Resolution Achieved & my first impression of class online

I finished my Dickens book for the year about 20 minutes ago. I just completed Nicholas Nickleby. I can now add this to the list of other Dickens books that I have read (Great Expectations, The Old Curiosity Shop, David Copperfield, Our Mutual Friend, Bleak House, A Tale of Two Cities). I have read half of Dombey and Son (that's no small feat, the book is 1000+ pages) so I wouldn't mind trying to wrap that up this year. If I do manage to finish that book, it will have to wait until some time right before the new year. I start working on my MBA tomorrow.

My classes are up on the Marist iLearn website. I expected there to be some kind of video lecture as part of each class, but it looks like everything is done via post to the iLearn sites and discussion on different forums that have been set up for each class. A few people have already been making posts to the Management class forums. I was actually thinking about doing that myself tonight, but I've had my two beers for this weekend (I'm working on slimming down (with some progress) and cutting back on beer is an easy way to lower my calories for the week; I had the surprisingly good Road Dog Porter from Flying Dog Brewery) and am feeling a little too buzzed for school work at the moment. I plan on putting a bunch of due dates into a Google calendar tomorrow. I get the feeling that keeping track of when I need to do what will be my biggest challenge, at least until I get into the flow of each class. The classes are organized around a book chapter per week. I am going to try to take advantage of this structure and set up a weekly schedule for myself. I have a very detailed schedule in mind, with each study time associated with a particular task. I'm currently thinking that lunch, random work time, and the weekends will be spent on management with my evenings spent on finance. The finance syllabus is very detailed, even down to how long I should allow myself for each weekly test. I start in earnest next week. I will find time to write about my experience here.

New Motivation

My HDL levels are borderline high. Seeing that I'm only 34, now seems the right time to address this issue rather than brushing it aside. After a quick online search into what causes high cholesterol, my plan is to get back on track to lose my gut. Losing weight (which will involve more exercise and better eating habits) will bring my HDL down a few points, hopefully. Maybe this not great news will get the scale going down again.

While I'm commenting on my losing the gut resolution, I'll give an update on another neglected resolution, reading a Dickens book. I have been focusing my reading time on Nicholas Nickleby. I'm almost half finished. I want to get it wrapped up by the time my online classes start at Marist (assuming they accept me of course). I have no idea how much time I will have to read once my classes start so I figured I should take care of that resolution now rather than trying to squeeze a fat Dickens book into the last couple weeks of December. I'm reading 25-30 pages a night before I workout (or pass out like I did last night, that's one way to go to bed earlier).

I've been thinking about which two foundations classes to take this semester. Should I tackle one of the subjects that I do not find particularly appealing (like accounting or finance) or should I pick something interesting (like economics)? I guess I'll have an advisor that is supposed to help me make this decision, but I'm sure I'll get a stock answer. I have to take them all eventually so it probably doesn't matter in which order I take them, and it's not like I have to pick a time that works for me. I'm currently leaning towards economics (or analytical tools, I may be able to use some of that in my job) and management. We'll see what my adviser says, assuming I get accepted of course. (Yes, I will count school books in my books read for the year.)