Date

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Christmas was very good and very relaxing. Guilt-free relaxing is very valuable. :-) I'm in Nashville, spending time with Laura's family. We will visit the Mohrs and Rices during this coming week. I'm doing a little bit of career related activities (cover letters, contacts, etc.).

It's been great reading about the class of 2007. It's the same as last year when I was so impressed with my own class (2006). What a great crowd. I really look forward to getting to know them.

The break from school has been very welcome, although I'm finding plenty of things to do around the house that I've been putting off. This office still has to be cleaned, and I did a lot on job related cover letters and networking. It's been GREAT to finally spend some time with Laura. We've talked more this few days that all last term (at least it feels that way). We both look forward to the trip to TN to see our parents.

Eshwar, Madhura's husband found this picture of my Jewelery store in CA. hahahaha... Thanks Eshwar and Madhura!

I think my Finance final (of yesterday) went well. I was very worried and stayed up all night studying (slept on Saturday morning from 10:40 to 11:20) then took the test at 2:00 PM. I felt comfortable with most of the questions. I'm not a top scorer, but I did fairly well and felt like I understood the basic concepts, which is the most important.

Tomorrow I have my final in Corporate Financial Reporting (advanced accounting). This class is way beyond me so it will be very hard (I don't have any experience in Accounting and my only class in that subject was 20 years ago). It will be very hard.

I took part in FuquaVision (like Saturday Night Live for Fuqua) for the first time and it was great fun. I want to do it much more, and maybe come up with skit ideas myself. I have several. Brian and Reed did great jobs producing the skits I was in. I can't wait to buy the DVD of this year's shows.

I earned a very high score in my finance class (Global Financial Management). This test was on evaluation of stocks and portfolios. It's important information so I'm very glad that I did well.

I did better than expected in my advanced accounting course (Corporate Financial Reporting) so I'm very happy about that. I got the equivalent of a Pass and my score was about 9% below a High Pass. I was worried about not reaching a Pass score, so I'm happy.

Now I must keep up with these classes every day. So at this point, I must read accounting in preparation for class.

Well, so much for keeping up with my "blog." School just keeps me too busy. I just finished with an exam in Corporate Financial Reporting. I'm sure I did poorly (compared to how I usually do in classes) but I expected that from the start because it's an advanced accounting class and my only exposure to accounting was a single class, 20 years ago. But I'm learning a GREAT deal, so I'm happy.

My Finance test is a different story. I did very well. I really look forward to finding out my score. The class is Global Financial Management, and, so far has dealt with bonds, stocks and portfolios. It's interesting, and is also important to anyone with an interest in Venture Capital.

...midterm tests in the second term... wow... these two years will go by very fast.

I'm taking a break from studying right now. I got to thinking of what I'm learning here, and I'm very happy with it all. I'm learning much of the traditional things from the book learning and so much more with things outside of class. Time prioritization is a KEY focus of mine because I've done poorly in the past. I'm doing much better now (I've brought myself up to "average" :-) and am accelerating quickly). My weakest points are being exercised hard. Early on, my web page and Yahoo participation gave some people the impression that I was extremely outside of the norm in achievement. Compared to my enviably gifted classmates, that impression is an exaggeration. While I tend to create many great opportunities (because I push hard and actively seek different views of situations), my weaknesses have taken their toll. I'm SO glad that my time prioritization is far better now. I'm maintaining my calendar well (thanks to KC for her example). These and other self-improvements have made a huge difference and will show in term 2. I'll enjoy the break, but also look forward to a fresh start, armed with my new time-management skills. I can do ANYTHING.... WOOOHHOOOOO! Oh... sorry. :-)

The FuquaVision that was showed this past Friday was fantastic! I loved the Jerry Fuquire skit. Chinmay and Matt did an AWESOME job. There were so many others that showed great talent too. The resume interviews with Yelly, Malika, and many others were GREAT! Josh did so much behind-the-scenes shooting, etc. and yet was not shown so some missed his contribution. I know there are MANY others that did the same. I'm greatful to them all because I like laughing. :-)... I bought the two DVD's from past FuquaVisions and I plan to buy the one for this year too.

Back to studying!

Dad Mohr came to visit this past weekend (he flew home this morning). It was GREAT to have him. I can't wait to go visit in TN. I likely won't be able to do that until Christmas, but that will be one great Christmas.

Mid-terms went fairly well. Unfortunately, I don't have time to write more. We have a huge case due (about 3M) on Tuesday. I'm very glad I'm here, but do not like the lack of time.

I think mid-terms went well, although I'm never sure. I thought I did well on the Micro Economics quiz a while back and didn't. Then I feared doing poorly on the Statistics quiz, and did very well. Go figure.

My time management skills are GREATLY improving and that's helping my overall outlook and confidence that I can do well. While very painful, this busy schedule is great for my training in two areas of badly needed improvement

1. Time prioritization
2. committing to a decision, not worrying about what might have been if I had chosen differently

These are areas that a business person must do well, so I'm very glad for those improvements.

We finished the great tradition here at Duke called "camput." About 1200 graduate students all camp in tents, RV's or moving trucks. We stay in a parking lot and field where they provide portable bathrooms and that's about all. You must bring everything else and cannot leave. There are periodic checks where they blow a whistle and you must get in line to verify that you are still present. The checks are at randome times and occur during the night too. Many stay up all night. Those of us who slept some, don't get great sleep because the longest times between check points are about 4 hours. People are also talking, dancing, playing games and playing music all night, so noise is a factor. But it's all that bedlam that makes this event so special and adds a unique aspect to the growing bonds among us graduate students, and specifically among us Fuqua students. It's truly a unique and great tradition that I will do again next year.

I have a very few pictures because I forgot my replacement batteries for my camera. I'll have to solicit my friends for more shots. I'll post mine soon, but I can't let my teammates down for a coming stats case (I'm on point for it this time). So I must study hard.

I met Alison Donohoe, a helpful second year. I hope to post a picture if I can get ahold of it.

I talked a lot with Stephen S. and learned much about his 1.5 years in Costa Rica. What a great experience. It was great to be in the truck with Mony, Stephen, Richard and Madhura, and we're glad Joseph and Pria visited! Richard and I talked about some of his plans for section 3 and I like what I hear. He'll be a good rep' for us.

Malika is one awesome flip-cup teacher! She taught me a bit and it improved my game! hahaha. It was my favorite drinking game at campout. The first years and second years played against each other. The second years were awesome and did get the first win in best of 5. But they allowed us to continue out of 7 and we got them! The competition was too close to give a hands-down winner thought. The class of 2006 must improve our flip-cup game and challenge them again! :-)

My hat's off to Suneet, Greg S., and others who could stay up all night on Friday night! hahaha. I had to crash for a while.

It was great to see Dean Breeden and his wife mixing with the Fuqua grads on Saturday night.

I decided not to run for section lead for two reasons. 1. Time requirements. I'm very concerned about the time to do a superior job, and 2. Entrepreneurship is what I really want to do. Stats is a killer (even though I enjoy working on it... just don't have time). The first week has been a real wake-up call, and I imagine that's what was intended. I'm going for a position in the Entrepreneurship club, GPSC and STEP (helping high-school students with a business plan). I'm also interested in FuquaVision. There are many more that I want to do if I have any time, but if my entire school experience were like this past week and a half, I could not do even what I've selected.

OK, I'm very tired right now and need to keep my perspective. :-) I'm still very glad to be here and 400 other students did this last year, so it's possible. :-) More later.

While I'm loving school, what I'm learning and the friends I'm making, I'm so piled with things to do that some of the joy is gone. Although I planned on getting ahead as quickly as possible, I'm barley keeping up. It's very frustrating. But I also see it as a necessary crash course in priority management. I'm not lazy at all, but often spend my time on the wrong things. This is forcing me to fix that and fast.

Like many, I'm faced with deciding how much to be involved with extracurricular activities. It's difficult to draw the line, but I'm running for section 3 lead, becoming a graduate representative to GPSC and will be involved in the entrepreneurship and the general management clubs. It feels like too much right now. Now I must focus on priorities. (Note: I later decided not to run for section lead because of time.)

Finally, my web site is on my new notebook, so I will update it much more frequently. I've been slowely changing over to my notebook and just now finished installing Dreamweaver. I will be able to do updates in small pockets of time, while at school or at home.

School starts tomorrow and I finished my preassignments! I feel good.

Unfortunately, my parking permit was the wrong one. It's Central campus parking and is orange. It should be Green for parking near Fuqua. I'm guessing that they confused my entry in the computer with the LEAD ID rather than my new Fuqua ID. What a pain.

I'm doing some work on the side and Laura is still looking for a job, so we have some stress going on, but we're still having a great time. The students we're meeting are great! We both really look forward to getting settled and starting.

Last night I went bowling with many fellow students, and it was great. I'm really happy to be part of this group.

Hey LEADers, Click Here to see the yearbook.

I will keep up with this better as soon as I'm finished with the LEAD yearbook and a web site I'm developing.

The LEAD experience was GREAT! What a great group of young people! If it is at all reasonable to be involved next year, I sure would like to do it. (An internship could prevent it.)

THANKS to all the young people who came. I sure miss you guys! I look forward to our updates once in a while when we can email each other. I am absolutely greatful for my motorcycle model, dog tag, Duke jersy, wrist band, and even Gooey Louie :-). The signatures and engraving mean a great deal to me. The friendships and future contacts mean the world to me. Pictures will be posted soon. :-)

Still, LEAD has kept me very busy and now it's almost over. Wow! I'm going to miss these young people. I hope we can create a good web site this year to which I can forward you, but for now you can see yearbooks of the past years on Duke's Fuqua web site: www.fuqua.duke.edu/admin/stuserv/student_affairs/lead

Here's the national organization's web site: www.leadnational.org

The LEAD program has kept me very busy, but it's been fun. I have little time to play with our web page and when I have a bit of free time, I have tasks that I must do (e.g. I finanlized my computer order, checked out the apartment to see if the angle is right for satellite [it's not :-(]) and now I must see about getting my immunization information taken care of, then try to see a dentist here before our dental insurance stops. But I'm enjoying it so far.

Today I am going to the airport to greet the students.

It is now 8:14 PM and the students are all here. They are a bright and lively group and I look forward to having a lot of fun with them.

I'm having trouble getting Internet access. When this is posted, my troubles will be over. :-) I'm writing from my Schaefer House dorm room. There is a corded Internet connection, but I don't know if Duke will allow me to use it. I will call tomorrow. I had troubles using my account at Fuqua, so I just have to do without Internet access for now. Maybe tomorrow, I can arrange something.

The Duke campus is really nice... probably the most beautiful campus that I've seen. It's gothic influence is quite impressive, and there are several different styles, including one building that seems to represent a modernized gothic style. I will post pictures very soon.

This was the first day of LEAD and there are four of us RA's (Resident Assistants?). The other three are very interesting people with quite varied backgrounds. Most of the students will arrive on the weekend.

I have very little time right now because I'm packing to take MANY of our belongings to Durham on Monday. So this page will not be updated for a while.

It's POSSIBLE that I won't be able to update while in Durham (June 15-July 11) but I'm not sure what kind of access I'll have while I'm there. (To publish to the web page, I must use my own computer because of the development package.)

Dad Lynn and I fixed a section of copper pipe that had a pin-hole leak and made the ceiling fall (during our movie on Saturday night). We started using a propane torch, but it didn't get the pipe hot fast enough so I took out my oxygen/acetylene torch with the small tip and that did the trick very quickly.

OK, I must have made about 24 double shot latte's this past weekend. I think I drained a full gallon (~4 liters) of milk and I'll guess a half a pound of espresso coffee beans.

Laura and I topped off the weekend by sitting together to watch Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. It was good.

Laura and I volunteered at the ABC at camp meeting, being cashiers for their book sale. We mulled around the ABC later in the day.

The SDA Kentucky Tennessee Conference Camp Meeting was this weekend, and it was only 3 days because of budget concerns. It was not the same. There were far fewer people and I saw no tents, so the feel of "camp" was gone. Such is life.

Uncle Dick and Robbie and Ranae came for the weekend, and we all had a good time through the weekend.

Laura and Troy Hale came to visit and we had a great time on Saturday. They took us Geo Caching, a first for many of us. It was fun. We found a cache near one of the shortest train tunnels (15 feet "long"). It's no longer in use, but it was interesting to see the very narrow "gorge" that was just barely wide enough for a train to pass. The bridge that covered the 15 foot section of the gorge was short also.

Laura's foot is doing much better and she can increase the stress on it a little bit now.

*
May 22

There are several new pictures below that simply took me a while to post. The subjects include Bryden, Laura and Dad Lynn's hang gliding adventure, Brady Neal Camp, and Ranae's graduation.

Bryden's eating, then a big smile...

Laura and Dad Lynn took a lesson (ride) on a hang glider. They had a great time. See more pictures on the hang gliding page.

It's official now. Mark will work in the LEAD program at Duke University before school begins. The program "hosts 30 high-ability minority high school students (rising seniors) from all over the U.S. and Puerto Rico for the purpose of encouraging more individuals of minority ethnic backgrounds to choose careers in business or management."

I (Mark) believe in this type of goal, and in fact, it's directly related to my life goals - to promote education in Latin America. So I'm very excited about the opportunity.

Ranae GRADUATED! CONGRATULATIONS RANAE!

		Far left: Ranae and Robbie. Left: Debbie, Chip and Laura
Ranae and Mom Lynn. Far right: The parents' gathering. :-)
	Robbie and Ranae

I am collecting information on organization tools (handheld machines, smart phones, software, etc.) so if you know about them, please send the info. You can read my current results on www.markrice.com/duke/organizers.htm.

I will be doing volunteer work at the Highland Manor Nursing Home tomorrow but will carry my mobile phone.

• Mark officially accepted a position in Duke's Fuqua School of Business class of 2006 and is very excited about that fantastic MBA program. (MBA = Master's of Business Administration) I want to learn as much as possible about entrepreneurship and business, then start a business. I'd love to work with companies in Latin America and promote entrepreneurship there. We'll see what doors open, and what doors I can create, then open. :-)
• I received a call from John this morning. That was a pleasent surprise. :-)
• I could not fix the washer so we had to buy one. DOH!

• Babson College has a fantastic program for entrepreneurship. The weekend was fun, although I knew most of the material before going. The "teaser class" on leadership was excellent! The teacher thought things through very well and caught students when we would speak in generalities or make statements with scope shifts. He also encouraged students to look directly at the person whom they were answering rather than shift direction away from what was perceived as confrontation. I was very impressed with the teachers methods. The curriculum at Babson is integrated, as they say, but what impressed me more was how pervasive the entrepreneurial spirit is. Since entrepreneurship is my concentration, that spirit is a huge plus.
• More than you want to read about our washer: Our washing machine broke (well, we can use it if we want to keep mopping up the grease that it thows on the floor - and on our clothes). I spent too long working on it, only to discover a very pitted and rusty set of shafts, a dry rotted belt, a leaking transmission and a broken aged fastener. Anyone want a washer motor? It works well, but I have no use for it.
• Anyone wanting to learn about notebook computers might want to check out my latest file on Notebook Computer Notes. See my Duke pages.
• My school decision will likely be made tomorrow.
• I've been doing a lot of web work recently (for clients and our home page) and I must say that Dreamweaver has really been great to have. Unfortunately the new prices are WAY too high for me so I'm living with an older version. Some business schools use Dreamweaver so maybe I will have access to newer versions without charge for two years. We'll see

Here's a GREAT shot of Bryden

Mark will be in Boston for Weekend@Babson! Babson College is the number one ranked MBA program in entrepreneurship! I'm priviledged to be accepted there and am bowled over to have been offered an Olin Fellowship! How good can this get?

Babson College
	Olin Hall	Center for Executive Education

Jeff and Amy Camp had their young one yesterday! Brady Neal Camp came in at 5 pounds 12 ounces, 18.5 inches long at 12:04 AM! CONGRATULATIONS Jeff and Amy!

Laura and Mark went to Collegedale Academy's reunion - a 25th year for the class of 1979. Mark created a web page for it. See the www.ca79.com page. What a great time.

I now have the start of my Babson page:

[...menu deleted - The information is available from my Duke menu below...]

Here are some of my favorite shots of Bryden (and Kristen).

	His stance and the colors really make this scene for me.
	Kristen lifts Bryden.

Apr 2-4

We will go to North Carolina for...
I can't wait!

HUGE NEWS! Babson College - the number 1 entrepreneurial program in the world - offered Mark an F.W. Olin Fellowship! WOOO HOOOO! Wow, that's quite an honor.

Mark arrives back in the U.S.! On our way home I saw this scene and had to take some pictures. I especially like the picture on the left.

As you could read in the Peru page, I was accepted by Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. It's been a long and hard road to reach this point and I'm unbelievably happy about it. WOOOO HOOOOO! (Oh.. Sorry.. I suppose that was over the top.)

Becka sent pictures of Bryden while I was in Peru. Here are a few. The shot on the right is one of my favorites of Bryden and Becka!

My Peru page contains updates for December 30 (2003) through March 28. Below is the menu. My inintial acceptance to Duke's fantastic MBA program is recorded in the March section.

Peru Adventure: Initial Page / Dec-Jan / February / March
Special Sections	Universidad Peruana Union / Abigail

Just for convenience, I will put the Argentina menu here too (that trip took place during May and June of 2003).