once again, i'm not going home for the weekend since i have so much work to do. my main goal for this weekend is to read a case study on AIDS in africa and begin writing a paper on it which is due at the end of the week. i miss my family and our weekly sunday dinner, but i really need to focus on school at the moment.

the more i read the assigned case studies, the more i realize that i made the right choice by going back to school. in strategic mgmt, we read cases on large corporations and study their structure and strategy. it is really enlightening to see how these companies function. after working for a large multi-national company and experiencing firsthand the daily routine from the lowest levels of production to the highest level of executive strategy meetings and CEO dinners, i now have the opportunity to understand how it is done in other companies. the case studies offer us practical insight in management without having to read a boring textbook.

in our globalization and corporate responsibility class, the cases reaffirm my desire to get into the field of economic development. i've been in the corporate world and realized that the ultimate goal was to make money for the company. although my past professional experiences were very rich, i now know that the ultimate goal of my 40+ hours a week should be to make a difference in the world. i've been researching socially responsible companies and organizations to find an internship for next year and have come across a few that are really exceptional. the one that amazes me the most is Planet Finance. this NGO provides microloans to small businesses in developping countries. an example of a small business that would benefit from a microloan would be a woman in thailand who raises chickens and sells the eggs at a market. planet finance would grant her a loan for $80 which would help her rent a stand at the market for a year in order to increase her business. what an amazing concept!! why didn't i think of something like that?

anyway, i've said all of this simply to say that i'm very happy with my decision to go into econ development. it may not be an industry that pays a lot, but i will definitely be a richer person for doing it.