After having our third child and a nice Christmas break, I was well-rested and ready for the Spring term. I had my goals in place and I was ready to work hard to get off academic probation.
Financial Accounting II
We had the choice of taking either Financial Accounting II or Managerial Accounting. Judging by the size of our class, I assume that a lot of people didn't like the first financial accounting class. Our Financial Accounting II class was very small. Most of the PMBAs took the managerial accounting class ... and from talking to a lot of those students, it sounded like they wished they would have taken the financial accounting course.
I took managerial accounting at BYU. I didn't do too well in that class. It was a weeding class ... to weed out all those who said they wanted to get their MACC and those who really were going to get their MACC. I had John Hardy. He wasn't too interested in teaching as much as he was interested in consulting on the side. He often was late and sometimes missed class. It was really disorganized. I really hated going to class and doing the assignments. The lectures sucked and didn't help a whole lot. I was totally lost in that class. My experience was so bad, I wasn't going to risk taking that class again. I took my chances with financial accounting.
Our teacher was Hogan. I was very worried before class started that she would be just as bad as Riffe. I was horrified when I looked at her profile. But after the first two or three classes, I found that I really liked her teaching style. Her presentations were clear and easy to understand. The homework that she gave us was challenging, but do-able. I studied hard for that class and it paid off. I thought that since there were so few students in the section, I would be on the lower end of the curve. But I was pleasantly suprised when I found out my grade. I earned an A-! I was off to a great start of getting off probation.
Master Negotiations
Class was last night. We did the BMW buyer/seller exercise. I was the buyer this time. I did better than I did last time, but I still didn't do as well compared to other buyers. The actual negotiation was very easy and smooth. The other guy was level-headed and we worked well together. We found, pretty quickly, the issues that we were willing to give in to and we held our ground on the issues that mattered most. My BATNA was around 2450. He said his was around 2400 (we disclosed this info after the deal was done). I was aiming for around 4900-5100 or roughly double my BATNA. He said he was aiming for 6000. He got his 6000 and I got 5400. If the negotiation were perfectly balanced, it would have turned out 6600 each. There was one issue that I didn't ask for the max and I was disappointed afterward about that. It would have pushed me up close to 6000. I think I did well. I'll probably get a B+ again.
What I need to remember is to put out my offer first. Last night, he put out his first. I think this anchored me toward his number. I need to make the first offer next time. The second issue is that I need to be a little more aggressive. I find myself looking to co-operate more as if that were the sole purpose of the exercise. My goal should be to maximize my gains rather than feel good about a negotiation.
This was the last one-on-one negotiation we'll do. The rest will be more difficult and in teams. When we did our first team assignment, there was lots of debate. All that debating chewed up our time. I wonder how much time she'll give us next week?
Excel Modeling
Tonight and tomorrow night I'll be working on reviewing for this class and working on the assignment. Not much to say other than I really don't enjoy this class. It sounds great when you say that, "I'm taking an Excel modeling class!" But in fact, it truly sucks. I'm not a brainey geek that gets this stuff too easily. I'm more well-balanced. But, I'm still going to bite the bullet and do the work.
Chess
I played last night! I hadn't played in a long time. I just played as a guest. After a couple of crazyhouse games, I played a few blitz games. I did well. It felt great to be playing again. 15 minutes of playing chess before going to bed turned into a two-hour obsession. It was fun getting on the board again.
The 2/9/06 chessgames.com puzzle (11. ? white to play). My guess is 11. Bxf7+ Kxf7 12. Qb3+ Kf8 13. Ng6+ ... I think that's mate. If not, the knight has forked the rook and king.
And the answer is ... Bxf7+! After that, I didn't place the black king in the correct position, but the idea was the same. The knight goes on to f6 with the Queen threatening to mate at e6. Black has to defend against this and then white's knight takes the rook.
It took me a while to figure out how the game would end. It turns out that black is in a real mess with those knights. Anything he does, the other knight will fork the Queen and King. It's really quite brilliant!
The Office is on tonight ... funniest show I've seen in a long time.
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