My Final Undergraduate Semester

First impressions:

• In the first week, I have been more motivated than in any other collegiate semester. I have become addicted to homework. Funny, that. They usually say "senioritis" kicks in by now and there is a tendency to want to slack off. Perhaps, it's because I know I need to achieve better study habits in preparation for law school. Personally, I attribute this to being married. The fact that Amanda is commuting to two days per week to Loyola puts enormous time constraints on her, and derivatively, me. Therefore, though this may be a surprising confession to some, being married while in school is not only do-able, but also efficient, if both people are likeminded.
• The prior statement should be viewed in light of the fact that it is only the first week of class. Ah yes, I thought my contact lenses were especially rose-tinted this morning.
• Income Tax Accounting: I thought I would hate it. No, I thought I would loathe it. Once I started reading the book, my dismay was gone. It's great stuff. To clarify: so far, there has been an emphasis on the tax law: its sources (judicial, executory, legislative), its development, its rationale, etc. We're about to start memorizing forms and the fact that Line 37 is always adjusted gross income, and such. That might not be so pleasant. But learning about the logic for deductions, exemptions, etc., is definitely not a bad thing.
• Auditing: Just your ole' fashioned external financial statement audits for public corporations. Did I mention I'm enjoying the readings more than the classes? The book is pretty down-to-earth on what is honestly black-and-white anyway it's colored. Oh well, it can't be much worse than Internal Audit. And then...
• Strategic Management: What? Some class that everyone graduating from the business college has to take the semester prior to graduation. And no one seems to know what it really is, yet. Something about long-range planning. Competitive advantage, business landscape, Jimi Hendrix, stuff like that.
• The Roman Republic: History minor's in the bag!...after this course. Rome's pretty off-the-heezy-fo'-sheezy-ma-neezy, but it's hard to judge if there will be a correlation between this neezy-ness and the class. There is an average of about 100 pages per week, in reading. So far it's rather boring reading. But at least it's not accounting. (Did I mention I'm an accounting major?) (P.S.S.S. I never researched the shizzle-dizzle language used earlier. If anyone comes up with something definitively denotative, please have a dialogue with me.)
• ISDS, yeah. I love working here. Yeah. That's all. ........Yeeeeeah.
  What??!
• William Jay's Evening Exercises. Not calisthenics. It's a devotional Amanda and I received as a wedding present. I had ignored it till now. Picking it up, I have to honestly say, I have been blessed beyond measure. Reverend Jay knows how to take one verse and milk it for all it's worth. There are several trials that God has allowed Amanda and I to experience together recently, but we know that, as Jay mentions, God makes us fruitful in the land of our suffering. Anyway, Jay is a contemporary of Spurgeon, and from the tenacity of his writing, I have to conclude this man walked in the shadow of the Almighty.
• The 459 Commons is the new dining hall. I like it. The lighting, the carpet, booth seating, the pleasant cooks, etc. It's just very high-trafficked.
• My hands like the way they smell: Irish Spring soap.
• Oh yeeees. My honors thesis on How Leveraged Buyouts Affect Managerial Behavior. Do you beg my pardon? You have it. As John Barreca says, "I KNOW it's gonna be God" [that enables the completion of the thesis]. (He's writing one, two. That is to say, he's writing one, too.)

Cheers.

Welcome 2008

I just realized I haven't posted since last November, which gives the false impression of giving up blogging. NEVER! They can have my blog when they pry it from my...er, someone buys out Blogger or something like that.

Last semester wrapped up nicely. Amanda and I went all the way to the final game with the Cherry Pickers LSU intramural soccer team. We had a "War Night" at our apartment, including 15 people eating MRE's, watching Black Hawk Down, playing Call of Duty 4, and playing the board game Risk. One of my favorite moments at LSU this year came with the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony, which included vocal and band performances, scenes from The Nutcracker, free food and CC's coffee, and a candlelit caroling portion.

Finals week I pushed and prayed, and the result is straight A's. God came through once again, I know, especially with Louisiana History. The prof must have curved my grade. After an early Christmas with my family, Amanda, David, Valerie and I drove to Houston to join with Amanda's parents for Christmas. From there we made a 20-hours straight drive to Arvada, Colorado to visit with the other Mautz relations. We had a white Christmas! Lots of sledding ensued.

Other than that, the Chi Alpha Christmas Snow Ball was great. Amanda and I swing-danced together better than I thought we were capable of. I Am Legend is a great movie. I LOVE the electric razor my mother- and father-in-law got me and the Swiss Army pocket knife Amanda got me. I already applied to LSU and Loyola New Orleans Law and am working on finishing the applications for Quinnipiac in Hamden, CT, Denver University and University of Houston.

Cheers.