Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from Indiana! The weather is just a bit colder than Florida, but it's nice to be able to spend time with the rest of the family. It's been a big 2007 for me, and hopefully 2008 will be just as good.

Be safe where ever you may be!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from warm Orlando, FL! I've been here for a week, and it's been nice to escape the chilly Midwest, if only for a while.

Things have been a bit nutty this week, what with family running around and shopping to do. Nevertheless, it's been nice to sleep in and not worry about studying.

As per Perez family holiday tradition, there was a trip to the ER on Christmas Eve. Mom, while seasoning the "pernil" (a big piece of pork), stabbed herself in the webbing between her pinky and ring finger on her left hand. Of course she played the injury down, but it was off to the hospital to get her skin glued back together. Thankfully everything is ok, and there was no damage.

As per more family tradition, we opened our gifts up on Christmas Eve. Santa was busy writing checks this year. I had asked for a Wii, which I can now afford, but might make some of my family members kind of upset. Apparently there's some concern that I can balance the studying with the Wii playing. I haven't decided what to buy yet. I should probably spend it on something practical, like schoolbooks and electric bills. But ha! There's no way that's going to happen!

I hope you all had a great Christmas, whereever in the world you may be!

Weapons down

So, the verdict is in. All my grades have been returned. Of the seven classes I took this semester, I did better in some, what I expected in others and worse than in expected in one (really, apparently I CANNOT deal with people). Overall, I'm very happy with my performance, which leads me to wonder how things would have gone in college if I had "applied" myself better the first two years. Oh, well, I'll guess we'll never know.

One other thing that has resulted from my current academic performance is the grumblings of me being a gunner. I had a vague idea of what this was (it's not a good thing), but I still had to look it up online. So, courtesy of Wikipedia, here is the definition of an academic gunner:

• In The United States a "gunner" is an overly competitive student, typically in law school or medical school. Calling someone a gunner is usually highly offensive. A gunner is also overly ambitious and often excitedly volunteers oral answers in class that are, by turns, incorrect, off-topic, or specifically designed to demonstrate the questionable "intellectual" prowess of the person supplying them. These questions are often prefaced with phrases like "A cursory literature search revealed . . . " A gunner will compromise his or her peer relationships in order to obtain recognition and praise from his or her instructors and superiors, often by directly harming or attempting to harm the academic well-being of said peers.

As soon as I saw the definition, I knew this wasn't me. Considering I rarely talk in class, it's pretty obvious I can't be called a gunner. But when I made this argument to some of my section-mates, one of them agreed, but then called me a sniper. Really? How is that any better?

TSA poster child

I'm at the airport waiting to board my flight to FL. Considering we're supposed to take off in 15 minutes, I'm willing to bet the flight's going to be delayed, regardless of what the monitor at the gate says.

Anyway, my drive to Indy went well. The only bad part was the chunks of icy snow that flew off a few of the semis on the road. There's something about having things flying directly at you when you are doing 79mph on the highway that just isn't pleasant. My 18 hour stay at the Perez household was fun. I got to practice some strumming action playing Guitar Hero, and Nadia got to open her Christmas gift from me. I think Tatum liked it more than Nadia did :)

And a quick story to explain the entry title... I went through security and my bin got pulled over by the TSA agent. There were about 5 of us waiting in line to have our things inspected, and the guy ahead of me got yelled at for not having his liquids and gels in a plastic bag. His TSA agent was explaining to him how he needed to pack his stuff, and then he grabbed my ziploc out of the bin and said: "See how she did it?" It's nice to be recognized for being such a rules follower... never mind that the last time I flew I was the one getting yelled about the by TSA rep at the Orlando airport!

Boarding has commenced... Florida weather awaits!

Thwarted again

It may only be coincidence, or it may be becoming a trend. Once again, I tried to leave for break and had to push my plans back for a day. I got stuck here in Fall A working on a group project. This time, the weather decided to wreak havoc with my schedule. I was supposed to drive down to Indianapolis on Sunday, and fly out to warm Florida today. Unfortunately, the snow started falling on Saturday night, and the weather report was calling for snow all through Sunday, as well as strong winds. So I pushed everything back by a day, and thank goodness I did. The reported snow total in Ann Arbor? 10.5 inches. That's just nuts!!! I did manage to enjoy my extra day of rest. Because rest I did. After my messy finals sleep schedule, I essentially napped on and off all afternoon. It felt good to be a lazy bum. But now it's back to being productive. I just need to pack my bags and head on out. And I can only hope that Winter A break goes off without a hitch.

Finished

And blessedly, it's over. I've pretty much been studying and taking exams for 56 hours straight. In that time, I've slept a cumulative 11 hours and drank more caffeinated and sugary beverages than the average person should consume in a month. I'm bone tired right now, so I'm headed off to take a 2 hour siesta before I head out to drive people to the airport.

The good news? Fall 2007 is over and I get three whole weeks to recover before the insanity starts all over again.

Die, CTools, die

It's a little after 5am, and I've finally finished my MO final (due today at noon). All I want to do is go to CTools (the website where you find all your course information including syllabi and slides, and also where you submit homework assignments and exams) to submit my "masterpiece." But, of course, there's a stupid outage right now, meaning I can't log on, meaning I can yet submit my exam. And it's not like it's a big deal, because I still have 7 hours. But it's been a long night, I'm finally done with this paper and I just want to get it off my hands. Plus, there's always the worry that if I go to sleep right now, I may pass out and not wake up in time to submit my exam. Damn CTools for killing my joy of finishing MO!!!

Six on Six

Six on Six was a success! Last Friday night, about 2/3 of Section Six (and some of their Partners) headed off to dinner at eight different locations. Each house had a different kind of cuisine (including French, Chinese and Indian) cooked by a section "chef." I was supposed to be eating the food made by our actual professional chef, Matt J, but a last minute rash of RSVPs required some reshuffling, and I actually hosted a dinner in my apartment. And before you start to worry, no, I didn't cook. Lorraine volunteered to make the 8th meal, so we had Filipino food, which was really good. I even enjoyed the spinach dish!

After we ate, the seven of us sat around for another hour, just chatting. It was a great way to get to know my section mates better (or in some cases, get to know them at all). Clean-up wasn't QUITE as fun, so thank goodness for the dishwasher. After dinner, everyone met at Leopold's for some more bonding. All in all, from the reports that came in from all the different dinners, all the food was great, the alcohol was flowing, and everyone is ready to do it again next term!

The lucky recipients of the Filipino Feast. From L-R: Amy and Chris N, Jose and Maria, Lorraine (the chef), and Christtian.

The last Sixers at Leopold's. From L-R: Dmitriy, Gopi, Me, Audrey, Lorraine, Christtian and Brent

Countdown part 2

It's that time again. Feel free to count down with me.

DONE: MO final, Finance final, Marketing final

Ice skating

Wendesday was MBA1 ice skating day. We reserved the rink at Yost for 2 hours so we could jus hang out and not think about work for a bit. Given that I had already fallen down that day (my bruise is looking pretty gross right now), I didn't do too much skating. I think I may have only done two laps around the rink, and one of those was when Brent grabbed my arm and took me along for a ride. Here are some pictures of skating and the subsequent night out (photos courtesy of Michelle).

Consortium Sixers - Audrey and LaTisha

Sixer chicas

Michelle, looking like she just walked out of the J Crew catalog

Four random guys standing in a bar - Matt J, Brent, Joe M and Hugh

Quick hits

Last week was fairly stressful considering all the work that went into our Marketing group project. I know I've been MIA for a week, so here are some quick points to get you all up to speed.

• Schoolwork: Within the last week I had two MO assignments (one group, one individual), two finance problem sets, and our Marketing mini-case (including a paper and an in-class presentation), all with due dates between Tuesday Nov 27th and Monday Dec 3rd. Some things went better than others (finance said hello to failure), but fortunately it's all complete now. Of course, not that the workload ever lessens. Classes are done next Tuesday (the 11th), and all my finals will be complete by the 15th. In that time, we still have a group case due for finance and a potential in-class presentation for marketing. Basically, there's a crapload of work still to do before I can make my Christmas escape. And a random note about our Marketing mini-case. Our project was on Yellow Tail, an Australian wine. Because CLEARLY no one is more knowledgeable about alcohol than I am!
• Social activities: Last weekend I went to a performance of Handel's Messiah. Super cultured of me, no? It was mostly fun, but three hours of sitting in the cramped theater seats were a little much. Other social activity on the horizon? Ice-skating tonight (hopefully I won't be falling on my butt) and Section Six on Six dinner. I'm currently slotted to eat dinner cooked by our section's professional chef. I'm excited and a little afraid at the same time. You all know how picky I am, and let's just say that the menu that I saw is a bit terrifying. However, this may be subject to change due to last minute RSVPs, so I will keep everyone posted.
• Weather: It's Michigan. It's cold. And snow keeps falling. I'm not happy.
• Bump, bump, bump: I consider myself to be a fairly intelligent person. Unfortunately, everyone sometimes has lapses in judgement. When I woke up today, there was a blanket of snow outside, but left my routine unaltered. When I got to the b-school today I had some things to take care of before class. This lead to some sprinting up and down stairs, all the time shouldering my absurdly heavy backpack. Now, as I just said, it was snowing outside, so of course everyone that's walked into the b-school has tracked in snow, ice and whatever form of moisture you could think of, leading to wet tiled staircases. I'm sure you've figured out where I'm going with this. While running down the stairs to get to my marketing class, which wasn't even due to begin for another 20 mins, I took a spill, landing flat on my butt, HARD. And proceeded to slide down a few more steps. Very movie-like. End result? Broken skin and bleeding on my middle finger on my right hand (not sure what I even hit it on), and a VERY bruised and tender back left thigh. Clearly I'm a genius. Fortunately, there were no witnesses...

Only 12 days until I am down in warm Orlando!

Thanksgiving Break: RockBand

So my brother-in-law Simon went out on Black Friday at 3:45am to purchase a tv. By the time he got home, he had a tv (with a larger screen than he originally wanted to buy), a PS3, and RockBand. Our inner musicians all came out over the weekend. Here are some pictures of us rocking out!

Even Nadia got into the swing of things. Here she is wielding the mic!

Thanksgiving Break: Family

Random snapshots of the weekend... mostly the cousins, who played nice during the whole weekend!

Look at me, intently analyzing the Big Picture!

Thanksgiving Break: Baptism

Thanksgiving was busy, so there are lots of pictures. I decided to break it up into sections. First up, Beatrice's baptism.
The proud parents, godparents and beatiful Beatrice.

Not great pictures, but truly classic Simon. I've missed the sense of humor!

Back to work

Thanksgiving Break was fun. My five days in Boston were all about crazy family time, eating good food and rocking out to Rock Band. Of course, with three other digital cameras making the rounds, I didn't take a single picture, but I'm trying to track some down from the other photogs. I hope to have some soon.

In the meantime, unfortunately, all good things come to an end. I'm back at school, and facing a crazy week. Finance problem sets, MO assignments and marketing cases galore. It's crazy to think, but I will be done with Fall B in only 18 days!!!

Breaking news

It's official. On Thursday I called the HR rep at General Mills and accepted the CI summer internship offer. I'm very excited about the opportunity. I get to spend 12 weeks working with the Pillsbury Doughboy, the Jolly Green Giant, Lucky (from Lucky Charms), and the Trix rabbit. Yay for food!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello from Boston! I hope everyone had safe travels to their Thanksgiving destinations. Enjoy the holiday, eat way too much turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes and have fun relaxing!!! And for those of you heading out insanely early tomorrow morning to start your shopping, good luck and try not to get trampled!

Sucky Saturday

Well, that was a bummer. I was super excited for Saturday's Big Showdown. The pre-game didn't disappoint... I certainly hadn't seen this level of energy at a football game. It was a great atmosphere. Unfortunately, the game didn't live up to the hype... the game pretty much sucked. Michigan didn't score after the first half. To add insult to injury, it was cold and rainy the whole game. I don't think I had ever been so physically uncomfortable in my whole life. Not even the Penn v Harvard football game my Senior year was this bad!!! And with that, the Michigan football regular season comes to a close. A lot of fun and crazier than I expected, but still a bit of a disappointment. But you so know I'm buying season tickets for next year!

Given that my hands were too cold to hold on to my camera, this is the only picture I got on Game Day (and this was before the actual game). The sign on the Hummer says "Screw Blue," and as you can see, it drives around with a Michigan player as the hood ornament. Even though I am obligated to say I hate the Buckeyes, I actually thought the car was pretty hilarious. But even better was when a Michigan fan walked up to the car and stole the dummy right off the hood! Needless to say, the driver was PISSED! Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your view), the traffic cop told the UM fan to put the Wolverine dummy back, so there were no fisticuffs involved.

Countdown to the big showdown

The Michigan/Wisconsin and OSU/Illinois games didn't go as planned, as both the Wolverines and Buckeyes lost last Saturday. Nevertheless, the game this Saturday is still worth plenty, as the winner of the game wins the Big Ten title and heads off to the Rose Bowl in January. Despite the fact that I could have sold my ticket to the game and recovered the cost of my season tickets, there's no way I would want to miss this epic showdown on Saturday. Screw studying and screw the cold weather that's expected. It's not too often you get to witness a true rivalry.

GO BLUE!!! BEAT OSU!!!

Birthday dinner

Once Nathalie finally made it back from Miami, we took her out for a belated birthday dinner. Not only did we get to enjoy some good food, we also helped out a great cause, as the proceeds of our dinner went to a non-profit organization.
While Nathalie was happy about the dinner, she was clearly more excited about her present: a gift card to DSW. Here she is trying to figure out whether she needs to buy a pair of replacement boots.

Happy Birthday!

Quick post to wish both Erin and Nathalie a Happy Birthday!!! Hopefully I'll be able to talk to both of you today.

Weather and Grades and Participation, Oh My!

We're still at the beginning of November and it's only the second week of Fall B, but there's plenty going on.

Weather

It's official. The weather in Michigan sucks. On my way to class this morning, it started to snow. Not hard, and not long-lasting. But, nevertheless, there was snow on November 6th. It's been absurdly cold, and I know it's not going to get any better. However, repeat after me: "It's only two years."

Grades

Fall A has been over for a long time. Our final assignment/exam was due on October 20th. And finally, two weeks later, all of our grades have been posted. Even though grades don't matter for future marketers, I'm happy to report I did well, and better than I thought I would. Of course, in the odd grading system that is b-school, where curves are forced and 95% of the class gets a Pass or better (which in the letter equivalent system a Pass is the same as a "B"), I know it doesn't mean too much. But I'm still happy and glad that my hard work paid off. I just hope I can keep it up!

Participation

Speaking in public is not my favorite pastime. As opinionated as I can be sometimes, when it comes to class discussion I tend to clam up. I somehow went through Strategy last term without talking (I don't know how that happened), but it's not like the problem goes away. Two of my classes this term (Marketing and MO) are participation intensive. Today in MO I finally (VOLUNTARILY) spoke in class. Even better, the professor said "That's an excellent point." Yippee!!! You know it's a big deal for me when multiple classmates came up to me afterwards and made it a point to congratulate me for speaking. B-school: it's really all about doing things you normally wouldn't do.

Random side comment: Congratulations to Nathalie, who became an aunt today when her sister in Florida delivered twin boys. Welcome to the wonderful world of aunt-hood, where you get to spoil the kids and still give them back when they're acting up!

Rings galore

And the good news keeps pouring in. In May, my friend Erin (classmate at Penn) called to tell me she was engaged. In July, my friend Jenny (classmate/roommate at Penn) called to tell me about her trip to Italy (at which point I found out she got engaged). And just a few hours ago, my friend Roxana (former co-worker at the Census) posted on her Facebook page that she got engaged.

Normally I'm not one for dressing up and going to parties, but I'm certainly looking forward to all these weddings in the near future. Congratulations everyone!!!

Fall B schedule

We're a week into Fall B. As you can see from my schedule, I'm only taking three classes (I know, I'm such a slacker!) But, I feel like there's a lot more work to do for these three than I had to do for my Fall A classes. Plus, MO 503 is a Human Behavior and Organization class, which is all about learning how to manage people. You can all feel free to laugh while you think of how I will probably do in that class.

Fall Break, Michigan Style

Fall Break was definitely too short. After less than 48 hours in Orlando, I hopped on a plane Friday at 11:50am, flew to Charlotte, got on another plane to Indy and was in my car by 4:45pm. I spent the next 5.5 hours hustling it up to the Detroit airport to pick up my friend Kyle, who was visiting for the weekend from DC (mostly to see the football game, I'm sure). The weekend was fun, although, again, way too short. I got to go to the casinos in Detroit (twice), freeze my butt off at the Michigan/Minnesota game (5-0 in the Big Ten!!!), watch the Mud Bowl (undergrads have some pretty questionable traditions), and enjoy some yummy meals courtesy of Kyle's parents (Kyle's youngest sister is a freshman and it was parents' weekend, so I got to spend a good chunk of time with two-thirds of the Mulgrew clan). I also spent way more time than I would have watching baseball playoffs, but that's my own fault for associating with Red Sox fans. Here are a few pictures from the weekend. Clearly, not great weather in the Ann Arbor area, but it was pretty much par for the course for the entire break.
MudBowl. Two frats playing touch football in the mud. It was raining and super cold. Honestly, what's the appeal?

Don't we look so cool in our matching sweatshirts?

Great final scoreboard, but take a look at the weather surrounding the scoreboard.

Once I dropped Kyle at the airport Sunday night, it was back to reality. Classes started again today, and even though I'm only taking 3 courses, it's still going to be a lot of work. The upside? I don't have 8am classes every day! Mondays and Wednesdays don't start until 10:20am. Thank goodness for that.

Fall Break, Florida Style

Here are a few pictures of my Fall Break trip to Orlando. Basically, it's just a photo spread of the World's Cutest Niece, Nadia (who is, of course, tied for 1st with Beatrice). And by the way, take a look at the bump on Tatum. Reese Marie should be making her entrance in mid-March 2008.

Surprise!

For about the last two or three weeks, I have been lying through my teeth to my parents. A few days ago, on this very blog, I posted that my plans for Fall Break included a drive down to Indiana to visit Joe, Tatum, and Nadia, a trip to NYC to visit companies, and a weekend visit by Kyle. Well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad. But instead of heading to NYC, I hopped on a plane with Joe, Tatum, and Nadia on Wednesday morning, and we all flew to Orlando. They had already planned this long ago, as they were stopping in FL for a few days before heading to PR for a wedding. But, I was an unexpected guest. So, I kept telling my parents all about my plans for New York, and which companies I was going to see, etc.

Then, when we landed at the airport, I waited at the gate for a few minutes while everyone said hello and mom got to see Nadia and fawn all over her. When I finally headed over to baggage claim, my parents were both totally engrossed in their granddaughter, so I walked up to them and said "Hey." The look of surprise was priceless. I was so glad to have caught them off guard (although Dad claims that he knew something was awry.) It'll be a short visit, but I was glad I was able to come at all.

Home Sweet Home

My very first post of this blog promised that pictures of my apartment were going to be posted soon thereafter. That was September 1st, and still nothing. The reason why? Well, I've discovered that there is not a lot of time for housecleaning. And even if there is spare time for that, I would rather sleep. Although I would keep the bathroom, kitchen and living room clean for my guests, my bedroom was typically a different story. So now that Fall A is done, I had some spare time to clean before heading down to Indiana. (And the fact that I have a house guest next weekend really made it imperative that I clean). So, finally, seven weeks later, here are some pictures of my Ann Arbor digs.

My apartment from the outside. I've got the first floor (the door on the left). And that's my patio that I've never set foot on.

The living room (straight out of the Ikea catalog).

Living/Dining room. And my beautiful Michigan artwork (thanks Jenny!).

The kitchen (cabinets circa 1980s, or so I've been told). This is probably the room that gets the least amount of use (shocking, right?)

A Perez family tradition: my very own Costco closet.

My room, all clean, with all the boxes that hadn't been unpacked finally put away

NOW it's over!!!

Once again, planning that didn't pan out. If you look at my Fall Break schedule, I should be in Indiana right now. Well, that didn't happen. It was 5:30am when I finally gave up on the paper. I went to sleep, forgot to set my alarm, and almost flaked out on taking Nathalie to the airport (the only reason I woke up was because she called me at 12:20pm -- granted, I had already missed about two phone calls and three text messages). Fortunately, her flight was an hour later than I thought, so we made it in time. I got back to my apartment at 3pm, got back to work, and by 6:30pm, I handed in our manifesto: 50 pages on the video game industry and Atari vs EA (that includes 27 pages of exhibits). I'm glad to be done with that, and by tomorrow afternoon I will be down in Indiana, and ready to relax!

Study break

It's 11pm on Friday night, and sadly, our group paper isn't quite finished. Oh, crap!!! The past week has been pretty crazy. I did the math... since last Saturday night, I've averaged a little less than 4.5 hours of sleep per night, with a 2.5 hour nap tossed in on Monday afternoon. I certainly need a bit of a break, and Ross gives us a whole week off between Fall A and Fall B!!! (That was sarcasm by the way.) The last seven weeks have been jam-packed, and I think I'm going to need a month to recover. But, oh well.

As for my plans over Fall Break? Nothing too relaxing, unfortunately. So, here's the schedule:

• Fri 11pm-Sat 2pm: Finish and hand in the group Strategy paper, clean my apartment, do laundry, pack and drive Nathalie to the airport (I'm such a good friend)
• Sat 2pm-Sat 6pm: Drive to Indiana
• Sat 6pm-Tues 2pm: Relax in Indy with Joe, Tatum and Nadia
• Tues 2pm-Tues 6pm: Drive back to Michigan
• Tues 6pm-Wed 8am: Pack, clean, laundry, go to airport
• Wed 8am-Fri 7pm: In New York, visiting companies
• Fri 7pm-Sun 9pm: Back in Michigan, driving Kyle around, going to the Michigan/Minnesota game, and trying not to think that classes start back up on Monday

Truly a busy week (and not originally intended as such), but it should definitely be fun.

And by the way, I mentioned in an earlier post that I was selected as a Ross Ambassador. I just got an email the the new website is up, so feel free to take a look at my profile. What do you think? Would you ask me for advice about applying to school? http://www.bus.umich.edu/Admissions/Mba/Tours/ambassadors.htm

Yay, it's O-V-E... oh, wait

So the Thursday 6pm deadline has passed, which was supposed to mark the end of Fall A. Unfortunately, as the say, "the best laid plans..." So the revised estimate is noon on Saturday. At that point in time, I am dropping off our group strategy paper and driving off into the sunset (really Indiana, but who's keeping track). So while I don't get to fully enjoy tomorrow, at least I am done with exams (YAY!), and all we really have to do with the paper is formatting. Three cheers for (ALMOST) being done.

Hiatus

It's a busy time here in Ann Arbor. It's hard to believe, but the end of Fall A is almost upon us. Of course, nothing ever comes easy, and the next few days are full of finals and papers. I'm apologizing in advance... there will likely be no new content until this is all over, but feel free to stop by and check on my progress. Fall A has been reduced to a ticking clock...

UPDATE

Completed-Individual strategy paper, BE final, Statistics final, Accounting final, Group strategy paper

Remaining-NOTHING!!!

Timing...

Isn't this how it usually happens? You have so much going on, you really have no time for anything BUT your work. Your schedule is packed, you're way too stressed, and, inevitably, you get sick.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise. For the last 6 weeks I haven't been getting enough sleep. We're all packed into the Exec Res building, so germs clearly circulate at a higher rate. Plus, there was the whole travel to Houston issue. Breathing in recycled plane air never helps either. So, for the past few days I've been carrying around my Kleenex, sitting with my mouth agape because my nose is completely stuffed up and otherwise there's no way I can breathe. It's not a pretty sight, but the funny thing is that since so many of my classmates are also sick, there's no spare sympathy to be spread around. I can only hope that this doesn't last all through finals. Which, if you've been keeping track, are over in 8 days. Then I get one week of "freedom" to relax.

More about my Fall Break plans in a later post!

Yum

It's no secret that I have an offer for a summer intership at General Mills. While at NSHMBA, I was able to speak to some more Mills reps, which was good. I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet, but the people at Mills certainly want to make this happen.

When I got home from Houston, I had a package from MN waiting for me. Inside, all kinds of Mills goodies to "keep me going through semester late nights." I'm so excited about my freebies... I'm like a little kid at Christmas! And the best part? Front and center, CARAMEL BUGLES!!!

NSHMBA

I made it back from Houston tired, but in one piece. Of course, I didn't take as many pictures as I should have, and it's tough to describe the atmosphere at the Career Expo. Imagine hundreds of students walking around with resumes, talking to company after company in hopes of getting a job. There were over a hundred companies from all industries (CPGs, tech, consulting, etc), and giveaways everywhere. Some not so good things I saw? A poor girl, who when asked what her favorite General Mills brand was, answered something NOT made by General Mills. When the corporate rep busted her on it, the girl turned bright red. Then there was the guy who tried to challenge the CIA rep by asking if the internship was focused on "training or development?" When the CIA rep tried to get the kid to establish the difference between the two, there was a lot of flustered ums and wells.

Possibly the craziest thing I saw at the Expo, the giant Waste Management garbage truck. Nathalie and Marlene's suggested tag line for the company? "Come dump your resume here!"

On Thursday, our grand dinner plan was to go to Pappasito's located at 1510 Polk St, where we were going to meet Xavi and some other Michigan people. After walking about 10 blocks in the steamy Houston evening, we arrived at 1510 Polk, home of the Toyota Center, NOT a restaurant. Of course, Xavi's cellphone had died, so we never met up with him. After lots of walking we ate at some random pub. Good food, but not Mexican! We finally found a Pappasito's at the airport. This picture is courtesy of the random drunk guy we found at the Food Court. "What does that mean?"

So little time

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. There's really not too much to report, except for the fact that the end of Fall A is RAPIDLY approaching! This means that the quantity of work has really stepped up. Only two more weeks of class, and then finals begin. Yet somehow, in this time, we have two stat quizzes, two econ problem sets, an accounting quiz, and a strategy paper due. Toss in three finals over three days and a group paper (theoretically due October 20th, but with a self-imposed date of October 11th), it's really a wonder that I get to sleep at all. Also, since I head out for Houston on Thursday for NSHMBA, I'm feeling more than a little stressed. But, it will all get done in the end.

Plus, that doesn't mean that I'm locking myself in my apartment for the next three weeks. Tomorrow I get to experience something of a Michigan tradition (or so I've heard)... Whirly Ball. Not that I have any clue how to play, but who cares? I'm looking forward to making an ass out of myself and hopefully forget about all the work that is waiting for me. I'll try to post pictures before I leave for NSHMBA.

Lazy Saturday

For the first Saturday in a month there is no Michigan home game. While I'm grateful to have the extra day to do work, I don't really feel like I'm making the most of my "day off." Certainly, while laundry and errands are exciting, they're not really comparable to a football game.

In other news, Thursday was a none-too fun day. I got my graded Econ midterm and Strategy paper back. Not what I was hoping for, but I suppose it could have been worse. And, again, because I can't seem to get it to stick into my head: GRADES DON'T MATTER. So, I brushed off my disappointment by hanging out with my Section-mates at Happy Hour at Scorekeepers. No, there was no heavy drinking on my part, but at least it was good to chill out. And yesterday was devoted to studying. Only 3 weeks left until the end of Fall A!

LOAFing around

I took Sunday off to head to the outlet malls and do some shopping. Nathalie, Shari, Alex and I hit the stores, spent way too much money, and generally enjoyed hanging out. One of the stores we visited was Pepperidge Farm (lord knows what is wrong with the food that it winds up at the outlet), where I picked up a loaf of Oatmeal Bread to save myself a trip to Meijer (expiration date on the bread be damned).

After a long day of shopping, and 30 mins of being stuck in traffic, we finally made it back to campus, just in time for resume review. Everyone started grabbing their shopping bags from the trunk and sped off to their separate meetings. On Monday afternoon, when I finally got around to putting all my stuff away, I realized I had a loaf of Whole Wheat, NOT Oatmeal. Either I was completely spacey at the store, or someone stole my bread!

Turns out Shari was the culprit, as she took my bread instead of hers. She claims it was Alex's fault (blame shifter!), but my main concern was getting my bread back. Even though Shari had already eaten 1/4 of the loaf (she thought the cashier sold her the wrong bread), I brought her unopened Whole Wheat to the B-school today to complete the switch. And you would think that no one had ever seen such a thing! In the span of six hours, over 20 people asked me why I had a loaf of bread with me. From the stares and questions I got, you would have thought I was carrying something illegal around. Get a grip, people... it's just bread!!!

PS Happy Birthday, Mom! Busy daughter that I am, there's no gift or birthday card this year. But, at least there was a phone call!

um...

So, that was not a fun hour and a half. For those of you who were not aware, I had my BE midterm today from 4:30pm-6pm. A large part of the week, as well as most of today, were spent studying microeconomics. Going into the test I felt I had a decent grasp on the concepts.

Sadly, it was a bit of a rude awakening. THAT TEST WAS KILLER. I should be used to impossible exams (hello, Penn undergrad), but I think I lost my touch. Fortunately for me, the vast majority of my classmates also had a tough time. Given the forced curve, getting 2/3 of the test wrong may still net you an "Excellent." Oh well, once again, grades don't count.

In much better news, however, today I found out that I was selected to be a Ross Student Ambassador. This means I get to be a liaison between prospective students and the school. I'm very excited that I may be able to help prospective MBAs with their future plans. Once my bio is up on the website, I will post the link so you can all check it out.

Now that BE is done, time to relax, go out and have fun. At least for tonight...

MBA humor

I think we may have officially lost our minds. As MBA1s, we spend a lot of time in class together. We're all very busy this week, studying for our BE midterm (which is tomorrow), and the sleep deprivation seems to be getting to us. To the left, Lauren's attempt at mapping studying efforts to the concepts in our econ class.

And they say that MBAs don't have a sense of humor!

Happy Happy Joy Joy

Following our weekend of craziness, Section Six decided to kick back, relax and enjoy a few drinks at Happy Hour on Monday night. It was nice to finally breathe. Although not too much relaxing, because our BE midterm is right around the corner (Friday, to be exact).
At Good Time Charley's

Clockwise, starting with 12 (and the guy behind the umbrella stand): Matt Jung, Matt Plumb, John Hawkins, Joe M, Meryl, Alden, Katie, Anne, Audrey, Anurag, Lorraine, Me, Michelle (the brains behind this event, but NOT Section Six Social Chair)

For those of us who weren't quite ready for Happy Hour to end, Charley's was followed up by a visit to Ann Arbor Brewing Company.

From L-R: Hugh, Michelle, Me, Matt Jung, Cristine

Maize Out Saturday

After spending Thursday night and all of Friday studying hard, I decided that Saturday was going to be a day for having fun. Maize (the color formerly known as Yellow) was the star of the day.

The day kicked off with a baby shower for one of my classmates. Lene hosted said event, and made all of us attendees paint a onesie for the mom-to-be.

My fabulous work of art. It's very apparent that I did NOT come to B-school to develop my artistic ability.

Following the baby shower, it was off to the Big House, where the 0-2 Wolverines had a date with the 0-2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Lest we be confused with the sad, sad fans of the Irish, it was Maize Out Day at the Big House. Meaning, wear Yellow or perish.

John and Randy, proudly wearing their Maize. Not only are these guys both MBA1's, not only are the fellow Consortium, but they are also Penn grads! Randy (on the left) is Class of '02 and is part of Section One, and John (in the ode to beer t-shirt) is Class of '04 and a fabulous Section Sixer.

The scoreboard says it all. It was a great day to root for the Maize and Blue, and a great way to witness my first win as a Wolverine.

You'd think that after all this excitement I would be ready to go home. But first, there was a stop at the Bus (where I got to stand outside and freeze for 2 hours), and then dinner with section-mate Hugh and his wife Sarah. We went to Sabor Latino, a Latino restaurant on Main St. The first thing on the menu? Lechon asado with rice and beans and fried plantains. Sadly, they were all out. So I will be going back at some point in the near future to get my lechon!