So, a very sweet girl convinced me that I needed to go on vacation after i graduated. So i did. :) we are currently in San Diego and will be spending her birthday at the world famous San Diego Zoo. I am excited. Yesterday was Sea World and sadly tomorrow I head home. :( The weather has been glorious and the relaxing atmosphere has been so nice. I remembered why it is a good idea to go on vacation. I will have pictured forthcoming. :)
So I decided today that I should add music to my blog. I figure I'd put up some of the music that I spend my day listening to. Most of it is mid to late 90's alernative with a healthy dose of grunge rock, and a few other spices thrown in so y'all know just how eclectic my music taste is. If you were to steal my Ipod (please don't I'd be mad) you would be treated to a random assortment similar to, but much larger in scope than this list. T-72 hours to finals completion... I need a Red Bull.
So I am an economist by education which means that I like to look at supply and demand curves, and analyze how shocks to the economy effect everyday life. So apparently the local temperature is a supply shock to the cotton growers all over the world. Without fail it would seem that with increased temperatures the price of cotton increases.
Now you might think that over a national market like we have in the US that supply shocks might me minimized because when it is warm in Utah its still darn cold in Wyoming or Montana, or North Dakota. But time after time I have seen the effects of this market shortage for cotton. the temperature rises and without fail the price goes up. I mean, for what other reason could it be that as the temperature increases so does the distance between women's hem lines and the ground, or the vertical distance from a woman's chin to her neckline? clearly there is a correlation between the temperature and cotton prices. And now as an honest to goodness graduated economist I will have to look into the matter.
That's it, my log awaited class ring. I am pretty proud of it. Its taken long enough to get. A week from today is commencement. Just gotta hit the books and do well on those finals.
So yesterday I walked out of a class at BYU for the last time. Sure I have to take 3 exams, all of which hold the promise of being particularly evil, but I never again will have to set foot in a classroom. (unless I get my MBA at some point, but this is beyond the point) So today I find my self in this strange limbo land. My final exams are Monday and Tuesday of next week. Its strange I know I probably SHOULD start to study, but I am not sure my brain will let me. Granted these exams will be crazy hard, but I start to reach diminishing marginal returns and I find it difficult to study any more past a certain point. I am most worried about my econometrics exam, followed by my price theory exam. My financial econ exam will be a beast but I am for some reason just not as worried about it. So thus I float...
In other news, on the upcoming post-grad roady we are planning on going to a Dodger game in LA after spending the day at the beach. I am excited to see one of the games great venues. Chavez Ravine (Dodger Stadium) is a historic and storied park. It falls in behind Wrigley and Fenway and that rats nest that the Yankee$ call home. (How could it not be a rats nest if its full of Yankee fans) but it is still one of the great old parks and I am excited to go. I plan to eat myself a Dodger dog, and leave a rediculous pile of peanut shells in my wake. MAN I LOVE BASEBALL!
So today my academic career comes to a close. Its not bitter. Its not bittersweet. Its just freakin sweet!!! I finished my last paper last night. It ended up being 16 pages of analysis on basball statistics for the past 30 years. And the best part was that I was in bed by 11 o'clock. So aparently it took my ENTIRE tour through academia to learn how to not procrastinate a paper to the point where it takes an all nighter to finish it. Maybe I really did learn something :)
After today I have 3 exams to take and I am officially finished. Those exams are not going to be cakewalks by any stretch of the imagination but I am confident that I will triumph. So very VERY soon I will no longer have to stress on a Sunday evening that I have homework to turn in the next day. Boy thats going to be sweet. So now with all of my new found free time i can read books that I WANT to read. Or if i am feeling like it I can take a walk in the park with a really cute friend on a sunny day. Or kill people and break things in the virtual reality that comes to me via the Playstation 3. Or beat my roommate mercilessly at Smash Brothers on the Wii. THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS!!!!!!!
Could life be any better?? I submit that it cannot!
So In my next to last class of Financial Economics, Dr. Jensen left us with some financial advice that I plan to follow. He said "Pay 10% to the Lord, 10% to yourself, amd spend the rest" to which one of my classmates said "or 80% to your wife" This is from a man who has spent his life studying the economy and is looking at a well taken care of retirement. So as far as advice givers go he has the qualifications.
I am taking a vacation after graduation. A little road trip to San Diego. Never been to San Diego. We are stopping along the way in Las Vegas and probably a Dodger game too. I am excited, no school no work... just me and a freind and lots of play time. I am really looking forward to it. It was brought to my attention that my last vacation that didn't involve Seattle or a Mariners game was nearly 3 years ago, whilst married (mostly happily) in the Caribean. So it is a vacation FAR overdue.
So there are 2 days left of classes for me. Yup 2 classes. Then finals... boy its gonna be wierd to not worry about school any more.
So today is a gorgeous spring day. Its sunny, and getting warmer, makes me wanna go do drastic things like run. Now you may laugh because I say running is drastic but for me it is. Last week I went for a nice 2 mile run and nearly had to have a lung transplant at the end. But there is a reason its called spring FEVER. Fevers only come with an ILLNESS. So clearly I am not in my right mind when I go running... but even amongst all the hacking and feeling as though a lung is about to relocate itself from the pulmonary cavity onto the sidewalk, it feel remarkably good.
Today I had realization. I have 3 days left of school. 3! Thats like... in my entire academic career 3 DAYS! So needless to say I am excited. Now I just need to survive those three days and thier respective final exams and I will be golden. :)
Today I also had another realization. With my homework for the week complete, my monster papers pretty well in check, and working an opening shift at work, I find myself with very little to do this evening. The girl I would choose to spend my evening with is otherwise occupied tonight so it may be a night for killing terrorits on Rainbow Six Vegas 2. But the realization came when I thought about how my evenings will go after graduation. I realized this is just a prelude to how my evenings will go. "No more teachers, no more books..." I get to relax and spend my evenings how i want to... GOSH! I'm just not sure how to spend my new found free time. Maybe with the extra time Princess Charming will find me... :)
