Midterms are over

Midterms are finally over! And by ‘finally’ I mean that the tests are over and the results have been received. Well, the receiving part wasn’t too fun, but, at least I have finals to try to make up for it. Now I’m spending a lit of time focusing on recruiting. Since I am interested in finance in a company, it is as if the recruiting process is my oyster. Every company has some sort of finance function, so I can go to any presentation that is geared towards any function and say “I’m interested in corporate finance” to which I will be given contact information for the appropriate recruiter.

Presentations are great. I am able to learn about companies in many different industries and what products and/or services they currently offer or plan to offer in the future. Since business really interests me, I enjoy learning more about different companies and the functions they are recruiting for. One of the perks of presentations are the goodies. We get shirts and water bottles and post its among other things. American Express gave us Rubix cubes where they replaced the basic solid color squares with pictures of their products like the Gold Card and the Traveler’s Cheque card. Even though presentations are great, I am limited by the fact that there is only one of me and I don’t have enough time to go to everything. For instance, yesterday there was a corporate finance presentation for Microsoft, but I had to attend the Merrill Lynch commodities group presentation. And later that night, Lehman Brothers (a bank) had a presentation, but I RSVPed to attend a dinner sponsored by Kraft. Its all too much. Today, I am going to a presentation for the Federal Reserve Bank of NY in the morning, Mattell early evening, Sears after that, then I have to run downtown to the Blue Water Grill restaurant for a dinner with McKinsey!

In other news, my mom was in town last week. Our time together was real chill. We went to Chicago GSB’s DuSable conference on Friday night where we heard Chris Gardner, the inspiration for the new movie The Pursuit of Happyness, speak, and where my mom was able to meet a lot of my friends. The rest of the time was spent sitting on the couch and talking politics. Overall, it was a good visit.

It's been awhile

There has been a lot going on in my life the past few weeks. I was MIA for most of the latter half of October studying for exams. Please don't ask me how they went. All I can say is ”Thank goodness for the final exams”. I'll admit that I was kind of lax in studying for the first half of the quarter, but now I know that I need to get my rear end in gear and really buckle down on studying.

In addition to exams, internship recruiting started last week. Our campus was inundated with companies and banks coming to give presentations to first year students. I am very fortunate in that I am recruiting for corporate finance jobs instead of banking. For those of you who don't know, those who recruit for banking usually want to be Sales & Traders or Investment Bankers. Because the competition for those internships is fierce (or so we programmed to think) recruiting is hard core. They have recruiting events almost everyday, from lunch-n-learns to bank presentations to dinners. If there is a bank you really want to work for, you need to go to all of their recruiting events, which for most banks are about 7 or more. But most people have more than one bank in their sight, so they need to times 7 by the number of banks they are activity recruiting for. Since I removed myself from the recruiting scene, I only have a few presentations per week to attend. I don't know what I would do if I was recruiting banking. Probably attach an IV to my arm and have it drip coffee.

Outside of school things have been awesome. I have a part time job working at the Chicago Bear's home games as a dessert cart girl for the executive suites. It is the easiest job ever! We go to a suite with our dessert cart, the people in the suite file out and point to which dessert they want, and then we put it on a plate and hand it to them. Yeah, really, that's all I do! I am in at 10am and done by 3pm. Only downside is that I don't get to see the game, but I can tell what’s going on by listening to the cheers coming from the suites.

In other news, my mom is coming to visit tomorrow! She is over in PA visiting Granddaddy and made plans to stop and see me for a few days. We're going to go to the movies and get our hair done and go to the aquarium. It’s going to be a blast!!

We're #1!!!

Yesterday the Business Week rankings for the top Business school were announced, and we came out on top for the first time ever! This is pretty significant because the BW rankings are the #1 authority on the quality of b-schools for many. The rankings only come out every other year so I can relish in this accomplishment during the rest of my tenure in school.

The school set up a live feed of the announcement yesterday so I decided to stop by and check it out. I walked into the student lounge and saw a movie screen which displayed what looked like a chat room. There were introductions and such, and then they started revealing the schools beginning at number 30. For the first 20, they were revealed in groups of five with about a one minute pause between each grouping. The crowd in the student lounge didn't have much of a reaction for the unveilings, until they showed number 10 - Columbia. That got a few cheers from the audience. Then, the top 9 were unveiled one by one with what felt like significant time between each posting.

9 - Duke (No response from the audience in the lounge)

8 - Berkeley (Haas) (Once again, not much of a response)

7 - MIT (pretty quit)

6 - Stanford (The crowd let out a big 'Ooooo' as if we were saying 'Ooooh, they ended up being kinda low')

5 - Michigan (Not much crowd reaction)

4 - Harvard (Lots of claps in the room because, well, doesn't everyone want to beat Harvard?)

3 - Kellogg (Many people started cheering for two reasons... Kellogg was #1 last time, so this now freed up that slot, and, they are our rival city school so, we want to trump them whenever we have a chance)

2 - Wharton (Of course this caused the biggest cheer of all)

1 - For the first time - Chicago!

But you know… I knew this would happen. About two weeks ago I was walking down the steps in our Hyde Park center campus and saw this guy, Thomas, looking over the railing at nothing. I then looked down and noticed photographers. I was all "Thomas, what is going on?" and he replied "This is Business Week, they are taking pictures today." And yes, they stayed on campus allll day. True, the probably went to all of the top 10 schools to take pictures, but, as soon as I saw them I had a gut feeling.

In other news, we had our fist snow in Chicago yesterday. It was only October 12! However, the weather experts, whoever they are, are predicting a mild winter this year. We'll see about that.

National Black

Last weekend I was in Atlanta for the National Black MBA conference. It is a yearly conference organized by the National Black MBA Association which is part leadership institute, part career fair, and part networking event. I went down for the career fair and to meet up with MBA students from other schools who I have met over the past few years. Overall, the conference was worthwhile. I was able to meet the folks at American Express (for those of you how don't know, I am an American Express Diversity Fellow) and make contacts from other companies represented at the career fair. I was also able to see many of my friends from other MBA programs. There were a few pleasant surprises as well.... I randomly ran into a friend whom I hadn't talked to in about a year, and ran into a guy I used to know at IBM who I hadn't talked to in almost two years. Honestly, I didn't think I would ever see either of them again, but, you never know when life will have you cross paths with others from your past. Oh, and I also met one of my old college roommate’s former co-workers. That was random.

We'll see the effects of my visit to Atlanta later this year when the internship interview process is in full effect. I hope the contacts I made over the weekend will prove beneficial during that time.

In other news, nothing big is going on. Just getting in the swing of things with classes. We only started class about two weeks ago. The thing that stinks is I'm already a little bit behind! Being in Atlanta set me back a bit, but, I have the rest of this week to catch up on everything.

My new guilty pleasure

Last week I was flipping through my basic cable channels and came across this awesome new show called Fashion House. Why is it so awesome? Well, it’s an hour long cheesy soap opera, which airs nightly. Each episode's content is about 20% of flashback footage, so if I miss a day, I'm not lost. Modeled after Spanish novellas, the show will tape 65 episodes and last 13 weeks, when all stories lines will tie up. Fashion House stars Bo Derek (isn't that cheese right there? I mean, last time I saw her was on 7th Heaven.), Morgan Fairchild (whom I have only seen in two episodes so far) and a cast of other actors who I'm pretty sure were hired on to the show to serve as eye candy. The mediocrity of the acting can only be matched by the mediocrity of the writing. The story lines are typical soap opera fare... a woman who heads a fashion empire (Derek) is being courted by a much younger man whom she owes money. He tells her the debt will be forgiven if he marries her. BUT... he is somehow connected with Morgan Fairchild who is Bo Derek's nemesis. OH, the drama that ensues!

So, why do I watch? Not sure. Usually because I can't find anything else on TV that interests me in the early part of the week (I have to dump FH on Thursday's for Celebrity Duets). Also, because the 'actors' are pretty, the fashions are cutting edge, and, I know its only on for a short time, so I can get totally wrapped up and know that in 13 weeks I won't have to waste my time any more.

On the school front... nothing new. We are still in orientation and as of now I don't have any classes for this quarter. Great.

My first week of orientation.

It has started. My life as a student has begun. The month of summer vacation is over and now I have been jerked back into the reality of life. It all began last Tuesday when the University of Chicago GSB welcomed me, and my fellow first year classmates, to the orientation program. So far everything has been overwhelming! The first day was spent going over basic school programs, like the Dean of Students office, student group programs, and academic planning. My fellow classmates and I had to be on campus from 8am to 7pm, so it was a tiring day.

The next morning I had to be at school by 6am so that I could board a bus to attend the GSB’s LEAD Outdoor Exercise (also known as a retreat) in southern Wisconsin for two days. The purpose of LOE was to prepare us for our first quarter mandatory class called LEAD (Leadership Effectiveness and Development), as well as to bond with our cohort. Before I go on, let me give you a brief overview of cohorts. Our GSB class has 10 cohorts with about 55 members each. Each cohort is further broken down into squads of about 7 people each. During the autumn quarter, our cohort will be meeting together for our LEAD class, where we will break up into squads for small group work. After our LEAD class is complete, our cohort will still work together to compete in competitions against other cohorts in events like the Cohort Games and Golden Gargoyles. Our cohort earns money for each event we win, which we can use at our discretion. Anyway, LOE fulfilled its purpose. We participated in team building exercises and made an afternoon trip to a ropes course. In those two days, I was able to really see the personality traits and leadership styles of those in my squad. I was also able to do some self reflection on my own leadership style. I have some things I need to work on to become a more effective leader, and I hope that LEAD can help me develop my leadership style throughout this quarter.

The busses rolled back into Chicago on Friday morning. I spent a few hours napping and watching Judging Mathis that afternoon. Two of my friends from Raleigh, Adam and Gina, flew in to town later that day. I took them to Giordano’s for Chicago deep dish, and then we went over to the Hancock Building to check out a high rise view of Chicago. The Hancock Building has a cocktail lounge on the 96^th floor which we visited to enjoy a cool beverage. After I left Adam and Gina, and I went to rest up for a GSB social event at the White Sox game the next day. All of the students were given a free ticket and $10 in Comisky Bucks. I only stayed until about the sixth because it was just too cold to stay outside!

Orientation today (Monday) was very similar to last Tuesday. The day was filled with presentations and included lunch and dinner. One thing I have to say… we do get fed well. I don’t have to worry about fixing dinner until Thursday! And I really like the food at UC. I loved the food at Duquesne too. There must be something about my taste buds and generic cafeteria food.

My Labor Day weekend, 2006

My friend from Raleigh, Kelii, was in town this past weekend for a yearly get-together with his buddies from college. I met up with his crew on Saturday evening for dinner at ESPN Zone where we all watched the Hawaii Rainbows lose yet another football game. Later, we headed over to a place called Betty's Blue Lounge to meet up with even more alum's from Kelii's college.

Sunday was more eventful than I thought it would be. It started out with a BBQ/Birthday party hosted by one of my Turkey trip mates. After that, I met up with members of my cohort (more on cohorts later) for some drinks, and while there, heard about an impromptu GSB social event being held at a bar close to where we were. My cohort arrived at the social event around 10, but I left at 12 thinking that I needed to catch an 'El' train before they stopped running. I found out, to my excitement, that one of the train lines which runs past my apartment operates 24 hours! So now, I can go out alllll night and make it home without having to pay $15+ for a cab.

Monday was real chill. I met up with Kelii and his friends again for sushi then went home and spent, like, 10 hours working on my resume. Now that my resume is complete I have one less thing to worry about – for now…

Turkey

I just arrived home (well, just arrived meaning two days ago) from a week long trip to Turkey with a few of my fellow GSB classmates. This trip marked my first visit to a country in the Middle East and my first time visiting a perdominantly Muslim country. Well.... I have been to Indonesia and Malaysia, but I only spent about 5 hours in each country.

Our vacation started in Istanbul, which was the capital of Turkey from 1453-1922. The Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, and Topkapi Palace were a few of the tourist attractions we visited during the day. Our evenings where filled with dinners in trendy restaurants and after dinner clubbing. Our tour guide in Istanbul had a PhD in history, and was able speak in depth on the attractions. With me being the history buff I am, I liked hearing about the intricate details of the buildings and monuments we visited.

Cappadocia was next on our list of places to visit. This region of Turkey is known for its cave houses. For hundreds of years, people lived in homes carved in the caves, and spent time hiding from enemies in underground villages. The last inhabitants of the caves didn't leave until 1953! Imagine that! In 1953, people in America where driving around in cars and eating TV dinners while watching I Love Lucy, while people in Cappadocia lived in caves with no electricity and traveled around on donkeys. Well, I shouldn't look at that as odd since there are people in the world who live like that now.

One of the highlights of Cappadocia was culture night. We had dinner and a show at a Turkish entertainment spot where we saw traditional dances and donkeys! I was looking forward to seeing the belly dancers, thinking that there would be three or four women in traditional costumes doing their dance. Wrong. It was a belly dancer and she was dressed like a stripper. She had on heels, a skirt with a very high slit, and a bedazzled bra. Well, it was more sequined than bedazzled, but it had the same effect. Whatever.

After Cappadocia, we returned to Istanbul for a day of cruising the river and shopping. We ended the evening by going to dinner and getting our bags ready for our flight home the next day. Overall, the trip was fun. I'll post some pix and upload them onto my computer.

My mom’s visit

My mom was in the town for the past few days, and, as usual, we had a blast! I was excited for her to come because I used her visit to officially begin touring the city of Chicago. We started out on Thursday by going to the Field Museum to visit the King Tut exhibit which is on a two year U.S. tour right now. After the museum, we walked down towards North Michigan Avenue, hung out around there a little bit, and then stopped over at the Art Institute. Thanks to Ford Motor Company, entry to the Art Institute is free on Thursday and Friday nights, so we saved a few bucks there.

Friday was pretty low key. We went to see Little Miss Sunshine, walked over the Navy Pier for a little bit, then went back towards downtown to have lunch at Maggiano’s. After lunch, we headed over to Daley Building (I think that’s the building we went to) to see a huge Pueblo Picasso metal structure. That evening, my mom decided to stay in to rest for the next days’ activities.

Saturday was the day my mom was waiting for. It was the 77th annual Bud Billiken parade. This parade was founded to support education and Chicago public schools. It is held the second Saturday in August… just before school starts. And I’ll tell you what, it really does promote education. My favorite float was presented by Washington Mutual bank. Their entrant consisted of a motorized float with huge books of different subjects stacked on top of each other. Subjects included ‘Reading’, ‘Writing’, and my favorite ‘Mithology’. In addition to floats, the parade had a few celebrities, including Barak Obama, Marquis Houston, and the Chi-Lites. The parade crowd proved to be amusing as well. We saw hoochie mamas, lost kids, and people offering to take pictures of families with a Polaroid and selling them for $1.

After the parade, we went back to my place, picked up my car, and headed over to Ikea. For those of you not from Raleigh, the ability to say “Hey, I think I’ll go to Ikea today” is a big deal. You can’t really do that in Raleigh. The closest Ikea is in Maryland, which, for me, was at least a four hour drive. Anyway, we arrived at the huge blue and yellow building, which looks like all other Ikea’s I have seen, and shopped for about two hours. I ended up with three book shelves and a few other odds and ends. Now that my bookshelves are up, I can begin taking pictures of my apartment and posting them here for you all to see.

Sunday, which was yesterday, was my mom’s last day in town. We went to brunch, and then hung out in my apartment until we had to leave for the airport. Overall, we had a fun time, and I’ll miss her until I see her again.

About unpacking and Lollapalooza

All of my stuff arrived Friday. To give you an update on space, I went from a 1360 sq ft 2br/2.5bath house to a 760 sq ft 1br/1bath apartment. I sold some furniture and gave a lot to Goodwill before I moved, but I don't think I did enough! My apartment looks so full! I'll need to buy some storage trunks and bookshelves to store everything.

By going through this moving process again, I realize that unpacking is like Christmas. You put all your stuff in boxes, but since you are hurried and stressed while doing it, you don't remember what you put in each box. When the boxes reach the new place, you open them one at a time, and are excited to see all the stuff you haven't seen in about a week(or, in the case of move to Japan, six months)! It is so fun!

When I haven't been unpacking, I've been exploring the city of Chicago. It really hit me this past weekend how close I am to the heart of the city. I started hearing really loud music Thursday morning. My first thought was "Oh, some garage band is practicing", but they kept playing the same song over, and over again, which was the 80's song "Relax" by Frankie Goes To Hollywood. I begin thinking "This stinks. Good thing I'll be in class during the day so I don't have to listen to this." But, soon realized, I was wrong. What I was hearing was a sound check for the Lollapalooza festival held in Grant Park, which is across the street from my apartment. I was able to hear muffled sounds all weekend from the acts who took the stage. It really hit me on Saturday night when I was able to hear the set given by one of the festival’s big draws - Kanye West. Guys, I am really close to so much in the city. Seriously, you all need to come visit!

Well, gotta go. I'm about to walk down to street to check out a hair salon.

Life: act 5

Welcome to my new blog and thank you for reading my first ever posting! I started this blog so that my family and friends can know what I'm up to during the next two years. I also hope that writing in here will improve my writing and grammar skills since they have been disintegrating over the past several years :o/. Oh, and as the months go on, I hope to become more humorous in my writing. My first few blogs might be a little dry, but that should change as I get back into the swing of writing.

Anyway, I arrived in Chicago a few days ago and am ready to start stage five in my life. "Stage five" you may wonder? Well, let me give you a quick rundown on the first four. See which stage you entered my life in:

Stage 1 - April 26, 1979: I was born in S. Jersey and lived there for 10 years where I attended St. Mary's Hall located on the riverbank of the Delaware River in Burlington NJ. Those were happy times.

Stage 2 - August 1990: This was the month my mom and I moved to Japan and lived there for five years. I made a lot of friends while living there, many of whom I still talk with today. I also ate a lot of Japanese food. Weird thing is, when people I know visit Japan now, they tell me about these really odd dishes they ate, and I’m all “Who took you out for dinner? Next time, go to Yoshinoya and call it a day” In 1995, we moved back to New Jersey where I completed high school. Those two years weren’t very significant, so maybe we should call them state 2.5

Stage 3 - August 1997: During this time I moved to Pittsburgh, PA, and started classes at Duquesne University. I was involved in many things – The basketball band, a sorority, and a couple of clubs in the business school, among others. When I was putting my MBA apps together, I would look at my activities, then look at the number of courses I took each semester, and wonder how I did it all without having a mental breakdown!! .College was a blast; but, had to end at some point, which leads me to...

Stage 4 - May 2001: I made a move by myself to Raleigh where I worked for IBM. I didn't care for either of my jobs that much, I shouldn’t have been an IT person. Seriously, if I could back to my freshman year of college, I would have studied dentistry… or economics. Overall I liked working for IBM, and made long lasting friendships with people I met within and outside of work.

Stage 5 - August 1, 2006: I made the semi-cross country move to Chicago, IL, where I will become a full time MBA student at the University of Chicago. Throughout the next two years, I will use this blog to let everyone know how school is going, and how other parts of my life are going as well. Like wise, let me know how you are doing. My blog's email address is listed on this page so feel free to drop me a line....