MBA 'letter of intent'

this is getting sent to the UNR business school. any serious problems, let me know before I make prove you all right and prove i'm an idiot.
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Personal Statement

Albert Einstein once said, "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." To Einstein, education was clearly a stumbling block, the epitome of unoriginality, but to me it is something quite different. Education dictates that the current generation learns from the mistakes of the past while also delivering the skills that bring a long and productive contribution to society. These skills are a learned behavior and to master them we must know and understand what is expected. There are two ways to know: experience and education. I am well on my way in experience, but happily look forward to the fact that an education will take a lifetime to achieve.

My education began in a single room school and I was one of only three students. My twin brother and I excelled in reading and were soon reading well above our expected level. Around 5'th grade I transferred to another Christian school that had around 60 students. For high school I attended the boarding academy of Campion Academy where I graduated in 1997.

I attended Walla Walla College from the fall of 1997. I started in the engineering program and finished with a BSE, a concentration in electrical engineering, and a minor in mathematics. The classes were challenging and as I later learned, the professors did a very good job of preparing me for a professional role in the workplace.

My father was a field engineer for Honeywell and repaired mainframe computers. It was solely his influence that gave me the desire to be an electrical engineer. During my senior year of high school I hired on to the same division that my father worked for. The age of the mainframe had passed and he now serviced small personal computers. I was offered a full time job, and my parents left it up to me to decide if I wanted to work full time or continue my education by going to college. Even as only a senior in high school I could see the positive effect that a college education had had on my parents life so I opted to go to college.

All in all, my parents and I have paid around $80,000 for my Christian education. Up until now, I have only attended private Christian schools. I was once of the impression that a private education was of a higher quality than what is provided through public education but I no longer hold that view. Through the association with my coworkers it has become obvious that the competence and value that an employee provides is not as dependant on what schools they have attended but more to the dedication and perseverance that is put forth. In the work place, an education is usually reduced to the common denominator of being a requirement for a position and once that requirement has been meet, management assume your competency in the field. With that said, I would never waste my time with a non-accredited school. I have seen to many cases where people have to start all over because the classes they have taken do not count towards a degree when they transfer schools. I am very glad to see that the UNR business school is not only accredited but is also held in high regard by the members of the community.

My professional career began in 2001 when I was hired by XXXXXXX as a test engineer. About 6 months later YYYY acquired XXXX and my induction into corporate America was completed. Engineering has provided a very solid foundation and the truths and concepts are universally applicable to problem solving methodologies. I have found that my role as an engineer has been valued because the ability to define, develop, and solve most any problem. I obtained my six sigma green belt certification within YYYY soon after the acquisition. In 2004 I obtained my Professional Engineering certification. When I compare what the two certifications have done for me I am amazed to see the green belt certification has actually done more for my career than the much harder and complicated PE certificate. Solid management, good underlying principals, and high integrity are key ingredients in a successful company. An MBA will help me to further balance my toolset and mindset when I tackle corporate problems.

Starting in March I am transferring from engineering to supervisor. I am now in a position to utilize the skills I learn in school WHILE I am in school. To me this is the best of both worlds; the application of education will help to solidify my immediate success as I take on the new role of supervisor. An MBA from UNR will help me to be successful, whether I choose engineering or management as my long-term role.


Sincerely,
Keith ZZZZ, PE

moon

EOS digital rebel. 300mm zoom lens, with scale factor for digital camera, probably a 450 equivelant zoom. and with ALL OF THAT, this is all the bigger we could get the moon. it was large to the naked eye.

how hot is it?

I neat little write up on how to measure temp 'down hole' HERE

Got the job

I got the job I applied for. no news yet if it is a promotion or not because it looks like I will actually transfer and begin work before the offer letter is sent, so most likely no raise, so I can't call it a promotion. bummer....

GMAT-- Done

I took the GMAT today, got me a 610. I scored 43 on the analytical (math) and a 31 on the english crap. what ever that means. a score of 620 would have put me in the 80's percentile, so I'm just under that. I can now say with confidence than in a group of 5 I have good odds of being the second smartest person. ahhh.... thats a buch of crap.

it cost $250, but I have a nice pair of earplugs to show for it. the provided ear plugs, but I didn't open mine, so I may frame them or something..

google maps example

so I guesse you can make a LINK to the map you make. it seems to work ok.

*update*
check out my trip in ohio. from the airport... HERE

google maps

head on over to yet ANOTHER awesome beta service from non other than GOOGLE, the company that was able to double its stock price from 100 to 200$ in about 2 months. man.. I wish I'd bought in. any way.. check out maps.google.com and see an easier way to see the city you are living in or where you are going. after my 13.2 seconds of exploration on the site I was unable to determine how to SAVE the image, or link to it without doing a screen capture.. so if any of you find a way, post.

promotion update

I interview this thursday for the new position. because people are to stupid to mark things on their company shared outlook calanders I can see who else is interviewing. I think I have a pretty good shot of getting the position, but its not over until the fat lady sings (where did that saying come from anyway?)

I think I'll take the GMAT test next wednesday.

business trip

after 3.5 years of employement by the 'big employer' I'm going on my first business trip! I leave in a few weeks, and will be gone about 2 weeks. to some suburb in ohio.

Round trip Plane tickets: $450
Rental car: $150-400 (not sure why the gap?)
lodging: 103$ a night (around $1100 total?)
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total: approx $2,000

probably way more after meals.

I got me a king size bed, the room us suppose to come with internet and a game system. so, if i'm alive after working 14 hour days I just might be able to kick back and use the ammenities.

What food do you guys think I should get on the company dollar?
What enteratinment/attractions do you think I should see near the cleveland ohio area (and don't cut in to far on my 700 miles total allowed for the rental car)

ohh..... and I"m sure you wonder why the big trip? Its cause i get to reverse engineer something! =)

Jury Duty completed

Jury Duty! I never really did give you guys the skinny on that wonderful experience. So here is the quick recap.

The postcard said I could park in a pay parking garage and they would validate the ticket. I didn't feel like going through all the hassle, so I parked 3 blocks farther away in a free garage and jen dropped me off in the front of the court house at about 7:30. I was to report at 7:45. Well, as luck would have it they don't open the doors to the building until 7:45-8 so I got to stand out side in line, in 15degF weather.

I strike up a conversation with the guy next to me in line, and determine he's a construction worker and has high hopes of getting out of the jury duty. We talk some more and I learn he helped build a gas station near where I work. He built it about 20 years ago. So he proceeds to tell me a story...

So I'm there, working, and this old codger of a dude starts walking across the cross walk. All the cars stop and he makes it most of the way across and then this one girl just plow right over him. He busts up over the hood and into the windshield, and then lies on the ground. I run over to help the dude, but he's all ready kind of getting up. I grab his arm, and can kind of tell this guy is tuff, farmer tuff. The ambulance comes but all he has is a little scratch on the head... man. The guy is tuff as nails. Everyone is standing in awe. Whispering. "Do you know who that is?"... Wow... that’s old man bob (name omitted).

Hear is the neat thing. Old man bob was the owner of our 0.5 BILLION-dollar companies. He was probably about 60 at the time. It was fun to hear another larger than life story about the old guy, that as legend has it owns most of the town, and will continue to work from the grave (he's not dead yet, and he just opened a new company a few weeks ago)

The doors finally open to the courthouse and we make our way up the steps. Everyone is concerned about if they have to take their belt off to get through the metal detector. Screw that, I Just walk through and it’s not a problem. We make our way to the checking room and learn that there are 3 juries starting today so there is like 150 potential jurors that have reported. We fit about 50 people in a room intended for 12.

After a few hours of milling around and waiting for the court to start we get to go to the actual courtroom and begin the actual jury selection. Judge comes in, everyone stands, judge sits down, every one sits. Judge goes into a 20-minute speech on the history of the jury system, starting 2000 years before Christ. Goes through the middle ages, touches on the European system, then draws the differences into the American system and ends the lecture after most of my fellow moron jurors are asleep. There were probably only about 10 of us, of the 50 potentials that had an advanced education. It was pitiful.

So the selection begins. They bring out this lotto drum with all of our names in it and the court secretary starts drawing names. These people then move from the selection area to the next area. About 25 people got selected to leave a little less than half of us still sitting there.

The judge starts quizzing all of those chosen. Name, profession, marriage status, what does your spouse do... etc. no one ever answered the last part (spouse occupation) which proved the limited mental capacity of these jurors. Then the prosecution and defense grilled them.

One kid said he could not be impartial because he had previously been accused of a DUI in Colorado and he didn't believe in the Breathalyzer thinggys. He spent a ton of his own money in his defense and was able to prove his innocence. Because one of the counts against the accused was a DUI he said he could not be impartial (probably in favor or letting him off, but he never did say). He got grilled for 20 minutes, and they finally let him go. He stuck to his story and never fell for the sucker traps that the judge, prosecution and defense asked him. I was proud of him.

Then this other lady says, "The accused is guilt, we’ve seen all the evidence, and heard the accusations. He is guilty". The judge says, "mam, the session has not even started yet, all we have heard is the counts that he is here for. Assault with a deadly weapon, leaving a crime scene, and a DUI" (there were actually 4, I can't remember the last count). The ladies said "well no one makes it this far in the system unless they are guilt so he is guilty"

The judge was visibly disgusted with her, and then some other lady chimed in on her side, agreeing with her. The judge pulled the surveys from both ladies that they had sent in per the jury duty process and turned them over and read the statements on the back. Both women had put really stupid stuff on their survey, trying to get out of jury duty. The judge ripped into them a little explaining it was their civil duty to be impartial and actually SIT AS A JURROR. But in the end about 5 people were let go including anti DUI student.

Each time a potential was dismissed they pulled out the ANCIENT keno machine and drew more names, I was really hoping I would get picked as at this point I was convinced I could serve as an impartial juror and set the rest of the 11 morons that were picked on the right path. But alas, they never drew my name =(

The case in a nutshell was some dude assaulted his girl friend with an AXE, chopped her windshield of her car, then cut her cell phone in half (nice shot) and then fled the scene. When caught, he had blood alcohol content greater than 0.10 and thus was cited with a DUI. It would have been a great trial, only scheduled to last 2 days, but I didn't get in =(

So after we took a break they picked the 12 jurors, but when they called out someone’s name they didn't go up. We LOST someone! The bailiff went to find them but couldn't so someone was picked in there place and they proceed. The rest of us were let go.

On the way out I see the guy that told the story of old man bob in the elevator. He was they guy they called and didn't show! He must have been talking on his cell phone too long or something. I'm not sure what happened to him but the judge was PISSED when we left.

government auctions

have you ever wanted to buy the rejected crap from the US government? well now you can. just goto gsaauctions.gov and check out the junk sorted by state. hawaii has an unusually large amount of junk for sale, but of notable interest is the FAN BOAT for sale in MONTANA of course!

pirates...

arh....... matey.......... in the spirit of nerdy tales I would like to post a little white paper. I think its fitting.

baytsp.com

*promotion?

so, after dealing with a nearly 2million dollar problem at work that finally got resolved, I am faced with a new job opportunity handed to me on a silver platter. on friday the super big boss man pulled about 10 of my colegues and me into a room and pitched a new postion that is opening in management. it will be a 1.5-2 year position over 10 employees in a part of the building I've never been. after talking about it with one of my friends at work I think i'm going to drop my name in the hat. the only other guy I know of that will go for the postiion will probalby actually read this blog, so to the C-man I say "may the best man win" =)

heres my problem. I got bumped from jury duty last week to having to call this week. I called friday night to find out that i have to go to jury duty on monday, the very day I need to grease the wheels at work to get the new job, so the ol' C-man just may beat me out! argg.......

I'm thinking of telling the judge I'm in favor of the death penalty for jay walking so they will drop me. any other ideas on how to get out of this? I need em quick as monday is the big day.

Google Video

Google Video offers a way to search the closed captioning of TV, and returns screenshots. I can't wait until it returns video clips (as the name would suggest) so I can get just what I want, when I want. this would be the ULTIMATE video on demand.

tropical island

One of my coworkers got a call at work the other day asking for someone that no longer works here. now this is a rare occurance because our internal phone system responds to voice commands, so if you say someones name it rings their desk. We all wondered how he could get a call meant for a long gone individual, so we picked up the phone, asked for the ex employee and low and behold it connected to his desk!. now not to be outdone we tried asking the employee, and he wasn't in the system. so the only way to get him, without knowing his extension is to ask for an ex employee.

well, the person that called him, or I should say the ex employee had an interesting proposal. the offer was extended to move to a tropical island and do manufacturing work. assurances were given over the phone that the current employee was happy with this position, and yes... the rest of his coworkers were as well.

once the conversation had ended we discussed what 'should have been done' as is often than case, and we have come to a joint agreement that if the caller calls again, we should get the offer faxed to the office, so we can post it for amusement.

CarShow

This week has been very foggy, and during my commute to and from work it has not been uncommon to not really be able to see where I am going because the fog is so thick. This morning was a welcomed exception to the precidence set by the earlier days of the week and I enjoyed an unrestricted view of the landscape on my way. Traveling at about 75mph I was passed by a blue toyota truck. you know the type, not quite full size, but not a minuture truck either. there were 3 full size men packed into the bench seat, tho the law in this particular case should have probably only allowed two. as they pulled around to pass the truck slowed to match my speed and began honking. I looked over to see a centerfold of a woman in more than a comprimized position plastered against the passenger window for me to see. Of all the days that needed dense fog, this had to be the one.

Whats the weirdest stuff you guys have seen in passing cars?

racing stripes

so we are watching this movie racing stipes, and the best part by far (so far) is this scene with two fighting flys (they are brothers). The film is about a horse... err I mean ZEBRA that grows up on a farm and he wants to be a race horse. all of the animals have voices (english). besides the flys, the pelican named goose is pretty good too.

+work+

Have you ever had one of those weeks where it just seems all your doing is working? well, i'm stuck in one of those weeks. the never ending nightmare of work+work. one would think this is a great thing, some days I wake up (at work) around 2pm, the day mostly gone. on a typical day that would mean its about time to start wrapping things up for my 4:30 departure (yeah.. I need some time).. but alas.. this week has been horendous. I'm helping to finish a project that has been in more than 6 months of development and we are to the part of the project where my skills shine, but I'm too busy with ANOTHER project that is just getting start..or i WOULD be busy with that project if I wern't review another friends project that is closing and desperatly needs my input as it will effect me in the long run... oh.. I mis-typed yet again. all that WOULD be loading me down, except I'm in the middle of a hairy finger pointing 2million doller super problem. oh yeah.. i'm also teaching an OPamp class to the technicians, and I totally screwed up the first session. (maybe because I was thinking about one of those third party reviews I said I'd do, but never got around to). welp.. just one of those weeks. if I really hang in there and make the executives happy, I may get a 25$ gift card to best-buy! ohh........... the reward. I Just can't wait.

Mystery Trip Revealed

The mystery event? I showed up before 7:30 (when I usually start after 8am) just to make sure I was here will in time for the 'mystery event'. We were suppose to wait at our desks (or respective areas) until our section was called over the inhouse PA system, but that system seemed to be a bunch of crap. We were to report to our designated fire drill area outside, but again, that was a bunch of crap. When I got to the department I let everyone know a school bus was parked in our fire drill area so without waitin for the announcement over the PA we packed up and headed out. we tried to board the bus in our area but leadership personell directed us to the bus at the front of the line.

I came to the conclusion that a 3rd grades legs are much shorter than mine by the following. I sat down, legs wedged on the seet in front of me. the guy in front of me did the same thing, the guy behind me did the same. is what you effectivly get is a WEDGE through all the seats. its a wonder any of us got out.

The bus driver was amused that we did not know our destination, but seconds from pulling out we learned the destination of the outing. The local theater had been rented, and we all got a choice of the currently showing films. Upon arriving at the theater we were given complimentary drinks and candy. that was all that provided, so of course everyone is buying popcorn for 4$ a pop (no pun intended) because no one had breakfast and were hungry. I thought that was pretty funny but just proceeded to eat my candy and drink my soda in a weak attempted to stave off starvation.

We arrived before 8am at the theater. the theater is literally 3 miles from the our building. the shows were scheduled to start at 8:45 so we all sat in a VERY overly warmed theater watching those extremely lame slides of advertisement and movie trivia.

Heres my corporate sponsored trip, personal review of the film Flying Daggers
Yahoo review
IMDB.com review


*AWESOME cinemetrogaphy, which is one of the main reasons to see this type of film
*Excessive (but not extreme) use of the color green. That alone will make a certain someone I know want to see it.
*Top notch corriographed fight scenes including the use of bamboo, swords, spears, bow and arrow (very well done), and daggers (duh)
*over the top love interest, almost turns this into a chick flick.

things to note:
*characters NAMEs may be shortened in the subtitle but its still fun to listen for the name onscreen.
*a sword is not a sword, but a machete
*film includes more than a tripple cross
*you can still fight very effectivly with a dagger in your back
*when both genders have long hair and all that is shown in a love scene is 'backs' its very hard to determine who is who.
*weather change can be instantaneous
*The sound for the movie was done in toykyo, but this is a chinese film.

In summary, one awesome film that I will actually consider purchasing on DVD when it becomes available. This in and of itself may not seem impressive, but it will seem more impressive when you learn that I have less than 3 DVDs that I own. Flying Daggers is a bit qwirky at times but that alone will not keep me from using the phrase 'totally awesome' with full confidence to describe it.

Enron Collapse

You guys remember that company called Enron? you know, the guys that made it cool to go under. the way mci followed suite...... ah, but I digress.

Enron. I got a book on tape from the library that is 12 cassette tapes on the rise and fall of this behemoth. I'm in the middle of the third tape and the correlation to the company that employs me is STAGGERING. its freaky. but, in a strange kind of way I keep listening as it may kind of predict what will happen to me.

let me give you an example. Enron used forced ranking of employees to a bell curve. this is where you FORCE 10% of the current employees to be rated as L. that could mean Loser, Least effective, Lowly, Loss of Job, what ever. then you make another 70% an H for 'highly valued', middle of the road, average joe. and 20% a T for top talent, the most highly effective portion of the company. well.. the problem enron had with this is that it works GREAT for 1 or possibly two years, but when you have sufficiently brow beat all the 'L' people so that they are fired, take severance packages, or in corporates mind the most ideal situation they just quit (then they don't have to pay severance, OR uneployement).

Well, enron did this, but there was a point of diminishing returns. after a few years you end up cutting GOOD people. when you clean out the bottom all that is left is good people. well share holders got wind of this and enron put a stop to it (this was around 1994 I think). well wouldn't you know it. this year our company has offiicaly put an end to forced ranking. a good 10 years after another corporate someone learned their lesson.

and.. to make you all use google search.. wouldn't you know a 'certain company' PURCHASED Enron Wind when Enron went under.... HMMM.... interesting.