Yo Yo Yo! What’s up everyone?
I’m feeling a little euphoric right now. Yeah, I know, I haven’t written on my blog in a few months… but I’ve been busy man.

Here’s the deal:
Two days after I got back from Mexico, I immediately started an internship with a pretty big company. Since then, I’ve been really busy working fulltime on the 57th floor of this company’s building, searching for an apartment, and planning for my last semester at USC. The last three or four weeks I was working fulltime and then driving to USC to work with my team until 1 or 2 in the morning in preparation for a competition in Florida.

The case competition last weekend was amazing. I have to say it: I’m extremely proud of my entire team. We went there with significantly less time to prepare for our presentation than all of the other teams and we still managed to make it to the finals.

Now, the internship is winding down and I’m preparing to finish strong. It ends this Friday and I’m excited to finish and take a week off before school starts. I’ve been told a few times that I can expect to get an offer from the company. I would really like to work for them, but other opportunities have come up. I’d like to try to interview with some of the big four before I make a decision. By the way, while I was in Florida I was approached to interview for a position at one of the big four.  I can’t say too much, but it was a good feeling to be asked. Hopefully this all works out.

Looking back at the last four years, I really have struggled. It’s been tough not having money, not being able to take my girlfriend out to eat, not being able to go on vacation, not being able to party every weekend, not being able to buy the shoes I want, not being able to… fill in the blank. I’ve sacrificed so much, and the big payoff is approaching. My life will forever be set on sacrificing certain short-term objectives/wants in order to achieve long-lasting goals. Without this balance, I would have likely fail at school and the rest of my goals.

Not to get too preachy, but I think it is important to plan your goals and don’t set them in stone. You have to be flexible, you can’t say “I want to be an Investment banker next week” and expect to be one by next week. Things come up, changes occur, and you have to be able to roll with the punches. As long as you’re working toward that final goal, eventually, you’ll get there. By working toward that final goal, I mean: taking jobs that will set up you for that dream job, or taking classes that will give you the skill-set to thrive in a particular industry or field.

Another thing, don’t focus too much on that goal, give it a little rest every other day or week. You can really stress yourself out trying to achieve you goals. What I mean by rest is: go workout, hang out with friends, joke around, laugh… anything, but take a little break. God knows, when you start feeling the OCD, chill out because the anxiety attacks will soon follow. It’s easy to get caught up in work. Thus, take a little break, enjoy life, and forget about your obstacles from time to time.

Lastly, you have to make moves. Don’t get caught up in one place. Be mindful of who you’re hanging out with, sometimes your friends don’t have your best interest in mind. I can’t tell you how many friends I’ve had to separate myself from in order to get to where I am now. Last I heard my best friend, when I was a kid, was in prison. The last time I seen him I was transitioning from the short-fade haircut to a more clean-cut hairstyle (If you know anything about where I’m from, than you know what I’m talking about). In order to be successful, you have to live it. Be around other people striving for success, change your appearance to reflect who you want to be (i.e. shaved head = gangster, long-hair in the face = “emo” kid, clean-cut = ???). It’s okay to be normal, whatever your definition of it is, if that’s what it takes to be successful, and look like the people you want to be like, than do it. Just make sure, that’s who you are and what you want, not what someone else is trying to force you to be.

A sad part of life is that people are going to judge you on your appearance. You don’t really realize it until you get out of your comfort zone (until you hang around people who are different than you), but it’s true. Take care, and shoot me a line when you have a chance.
Peace.

Today I took my last final and now it’s time to really enjoy life. I semi-graduate on Friday in the new Galen Center, but will have to finish out my last semester in the fall. Tomorrow I’m headed toward Merced for Josh’s graduation party. Then later this month Terry is getting married. Hopefully that dude is not mad at me for falling off the map for another year. A few days after that I’m on my way to Mexico to help my father with his blue agave farm and to vacation for a bit. Then I’m back here in mid June and going to work in Downtown L.A. If any of you are in downtown during the summer, give me a call and we’ll hook up for lunch.

 Peace.

Wow. I’m amazed at how ballsy USANA executives are acting. It is my opinion that they’re no longer managing their company rationally. They must have forgotten the number one rule of any publicly held company… INCREASE SHAREHOLDER VALUE.

Today USANA authorized an additional 40 million to the already 25 million dollars available for stock repurchases.

What this means to me is that because their shares are rapidly losing value, as a result of all the bad publicity regarding their business practices and the investigations underway, USANA authorized a massive stock repurchase in an effort to stabilize its price.

It is my opinion that the executives over at USANA Health Sciences are trying to have the company repurchase stock in an effort to unload their own depreciating shares on the company and its shareholders. Meaning they’re trying to cash out before the stock really plummets.

This stock repurchase is only short-term fix. In the long-term, if USANA continues to pursue its objective of stabilizing their stock price, they will eventually run out of money and will lose its ability to repurchase shares. When this happens the stock price will likely crash and burn. Leaving the rest of USANA shareholders with worthless stocks.

There’s a lot of money to be made trading this stock, but it is risky. The stock is extremely volatile, but… overall the stock has been depreciating about 1 to 2 percent per day. For this reason I have been shorting this stock and loving every minute of it.

Disclaimer: I’m not a professional stock picker, nor am I an advisor. I’m not offering any advice as to what you should or should not trade. So don’t get angry with me if you can’t keep up with the stock.