Mario Kart....Wii.

Last summer I was at a BBQ hosted by one of my old seniors/managers at KPMG. He was off to greener pastures as Controller of a local real estate/investment firm and was hosting a farewell party. There were a lot of new KPMG faces and I remember some of the newer KPMG associates were ranting and raving about the addictive capabilities of Mario Kart Wii.

Fast forward to present day. Cara and I got Mario Kart Wii and it has struggled to find playing time against the likes of Wii Sports, Mario & Sonic Olympic Games, Mario Galaxy and the current fave...Wii Fit (which is always in our Wii!). However, the more Cara and I have Karted it up, the more I find myself drawn to this goofy, cartoony game with the suh-weet little steering wheel. And then I discovered you can connect to the 'Net and play folks from around the world 24/7, race ghosts, take part in tournaments, even find friends and play them head to head in Vs. or Battle modes. Throw this on top of all the cool race tracks I've been unlocking as I play through the game and you can color me addicted. Such an awesome game. If you don't have it, get it. And send me your 12 digit license number when you do, so we can "Wii it up" in the not too distant future.

Holiday Letter 2008

For those of you that didn't receive the holiday letter I put together this year (kind of last minute), I wanted to post it on my blog. I hope you enjoy it:

Happy Holidays from Knoxville!!

As 2008 draws to a close, I reflect on what has been a very exciting, eventful, and joy-filled year for me. I am blessed to have wonderful friends and a supportive, loving family with which to share the wonderful experiences that life offers. I rang in 2008 with close friends in Las Vegas and I will bid 2008 farewell and ring in 2009 in Seattle in much the same manner. However, the theme for this year’s New Year’s celebration is certainly love and commitment! I am blessed to have my amazing fiancé Cara (more on that later) to share New Year’s with this year and we will at that time be celebrating the recent marriage of two dear friends (Scott and Hanna) and the engagement of two others (Josh and Lacy)!

Cara and I met last year at Battle in Seattle, where our Zags played the Tennessee Volunteers in a much anticipated basketball match up; the game was exciting for me because I have recently adopted the Vols as my 2nd favorite basketball team as I work towards my Accounting Ph.D. at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Cara and I both attended Gonzaga University (she being one year under me) and though we knew of each other, we had never formally met. Once we did meet (thanks to Kate O. for introducing us!!), neither of us could have predicted how quickly our relationship would grow! We started dating long-distance in March and it did not take long for us to realize we had something truly unique and special on our hands. When Cara visited Knoxville in August of this year, I proposed and much to my excitement, she said “Absolutely!” We quickly settled on a wedding date for next Fall (October 17, 2009) on campus at our alma mater, Gonzaga University, in Spokane, WA. Cara found a great job with Edison Learning in Knoxville in October and made the big move across the country to join me in Eastern Tennessee. The two of us have enjoyed turning our little townhouse into a home with painting, some intense interior decorating, and new carpet installation planned for early 2009! We welcome anyone who may be headed to the SE U.S. to stop in and visit us!!

My graduate studies continue to move along on schedule. I completed my comprehensive exams this summer and attended a Ph.D. student consortium in Lake Tahoe, which provided me with a great opportunity to network and idea-share with some of my fellow students from throughout the United States. This semester, I had my first opportunity to teach and I enjoyed being in the classroom very much. The teaching experience really energized me and I look forward to wrapping up my dissertation and graduating in the Spring of 2010 so I can begin life as a university professor! This summer I will attend the Annual Accounting Academic conference in New York City which will mark the beginning of what is sure to be a long and interesting interview process! Cara and I hope to return West and have our sights set on Oregon, Washington, or perhaps Colorado as our “dream destinations” so that we can be close to our friends and family! I encourage you to follow along with my blog, http://shenooligans.blogspot.com/, as another way to follow the goings on in my life.

Cara and I wish you all health, love, and happiness this holiday season and for the year to come! We hope very much that our paths will cross in the year ahead, but if not, know that we hold a special place for you in our hearts and that we look forward to the next time we are able to sit down and share some good food, drink and/or conversation with you all in person!!

Wishing you a very happy New Year!!

Matt and Cara

Teaching for Life

Now that my dad is showing me up in the blogging department, I figured it was about time for me to hop to it and post a blog.

My semester of teaching has really been an awesome experience -- but, it has certainly been busy too! My Accounting 200 students had an exam last night and of course the week or so leading up to the exam was filled up with tutoring, getting make-up exams sorted out, and all sorts fun administrative mumbo jumbo. On top of that, my BA353 section (where I'm a "business coach") had their Business Plan presentations last Friday (10/24). These count for 25% of their grade in the course so I also had my hands full in the week leading up to the big day to say the least. All in all, I had an extremely busy week and a half to two weeks that is just now starting to simmer down to a low boil...just in time for me to prepare for my 1st early-stage dissertation presentation next Friday.

I'm still struggling in some ways to find my niche in the classroom. I absolutely love teaching, but I still feel like I don't have an identity. I imagine that will develop over time. I get a rush of adrenaline from standing in front of the classroom and I especially enjoy working through problems with students one-on-one or in small group settings in my office. But at the same time, I feel majorly bummed when my students struggle and I take poor exam scores way too personally - it's hard not to have a vested interest in how my students perform. After the first exam, I spent hours examining and analyzing the test scores. I compared my students scores to the scores of students in other sections. I talked to classmates, professors, and even my parents about the emotions that flared up in response to having my students struggle with the material. And at the end of the day, I beat myself up quite a bit over things I could have done to better prepare my students for the exam. With the exam results from the second exam looming, I fear I may be headed down a similar path if my students do not perform up to their expectations.

The ups and downs of the semester have me feeling like I'm on a roller coaster at times. To compensate for the bummed out times, I pour a lot of time into teaching - a whole lot more than my allotted 10 hours a week for Accounting 200. This leaves me shortended on research and feeling a little bit anxious and uneasy about the prospect of trying to juggle all of the academic expectations in the future. I suppose that is part of the learning curve that I must follow - I certainly am learning a lot about myself and the nuances of teaching this semester. And I certainly do not ever plan to stop trying to learn, grow, and develop myself -- it is why I find the academic lifestyle so appealing in the first place.

At the end of the day - this has been one of the more challenging semesters I've faced in the Ph.D. program. I must say I'm more than little bit surprised about that -- I thought my Fall 2007 semester with Economics, Math Economics, and Multivariate Statistics would continue to reign supreme atop my heap of most challenging academic semesters. But, this semester has been surprising -- emotional, energizing, stressful, and all-in-all pretty amazing compressed into a few short months. I love the journey that I am on and most importantly, I have wonderful family and friends who love and support me every step of the way. I would be remiss if I didn't give Cara a big "shout-out" too...she has been such a wonderful strength and support for me in these emotional months. Thanks sweetheart -- I love you more than words.