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What I learned this week:
1. Marketing – You know by now that you MUST speak in class at Darden, and the whole class is discussion based. I’m pretty sure there are some people who come to class with noggins chock-full of insightful commentary, probing questions, and scintillating points. Me? I try to get in the conversation as I can, without making obvious, idiotic, or obviously idiotic comments. As we discussed a case on Friday about a jam (“spreadable fruit, please”) company, my crackling intellectual contribution to the conversation was…
“Jam is heavy, you know. They’ll have to pay more to ship heavy jam to California.”
Which could have sparked a fierce debate about if jam is heavier than jelly, marmalade, conserves or preserves – but mercifully our wise professor agreed with me that yes, jam IS heavy, thank you, and moved the conversation on. Jam is heavy? That’s like in Dirty Dancing when Baby says “I carried a watermelon.” Doh.
2. Sustainability – friend and fellow blogger Miss MBA and I were talking about working for companies that have a corporate sustainability mission/department. For beverage companies, potentially a segment I’m interested in, bottled water is an environmental hot topic right now. We both try to avoid purchasing bottled water when possible. I personally rock an awesome Nathan aluminum water bottle that I highly recommend. Then, the conversation moved to cosmetics…
Miss MBA: “Yes, but cosmetic companies have a whole different issue than environmental impact – if they test on animals, for instance”
Me: “But think of it this way – at least bunnies are biodegradable”
Isn't "biodegradable" cute?
3. Accounting – this week we learned about debits and credits. I vaguely think I understand how it works – here’s my take on it.
Debit (decrease) sleep account: -1 hour
Credit (increase) class prep account: + 1 hour
Somehow, there’s this magical rule in accounting that assets and liabilities have to equal out perfectly. (The formal equation is Assets = Liabilities + Owner’s Equity) While I appreciate the symmetry, I just can’t figure out how to reconcile that…. I guess it’s kind of like dieting?
Ass(et) = dinner (caloric liability) + the dessert (retained calories) you shouldn’t have eaten last week.
Yeah, I probably should go visit my Accounting professor this week… maybe I’ll bring cookies…cookies make everything better.
Sierra @ Darden 
Haha, your analysis of accounting makes me smile. I can’t figure out whether sleep and class prep are asset accounts or expense accounts. 😉 Either way, your journal entry works.
And, wow, I just realized that writing that makes me SUCH a nerd.
what, you learned nothing in Career Management? I’m hurt.
Love your take on A = L + OE. Perhaps Mr. B. should teach it that way going forward…