End-of-the-Semester Business & Random Shenanigans

Happy Tuesday!

This week is off to an odd start because we had Monday off for Easter break. Therefore we started classes for the week today, which makes Tuesday feel like Monday (not that that's a bad thing!).


I had an awesome Easter break! I drove home Thursday afternoon, then on Friday I had an interview for an internship in Boston. I've been busy applying and interviewing for internships and I'm really excited to intern somewhere this summer. I have a few favorite places where I hope I get the job, but overall I just love working and can't wait to get started! My Mom also came into Boston with me and we had fun walking around & shopping after my interview.

The rest of my Easter break was filled with relaxing, seeing my friends, and spending Easter with my family. We also celebrated my little cousins' birthdays so that was a lot of fun (plus we had some delicious cake!).

Lunch in Boston in the North End

 A few other miscellaneous things! The picture below was tweeted by Saint Mike's after spring break. It's a picture from the Wilderness Club's Spring break kayaking trip to Scotland! I thought it was gorgeous and it made me so excited for warmer weather!

Beautiful!

Also, last week we had a beam signing. In Alliot they put out a beam that will go in the new student center (to be completed by August) and left markers out for everyone to sign their name. I thought this was a pretty neat idea!

It was a pretty huge beam

My roommate Cait signing the beam

Now marks the really busy end of the semester. We still have about a month and a half left of the semester, but I have a lot to do before we leave in May. This weekend I'm going on LEAP, one of our Christian retreats, which is supposed to be a lot of fun. Then I have tours for Accepted Students Days for the next several weekends. I'll also be picking Fall classes soon and I need to finish my study abroad application.

Also, for all prospective SMC parents, we'll be having a Knight Chat tomorrow, Wednesday, April 3rd, from 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm. It's basically an online chat room where the bloggers will answer any questions. It will definitely be informative & fun!

If anyone has additional questions, ask me on Ask.fm. Although I just created a VYou account to replace my Formspring account (since Formspring is shutting down) VYou is also shutting down! So, now I'll be using Ask.fm, so direct any questions there!

Weekend Fun - Al's French Frys & Wii Just Dance

Happy Sunday! I have copious amounts of homework to attend to, but first an update about my fun weekend.


On Saturday I worked on some things due for various clubs and watched TV with my roommate. Then, at about 9:00 pm my friends and I played Rock Band. It was super fun and I rocked it when I sang a Vampire Weekend song.

Al's French Frys

After Rock Band we went to Al's French Frys, which is an old-school diner about 5 minutes from campus. It was delicious and I got a huge chocolate shake. When we got back to Saint Mike's we played Just Dance which was hilarious! Below is a video of my friends Jesse and Cait dancing. It was a hilarious night.

So funny!

Today I've just been working on homework and getting ready for a busy week. We have a long weekend coming up because it's Easter next Sunday, so my professors are trying to fit a lot of work into a short week.  As always, if you're curious about anything, ask me a question on VYou!

Upcoming Knight Chat & the End of Spring Break

Happy Tuesday!


This is our first week back after spring break and, sadly, it's been snowing all day! I am definitely ready for some warmer weather, but apparently I'm not going to get my wish for several weeks. Last week during spring break I went home and got to see some friends and relax. I didn't do anything exciting (no trips to Florida to go tanning) but I did get a lot of work done and it was nice to sleep in all week.


A few updates:

1) We have a Knight Chat this Thursday from 7:30 - 9:00 pm. Knight Chats are essentially IM chat rooms where bloggers and admissions staff log on to answer any questions. You should definitely consider joining us, especially if you want to hear more about the student experience at Saint Mike's. Click on this link Thursday night to join!

2) Formspring is shutting down, so I created a VYou account where you can ask me questions (anonymously) about Saint Mike's, about the college application process, or about whatever else piques your interest.

3) I have a bit of a busy week (I have some major homework assignments, preparation for exams, finishing my study abroad application, and beginning a paper due for my management class in two weeks) so if you don't hear from me, don't fret! I'll blog this weekend for sure.


If you have any questions, use my new VYou account!

Winning the First Annual SUNY Plattsburgh Free Enterprise Olympics

Hi everyone! This week is our spring break at SMC. I'm just chilling at home for the week, catching up on some work, applying to more internships, and seeing my friends and family.

So a couple weeks ago I mentioned that I had won a speech contest at Saint Mike's on the subject "Free Enterprise & Entrepreneurship: The Formula for a Stronger Economy." The speech contest was part of a larger competition put on by SUNY Plattsburgh. As the speech contest winner, I got to join the SMC team, comprised of three senior business students, to go to SUNY Plattsburgh on Friday, March 1st. At SUNY Plattsburgh I participated in the speech contest finals as well as a a team creativity and innovation competition between eight schools.

The team! Tom Fergus, Michelle McGuinness, myself, & Patrick McFetridge

On Friday I had to skip two of my classes, but my professors were understanding and were excited for me. The day started fairly early, with the business department head, Robert Letovsky, picking us up at 8:00 AM. We then drove to Plattsburgh and I got to take the Plattsburgh ferry for the first time. We arrived at SUNY Plattsburgh around 9:30 AM to check in and grab some breakfast. At 10:00 AM we heard some introductions from two of the deans and from the director of the competition, then the speech finals started at about 10:30 AM.

For the speech contest I went 6 out of 8 which gave me a bit of time before my speech to sit around and get nervous. Over all, however, I did a good job with my speech. After the speeches we were assigned the case, which was to create a new product for a company called Muller's Smart Carts. The company specializes in these very heavy duty, easy to use wheelbarrows. Every team was assigned a a conference room to work in and we got about an hour in the morning to work on the case.

Presenting our new product to the judges

At 12:30 PM we got lunch then went back to work on the case from 1:30 PM until 4:00 PM. At that time we presented our new product to a group of judges, including the CEO of Muller's Smart Carts. We went 2 out of 8 so we got to watch most of the presentations. After presentations we had an hour break while the judges deliberated, then had dinner before finding out the winners.

Having dinner with the CEO of Muller's Smart Carts

Now the exciting news - we won first in the team contest and I won third in the speech contest! I had a great day, and I think I learned a lot. I was so excited to have won and I was proud of our team! It was such a fun experience and I hope I get to be a part of it again.

The speech contest winners

After winning the team contest with the CEO of Muller's Smart Carts

and the SMC department head

I'll be relaxing now for the rest of the week, but if you have any questions feel free to email me!

Google Glass, Oakley Goggles, & Wearable Computers

Hope everyone's having a great weekend!


We've been hearing a lot lately about Google Glass, Google's new product that merges the wear-ability of glasses and the mobile computer concept of an IPhone. The technology here is pretty incredible, and there has been a lot of buzz over this product, but I'm curious - is this product really practical?

Google Glass commercial

I did a little research and found out a bit more about Google Glass, including its functions and design. I had seen the video in marketing class but, as one student pointed out, the video doesn't actually show the glasses. This is interesting because the glasses look pretty funky. They don't contain actual eyeglasses and instead are composed only of a glasses frame, with one side containing a thicker, colored portion housing all of the technology. In front, where the glass would normally go, is one small square glass screen.

Google did a great job creating their video ad - it makes the glasses look innovative, efficient, and fun. Plus, the glasses can surf the Internet, record a video, take a picture, text, find directions, and post to Facebook, all by simply speaking to it. That sounds pretty cool! However, the glasses are also pretty expensive (prospective buyers had to enter a contest and pay $1,500) and I think that many interested customers will shy aware due to the design.


As I was researching, I found several competitors to Google Glass, including these Vuzix Smart Glasses by Andriod, set to premiere this year. These glasses perform essentially the same functions as Google Glass but are designed without the entire glasses frame. Instead they only use the piece housing the technology and the glass frame, like a take on a phone headset or Bluetooth. I think Vuzix Smart Glasses look nicer than Google Glass, but is still a little odd.

IBM commercial

I was very surprised to find that IBM had previously premiered this exact technology years ago! It looked exactly like Android's version and completed similar functions. I found the preceding video advertisement online and, after looking into this, I found that IBM's model failed for a couple reasons - 1) the voice recognition software was not great, and 2) users did not like that everyone could hear them speaking to the product.

I find this interesting because, for one, IBM's video shows the complications of their voice recognition software. To me, that means this advertisement, and the product itself, wasn't very good. Also, when I first heard of Google Glass, I thought about the fact that everyone can hear what you're doing. While this may not be a problem for some people, I certainly don't like that feature (I hate using Siri on my IPhone while in public). Then again people walk around talking to their Bluetooth all the time.

Oakley Airwave Goggles

Last but not least, the ski industry is jumping on the wearable computer bandwagon. or, Oakley is at least. The company recently introduced its Airwave Goggles, which uses the same technology as the glasses but in a ski goggle. The design is the same (except partially covered by the goggle) and comes with a thick arm band with large buttons that seem easy to use while wearing ski gloves. It seems less focused on using voice recognition and instead marketers are pushing the wearable computer functions (which is still very cool).

I think this product looks much better and its technology is very much applicable to skiers. These goggles can track the air time and speed, and can locate your friends. Plus, the price is much cheaper at about $600. I think that the video, however, is a bit lacking. It has some incredible views which will appeal to hardcore skiers & snowboarders, and it clearly explains the functions of the goggles, but I think it's a little long without adding much.


So okay, this wearable computer technology is uber exciting. But, it's obviously expensive and some of the designs aren't very aesthetically pleasing. I'm curious to see if these products will sell and, I think that successful sales will be hugely dependent on how they're marketed.


Look for a post soon about the outcome of Friday's speech and creativity competition at SUNY Plattsburgh (spoiler alert - we won!). As always, email with questions!

Learning to Snowboard at Smugg's

Hope everyone is having a good week! I'm having a fun but slightly stressful week. Right now I'm busy preparing for the "Free Enterprise Olympics" on Friday as well as juggling homework and various meeting.

After Falling On the Bunny Slope

But, on an unrelated note, last weekend I learned how to snowboard at Smuggler's Notch! I've talked before about the $30 season pass Saint Mike's students can get through our wilderness program. It's a pretty amazing deal (it costs less than a normal half day pass!) and I've enjoyed skiing a lot this winter.

My roommate, Cait, has been wanting to teach me to snowboard for a while, and I always thought snowboarding looked so cool. One of the shuttle drivers, Dragon, lent me his daughter's snowboard, and I already have a helmet and giant ski jacket, so all I had to do was rent boots. Our SMC Smugg's pass also gets us discounts on rentals so it was pretty cheap to rent boots for a half day!

Cait had so much fun narrating this video

This is the funniest video because the little girl

snowboards right around me

So after gearing up, Cait brought me to the bunny slope and tried to teach me how to snowboard. The first couple runs I was horrible! I fell a lot and I was so grumpy, but after I stopped falling on my butt so much I had some fun. Cait took a video (and narrated it) of my oh-so-graceful snowboarding skills.

Last run of the day after some minor improvements

The day after snowboarding my arms were so sore from having to pick myself off so many times. But, all in all, I had a fun day! This weekend I plan on skiing with my friend Lindy, but hopefully I'll try snowboarding again soon!

Feel free to email me with any questions!

Exciting Events in the Business Department!

Happy Sunday! Hope everyone's had a fun weekend!


Last weekend I got to go home to see my parents then had a pretty busy week back at SMC with lots of tests and class projects.


I've also been gearing up for the "Free Enterprise Olympics" at SUNY Plattsburgh which will be this Friday! I got to meet my teammates last week and I'll be getting together with them this Wednesday to practice again. The team consists of three senior business majors; they all seem super nice. Then, on Friday, we'll be gone all day at the competition! This weekend I've been editing my speech a bit and I'll be practicing that all week in anticipation of the speak off finals Friday morning.


Now some more exciting news - last post I mentioned that I was busy writing a case study analysis. Every year the Saint Michael's Business Department puts on a "Business Ethics Case Competition" in which business students can receive an ethics case to analyze. Six schools compete, and each school chooses a top paper to submit. Then, three outside judges choose the three best papers to be presented. While I don't yet have a lot of experience in analyzing case studies, I competed in this challenge last year and again this year with a friend of mine, Tim, who's a business and religious studies double major. This year's case was about Facebook and Greenpeace and was a lot of fun to write. And the super exciting news, Tim and I won best case analysis at SMC!

Disappointingly, our paper wasn't chosen to be presented, but I'm so excited that we won at SMC! The top three schools will be presenting at Saint Mike's this Tuesday and I'm looking forward to hearing their arguments.


Besides that, I gave several tours this week and participated in a Parent Knight Chat on Wednesday. I love talking with prospective students and parents so it was fun to get back into tours! Plus, Knight Chats are always fun because I get to hang out with a bunch of the bloggers and parents always have great questions.


So now I'm off to work on a massive amount of homework (I have a huge test Monday for my marketing class - wish me luck!). As always, if you have questions shoot me an email!