Nov 20, 10:51 PM by Kimberly | Four Down ? to go...

Posted in Work | Comments [7]

I took the fourth section of the CPA exam today. This section was the hardest for me. It covered business law and individual income taxes. I was looking at the study material, and I saw ‘perfecting a security interest’. Huh? I knew my chances of passing were slim after that. After some studying over the last few days, it’s possible I knew just enough to pass. I’m not going to hold my breath though. But I’m also not going to study more until I get my scores next month. :p

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Nov 13, 06:05 PM by Kimberly | Three Down, One to Go

Posted in Work

I took the third of the four CPA test sections today – Financial Accounting and Reporting. I would not be terribly upset if I need to take this section again, as it includes governmental and non-profit accounting, two topics I have never studied. These and other topics on the test are included in the ‘Advanced Accounting’ class at UCSB Extension, which I didn’t take. I took seven of the nine classes in the series offered at UCSB Extension. I would have taken all nine, except that for Spring Quarter this year, neither of the two I hadn’t taken were offered, so I opted to take online classes at UCLA Extension to complete the 36 units requirement (Forensic Accounting & Financial Reporting & Analysis). If I had waited to take the series classes through UCSB, I wouldn’t have been able to take the CPA test until next April.

The other class I didn’t take was Individual Income Taxes. And the last test is… Taxes (Regulation). Unfortunately, we can’t use Turbo Tax for the test, so I’ll have to fit a whole class in over this weekend. Fun.

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Nov 6, 06:16 PM by Kimberly | Two Down, Two to Go

Posted in Work | Comments [1]

Another CPA Exam section completed. This one was significantly longer, at four and a half hours. I’m not nearly as confident in my success on this section, Auditing. I couldn’t do nearly as much studying as I would have liked. (How about just 5 hours total since my Auditing class 6 months ago!?) I’ve never done a financial statement audit, so I’m at a distinct disadvantage against those test takers that work at a CPA firm and have gone out on audits. I understand all the concepts, but it’s not the same thing as hands on experience. I wouldn’t be suprised if I need to take this section again, but I hope against hope that I passed. I really wish I had scheduled this test more than 2 days after my last one, but I put in a lot more overtime last week than I thought I would need to, and didn’t even start studying until after the half marathon on Saturday. I tried to reschedule to later this month, but they were booked solid. Oops. Next up, Financial Accounting and Reporting. I’ll have a whole week to study for this one, so I hope to do much better.

I can’t believe that some people spend hours each night studying for MONTHS! For just one of the four sections! I was sooo worried about how hard the test was going to be. But after taking two test, I have the feeling that if I put in maybe...

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Nov 5, 10:25 PM by Kimberly | How to Lose Friends and Alienate People Part II

Posted in Politics & Miscellanea

As the election season closes, I think back on the article I wrote awhile ago about people having such certainty that their views are the right way, that they need to insult people who hold a different view.

If you want to lose freinds and alienate people this election season, show your intolerance for other views by either implying or saying outright that Republicans (or McCain supporters, this will work either way) are stupid/ unreasonable/ ignorant/ [insert derogative term here]. No matter that political leaning is as emotionally based as religion. You’d certainly lose freinds and alienate people if you walked around saying that all people that believe that Jesus is the son of God are stupid/ unreasonable/ ignorant/ [insert derogative term here], and it will work just as well for political leaning. Next time you’re talking to somebody whose world views you are not 100% certain of, think about this before you insult what could be theirs.

The jury is still out on how people behaved.

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Nov 5, 12:59 AM by Kimberly | One Down, Three to Go

Posted in Work

I took my first of the four sections of the CPA Exam on Tuesday, Business Environment & Concepts (managerial accounting & economics). I think it went well, but I have no idea what percentage I need to pass. On Thursday, I take the next section, Auditing. I expect that one to be harder. Next week it’s Financial Accounting & Reporting, harder still, and what I expect to be the toughest, Regulation (includes taxes, which I haven’t studied much).

I’m going insane with all the studying- I feel like I’m back in college. I would love to pass all four sections this month, but I’m not expecting that. (Low pass rate & all that.) But I hope I pass at least one! I hate having to wait until December to find out. But until then, I have the possibility of passing it all and not having to go through this again to keep the studying up. (And it would be quite a coup if I passed it all on the first try, given my previous level of dedication to my studies).

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Nov 1, 05:15 PM by Kimberly | Casualty List

Posted in Running | Comments [3]

The impromtu 13.1 mile walk went pretty well. I averaged under 15 minute miles. I’m not sure of my exact time or pace, as I left auto-pause on on the Garmin. I called Steve at 11:16, so it was probably 3hrs 15min. I didn’t tax my cardio system much at all. (I did do some running on the downhill portions though- no need to put on the brakes.)

Around mile 6, my right hip started to tighten up. I worked it out, and it was fine for quite some time. The next issue was fuel. The gatorade was quite watery. That’s usually good, except that it was a cold rainy day. I needed to drink much more liquid than reasonable to get my electrolytes & some calories. Mondo was kind enough to give me some of his Reece’s Pieces at an aid station, and that helped. But at mile 12, I had a sudden intense wave of hunger. Oops. Bonk time. I mooched a Gu off of a Father-Daughter combo I had walked the last 6 miles with. (I thought I would be ok until the next aid station, otherwise I would have asked pre-bonk.) I dropped off while I recovered & got some energy back. I kept them a few yards ahead, but soon after, both my hip flexors got mad at me. They didn’t understand that I was doing a half-marathon, and decided they were done. I guess, like my GPS, they can’t...

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Nov 1, 01:19 PM by Kimberly | Santa Barbara Half Marathon

Posted in Running

Yesterday, I decided to walk today’s half-marathon. It went pretty well. I’m still recovering and will have a full report after I take stock of the carnage. One interesting thing happened during the event though: I was walking along by East Beach Grill, keeping the oncoming runners to my right, and a female lead-out cyclist coming in the opposit direction yelled at me and my group to stay to the right. She passed me, and I yelled back, “No. You’re wrong. We need to stay to the left. You’re telling the people the wrong way!” She came back and told me we needed to stay to the right. I told her that she was wrong, that I’ve done the bike lead out before, and the race instructions say to stay to the left. She must have realized she wasn’t going to convince me, so she biked away. We continued along, and heard people say things like “now we’re supposed to stay to the left??”

Yes, you need to stay to the left. Not because I’m anal retentive, but because I remembered what happened when I did the bike lead out. I was the lead cyclist for the top woman runner. It went fine until we passed East Beach Grill on the way back. We were keeping to the right, per the instructions I was given. We managed to cross the oncoming runners and get off Cabrillo and onto the bike path. Then I look across the grass to my right,...

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Oct 12, 02:23 AM by Kimberly | How to Lose Friends and Alienate People

Posted in Politics & Miscellanea | Comments [9]

As election time draws closer, I hear more and more political comments by people I interact with. Some comments are mildly derisive towards Republicans, while others are downright insulting. Why do people think it’s ok to speak this way to people who they don’t know the political leaning of? Is the thought of actually talking to somebody that’s a Republican so alien to them that they assume everybody they talk to is a Democrat, and therefore it’s ok to insult Republicans? Are they saying “I’m talking to you, therefore you must be a Democrat. I mean, I can say this stuff because I wouldn’t be talking to you at all if you were a Republican.”? It sure seems like it. Somebody may say that they’re playing the odds, but they’re really not, because they think the odds of that person being a Republican is 0%.

If you want to lose freinds and alienate people this election season, show your intolerance for other views by either implying or saying outright that Republicans (or McCain supporters, this will work either way) are stupid/ unreasonable/ ignorant/ [insert derogative term here]. No matter that political leaning is as emotionally based as religion. You’d certainly lose freinds and alienate people if you walked around saying that all people that believe that Jesus is the son of God are stupid/ unreasonable/ ignorant/ [insert derogative term here], and it will work just as well for political leaning. Next time you’re talking to somebody whose world views you...

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Sep 23, 08:42 PM by Kimberly | Everest Challenge Day 2 Pictures

Posted in Cycling & Pictures | Comments [8]

Descending Waucoba Canyon

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Sep 23, 08:39 PM by Kimberly | Everest Challenge Day 1 Pictures

Posted in Cycling & Pictures

Neutral start at Mill Pond

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