Europe, here I come!

In the past 3 weeks I have been busy graduating, reminiscing with friends, packing, finding an apartment in Minneapolis and moving out of Ann Arbor. All the craziness finally comes to a head later today, when I board a plane headed for London. Over the next 3.5 weeks, Meryl and I are going on a whirlwind tour of Europe - London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Munich, Austria, Rome, Venice, Florence, the Swiss Alps, Paris, and back to London. I'm super excited for my very first trip to Europe. I'm sure it will be completely exhausting but totally worth it. Check back in June for all the pictures from my trip!

EUROPE, BABY!!

DisO Week Thursday: Floss 'N Toss

DisO Week began with the traditional Floss 'N Toss bar crawl - I have no clue where the name came from. On Thursday afternoon/evening, hundreds of MBAs dressed in matching shirts were parading through the streets of Ann Arbor from bar to bar. After a full afternoon of alcohol and wings at B-Dubs, we headed to Scorekeepers for the weekly Ross Happy Hour at Scorekeepers. After 7 straight hours of drinking and eating, it's amazing people were still standing. Although it was a long day, our group wasn't quite done. We headed over to Fleetwood Diner for dinner (I'm not sure if you could call pancakes dinner), and then over to Alley Bar for a few more hours. After bar-hopping for anywhere between 8-12 hours, at midnight we finally called it a day. Final tally of Floss 'N Toss?

Cost to participate in Floss 'N Toss: $25 (or, if you're like me and you missed the deadline to sign up, $0, but no drinks and no t-shirts)

Dinner at Fleetwodd: $5.59 (does not include the cost of half the grilled cheese sandwich Hugh shared with me/I stole from him)

Conversations had and picture taken during the day: Priceless (but just as a disclaimer, I didn't take my camera to Floss 'N Toss, so all pictures have been lovingly borrowed from my friends)

Stop #1 - Jackie and Michelle enjoying the beautiful weather outside Conor O'Neill's. I wasn't there for this part of the bar crawl, but I felt like there needed to be full documentation of the day.

(Courtesy of M. Gezo)

Stop #? - Matt P. and Alden, the brains behind Follies, document the afternoon. The testimonials are going to be part of the MBA Celebration next Wednesday, and I am willing to bet that more than a few people will be surprised to see themselves on screen.

(Courtesy of M. Gezo)

Stop #2 - Geraldine, Michelle, Jackie and Emily pose for pics at Arena. Notice my strategically worn grey t-shirt? Hard to tell I wasn't even an official part of Floss 'N Toss!

(Courtesy of E. Weingart)

Stop #3 - Heidelberg. Rob (who I literally met right before this picture was taken - it's amazing that there are still unfamiliar faces after 2 years at school), Matt J, myself, Michelle. Matt J was ultra-excited because he had just received an email from the Prince of Nigeria saying that he was eligible to receive $35 million. He's so lucky!!!

(Courtesy of L. Sensenig)

Stop #3 - With Lorraine at Heidelberg. Lorraine was also an unofficial Floss 'N Toss participant because she was heading to a corporate dinner at the Chop House. Mmmm, steak.

(Courtesy of F. Ahmadi)

Stop #3 - Trying to leave Heidelberg while Michelle gives me a huge hug. And crushes my windpipe in the process (Courtesy of M. Gezo)

Stop #4 - Feelin' the Latino love at Monkey Bar with Patricia and Marlene.

(Courtesy of C. Tapia)

Stop #5 - Buffalo Wild Wings. Obviously we are way more concerned with food at this point.

(Courtesy of S. Klainer)

Stop #6 - Scorekeepers. The original subjects of this picture were myself, Sara Klainer, Ginny Lee and Sarah Raehl. Allen Coleman and Jason Fein are just added benefits.

(Courtesy of S. Klainer)

Stop #7 - Dinner at Fleetwood. I'm not sure what exactly is going on here, but Hugh's expression is pretty spectacular.

(Courtesy of K. Gillilan)

Stop #8 - Section Six boys Mark G., Jose, Matt J. and Hugh at Alley Bar.

(Courtesy of K. Gillilan)

Free at Last!

Ok, so it's definitely not MLK quote-worthy. BUT, as of Wednesday, April 22nd at 7:15pm, I am officially done with school. No more lectures, papers, group meetings, problem sets or exams! Now I get to enjoy the next week before family comes in for graduation, which is on May 1st.
As is Ross Business School tradition, the next week (Thursday-Wednesday) is called Disorientation Week. We all take the time to decompress after two years of hard work. DisO week is characterized by heavy drinking, reminiscing, nostalgia, drama, the senior scramble, and more heavy drinking. Basically it's a chance for so-called adults to act like they're back in high school! The schedule of events is as follows:
Thursday

• Bar Crawl

Friday

• Canoeing

Saturday

• Spring Fling (semi-formal dance)

Sunday

• Kickball tournament
• Bowling/Karaoke

Monday

• MBA Gladiators
• Talent Show

Tuesday

• Baseball game (Yankees v Tigers)

Wednesday

• MBA Celebration
• Diamondback (country/western bar)

It's a packed week, and I don't plan on participating in all the activities (because at some point I'm going to have to be at home cleaning for my commencement guests). But my time at Ross is coming to a close, so you'd better believe that I will out and about Ann Arbor having fun!

P(retty) T(errible) Cruiser

On Saturday night I left my apartment to pick up Lauren and head to East Lansing for a Death Cab for Cutie concert (video to come later). I had just put the car in reverse when I realized something was clearly wrong. The button on the gear shift didn't pop back out, and when I tried to shift into all other gears, the car refused to go into park. Since the car was actually driving fine, I went to the local VW dealer, but they were already closed for the evening. The panicking started, because I had no idea how to resolve the situation. A phone call to VW Roadside Assistance later let me know that there was nothing that could be done until Monday when the Services department opened back up. So, I left the car in neutral, turned the engine off, LEFT THE KEYS IN THE IGNITION because I couldn't take it out, and just left the car in the VW parking lot for the rest of the weekend.

On Monday I found out I had a broken gearshift that would have to be replaced. Fortunately, the car was under warranty. Besides no payment, this meant that I would get a free rental car while my Jetta was in the shop. The big winner? An ivory PT Cruiser. The verdict? Awful. Big, bulky, lots of blind spots, no acceleration, and the world's worst turning radius. Fortunately, it was only a 24 hour deal, because I got my Jetta back this afternoon, as good as new. I will definitely be treating my car better from now on, and the next time I get a rental car, there's no way I will let them give me a PT Cruiser. Pretty Terrible indeed. And yes, we made it to East Lansing in time, thank goodness!!!

The behemoth I was driving around Ann Arbor this weekend. UUUUUUUUUUUUUGLY!!!

August 2008: Ms. Perez goes to Washington. Eventually.

Last summer I took two days off from my internship to fly out to Washington DC to go to Roxana and Eric's wedding, which was taking place on Friday, August 1st. I had decided to take the opportunity to visit everyone from my pre-grad school life, so I scheduled a 6 am flight on Thursday, and scheduled a crazy afternoon of lunch with former co-workers, drinks with Rob, more drinks with Nicole, and dinner with Kyle. My inability to leave my apartment on time, combined with the mistaken belief that Midwestern Airlines was located in the Lindberg terminal of the Minneapolis Airport led to me missing my flight. I literally sprinted up to the gate and the plane was still there, but since they had already closed the door, the gate agent refused to let me get on the plane. Some tears, fury, and rescheduling later, I was booked on a flight that left Minneapolis 4 hours later. When combined with a two-hour layover in Milwaukee, this completely destroyed my carefully planned Thursday schedule, so I missed out on lunch and drinks. The gate agent's advice to me? "Next time you should plan better!" Really? Thanks for the tip...

After finally making it to DC, I got in my rental car and drove out to my hotel. As soon as I pulled up, I immediately started looking for alternate sleeping arrangements. Somehow, I had made reservations at a hotel that looked like a set for a horror movie. If something were to happen to me, I doubted very much my body would ever be found. I eventually found new accomodations in Tyson's Corner and fortunately the rest of my weekend was a lot smoother.

Highlights of the weekend included:

Thursday

• Travel hell
• Dinner with Kyle

Friday

• Closing my Chevy Chase bank account, after months of non-use
• Lunch with some of my former co-workers (unfortunately Maryellen, Jeff and Ron P were unable to join us)
• A fish pedicure! You stick your feet in a tank and the fish nibble away the dead skin. Let's just say I don't plan to do it again.
• Roxana and Eric's wedding (::tear::)

Saturday

• Brunch with the newlyweds and their families
• Shopping at Potomac Mills
• Baseball game at the new Nationals Stadium

Sunday

• Lunch at Bertucci's

The weekend was lots of fun, the wedding was beautiful and I was very glad to see everyone. I don't think I necessarily realized it at the time, but since graduation is now right around the corner, I have started thinking about the whole process of moving to a new place and having to say good-bye to all your friends. And I have to say, even though I don't miss my old job, and I probably won't miss being in a classroom that much, I do/will miss all the great people I've met along the way (::sniff sniff::). And that means I need to do a better job of keeping in touch with people!

The swollen Beast

Yesterday Beasley and I took a trip to the vet so she could get her vaccinations. While the vet warned me about potential side effects (vomiting, diarrhea, etc.), I didn't really think anything of it. Everything was totally fine until I was getting ready to leave for dinner tonight. Beasley seemed unable to sit still and kept shaking herself off every couple of minutes. So when I took a closer look, her snout was all puffed up. Scary! I called the vet immediately and had to go to the doggy ER. Two shots, some Benadryl and a hefty bill later, her face is slowly getting back to normal. Why can't she ever get sick during regular vet hours?!?

On the way to the vet - swollen snouted and bumpy headed Beasley

Last. Class. EVER.

No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks!

I'm not quite done with work (I still have Excel work, 2 final exams and 1 group paper to do), but at 10:20am on Thursday I walked into a classroom for my last lecture ever. Since I got back from my internship this summer there have been a lot of "this is the last time that..." moments, and I'm sure there are going to be a LOT more of these moments in the next couple of weeks. But today was definitely a big one. After 114 hours in lectures and class discussions (in theory, since I have missed a few class sessions since I've been in school), it's OVER. And since I can't for the life of me forsee going back to school to get another degree, no more classrooms, professors, textbooks or coursepacks for me!

Is this thing on?

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3... Am I coming in clear? About 8 months ago, my computer went bust and I put a pause on my blog writing. Then classes started and by the time I got my laptop back I was so busy that I never got around to updating my blog. So, what has happened since then?

• I co-chaired UpClose, the diversity weekend for prospective students
• I accepted my offer at General Mills
• I watched first-hand as the Michigan football team had their worst season in like, forever
• I had dinner at the Chop House
• I went to a Coldplay concert and a Killers concert
• I went to my first college hockey game and my first (and only) Michigan basketball game
• I drove to Indiana 4 times
• I went to Florida for Christmas
• I went to Prom
• I spent my Spring Break in Panama
• I drove my car into a ditch during a really bad blizzard
• I ordered my cap and gown for graduation
• I lost all motivation to do school work
• I picked a move-out date, looked for apartments in Minneapolis and picked a start date

In a mere 16 days I will be an official graduate of the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. It feels like I just started, but in reality, it's all coming to an end, and rather quickly. So check back often in the next two weeks so you can see what I've been up to since the summer ended and what my plans are for life after Ann Arbor (posts that start with a date are those that are long overdue!).

Service interruption

Now that I am back in Ann Arbor (at least for the time being), my goal was to update my blog with the occurrences from my last few weeks in MN, my trip to DC, the drive back to Ann Arbor, and my trip to NYC and Boston. Of course, as luck would have it, my computer decided to go a little haywire earlier this week. And, of course, as these things ALWAYS happen this way, the warranty on my laptop expired two short months ago. Fortunately, the problem is fixable (although not necessarily cheap), but in the meantime I am computerless and forced to go to the b-school once a day to check email and such. Given that classes don't start for another 10 days, I am trying to minimize my time in the building, so the blog has been put on hiatus for now. If I get the inspiration to write about the rest of my summer while on one of these marathon computer sessions, I will do so. But for now, I am awaiting for the (hopefully expedient) return of my laptop...

I'm back!

After a 33-day hiatus, I'm finally back in action. I wish I have some great excuse, like I've been travelling across the globe and haven't had internet access. But no, all it really boils down to is: I'm tired.

Somehow, I'm finding myself on Week 9 of my 12 week internship. How I got here seems a little hazy. BUT, despite the exhaustion and the occasional (at the very least) feeling of "What is going on?," I'm loving my job. I'm learning a LOT, I really like the people I'm working with, and my project is super interesting. I even got to travel to Salt Lake City for a week to do research. All in all, I'm pretty happy with how my summer is going, and am very glad that I: a. decided to go with market research over brand management, and b. accepted the Mills offer. Two thumbs up to them.

Here's a bulleted list of everything that's been going on since I've gotten to Minneapolis:

1. Welcome baskets - On Day 1, Emily and I walked in to the conference room and saw that we each had a House of Meals Welcome Bag. Inside were a bunch of meals goodies (Progresso Soup, Betty Crocker potatoes, Old El Paso taco kits, Green Giant veggies, Suddenly Salad pasta salad, a tshirt and a few other things). But, right next to my HOM bag, was this enormous basket that included a Cheerios duffel bag, cereals, soups, desserts, cake mixes, granola bars and a whole host of other things. The Consumer Insights team had gotten us CI interns these crazy welcome baskets (which I totally wish I had gotten a picture of). They certainly made me feel very welcome.

2. HOM University - On Day 2, when I still didn't know ANYTHING about what was going on, Emily and I spent the whole day in training, learning more about the Meals Division. At the end of the day, someone clearly thought I had learned enough, because I "graduated" and even received a diploma and a sweatshirt for my efforts. Only two days in, and I managed to graduate!

3. Roller Coasters - My first weekend in MN (before I had even started work), included a trip to the Mall of America. I was totally in awe of the roller coasters and I couldn't wait to go back so I could go on all the rides. Well, somehow, I have yet to make it back to the Mall of America. But, after my first week of work Meryl and I went to Valley Fair, an amusement park about 30 minutes away from my apartment. It was a perfect weather day, and the crowds weren't big at all, so we rode each coaster at least once. We also made the mistake of going on the Flume and the Rapids rides. Both would have been great if we were wearing shorts and it had been a hot summer day. Unfortunately for us, neither of those were true, and the water was freezing cold. Not a very smart decision (it was pretty much my fault). But it was a fun day, and I wouldn't mind doing it again at some point. As for the MOA roller coasters? It's still on my to-do list, so I'm trying to arm twist a few people to head over there after work one day.

4. Concerts - So I already told you about the Death Cab concert (super fun), but I also got to see Ingrid Michaelson at the Fine Line Cafe. I never would have gone if not for Meryl, but since she saw Death Cab with me, I thought it was only fair to go with her. The only Ingrid Michaelson song I had heard was the sweater song in the Old Navy commercial ("If you are chilly, here take my sweater"), which I couldn't stand because there is a line in the song that actually goes: "I'll buy you Rogaine when you start losing all your hair." Well, I'm glad I went because it was actually pretty good. There was a guy in the audience who totally cracked me up, because he was pretty much in love with her, and knew every single word to every single song, and he was literally standing about 2 feet from the stage. They even managed to have a conversation in the middle of the set! But two thumbs up for her cover of Radiohead's "Creep." It was totally unlike any version I had ever heard, but it was pretty awesome.

5. Trip to Dallas - Amazingly, my relationship with Mills started over a year ago, at The Consortium Orientation Program in Indianapolis. This year, OP was held in Dallas, and Mills offered Consortium interns the opportunity to attend this year's conference in a recruiting capacity. So, after 4 weeks on the job, I found myself trying to answer incoming students' questions related to b-school, life at Mills, and the difference between Marketing and CI. The process was completely exhausting. I think last year was much more stressful, because you had to be "on" 24/7 when talking to companies. However, the surge of adrenaline carried me through the 4 days. This time around, I was just plain tired. It was a lot of fun, though, because I got to meet some Mills people that I never would have met otherwise, and I had a good time talking to some of the incoming students. Plus, I got to have my picture taken with Lucky the Leprechaun! Also, Alex, one of my friends from school, is interning at Frito-Lay, and we were able to grab breakfast before I left town.

6. The Company Meeting - Given my former career at the Federal Government, I had never really witnessed the spectacle of a company meeting. We all got bussed to the Minneapolis Convention Center and spent the morning listening to the different execs talk about the year that was and what is up ahead for Mills. They had a really good year, so it was a very positive meeting. Plus, we got to try some of the products that are going to be introduced in the market later this year. It was a lot of good food, so I will be making a trip to the grocery store once I get back to school and stocking up on some things.

7. And speaking of food - Having the Company Store so easily accessible is probably not a good thing (for the wallet or the waistline). My addiction of the summer? Fruit Roll-Ups.

8. Beasley's herniated disc - When I got home from work on Friday, June 20th, I noticed that there was something up with Beasley. She didn't run to the door to greet me when I got home, which is super odd. Then, she couldn't/wouldn't jump up on to the couch or my bed that night. When the weird behavior continued into Saturday, I decided it was time for a visit to the vet. The diagnosis? Poor Beasley had a herniated disc. So, she went on 3 different meds (which is super fun), and I bought her doggie stairs so she could get up on to the bed. She totally ignores the stairs, but she's clearly feeling much better and is almost done with the meds. Unfortunately, she is genetically pre-disposed to have it happen again. Which not only means lots of pain for the Beast, but some pain for my wallet.

9. Trip to Salt Lake - Part of my summer project was doing Consumer Ethnographies, which means we would go into people's homes and talk to them about cooking and shopping and soup. After we did a week's worth of interviews in the Minneapolis area, I got to travel to Salt Lake City to do the same thing. I had never been to Utah (so that increased my states visited count to 35), and it was an interesting trip. I learned a lot and we talked to some interesting people. The one thing that stood out, though, was the weather. Who decides to schedule a trip in the middle of summer to a city where it's 95 degrees, and spend two hours at each person's house talking about soup? Me, that's who! It was blazing hot, but at least it was a dry heat. Plus (and who would have expected this?) I had lunch at TACO MAKER. The other guys were scared off, but it was awesome.

10. My birthday - Celebrations for this festive occasion pretty much lasted a full week. On Sunday the 22nd a group of interns had dinner at Famous Dave's. Mmm, barbecue.. On Monday, Jessica (fellow Consortium CI intern) brought in cupcakes and Mariel (another fellow Consortium CI intern) treated me to lunch at our awesome cafeteria. Seriously, the cafeteria is pretty good! That afternoon I got on the plane to Salt Lake, and proceeded to spend my actual birthday walking around in the SLC heat. That night Greg (the interviewer), Dave (the camera guy), and Thomas (the Progresso Senior CI associate) took me out to dinner. And for some reason, Greg decided it would be a good idea to serenade me with "Happy Birthday" in the middle of an SLC intersection. That is one loud man. Once I got back to Minneapolis, I went over to Hans and Alexia's for a birthday BBQ on the 29th. And with that, the birthday celebrations finally came to an end.

11. Year-end events - Since I was doing ethnographies, I missed out on a few of the year-end events at Mills. I made it to the Meals Year-End (where I got to play Guitar Hero), but missed the Meals Picnic (I was in Dallas). I also missed both the Progresso Year-End and the CI Year-End, but I did get some fun swag, including a North Face track jacket. Thumbs up for freebies! I still have the Meals CI Year-End to go, and it looks like I may be able to make it.

12. The return of Netflix - Now that the tv season is on hiatus, I have finally managed to catch up with my Netflix list. Some good movies: Hot Fuzz, Superbad, Definitely, Maybe. Some middle of the road: Becoming Jane, Sydney White, No Reservations. Some flops: Jumper. I barely made a dent in my queue, but at least I've managed to watch a few movies I've been wanting to see for a while.

13. RockBand - One of the highlights of the summer was the release of RockBand. I pre-ordered from Amazon (fortunately I had a lot of gift certificates to use, so I only had to pay a small fraction out of pocket) and have been practicing on the drums ever since I received it. It's lots of fun, but the best was probably when I had a group of interns over to play. John Hawkins singing "Say It Ain't So" was probably one of the funnier moments of the summer. And something to look forward to: the Wii Party, part 2 (scheduled for next week).

14. Trip to Indianapolis for the 4th of July - While most of my fellow interns were in Minneapolis boozing it up, or out of town boozing it up, I was in Indianapolis for a 2 year old's birthday party. As much as I joked about it, I had a lot of fun. It was great to see Joe, Tatum, Nadia and Sonia and mom and dad. Plus, as the godmother, there was no way I could miss out on the baptism. Unfortunately, the vacation was way too short, so I'm planning on driving back down to Indy between the internship and the start of school. Click on the Pipeline link for pictures of the weekend.

15. Mom and Dad visit - My trip to Indianapolis was followed by a visit by mom and dad this past weekend. Somehow they decided that Minneapolis was on the way, and they detoured an extra 7 hours from Chicago to come up. It was good having them visit, and they seemed to enjoy the city. Plus, the weather (mostly) cooperated, so it was a good weekend.

16. Family in the area - I've spent random amounts of time up in Brooklyn Park this summer, visiting cousin Hans, Alexia, and their daughter Lia. It's been good to have family in the area, and at some point very soon, they will be welcoming Hans Jr into the fold. It should be lots of fun to be around for such a special occasion.

17. CBC, world's most blazing apartment - Unfortunately, Mom and Dad's stay coincided with some of the hottest temperatures in my apartment. Everyone has commented on how big the apartment is, how nice it is, and how awesome the lake view is. But, given the lake view and the Southern exposure, my apartment gets ultra-hot during the day with the sun pouring in. While maintenance came to fix the A/C, apparently it wasn't broken at all. It just doesn't have enough power to cool down the place. The solution? They dropped off fans yesterday. Not necessarily what I thought I would be paying for this summer.

18. Catching up with classmates - It's so hard to keep in touch sometimes. With lots of work, tiredness and different timezones, it's been a bit of a challenge to keep up with my friends from school. Fortunately, I've been able to catch up with most people at least once over the phone, if not via email, and it seems that everyone is doing well. Nevertheless, I can't wait to see everyone back in Ann Arbor next month.

19. Work, work, and more work - Before you get the impression that this summer has been one non-stop social-fest, let me dispel that rumor right now. It's been hard work, and it's been time-consuming, but as I said during the very beginning, it's been great. I've learned a lot, and now it's a matter of wrapping my projects up and coming up with one kick-ass final presentation.

20. Tired, and more tired. Did I say tired? - I've worked a lot, and I certainly wasn't used to the working from 8-5 piece. Not just being at work. Working. So poor Beasley typically stays cooped up inside when I get home, because once my butt hits the couch, it pretty much doesn't move. I've even managed to pass out at 9pm on the couch and not wake up until the next morning.

21. Schedule for the rest of the summer - As busy as I have been for the past 9 weeks, it doesn't really lessen any time soon.

July 24th - Ethnography findings presentation

July 30th - A&U findings presentation

July 31st - Aug 3rd - Trip to DC for Roxana's wedding, and a chance to see former Census co-workers, Kyle, Rob, and maybe Consortium buddy Nicole

Aug 6th - Mom flies in to MN

Aug 7th - FINAL PRESENTATION

Aug 8th - LAST DAY (seriously, how did this get here so freakin' fast?)

Aug 9th - Drive from MN to Ann Arbor

Aug 11th - Mom flies back to FL

Aug 12th - Aug 14th - Trip to NYC to see Jenny

Aug 14th - Aug 17th - Trip to Boston to see Liz, Simon and Beatrice

Week of August 18th - Relax. Finally.

Aug 26th - Aug 30th (?) - Drive down to Indy to visit Joe, Tatum, Nadia and Sonia

Aug 30th - Football home opener vs Utah

Sep 2nd - Classes start

Honestly, where did my summer go? Time has flown by, and I don't foresee it not going by super quickly. I'm just glad that I've had a good time and made some pretty good friends in the process.