Ok if I knew I was going to be working from 8am-3am every day I'd would've gone and been a banker or worked in private equity. At least I would have a monster bonus to look forward to. This is ridiculous.
Talk about a cluster....
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Saturday, June 16, 2007
The Difference a Day Makes
Tuesday night
Walk into hotel lobby to find no one behind the front desk and a woman rocking a crying baby in a stroller back and forth. She gets up and checks me in. No room service or mini-bar, so I walk next door to the Citgo convenience store to get dinner. Convenience store has no hot food other than pizza. Dinner consists of Combos, Chili cheese flavored chips, maltballs, and Vitamin Water. Hotel room has air conditioning unit and TV, but no Internet (thanks goodness for Verizon wireless card)
Wednesday night
Walk into hotel lobby that’s palace like with a curved staircase, chandeliers, paintings, etc. Checked into a room with great view of San Francisco. Continental breakfast costs $21. Using the gym costs $15. At 9am, there is construction racket in the room next door.
Funny enough, I feel kind of whatever about both hotels. The first one, Days Inn, was obviously just rather sad, but livable. The second, the Fairmont, was classy, but way overpriced. That being said, I’d still always choose the latter as long as I’m not paying. J
Walk into hotel lobby to find no one behind the front desk and a woman rocking a crying baby in a stroller back and forth. She gets up and checks me in. No room service or mini-bar, so I walk next door to the Citgo convenience store to get dinner. Convenience store has no hot food other than pizza. Dinner consists of Combos, Chili cheese flavored chips, maltballs, and Vitamin Water. Hotel room has air conditioning unit and TV, but no Internet (thanks goodness for Verizon wireless card)
Wednesday night
Walk into hotel lobby that’s palace like with a curved staircase, chandeliers, paintings, etc. Checked into a room with great view of San Francisco. Continental breakfast costs $21. Using the gym costs $15. At 9am, there is construction racket in the room next door.
Funny enough, I feel kind of whatever about both hotels. The first one, Days Inn, was obviously just rather sad, but livable. The second, the Fairmont, was classy, but way overpriced. That being said, I’d still always choose the latter as long as I’m not paying. J
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
1st Assignment and 1st Day
Thursday afternoon - no info on where I'll be
Thursday night - still no info
Friday morning - nothing
Friday afternoon - nothing, hey maybe I'll be on the beach next week!
Friday evening right before I head to the airport to head back to Seattle - email asking me to call
Discuss project starting on Monday and told that we (he) will decide on Monday morning if I will join the project of not
Monday morning - show up at office and told that I will be on the project and need to head to Chicago ASAP. Multiple conferences in Chicago makes booking hotel almost impossible, stuck in crap hotels.
Monday afternoon - head home to pack and then off to the airport. Turns out ticket hasn't been issued yet so I have to call travel to have ticket issued. High call volumn so on hold for a while, and travel person is abrupt and short. Almost forgot to book rental car - didn't help travel person's demeanor.
Monday evening - reading background information on the plane, napping
Monday night - arrive in Chicago airport. Rental car area is so far from the gate. Not a gold member so have to wait in line. Some other guy forgot his bags on the bus. Poor guy. Get in the Pontiac Vibe (never heard of this car? neither have I. Can't even speed it's so underpowered) and head to hotel. Stuck with smoking room facing car park. Gym at hotel sucks.
Tuesday morning - wake up at 6:45, 4:45 in Seattle. Room service breakfast and then head to office downtown. Should take 30 mins, I allocated 1 hr, and I end up using that up and more. No parking at the building, need to go around in circles and park at a lot 5 blocks away. Rush to meeting - it's hot and I'm sweating.
The rest of the day doesn't go any better
- first task is to educate the partner on the industry that I only kind of know, ugh...
- sent off to the client with no time for lunch, pick up Micky D's and eat in the car. Of course something drips on my shirt
- traffic and shirt changing makes me late, partner asking me where I am
- had to change hotel to avoid 2 hr commute back and forth to client. The only hotel is Days Inn. Big pimpin
- stuck at client working until 9:30
- didn't want Mickey D's again, so bought snacks at Citgo convenience store (benefit of staying at Days Inn is that Citgo is walking distance)
- stupid Varejao takes the last second shot and Cleveland loses - WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS?!?!
Ok, time for bed - meeting the team at 8am tomorrow for a full day until I head out at 10pm to San Francisco.
Thursday night - still no info
Friday morning - nothing
Friday afternoon - nothing, hey maybe I'll be on the beach next week!
Friday evening right before I head to the airport to head back to Seattle - email asking me to call
Discuss project starting on Monday and told that we (he) will decide on Monday morning if I will join the project of not
Monday morning - show up at office and told that I will be on the project and need to head to Chicago ASAP. Multiple conferences in Chicago makes booking hotel almost impossible, stuck in crap hotels.
Monday afternoon - head home to pack and then off to the airport. Turns out ticket hasn't been issued yet so I have to call travel to have ticket issued. High call volumn so on hold for a while, and travel person is abrupt and short. Almost forgot to book rental car - didn't help travel person's demeanor.
Monday evening - reading background information on the plane, napping
Monday night - arrive in Chicago airport. Rental car area is so far from the gate. Not a gold member so have to wait in line. Some other guy forgot his bags on the bus. Poor guy. Get in the Pontiac Vibe (never heard of this car? neither have I. Can't even speed it's so underpowered) and head to hotel. Stuck with smoking room facing car park. Gym at hotel sucks.
Tuesday morning - wake up at 6:45, 4:45 in Seattle. Room service breakfast and then head to office downtown. Should take 30 mins, I allocated 1 hr, and I end up using that up and more. No parking at the building, need to go around in circles and park at a lot 5 blocks away. Rush to meeting - it's hot and I'm sweating.
The rest of the day doesn't go any better
- first task is to educate the partner on the industry that I only kind of know, ugh...
- sent off to the client with no time for lunch, pick up Micky D's and eat in the car. Of course something drips on my shirt
- traffic and shirt changing makes me late, partner asking me where I am
- had to change hotel to avoid 2 hr commute back and forth to client. The only hotel is Days Inn. Big pimpin
- stuck at client working until 9:30
- didn't want Mickey D's again, so bought snacks at Citgo convenience store (benefit of staying at Days Inn is that Citgo is walking distance)
- stupid Varejao takes the last second shot and Cleveland loses - WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS?!?!
Ok, time for bed - meeting the team at 8am tomorrow for a full day until I head out at 10pm to San Francisco.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Instigator
I've found that at parties and other social gatherings, the mood is generally pretty somber until someone starts getting everyone riled up. I'm not really a big fan of this role, since it usually involves:
1) drinking a lot
2) making a fool of yourself
3) annoying more sensitive people
However, somehow I increasingly find myself in these types of roles because I really just can't stand how boring these things are otherwise. I guess this of my way of not having to have rather polite conversations with people and makes me seem more outgoing than I am. The funny thing is that I always have a good time when I do this, even though the day after is usually less than stellar.
Last night at dinner, I started by ordering a round of shots for everyone in the room (of course I wasn't paying), and then proceeded to encourage drinking games around the table. Good times. Oh and dinner was good too - New Orleans Southern comfort food - tasty! The place is called Nola's. Worth a try.
1) drinking a lot
2) making a fool of yourself
3) annoying more sensitive people
However, somehow I increasingly find myself in these types of roles because I really just can't stand how boring these things are otherwise. I guess this of my way of not having to have rather polite conversations with people and makes me seem more outgoing than I am. The funny thing is that I always have a good time when I do this, even though the day after is usually less than stellar.
Last night at dinner, I started by ordering a round of shots for everyone in the room (of course I wasn't paying), and then proceeded to encourage drinking games around the table. Good times. Oh and dinner was good too - New Orleans Southern comfort food - tasty! The place is called Nola's. Worth a try.
Monday, June 4, 2007
You think you know what's funny
This weekend we watched Knocked Up. Although usually I'm very gung-ho about watching comedies, lately I've been a little hesitant about watching non-blockbuster movies in the cinema since it's just not very economical. Also, I don't think Katherine Heigl is all that hot, and clearly that guy Seth Rogen is not particularly attractive. Naturally then, the movie was good since that would only make sense - all the movies that are supposed to be good aren't, and all those that aren't, are. This was just made more apparent for me since I just watched Blades of Glory on pay per view in the hotel. Will Ferrell + Jon Heder + male ice skating duo = awesome right? Nope. Snooooze. I mean there were some funny parts but come on!
Just proves movies are so hit or miss. You never know.
Just proves movies are so hit or miss. You never know.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Got "oriented" and getting "ready"
After 3 weeks in Austra, last week I was back in Seattle for a weekend and then off again to San Francisco for orientation. Pretty interesting.
First off, I got my laptop - a sweet HP with a Duo Core Centrino, 2GB of RAM, 128MB ATI graphics card, and a 100GB HDD.
Secondly, I enrolled in all this HR stuff. The benefits aren't bad, but it's hard for me to be content since my previous benefits were supposed to be the best of the best. Compared to that, these benefits are alright... I think I'll need to work at an average company to know the difference.
Thirdly, I got to meet all these summer folks who are in the middle of business school. I think there were 3 people from HBS and 3 from Sloan - I think these schools ended earlier so they started earlier? It was pretty interesting talking to them and hearing their perspectives. All of them made it very clear that they thought business school was worth it, although I must say a few of them would probably have had a hard time working at a consulting firm if they didn't go to b-school given their previous careers. Naturally, none of them thought that they would be consultants since I'm sure that does NOT make a good career aspiration essay, but somehow they ended up in the same place as me... haha.... the true test is to see how many of them actually come back full time next year.
This week, I'm down in Silicon Valley for consulting readiness training. That's right, one more week of training before they let me out in the wild. It really does say a lot about a company who's willing to train you for 5 weeks before you do anything. Also, I found out that I'm actually free to the client for the first few projects. Boy those guys have a steal ;)
First off, I got my laptop - a sweet HP with a Duo Core Centrino, 2GB of RAM, 128MB ATI graphics card, and a 100GB HDD.
Secondly, I enrolled in all this HR stuff. The benefits aren't bad, but it's hard for me to be content since my previous benefits were supposed to be the best of the best. Compared to that, these benefits are alright... I think I'll need to work at an average company to know the difference.
Thirdly, I got to meet all these summer folks who are in the middle of business school. I think there were 3 people from HBS and 3 from Sloan - I think these schools ended earlier so they started earlier? It was pretty interesting talking to them and hearing their perspectives. All of them made it very clear that they thought business school was worth it, although I must say a few of them would probably have had a hard time working at a consulting firm if they didn't go to b-school given their previous careers. Naturally, none of them thought that they would be consultants since I'm sure that does NOT make a good career aspiration essay, but somehow they ended up in the same place as me... haha.... the true test is to see how many of them actually come back full time next year.
This week, I'm down in Silicon Valley for consulting readiness training. That's right, one more week of training before they let me out in the wild. It really does say a lot about a company who's willing to train you for 5 weeks before you do anything. Also, I found out that I'm actually free to the client for the first few projects. Boy those guys have a steal ;)
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