on line courses

There is this website – coursera.org – where you can sign up for FREE university courses. They have courses in every subject you can imagine (well, maybe you have a better imagination than me. They have courses in every subject I can imagine!)

Silly me signed up for one called ‘Foundations of Business Strategy’.

OMG.

I thought it was going to be superficial, easy and fun.

I was wrong.

Again – perhaps to you it WOULD seem superficial, easy and fun. To me … well, let’s just say I’m way over my head.

I’m already behind … I haven’t done the first assignment and the 2nd week’s work was delivered on Sunday evening.

I thought it would be a no-brainer – one evening sitting at the computer listening to the lectures (there were 7 video lectures (brief … 10 – 12 minutes each) plus some reading material. Then a quiz.

I finally decided to devote an evening to the first lesson

It became apparent fairly early on that they assume the people who signed up for this course have some economics training/knowledge. He was actually talking calculus at one point.

Calculus.

I don’t do calculus. I’m brilliant, granted, but math was not one of my stronger subjects.

I was always okay in arithmetic, though. I can add, subtract, multiply and divide pretty darn well. Well, I used to be able to do those things. Now Excel handles most of the arithmetic for me.

Honestly, he didn’t expect us to do any calculus. He just showed us something or other (I guess I need to watch that particular snippet of the lecture again because I don’t remember what it was he was showing us. How to calculate the mean profit sequence vs demand based on competitive edge in the real world or something like that).

Obviously I’m not quite ready for Week One’s quiz just yet.

I decided to check out the discussion board, and lo and behold … there are a couple on-line study groups! Woot.

I’ve asked to join one but have not been welcomed with open arms yet.

Perhaps they know that I haven’t completed Week One’s quiz?

It is an interesting subject and I think I’ll learn a few things … and since, according to my prof (Professor Michael Lennox from University of Virginia Darden School of Business), there are 78,000 students registered for this course (good thing the course is on-line because we’d need a pretty big lecture hall!), they aren’t going to actually be marking the quizzes. I’m sure they’ll keep track of whether or not I hand them in, though.

And there is a majorly serious and scary final project … which is due on April 14. That date, of course, is when I’m out of town at the tradeshow. So that means, I’m going to need to get it done in advance … which is going to be hard since I’m already a week behind and don’t really know what the hell I’m doing.

* * * * *

Still no news of my promotion.

Boss was away last week (in a different time zone) and didn’t seem to be in a particularly good mood today.

I told him he didn’t seem happy to be back! He said adjusting to the 3 hours timelag (plus one more thanks to the clocks changing) was really messing him up. He used to be able to do it without missing a beat …

I think there is more to it.

He met a woman last time he travelled that way and they went out again.

I think he’s quite smitten … and suspect he didn’t want to come back to the real world.

Owning and running a company is a huge responsibility. I know he takes it seriously and personally that there are quite a few people who are depending on him for their livelihood.

If he decided to sell, we would be ‘absorbed’ by another bigger company and I doubt that they would keep our office open. They operate in a totally different fashion than we do … and I guarantee they would not want me to be part of their organization.

I’m a bit of a ‘free thinker’ don’tcha know. They operate much like the government … when I walk into their building, I feel like I’m back in the federal civil service.

Not only would they not want me, I don’t want them either!

(so there!!)

(A free thinker who can analyze business strategy).

* * * * *

The time change hasn’t bothered me too much. I like to sleep, so getting up is a challenge regardless of time zones, time changes, length of time I’ve been in bed.

This morning, I was wide awake before 6 a.m. and almost got up!! But, I figured I’d stay snuggled in my cozy bed until the alarm went off at 6:50. Then I’d just up and accomplish a few things before heading off to work.

I listened as my clock chimed each quarter hour … then my alarm went off. I was bright eyed and bushy tailed up until that moment … but, like Pavlov’s dog, I reacted to this morning’s alarm the way I do every morning. I hit snooze … and fell into a deep sleep …

Honestly – before that alarm, I was wide awake. Feeling energetic. Ready to face the world.

Then *bam* –> alarm –> sleep.

Kind of the opposite reaction to what it should be.

I’ll have to work on that.

* * * * *

Off to bed so I can try this ‘getting up when the alarm rings’ concept again tomorrow.

* I WISH YOU WELL! *