then I took the test. And this is what the title of this post is referring to. Because, literally, I must have had some divine intervention, as I felt it went great. I knew things, and the things I didn’t know, I found quickly, as if some invisible hand were guiding me to market equilibrium the answers in my notes. In the end, I feel like I got a solid A, if not a perfect score. You better believe I was looking toward the ceiling and winking a lot.

So I had that working for me going into the presentation. And I felt good. And let me tell you, I nailed my parts of the presentation. The rest of my team didn’t do too badly either. Our main problem, though, was that our conclusion was apparently (and unequivocally) wrong. Eh, no skin off my nose. It was a poorly written case to begin with, and there were other groups that have been more wrong. Still the professor dug into us after class for nearly 10 minutes about all the problems we had, before giving us a 95 (obviously one of the higher scores). Hell, if the grade works, I’m willing to take an hour of verbal abuse.

Almost as a way to celebrate a Hell Day well-finished, I participated in a market research experiment, where I did basically nothing but press one of two buttons seven times, and I made $16. Sweet! Maybe I’ve been wrong all these years; maybe being a guinea pig is the way to go!

Talk to you later!

An 'MagiCal Experience?

You ever have one of those days where you wonder, "You know, has everyone just been humoring me this whole time?"

Yeah, today was one of those days for me.

It was either going to be that, or a really good day.

Let me start back at the beginning. A couple weeks ago, I heard about this thing called ImagiCal, which was the UC Berkeley Chapter of the American Advertising Federation. This member came in before one of my classes and said that there was some sort of competition to make an advertising campaign for AOL. One of my fellow classmates and I exchanged glances. "Hmm, this sounds like a case competition. We should check it out."

So, I went to the info session (the other guy missed it). What I found out, there, was that it was not a case competition; at least, not in the common sense of the word. It was actually a group, a team. Officially, it's "a student-run advertising agency whose primary focus is to create a multi-million dollar communications campaign for a corporate sponsor and present it at the AAF National Student Advertising Competition." It was a year-long thing, and it was split up into several departments:
Strategy
Accounting
Media
Public Relations
Media Productions
Creative

Er, what was that? Creative? And what was their job? Basically, after being told what the strategy for the advertising campaign would be, they would think up what the advertisements would be.

My jaw dropped. I don't think there could have been a more perfect place for me. After all, as I say, I'm one of the most creative people I know. I think many would agree that I'm pretty blessed in that respect. And I love the art of advertising. This ImagiCal was a gift to me. It was the major thing (outside of RAing), the major thing that I could do. I'm not a frat person, not even for the business frats. I needed something, and this would scratch that itch.

And, as fate would have it, the Creative Coordinator was actually an RA. He was from another unit, but we still knew each other. So even though that wouldn't be factored in, I at least had some sort of relationship with him, and wasn't approaching a bunch of strangers.

So, I filled out the application, and I think I did a pretty good job of it, too (if confidence was the only factor involved, I'd've got the position the first night). Now, they said you could include some works to give them a better idea about you. So, I took full advantage of that. I first went to my blog and showed them a couple of old posts that, as it turned out, related directly to advertising. I also showed them one of my skits, and a couple of other posts, just to show them the variety of things I could do. Now, because Media Productions (the department that actually made the ads) was my second choice on the application, I included some of my more sophisticated Photoshops. Hell, I even included a storyboard of a commercial that I had thought up, just to show them that 1)I know what the hell I'm doing; and 2)I take initiative on these sorts of things.

So, I turn in the application, and later get an email that says I've been offered an interview. Now, let me clarify a thing: there were three rounds of the recruiting process. After each round, the applicants were reviewed, and a certain portion were eliminated.
Round 1: Applications
Round 2: Personal Interviews
Round 3: Group Case Interviews

So, with Round 1 out of the way, I was that much closer to getting into the group. So, we signed up for interviews, and I got the second to last time slot. (As it turned out, one of my coworkers at Unit 2 was encouraged by the Creative Coordinator to apply. He ended up getting the last personal interview time slot.)

So, a week passed, and I finally got ready for my interview. I made sure to come prepared. We were supposed to bring a portfolio with us if the Media Productions was in our top three choices. I brought with me a writing portfolio, and a image portfolio. I even brought my laptop, because, as I explained to several people, a lot of my work doesn't translate well to paper. However, with a scant 30 minutes to the interview, we never even got to that stuff.

However, I did manage a sneaky little thing. One question I was asked by my five interviewers was, "Are you more of a visual person or a word person?" My answer: "That's really a question I can't answer, because I really think I'm both. I'm very much a writer, but when I write, I'm literally just transcribing the movies that play through my head. Would you...would you mind if I presented something to you?" They said they were happy to see anything I had brought. So, I took out five copies of my book and passed them to the interviewers. I tell you, their collective surprise was so palpable you could bottle it. I presented that as an example of my wordsmanship and my initiative (after all, it takes some drive to get a book published before you graduate from high school).

All in all, I think the personal interview went great. I was able to answer their questions without skipping a beat. Some of my answers:
1. Ad Campaign I Really Thought Worked: Sprite's Sublymonal Ads
2. Bad Ad Campaign: PlayStation 3 (Especially in Europe)
3. How to advertise a new "Extreme Power" Toothpaste in commercials: Zoom in on guy brushing his teeth to show his teeth as winter wonderland. Zoom out with him happily releasing a foggy breath.
4. Make Up Your Own Product (it didn't have to be realistic; I asked): "The Time Weaver," a time-manipulation device that could freeze time around you, make certain things go back, other things go forward, give you the physics to walk on water and air (by slowing down gravity), etc.
So that's how the interview went. I was quite confident after that point/

Then they scare me half to death when they call me the next day.

Her: "Hi, Andrew?"
Me: "Yes?"
Her: "This is [NAME] from ImagiCal."
Me: "Oh, hi."
Her: "Hi. We've been looking over your interview and application. We'd like to begin by thanking you for applying with us."
Me: (Off the Phone) "Goddammit!"
Her: "And we'd like to extend you a group interview this Sunday."
Me: "I, uh...thank you."

Now, if any of you ever become an employment offer, and you're not eliminating someone from the recruitment process, do not begin your conversation by thanking them for applying. That just screams "you didn't make it."

But I did make it, past Round 2 and onto Round 3!

Because my interview was at 11am Sunday morning, I set my alarm for 9am. Then I set two more. I was not going to miss this. But, I probably didn't even need them, as I was afflicted with what I call the "Christmas Morning Jitters". You know, when you're anticipating something so much that you wake up early? (I'll admit, I still wake up at 5am on Christmas morning.) Same thing here. I ended up waking up at 7am. Go back to sleep. Wake up at 8am. Go back to sleep. Wake up at 8:30am. Go back to sleep. Wake up at 9am to a barrage of alarms. Here we go.

So, I get myself dressed and prepared. The only thing I forgot to do was shave my whiskers from two days prior (though mine grow so slowly that I could have easily played off that they were from the day's progression). But overall, things were good.

I arrived 20 minutes before my interview, and eventually met up with the rest of the people who were going to be in my group. They seemed like a nice bunch. And when we finally did get to the interview (there was little actual interviewing; it was mostly them observing how we worked on the case). One thing I noticed about myself was that I was able to come up with campaign slogans on a dime. One thing I was called out on, though, was the fact that I never used the name of the product of the product (Ion, a hypothetical MP3 player). I told them in the interview that in the time provided, I couldn't think of any viable slogan using the product name that matched our campaign theme. (Only later in the day did I think of slogans like "InspiratIon" or something like that.) But hey, they had to cut us some slack; we only had 15 minutes to figure out the whole thing.

Overall, though, the group seemed pretty satisfied with how things went. Things seemed to be okay.

When I got back, I drank a bottle of Mexican coke (more on that later) to celebrate my getting through it all. All that was left was to play the waiting game (also known as doing homework until you hear something). That waiting game ended at 5:31pm, when I got a call from one of the department coordinators. I awaited his answer with bated breath. And that answer was:

"I'm sorry, but we can't offer you a position on the team this year."

(I'll admit, you probably saw that coming, considering the first two sentences of this post.)

My answer? A bright and chipper "Okay. Thank you." He told me that as a 3rd year, he recommended that I try again for the position next year. "You know, I think I'll do that." He apologized for my not getting on. "Oh, no it's okay." Did I have any questions? "No, that's cool." He told me to take care. "You too, and thank you for this opportunity."

I closed my cell phone and said with a smile, "Well, that's the end of that dream."

...Then I closed my room door and proceeded to go into breakdown mode for about fifteen minutes.

I then called the guy back, just because I wanted to put my mind at rest. I called and said, fully professional and chipped, "You know, you asked if I had any questions, and I think it would be foolish of me to waste an opportunity like that. If I were to apply next year, what would you recommend for me to improve upon what I did this year."

Translation: "WHAT THE HELL DID I DO WRONG?!"

His response: "I'll be honest. There were a lot of applicants, especially for Creative. It was by far the most popular department. Just the fact that your were able to make it to the third round means you're qualified. In fact, you're fully qualified. It's just that we only had three openings, and we wanted to make sure we had a team that we knew could work together for that department."

Translation: "It's not what you can do, but rather who you are."

And so it comes down to what is effectively a personality thing. Apparently my personality wouldn't work well on their team. Or, at least, not well enough.

This was a pretty harsh blow on me for three principle reasons:
1) This is exactly the kind of thing I should be doing at Haas. 110% my niche.
2) I'm trying to get an cold internship (that is, one they didn't advertise for) in the marketing department at Nintendo of America this summer. I was going to add ImagiCal to my cover the moment I heard I got in, if that did indeed happen. Being part of the American Advertising Federation would have given me a huuuuuge leg up in being considered for an actual internship. Now, I'm not blessed with that advantage.
3) The fact that this is not the first time I've been rejected for something in this same way. Always, they say, "You're perfectly qualified, we just don't have enough room," or "we couldn't find the right place for you." That's my curse, I suppose. I'm "good" at everything...just not good enough.

..................

...Okay, I'm done.

Now, don't worry about ol' Andrew. I'll get by. I just needed to let off some steam. It was just supposed to be a really good day. And I have the distinct feeling my coworker got the position. Not that it would create any animosity between the two of us. It would just be weird.

Okay, next time you're here, I'll have something a little more upbeat to talk about (unless something bad happens between now and them). Until then, ugh.

Late-Night Ramblings of a Sleep-Deprived, Hypercharged Sugar-Junkie (Hi Mom!)

You ever hear about Full Throttle? You know, that energy drink from Coca-Cola? The one that's supposed to "hypercharge" you for hours?

Well, it works!

As of my publishing this, I have been awake for 37 consecutive hours (hence, you can't blame me for it not making any sense). What's the cause of this madness? Well, you see, I had a marketing case study brief due today. And I figured I would work on it all day yesterday.

SO!

I decided to sleep in and skip my Accounting Lecture, or as it's been dubbed by all its attendees, the "Why-the-Hell-did-I-wake-up-for-this?" Lecture. Seriously, the professor is nice and all, but she doesn't deviate from the PowerPoint slides (which we download and print out prior to class) at all...at all! Many of the times in which I've decided to be a "good little boy" and get up to this lecture, I've regretted it. And I've often had to take a nap after class that did nothing but eat up my day. So, as I said, I decided to skip it and instead use that time to catch up on some sleep and start the brief refreshed.

Now, I figured that this brief would take me a few hours. Eight, max. After all, it was only supposed to be one page long, with three related exhibits. How difficult could that be?

As it turns out, exceedingly difficult. Because I had no idea what I was doing. We were given "guidance", but that only seemed to exacerbate my confusion. And, to make matters worse, I got sidetracked by my own creativity. I won't get into the details, but rest assured it had to do with a mix of some obscure online jokes (which you most likely wouldn't understand) and what may be the catchphrase of the week. This was bad! It was wrecking my concentration, and shaving minutes upon minutes off of my work time (and believe me, those minutes added up)!

Before I knew it, it was midnight, and I was no closer to finishing the brief, due at 12:30 on Thursday.

I kept rereading and rethinking.

What did I need to do?

What did I need to do?

2am.

Luckily, when I had gotten dinner at 5pm, I got myself a lot! It was meant to last all night if necessary. No, I found myself nibbling on my dinner into the wee hours of the morning. I also took a shower.

3am.

I wrote my first sentence on my brief. I still had no idea what I was doing for the included exhibits.

4am.

This is when I went down, in my camouflage pajama pants, glasses (I took my contacts out), and froofy hair, to the kitchen to purchase a can of energy drink. Unfortunately, the vending machine wouldn't accept my Cal 1 card, so I had to scrounge around for enough change to make $2.

But, it was worth it. Drinking an energy drink, I'm sure, is the legal equivalent of doing hardcore drugs. You're putting a bunch of weird chemicals into your body in order to elicit some sort of unnatural response. That's 100% drug use. But anyway, I guess I can say this time drugs worked for me! Duh duh DAH!

6am!

No, I'm running out of time; I need to do this!

8am!

Oh, thank God I'm not in the 8am section. Then I'd be...well I'd be pretty much screwed. I was about halfway through at this point.

10am!

Okay, Andrew, get up and do some jumping jacks. Rejuvenate your body. You're doing good; you're doing good! Just a little bit more to go, you're in the home stretch.

11am!

Oh, God! Oh, God! Should I have written this completely differently? Should I have done the exhibits totally differently.......no, it's too late to make any changes. Just clean up what you got.

11:55am.

Yay, printing out the final copies..........I should probably get cleaned up and dressed.

12:15pm.

And I'm on my waaaaaaaaay!!!


The common consensus among the class was that figuring out what to do with the brief was brutal, and essentially nobody got any sleep. That was actually the professor's first question: "Did anyone get any sleep last night?"

But I think the energy drink still had me in its grip, because I was raising my hand at almost every question.

So........yeah. Maybe I should sleep now.

I'm So Very, Very Sorry About This...

This Post Brought to You by Schwa Cola: Mmm, Cola!

Hey hey there!

Classes have started, and that means homework and early wake-up times. I'll be putting something up later about my initial thoughts.

In the meanwhile (since I don't have much time tonight [8am class tomorrow - blech]), I just wanted to share something that I thought was pretty interesting.

In case you hadn't heard, Robert Dynes, the corrupt and incompetent President of the UC, who essentially stole money from the system (through compensation scandals) as tuition prices were increasing, announced last week that he was "retiring". Good riddance, I say. Problem is, they're giving him a year of administrative leave with $405,000 pay. Not really the best way to fire someone, I think.

However, I'm not going to go into him (this is a good opinion piece, though). There was another retirement announced shortly after this one. It was the Dean of my new college (and former California Representative) Tom Campbell. Now, my feelings on this are a little different, because the man was not really corrupt or incompetent, and he actually seemed like a downright decent person.

One thing, though, that really stuck out to me was the press release for his retirement. Just read the first sentence:

Tom Campbell, the Bank of America Dean of the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, will step down from his position next summer after completing his five-year appointment, he told faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the school on Monday, August 27.

Nevermind that it's a mouthful. Look at it one more time:

Tom Campbell, the Bank of America Dean of the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley...

.............

Okay, I can accept having corporate sponsored stadiums...and I can accept having corporate sponsored events (barely)...but a corporate sponsored dean? Particularly at a public institution? Don't you think that's going just a wee bit overboard, fellas?

A Few Updates for the Week...

Hey hey there!

Sorry that this whole thing is taking so long, but I really am busy nowadays (even more than I anticipated), and finding the time to work on personal projects is proving difficult. I want to finish my Comic-Con series, but I also want to inform you of the goings-on. So! A list of different things that have happened since we last spoke.

-I had my final and my final presentation for my two business classes. And, thanks to the fact that I had to finish up a PowerPoint for the presentation, I only got 3.5 hours of sleep to work with. Regardless, I did pretty solid on both of them, garnering myself an A for the Presentation (well, an A/A-, as my professor said I sounded uncannily [and too much] like a commercial narrator), and probably an A in my Business Communications class. As far as my Business Ethics final, I'm sure I did solid A- work, which is pretty much the grade I'm expecting for the class. So, all in all, I'm satisfied with how the classes went. Good classes; I really enjoyed both them and the professors. Maybe I'll go into more depth at a later time...maybe.

-We started Fall Training. Yipee. However, I will say that it is at least more fun on the returning side, as we're doing the acting for the Virtual Reality Sessions (which, for the untrained, is just a form of authorized hazing). In one sessions, I was in a drunken party, and I played as I guy who was not only drunk, but had to be on a few different drugs. I had a jacket over my head, and was dancing in a way that I was rubbing up against the wall (or the RA). When they asked for my ID, I pulled a $20 bill out of my wallet and said, "My name is Andrew Jackson!" Brutal. In my other VR session, I was a depressed resident. And when the RA made the mistake of telling me that my problem was not unique, I became poetic and said, "You're right; I'm not unique. I'm just another grain of sand upon an endless beach, and if that grain were to be removed, it would never be missed." Poor guy didn't realize to ask me if I was suicidal. Anyhoo, the rest of training is, well...well, it's two weeks of things I've been through before.

-About half of my residents moved out. I am very sad about this, and I'm even sadder that the other half will move out this Friday. I don't think I could have asked for a nicer group of people, and I even told them this when we gathered for a group picture. I said, "You're some of the most wonderful people I've met, and I'm happy to have known you." And you know what? I truly meant it. And it made me feel so good when they said that I was the best RA at Unit 2, and they weren't "just saying that". And here's one of the pictures we took. It doesn't have everybody, but it has most of the core group of people, save for the Germans (with the exception of everybody's pal, Toby, who was subtly Photoshopped in).

One can only hope that all residents would be like these guys. Hell, one can only hope that all people would be like these guys. Fun, social, yet completely law-abiding. The best I could hope for, and I'll definitely miss them.

-I received a Mensa home (that is, unofficial) test. I'll be sure to take it when I get some free time.

-I moved most of my things out of my current room and into my new Towle room. It's a nice big room, but I'm still not sure if I'll have enough free space in it. Well, we'll see how it is after I actually try to organize everything. And right now, I'm living barebones in my Ehrman room, just some clothes and a computer. (Oh, I'll probably make an official announcement later, but if you want to send me some mail, it's the same address, but now its at TO-401A.)

Okay, then, that's your refresher. I'll try to get my next Comic-Con update up soon. Onward to more training!

Twenty Short Notes on My First Haas Day

1. It was fairly painless.

2. Contrary to popular opinion, not all business professors are pompous douchebags. In fact, the two professors I have seem to be genuinely nice people, and one of them is more concerned about social justice than anything else.

3. It's actually not an eight-hour marathon day. It turns out that I misinterpreted this page, thinking that there were two discussion sections. In reality, there's only one. That means that I have an hour and fifteen minute break between my section and my first lecture. Then I have a one hour dinner break at six. So, really, it's only a 6.25 hour marathon.

4. Speaking of that dinner break at six, none of the on-campus restaurants are open, so I can't use my spare meal points. In order to avoid going to the abysmal Top Dog, I went down the Chipotle on Telegraph.

5. Chipotle's burritos are pretty darn good.

6. Apparently, Chipotle has a new thing where you can order your burrito online and pick it up at the store, so as not to wait in line. Seeing as I was waiting in line for no more than 3 minutes, I can't really see this catching on.

7. Oh, right...I was supposed to be talking about my classes, wasn't I?

8. My discussion section was canceled. I was anticipating this, as it was the first day. But I went anyway, at least until 10 minutes past the starting time. Then went on some errands, including looking for a new pair of sunglasses (I just bought some on my trip to Target, but have since realized that I don't like blue lenses).

9. I was in my full Indiana Jones outfit, with jacket and hat. I think it worked pretty well.

10. I wasn't the least "business-looking" person there, though I was the only one with a goatee like mine.

11. My first class is one on the "Ethical, Social, and Political Aspects of Business". Our professor made sure to point out the irony of it being held in the Arthur Anderson Auditorium.

12. They explained that there was a very good reason to have the ethics class taught before everything else. Don't worry, I'm not going to turn into a soulless monster.

13. The professor of that class seems really easy going; I think he may have said more things jokingly than he did seriously.

14. That same professor also mentioned that in his 17 years of teaching the class, no one has ever failed. That basically means it's an easy A.

15. In that class, we have to write a research paper on some topic that both interests us and is relevant to the class. One of the ideas he mentioned was the overseeing of video games (ratings, distribution, etc.); question being, who should be responsible for them. I think I'm going to do that as my topic, as I know a bit about it, and know some great resources to interview.

16. My other class is about "Business Communication". Because apparently, most students can't communicate worth a damn...which I'll actually agree with. It seems like its going to be pretty fun, though. And I think my acting background will help with that.

17. According to my professor for that class, most people think that the number of languages you speak is directly correlated to your IQ. You know what I say to that? Bull! My language capacity is a little sub-par, but I'm quite happy with my IQ, thankyouverymuch.

18. I think the funniest mnemonic device I head all day was the following:
Q. What radio station do all businesspeople listen to all the time?
A. WIII-FM: "What is in it for me?"


19. I think things are going to turn out aaaaaaall right.

20. Fine, I don't actually have 20 notes. 19 was about it, but that doesn't sound good in a title. You happy now?!

Mini-Blogs, Set Two

Wallet-less Update, Part I

Still no official word yet on the actual wallet. I swear, once I get a new one, I will put a note inside which says "You can keep the cash. Just return the wallet and cards to me. Thanks! ^_^"

As it turns out, the Cal ID Office is not very strict about security requirements of having another form of ID, which is at once comforting and worrisome. On the one hand, someone could just go up to them and say, "Why, yes, I am Andrew Schnorr, and I need a new ID card. Please invalidate the old card and take a new picture of me." On the other hand, why the hell would anyone do that?

And so, I was able to get a new ID card, so I was not forced to starve today for lack of meal points. It's looking a bit bare, though, and I don't want to pay to get another class pass (that's a bus pass, for those of you not in the know), so I might do what some people suggested and photocopy someone else's.


Back in the Stone Skin

I once again put myself under a spell before the Blog DeCal began. This time, I was standing in a Superman-esque pose, so as to be gentler on my poor little tail bone. Still, being frozen in place until your name is spoken is never comfortable. I wondered how long I would go. Perhaps my classmates didn't actually read my blog or, more likely, they did, and were planning to test my willpower (read: torture me) by not releasing me from my iron grip.

As it turned out, though, Dimas saw through my shenanigans, said my name, and released me from my stolid prison-state.


Picture This!

In order to accept my invitation to join Haas, I need to submit a few items, including a statement of acceptance, a request to change schools, and some other paperwork. I also have to submit "Two Passport-Sized Photographs". These will appear in the new student directory for all the world (of new Haas students) to see. At first I was wondering how I'd get passport photos; were there any local places?

I looked online and saw various items about the subject. I also saw a set of "rules" for passport photos. One of the ones I thought seemed most conflicting with my intentions was that you have to be in casual clothing; no suits. Well, this is a student directory for a business school, isn't it? I would think that wearing a suit, while not mandatory, would be...y'know...appropriate. So I was facing a bit of a conundrum.

Of course, I failed to realize until later that they had only asked for a passport-sized photograph. That is, it had to be two inches by two inches. Y'know, they could have just said 2"x2". It would have saved on ink, fingerwork, and confusion.

So, with that newfound information, I decided to take a couple of my more...well, my less goofy pictures from my "Two-Minute Photo-Shoot" and Photoshop them to make them look not look like they were taken in the living room of my house. I added a gradient background, created a false shadow, the works. Right now, I have two main candidates, which are below (keep in mind, these are actually 2"x2", they're just huge pixel-wise):


I do have a current favorite, although I won't say which one; I don't want to bias you. So, which of the two, if either, do you think I should use (and yes, I am asking for some active commenting here)?


A Few Random Thoughts on the English Language

-I've always thought we should have standardized pronunciations for families of words. The examples that spring to mind are economy and photography.

We say "ee-CON-a-mee" but "eck-a-NOM-ics." It's unnecessary to have multiple pronunciation variants for a single family. I think these should be revalued so that we say "ee-CON-a-mee," "ee-CON-a-mics," and "ee-CON-a-mic-ly." Go ahead, say them. They roll off the tongue (actually, they sprint off) and make more sense.

As far as photography goes, I think we should say "fu-TOG-raf-ee," "fu-TOG-raf-ic," and finally, "Let me take a fu-TOG-raf of you." It just works, people. And before you say it sounds funny: it only sounds funny because you've been hearing it the other way for 20+ years.

-Speaking of photography, if we call a photographic picture a photograph, shouldn't we call a pornographic picture a pornograph? "Jimmy, stop looking at those pornographs!" Works for me.

-By the way, I want to start pronouncing decade as "deck-id." Does anyone know a dictionary that lists this as an acceptable pronunciation?


Okay, that's all for tonight. Go have your cookies, children.