Paranoia at rest...

Finally, my mind can relax, and OH, what a sweet feeling it is. After 5 torturous days of waiting, my final grade was released and my toil toward my MBA is now complete, finito, mais nada! That's right, folks. Tomorrow, I turn in my application for graduation!!

I swear, as if forcing myself to admit to having ADHD were not enough, I also obviously have a touch of paranoia. All week long I've nearly panicked myself with thoughts that the grader would come back with a criticism requiring added effort or a complete redo of my video presentation because it was 1 minute and 14 seconds shorter than it was supposed to be. Honestly, what a relief!!

It feels SO great to be able to relax without feeling guilty, like I should be working on this or that for school. I guess that is part of the problem with a self-study course like the one I decided to pursue at WGU. When it came down to it, I knew deep down the faster I completed my degree, the less it would cost me; and on the contrary, the longer I took, the more expensive it would be. Ever the penny pincher, I was determined not to take longer than 2 years.

Oh what intense craziness the past 6 months have been. I've learned some great stuff, but more than any course material, I've learned the simple importance of finishing what you start, of not giving up, and of believing in my true abilities. Success!! :)

It's unofficially official...

My self-diagnosis was confirmed somewhat today: I likely have severe Adult ADHD!

My company hopped on the band wagon of promoting healthy lifestyles last year, and I signed up to receive periodic emails from health.com simply to get my name in a drawing for a $500 gift card. Well, today's email had a link to a story entitled, "Take the quiz: Could you have adult ADHD?" As one of the questions helped me confirm, I "often feel restless or fidgety," therfore I wasted no time and clicked right on that link and took the test! (You can take it too, if you want. Muah-ha-ha!)

Here's the scoring matrix:

So, where did I score on this 24-question test, you ask? How about a friggin' 92! Holy crap-oly! I KNEW it! And all this time I simply thought it was the caffeine from my Mormon Coffee (translation: diet Dr. Pepper, diet Mtn Dew, or the occasional straight Coke). NINETY-TWO.

Figuring that test might be an anomoly, I read on and found a link to a shorter, 6-question test. For this one, the test taker who scores 11 or higher "indicates that your symptoms may be consistent with Adult ADHD." Hmm... 11 points, eh? Wanna see how I did?

Uh, yeah... I was at 11 just HALF WAY through this test! On a positive note, this helps me to understand myself a little better. I have been absolutely racking my brain and stretching myself as thinly as possibly lately to get my MBA wrapped up before the end of term on 2/28. Focusing has been the greatest challenge, but I've had to force myself. Well, now I don't feel like as much of a slacker as I had felt I'd been. The interesting thing going forward will be to find out what my physician has to say next time I see him. :)

I'm a Porsche 911!

You have a classic style, but you're up-to-date with the latest technology. You're ambitious, competitive, and you love to win. Performance, precision, and prestige - you're one of the elite,and you know it.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Goals for 2009

Wow... January has already hurried itself through to 67% completion, and I wanted to get my resolutions for 2009 out before February gets here. So here they are...

In General
1. Spend less; save more
2. Eat healthier
3. Be as active as possible
4. Prepare every needful thing

More Specific
A. Finish MBA by February 28th!
B. Achieve ideal weight... I'm calculating that to be 175
C. Make some rockin' home improvements! (Still deciding what order to go in)
D. Read the New Testament cover to cover
E. Go to the temple twice monthly... once by myself, once with Amanda
F. Sharpen up my Portuguese! Think "trip"

Holy Schnikey!!

Okay, I’ve just got to lay this out… I can’t WAIT to be done with school! If you make it to the end of this rant/post, you'll understand completely. My school works in 6-month semesters. Like most MBA programs, WGU's is designed to take 2 years. Well, my two-year mark comes to a close on FEBRUARY 28TH, and I am hellbent on reaching my goal to complete my studies in that 2-year time frame!

Apparently I was only semi-present the first 18 months of school, because this semester I will have literally completed 21 units of the total 40 required for my MBA!! I'll spare my fellow nerds the struggle of reaching for their calculators: 52.5% In 25% of the desired timeframe! That indicates two very good probabilities, in quantitative methods-speak:

• It has been a hellacious few months.
• Had I applied myself similarly for the FIRST 6 months as I have the FINAL 6 months, I perhaps could have finished in ONE YEAR. But alas, I don't think I (or my family) would have liked that very much. I have professional associates who have been divorced by the time they finished their master’s degrees, and that was working at the standard pace. Grad school is definitely a pressure cooker!

My past four months have included the following so far:

• An 18-page “case study” paper for Marketing
• THREE brutal certification exams covering these 10 disciplines, each accompanied by weeks of preparation that normally takes months, and one of which proved insane enough that I had to complete it in two attempts:
  a. Strategy
  b. Operations Management
  c. Organizational Behavior/Human Resource Management
  d. Financial Accounting
  e. Managerial Accounting
  f. Corporate Finance
  g. Marketing Management
  h. Quantitative Analysis
  i. Macroeconomics
  j. Microeconomics

NOW, I have SIX WEEKS to complete a 26 to 40 page Capstone Project, which is basically an intensive research project of my desired “career path” and an analysis of my competency to travel said path. Interesting. So... now it's finally time to decide what I want to do when I grow up! Haha. (I'm left wondering if that is really a one-time decision for most people anymore... my belief is that reality speaks differently, and most people ebb and flow through their career, but I digress...)

As if that is not enough, I then get to complete an “Oral Defense” of that project by assembling a "career portfolio," creating a 10-15 slide PowerPoint “summarizing the salient points of my career field,” how I will be successful at it, and addressing 7 competency areas, and then I put the cherry on top with my own production of a video recorded professional presentation lasting 15-20 minutes which is to highlight my qualifications for maneuvering such an obstacle course. LOVELY!

If I go missing for the next little while, don’t answer the phone or return messages, YOU’LL KNOW WHY. :)

Dave Barry's Review of 2008

The acronym "LOL" to the texting and instant messaging experts of the world means, of course, "laughing out loud." While it suggests to the reader that the sender is indeed participating in such an activity, rarely is that truly the case.

THAT SAID, I read this article today and couldn't help literally laughing out loud in my office a few times! Barry has a fun sense of humor. Myself claiming to be a "Nonpartisan Moderate," I like when it comes to politics how Barry unabashedly pokes fun at both sides equally.

Treat yourself. Take ten minutes and read this article poking a little fun at the roller coaster ride of last year! As he says, "Why not? We paid for it."

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/content/mobile/1,5143,705273834,00.html?printView=true

Master Cleanse -- follow up

As I typed out this email response to one of my best buddies about a master cleanse question, I thought I'd post it here for the benefit of any blog followers that read my earlier Master Cleanse post. Let me know if I can offer other specific feedback from my own experience.

JDC

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jo,

I got my maple syrup at Whole Foods. Easily the BEST place to get it. It's the most expensive part of the cleanse. $15.99 for 32 oz. (By comparison, the first bottle I bought was 12 oz at Smith's for $9.99) HOWEVER... read on.

I'm possibly changing my tune on the Master Cleanse. Since doing it, I have had to find a pro-biotic (opposite of anti-biotic, literally) to help get my system back to normal. I guess the lemon juice, salt water, etc., is pretty rough on the natural "gut flora" in our intestines and master cleansers have to do something to encourage rebuilding. And to make matters worse (I'm blaming the holidays), I gained back most of the pounds I lost during the cleanse.

Call me CRA-zy, but I'm going to also test out something entirely different called the Fat Flush. It's more sensible. You eat. You just eat a "butt load" of fiber---pardon the term, given the topic. I'll let you know what I learn about it!

Stay tuned, and stay in touch!

Justin