New Semester, New Year, New Beginning

So classes began today. This time around, the math economics course will be taught in conjunction with the macroeconomics one. The very young professor for this class is Dr. Antonio Doblas-Madrid, a visiting faculty from Texas A&M. He explained that he had a dual last name; that “Doblas” is his father’s last name, and “Madrid” is that from his mother’s. I would presume it is custom of Spain. Did I mention he is Spanish? So, in order to prevent confusion, he has it hyphenated. He also said that after this year of visitation, he will become a faculty here. Cool.

As to the “young” part, yeah, he’s very young. Like “right-out-of-school” young. If records on the internet are to be believed, he has just recently received his PhD from University of Minnesota, as in year 2004.

Anyhow, personal information aside, so far he has been able to convey the course material in a manner that is easy to comprehend. That and his language is near impeccable. Hopefully, with all those conditions going for me, I’ll do much better in macroeconomics this term than the previous.

Prior to class, I chatted with Randy a bit. He had a very nice winter break, especially so because of the warm weather. He went back to Tennessee and according to him, the average temperatures were in the 60s, not to mention, it was sunny most of the time. Contrast that to here, and I can see why even animals migrate south. We had no snow during Christmas, which was quite a pity; then some seemingly random snow showers/flurries/hail/freezing rain that never really accumulated. And when there is no white stuff falling, it’s just gray. I can’t recall the last time I saw the night sky with stars. All in all, depressing weather.

During the break between the two classes (math & macro), I had the chance to talk to Nick a bit. He just arrived back on campus this morning around eight o’clock. His flight from London was delayed, and that resulted in him missing the train from Chicago back here to Lansing. He took the bus instead, which was five or six hours long all through the night. And the most impressive thing was that he didn’t look at all a bit tired.

After the morning class or classes, I went to the department lounge for lunch. This time I brought a ham & cheese sandwich plus a strawberry jelly (or is it jam?) sandwich. I also brought quite a few peanuts and filled up two water bottles to help everything go down. It seemed like a balanced meal, not to mention, the cost is killer. Gotta save the greenbacks when you can.

The afternoon econometrics class is taught by Dr. Peter J. Schmidt. He is one of which I would call the “heavyweights” of the department. He has written quite a few books, and for our class purposes, an econometrics book simply titled Econometrics.

His hand writing is a bit small and kind of hard to read, so come next class period, I’ll go for the second row, instead of the third. So far the class has been review so I can’t really say how it’s going to be. But again, hopefully I’ll learn all the econometrics I need (save EC 823 – Applied Econometrics) in my professional economics career from this class and this distinguished faculty member.

The title, which is a quote Kevin made just yesterday when I drove him back to his dorm, is what I should keep in mind for these couples of days and also the period leading to the countdown of the prelims. Not only is the mindset important, but also the work ethic that must follow. As for preparation for the prelims, If my sources are correct, the preliminary exams will be two weeks after class and finals, on May 15th and 16th, a Monday and Tuesday respectively. Given my current situation, such as the purchase of certain “assets” and for my own professional career, I must not and shall not fail.