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October 31, 2005

Slide Hampton's Brother, Valve?

Just to change the subject to something a little more pleasant, I recently acquired a valve trombone -- actually, a valve section for my King 3B -- and have been practicing with it. It's early yet, but I have a feeling that after all this time, I may finally have found my voice. I've always been most comfortable in fairly quiet acoustic bands, either playing alongside cornet and clarinet (as opposed to trumpet and soprano sax, which are much brighter and louder). And my all-time favorite rhythm section collaborators are a couple from Sedona who play guitar and bass, always in the background and with impeccable taste.

The valve trombone is ideal for playing in that type of setting. It's got a dark sound, is easy to play in the low register, and is somehow well suited to playing at about a mezzo-piano dynamic level. I'm going to put in some serious work on the horn (well, as serious as my limited practice time these days will permit), and see what I can do with it.

The main limitation, at this point, is that my valve dexterity isn't that good -- I can play much faster on slide trombone than on a valve instrument -- so I'm going to have to put in some major work on the button-pushing aspect of it. However, I think it'll be worth it.

Posted by Urbie at 08:23 AM | Comments (0)

October 28, 2005

Losing ugly

Well, the results of my exams are in. The good news is that I finished well above the class average in 375 (tax). This is despite not studying much for it. More evidence that maybe taxes are my calling! (Scary thought, I know.)

The bad news, however, is very bad -- I got clobbered in 455. So badly that I am not going to disclose just how bad my number was. Suffice it to say that I am now essentially right at the Mendoza Line, in terms of passing the class (meaning C, that being the lowest grade the business school will accept). If I don't come through with a strong showing on the last two exams, I am going to have to re-take 455 in the spring. That is looming as a likely possibility, because as tough as these first two exams are, the last two will be tougher -- the material only gets more complicated and confusing.

So I'm left with no choice but to sign up for a slot in 455 when I register for spring classes next week -- if I rally and salvage respectable numbers from here on out, so much the better; I can always drop it. In the meantime, I'll press on regardless, with my study routine. If I can somehow manage to get over the bar and avert a repeat, great -- but if not, the time and effort will still have been well-spent, because it'll be good preparation for making a better showing in the spring.

Or at least that's what I'm telling myself.

Posted by Urbie at 05:34 PM | Comments (1)

October 26, 2005

15-round TKO

I apologize for looking like a bloody mess this morning -- it's a good thing I don't have a Webcam -- but I got pounded, bludgeoned, and otherwise pile-driven into the ground on both of my exams yesterday. I'd spent most of my time studying for 455, spending only an evening or so on taxes (375), so I wasn't expecting to do very well on the latter. And I didn't -- it'll be a miracle if I break 70. But I have a lot of points to spare in that class, so it's not a major concern.

However, 455 is a major concern. Regular readers will know that I'd been working my hind end off for weeks to prepare for last night's exam. And, well, I thought I had a pretty good grasp of the material. But through a combination of a less-than-ideal state of alertness and -- I checked this with a couple of the other students, so I know it's not just me -- the instructor throwing us a bit of a curveball, I struggled mightily on the thing. When combined with my less-than-stellar performance on the first exam, I am probably dropping dangerously close to the Mendoza Line, as it were, and having to consider the possibility of repeating 455 next semester. That is not an appealing prospect -- although I'd be in good company, as many a successful accounting student has had to repeat one or more of the upper-division financial reporting courses.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. In all likelihood, I'll survive this semester intact. But do not expect the price of coffee to retreat from its current lofty levels.

And does anyone know a good cut man?

Posted by Urbie at 08:05 AM | Comments (0)

October 24, 2005

All 455, All the Time

When I went out the door this morning, I put on my shoes and realized that I hadn't worn them since Friday! I think that's a modern-day record, for me.

The lack of shoe time was on account of I was chained to my desk all weekend, studying for tomorrow's exam in 455. The good news is that I think I'm starting to get a handle on this stuff. The infamous balance sheet consolidation worksheet, which was giving me the deer-in-headlights look toward the end of last week, is starting to make a lot more sense. Which is a good thing, because last semester's exam had a 36-point question on that! If there's a 36-pointer on this semester's edition, I'd say I'm probably good for around 30 points -- I don't have it down well enough that I can nail it every time, but I have a much better idea how to fill out the worksheet than I did last week. The other issue is accounting for income taxes -- I had trouble on that part of last semester's exam (which is made available for practice). But again, I've been working on it.

As before, my goals are not especially lofty in 455 -- I just want to pass and move on. Winning ugly tomorrow night would be a big step in that direction.

Posted by Urbie at 09:10 AM | Comments (0)

October 21, 2005

Ritual Pain, Parte Segundo

This weekend's menu: uninterrupted coffee-swilling and accounting study, for Tuesday's grueling exams in ACC 455 and 375 (chronologically not in that order, but in that order of difficulty. And you would think that the two professors, being married to each other, would be able to get their ducks in a row and avoid giving exams on the same day, but no such luck).

I always like to get the concepts down securely enough that I'm a good bet to ace the test -- unfortunately, this is not going to happen in 455. I understand the stuff well enough (accounting for income taxes, and how to account for company consolidations/mergers). But the devil's in the details -- and some of the homework problems have been devilishly tricky. So I'm just going to have to grind it out and do the best I can. If I can record roughly the same number I hit last time, I'll be doing a few rounds of the Snoopy dance. The prospects for 375 are somewhat brighter, largely because the material isn't quite as difficult. Still, survival and damage control are the objectives here.

Meanwhile, I talked to a certain east-coast office of a certain large accounting firm today. Keep your fingers crossed!

Posted by Urbie at 02:34 PM | Comments (1)

October 17, 2005

Cart, horse, who's in front?

I can't get used to this business-school idea of looking for a job the better part of a year ahead of time -- before you're even sure what you're taking in your last semester. But that's what they seem to want us to do, so that's what I'm doing. I had another interview on Friday -- this time, with a smaller accounting firm than the Big Four outfit I saw last Monday. You might recognize this firm from their TV ads, which tout their "passion for the business of accounting." Actually, they sound like a good employer. I've worked for big companies, medium-sized companies, small companies, startups, conglomerates, independents, and so on -- and I think there's something to be said for each end of the spectrum. Big companies have the resources to give you good equipment and training, offer a good compensation package, and so on. But they can be a little impersonal. A smaller company lets you walk into the boss's office and get a better idea of the big picture. The people I talked to from Friday's firm said that their employer offers a little of each, as well as offering some opportunities to work for more clients and, perhaps, do more kinds of work than one might do at a huge accounting firm.

Meanwhile, I'm having to plan out what to take next semester. I sat down with my advisor last week, and the good news is that, contrary to what I'd thought, I can graduate next summer with my CPA education requirements met, without having to take 12 credits in the spring semester and another 3 over the summer. The bad news is that there's probably no escaping another semester of tax class. But this isn't really bad news, in the long run. Taking another tax class is like spending more time working on your short game -- not a lot of fun at the time, but it'll be useful down the road, in terms of putting better numbers on the scorecard!

Posted by Urbie at 05:45 PM | Comments (0)

October 13, 2005

Scary thought: I might be good at this!

Taxes, that is. I did reasonably well on the first midterm in ACC 375 (see below), and generally, most of the concepts we're covering in Tax I seem fairly intuitive. Part of it is that I've been filing tax returns for a long time -- most years, filing a Schedule C because of income earned playing music or doing consulting work, and then getting married to someone with a paper trail that makes taxes a little more complicated -- so the material isn't entirely new to me, the way it probably is to a lot of the 21-year-olds.

The scary thought is that if I turn out to have more aptitude for taxes than expected, I could conceivably end up doing it for a living -- ack!

Which is not to say that Jack and Barbara (our trusty tax accountants -- also see below) are going to lose a client. It's different when they're your own taxes you're doing; that is something I am not the least bit interested in. In fact, when I interviewed with a Big Four accounting firm the other day, my interviewer confessed that despite being a CPA, even he doesn't do his own taxes!

Posted by Urbie at 08:37 AM | Comments (3)

October 10, 2005

Bob Brookmeyer/Kenny Wheeler, "Island"

I've recently been correcting a longstanding oversight on my part: a lack of attention to the artistry of valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer. Though hardly an obscure player, Brookmeyer tends to be neglected by exponents of the slide trombone, myself included. This is mostly for reasons of slide-chauvinism -- we tend to think of the slide instrument as a higher link in the musical food chain. However, the older I get, the more I begin to realize that such preconceptions are misguided and can lead one to miss out on important stuff.

Such as the CD titled above. Recorded in 2002, "Island" is a quintet album made up entirely of originals by Brookmeyer and trumpet/fluegelhornist Kenny Wheeler. It's some of the most heartbreaking, beautiful modern music I've heard in years. Brookmeyer and Wheeler are inventive soloists who never -- but never -- lapse into cliches, licks, or gratuitous pyrotechnics. Instead, their melodic and harmonic creativity permeate the music from beginning to end. The rhythm section is just as good -- pianist Frank Carlberg, bass player Jeremy Allen, and drummer John Hollenbeck complement the horns nicely.

The CD package includes a bonus I didn't realize I was getting -- a free DVD that contains interviews, musical analysis, solos with transcriptions that scroll by as the soloist plays, and various other useful material.

I've often been critical of the state of modern jazz, almost to the point of abandoning it altogether in favor of other types of contemporary music. "Island," however, is definitive proof that creativity and expression are alive and well in the jazz idiom!

Posted by Urbie at 10:55 PM | Comments (0)

October 07, 2005

Slide Hampton's Phat Chords

These days, my only release from the grind of accounting study is the mighty NAU Trombone Choir, which rehearses a couple of times a week. It's a lot of fun -- there are 12 trombones in the group, most but not all of them performance majors (one is a piano major), and it's under the direction of Pete Vivona, who has a varied background in classical music and jazz. Among other things, he had a few lessons with one of my grand-teachers, Carmine Caruso, in the '60s.

Yesterday, we started looking at a chart I had stashed away in a box of sheet music. It's a Slide Hampton arrangement of "Body & Soul" for six trombones. It's probably my all-time favorite arrangement of anything, and I had a feeling Pete and the kids would like it.

The thing about Slide is that he writes a lot of very dense chords, which sound great if you get your ear around them and commit to the dissonances you're playing. It helps if you're familiar with Slide's playing and writing, from his "World of Trombones" ensemble recordings -- I grew up with the 1979 album, to the point where my LP copy was pretty worn out from being played so many times; but I'm not sure how many of the kids have heard it. It's going to take some work to get the choir to the point where we sound good on this chart, but I think we can do it.

Posted by Urbie at 08:53 AM | Comments (0)

October 05, 2005

Flying colors!

It may be that pigs can fly after all, because last week's tax exam came back, and somehow, I managed a score of 90. I'd estimated an over/under of 75 or so, because that's about how I did on last semester's exam (which was provided for practice). But I was able to avoid most of my usual silly mistakes and ace the thing, including nailing the last question, which was a present value analysis of a net operating loss (NOL), the objective being to find out whether it would be better to carry the loss back or forward (tax law allows you to carryover an NOL back two years or forward 20).

Of course, 90% may sound good to a student, but if you're a tax accountant, it's not good enough. Still, it's a lot better than I was expecting -- and it's my first exposure to this material, except as a taxpayer. Jack and Barbara (the tax experts Meg and I trust to get it 100% right) would be proud!

100% of precincts reporting!

This afternoon, I got back the last exam from last week -- and, as it turned out, notched a better-than-expected result on that one, too, with 81%. Sighs of relief all around! This being the over-the-hump semester, it's now starting to look as though I might actually have what it takes to get this degree and get on with it.

(I should add, for those of you who aren't accounting majors, that there is no grade inflation at the College of Business Administration. It's a lot tougher than my first time through college, and the grading is much more severe. At Clark, I'd say the average grade, in a liberal-arts program, was a comfy B, and you had to try pretty hard if you wanted to fail. At the NAU business school, they hand out every grade from A through F, repeating a course is common even among successful business majors, and if the median grade isn't C, it's darn close. The accounting program aims to toughen us up for what we're going to run into in the professional world, and there is no coddling students. Last semester, I had to get used to the fact that 70% was a good exam score, in ACC 356 and 302. In the 400-level courses, it's more of the same.)

Posted by Urbie at 08:32 AM | Comments (0)

October 01, 2005

Strike Three!

It has now been established that one can strike out in slow-pitch softball. Today was the annual softball tournament of Beta Alpha Psi (the business students' honor society that I joined this fall for networking purposes). I was hoping for as little exposure to actual play as possible, but as it turned out, they pretty much put everyone out in the field and ran through everyone in the batting order, so I had no choice but to actively participate.

I actually acquitted myself pretty well with the leather (that being an ancient Spalding Mike Andrews Professional Model that I dug out of the garage). I was playing center field, more or less, and caught a couple of fly balls while not making any errors -- aided considerably by the young guy in left, who'd yell "You're under it" as a navigational aid. Without help, I'd have been clueless.

However, I was amazingly awkward with the bat. First time up, I swung and missed a couple of times, or maybe fouled one off. I thought to myself, no, this is not possible -- you can't strike out in slow pitch! Somehow, though, with two strikes, I connected and lined a single to center, and eventually scored (probably on some errors, I forget exactly what happened). Second at-bat, however, I did actually strike out, and third and last at-bat, flied out to right-center.

The tournament used to be more of a competitive event -- the teams were students, faculty, and the accounting firms who came up for the weekend for recruiting/schmoozefest events. However, my tax prof says that it started to get dangerous -- the accounting firms would stack their teams with players from their corporate leagues, and things started to get altogether too serious, complete with collisions at the plate leading to injuries, etc. One year, a fight almost broke out. So this year, they assigned everyone to teams, combining each group on each team, so it was more of a social event -- which, of course, is the whole purpose of the thing.

But when you haven't swung a bat in 15 years, you can look pretty silly at the plate!

Posted by Urbie at 04:59 PM | Comments (0)