Finals, Internships, HW...

After getting back from Atlanta late Sunday night (actually it was really early Monday morning), I've been hit by a busy week. Finals start this coming Monday, and unlike Davidson, I don't get to self-schedule my exams. I've got tests four straight days from 8am-11am, starting with Finance on Monday and ending with Econ on Thursday. In addition to finals, application deadlines for internships have started to hit. Already, I've applied for four different internships at three different firms (Under Armour, Kaiser Permanente and McKinsey). That means resume updating and cover letter writing. Lastly, some of my lovely professors decided it would be a great idea to schedule homework assignments due this week. I have three individual assignments due for Finance, one group assignment for Accounting, an optional case analysis for Stats and a slew of assignments due for our career management course.

Put all three of those things together and I've spent about 24 hours on campus the last two days. I've got another 13-14 hour day planned for tomorrow (need to be there at 7:45am and won't finish up my Accounting review session until 10pm). Thursday is looking better, but only because I've got to fly up to the Bay Area Thursday afternoon for a recruiting event all day Friday. The USC/UCLA game is Saturday evening, so that kills most of my weekend. With finals all next week and my departure for Israel a few days after finals, I don't think I'm ever going to see Megan again.

December 10, 2011

I promised a date, and here it is! December 10, 2011 Mike and I will be tying the knot in Long Beach, CA. Bookmark our Wedding Website - it is clearly a work in progress. We will be keeping it updated across the next year, so check back often. There is also a link at the bottom of this page.

I put Mike on a plane back to LA this evening. I'm looking forward to two days with my parents all to myself (but I miss my Mikey already. Yeah, I'm a huge sap.) Good luck to everyone heading back to work/school tomorrow. Now, I'm going to have myself another turkey sandwich and some sausage dressing.

Thanksgiving

As Meg mentioned on Wednesday, we're in Atlanta for Thanksgiving. We flew in late on Wednesday night and I leave late tomorrow night, while Megan is staying until Tuesday. We had a great extended weekend here, full of food, family, friends and some cards. My parents came down from Harrisburg, and Meg's sister Elaine and her boyfriend Isaac drove in from North Carolina, so we had eight people for a great Thanksgiving meal.

Since we are combining two families with our engagement, we thought it only appropriate to include other family traditions for Thanksgiving. On Thursday night, all of us went over to Dale and Susan's house (friends of Kevin and Julie - Meg's parents) for some drinks and an annual poker tournament. Even with 22 entrants, both Megan and I made the final table of 9, with Megan getting knocked out in 5th place while I claimed 2nd. My finish was worth $70, so not a bad way to spend a few hours.

On Friday evening, the Miller's came over for more food and more cards. Gary Miller and Kevin grew up together and have remained friends all these years. Gary and Cathy, their two daughters and their significant others all came over, so Kevin fired up the grill and BBQ'ed some burgers and bacon wrapped shrimp for everyone. After dinner and drinks, we pulled out some cards and played Shanghai (a mix of rummikub and something else). Meg redeemed her 5th place poker finish with a victory in Shanghai.

Today we took it easy and stayed home most of the day. I got some school work done (thanks Finance professor for assigning not one, but two problem sets over Thanksgiving break), Megan and her mom and sister put together a puzzle, and Kevin got a much needed nap.

As I said, I leave tomorrow, bit its been a great weekend. It was nice to have my family spend some time with Meg's family. Even though they've met a couple of times before, the two sets of parents haven't really had a chance to get to know one another much, so we appreciated everyone agreeing to spend this holiday together. Hopefully in a few years Megan and I can invite everyone to our place (wherever it may be) for a fun Thanksgiving weekend together.

Some Random Thoughts from 30,000 Feet

1. I saw Glee last night. It was the wedding episode. Fair warning for the bridal party, you may be asked to sing and dance down the aisle.

2. I like veggies. Mike and I have been trying to eat healthier, and we've decided to go veggie one night a week. So far it's been pretty great - we eat a lot of salad or stuffed pasta those nights. The best part about it is that I get to experiment with new veggies. Like leeks (blanched with a dijon citrus dressing) and kale (sauteed with olive oil, garlic, and red pepper. Oh! And next time I will add pine nuts because that sounds delicious) and fennel (julienned with green apple matchsticks and a bright citrus dressing). And I feel like with this and using our reusable canvas bags at the grocery store we are saving the world.
3. Mike and I are on our way to Atlanta for Thanksgiving. (Hooray for free WiFi on the cross-continent flight!) His parents are already there. I brought my stretchy pants for dinner tomorrow since Mom has created a menu fit to serve half our neighborhood. Nevermind that there are only going to be 8 of us at the table.
4. Our good friend Garen is in Mexico for the holiday competing in an Iron Man triathalon and has been raising money to find a cure for ALS. You can read his story here. Good luck, Garen!
5. For those that have made it to #5, I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. One of the traditions we have is that before we say grace, we go around the table and everyone has to say something for which they are thankful. I have so much to say! Don't forget to take a moment this weekend to share what you are thankful for!

Oh Geez, I'm Getting Married, Too

There have been a few instances since getting engaged where, like Mike, I've had the "Holy Crap" moment: buying a wedding dress, asking my sis to be my Maid of Honor, and buying my first wedding-related magazine. But none has come close to picking a date and venue. We set a deadline for ourselves to have something booked by the time we left for Thanksgiving. It is done, but it has come with its fair share of strife and tears. It's been surprisingly stressful, and it's been all our own doing. We've second guessed ourselves and we talked ourselves in and out and back in to decisions. Last night we calculated that we could get to Vegas, elope, and drive home again with just enough time to get Mike to class this morning. But seriously, I'm just so glad that we finally paid the deposit. And I'm so happy that we finally have a date to look forward to; this date of course now being the thing that is causing the "Oh, Geez, I'm getting married" moment.

Mike's parents are joining my family in Atlanta for the upcoming food holiday. We're announcing the date and place to our families on Thanksgiving, just so that we can be dramatic. Mike and I are decidedly no-drama people, so I'm hoping that how we make our announcement is going to be the only wedding drama we have.

We are going to let everyone else know at that time, too. I'll also provide the link to our wedding website, which now will have more on it than just our names.

He Took the Muffin!!!

Tonight CBS is airing the episode of "Rules of Engagement" we saw taped. It's kinda fun watching it all over again. Meg turned up the volume really loud to see if we can hear ourselves laughing in the background. During the taping, they tweaked the script in between different takes, so we're sitting here trying to guess which version they used.

The most disappointing moment so far was when they cut out David Spade's scene in the opening when he takes Timmy's muffin. It was funny. Trust me, I was there. It looks like they've cut out a few other scenes too, but that was predictable - there were a couple of parts of the script that just weren't that funny.

Oh Geez, I'm Getting Married...

As we sit on the couch at 12:45 at night watching Saturday Night Live, Meg decided it was time to practice her new signature. Currently, her signature looks like "Megan M Castle" with the M standing for her middle name Marie (also her great-grandmother's name). Not wanting to lose that part of her family history, Meg is thinking about changing her name to Megan Marie Kaufman once we get married.

When she starts to talk like that, it kinda hits me: WOW I'm getting married! Umm... who's idea was this? Oh right, mine. Damn! No one to blame but myself.

In all honesty, I actually am excited to be getting married. And, hopefully, in the next couple of days we should have some exciting news about when and where we are planning to actually get married. Stay tuned...

Working... ?

For the past 3 hours this morning, I've been working. At least that is what I like to call it - working at finding work. I realize that I haven't posted much, if anything, about the job-search aspect of my life in LA. That is for good reason, my friends. There is nothing to report. My job hunting has been a fruitless exercise in reorganizing and rewriting my one-page resume in the hopes that it will catch a hiring manager's eye. So far, I've come up with 3 impersonal emails (so impersonal that it isn't even a valid email address that can be replied to) saying that I don't meet the respective job's ideal qualifications, 6 mass-generated emails letting me know that the positions for which I applied have been categorically cancelled, and a high number of no responses.

I'm mildly frustrated. I know I could do these jobs well. I also know that California has a 12.4% unemployment rate. My very wise Father let me know that networking is the best way to land a gig. Unfortunately, my network out here consists of folks that aren't from LA and are similarly unemployed. (sigh) Despite my somewhat sour outlook on life right now, I'll keep plugging along. (Side note: Reader, if you happen to be a California employer looking for a bright, motivated, highly skilled young professional, I'm your gal.)

On the positive side, I did take 20 minutes out of my search this morning to sign up for a tennis league. I think smashing some balls around a court will relieve some of my frustrations. And it's just darn fun. AND you can play all year round, since it is 65 degrees here today!

Worst. Seats. Ever.

On Tuesday, Megan and I decided to see what Hollywood was all about and attend a taping of a real show: Rules of Engagement. Ironically, we had to go to Culver City, and not Hollywood, to see "Rules" but we still got to see a behind the scenes view of sitcoms we all have come to love.

Even though we managed to get to the studio early, we still got stuck with horrible seats. In fact, they were arguably the worst seats in the house. We were stuck third row, all the way stage right, meaning we had people in front of us blocking our view and people behind us preventing us from standing. To make matters worse, the woman sitting directly behind us had a wicked cough, and we could feel the germs splattering all over us every time she coughed.

The stage was designed so that the sets sat next to each other in a linear fashion. With the grand stand seating being about 150 feet long, we could only see two sets. As luck would have it, of the 12-13 scenes filmed, two were directly in front of us (in Timmy's office) and two were in the set adjacent to us (the diner), although that set was difficult to see due to the camera positions. Thankfully, we were able to see the other 8-9 scenes on the monitors mounted above the grandstand.

Even though we had bad seats, the whole night was enjoyable. We both like "Rules" so we had fun seeing the actors in action and laughing at the jokes. Meg loves "Squinty Guy" (aka Patrick Warburton), so she enjoyed actually seeing him in person.

The best part of the night might have been the comedian employed to keep us entertained during brakes in shooting. His shtick reminded me of something that would have been on a cruise ship - funny, but nothing special. He filled the void between takes well and made us forget that they only filmed for at most an hour during the 4.5 hour experience. The funniest part was probably his obsession with a Swedish girl in the audience. Every time he needed a volunteer, he picked her, regardless of whether or not she was interested in volunteering. He also managed to give her a free t-shirt and have a long conversation about where she was from, what she did for a living and what she was doing in LA.

All in all, it was a fun experience, but not something we will do again anytime soon.

A Little Taste of the South

When folks in SoCal find out that I grew up across the country, they always ask how I'm adjusting to life in LA. My standard answer is that for the most part, it isn't that different: there are office buildings, houses, grocery stores, strip malls, interstates, grass, and McDonald's just like any other city. But it also different than the southeast in very subtle ways: skyscrapers are everywhere; houses have tile roofs; grocery stores are named something else and sometimes carry unfamiliar brands; interstates go by numbers and names; I can't identify any of the native flora; and Del Taco and In and Out dominate. Speaking of fast food that is different...

Saturday night after a lovely birthday party for Mike's twin cousins in Orange County (thanks Jen, Candi and Phil for hosting another wonderful gathering of family and friends!) I received a special treat from home. My favorite fast food restaurant has a small handful of franchises in Southern California and we were so close to one last night that we just had to stop. Chick-fil-A (which didn't invent the chicken, just the chicken sandwich) was established in suburban Atlanta in the '60's and was a mainstay of my fast food diet throughout middle and high school. I always order the #1 meal: the original chicken sandwich with two crucial pickles, waffle fries which I dip into my ketchup/mayo mix, and a lemonade that makes your cheeks pucker. While I definitely romanticized the meal, the experience didn't disappoint. The soft buttery bun, fried chicken and pulpy lemonade took me back to Georgia for a sweet southern moment.

Pat, I'd like to buy a vowel

(clap clap) Pat Sajak and Vanna White entertained us this afternoon at the Sony Studios in Culver City. Mom, Mike and I spent nearly three hours at the studios and saw the taping of 3 different shows. Two were part of teacher's week to be aired February 3rd and 4th, and the third was part of the Great Cities of America series, to be aired March 2nd. Don't be fooled that it is a coincidence all three contestants are teachers on the March date - they were actually left over from the Teacher's Week filming they were doing earlier in the day. They knocked out the three shows in a little over an hour and a half. (clap clap) We only had to do one re-shoot because the family of one of the contestants didn't smile when they were shown in the audience. There is no chance you will see us on TV, but it was cool to see how a show is made. By the way, this show is old - we taped show number 5,388. (clap clap) They had some prizes for the audience, too. Mike answered the trivia question "What football team won the first Super Bowl" correct and won a pen. My door prize ticket was called and I won a T-shirt from their Fort Lauderdale tour in 2005. It is a little disturbing that they still have t-shirts from 5 years ago, but whatever, I still won. (clap clap)

If you haven't noticed, the theme of the afternoon was clapping. Next time you watch the show, notice how often the audience claps. They told us that in 1992 Vanna White was recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the most frequent clapper. She averages 720 claps per episode, which equals more than 28,800 times per season. It was a fun afternoon, and truly an L.A. experience for my mom.

White Dresses

Today Mom and I went dress shopping, and I came home with wedding dress! I will not describe it here or post pictures since I don't want Mike to know anything about it, but I can tell you how the day went.

We went to a store in Downtown LA that sells only sample dresses. For those that haven't gone through the process of buying a wedding dress, in stores they only come in one size and dressing assistants either clamp you into them if you are smaller than that size, or do their best to squeeze you in if you are larger. If you want to buy a certain style dress, they then measure you and order the dress to be made for your size. Lucky for me, I'm pretty close to the sample size used by most designers, so I not only have the good fortune of seeing how these dresses actually fit me, but I also have the option of buying the sample. Sample dresses are tried on by lots of people or used in shows and are discounted for sale as a result. So, going to Glamour Closet was perfect for me. It wasn't a large store; in fact we drove right by it the first pass, but they had a good number of dresses, and they were all designer dresses. I'm not one to put a lot of stock in designer labels, but as you thumb through the racks, you can tell that all these dresses were gorgeous. Even the ugly ones that you would have to pay be money to try on were pretty.

All told, I tried on around 15 dresses. We were there for at least 3 1/2 hours. We were so engrossed in what we were doing we also forgot to feed the meter and we got a parking ticket. The first dress I tried on I loved. I also really liked the second one. 13 dresses later Mom and I decided I should try on a totally crazy one that had petals all over it that looked absurd on the hanger. It was an Oscar de la Renta and it was stunning on. I looked like a Snow Queen (in a really good way, I promise). It was down to this one and the first one, which happened to be by the same designer. I tried on the first one again, and knew that it was made for me. We thanked Oscar and the fantastic assistant that zipped around 30 zippers (most dresses have two, if you can figure that out), purchased the dress for less than half the retail price and brought it home.

Currently my dream dress is hanging in its garment bag on the back of our bedroom door. Mike has strict instructions not to even think about looking at it. I'm going to try not to prance around our apartment in it over the next 10 to 14 months.

What I do in business school

Count M&M's.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

My Mama

In about 3 hours, my mom will be arriving in LAX and staying on our couch until Saturday. I'm super excited. It's been a few months since I've seen her, and to my knowledge, she has never been to LA. We have an exciting week planned including seeing some of the tourist sites around the city, doing some wedding planning (including looking at dresses!), going to the beach as it is really warm here this week, and who knows what else. She is quite a trooper as she is willing to sleep on my chocolate brown couch all week. I'll try to post some updates and pictures of our adventures. They are sure to be epic.