Just because I’m in school, that doesn’t mean I learned anything.  What I mean is, everyone learns regardless of whether or not he or she is in school.  Maybe I shouldn’t blog late on the Friday evening after finals and an excellent bottle of champagne.  So it goes, but here is the list of top five things I learned this year (in no particular order):

5. Public finance is so much like classic literature.  Seriously, who knew?  But just like good literature, there are things written “between the lines” in a public financial statement that explains more fully what real priorities, and real problems, exist in a particular municipality.  They also say what it means to be human, and suffer under the common condition - or maybe not.

4. I don’t like surprise parties.  I like throwing them, and I like going to them, but I am not real good at being surprised.  Maybe one of the hardest things I’ve done in my entire life was switching moods from raging mad to super happy in .03 seconds when the surprise was sprung for my 30th birthday party.  Mission Accomplished, I was surprised!

3. I like to blog! I know its silly but I do. This medium that I had heard so much about but knew very little was opened to me by two distinctly different venues - my good friend Hilary Marchbanks and her super blog, and a great class I took this fall called Internet and Public Policy given by Professor Chapman.  Hilary helped me get over my fear, and Professor Chapman illustrated the power the blogosphere can wield.

2. Hierarchical statistical modeling is very powerful. I (almost) accurately predicted this year’s National Collegiate Football Champion last January.  Just because this season was the strangest in history and my model didn’t actually get the right team, I think it wasn’t the model’s fault!  Damn you Appalachian State, you started the madness!

1. Fire in the hole sauce burns as much coming out as going down.  Nuff said.

There you have it.  I may have forgotten something, feel free to let me know.  Thanks!