:Nintendo Widow

I’m back in school as of 5pm last Monday night. There are forty of us in the condensed Direct Marketing class that takes place over two and a half weeks before the regular quarter starts. Is it interesting? Yes. Is it tough, hell yes. Is it worth it to cram a four quarter class into nine sessions? Maybe…. So far, it’s been fun if not exhausting. We had eight hours of class today and we return for a mild six on Friday. I have 45 minute team presentation due on Monday morning so this weekend will be brutal but it’s okay. I made no plans since I knew that this assignment would probably kick my ass.

Despite the late nights and early mornings it is good to be back with my friends. The class is split between full-time 08 students and evening 08 and 09 students. In other words, it’s a different dynamic but it’s good. I also get to see some of my evening friends who went on the study tour to China.

In other news, I’m working on a part-time, contract basis for a local company. I’m doing independent research for a short-term research project. It is very exciting stuff and I plan to dedicate much more time to it after this weekend. I’m also debating about whether or not I should attend a national MBA job fair in October. There are some great companies there but I’m torn. I don’t fit in to the finance or marketing job description and I’ve been rebuffed at other job fairs. I’m not giving up but the conference is out of state and I’d have to stay there for three days. The point is that I need to prioritize and act quickly.

No Comments

I’ve been in Texas for a week now and it. is. awesome. If you asked me three years ago if I thought TX was awesome I would have told you hell no. But it is. Oh but it is. I had a full day of painful food ingestion and a ridiculous amount of exercise. Fortunately, I performed those in reverse order. I went to the most wonderful Thundercloud on Guadalupe for lunch, got my eyebrows done by a very nice Iranian woman located on the Drag and then bought some shorts for 2.88 at Academy on Brodie Lane. After that, my sister-in-law invited me to do her 6 mile walk down Slaughter Lane before dinner. I survived the walk although I will be in severe pain tomorrow. We then went out for a late supper at Polvo’s on South First Street. I drank lots of cheap margaritas and enjoyed their incredible fajita beef tacos.

Tomorrow, I’m going to my hometown to help my mom get ready for her Labor Day party. This will involve lots of cooking, drinking and shopping. I’m such a girl but this sounds like lots of fun. However, my mom invited some of my high school classmates and I’m not really sure what to think of that. We’ll see what happens.

By the way, when I went walking today, the temperature was 89 outside and I though “Wow, this is cool for August!”

2 Comments

Danny, Daniel and I made it back to Texas late last night. My internship ended a week ago and since then I’ve been hanging out with my brother in Seattle. We did a ton of stuff including a two-day trip to Vancouver. The point is, I’m free! Ha ha, free until my condensed direct marketing class starts on 9/10. No more 9-5, no more commute, just vacation.

No Comments

I only have three more days left before my 3 week vacation begins. Whoohoo! My internship ends on Friday and my brother arrives on Saturday evening. One of my friends is having a 30th birthday pub crawl on Saturday night so I think we’ll meet her and her husband at that sometime around 8pm. In other words, the weekend is shaping up. I’m really excited about my brother’s visit and that he’ll get to meet most of my (drunken) friends.

Strange: I have no less than four internship exit interviews this week. I’m really glad that they want to know what I thought of my time but seriously? What’s the deal? I’ve met a lot of cool people during my time at work so I appreciate their effort. I’m just wondering if it’s part of their job requirements or if it’s something else. I guess I’ll find out soon.

Pub Club this week should be awesome. It’s a going-away gathering for everyone going abroad this fall. We’re having it at one of my favorite bars: a Japanese izakaya downtown. Everything is fried and tasty. How can I not like it?

I’m excited for my friends but so sad! Some of my very best friends will be gone for four months. If I had time off, I’d go visit them in Spain, Shanghai and Hong Kong. It will be weird not having them around but seriously? I’ll be fine. We’ll still have two more quarters together before it’s time to get real jobs and start paying back loans.

No Comments

Tonight I met my winter quarter team for dinner and drinks. Even though our quarter ended in early March, it has taken us five months to find time to meet again as a team. We had a wonderful homemade curry dinner plus dessert. I had no idea how much I missed my friends until we were all gathered together again dishing about our internships and lamenting the loss of Kien to Shanghai for the fall quarter. Coming together at the end of a short summer made me realize how short our stint in grad school really is. At the end of fall quarter last year we all cringed at the thought of having five more just like it. Now I cringe at the thought of being done in less than a year! I have a lot to do and not much time left. If I want time to do it all and have time to play I’d better learn to survive without sleep.

No Comments

I can’t think of anything clever to say, so here’s a rundown of what I did this week.

For some reason, I had a very very long week. It was productive and pretty fun but it just went on forever. It did end though, with a great vacation. Yesterday morning, Danny and I got up early and drove to Anacortes to catch the ferry to San Juan island. Our ferry was only 1/2 an hour late and we got to the island by 1:30. We had a wonderful trip and finished it off this morning with a 60 minute private flight in a small plane over the San Juan Islands. I’d never been in a small plane before and I was pleasantly surprised. It was kind of a phobia I’ve had my whole life. I decided to just get over it and do something unnatural for me. We had such a good time. The weather was clear and Danny got plenty of photos. I’ll post them soon. Until then, I’m off to bed and working for the man.

No Comments

Woke up on time
Got ready for work
Felt sick, like REALLY sick
emailed my boss about how I would be in late but I WOULD be in today
went back to bed for 1.5 hours
got up and got to to work late
worked for 7 hours
met Danny at my office at 6:30
went to a BASEBALL game (trust me, this is weird)
enjoyed said baseball game until the 5th inning when hunger overtook both of us
went home, cooked an easy dinner, opened a bottle of wine and watched Arrested Development DVDs until the bottle of wine was almost gone
got ready for bed and wondered why I had felt sick that morning

No Comments

After being in grad school for 9 months I find it strange that it was so easy for me to slip back into my 8-5 work schedule. Granted, I have MBA related events almost every weeknight but they are optional and usually pretty fun. I’m home by 8:30 most nights and I end up falling asleep on the couch around 1. Yes, it is simple, boring, and quite refreshing. I guess this kind of normalcy is why I’ve scheduled out every weekend until school starts in September. I can’t handle the normal!

Tomorrow I have a fundraiser/festival planning meeting followed by pub club.

Oh, and the internship is going well: three more weeks of work followed by three weeks of vacation in British Columbia and Texas.

P.S. I also forgot how sitting in one spot all day makes my neck ache. I need to start doing yoga again or something.

No Comments

I’m mid-way through my internship and I now have some honest-to-God projects. I was in training and at conferences for the first four weeks. I really enjoyed it but I wasn’t sure how much I was learning. I learned a lot about the company but not so much about the work. This is good. I know they don’t want to overwhelm us at first. I’ve had jobs before though so I’m ready to take charge of something and run with it. I know I’m sounding whiney but I’m not unhappy, just antsy.

Last week, I “shadowed” my coworker at Boeing. I had some small assignments and got a taste of what my long-term assignment would be like. Now I’m at Starbucks HQ until the end of my internship. It is so so sweet. Free coffee. Free GOOD coffee with all the fixins. My coworkers are nice, knowledgeable and they care whether or not I learn something. The only bad thing though is I’m still waiting on my access badge so I don’t have free roaming privileges.

Bonus: I found out that one of the recent 07 MBA grads works there so we’re meeting for lunch on Thursday.

No Comments

It reached 100 at Husky Stadium today and a paltry 97 at SeaTac airport. I’m smug and snug in my cool, air-conditioned apartment tonight. Even though we don’t need it 350 days a year, it is totally worth having for those 14 random days of 80+ temps.

1 Comment