Phil’s Latest Update From This Frozen Tundra

Boy, the past weekend has been like a tropical paradise - temperatures in the low 30s at around freezing level. Man I felt like getting out and enjoying the weather more. Considering the past week it was like a Siberian nightmare in Ithaca. We had -30 degrees F over here with the wind chill. It was insanely cold. I bought these new 180s earmuffs that go around the back of your head - these things are awesome.

Classes
Anyway, the first week of classes went smoothly. Despite some last minute changes to my schedule (due to one class abruptly changing times to conflict with my other class), I really like my schedule and classes. The semester should be interesting. I’m taking the following classes:

AEM 330 - Managerial Economics and Decision Making
This class is about how to make use microeconomic principles to help managers make the right decisions. This should be a helpful class since I’m very much looking to run my own business in the near future.

AEM 331 - The Economics of Business Regulation
This class is about how regulations affect the way businesses operate and the financial and social impacts. The class should be fairly interesting since I’ve always found mergers pretty interesting.

AEM 430 - International Trade Policy
The title is pretty self explanatory. The class explores the economics and benefits/drawbacks of trade and current trade policies of the US and other countries. I’m basically taking this class because it fits and it fills a requirement. Hope its interesting.

HADM 489 - The Law of the Internet and E-Commerce
I’ve always held a strong interest in the Internet and E-Commerce and could be possibly be getting into this field so I thought it would be good to know about the legal issues in this sector.

INFO 230 - Intermediate Web Design
This class basically covers database programming and PHP. It’s part of my Information Science minor and I thought I could extend my skillset with the class.

So that’s my schedule - I only have one class on Friday and none of these classes have sections - it’s pretty sweet because I freakin hate sections.

UPDATE: I’m writing this update way after the semester described here ended to recap my classes. First of all I ended up dropping INFO 230 early on because it was just too much of a “programming” class. AEM 330 and AEM 331 were both craptastic. AEM 330 was taught by a professor who never taught this subject before and his lectures were basically right out of the textbook. Not only that, his exams were so insanely long that not one person could finish the test during the allotted time, not even after he gave a time extension at the end. AEM 331 was taught by a new professor who seemed nice but the class just seemed boring - there was too much math, not enough discussions of the business aspects. AEM 430 was actually interesting despite all the math, because the professor tied it to a lot of real-world issues/events. HADM 489 was also a good class because it taught a lot of practical information.

Down to Business
Besides school, I’ve been doing a lot of research for a business I’m seriously considering starting up sometime this semester. The biggest hurdle right now is getting enough funding. I can scrape together about $500 without digging into cash set aside for semester expenses. A risky move I could make would be to just throw that money into this startup and hope my revenues can recover that amount by the time I need the money.

I need about $4,000 - this is enough to fund a year of operation if my sales forecasts hold. I’m a bit hesitant on giving up equity and would much prefer loans. If you’re interested in investing/loaning at least $1,000, I have much more information - contact me. This is not for whimsical inquiries - you need to sign some documents before I discuss the details of my business plan.

My ultimate goal with this is to actually have it become my full time business after I graduate.

Health and Fitness
In other news, I lost about 5 pounds over the Fall semester and another 5 pounds over winter break! I’m now down to 176 lbs. and my goal is to lose 11 lbs. over the spring semester so by summer I will be down to 165 lbs. I’ve picked up my workout regimen - I’ve been playing a lot more basketball and doing cardiovascular stuff at the gym. My other goal is also to bench my body weight by the end of this semester.

Until Next Time
Well I hope everyone is having a good year thus far. The older I get the more I feel like time is going by faster and faster. I have to get to bed now, goodnight.