I’m back… sorry for the long absence.
A lot has been going on recently and unfortunately blogging had to take a backseat while I prepared for final presentations, exams and the start of my internship. The good news is that I successfully made it through my first year of the MBA program and have an awesome internship lined up for the summer.
Internship – I have made it through my first week at Cardinal Health. I’m a Finance intern for the Nuclear Pharmacy Services division. I find the work really interesting and have already learned an unbelievable amount. I’ll continue updating the blog with work related updates.
Next summer plans – I recently committed to join some of my Yale rowing friends in a competition next summer (The Henley Royal Regatta) in Henley-on-Thames, England. This will be my fourth time rowing in the regatta, so hopefully we can finally win it. The regatta is similar to March Madness – basically it is a single elimination bracket and teams row a 2112 meter course in a one-on-one competition. If you win every race it will be five consecutive days of exhaustive races.
I’m going to remain quite busy with FGSA this summer. We are working with Dean Wruck to set-up several “current event debates” between faculty members during the lunch hour. If you have any good ideas for topics, please let me know.
That’s all for now. I’ll start updating the blog more often.
-Joseph Fahrendorf
Showing posts with label Fahrendorf. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fahrendorf. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Club Trillion - A great blog
Joseph Fahrendorf Fisher Grad Life Blog:
Last Thursday I was a TA for a public speaking course at Ohio State and was responsible for grading student oral presentations. Overall I was very impressed with the talent of the class, even if topics included “Why Jim Varney is the best actor ever” and “Everyone should buy a Hangover Helmet.” Despite a clear disinterest in the class, most students were way more comfortable at speaking in front of a classroom than I was seven years ago… (Yes, I realize that my public speaking skills in 2003 should not be a benchmark to grade a class – but I used it anyways).
Although most speeches were interesting, one topic really stuck out from the rest. This student decided to talk for seven minutes as to why Mark Titus (OSU Men’s Basketball Player) has the best blog in the country. As you can expect, I was skeptical at first. Who is this Mark Titus and what does he have on Joseph Fahrendorf’s Fisher Grad Life Blog? After all, the Google analytics are reporting that my blog actually receives a few unique hits per month (although this is steadily fading – c’mon Mom & Dad, start reading my blog again). Well, as it turned out, this guy was right. Mark Titus’ blog “Club Trillion” is one of the best blogs in the country.
Mark “The Shark” Titus (#34)… aka Mr. Rainmaker is a staple of The Ohio State Men’s Basketball bench. Mark’s blog provides a perspective on college basketball that is impossible to gain from ESPN or other news sources. The name Club Trillion was developed from the stat line Mark usually earns: 1 minute played and nothing else. When this happens, the scorecard reads 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – hence 1 Trillion. Although Mark is a highly talented basketball player (or so he claims), he is unable to be an everyday player on a program that is consistently ranked in the top 10.
Club Trillion has received nearly 2.5 million hits, slightly higher than my blog attendance. The blog has become such a hit that the website even sells Club Tril t-shirts, which have become very popular on The Ohio State campus. All the proceeds from the shirts go to support the charitable group A Kid Again.
As you can tell, I highly recommend you check out Club Trillion – in addition to the other authors on My Fisher Grad Life Blog. However, I will give you this warning: if you are like me and have no time for the next couple weeks, postpone exploring his blog until you have time to spare. I could not have been introduced to this website at a worse time. Next week I have a large marketing paper due and a negotiations exam. The following week I have 4 finals (so this will probably be the last post you see from me for two weeks… sorry).
-Joseph Fahrendorf
Reposted from Joseph Fahrendorf's Fisher Grad Life Blog
Last Thursday I was a TA for a public speaking course at Ohio State and was responsible for grading student oral presentations. Overall I was very impressed with the talent of the class, even if topics included “Why Jim Varney is the best actor ever” and “Everyone should buy a Hangover Helmet.” Despite a clear disinterest in the class, most students were way more comfortable at speaking in front of a classroom than I was seven years ago… (Yes, I realize that my public speaking skills in 2003 should not be a benchmark to grade a class – but I used it anyways).
Although most speeches were interesting, one topic really stuck out from the rest. This student decided to talk for seven minutes as to why Mark Titus (OSU Men’s Basketball Player) has the best blog in the country. As you can expect, I was skeptical at first. Who is this Mark Titus and what does he have on Joseph Fahrendorf’s Fisher Grad Life Blog? After all, the Google analytics are reporting that my blog actually receives a few unique hits per month (although this is steadily fading – c’mon Mom & Dad, start reading my blog again). Well, as it turned out, this guy was right. Mark Titus’ blog “Club Trillion” is one of the best blogs in the country.
Mark “The Shark” Titus (#34)… aka Mr. Rainmaker is a staple of The Ohio State Men’s Basketball bench. Mark’s blog provides a perspective on college basketball that is impossible to gain from ESPN or other news sources. The name Club Trillion was developed from the stat line Mark usually earns: 1 minute played and nothing else. When this happens, the scorecard reads 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – hence 1 Trillion. Although Mark is a highly talented basketball player (or so he claims), he is unable to be an everyday player on a program that is consistently ranked in the top 10.
Club Trillion has received nearly 2.5 million hits, slightly higher than my blog attendance. The blog has become such a hit that the website even sells Club Tril t-shirts, which have become very popular on The Ohio State campus. All the proceeds from the shirts go to support the charitable group A Kid Again.
As you can tell, I highly recommend you check out Club Trillion – in addition to the other authors on My Fisher Grad Life Blog. However, I will give you this warning: if you are like me and have no time for the next couple weeks, postpone exploring his blog until you have time to spare. I could not have been introduced to this website at a worse time. Next week I have a large marketing paper due and a negotiations exam. The following week I have 4 finals (so this will probably be the last post you see from me for two weeks… sorry).
-Joseph Fahrendorf
Reposted from Joseph Fahrendorf's Fisher Grad Life Blog
Sunday, February 21, 2010
FGSA Winter Town Hall Meeting - Joseph Fahrendorf
Joseph Fahrendorf Blog entry:
At the winter town hall meeting, there were several ideas that were brought to the attention of FGSA. Some we were aware of and others we were hearing for the first time. This is a summary of the ideas that were brought up at the meeting and our plan of action.
Course Evaluations – There is overwhelming support for a system in which students can rate the elective courses offered at FCOB and the professors who teach them. We were aware of this desire and have been working with our faculty advisor, Dr. Inks, to understand the challenges in putting a student accessible course evaluation system in place. One of the more significant challenges is gaining faculty support. Additionally, we have spoken with Molly Hood about her previous work regarding this issue. In order to make this proposal more compelling, we have benchmarked some of FCOB’s peer institutions and a majority of these institutions already have an evaluation system in place. We are currently devoting a significant amount of time and effort to this project, but we currently do not expect the system to be in place in the near term (6-9 months).
Action steps: We are going to meet with Dean Wruck ASAP to discuss this issue and hopefully find a compromise that is agreeable to all parties involved. In the meantime, we are beginning work on a weeklong series of lunch sessions during the middle of Spring quarter that will allow faculty an opportunity to sell their fall elective courses to the students. We understand that this is not the ideal solution, but feel that for the short run, it’s the best way to get information about elective courses out to the student body.
Break-Out Room Reservation – There are several concerns that the current system for reserving rooms is not practical or efficient. There are many complaints regarding the three day advance notice and the inability to reserve a room after FCOB hours of operation.
Action Steps: We have already spoken with Alisa McMahon in the GPO about this concern. One of the issues that led to the current system was abuse of the privilege to reserve rooms, and for this reason the GPO currently “filters” the requests. We are going to work with Fisher ITS to determine if there is a system that could be created which would prevent room reservation abuse while making it easier to schedule a room on short notice. We have also inquired about opening up the Fisher Ambassador Interview rooms during exam week, but this cannot happen since they either contain a computer or a phone line.
Course Planning – Several students are concerned about the inability to forecast when upcoming electives will be offered. The feedback that we have received from the administration is that they are aware of this concern, but they are unable to publish available courses for the next couple quarters because of unforeseen changes that may occur.
Action Steps: We will work with Jen Mercer to find a way to improve the system. In the meantime, we recommend that you use prior years’ schedules as a baseline for future schedules. Although they are not always the same, it should provide a good idea of when classes will be offered.
Alumni Relations – Some individuals feel that the current alumni affairs group at FCOB could do a better job of finding alumni willing to talk with students regarding employment and FCOB classes.
Action Steps: We will speak with the Fisher Office of External Relations regarding ways to improve interaction between students and alumni. We have also requested the social chairs host quarterly events that include alumni in the Columbus area.
Access to course rosters – Some individuals would like to have access to lists of individuals who have taken classes so they can talk to them about the course or so that they can buy books and course packets from them.
Action Steps: We will speak to Jen Mercer about this request but are concerned that there may be FERPA obstacles. If nothing else, we believe it is possible to create some sort of system that will allow individuals to opt-in to a program that will share this information with others.
In addition to these ideas, we have several of our own such as getting a copy machine placed in Gerlach for student use. We also plan to coordinate a FCOB March Madness Bracket Challenge. We encourage people to follow what we are doing and to send us any suggestions. Our email is fgsasuggestions@gmail.com. Please don’t wait for the next town hall meeting to tell us what is on your mind today.
Joseph Fahrendorf
Reposted from Joseph Fahrendorf Fisher Grad Life Blog
At the winter town hall meeting, there were several ideas that were brought to the attention of FGSA. Some we were aware of and others we were hearing for the first time. This is a summary of the ideas that were brought up at the meeting and our plan of action.
Course Evaluations – There is overwhelming support for a system in which students can rate the elective courses offered at FCOB and the professors who teach them. We were aware of this desire and have been working with our faculty advisor, Dr. Inks, to understand the challenges in putting a student accessible course evaluation system in place. One of the more significant challenges is gaining faculty support. Additionally, we have spoken with Molly Hood about her previous work regarding this issue. In order to make this proposal more compelling, we have benchmarked some of FCOB’s peer institutions and a majority of these institutions already have an evaluation system in place. We are currently devoting a significant amount of time and effort to this project, but we currently do not expect the system to be in place in the near term (6-9 months).
Action steps: We are going to meet with Dean Wruck ASAP to discuss this issue and hopefully find a compromise that is agreeable to all parties involved. In the meantime, we are beginning work on a weeklong series of lunch sessions during the middle of Spring quarter that will allow faculty an opportunity to sell their fall elective courses to the students. We understand that this is not the ideal solution, but feel that for the short run, it’s the best way to get information about elective courses out to the student body.
Break-Out Room Reservation – There are several concerns that the current system for reserving rooms is not practical or efficient. There are many complaints regarding the three day advance notice and the inability to reserve a room after FCOB hours of operation.
Action Steps: We have already spoken with Alisa McMahon in the GPO about this concern. One of the issues that led to the current system was abuse of the privilege to reserve rooms, and for this reason the GPO currently “filters” the requests. We are going to work with Fisher ITS to determine if there is a system that could be created which would prevent room reservation abuse while making it easier to schedule a room on short notice. We have also inquired about opening up the Fisher Ambassador Interview rooms during exam week, but this cannot happen since they either contain a computer or a phone line.
Course Planning – Several students are concerned about the inability to forecast when upcoming electives will be offered. The feedback that we have received from the administration is that they are aware of this concern, but they are unable to publish available courses for the next couple quarters because of unforeseen changes that may occur.
Action Steps: We will work with Jen Mercer to find a way to improve the system. In the meantime, we recommend that you use prior years’ schedules as a baseline for future schedules. Although they are not always the same, it should provide a good idea of when classes will be offered.
Alumni Relations – Some individuals feel that the current alumni affairs group at FCOB could do a better job of finding alumni willing to talk with students regarding employment and FCOB classes.
Action Steps: We will speak with the Fisher Office of External Relations regarding ways to improve interaction between students and alumni. We have also requested the social chairs host quarterly events that include alumni in the Columbus area.
Access to course rosters – Some individuals would like to have access to lists of individuals who have taken classes so they can talk to them about the course or so that they can buy books and course packets from them.
Action Steps: We will speak to Jen Mercer about this request but are concerned that there may be FERPA obstacles. If nothing else, we believe it is possible to create some sort of system that will allow individuals to opt-in to a program that will share this information with others.
In addition to these ideas, we have several of our own such as getting a copy machine placed in Gerlach for student use. We also plan to coordinate a FCOB March Madness Bracket Challenge. We encourage people to follow what we are doing and to send us any suggestions. Our email is fgsasuggestions@gmail.com. Please don’t wait for the next town hall meeting to tell us what is on your mind today.
Joseph Fahrendorf
Reposted from Joseph Fahrendorf Fisher Grad Life Blog
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Joseph Fahrendorf - Purdue Boilermaker basketball
Tonight I went to my first Ohio State basketball game. The game pitted the #4 ranked Purdue Boilermakers vs. the #9 OSU Buckeyes. As you can imagine, the Shottenstein Center was rocking! Although the Buckeyes were down for most of the game, the fans never quit. After rallying from 16 points down, the noise was so loud that I couldn’t even hear the guy next to me. Despite the Buckeyes valiant effort, the halftime deficit was too much to overcome and they failed to convert a last second 3-pointer to tie the game. Watching the game in person was so much better than I expected and I am now an Evan Turner super fan. Overall I was really impressed with the team and am looking forward to an exciting March Madness!
In other news, I am finally finished with midterms. It was a rough two weeks, but I think I did well so I’m excited to see my results.
Joseph Fahrendorf
Joseph Fahrendorf's Blog - https://fisher.osu.edu/blogs/gradlife/author/fahrendorf_3/
www.bing.com
www.google.com
www.yahoo.com
In other news, I am finally finished with midterms. It was a rough two weeks, but I think I did well so I’m excited to see my results.
Joseph Fahrendorf
Joseph Fahrendorf's Blog - https://fisher.osu.edu/blogs/gradlife/author/fahrendorf_3/
www.bing.com
www.google.com
www.yahoo.com
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Joseph Fahrendorf - Midterm week... Again
It’s that time of year again… midterm season. Although I had a rough midterm week last quarter, I am handling the pressure and the work-load in a much healthier fashion this time around. I guess I can attribute this to finally getting into the swing of school.
I have already taken my Operations midterm and did really well on it. Tonight I’m studying for my Marketing midterm. It is pretty straight forward so I’m not too worried about it… hence I am able to write a blog entry. After tomorrow I will only have my Finance midterm left and who knows how that’ll go. I’m just looking forward to having these midterms behind me so that I can refocus on my internship search. I have two second round interviews coming up, so hopefully I can close on one of the opportunities.
Joseph Fahrendorf
This blog was reposted from Joseph Fahrendorf's Fisher Grad Life Blog.
www.google.com
www.bing.com
www.yahoo.com
www.msn.com
I have already taken my Operations midterm and did really well on it. Tonight I’m studying for my Marketing midterm. It is pretty straight forward so I’m not too worried about it… hence I am able to write a blog entry. After tomorrow I will only have my Finance midterm left and who knows how that’ll go. I’m just looking forward to having these midterms behind me so that I can refocus on my internship search. I have two second round interviews coming up, so hopefully I can close on one of the opportunities.
Joseph Fahrendorf
This blog was reposted from Joseph Fahrendorf's Fisher Grad Life Blog.
www.google.com
www.bing.com
www.yahoo.com
www.msn.com
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Joseph Fahrendorf - 1st Year Case Competition -- bing.com vs google.com
Last Friday was the Internal Case Competition for the 2011 MBA class. Since I am trying to broaden my MBA experience and hone my public speaking skills, I decided to take part in the competition. My team was comprised of three other first year students: Emily Bae, Joseph Lopez, and Chris Kessler. The case was on Microsoft (circa November 2008.) At the time their search engine, msn.com, was a distant third to Yahoo! and the behemoth Google. We were asked to conduct analysis on Microsoft’s current search engine and to produce recommendations accordingly. After extensive research on both the market composition and the existing client experience, our recommendation was for Microsoft to pioneer a brand new experience called, Microsoft MiLife (patent pending).
MiLife is an all-inclusive system where a user sets up a personal profile and comprehensive data is collected and maintained for each person. This would be a person’s Internet identity and a portal to everything they need online. For example, MiLife would be an amazon.comfor the entire Internet, not just for things placed on Amazon. Our goal was to avoid regurgitating bing.com, but to make bing.com better.
The project took us the entire day to complete and we presented to four judges (one of which was Dean Wruck) the next morning. Although we were uncertain that the judges would like our idea, we pitched our idea with as much passion and energy as possible. Later in the day we learned that we had won the case competition for our room and we received Barnes & Noble gift cards. This also means that my team is eligible to represent Ohio State in the Big Ten case competition.
Overall, the case competition was worthwhile. Although it took up a lot of time (all day Friday and half a day on Saturday), the pros certainly outweigh the cons.
-Joe Fahrendorf
This was reposted from Joseph Fahrendorf's Fisher Grad Life Blog.
MiLife is an all-inclusive system where a user sets up a personal profile and comprehensive data is collected and maintained for each person. This would be a person’s Internet identity and a portal to everything they need online. For example, MiLife would be an amazon.comfor the entire Internet, not just for things placed on Amazon. Our goal was to avoid regurgitating bing.com, but to make bing.com better.
The project took us the entire day to complete and we presented to four judges (one of which was Dean Wruck) the next morning. Although we were uncertain that the judges would like our idea, we pitched our idea with as much passion and energy as possible. Later in the day we learned that we had won the case competition for our room and we received Barnes & Noble gift cards. This also means that my team is eligible to represent Ohio State in the Big Ten case competition.
Overall, the case competition was worthwhile. Although it took up a lot of time (all day Friday and half a day on Saturday), the pros certainly outweigh the cons.
-Joe Fahrendorf
This was reposted from Joseph Fahrendorf's Fisher Grad Life Blog.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Fisher Graduate Student Association - Joseph Fahrendorf's Fisher Grad Life Blog
One group that has received the majority of my spare time is the Fisher Graduate Student Association (FGSA). This group is the de facto student council and is responsible for implementing change based on student feedback and suggestions. In order to do this, we have the responsibility to delegate funds to different student groups so they are able to make the largest contributions to the Fisher community. Therefore, we are also responsible for approving new student organizations that seek funds.
This quarter we received a request from a group of students seeking to start a Fisher Racquet Sports group. After listening to the group’s formal proposal, we determined that it would be in the best interest of Fisher College to approve this organization. Some of the sports that will be included in the racquet sports group include ping pong, badminton, cricket, tennis, squash, racquetball, and several others. Congrats to all the individuals who worked so hard to get the group approved.
On a side note, FGSA is still seeking individuals for the next group of social chairs. If you have an interest in actively planning next year’s social events, please email me.
- Joseph Fahrendorf
This quarter we received a request from a group of students seeking to start a Fisher Racquet Sports group. After listening to the group’s formal proposal, we determined that it would be in the best interest of Fisher College to approve this organization. Some of the sports that will be included in the racquet sports group include ping pong, badminton, cricket, tennis, squash, racquetball, and several others. Congrats to all the individuals who worked so hard to get the group approved.
On a side note, FGSA is still seeking individuals for the next group of social chairs. If you have an interest in actively planning next year’s social events, please email me.
- Joseph Fahrendorf
Monday, January 18, 2010
Joe Fahrendorf - Fisher Grad Life Blog -- Professor's Hilarious email
Long weekends are great. I was able to practice Finance and catch up on some of the reading I was unable to do last weekend because I was in Cincinnati for the Bengals game. Well as it turns out, long weekends are also helpful when you are trying to nurse a black eye. Although my eye is looking better, it is not going to be normal looking for at least another five days. As a result, I decided to email my professors to tell them that I have a black eye and that I hope it won’t be a distraction in class. What resulted is one of the funniest emails I have ever received from a professor…
————————————————–
Dear Professor,
I just wanted to let you know that I have a pretty nasty black eye that doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. I was accidentally elbowed while playing basketball in the gym on Friday afternoon with several classmates. I don’t want this to be a distraction in class tomorrow, so here is a heads up.
Best regards,
Joseph Fahrendorf
————————————————–
2 minutes later…
————————————————–
Joseph,
Yikes. If you wanted to cover this up, you could always pull off the eye patch. If you go down this route, I’d recommend a turtleneck and a blazer to compliment the look. That said, looking like a villain from a James Bond movie may be more distracting than just having a black eye.
See you tomorrow.
————————————————–
This was not the response I expected. I would actually try the “villain from a James Bond movie” look, but I think the black eye alone will be funny enough for my classmates.
- Joe Fahrendorf
This is reposted from Joe Fahrendorf’s Fisher Grad Life Blog.
————————————————–
Dear Professor,
I just wanted to let you know that I have a pretty nasty black eye that doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. I was accidentally elbowed while playing basketball in the gym on Friday afternoon with several classmates. I don’t want this to be a distraction in class tomorrow, so here is a heads up.
Best regards,
Joseph Fahrendorf
————————————————–
2 minutes later…
————————————————–
Joseph,
Yikes. If you wanted to cover this up, you could always pull off the eye patch. If you go down this route, I’d recommend a turtleneck and a blazer to compliment the look. That said, looking like a villain from a James Bond movie may be more distracting than just having a black eye.
See you tomorrow.
————————————————–
This was not the response I expected. I would actually try the “villain from a James Bond movie” look, but I think the black eye alone will be funny enough for my classmates.
- Joe Fahrendorf
This is reposted from Joe Fahrendorf’s Fisher Grad Life Blog.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Joseph Fahrendorf's blog - MBA basketball injuries
It’s official… MBA students are not meant to play basketball. Tonight I drove a classmate to the ER after he had a bad fall during a basketball game. Initially we thought he broke his ankle, but it turns out that it’s just severely sprained. Obviously an injury such as this is bound to happen; however, this incident is the 4th Fisher 2011 basketball injury since school began.
Earlier in the year a group of Fisher MBAs were playing basketball in the ARC and during a wild loose ball scramble, one of our classmates tore his Achilles tendon. Four days later, another MBA student went down with a nasty high ankle sprain. Roughly a month later, a third classmate broke his foot in a pick-up game. These are troubling stats, especially since the Fisher MBA intramural basketball team starts our season next week.
Feel better Greg. We need you back next week.
- Joe
This blog is reposted from Joseph Fahrendorf's Fisher Grad Life Blog.
Earlier in the year a group of Fisher MBAs were playing basketball in the ARC and during a wild loose ball scramble, one of our classmates tore his Achilles tendon. Four days later, another MBA student went down with a nasty high ankle sprain. Roughly a month later, a third classmate broke his foot in a pick-up game. These are troubling stats, especially since the Fisher MBA intramural basketball team starts our season next week.
Feel better Greg. We need you back next week.
- Joe
This blog is reposted from Joseph Fahrendorf's Fisher Grad Life Blog.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Q2 - Joseph Fahrendorf
Tomorrow is the first day of the second quarter. Christmas break was great, but I’m glad that it is over. Three weeks is a long time off and towards the end I started to feel restless.
This quarter I am taking five classes. Four are mandatory: Cost Accounting, Finance, Operations Management and Marketing. The elective that I’ll be taking is Negotiations. Even before taking a single class, I think I can say that I’ll prefer the second quarter over the first quarter classes. Marketing and Operations are two areas that I am considering as majors.
I wish I had better news to report. I am writing this blog as I watch my beloved Cincinnati Bengals get crushed by the NY Jets. Fortunately the Bengals are in the playoffs and it just so happens that they’ll be playing the Jets in Cincinnati next weekend in the first round of the playoffs. I’ll need to make sure to get all my reading done during the week so that I can return home this weekend to attend the game.
This quarter I am taking five classes. Four are mandatory: Cost Accounting, Finance, Operations Management and Marketing. The elective that I’ll be taking is Negotiations. Even before taking a single class, I think I can say that I’ll prefer the second quarter over the first quarter classes. Marketing and Operations are two areas that I am considering as majors.
I wish I had better news to report. I am writing this blog as I watch my beloved Cincinnati Bengals get crushed by the NY Jets. Fortunately the Bengals are in the playoffs and it just so happens that they’ll be playing the Jets in Cincinnati next weekend in the first round of the playoffs. I’ll need to make sure to get all my reading done during the week so that I can return home this weekend to attend the game.
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