Please Hire Me

It’s been a little over a month since I initially wrote about my frustrations with obtaining a post-graduation job, but I thought I would write about it again because I am still frustrated and I am still without a future job.

Had I known that employers wouldn’t simply be lining up to hand me a job prior to graduation, I don’t know if I would have returned to school. Granted, if I hadn’t gone back when I did, I’d probably be in the same boat anyway, because the writing was on the wall and I was probably going to lose my job writing for The Motley Fool anyway. But I really thought that going back to school would make me an attractive potential hire for almost every finance-type job out there. Little did I know that this was not the case. Continue reading “Please Hire Me” →

Something Should Happen

In the few days since the University of Illinois made headlines for students complaining about having to go to school in the cold, there has been little public response from the university, particularly regarding what might happen to some of those students that posted all the negative things on Twitter and other forms of social media. I may be a crotchety old graduate student, but something needs to happen to those that made the most egregious tweets, even if it is just bringing them up before a disciplinary board with the threat of expulsion or other punishment. I’d gladly redirect some of the $50,000 I paid in tuition for the school to identify some of these students that painted the school in a negative light.

That said, the only “public” reaction that I have seen is three separate mass e-mails from various “leadership” on campus, mainly asking the student body to be civil in their discourse and to stop giving the university such a bad image, the things you would expect someone doing spin control to say. Continue reading “Something Should Happen” →

Racism, Sexism, and Overreaction at UIUC

When I got in my car this morning to head to school, my dashboard thermometer read 0 degrees. It had warmed up a bit by the time that I actually arrived at school, to a blustery 3 degrees, but it was still pretty cold. However, these low temperatures were something that I was expecting after selecting to attend graduate school in the Midwest; I’m smart and rational enough to understand that when winter rolls around, it is going to get cold and I might have to wear an extra layer or two to keep myself warm as I moved between the two buildings that house the majority of my classes.

The last time the Polar Vortex moved through Champaign, we were on our winter break, so you didn’t have people complaining about having to go to school. However, with the second batch of Polar Vortex coming down the horn over the weekend, and with temperatures expected to dip below zero on both Monday and Tuesday this week, I’m sure a lot of the students that were still recovering from weekend hangovers were expecting to be able to stay tucked into their widdle beds and not have to go to school like adults. Continue reading “Racism, Sexism, and Overreaction at UIUC” →

The Year That Will Be 2014

Yesterday, I looked at all the goals that I made for myself for 2013 and how I fared, and my performance was less than stellar. Nevertheless, I am not deterred from making even more goals this year, though I don’t think it will approach the number and specificity of 2013. I have a few basic goals that would make 2014 better, and hopefully I will be able to accomplish them.

On with the show!

1) The Fitness Goal(s)
I know that people say that specific and numerical goals are easier to accomplish and whatnot. That said, this goal will be a combination of a couple different things:

Lose 80 pounds – I like this number from last year, so we’re going with it again.
Run 300 miles this year
Get my gym on at least 3x a week
Sleep better and like a normal person
Eat better, including eliminating soda completely by the end of the year Continue reading “The Year That Will Be 2014” →