Toys R Us Reads My Papers

In my last semester of school, I had to write papers covering recent news events. One of the papers I wrote involved Toys R Us hiring a rival executive. In the paper, I had to offer suggestions for Toys R Us to resolve their issues and maintain or increase their market share. You can read my Toys R Us paper for more details, but I basically suggested Toys R Us should drop their Amazon.com ecommerce partnership and build a site similar to the Nickelodeon site by making it entertaining for kids.

Well, Toys R Us dropped Amazon.com for GSI Commerce, and it turns out GSI Commerce partnered with Nickelodeon created the site for The Nickelodeon Shop.

So Toys R Us must be reading my papers for ideas on how to run their company. I have other sugggestions in the paper, and I look forward to Toys R Us implementing more of my suggestions. I will add one final suggestion which was not in my original paper. Don't pay your CEO all that money, because you could hire me for the same job at half the cost! :)

Oh Oh! It's Magic...

Here is a video of myself performing a little magic trick for the camera. The card is a 10 of Clubs, and I place a bottlecap on top of the card to prevent it from moving. While covered with the bottlecap, I wave my hands over the card and POOF! The 10 of Clubs is magically transformed into an Ace of Diamonds!

See if you can figure out how the trick was performed. If I get enough requests asking me how it was done, I'll consider posting a video of the solution.

I submitted this trick to a website (I forgot the website name, I don't even know if it's still around) as a unique solution to the challenge of transforming cards using no hands.

Click here to get the video.

UPDATE: I found the website. It's called CardMSG. Here is a link to my submission. Just as a warning, they offer the solution video on the site as well. So only watch the performance video if you don't want to see how it's done.

Baytown Sterling vs Clear Lake

Here are the pictures I consider the best of what I took of the game. I'll post the rest of them when I get a chance. Most of the others are burry :(

My Graduation

In case you couldn't make it to my Graduation, here are some goodies for you to check out. I graduated summa cum laude with a 3.93 out of 4.0 GPA. Approx 192 Business School Graduates 20 of which gradudated with honors, about 5 of those made summa cum laude (latin for "with highest praise") with a required GPA over 3.8.

If you want to read the Program, I've converted it to an Adobe PDF file. I'm listed in three places in the program: on Page 6 under the Business Bachelor's Degree, and Page 11 under Alpha Chi National College Honor Society and Beta Gamma Sigma International Honor Society. The PDF is about 2 Meg in size, so it may take some time to download. Click here for the program. If you need the acrobat reader to read the PDF file, you can get it here.

Next, I've added some pictures of the ceremony. We'll get the "official" video & pictures once they are offered. Click on the picture to see the larger version.

Graduation Ceremony Information

In case you are interested... I'm graduating tomorrow. Here's all the information of how to get there. Be sure to scream when they call my name, and let me know you saw it on the website!

Here is a consolidated explaination of the information sent to me:

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The graduation ceremony is Tuesday May 9th starting 7:00pm at Reliant Stadium (next to the Astrodome). The doors to Reliant Stadium will open at 5:00pm for candidates and guests.

Parking:

From Kirby Drive, turn west on Westridge, then turn onto Lantern Point. Enter at Gate 13 and park in Green Lots 28 and 29 (view the attached images of Reliant Park for the lot locations). The cost for parking will be $8 per vehicle. Walk across the bridge to Reliant Stadium. The Gallery Furniture Gate will be the entrance.

Mark's further explaination: You can get to Kirby Drive by going I-10 to 610 South, continue on 610 to 610 West (heading towards Astroworld). The Kirby exit should be on your right as you get closer to Astroworld.

Ceremony:

All candidates will be led from the stadium floor at 6:30 in preparation for the processional. Processional will be formed in two lines in the tunnels behind the stadium floor, led by the Student Marshals. The official ceremony begins at 7:00pm sharp!!!

After the Ceremony:

All candidates can meet their family and guests in the Budweiser Plaza after the recessional.
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I've attached two images which were sent to me. One is the Reliant Park map. The two lots they talk about for parking is known as the Westridge Lot on the map. I think you might get better parking with less of a walk, but you'll have to take your chances for that. Crossing the bridge to Reliant Stadium shouldn't be too bad if you park close to the bridge.

The other image I've attached is the Candidate Seating. I will be in the BUS section (business). Since I'm a W, I'll be towards the back. It looks like section 129-127 would be the best locations. It looks like the closest entrance gate at the stadium is the Gallery Furniture Gate.

Bonnie & I will leave around 4:00pm to try and beat any traffic. I have to be there at 5:00pm. You can get there anywhere from 5:00 to 6:30 and not miss anything. Bonnie will be sitting in the stands while I'm getting ready.

The ceremony may take several hours. We may not get out of there until 10pm. Afterwards, we're going to Applebee's just north of I-10E on Beltway 8 (if there is time, they close at 11:00pm). It's at Beltway 8 & Wallisville (I think). Close to the place Dad dropped off the junk a month ago. Our treat! If we can't make Applebees, then it's Taco Bell... still on us!

I'll be home all day tomorrow (until 4:00pm), Bonnie will be home after 1:00pm. If you have any questions, call me or Bonnie. I'll have to turn off my phone at the stadium, but Bonnie will still have her phone.

Click on the picture for a larger version