8/27/07 Because Everyone Remembers the European Cheese Shortage of 1843

I've started class again. I'm officially halfway through my graduate career, although I've just discovered that I may be spending an extra semester in these hallowed halls due to a scheduling snafu. It appears that the last class I need to graduate is not offered again until the summer session, which makes graduating in May a little more difficult. (In undergrad at UT, we referred to this kind of scheduling problem as the "Big Orange Screw". I'm not sure what to call it here. I think that the official school colors are blue and white, but the "Big Blue Screw" seems a little lacking in oomph. It's either a good name for a mixed drink, as in "I'll take a Blue Screw and a Mango Margarita, hold the salt" or an episode of Blue's Clues meets Bob the Builder where Bob and Blue search for the missing Big Blue Screw. What it doesn't convey is the school going, "You'll spend an extra semester writing your thesis because of the bizarre class availability...take that sucka!"). I talked to my advisor though, and if I'm really intent on graduating in May and can double up on the class load in the spring, he can provide a special independent study session that is really the same class that isn't offered until the summer. I'm still deciding if the May graduation date is worth it or not. If it isn't, I'm pushed to August.

Meanwhile, I'm taking Global Marketing and Statistics. I'm supposed to be reading the first two chapters in Marketing and the first three in Stats, but I ordered my books over the Internet, and they have neglected to grace me with their presence yet. I know that they've shipped and that my books are somewhere between here and Pennsylvania, traveling via media mail (which is probably a nice way of saying "carried by a random hitch hiker"), but who knows when they'll actually show. They're supposed to arrive any day now. Or up to 21 days from now. Hard to tell with media mail. I'm not really worried though, because I'll just look on with my neighbor for this class. We won't have homework due until next week.

I'm excited about these classes. I really like the Global Marketing professor, because he tells good stories about real marketing scenarios. Unfortunately, he also expects you to know a lot of world history, which I haven't had since the 9th grade, and apparently oozed out of my brain .000001 seconds after I learned it. (No doubt to make room for more important knowledge, like all the words to the Sir Mix-a-Lot song Baby Got Back). Suffice it to say, I'm at a bit of a disadvantage when explaining that Italy's cultural reaction to potato chips can be traced back to the European Cheese Shortage of 1843, but I can belt out "I like big butts!" with the best of them.

Stats is more of a tossup. I really liked stats in undergrad, but I think that was mostly because I had a good teacher. My current stats professor goes about teaching things a little differently, but I'm hoping that it won't cause me any problems. Right now, I'm optimistically choosing to believe that I'm a natural statistical genius, and that I'll sail right through the class. Whether or not this is a true statement remains to be seen. At least I know that I had a pretty good grasp of it at one time, so I'm hoping that the old "riding a bike" thing applies to statistical analysis and with a little prodding, it'll all come right back to me.

In the mean time, I'll have a Big Blue Screw with a twist of lime.