Thoughts and Recycled Viralness

I was talking with Ashley the other day about vacationing. It seemed that everyone around us has, or is, going on vacations all the time. Take for instance my brother Nick. That kid has been everywhere. Not only that, but he travels all the time! He just got back from a trip, with some of his good buddies, to Mexico. Before that, he went on a cruise to Mexico. I am not bad-mouthing it, I am just jealous. Anyways, as Ash and I were talking about vacationing we got stuck on the principle of how to spend money.

My argument was that we spend as little as possible on the hotel, and spend that money elsewhere. Meaning that we would find a comfortable place to put our bags, and depending on the location, spend the money on activities. I think that the fun of the vacation is going places. That is why you left the house in the first place! My ideal hotel would look something like this:

Love Shack

It is not the best looking thing, but you get to spend your money on more things.

Her argument was simple. It was, if you want to have a fun vacation, you better put me in a nice hotel with an awesome pool.

Now honestly her argument is perfectly valid. When you vacation, you are trying to relax. You worked hard, now it’s time to hang out by the pool and enjoy the sun. Her idea of a hotel would be something like this:

Ash's Dream

So this got me thinking, how are Ash’s vacationing preferences, as well as my own, illustrated mathematically? Honestly, I have no idea what the answer is. I just want to jot some ideas down, and see what sort of feedback I can generate.

So to start, I will throw out some parameters that will be needed. They are:

• Probability of Winning the Lotto [L]
• Winnings From The Lotto [t]
• Savings Rate [r]
• Discount Rate [d]
• Wages Earned [w(ICON Health & Fitness)]
• Benefits (money to be spent on vacation) [b(r*w)]
• Time Frame
  • I will assume for all time before the vacation there will be 40 periods x ϵ [0,40]
  • The vacation will comprise of 5 periods x ϵ [41,45]

And from there, I have can put together (a simple) mathmatical equation.

Ashley’s Present Value of What To Save For The Hotel of Her Dreams = {e^(-dx)*(1-r)*w(ICON)+(L*t)} + {e^(-dx)*b}

You would have to integrate the first part of the binomial from 0 to 40. Likewise integrate the second part from 41 to 45.

Now, you may be asking the question, what does the expected utility for myself look like? It looks like this:

Tyler’s Expected Utility To Save For The Hotel of My Dreams = I DONT CARE, I WANT TO GO ON VACATION!

I have been thinking, ‘what can I be doing to get ready to graduate.’ So far, this has only provided me extra anxiety, and a bad case of ‘the runs.’

In all honesty, there is plenty that I can be doing. The first step that I have been looking at is, how long do I have left? I have been trying to give myself a good timeline detailing the classes that I need and what can I be doing with the rest of my time.

Speaking of open time, I have been researching internships. When I first starting thinking them, it was confusing how to really maximize the experience. For instance, it is hard to get a sense of responsibility and leadership when you have none. It really is quite silly. Well as I have learned, the responsibility is completely on you. You really have to make the most of your time by shadowing every action that you see take place. A professor of mine was instructing us to ‘really put yourself out there.’ Meaning, you have to be the one to ask.

Another opportunity that I have tried to make the most of is networking. As of right now, I am participating within three clubs, at Utah State. This is really a three-fold initiative. First, it is a great place to learn of additional fundamental theories of business, theories such as Lean management. Secondly, within these clubs are some of the best students here at Utah State. I am in the middle rubbing shoulders with them. My fellow peers provide deep insight to current topics of study. Also, it is a great way to get a boost into the workplace. Third, participating in clubs provides great opportunities in leadership roles. Currently, I am helping the Entrepreneur Club in planning Opportunity Quest.

In total there is so much more that I can/should be doing. The possibilities are endless.

Oh there we are

My Econ Professor emailed me and six other people on Friday. In the email he told me that I was within the top seven students (I looked it up and found out that I was 3rd out of 89) and that we had done so good that we were exempt from taking the final.

Basically that was the class that I was stressed about. Now I have to study for my Math final, then I am done for the semester. If everything works out on the Math final, I will get my first ever 4.0.

Now I realize to my Wife, older Brother Jake, and His Wife this is not that crazy, seeing how that is their standard, but hey I am pretty pumped.