There wasn't much to tell from yesterday so sorry for not having an
email for you, but today was a really good day.
First, yesterday Day 5 was mostly all day in the hotel. I really like
both the classes I have this semester especially from a content
standpoint, because I feel like there is a lot of good information I
could be utilizing at work, but I have gotten to the point of
frustration with my finance class. The professor is really nice and
very smart, but his teaching style is extremely dry. So much so that I
found myself completely zoning out during class. Even more so, he has
some CDs that he gave us with presentations of the lectures he gives
in class and they are exactly the same almost verbatim. Because of
that the last two classes I have missed most of the class and watched
the lecture on CD and then come down to class for the end of it. I
REALLY want to get this material down and start implementing it
immediately so I felt like this solution was the most helpful.
Tomorrow is our last finance class so I am still debating on how I
will handle that one.
I think I have mentioned this before, but these two classes have
really made me realize that I need to be utilizing more of my MBA
skills in my current position and as a practice administrator when I
become one. There are a lot of things we could be doing to help
practice better assess new opportunities, cost controls, brand and
market strength, etc. By doing stuff like forecasting, regression
analysis, industry/SWOT analysis, NPV, IRR, and DCF analysis we could
really differentiate ourselves and show some great value in what we
provide. Anyway, those are just thoughts I've had that I wanted to get
written down.
Both days I have tried to fit in some shopping since but I am
realizing I don't have enough hours in the day. I am trying to figure
out when I am going to be able to go back and finish everything I need
to. One of the funniest/best experiences I have had is
shopping/bargaining with Dave Taylor. The man is a legend. He is a
really aggressive negotiator and calls out the sales people on how
ridiculous their prices are. In the end they are usually ticked that
he has pushed the negotiating so far, but when he comes back the next
day they all remember him. It is pretty funny to watch. He'll get into
it with any of them about pretty much any product.
Today I got winter coats for both of us and I am really excited about
them because they are definitely the best quality I have seen since
I've been here.
Today was also our "corporate tour" day or in my case cultural tour.
We took an hour and a half bus ride out to the city of Zhouzhuang
which is a really cool historical city that has canals running through
all of it (think of Venice, Italy). It was cool to see some of the
older historical chinese buildings. We rode on a gondola boat and
walked the streets. It was a lot of fun and even though I was
apprehensive about taking so much time to get out there and see it, I
was definitely glad I went and saw it.
Attached are a bunch of pictures. Sorry there aren't any comments on
them, but they are mostly shots of the city as we walked around. I am
not looking forward to have to back date all these emails and put them
into the blog, but I want to have them there as an archive--dang
chinese censorship! :)
Well I am off to bed. Love you so much!
Brock
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