Not happy Jan

Well, we're at two down, and three to go, but I definitely wasn't happy with exam number two. It was dejavu all over again as the entire first-year MBA class, and a bunch of part-timers, gathered in the massive examination hall on main campus - around 200 of us sitting David Trende's Financial Accounting exam.

I completed enough to pass, but was taught a serious lesson in time management as I rushed to put together a financial statement analysis of Fosters for 2001. Supposedely, by the end of the MBA, we'll be able to pick up an Annual Report, and provide an educated inciteful analysis of the company in under an hour. Well let me tell you - I definitely ain't there yet.

We have another subject in the core next term - Valuations and Financial Analysis and there's an elective offered later on in the course called Financial Statement Analysis. Hopefully, after I've completed both of those courses, I'll be able to report back to you more favourably.

Anyway, I have to put this behind me for the time being. My next exam in Marketing, tomorrow morning, so it's time to start thinking about customers, and the magic four P's.

Wedding Bells...

Congratulations to Andrew & Francene who announced their engagement today after a nine year courtship. I remember when they first got together when we were all in high school in Darwin in early 1993. The three of us also lived together as undergraduate students in Sydney in 1995 before I moved out into my own defacto relationship. Sadly we haven't seen each other as often as I would have liked in recent years, but I do hope to catch up with them personally next week when I'm in Sydney celebrating the end of my first term. They're a fantastic couple, and seeing as they've already been together this long, I'm sure they're set for a very prosperous marriage.

Social Class in America

On Sunday night, the eve of exam week, I found myself engrossed in a documentary about the social class system in the United States.

One of the potential essays for my Organisations exam is centred around the theories of motivation - what drives people towards particular professions and levels of achievement. The full context of the essay is whether organisations should use money as the main motivator for staff, or focus on some of the softer aspects of recognition and reward.

The documentary (appropriately titled People Like Us: Social Class in America) provided detailed examples of people from the welfare class, working class, middle class, upper class, and the elite. It also profiled several peoples' struggled attempts to move up a notch.

One lady in the welfare class was so proud of her cleaning job at Hungry Jacks that she wore her uniform almost everyday - even when she wasn't going to work.

People who had given up their rural working class roots and moved to the city in pursuit of the middle class spoke of their alienation in their new class and their rejection from their old class. A Kentucky farm girl trying to make it as a journalist in DC, returned home to visit her father, and he wouldn't talk to her at all about her new career.

What I found most interesting was the profiles of working class America. There were by far the most content with their position in society. Provided they had a job, their main motivators were family and friends. Hanging out at the bowling alley. Drinking a beer. Playing shufflepuck in a pub on a Thursday night. Building extension after extension to their houses as their families grew. For most of them, there was no desire to go out and get a university education and a professional job. Doing so would alienate them from their friends and family.

I can't tell you for certain how similar or different things are here in Australia. To be quite honest, in recent years, I've had little exposure to working class Australia, home of the good 'ole Aussie battler. My life has been that of chasing the professional dream, while simultaneously trying to fit in as much travel as possible.

My five years in the public high school system in Darwin was really the only time I've experienced the broad range of society and ideals. Several of the people I met during those years were living on welfare or surviving on single minimum wage incomes. Their children (my schoolmates), for the most part, had no serious aspirations. They were happy to drink, smoke, get a job in a supermarket, and start families.

Nine years on, I'm still working on my education (okay, so I've spent a few years 'in the industry' as well ;-), and I haven't even started to think about having a family of my own. Family seems to be a secondary priority amongst many aspiring middle class Australians. We're chasing that pot of gold, for sure, but we're missing out on many other facets of life along the way.

BTW, here's the description of the documentary from the SBS website:

"This feature-length documentary deconstructs the popular myth that there is no class system in America through a dissection of dozens of ordinary American lives. For 3 years, the producers crisscrossed the country, shuttling between swanky hangouts like the Hamptons, where the name-dropping nouveau riche frolic, to down-home events like Georgia’s Redneck Games, where blue-collar folk entertain themselves by bobbing for pigs’ feet and belly-flopping in mud pits. Along the way, the program discovers a society tightly stratified by income, education, geography, taste and attitudes."

One down, four to go.

Higher uni fees in reform proposal

[the age 27.04.2002]

I'll refrain from my own comment on this issue for the moment, except to say that I'm probably one of the few students in the Australian tertiary system happy to cover the full cost of my degree (even if I am taking advantage of the government's new PELS scheme).

My reason for linking to this article was not to bash any union, or spark any debate, but rather to exemplify the media's common tendency to take a quote out of context, and use it as the core of an article. Union leaders are notorious for coming out with brilliant quotes. This time it was NTEU president Carolyn Allport's turn. When describing an education review conducted by Education Minister Brendan Nelson, Allport commented:

"This review is predicated on the idea that universities have to be more like business. Like which business? Like the banks, which provide ever-decreasing services? Like HIH, which went bust? I don't think Australian business necessarily has the answer. Why aren't there more independent voices on this review?"

Carolyn Allport had plenty more to say, as this news article on the NTEU website indicates. Unfortunately the journalist from The Age decided to ignore her other comments, and choose a sensationalist comment instead.

I can see the headlines emerging in my mind: NEWSFLASH ! ! ! Universities closing branches. Students from the bush miss out on education opportunities.

On a separate note, while doing a quick background check on Carolyn Allport, I came across this interesting article regarding a 'graduate tax' that she proposed a couple of years ago. Quick summary: under a graduate tax, university graduates would pay a higher income tax rate (for life) than non-graduates, but would not have to make any other contribution towards the cost of their degree.

Important AFL news!!

- West Coast has broken Brisbane's 20-game winning streak, with a 46-point win over the Lions at Subiaco this afternoon, and

- Hawthorn are back in form, downing the Tigers by seven goals at the MCG. Of course, I had to miss this game, due the the slight inconvenience of having five exams to study for, for next week. Hopefully, they'll still be in form next Saturday, when then take on the Kangaroos (also at the MCG)

Paid maternity leave?

Simon Crean yesterday announced an initiative to introduce paid maternity leave across Australian organisations if Labor return to government at the next federal election. Details of the policy are very sketchy at this stage, but enough has been revealed to entice comment from the media and the community.

I'm all for changes to the way employers remunerate the members of their organisations. Workforces are becoming increasingly diverse as companies deal with the global business environment, and as people gradually move away from the concept of full-time employment with one organisation.

Must like the accounting profession, I believe remuneration should be practice driven rather than completely government legislated. The Australian public needs to appreciate that nobody owes them a job or a pay cheque.

While I appreciate that not everybody has children by choice (and I don't want to enter into an abortion debate here), I don't agree that employers (whether large or small) should be required to fund our maternal (or paternal) instincts.

Legislating paid maternity leave is an unfair move. Those that choose to have families will effectively be paid more than those that don't. When, and if, I choose to have a family, I'll do so if I'm able to fund it myself, rather than relying on an employer or the government for financial help.

That being said, if employers choose to offer paid maternity leave in order to entice particular employees to join (or stay with) their organisations, they're more than welcome. That's the beauty of competition.

Conversely, if Labour gets into government on a paid maternity leave agenda, that's the beauty of democracy.

Time Out

Adrian's advice for the full-time MBA students out there: don't stress about it too much. It's just an exam.

After feeling absolutely brain-drained earlier in the week as a result of over-studying, I decided to take it relatively easy yesterday, and thus headed out to the Anzac Day AFL match at the MCG. My companions for the day were three American students who had never attended a game of Australian 'foody' before. In the pouring rain, we huddled together up in the stands, exposed to the elements, watching the game, as I outlined the basic rules - six points for a goal, one point for a behind, and make sure you criticise the umpiring as much as you can.

Two quarters were enough to experience Melbourne's dedication to the game, so at half time we ventured into the members' bar, and enjoyed a few beers while Collingwood destroyed Essendon by six goals.

It's back to the books now though. Classes are over for the term. Exams start on Monday. This time next week it'll be all over! (at least for a couple of weeks anyway)

Study Observation of the Day

Mentally exhausted...

Study Observation of the Day

You know you're really busy studying when you end up doing your grocery shopping at 11:00pm on a Monday night.

Study Tip of the Day

The Red Hot Chilli Peppers do not make for suitable background music while studying.

Weblogging for hacks

Grudnuk's posted a brief history of Australian weblogging over at Virulent Memes. Apparently Blogspot (hmm, that would be my host), has become "an increasingly popular route into weblogging for hacks who can barely figure out how to turn on the computer or use the telephone to check basic facts."

At least I bought out my own adspace... ;-)

New look for the MBS website

The Melbourne Business School website has a brand new look, complete with a photo from one or our classes on the front page. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to sneak my mug into the photo. Must have been a bad hair day.

Seriously though, the new web site is a vast improvement on its predecessor, although I'm disappointed with the way they did the transition. None of the 'old' news items have been migrated, and the old site wasn't updated with any new content for the entire first four months of the year while they were developing the new one. Anyway, please have a look and tell me what you think.

I'm convinced that Richard Branson's secret Melbourne hideaway is somewhere in my street. In his interview this morning on the Today show, the view in the background looked extraordinarily similar to the view/aspect from my balcony. Javaboy will investigate and get back to you....

Home Stretch

All assignments complete! Woo hoo!!

Fourteen days until my final exams for Term 1. I have five exams in five days - it's going to be rather nasty. Especially considering that Term 1 is really competitive for those that have applied for exchange. Yes - I bit the proverbial bullet and put in an application for exchange in Term 3 (starting in August). First preference Columbia, second preference NYU, then gradually down the NE corridor, across the way to Texas, way out west to LA, and finally north of the border to Canada. Ten preferences in total - we'll see what happens.

I won't find out which school I've been accepted to until first week back at MBS in Term 2, so I now have to make a conscious effort to put it in the back of my mind and focus on the study effort for finals. I'm not too good at the whole self study thing at home, so I'm planning for most of my study to be composed of small sessions with some of the other students. First stop - Quantitative Analysis tomorrow afternoon, then Managerial Economics on Wednesday.

Enough of the boring detail. Hope you're all well. See you when I emerge in a few weeks ;-)

Beware the Macallan

The Macallan would have to be the finest whisky I've had the pleasure of enjoying. On Saturday night I had a glass of 28 year-old The Macallan (that's older than me!), and, I have to tell you, I still felt the warmth inside a good half hour or so after it was finished. Absolutely delish! If only I hadn't had all that wine and beer as well, I would have felt fine on Sunday morning ;-)

End of an Era

This week marked the release of the final episode of Star Trek Voyager (titled "Endgame") on VHS in Australia. I can happily report that the crew do eventually make it home, although Janeway does break the temporal prime directive to get them home in time for the end of the seventh season ;-) I'm now the proud owner of all 86 VHS tapes of the Voyager saga. Woo hoo!

Profile of a fellow MBA student: Brent Chapman

One of the students in my MBA program is 33-year-old Brent Chapman from the Bay Area in California. He has over 15 years experience in the IT industry, and is the original author of the Majordomo mailing listing management software program. He is also coauthor of the O'Reilly book Building Internet Firewalls, and recently worked as a Director at the US broadband service provider Covad Communications.

Brent finished high school at the age of 15, and did his undergrad in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley.

It's fantastic that we have people like this in the MBA program at Melbourne Business School. I've been learning just as much from my colleagues as I have from my professors.

Assignment week at MBS

I have three syndicate assignments due on Monday week (April 15th), so it's bound to be a busy week ahead. We've actually made very good progress on each of them already, but there'll be plenty of refinement to do, and presentations to prepare. Since I've been away for most of this weekend, attending the wedding in Brisbane, I'll have to make an extra effort to contribute to our syndicate and ensure our success. Our topics:

• Organisations: a comparison of the social networking activities of two Australian senior managers
  
• Quantitative Analysis: a regression model for predicting the AFL ladder at the end of the season, and
  
• Marketing: an analysis of the impact that the Internet and electronic distribution channels have had on Paramount Pictures
  

We're keen to get these assignments out of the way, so we can focus our efforts on the final exams (April 29th - May 3rd).

I also have to get my application for international exchange in by this Friday. It's been a tough decision process, but I think I'm fairly comfortable with my preferences list now. I'll post my preferences and my "tell us why you'll make a good ambassador in 100 words or less" story next weekend.

Ouch

Hawthorn just lost to Brisbane in the AFL by 102 points. Disappointing start to the season for the Hawks.

Exhausted

After a tough week at b-school, I jetted off to Brisbane yesterday to attend my cousin's wedding. With plenty of study to do, I couldn't afford to stay around for too long, and had to head back to Melbourne early this morning - almost as bad as those interstate-and-back-in-a-day trips I used to do as an IT consultant.

$374 ADSL bill

Back in February I had a whinge about the Telstra ADSL usage meter, and it's confusion regarding which usage plan I'm on. Well, my bill for February finally arrived this week - apparently I'd somehow been switched to the 500Mb plan, but my activity was closer to the 3Gb which I thought I was on. At 14c/Mb, that turned out to be rather costly.

Fortunately, after 43 minutes on the phone with Telstra, I managed to convince them that they'd made a mistake, and my bill was reduced to the usual $95. The ADSL service availability has improved substantially in the past few months, but I'm very very unimpressed with their customer service and billing.