Last Saturday Eva = Picture Day

Wow, we had our last Saturday class for the program.  It was a momentous event, and even more so as we took our class and program pictures with our fellow students.   People brought champagne and beer to enjoy.  I actually just realized that it was our last Saturday, so I may not see some of those people ever again...and I forgot to say bye to them =(  I think there was a sense of sadness as we realized our little adventure was coming to an end.  Now, I just realized that I will see my peers one more time at graduation, so I can say bye to them. yay!

Breakfast: bagels, meats & cheeses, hard-boiled eggs, fruit, yogurt & granola, toast.  We had the regular Saturday breakfast treatment with bagels this time.  The other thing I noticed was the gigantic strawberries and the small apples.  The strawberries were good.  The apple...it was okay.  It wasn't really that great of an apple, kinda tart...maybe cuz it was small?

Lunch: Chicken cordon blue, scalloped potatoes, side veggie, green salad.  The chicken cordon blue was good.  The gravy/sauce was good as well.  I don't think we had scalloped potatoes, but rice instead.  The grilled veggies and the salad were good.  I liked it better than sandwiches, so I'd say it was slightly above an average meal as well.  Yes, not having sandwiches on Saturday for lunch could signify an above average meal...hahaha

So close that I can almost taste it....

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That's right!!  With each meal and post, we are that much closer to the end of the quarter, which is the end of the program for Class 9.   I can't believe we're almost done.  It's crazy.  We all started on this trek about 18 months ago.  Actually, longer than that cuz most of us (if not all of us) had to study to take the GMAT, so it could be like 24+ months ago that we started this trek to apply and attend to the TMMBA program.  And now, look.....we're all growns up!

Dinner: mixed green salad with avocado, jicama, cucumber and orange, cheese enchiladas, chicken enchiladas, beef enchiladas, refried beans, rice, fruit, dinner rolls.  Now, that's a menu for dinner!  The enchiladas were really good.  I didn't have the cheese one since I think that was the veggie choice, but both the chicken and beef were good.  I also liked the salad with all the stuff in it, and of course, the extra guac.  I don't remember if I liked the beans and rice, but I did go back to get more enchiladas!

More Capstone Presentations!

Yup, another class in Technology Commercialization filled with interim capstone presentation.  Our team actually presented our capstone project.  It's around the Electrochromic Glass technology.  It's basically a way to tint windows and being able to control the tint at will.  The tech is neat, but there are other competing techs that can do the same thing or very similar.  It will be a tough technology to commercialize, but you wouldn't think that if you saw our presentation...hahaha

Dinner: Glazed ham, sauteed baby carrots, field greens salad, scalloped potatoes, rolls.  I think some people are turned off by ham, but I actually don't mind.  This glazed ham was pretty good with the pineappley mangoie sauce.  I also like the scalloped potatoes, and you can't go wrong by putting fried onions on a salad or on anything for that matter.  I enjoyed the meal overall, and I'd say it's a little above average.  I went back and got more ham and potatoes  =)

Best Presentation Eva!!

Haha, I'm just saying best presentation ever since our team presented on a case.  We did okay.  Some things I forgot to mention, and we were kinda rushed since the presenting teams never have enough time =X  Overall, we did iight.  We were "hired" by both critiquing teams in our class  =)  Oh yeah, it's the second to the last Saturday.....Eva!!

Hot Breakfast!!! What's up!!!  The breakfast menu wasn't listed but we had all the normal stuff like the fruit and breads, and then we had breakfast sandwiches!  They were just sausage and egg and the english muffins were kinda chewy, but it was still pretty good. And, it was hot (actually just warm), it was something different, so I liked it!  Yes, I had two of them (come on that's nothing).  I went back to get fruit  =)

Lunch: Indian buffet.  Very descriptive menu  ;)   There was veggie curries and fried veggie things (I have some on my plate), but I got I think the Butter Chicken..maybe...and a meat curry...maybe lamb?  They had salad, naan, and I think that's tandoori chicken as well.  All good stuff.  Like I've said before, the Indian and Thai food are very popular with the class, so this was no different.  Very good and hope to have it again before classes end!

Cinco de Mayo!

Yes, it was Cinco de Mayo, and we had to be in class that night...learning about Organizational Change.  People, Structure, Culture!  Actually, we discussed an interesting case about GE and how they're structured to train and grow their leadership team from within.  It was a great case, one of the more memorable ones in the program. Or maybe, it's cuz it's also one of the most recent ones...haha

Dinner: fresh fruits & berries salad, salsa with tortilla chips, Baja taco bar with spice rubbed chicken, ancho beef, grilled vegetables, cilantro slaw, black bean salad.  Well, we didn't get any tequila or cerveza, but we got tacos!  I'm not a taco fan, but these were pretty good.  Again, I favored the beef over the chicken as the chicken tasted a little dry, but the slaw and the avocado sour cream? kept it tasty.  It was good. I enjoyed it. I'd say above average.  Maybe they can add the tequila next time ;)

Ethics 3: Mohammed

For a split second, I actually hesitated to put the title as it was.  I's like...is someone gonna be pissed that I put that as the title?  Would someone kill me for it?  I just remembered it cuz we had a pretty healthy discussion around South Park and it's censorship...or the lack of sometimes.  You learn things about your classmates when discussions like this come about.......like Kalan is a schmo....haha just kiddin'   Oh yeah, great class and it was nice that we only had to go half the Saturday.  I originally thought we would be there all day, so it was great!

Breakfast: assorted cereals, hard-boiled eggs, fruit, yogurt, toast.  Since we were only there half a day, we only got the breakfast.  Assorted cereals again, WTF!!  So, I decided to partake...haha.  It was okay.  I decided to get the toast and jelly as well. Gotta have my eggs and pineapple!

Ethics 2: Stakeholder's Management

One thing I find every useful with some of the classes are the tools they provide and our Ethics class had those.  We learned about the 4 corners summary with the ends and means for doing something or not doing it in our first session.   For this second session, we learned about the Stakeholder's Mgmt circle or diagram with the primary and secondary stakeholder would affect your company/business.  It's a great way to analyze how your decisions would affect everybody.

Boxed Dinners: Grilled Steak served with red onion, feta & tomato salad. Vegetarian Box: Soba Noodle Salad with soy-ginger soba noodles, shitake mushrooms, zucchini, carrots, red onion & pickled ginger.  They listed the veggie box, so I copied it as well.  The meal was good, but since it was basically a salad, the steak was cold.  That would be my only complaint.  The veggie soba noodles looked good to, but I couldn't eat it.  I feel bad cuz I think a couple of vegetarians got screwed without this meal.  Not sure if there wasn't enough ordered or if non-vegetarians ate the meals as all the boxes were just laid out together.

No Moonshine?

What's up with this assigning reading or case, and not reviewing it in class?  Seriously, why assign it if we're not gonna talk about it?  Yeah, it was a good article and case, but I think we would have gotten more out of it if we had discussed it.  Oh well, I guess we had to fit all those interim capstone presentations in =\

Dinner: Thai buffet with Pad Thai, assorted curries and rice, fried rice, and vegetables.  My plate looks really messy cuz I tried to put everything on there.  The Thai meals are prolly one of the most popular meals with our class as it caters to everyone. In this buffet style, people can just grab what they want to eat.  The meal was good...rice, curries, pad thai....all around good. I did not hear any complaint.  As I said, one of the most popular meals, and I liked it as well.  All goods.

Ethics Class*! *[Optional]

That's right folks.  The Ethics class was optional for Class 9.  I think we may have not even gotten the option until it was brought up that our class did not have the class.  Not sure exactly how it started, but I thank the person or people who helped give our class the opportunity to take this class.  Scott was great.  I really enjoyed our first session of class.

Dinner: Pizza and salad.  Like I said before, pizza is always an easy food to get.  I usually don't mind, but I think this pizza was from Zeeks.  It wasn't that great.....actually, not really good either...haha   I like Pagliacci's better, but not sure if there's one close or if they're too expensive.  Maybe they don't deliver?  Papa John's would be better as well.  I order Papa John's at home....it's goot!

All Day Global Strategy!

We had class our Saturday class at the Seattle campus, and it was a full day of Global Strategy.  I didn't mind having the same class back to back as we've done it once before with our Marketing class.  The tough part was all the reading and case work in preparation for the 2 class sessions.  It was a lot of reading!  I started like a week before so I could make sure I had plenty of time to read everything. The actual day wasn't bad at all. Kevin did a good job keeping our attention, having the break out session early, and having the presentation later to keep the class moving forward.

Breakfast: assorted cereals, hard-boiled eggs, fruit, yogurt, toast.  I was a little disappointed with the breakfast here.  I know that I always seem to complain on Saturdays, but this Saturday was extra terrible.  I guess the "assorted cereals" was the additional or changing food item for this breakfast, which was kinda sad.  We usually get at least muffins, bagels, or donuts.....and hot foods like breakfast burritos are a treat.  Also, the assorted cereals were like 2 bins: corn flakes and raisin brand.  =\

Lunch: Boxed sandwiches, pasta salad, chips, fruit, cookie.  Sandwiches....what can I say? It's ho-hum.  I think it's become the most common Saturday lunch meal.  I enjoyed eating in the Mary Gates Hall as it's a beautiful building.  I think some people ate outside, but it was a little too windy and cold for me....yeah, I'm a wimp =P  The only brightside of this lunch was the brownie....wheeeee!!!

Cultural Artifacts!

We learned from Bigley that companies can use cultural artifacts like stories, monuments, logos, building structures, etc. to sustain or change the culture within the company.   I can see where this would work or apply with companies like Disney, Coke, and Nostrom's, but it seems more related to how strong the brand for the company is.  Well, I guess in a way they go hand in hand.  Strong company brand could provide or support the culture or vice versa.

Dinner - Stir fry: beef & veggies, sweet and sour chicken, or spicy black bean. Rice, green salad, fruit, and rolls.  The stir fry is pretty good.  I liked the beef better than the chicken since the chicken seemed a little dry.  It's prolly cuz it's white meat chicken.  The fruit is always nice. You don't see it on my plate, but I usually get the fruit later for dessert.  Overall, it was an average meal, maybe slightly above average cuz it had rice?  =)

Starting to get lighter longer...

It's great to see that the days are getting longer now.  The sun is out longer so it's not pitch black by the time class starts.  Sometimes we're even get lucky enough to see the sunshine around the EEC =)  It's been an extra long Winter, so it's nice to get these glimpses of the "Spring" and Summer to come.  It's also nice to know that we're getting that much closer to the end of the quarter and the program for class 9.

Dinner: Lasagna, caesar salad, side veggie, garlic bread.  The lasagna was good, can't really complain.  The other parts of the dinner like the salad, veggies, and garlic bread were all on par and average for our typically meals.  Nothing exciting, but nothing bad either.

Study Tour Presentation

This was the follow up to our International Study Tour where the group presented events from our trip and discussed highlights.  I was a little disappointed on the turn out from Class 10.  I believe only 3 students from Class 10 showed up.  That was the same number of alumni from previous classes that showed up to the presentation.  Not sure what choices Class 10 will have, but I'm sure they'll have a blast.

There was tons of food from cheese and meats to kabobs and empanadas, and it was all good.  There was wine as well, even Malbec!  I ate a ton. It was great!  HAHA

Globalization is good!

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We learned that globalization, free trade, outsourcing, or whatever you want to call it is good....for almost everybody.  Free trade allows countries to exploit their comparative advantage, which benefits the country and provides consumers with cheaper goods.  Globalization helps companies run more efficiently and increases profitability which makes shareholders happy. Everybody wins!...except for the losers like the people who lose their jobs and the companies/countries that don't have a comparative advantage, which is where protectionism comes in!

Breakfast: assorted muffins & breakfast breads, meats & cheeses, hard-boiled eggs, yogurt & granola, fruit. We had the typically breakfast with the exception of having coffee cake and assorted muffins.  They went all out on this one.  The coffee cake and the muffin ended up being too much for me as I didn't finish the muffin.  I know! How can that be!  I shoulda eatin 2 muffins!

Lunch: Dixie's BBQ with pork ribs, chicken, beef brisket, garden salad, potato salad, veggie baked beans, rolls, fruit.  One word: R I B S ! ! !  That's becoming one of my favorite 4 lettered words along with eggs and food  =)   The Dixie's BBQ chicken and beef brisket was good, but I enjoyed the pork ribs the most.  I can't remember how many ribs I ate, but I remember that I had the ITIS all afternoon. haha

People, Structure, Culture!

Those are the intangible resources that feed (my hands are coming together and making an upward motion) into and support the value related processes, which in turn provide organizational performance and results that we want.  At least, this is what Greg Bigley aka Ben Stiller tells us.  You laugh, but you know it's true.  He looks just like him!

Dinner: create your own gyros with pita, chicken, lamb, and beef, olive & artichoke salad with mache lettuce, crudités of cucumber & carrot with hummus, and spanakopita.  That's a really description menu to say gyros with toppings =).  I actually really liked this dinner, but I think this was the meal where I may have upset the caterer.  As you can see, I could only fit one gyro, so afterwards, I went back to get a second gyro.  The caterer made a comment to me about not having any more tomatoes from what was out there, so I told him that he shoulda brought more tomatoes. =\  Next thing I know, a sign was posted up which said something about not getting seconds on dinner as there may not be enough food.  That was the first time I had seen such a sign for dinner during the program.

Welcome back!

This was actually my first class session after the break for the last quarter.  It feels to say that it's our last quarter of the program =)   So yeah, I missed the first class day of the quarter which was a Saturday.  It's always tough to miss a Saturday, but I hope it wasn't too bad since it's the first class of the quarter.  Besides, my parents may have gotten really upset if I didn't show up to my sister's wedding...

Dinner: mixed green salad, braised Chicken Cacciatore, Vegetarian Lasagne Roulades, fruit, garlic bread.  The chicken cacciatore was tender and tasty.  As you can see, I got the lasagne as well.  I thought it was part of the dinner, so I apologize if I took the vegetarian meal option that night.  The salad was good with the tomatoes.  The fruit, which I've noticed in a few dinners, is a welcome additional, as long as it's an additional and not a replacement that is.

5 down, 1 to go!

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Last class day of the 5th Quarter!  We can see the light!  Everyone knows that graduation is just around the corner.  Just 3 more classes, and we'll be done with the program.  It's kinda exciting!  And, a group of us will be going to the International Study Tour trip to Santiago and Bueno Aires over the break.  I'm looking forward to it, but first, need to finish up these exams. =\

Dinner: Chicken Picatta, salad, sides.  This meal was actually pretty good, even though it was chicken.  Maybe cuz it was fried and/or the cheese and sauce on top.  Maybe cuz it had rice. haha.  Whatever the case, I enjoyed this meal. Grill veggies, simple Caesar salad. All good stuff!  I know...I was just happy that it was the last class for the quarter =)

HomeGrocer.com Cluster F!

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It's great to have connection like Professor Suresh, or maybe it's the University/Program....little bit of both? =)  We had the original CEO of HomeGrocer.com, Terry Drayton, come speak to us about his venture and details of what had happened with the merger with Webvan. It was great to listen to him speak and get his point of view on what had happened, and of course, his learnings and takeaways. I really enjoyed it!

Breakfast: Donuts & coffee cake, hard boiled eggs, meat/cheese platter, fruit, yogurt, toast, rice cakes.  We may have had coffee cake, but as you can see above, I got this cinnamon roll thingy, which was pretty good.  Other than that, it was the regular Saturday breakfast.  We had our last Saturday of the quarter on the Seattle campus.

Lunch: Philly Steak sandwiches, chips, salad.  The philly cheesesteak sandwich was okay.  I believe some people liked it more than others.  The pasta salad and frito chips were decent as well.  Dessert!  We don't get that as often anymore, which prolly pushed this meal into the "good" meal cuz of it.

Laying down the Law!

We were fortunate enough to have a couple of guys form a local law firm to speak with us about IP, Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, etc., and how they are applied in a technical environment.  It was good to have these discussions as it's something we all should think about, especially if you're going to have your own business.

Dinner: old fashioned meatloaf, roasted red potatoes, baby greens in raspberry vinaigrette, breads.  The meatloaf was okay. It kinda fell apart, but it tasted fine.  It's not chicken, remember. I liked the asparagus and the salad was good cuz I think it had mandarin oranges.  Overall, a pretty decent meal. I'd say above avg for the program. haha

Last Strategy Class!

Done with Strategy!  One down, and two more to go.  I've enjoyed all the classes we've had this quarter, and they go really well together too.  If I had to pick my favorite class this quarter, it would be Entrepreneurship, which took me a few times to figure out how to spell =).  I think I have a entrepreneurial spirit, hence me liking the class the most.

Dinner: chicken and veggie pot pies, salad, fruit, rolls.  This was kind of an odd dinner.  It really wasn't chicken pot pie. It was like chicken and peas/carrots soup? gravy maybe...with a couple of pastries onto.  The pastries were okay, but I can't say much for the "chicken pot pie."  I heard A LOT of complaints about this meal, which prolly makes it one of the worst meals we've had in the program =(