Getting My MBA at 48

Kauai, Hawaii

Yes it is a beautiful place, and being here is great.

But yesterday how we go here is long, especially for passengers. Sitting at the airport they called us out for a trip to Lihiue. I was hoping to be head home and study instead I was flying 7 hours to Kauai.

Not the usual flight since it was 7 hours late, so our stay is a short 22hours which we have to sleep twice in that time.

So my studying is cut, chopped up and since I am flying all night again when I get home in the morning I’ll have to sleep for a few so I can have my wits about me to study.

Time to leave for the flight..

Tags: books, cancelation, delays, flight attendant, flights, flying, hawaii, kauai hawaii, life, strategy, studying, success, western governors university, wgu

After a Long Flight from Maui

I just got back a few hours ago from flying all night from Maui. It has been the first time I have gotten back to San Francisco early and though I have the afternoon off and tomorrow morning I am still tired.

I have only had 1 day off this month, actually I have only 1 day off since the 25th of December and I pretty much worked the whole of December.

I AM TIRED, exhausted.

I studied yesterday in Maui, but only got a few hours in, today I just haven’t been able to concentrate. I got everything else done so tomorrow all I have to do is exercise, study and iron my shirt.

I feel bad because I haven’t even had the energy to write here on the blog it has been 6 days since my last entry and I didn’t even finish it.

I know life happens but I am having to work too much to compensate and that is wearing on me and cutting into my study time.

I have been trying to keep up with the news that has been going on and before I go on

Please go to the

American Red Cross to donate the Hati Relief Fund

They need our donations, and prayers.

It has been a big week for the American Automotive industry, this is the opening of the North American International Auto Show, I was hoping to be there but I decided to work instead, I have to friends that work in the industry. One at GM the other at Chrysler’s I wish them the best we need to be back on top of this industry.

I was reading in Business Week magazine edition about how some of the for profit school are going after the military members, giving them degrees according to the article that are not quite up to standards for better job placement.

It is all about the business of making money not the business of education. Seems that is always the deal, money.

Though I have always said it is what you get out of the education that matters, but the schools have to have meat and potatoes (good curriculum) for you to be able to learn.

I am going to sleep so I can get up early tomorrow, exercise and study then a little nap  before flying the redeye San Francisco to Charlotte.

Tags: accounting, American Red Cross, books, business week, cancelation, chrysler, delays, education, flight attendant, flights, flying, gm, Hati Relief Fund, hawaii, life, management, maui, mba, North American International Auto Show, online university, san francisco, schedule, sleep, strategy, studying, success, wall street journal, wgu

Tuesday Stand-By Motivation

Again I am sitting on stand-by B (7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.) it is hard to get my motivation around this stand-by. More because I feel home lost (not homeless), I have a place in San Francisco which I rarely see I think 6 days in December and my friends in Scottsdale have been great opening their home.

The one I have to spend the most time at (my friends) now, is not my place so I feel uneasy. I try and become as small as possible not taking up any room or making any messy. Walk softly and invisible.

Then with being on Reserves, with stand-by shifts days are just tough. Most days I try and go to the local coffee shop, there are 2 that I go to Winflields which is next to a church. It has great atmosphere and the coffee and service are great the other is the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf again great coffee and service with a good atmosphere the only difference is that the Coffee bean is busier so it makes studying harder sometimes.

The reason is I can get up in the morning get ready incase they call me out and then go to the coffee shop which is only a few blocks aways. Make it convenient if I get called out on a trip.

Today I am looking to be able to commute back to San Francisco this evening since I have a day off then start my working vacation. The only good thing is that I know what I will be doing from now till the 21st and will only need to spend 1 day at my friends house in Scottsdale.

For the last month everything has been out of whack, most because of scheduling and flying. I am trying to start this new year on positive notes and turn them into my chapters.

I have gotten some of my reading done for accounting today, but not much I am hoping I can on the flight back to San Francisco.

Break…going to the airport…

Tags: accounting, big business, books, cancelation, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, commute, delays, education, flight attendant, flights, flying, hawaii, life, management, mba, online university, phoenix, san francisco, scottsdale, studying, success, technology, travelers, university, us airways, winfield's, working vacation

Choices, and Decisions

After getting in from Honolulu, Hawaii I stopped to talk with a friend, and she told me something that seemed to hit home.

“Life is about choices, you choose to get up and be either happy or angry, You choose or decided what kind of day you are going to have”

There had been a nice older man on the flight, who was very happy and talkative yet he was flying quite a long way alone, I was able to get him an aisle seat so he could be comfortable. In which he slept the whole time. During the flight we had a non-revune flight attendant that proceeded to tell us all the things we were doing wrong, how that she didn’t care but she had to tell us a very unhappy person.

Again its about making personal choices about either being, happy or angry.

After arriving in Phoenix the older gentleman was going to Atlanta, Georgia then to another smaller city in North Carolina. They put him in a wheelchair and parked him near the gate for his long wait.

I knew that I probably could have made my San Francisco flight since it was a little weather delayed, but I choose to go help the older gentleman who couldn’t walk very well and was pretty much stuck in the wheelchair, his flight to Atlanta was still another 2:45 hours away. So I went and brought him an orange juice and a breakfast sandwich, in which he was very grateful.

I had somethings to do up stairs before my own flight, which was departing out of the gate right next door. So I went to visit with him before he left. Having a conversation and asking if he needed anything before his flight.

A very nice man, he told me this was his last time he was making this trip. Which for a 94 year old man is a very long trip especially traveling alone. I asked him why he was traveling by himself, and got the best answer I have ever heard. “Why not I have my wits about me.”When I asked his age he told me 94 and said that he never drink alcohol or smoke or had any bad habits”

I had to start laughing, this older gentleman choose to do what he wanted in his life. Traveling more than 15 hours to see his family. I wished I had more time to talk to him, I am sure that he has some great stories for a man born in 1915. His perspective of the world and of the United States, would have been great to hear.

For me I needed to go to San Francisco to pick up my Accounting book, and of course weather delay. After they announced the weather delay I knew that my day was going to be a long one, after getting my book which I keep falling asleep on the flight up I had to wait 3 hours for the flight back to Phoenix, which was late too due to weather.

So in total I spent 11 hours of travel time between waiting at airports and flying just to pick up my Accounting book. It might have been easier to stay in San Francisco, but getting up at 3:00 a.m. is tough too. So all total my travel time that day had been more than 18 hours.

But we all make choices, decisions that effect our lives and at times effect others lives. We can get up in the mornings and be angry at the world, or be happy to be alive, and enjoy life.

It is nice to be happy and help people.

Tags: atc hold, choices, cnn, decisions, delay, happy, hawaii, honolulu hawaii, life, waikiki beach, weather delays

A Day in Waikiki Beach

After walking around Waikiki last night and getting a good night sleep in a BED, it is amazing how nice it is to be able to sleep in a bed when you don’t have that everyday. Simple pleasures.

I got up fairly early to walk, I can’t believe all the shopping around here. When you can finally wade past all the stores you reach the beach. The surfers were out of course, but in this area the waves are not 50 feet. I was beautiful out this morning for a 4 hour walk.

I stop at a coffee shop near the beach, studied and did some people watching.

Came back the hotel, Courtyard by Marriott took a nap after talking with my girlfriend. We both have a lot of different stresses in our lives and it is hard to be there for each other when our schedules are not working together. Mine because of being back on reserve, I spend far to much time in Phoenix.

It is a bummer because unless I can get Hot Reserve in the afternoon, I won’t be able to stay in SanFrancisco tomorrow and I won’t be able to see Mari before she heads to Brazil to take her son there. I can try and request sitting Hot at the airport when I get in Phoenix in the morning.

After trying to get some sleep, and not really in the best of moods I went for another long walk along the beach.

Time for a little more rest, before the long flight back tonight.

Tags: beach, brazil, flight attendant, flights, flying, hawaii, management, mba, strategy, studying, success, us airways, waikiki beach, waves 50 feet high