Dead in the Desert

Here are a few pics from the waterfall the other day...

A few photos from inside the classroom at Tec de Monterrey.

Some photos of the campus!

and ... me!

Day one is over, and day two almost is as well.  It's 7:10 PM local time and we haven't had anything to eat yet.  We'll more than likely have dinner at around 9:00 pm or possibly later.  Last night we didn't finish eating dinner until after midnight... and people were still strolling into the restaurant to order meals.  Not all young people either... some of them were older married couples in their fifties and up. 

Our apartments are pretty sweet.  It's a common area with four separate bedroom/baths connected.  I'm staying in room 110-D.  The pictures to the bottom of this paragraph show the common area on the left and the following three pictures are of my room after I have everything unpacked.  It's not bad.  If I was living in dorms it'd be pretty sweet to have some like this.  I mean separate bathrooms is not a bad arrangement at all.

These pictures are from one of the more popular malls in Monterrey.  A few candid shots from the inside of the mall as well as a few shots right outside the entrance.  The mountains here are so beautiful and large.  The mountains around Phoenix are hills compared to these suckers. 

Well that's my update for now.  I'll come back with more after class and any other activities we have scheduled tomorrow.  Also the WWDC is tomorrow which I'm excited for!  iPhone 2.0!!!  :)

I'll be taking off tomorrow morning from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on my way to Monterrey, MX where I will be doing a very short study abroad session at Tecnologico de Monterrey (the number one business school in all of Latin America).  I'll be gone from June 7th until June 22nd and during the course of these two weeks I'll be taking two classes: GLB 303 (Relationship Management) and GLB 494 (Doing Business in Mexico).

The campus at Tec de Monterrey is beautiful (as you can see from the picture to the left) and I'm really excited to meet the faculty at the University, as well as the people of Monterrey.

I'm a little bit nervous because I've never been anywhere in Mexico of any significance (Rocky Point doesn't count) and also excited because I absolutely adore going to new places.  Going to Belize in March was one of the most memorable experiences up to this point in my life and I'm hoping that this visit to Monterrey will rank up there as well.

As I mentioned I'll be taking two classes and I will be taking complete advantage of the time I'll have over the next two weeks to absorb as much information as I can.  The course description for my Relationship Management class is below and sounds quite interesting.

Overviews types of relationships found in organizations, then trains students in the interpersonal skills necessary to effectively manage those relationships

That will definitely be interesting.  I'm also quite excited for my Doing Business in Mexico course.  We'll be lectured by a professor at the Tec de Monterrey who also wrote a book with the same title as the course.  Also we'll be visiting five businesses in Monterrey and seeing how they function, which will definitely be interesting.

My posting might not be consistent over the next few weeks as I'm unsure as to the level of internet availability I'll have, but you can definitely expect at the very least a few posts on what I'll be learning over the course of this study abroad session.  Until then, Adios.

Note: This was posted at my personal finance blog as well: Debit versus Credit: I'm Going To Mexico.  I'll be posting more personal updates to my Mexico trip (including pictures) here at Dead in the Desert, and I'll be posting more business and finance oriented updates at Debit versus Credit.  Stay Tuned!

It's been forever.  I've been busy.  Who hasn't though? 

I've been working on a new blog for the past few weeks.  I have created a personal finance blog, which I hope will become popular and really help others out.  The link to my blog is right here!  Click it, add it to your bookmarks, add the feed, join the forums, add it to your Technorati favorites!  Whatever you do, don't neglect or ignore it!  If you have any comments or feedback let me know! 

Thanks for listening to me! 

I guess I'm not just shouting to the wind after all.  I should have known if nothing else I could count on Shannon.  :-)

Anyhow the point of my blog is not to just let people listen to me ramble and nothing else.  I am hoping that out of this and my other ventures (facebook, etc.) that I will make some good contacts.  I've started to realize that having good contacts (along with never giving up) is going to help me realize my dreams and goals.  This of course brings me to the point of this post.  I don't know how many random people read this post and I suppose it doesn't matter how many; as long as I can make one good contact from it it's good enough for me.  So here goes...

I am working on a project.  An idea I've had for a website for a while now, and something which I'm sick of just leaving in my head.  I want it to be a reality and I'm willing to do anything I can to make it such.  I've already made a few contacts for people to help out with the project, but I need more... much more.  If any of  you out there are aspiring writers or know graphic design or web design and would like to help out on a promising site then let me know.  E-mail me, catch me on AIM or send me a message over Vox, it doesn't matter.  All I ask is if you are even slightly curious then ask me about it and I'll fill you in on the details.  At that point, you can decide if it's for you or not. 

Thanks!

...that I'm not dead and I'm still alive.  Wow who knew that I'd go for two months without touching this blog of mine.  I am sure no one is even going to read this since I have a whole like 4 friends, but oh well.  You'll all be happy to know that I only have one semester left at GCC.  Then it's off to ASU West.  YAY!  haha.  Sarcasm is great isn't it? 

I honestly don't have much going on right now.  I just finished up with my business statistics class.  I think I made it out with an 'A' but grades haven't been posted yet, so we'll see.  That was not a fun class.  I don't want to be a statistician, that's one thing I learned from class.

Deidre and I go on vacation in about two weeks.  I'm excited.  We'll be traveling through New York, Ohio and Michigan.  Should be a good time.  I'll definitely take pictures and post 'em up!  Well that's it for this update.  I swear I'll come back soon... seriously.

I haven't come back with a why the world sucks rant yet.  It'll happen... I just need to be sufficiently annoyed with things.  I figured I'd just say hello.  There are only a few weeks left of school, which I'm very happy about.  I have a strong A in my accounting class, my micro economics class and also my sociology class.  I have an A, but not as strong in my Physical Geography class and I am sitting at about a C right now in my Quantitative Methods of Business course, with hopes and expectations to achieve a B.  That'd give me a heck of a semester GPA.  Of course I am ONLY in community college.  But I will maintain my gpa when I hit a university, that is my goal.

So it's my birthday on Saturday.  What are you all going to get me?  Ha ha just kidding.  I really don't want much, if anything.  My life is pretty good.  I have an awesome and beautiful wife.  I am doing well in school.  Work isn't too bad.  I am almost completely out of debt (minus my car - but that's next) and Deidre and I are about halfway done with our emergency savings.  How great is that? 

Well that's the update for now.  I'll be around.  I expect you will be too.

yeah that's right I said it
it's obvious you haven't got a clue
it's not like she's anyone special
it's not like she's even got friends
i laid it all on pretty strong there
I'm not going to try to pretend
because we all agree social isolation
is only the means to an end - a poor end at that

I'm not sure if you knew it's her birthday
Who knew parents could be so dense
Excuse me did you know she's unhappy?
or is this dumbness all just a pretense?

It's possible she hates that we care now
life can't be any easier when we try
things can't be much fun when family
keeps her more captive than prisoners in Iraq

oh no I just heard that she messed up
I can't believe all the things that she did
if you'd have told me this from the beginning
I'd have told you to shut UP and get over it!

I'm not sure if you knew it's her birthday
Who knew parents could be so dense
Excuse me did you know she's unhappy?
or is this dumbness all just a pretense?

What's the point of a name that's untarnished
when the people who have it hate it
because names became so much more important
than god forbid, even your kids

(c) Joseph McClellan, 2007

I just need to rant.  I don't feel that life sucks... well at least not to the point of saying mine is worse than anybody elses.  Of course life isn't fair, but it's that way to basically everyone.  I don't need to rant so anyone feels sorry for me.  I am not even feeling sorry for myself, and I try to not do so.  I just need to rant to blow off steam.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.  The housing market is totally overpriced right now and it is getting better, but I want the bubble to just pop.  No more of this slowly deflating.  I want a house and I refuse to pay these insanely inflated prices.  I want a new job.  I don't want to handle money every freaking day.  In fact I'd be happy if I never had to handle it again.  I really and truly want to work for USAA... their core values are everything that I look for in a company.  Not to mention their benefits are world-class.  Unfortunately I am in school still and their part time jobs aren't very accomodating to full-time students.  Oh well.  It'll most likely have to wait until I graduate. 

I'm supposed to be out with my friends Adam and Chance and of course my beautiful wife.  She's instead in bed.  Tired... Sick... I don't know.  All I know is instead I am bored at home knowing I should be doing homework but just not having the emotional capacity to do so right now.  I could go without her, but it's just not the same.  Well I should clarify.  When I make plans without her it's ok... I mean I miss her and am glad to see her when I get done hanging out with the boys or whatever, but when I am supposed to be out with her and she can't go it just makes me not want to go.  Pathetic.  I know.  But who cares... I am in love and I want to be here to take care of my wife.  I just wish that I didn't have to.  I wish I was out hanging out right now.  Oh well.  Just a few hours and I'll be asleep and I won't have to worry about it.  Then of course I have to work tomorrow so that just ruins things even more.  Gah.  Can't I get a break?

Well I'm done for now.  I've blown off sufficient steam to let this engine run for a while longer.  I'll be back soon with a "why the world sucks" rant.  Maybe in a few days.  Until then.