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.

Death Cab

Work has been keeping me plenty busy over the last few weeks. Unbelievably, I'm already well into week 4, and pretty soon, I will be 1/3 done... at least timewise. However, it hasn't been all work all the time. Last Monday (the 2nd), Meryl was kind enough to go with me to see Death Cab for Cutie in concert. Although we were complete outliers agewise (everyone else looked to young to be legally licensed drivers), it was lots of fun, with a good mix of new songs and stuff off their older albums. Enjoy the video.

The 12 hour Odyssey

On Friday May 16th, Mom and I packed the car and headed up north to MN. I tried to document the full experience, but sadly, the camera battery died right when we crossed the Wisconsin-Minnesota border. But, here's most of the 12 hour journey...

The only reason why the trunk isn't overflowing is Mom's master packing ability.

Beasley's already bored, and we're only about an hour in to the drive.

Yay for landmarks! About 3 hours from my apartment to the MI-IN border.

Awesome view: the Coach Factory store in the foreground, giant ass cooling tower in the background.

Plenty of time for picture-taking while stuck in the Chicago traffic.

Beasley finally takes a seat. It was pretty short lived, though.

Good-bye Illinois traffic, hello wide Wisconsin roads! If only WI didn't last forever...

Welcome to MN! We managed one picture of the Mississippi River, and then the camera went black.

Princess Gezo's 26th birthday

A few days after the end of the school year, those of us still left in Ann Arbor got together to celebrate Michelle's birthday. What began as a tame evening of Mexican food and then bowling finally came to an end at 3am at the karaoke "bar." It was a long, fun evening of burritos, strikes and bad music. Or, perhaps more accurately, bad renditions of good music.
Margaritas at the Mexican restaurant.
Princess Gezo (nice tiara), and her ladies-in-waiting.
The super cool ballon bouquet/bowling pin provided by the bowling alley.

Feeling the love. Or the alcohol...

Some guests are clearly fading...

But Michelle is still going strong, as evidenced by her heartful duet to "Barbie Girl." Shockingly, they scored 100%!

End of year BBQ

It's been way too long, but I'm finally spending my Sunday night catching up on such exciting things as laundry, bills and blog updating. First up, the Section Six year end BBQ. It feels like it happened five thousand years ago. And considering all that's happened since, it might as well have been!

Michelle and John Hawkins

After throwing the frisbee into the water, our fearless section leader Brent heads into the river to rescue it. As an Erber, he clearly has no reservations about what may or may not be in there...

Notice how everyone is just standing around, watching the professional do the grilling...

Bye-bye!

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go. In just a few short minutes (once we manage to shove everything into the trunk/backseat of the car), Mom and I are taking off for Minneapolis. Google Maps promises a 10 hr, 39 minute drive, but with planned stops at the outlet mall in Indiana, a lunch break somewhere along the way, and impromptu pee stops for both us and Beasley, we're hoping to be in MN by 7pm CST. Cross your fingers for us, and see you in the Land of 10,000 Lakes!

Wait, what just happened?

I know it's been a while since my last post (almost a month, to be exact), and some of you have been giving me a little lip for not keeping up.

Well, since the last post, there has been a fair amount going on. First and foremost, the school year ended. It's crazy that we're done. It's been a lot of work, but it completely flew by, so I can only imagine that graduation will be here before I know it.

Following the end of MAP, there was a lot of end-of-year celebrations: BBQs, Happy Hours, bar hopping; as well as lots of Section Six birthdays: Cafe Habana, Heidelberg, bowling and karaoke in the span of 4 days. Plus, lots of farewell meals/gatherings as everyone hightailed it out of Ann Arbor.

Beasley and I drove down to Indiana the first weekend of May for a nice and relaxing weekend (minus the whiny kid "watching" Iron Man at the theater). Since I've been back in A2, there has been some down time, along with lots of laundry, cleaning, and attempts at packing. Unbelievably, Mom flies in tomorrow and on Friday we drive up to MN. I'm amazed at how quickly my time off went, but I'm excited (and nervous) to get started with the soup on Monday.

I will post pictures of the last month soon.

Yes, Soup for Me!!!

The news is here. I'm spending the summer working on Progresso Soup!!!

I'm very excited to hear the news. It seems that they already have much of the summer planned out for me and I'm really looking forward to getting lots of hand-on experience. As for what exactly I'm working on? Apparently, it's confidential, so don't ask!

Welcome admits...

At this time last year, I was sitting in the crappy terminal at DCA, with about 10 other Ross admits living in the DC area, and we were all flying in to Ann Arbor to get an idea of what the next two years of our lives would be like if we were to enroll at Ross. By that point in time I had actually made my decision and sent in my enrollment form and deposit, and was a proud owner of a umich account. Even though I had already visited campus in November, I thought it would be a good idea to meet some of my future classmates, and possibly find housing. Well, the latter didn't happen that weekend, but I did have a good time while I was here, and going to Go Blue Rendezvous made it clear that I had done the right thing by enrolling.

Fast forward to today, and the masses will once again be descending upon Ann Arbor. According to Alex (GBR Chair, and my former tv-watching buddy until he got the GBR Chair job and has since been buried in work), over 400 admitted students and partners have registered for the event. It's crazy that only one year ago I was in their shoes. The weekend is jam-packed with activities, although I won't be around to witness most of it. Since I'm flying out to Charlotte tomorrow I couldn't volunteer to be a Student Guide (ie, no nice free meal tonight). However, I am working the Welcome Table today from 2-4:30pm in my awesome highlighter yellow t-shirt. I'm glad that I'm able to help, albeit in a small way. And now that GBR is coming to a close, I hope this means I'll be able to see Alex more often... even if school is over in 2 weeks.

Winter B - Weeks 3-5

So I've clearly been horrible about keeping up with the blog in the last few weeks. I wish I had some interesting reason why, but it essentially boils down to: "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." The last few weeks have been chock full of meetings, delays and thumb twiddling, but I finally feel like we're getting somewhere with this project. Funnily enough, our midpoint presentation is today... even though our final presentation is in 11 days. Every time I look at the calendar I get a "Holy Crap!!!" feeling. For one thing, how on Earth are we going to get everything done in the very short time period we have left? On the other hand, how the heck is it possible that in only 17 days I will be completely DONE with the first year of my MBA? Everyone told me that the two years go by quickly, but this is just ridiculous.

Anyway, there are a lot of things coming up in the next few weeks/months that I am very excited for, so I thought I would share...

• April 10th - the start of GBR (I'm working the Welcome Table from 2-4pm); Michelle, Lene and Shari get back from Spain
• April 11th-13th - in Charlotte for Erin's wedding!!!; Nathalie gets back from India
• April 18th - the final presentation
• April 24th - the final paper is due, and the first year is OVER
• May 19th - my first day at Mills
• May 30th-June 1st - in Boston for Beatrice's first birthday
• July 3rd-6th - in Indianapolis for Nadia's second birthday and Sonia's baptism
• July 29th - my last day at Mills
• July 30th-August 3rd (?) - in DC for Roxana's wedding!!!

I really have no idea how my summer became so jam-packed already, but I'm looking forward to being able to see family and friends so consistently over the next few months. And of course, I'm looking forward to the internship and getting to know Minneapolis. It's amazing that when I started this whole process (applying to schools, OP/recruiting, classes) everything seemed so far down the road. But nope, not anymore!

Oh, and some very positive news on the weather-related front... it's been sunny and "warm" (mid-50s) for the past few days, so I hope this keeps up!