| Northern Arizona University |
| 2003 |
| The Break-Up: |
| Breaking up with Kate was probably the most difficult thing I had ever done. From Day One I put my heart and soul into that relationship and because of her I came out of it with a better perspective on life. I saw my ambitious desires slowly coming into direct conflict with Kate's conservative lifestyle and I knew one of us was going to have to change our lifestyle in order to keep the relationship workable. That was a compromise I alone decided we should not have to make. I tried to discuss things with Kate, but young love blinds the eyes and numbs the mind of all but the most wicked treachery. All of January I was extremely irritable and I couldn't figure out exactly why. I decided I was just stressed out about absolutely everything, so I asked Kate to just leave me alone for about a week. Turns out, as soon as she was gone I felt a lot better. Kate was the one who could fix any mood I was in and then one day she became the reason I was in a bad mood. I still have no idea how that happened and since I've been on the other side of that situation a couple of times since this happened, it would be really helpful to figure it out one day. So as it was, on the night of February 6, I met Kate walking back from class and I told her that I didn't think we should go out anymore. That night I was meaner to Kate than I had ever been before. I didn't know what else to do. I was still in love. It still doesn't make sense when I say it like that. I broke up with a woman I was still in love with. It hurt for weeks. Sometimes, if I think about it long enough, it still hurts. But I had my reasons and from what I've heard from her and from what I've experienced since then, I still believe I made the best decision. Before this I had believed that 'all you need is love'. We had love. And we had plenty to spare. But it wasn't enough, at least, it wasn't enough for me. I have asked myself sometimes, 'Could I have been happy with a woman like Kate?' With just a little more experience behind me I believe the answer is a definite 'Yes'. But my days would have still been plagued with 'What-ifs' and many unknown alternatives that would have been left unexplored. Eventually I would have gotten over it because, as they say, I figured out what I had after I lost it. |
| Biz-Block: |
| This was the single greatest, and most horrendously evil, class I've taken in college. This one class was a combination of three at the same time: Management, Marketing and Writing. The premise: Use the knowledge acquired in these three areas to write a business plan for a business that could be started immediately. 'Fantastic!' I thought. I can use my group to help me finish the business I tried to start several months earlier. Well that didn't happen. Laser Tag won the vote because one group member decided to abstain. There were six of us in that group. One in Business Management, two in Accounting and three in Computer Information Systems. The one in Business Management knew nothing about managing a business and the two in accounting knew less about accounting than the CIS majors. Or so we eventually found out. The first major complication was finding a name. 'Trigger Happy' was the first. This name almost won, but due to some last minute associations with war and death the name was denied. Further deliberation finally brought forth the simple yet snazzy, 'Laser Mountain'. I don't quite remember all the thousands of hours the three CIS majors spent on research and writing, but since we were all in another class together, it became clear that no one did any work in any other class. The next major complication was the financials. As is turned out, our accountants didn't seem to entirely agree with their major, so work was eventually taken over by one of our Computer majors and the Management major. Neither one liked how the other produced the financials, but eventually we came up with a solution that was more or less suitable to everyone. Our third and most critical complication was deciding which two would give the final presentation. Mike was the loudest and most passionate about the business, mainly because it was his idea. Will seemed to be the most articulate during our initial presentation, but I believe that was just a fluke of the moment. Kelly had done a very good job, as usual, but nothing really stood out about his speaking. I believe I had the best handle on the specifics of the business, but I've never been much for public speaking, so I didn't do a lot of jumping up and down when we were deciding. Carletta and Matt weren't really the public speaking type, even with Matt's enthusiasm. Due to Mike's take charge attitude and only because of Will's excellent performance previously, the group decided that these two, who didn't get along at all for any reason, would present our project officially to the committee. I think it's safe to say that our presentation sucked royally. But at least our business plan was solid. |
| Spring |