tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926Sat, 14 Feb 2026 08:53:22 +0000MBAMerageFamily Funschool lifeEuropean VacationInternshipMBA Reading EssentialsRte 66Orange CountyUnited States Observationspost-MBAwork lifeBusiness TipsPop CultureL.A.Career SeachConferencesHealthHollywoodLas VegasSan DiegoLindsey & Trevor have moved from Ontario, Canada to California so that Trevor can pursue an MBA at The Merage School of Business at the UC,Irvine. Now, Trevor is finishing up his second year and exploring his career options.http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)Blogger180125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-4208342220130614359Sun, 12 Jul 2009 01:03:00 +00002009-07-11T18:39:52.210-07:00MBAMeragepost-MBAwork lifeJuly 7th marked the first time in my careers that I stayed for a full year with a company (not including the 4 1/2 years of my own business). To me that one year barrier is quite the personal accomplishment. It either says alot about my happiness at this stage of my life or Experian's high tolerance threshold for my bullshit (probably a little of both).My first year at Experian has been one of http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2009/07/one-year-anniversary.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)43tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-1823824058131973628Sun, 09 Nov 2008 21:34:00 +00002008-11-09T13:56:23.791-08:00MBApost-MBAwork lifeI've been at Experian for the past four months. By virtue of being in a "rotational" position and initially working in an area like innovation, I have been lucky to have a great degree of latitude on what I work on and amazing access to key individuals at the company. Of course when many high level executives are aware of what we work on, our names may come up in management meetings. That is whathttp://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/11/mba-career-in-real-life.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-5182108331567024584Sun, 19 Oct 2008 00:41:00 +00002008-10-18T17:56:34.275-07:00post-MBAwork lifeThe market has been taking it hard the last few weeks. Obviously, the banks are hurting which doesn't help Experian, but to Experian's credit the last few years they have engaged in some very smart acquisitions that broadened their markets, geographical reach, and enhanced their data assets. This will serve them well over the next few years.The market has made money tight in the company. Chris http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/10/economys-getting-tougher.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-8440731760080788340Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:10:00 +00002008-08-22T17:33:52.792-07:00It's Friday afternoon and I am listening to some musicians playing Jimi Hendrix on the beach. They are setting up for this weekend's annual Polynesian festival. There seems to be something going on right across the street every weekend.I was lucky with traffic and able to get home before 5pm. I try to leave work around 4pm on Friday's as my reward for a week of work where I get in for 8am. This http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/08/hit-first-work-wall.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-3954044609788207102Sat, 09 Aug 2008 16:27:00 +00002008-08-09T09:45:43.260-07:00post-MBAwork lifeAfter 21 months of working on numerous projects, analyzing processes, making recommendations for a variety of topics and companies, it feels somewhat unusual to continuously focus all my efforts on a single company. The great thing about this is that I will have the chance to make a real impact on my company by gradually building influence for some of my ideas.To date, my job has been incredibly http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/08/working-for-living-is-different.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-5071447215342166328Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:14:00 +00002008-07-13T10:18:21.872-07:00MBAMerageschool lifeI recently had a discussion about Merage on my professional blog. I wanted to reproduce the discussion here because I answer a number of questions about Merage that you might be interested in. 5 Comments Thanks. Your comment is awaiting approval by a moderator. Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment. Permalink Admin laurenbwong@gmail.comIP: http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/07/some-additional-questions.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-2012918491121218230Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:26:00 +00002008-12-12T19:32:15.901-08:00Here's our buildingWe're up on the upper level - See there's Lindsey!Here is the inside. Lindsey got the Landlords to put in new flooring before we moved in. Lindsey did a good job of decoraing. I just sat on the patio. Isn't is awesome.And here is the view. This sealed the deal on us picking this place.It makes for a pretty good party place too!http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/07/our-california-dream-apartment.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-4491231638940317196Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:25:00 +00002008-12-12T19:32:16.078-08:00I want to say thanks to my Polaris teammates and Chuck Martin, the sponsor of the competition. For those who don't know, Polaris is one of Merage's unique competitions where teams of students are responsible to invest $250K of Chuck's money in the stock market over the course of a year.This year was a tough year for investors (the S&P return was negative). 5 teams competed and 4 delivered http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/07/quick-props-to-my-polaris-investment.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-1716890449129428419Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:44:00 +00002008-06-19T16:49:08.508-07:00MBAMerageHere are a few of my parting MBA thoughts for anyone thinking about taking an MBA.The Merage School is a top notch MBA program for Marketing, Finance, Strategy, Real Estate, and Information Technology Management, but I think the big differentiator is how it exposes students to concepts of Strategic Innovation. Strategic Innovation adds an entire new dimension to an MBA education that will grow inhttp://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-final-mba-thoughts.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-8023477943072343423Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:13:00 +00002008-06-21T15:20:25.504-07:00Family FunMBAMerageTwenty-one months comes pretty quick. Graduation was held last Sunday at UCI's Bren Events Center. The ceremony was only 2 hours, but had to show up at 7:30am in order to have class pictures. Of course 7:30am is California MBA code for we are taking pictures at 8:30am, but if we don't say 7:30am you would not show up until after convocation started.The ceremony made everything official - I have http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/06/end-of-road-graduation.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-1335711125718614013Sun, 08 Jun 2008 18:06:00 +00002008-06-08T11:47:07.761-07:00Family FunLast Wednesday, Lindsey and I got funky by going to see George Clinton and P-Funk Band at the Anaheim House of Blues. It was alot of fun and just a big party. They would be the ultimate band for a house party as they know how to keep everyone grooving.Their band is enormous. It is really funny - you watch a band member play for awhile then walk off stage - another band member strolls on stage http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/06/we-got-that-funk.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-5200642840292270781Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:25:00 +00002008-06-08T11:41:22.528-07:00MBAMerageschool lifeWe had our graduation banquet where we handed out the program academic awards. I earned the designations as a member of Beta Gamma Sigma (top 20% of business majors) and Dean's Scholar (top 12% of class). As part of the awards I got some colorful ropes to wear with my grad robes for graduation next Sunday. I don't remember us in Canada using fraternity names and colorful ropes to signify academichttp://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/06/look-ma-all-these-colorful-ropes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-1606646788247939843Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:25:00 +00002008-06-03T11:38:19.037-07:00Family FunMBAschool lifeAfter that last post, I have to admit I am distracted too. Now with a job offer in hand, I am going through the stress of having a thorough background check conducted on me (I don't think there should be any issues, but who knows what would raise a flag for them) and a drug test (American companies are pretty big on this drug test concept). I have a pile of paperwork to sign and I am trying to http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/06/yeah-im-distracted-too.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-3720436210124010372Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:03:00 +00002008-06-03T11:24:55.757-07:00MBAMerageIt is really hard for an MBA to stay focused and motivated during final quarter. Generally, finding that new job takes precedence over class work. Even once you find a job, you get a whole new set of distractions: preparing new employment paperwork, background checks, drug tests, preparing for the new job, and finding a new apartment (that may be in a new city). Additionally, as you think about http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/06/mba-final-quarter-blues.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-3060974149269016739Sat, 31 May 2008 05:21:00 +00002008-05-30T23:23:19.404-07:00Career SeachMBAMerageCareer search for an MBA is a full time job. As great as my program is, we do not get the parade of major companies recruiting on-campus like some other schools. We get a number of the local majors, but we do not get the Googles and Amazons of the world. That is the challenge of being part of a building process. No doubt in my mind, Merage is moving in the right direction, but attracting major http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/05/achievement-job-before-graduation.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-265510503304374407Fri, 16 May 2008 19:44:00 +00002008-05-16T12:50:00.880-07:00MBAMerageIn my final quarter of my MBA program, I have the great honor of participating in a project that uses web2.0 tools to generate awareness and financial support for fantastic charitable and non-profit projects. My group's project is dedicated to support aspiring women in emerging countries. These are women entrepreneurs who require loans to expand their businesses or young girls from Africa who http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/05/in-my-final-quarter-of-my-mba-program-i.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-7895820585830378569Thu, 15 May 2008 21:07:00 +00002008-05-15T14:14:58.477-07:00This past Tuesday, our family housing community hosted an outdoor movie night. People gathered on an inclined grass area and watched E.T. Lindsey and I bundled up in sweaters and blankets (it was a cold 16C that night), brought our hot chocolate, and watched the show. It was kind of neat watching a movie that takes place in the hills of California in those hills. I kept looking up to see E.T.'s http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/05/et-outdoors.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-514099082226450873Sat, 10 May 2008 20:40:00 +00002008-05-10T15:30:51.170-07:00MBAMerageFinal quarter is moving through quickly. I only have 2 classes plus an independent study for my internship at Silverpoint Investments. Forecasting is a numbers class; any numbers class comes very easy to me. The other class is Merage's Edge course. Edge is a very interesting course that encourages students to use web2.0 tools to mobilize action whether in your company or your customers or your http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/05/course-updates.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-3825358566832821507Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:14:00 +00002008-04-18T15:38:07.176-07:00We finished our natural food experiment last Sunday. The final total was that we spent $406 over four weeks. I will deduct $20 from the total because Lindsey spent about $80 for a dinner party last Saturday. So lets say $386 over 4 weeks. We traditionally spend about $350 in the same period. So that means going natural and organic cost us an additional 10% - alot less than I expected.We weren't http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/04/natural-food-results.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-1038717968267527355Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:20:00 +00002008-03-30T15:40:15.921-07:00Family FunHealthMy work with Silverpoint Investments has exposed me to the growing trend of organic or all-natural foods. Essentially, many meat products feed the animals hormones or antibiotics to make them grow better. For produce, we all know it is common to use chemical pesticides to protect the crops. The theory behind the trend to all-natural or organic food products is that these hormones and chemicals http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/03/natural-food-experiment.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-8228529951409871989Tue, 25 Mar 2008 05:23:00 +00002008-03-24T22:29:10.912-07:00Orange CountyLindsey and I decided to stay local for spring break. Why keep visiting other places, when you live 15 minutes from some of the best beaches in the world. We enjoyed an afternoon at Newport Beach. I am sure we will try to hit Huntington and Laguna before the weeks over.http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/03/enjoying-week-off.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-3430852211303854823Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:09:00 +00002008-03-24T22:22:11.591-07:00MBAMerageLast quarter ended very quietly. Traditionally, end of quarter is a killer time for MBAs. All those weeks of procrastination, come to bear with numerous projects and exams due all during the same week. For some reason, most of my work was bunched in the middle of the quarter leaving me a light final week. This has given me time to catch up on blogging, job search, and relaxing. It is hard to http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/03/5-quarters-down-1-to-go.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-5330238194144287963Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:32:00 +00002008-03-05T22:52:57.959-08:00ConferencesMBAEarlier this week, I played a little hooky from school and attended O'Reilly's Graphing Social Patterns West 2008 conference. O'Reilly is the premier brand for technology conferences and GSP is a conference dedicated to examining trends in the social networking space. One of the big perks of living out on the west coast is the number of opportunities to interact with other Tech-Obsessed people. http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/03/attended-graphing-social-patterns-2008.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-8693295760052486499Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:45:00 +00002008-03-02T12:56:46.437-08:00Family FunAt 8am Lindsey and I arrived to be seated in the fan bleachers right next to the red carpet. That was the beginning of a long day that did not see us depart until after 5pm. We got assigned seating in the 3rd row of the bleachers directly across from where Regis was doing interviews so we had a pretty good view for the event. The crowd was full of celebrity-focused fans. When I saw them going http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/03/2008-oscars-red-carpet.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22842926.post-7282607986449550630Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:14:00 +00002008-02-29T11:30:39.518-08:00MBAMerageI want to post this speech on creativity by Sir Ken Robinson. It is a great commentary on how the educational system is killing creativity. I am proud to say The Merage School is taking steps to change this by focusing their curriculum around innovation; teaching us that failure is perfectly O.K.; and how we can bring innovation to our employers.Currently, I am taking a course on strategic http://speirsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/02/innovation-and-presentation.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Canada-US MBA)0