Where Do We Draw the Line?

The MSBA Class of 2015 recently visited The Chamber of Commerce to speak with Rich Cooper, the VP of Emerging Crisis. Mr. Cooper explained to us about the goings on in today’s world, but more importantly, what is going on in tomorrow’s world. One of the topics we spoke about was technology and how it is changing our world constantly, especially in the world of medicine and healthcare. 

I’ve always been interested in healthcare and medicine, I grew up around it, and I find what our hospitals and doctors are capable of fascinating. We have the ability to save lives, and with technology today, those odds are only improving. One of my favorite courses I took as an undergrad was Biomedical Ethics. This class taught us all of the ethical issues our doctors face when treating their patients, and how medical decisions are becoming increasingly more difficult as our technology improves. 

“I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction” - Albert Einstein.

Ethically, we have an obligation to do what is best for the patient. Family members can unfortunately get in the way (not all of the time, but it happens), and in regards to technology I’ve always thought, just because we can do it does not mean we should. There is a lot of gray area when dealing with medicine, and I believe it needs to be done by a case by case basis. However, I have faith in our doctors to make the best decisions, and to not just rely on the technology. It will be interesting to see what our future holds with medical technology, as it is constantly changing. 

What Should My Status Be?

When I started to really think about social media, I realized that it has affected my life since sophomore year of high school. First, it was Myspace (ew, I honestly thought I was the coolest) then Facebook, then Twitter, then Instagram. Ironically enough, I never made these things myself. Each time I stated to my friends I didn’t have the “now in” social media profile, my friends freaked out and would make my profile for me. Quite a bit eerie when you think about it. The whole, social media outlet running the lives of young adults because their friends rule their lives thing and they worry too much about what other people think. I guess I fell into that, because I didn’t really want a Facebook or Myspace, but once it was made for me, I was hooked. Having a lot of friends was very important (obviously) and your Facebook status said everything. It had to be witty yet cute, informative to let people know how awesome you are, yet mysterious enough to pique people’s interest. I looked back on my statues from around 2006…let’s just say I was not impressed.  

Now, I am happy to say things are different since high school. I realized in college I had way too many “friends” on Facebook, and my roommate gave me a really helpful tip on how to get rid of them. On everyone’s Facebook, it tells you who has a birthday based on your list of friends. If I don’t know them well enough, or frankly don’t even care that it is their birthday, I delete them. Happy birthday, “buddy.” This not only helped narrow down my list of friends, but it also made me feel a lot better about my profile. I don’t want all the world to see what is basically the timeline of my life, especially not that random person I met that one time at Hawk n’ Dove. And frankly, I don’t need to see theirs. Now, I mostly use Facebook to keep in touch with my friends and family who are abroad or live across the country. Which I guess was the whole point of Facebook in the first place. Better late than never, I always say.

For example, here are some pictures of my trip to Australia (Tasmania and Sydney) which I posted on Facebook because the second I got back all of my good friends from high school who are now scattered would message me every so often yelling at me to post the pictures. So, in a nutshell, this is how social media impacts my life - by helping me keep in touch with those who I care about most, and for them to keep in touch with me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy!

Accounting.....

Start of a new week in the lovely MSBA program! Can we always have Monday's off? Just kidding, how could we have Quant and Leadership that way?! Sunday night was rough I think for most of us regarding the Quant homework...but I'm proud of us for making it through! I love how quickly our group chat turned into constant messages with each other. It doesn't always have to be about homework (Sunday it mostly was...) but regarding how we all communicate with each other I think we are doing really well. At least for myself I did not expect us to dive head first into this program so quickly, but I'm really glad we did. I'm already starting to learn so many new things, and lately every time a friend or family member of mine asks me about this program I always tell them the same thing. I say it is so refreshing to have all of the classes you are taking be something that you are interested in and actually want to learn. Personally, my undergrad was filled with filler courses and endless boring PowerPoint slides made up of material I knew I did not want to carry out in my career. I know in college you do have to go through those classes, however, the MSBA program is not like that. It is great to know that these classes all consist of specific goals with learning materials aiming for us to thrive in whichever aspect of business we decide to pursue. In this program we are all so motivated and you can tell we all want to succeed. I think that just pushes us that much further. Now with this accounting quiz tomorrow...I should go study...

The Times They Are A Changin'

I'm known for doing things very last minute, and I think I'm going to be forced to change that habit right away. Already, things are getting busier, and it seems there are not enough hours in the day. I am very excited to start the MSBA program, and I think everyone in our class did very well for the first week! Currently, my stress level is highest at my job. I work at MEMA (Farragut North metro stop) which is a lobbying firm, and our office is undergoing many changes as well. We are a very small office, so I get to work with VPs and Senior Directors and I've spoken and met with the CEO multiple times, which is a great experience. I am the Administrative Assistant at MEMA, therefore I am responsible for the organization at the office, and usually everyone comes to me with multiple different problems. Recently, two people left the office, and they handle a lot of communication and event coordinating at the office (among other things), and they are training me how to do these tasks. However, since I have fewer hours due to school it makes getting my things done, plus all of these news ones, a bit more difficult. Let’s just say I hope they hire someone soon!