A strange trip home

I never thought I'd come to the United States without coming to Iowa...

Here's the flight tracker:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/ETD103/history/20141001/2311Z/OMAA/KJFK

I will arrive in New York on Thursday morning.  I will meet UAEU graduates and spend a couple of days with my friend Youssef.  On Sunday I will fly to Seattle on Jet Blue arriving in Seattle at Noon.  I will spend a week there flying out late Saturday night to New York and then late Sunday flying back to the UAE.

Seattle

Goal:  Obtain a Ph.D. or  D.B.A. (Doctorate of Business Administration)

Why?  I am a lowly paid instructor compared to my well-compensated colleagues - several of whom  are (cough) not great teachers.  Also, with only a Master's I am relegated to entry level classes.  Ph.D's and D.B.A.'s are referred to as "terminal" degrees for more reasons than one.  But, basically it is something I have to do if I want to retire in this field.

Observation:  Since arriving in this country I have been giving a free test that mirrors the Myers-Briggs test.  I won't bore you with all of the details but one of the categories on this test is whether a person is "judging" or "perceiving."  Judging people see the world as black or white.  They make decisions easily because they see things as right or wrong.  Perceiving people see shades of grey in everything.  They are not great at making decisions because they see good and bad in just about everything.

I am a Perceiving person teaching in a place where (almost) all of my students are Judging.

This is a window to a dissertation and research:  Is the population in the Arab world is vastly different than the western world?  If so, what are the human resources implications?

Step 1 is to become a certified Myers-Briggs examiner.

I explained this to my new Dean and said, "In seven years I have never requested or received University funds for any professional development - until now."  The only places I could find for certification at a reasonable price was in the US.

She approved paying for my flight to Seattle and the training.  Since my beloved airline Etihad doesn't fly directly to Seattle I will book two tickets:  One round trip ticket from Abu Dhabi to New York and another from New York to Seattle. It will be fun to see a group of my former students who are now studying at NYU.

And now the recurring thought I've had many times today:  OMG! OMG! I work for an employer willing to send me 8000 miles for a training session that in no way directly helps them.  Has any employer ever been willing to do anything like this in the past?  Noooo....

A Halloween to remember

So I'm not exactly a new-agey-touchy-feely guy... but I used to get premonitions that were spot-on.  They were literally visions.  I would see a scene that later would happen.  They ended in my early 20's and I long ago dismissed them as coincidences or perhaps wishful thinking.

As I was leaving the US in August I had no premonition but the overwhelming anxiety was something I just  could not rationally explain.  Sadly, the anxiety proved to be justified as settling the farm estate has become a whole lot more complicated due to crashing corn/bean prices and family infighting.  In the summer of 2004 I sat in the kitchen with Mom and Dad and gamed out all of the scenarios of dealing with the estate - what would work well, what wouldn't work, etc. - and I have to give Mom credit:  Ten years ahead of time she was able to see where the problems would lie.  I love my father dearly but he was clueless.  He was literally the Rodney King of our family - "Can't we all get along?"

Our farm land will go on sale on October 31.  The sale price could be stable or down hundreds of thousands of dollars.... talk about a scary Halloween!

Fortunately, a farm near ours will go for sale in late September.  I consider it the canary in the coal mine.  Has the fall in corn prices killed land values?  We shall see soon enough.

Anxiety

I had heard of panic attacks but never experienced one until June 1997 - Spellman had died and I lost my job in Dubuque (they closed the weather station).  I was forced to move to Norfolk, Nebraska, to remain employed.  My anxiety was constantly high for weeks and a couple of times I'd have an onset of quick shallow breathing, mania and absolute impending doom thoughts racing through my head.

For reasons I can't quite explain I am close to feeling this again.  My chest feels like it is going to explode and I am on the verge of tears almost all day.  So what's so wrong?  Actually, not much.  My house is cleaned out and my friend Ollie is going to bring in contractors to fix it up and make it a real rental.  Financially I'm OK.  I can't explain my anxiety but it is very real.  It is bordering on debilitating.  In 12 hours I will be boarding a plane to Nepal.  I hope Nepal works its magic.

Student evaluations

Fall 2013 was probably the best semester I've ever had as a teacher.  I genuinely loved my classes and well... I don't know if they loved me but the numbers were excellent and here are the comments.

The good:

• Good job Steve
• He is kind and helpful
• I like this class , its very good and nice
• Thank you for making the process of learning as simple as it should be.. your examples are super simple to understand and it makes understanding the subject really easy and fun.
• i enjoyed the course

The really good:

• He is an amazing teacher and he's really passionate about what he does and his class is the only class that i never ever get bored in, and i was hoping i can be in his supply chain class next semester but there was maybe three classes and i couldnt register so i was hoping maybe the university could open another section or increase the number students in his classes because he is wonderfull at teaching.
• THE MOST ENJOYABLE COURSE!!! The class that no one wishes to end, this doctor knows well how to keep students with him and let them feel excited while explaining... The best thing he does is giving us LOTS of examples that happen in our lives which makes it easier for us to get the point...
•  Best Best Best tutor ! gives very good examples which helps us understand material really well. Love going to his class.
• THE MOST ENJOYABLE COURSE!!! The class that no one wishes to end, this doctor knows well how to keep students with him and let them feel excited while explaining... The best thing he does is giving us LOTS of examples that happen in our lives which makes it easier for us to get the point...
• Thank you for making the process of learning as simple as it should be.. your examples are super simple to understand and it makes understanding the subject really easy and fun.
• Now if somebody asked me about supply chain I won't answer a short answer but I can bring a live example too and catch the other person attention.

The stuff big heads are made of:

• The best teacher that I ever had , amaziiiing teacher
• Dr.steve is the best
• Best professor
• awesome instructor

Likely to make me insufferable:

• Steven Kranz is THE GREATEST instructor of all times!
• Thanks for hiring him in our university ,, he is awesome ...
• THE BEST TEACHER EVER I HAD

I am so lucky to be able to be a teacher...