First 10K: FifthThird River Bank Run

On Saturday May 11, 2013, I ran my first 10K race: The Fifth Third RiverBank Run.

I've been running for a while now. I really starting to get into it last fall. I had done a few 5K's and was ready to try something a little longer. Though, there was a running hiatus because of winter's fury and time needed for studying. So this spring, I basically had to start from scratch.

Anyways, I had spent about the last 8 weeks training for the race, slowly building up my miles. Things were on track, and I was confident I would be able to finish the 10K strong. Then two weeks ago, during a training run, I hurt my knee. I'm not exactly sure what caused it. I think it was a combination of a couple factors. One: that was the farthest I had ever run; Two: the first mile of that run was on a fairly uneven rutted up dirt road. I think the stress and extra twisting from uneven footfalls followed by another 4 miles was too much for me left knee. By the time I finished, I was hobbling. I should have stopped much sooner, but I was stupidly determined to finish that days quota. Then to top it off, I went for about a 3 mile hike that afternoon. Pretty dumb, probably made it much worse than it needed to be.

So I spent the two weeks before the race on the couch. About a week after I hurt my knee, I went on a quick test run. I made it about a half mile before it started to hurt again. Crap! A few days after that (it had started feeling better by this point) I went for another test run. I made it about three quarters of a mile this time. It wasn't hurting, but it didn't exactly feel right either. I decided to not test it at all again before the race, just resting and icing my knee. So needless to say, I was pretty nervous about being able to even finish the race.

The day of the race arrived, and I  made our way to the starting line.

This was much larger race than I had been in before. There was a ton of people running. It was definitely a cool experience. I had to wait for about 20 minutes, but finally the start horn sounded. And we were off, sort of. The start of the race was such a bottle neck. It took almost a minute to even get to the official starting line. But eventually, the mob started moving and everybody spaced out. The start and end were really cool because you were running through downtown GR.

The first two miles felt like some of the longest of my life. It wasn't because I was going any slower than normal (please note I am not a fast runner). It just felt like time was dragging on. But eventually, I hit the two mile mark near John Ball Zoo. So far my knee had held up. I was being much more aware of my form, which I think helped.

Keeping on, I hit the halfway point. A little bit later, right before the four mile mark, there was the second aid station of the race. I decided to get some water at this point. Hadn't ever tried running and drinking from a cup at the same time before. It was more difficult than anticipated. I probably got about 1 sip from a cup full of water. Oh well, about 2/3rd done, and my knee was still holding on. We ran past Grand Valley and past the Grand Rapids Museum. Then past the Bridgewater place, there was a long hill. I made it up it fine, actually passed a few people, but going down was rough on the knee. Everybody I passed going up, passed me going down. At the bottom there was another aid station, where I grabbed some gatorade on the go.

We crossed the river and made the turn onto Division to head back into downtown Grand Rapids. This section too was a long gradual hill. At this point, I was getting pretty tired. I could tell I was slowing down, and my form was going to crap. On the slow grade down the hill, my knee started to give out.

But I only had about a half mile to go. No matter what ( or how slow) I was going to make it. I made the last two turns toward the finish line. I felt like I was limping, but I was still moving. The pregnant lady who was behind me the whole race made her move and passed me. (No Joke).

With a little hitch in my giddyup, I made it across the finish line. My goal was to finish in less than an hour. My time: 1 hour and 33 seconds. Soooooo close.

On the picture below, the look on my face is pretty much how I felt.

To all those in or preparing to enter the medical profession ( I know there are at least two who read this blog), I'm wondering if you could point me to what it could be. As I mentioned, it started hurting on a longer run for me after I had run on a rough/uneven surface. It is my left knee, and only hurts on the outside of the knee. It doesn't hurt at all in the joint or around the knee cap. It doesn't hurt to put weight on it, but it would hurt to bend the knee. Going up stairs is bad, going down stairs is really bad. I've got a hunch at what it is, but wondering if it could be something else.

Two Idiots in a Rain Storm

A few weeks back, one of my best friends, Daniel, was in town. He lives in Seattle and travels all over the world flying for the air force. So needless to say, I don't get to hang out with him very often. I ended up taking a half day off of work so we could get together with him and his wife and also celebrate my wife's birthday.

Whenever Daniel and I get together, it seems like we end up doing things that are a little crazy. Whether it is mountain biking, white water rafting, rock climbing, or just being two goofballs out in public, we always seem to have a good time. This time was no different.

We decided to go hiking. Now if don't know or recall, at that time, West Michigan was getting some crazy rainstorms. Rivers were flooding; roads were washing away. In general, it was some gnarly weather. This is the weather that we decided to go hiking in. Hey, that's why they invented rain jackets right?

Anyways, it started off ok. It was raining, but nothing awful. Then about 45minutes in, we started to hear thunder. A little bit later, the lightning strikes kept getting closer and closer.  There was one flash of lightning that was especially close. At that point, Daniel and I looked at each other and were like "do you want to turn around?" We gave in, admitting defeat to mother nature. We made it back to the car without getting fried. Though about tens minutes into the drive back home, it started to hail. The rain got so intense that people were stopping their cars on the side of the road. That would have been insane to have been hiking in. I guess we made the right decision in turning around.

Anyways, Thanks Daniel for always being awesome.

Also, Happy Birthday on this cinco de mayo.

What it takes to pass the CPA Exam

Now that I've found out that I've passed the last section of the CPA exam, I thought I'd take a moment to re-cap the process. If anybody who is preparing for the CPA exam stumbles across this, I hope you find it helpful. For those non-accountant's (friends/family), this will give you more of a glimpse into what I went through. At the very least, this will help me remember everything later on down the road.

Alright, first thing you need to know about the CPA exam is that it is expensive. To get scheduled for the exam, you need to pay both an application fee and an examination fee with you first application. The fees break down as follows:

Application fee (non-refundable):                            $147.00

Examination Fee:
   Auditing and Attestation(AUD)                           $195.35
   Business Environment and Concepts(BEC)         $176.25
   Financial Accounting and Reporting(FAR)         $195.35
   Regulation(REG)                                                 $176.25

You can apply for more than one section at a time, but your application window is only open for six months. When that application window closes, you have to re-apply and send in another application fee (though slightly less than the first application fee).

Usually within two weeks or so, you will get a response back. If found eligible, they will send you a Notice to Schedule, which has the information needed to schedule your testing dates with the testing center.

Anyways, the first time around, I signed up for three sections (FAR,REG, and AUD). I was trying to keep the fees to a minimum by signing up for the most exams that I thought I could pass with in six months.  I ended up paying $713.95. The second time, I only had to sign up for BEC, which cost $234.25. So in total, I spent $948.20 on the actual exam.

But that isn't the only cost related to the exam. In order to pass, you need to purchase study materials. Now there are a lot of options out their in terms of CPA review material (self-study, classes, books, software, audio CD's, DVD's). There are some more well known materials, such as Becker and Gleim, but these tend to be more expensive (up to $3,000). I had discussed with some of my co-workers at the time what they had used. Most of them had used the BISK CPA review material and had success. BISK is more on the affordable side. For text books and review software for all four sections, I paid $702.45.

So in total, the CPA exam and review materials ended up costing me $1,650.65. Like I said, depending on what review software you use and how many application fees you end up paying, it could cost you much more.

Ok, the second thing you need to know is that studying for the CPA exam is very time consuming. Inevitably, there are people who think they can just study a little bit and be fine. They typically end up contributing to the low passing rates that the CPA exam is known for.

First thing I did was start by reading through all four books. This in itself was time consuming. At this point, I hadn't signed up for any particular exam. I was only trying to get a feel for the topics, the sections, and which I thought I would need to spend the most time on.

After reading through the books, I determined that I first wanted to take FAR. Based on what other people had said and based on the number and variety of topics covered, I knew this would be one of the more difficult sections, and I wanted to get it out of the way first.

My study pattern per section was basically this: I would go through every question on the review software for a section once, then I would go through them again (at least every other question). Monday through Fridays, I would try to study about 1-2 hours a night. On Saturdays, I would try to study about 3-5 hours. For FAR, I took probably about 4-5 months of focused studying. For REG I studied about three months. For Auditing, I only took about a month and a half. For Reg, I took about 2 months.

For the review software, each section had the following number of review questions.

AUD       830
BEC      1046
FAR      1749
REG      1339
Total      4964

Assuming conservatively that I went through every question once my first time through and every other question my second time through (often I did more), I reviewed questions 7,446 times. Very, very time consuming. Not saying everyone needs to study that much. This was simply my approach.

But it all paid off. My scores for the sections ended up being (note: 75 needed to pass)....

FAR     91
REG     82
AUD    89
BEC     92

Passing any one of the sections is a big accomplishment. If you don't believe me, below are the pass rates for each section for 2012.

UNIFORM CPA EXAMINATION PASSING RATES 2012

Section	First Quarter	Second Quarter	Third Quarter	Fourth Quarter	Cumulative
AUD	44.90%	47.81%	50.08%	44.15%	46.89%
BEC	48.63%	53.17%	57.63%	50.57%	52.83%
FAR	43.84%	46.49%	53.91%	45.53%	47.97%
REG	45.00%	49.62%	51.26%	46.02%	48.15%

So yeah, passing any given section is an accomplishment. Passing all four on your first try is an even bigger deal. Upon a quick search, I found statistics from anywhere to 3-30% of test takers accomplish this. The actual number is probably in the middle somewhere, probably around 20%. Not trying to brag (ok, maybe just a little). I'm just still really excited to be done.

That's it for now.

The Test That Could Decide It ALL

On Saturday February 16th, 2013, I once again drove to the testing center in GR to take yet another section of the CPA exam. Up to that point, I had taken and passed three out of the four sections. That meant that if I passed this fourth test, I would be FINISHED with the CPA exam. It is safe to say that I was very nervous and stressed.

I once again arrived early to the center and was able to start my test ahead of schedule.  Once through the ridiculously strong security process, I was led to my computer,  where I entered my launch code and began taking what could potentially have been my last test. This section was BEC (Business Environment and Concepts). It is basically a hodge podge of whatever wasn't covered on the other three sections. Some of the topics covered on the test included cost accounting, economics, finance, and information technology.

The first few questions seemed to be easy enough, and I was fairly certain that I was on track to pass by the end of the first testlet. That feeling quickly changed when I began the second testlet. The questions I received from that point on were absolutely insane. Unlike the questions on my review software, these questions expected me to have an in depth working knowledge of every minuscule detail and an ability to manipulate complex formulas. For all my test prep questions, a basic understanding of the formulas covered was more than enough to get a question correct. Once again, there were many many topics that I studied for that weren't tested at all, and things that I thought were unimportant were tested hard. In addition, I received several questions on topics that my test prep material did not discuss at all.

By this point in the test, I felt as if I had been beaten. I just wanted to give up. I really didn't think I was going to pass this one. I had the urge to stand up, throw the computer, and scream at the top of my lungs that "THIS ISN'T FAIR!" The test was definitely messing with my mind. I stuck with it and stuck with what worked for me in the past on the other tests. I went with my first instinct, and wouldn't second guess myself. I have been burned time and time again by second guessing myself out of a right answer in college. I made sure I moved at a steady pace, not letting myself get bogged down on any particular question. I probably could have stared at any one of those questions for an hour and not been any more confident about my answers.

In a fog of frustration and confusion, I made it through the three multiple choice testlets and through the three written simulation questions. I signed out, gathered my things, and walked to the parking walk with my head hanging low. There was NO chance that I had passed that torture they had the audacity of calling an exam.

Then to add insult to injury, I found out that I had left the lights on in my car. So my battery was dead. So I shamefully had to wait at the place of my defeat until road side assistance could come and give me a jump.

It was  a rough day.

That was about three weeks. I spent those three weeks enjoying what little freedom I had. I knew that at the end of those three weeks I would once again have to give up that freedom to study once more.

Last night, I was all anxious. I knew that I would get my results the next day. While we were driving to church, Jamie asked if I had checked the website. Sometimes the results get posted before they officially release the scores. I didn't know if I wanted to check. I wanted to live in blissful ignorance a little while longer.

But once that thought got put in my head, it slowly ate at my sanity. Once that thought was put in my head, there was no way I could wait. As we started small group, I discretely took out my phone and went to the nasba website. I entered my section number and birth date. I held my breath, said a quick prayer, and waited to be dolled out my fate.







The members of my small group said that the look on my face was a look of pure joy and utter relief.

I PASSED!!!!!!

I had passed, and I had passed by a fair margin. I really didn't understand. There was no way that was my score. I was so excited I was literally shaking.

I had managed to pass all four sections on my first attempt. This is a HUGE accomplishment (I'll do a post later on passed rates and the estimated percentages of people who accomplish this).

To be honest, I'm not sure it has really sunk in yet. I've basically been working towards this for the last 5 years of my life, and I've finally made it. I've finally reached the end of my academic career. To become a CPA was probably one of the most difficult things I have ever done, and I am extremely proud to have finally made it.

Here is to moving on and finally getting to live my life.

Enjoying my New Found Freedom

Usually about this time of year, I would be neck deep in audit planning and corporate tax returns. I would be going into work early, staying late, and working Saturdays.

BUT NOT ANY MORE!!!!!

HALLELUJAH!

With my new job, I can go to and leave work at a normal time. And working a Saturday would be very unusual.

So what am I doing with this new found freedom?

Enjoying every minute of it.

I've been able to take time to do things that I haven't been able to do much of in the last few years.

For example.... Snowmobiling.

Last Saturday, My dad and I went up to Reed City to get one last snowmobile trip in before spring hits. I met my dad a little after 5:30 am so we could get on the road and get up there decent on time. By 8:15, after a quick McDonalds dollar menu breakfast, we were unloading the sleds and getting bundled up, though apparently not bundled enough.

It was definitely cold. As we took off down the long straight stretch of trail which follows US 131 North towards Cadillac, I slowly began to loose feeling in my fingers. By the time we reached Cadillac, I could no longer feel my fingers. Thankfully, Dad couldn't feel his fingers either, so we stopped to warm them in the exhaust of the snowmobile. After a few minutes, I slowly regained movement of my fingers.

Besides the cold digits, it was a great day snowmobiling. We got an early enough start that the trails weren't very busy. As well, the trails were nice and smooth. There was only one brief section which wasn't groomed. For lunch, we stopped at the Wellston Inn. Unfortunately, it has become more and more run down over the years. Too bad. I used to enjoy that restaurant.

We kept a good pace, and by the end of the day we put on about 175 miles. Not too bad of a day in the lower peninsula.

Breaking the Air Wave Silence

So, It's been too long since I've written any thing on here. But now it's time to break the air wave silence.

So what have I been doing all this time. Basically working and studying. Since the New Year, work has been a little crazy, and I've spent most nights getting ready for my next and final test. Although there are much fewer chapters in this study book, it seems like there are many many more questions in every chapter. Sometimes, it has taken me almost an entire week to finish one chapter.

As of now, I've gone through every review question for this section once. And I plan to go through them at least once more before I actually take the test. But for now, I'm taking a break. Not going to touch the study materials at all this week end.

So far, I have spent this weekend relaxing, reading a good book, watching some netflix, and playing in the snow with Jonah and Jamie. Here are some pics from the afternoon. The light was amazing outside today.

Being bundled to the point of not being able to move has got to be frustrating.

One big happy family...

Now its time to enjoy some of my favorite pizza from the Trestle Stop.

I leave you with a random picture of an ice sculpture. Can you tell what it is?

75 Needed to Pass

A few weeks after you take a section of the CPA exam, you will receive a score release notification that reads something like this....

"You will receive separate score notices for each section of the examination you have taken. Each notice includes: examination identifying information (section name, section ID, and date); your score for teat examination section; and the result (Pass/Fail).

"Each notice also show credit status for the other examination sections you have taken... You will receive a separate notice for that section of the examination.

"The score represents your overall performance on the identified examination section. Scores are reported on a numeric scale of 0-99, with 75 as the passing score. This scale does NOT represent 'percent correct.' A score of 75 indicates examination performance reflecting a level of knowledge and skills that is sufficient for the protection of the public."

Well public, you can sleep easy. The Michigan Board of Accountancy has determined that I am no danger to you in regards to my auditing knowledge.

That's right, I have taken and passed (received a score of 75 or better) my third section of the CPA exam. This test section was Auditing. As usual, the test questions were very difficult. As I got further into the test, the test questions kept getting harder and harder. Now actually this was a good sign, since the CPA exam is a progressive test. Basically, if you do well on the first section, they will give you more difficult questions on the second section. I needed to keep reminding myself this, because by the end of the test, the questions were ridiculously difficult.

With this exam completed, I am 75 percent of the way through the entire testing process. I have completed and passed Financial Accounting and Reporting, Regulation, and Auditing. I only have one section left to complete: Business Environment and Concepts.

At this point, I am fairly confident in my study method for the exams. I am certain that I will be able to pass this last section if I put the same level of time and effort into studying for it as I did for the first three.

That being said, I am definitely losing motivation to study. After this last test, I took a week break. I didn't pick up the study material once. Let me tell you, it was glorious. So now, I am finding it harder and harder to come home after work and spend a couple hours going cross eyed reading about Keynesian Economic theory, marginal cost curves, and CVP charts.

Oh well, the end is in sight.