What Shape Am I?

I've had a lot of late nights this fall. That means that my morning routine of working out has fallen off. I'm trying to protect my sleep as much as possible. Last night, I had a class that went until 9:00. I convinced Richard to take me to Applebee's afterward. Applebees (at least in our area) has 1/2 priced appetizers and reductions on beer. It's been a nice place to go if we just want a little quick, cheap food.

The problem is that after I eat it, I feel gross. Especially when I eat it and go straight to bed. This morning, I woke up still feeling full from the food I ate last night. I've never believed that Applebees has super-high quality food, but it's good enough for my consumption. But I need to rethink that. I also need to stop eating after 8:00 at night. Both of those seem like they are not good for me. I feel gross and bloated

In short, I need to get in shape. My morning exercise routine was nice, while it lasted, but it never lasts too long. Last week, at a party, about 75% of the people there were members of the same gym (where the hosts also go, which is why they were invited). In short, they were beautiful people who were in great shape. This made Richard and I start talking about joining a gym. Of course, it probably won't happen until this MBA program is over, but it would be good to feel better.

Right now, this is all talk. We've done a lot to improve the food we take in (except for this 9:00 PM eating at Applebees). The major next step we need to take is to undergo a serious exercise routine. We were even looking at one of those "boot camp" style programs. This would also be in the morning, but we would have a teacher and a class to keep us accountable. Could I handle it? It's 8 weeks long? I'm not sure.

That's the assessment on my health. How are you?

Finance is done!

Just thought you might want to know.

The final exam was last night. I'm sure I didn't do perfectly, but I'm sure I got through it.

Happy day!

Fast Weeks

Does anyone else notice how quickly the weeks go when you are scheduled to the hilt? Since September, I've had a pretty similar routine. Most night, I'm working, either at work, or on my class, or some other project. The weekends have a little bit of rest, but they are mainly trying to get stuff done as well. Every week, when we get to Wednesday or Thursday, I think, "Wow. This week went by quickly."

Part of me thinks that my weeks will seem less fast once my Finance class is over. This is the most difficult class, and the one that I've put the most time into. We have two more weeks until it ends, and then we move into ethics!

Ethics! I studied that! I know ethics! I'm ready for something easy!

Homecoming Homily

I mentioned in my last post that I was able to preach this last week. It was a pretty good experience. This was the first time I had preached in chapel since I was a student at this school. I'm pretty sure that my homily was better now than it was then (at least I hope so).

Perhaps I have grown some since then.

I'd post it, but it's very contextually specific, so I don't want to say too much or get anyone in trouble. Plus, I can't seem to paste it in here.

More on Finance

OK - my last post was short and dumb, and I know that. I would love to tell you about this Finance class that I'm taking right now, but I can't.

Why, you ask. The answer is simple. Because I don't know what's going on in this class at all. We keep talking about required rates of return and expected rates of return and present value and future value and it all sounds like gibbelty-gook too me.

Last night, we spent a few hours on NPV and IRR and MIRR and IP. I'm noticing that finance people love their acronyms. They also have symbols for everything, but sometimes those symbols have more than one meaning. I can't even type an "r-hat" on this keyboard, so why should I know that an "r-hat" is different than an "r-line".

I will say that I find it sort of fun, in an ironic way, that we are studying finance while there is a major financial meltdown happening around us. I don't think I can even say that the class is helping me understand the crisis any better. I'm getting most of my information from MPR, and they explain things as well as I think that I can understand it.

In all, I'm wondering if my MBA education is making me a more bitter consumer. I have less faith in capitalism and our government than ever.

In better news, I was able to preach again recently!