I Have Survived!

I just wanted to post a quick note saying that I actually survived these past two weeks, taking it day by day! Thanks for all your words of support and encouragement. I have had two dings (rejects) so far on the interview front, with one that I'm still waiting to hear from. Hopefully things will get better and I'll get a job at some point! Anyway, not much time to write -- I just got back from the wedding this weekend in Green Bay and will be flying home tomorrow for my Fall Break. I hope to see as many of you as I can while I'm home, but if not, I'll be back for Thanksgiving too! Time for bed!

Apple Picking

Last Sunday morning, John and I went to pick apples at a nearby orchard. They also bake their own fresh donuts and have hot cider. It was delicious! The donut choices are apple (plain or sugared), pumpkin (plain or glazed), plain (plain, sugared, or chocolate glazed), or blueberry (with maple or vanilla frosting). My favorite were the blueberry with maple frosting - it was just like eating a blueberry pancake with syrup, which is my favorite breakfast item. The hot cider was just perfect as well.

The orchards seemed to stretch on for miles, and they had several varieties of apples. They also had raspberries, pumpkins, and gourds to pick. We had asked which were the best apples for making a pie because that is something we had planned to do. We were directed immediately to the Prime Gold apples. They were by far my favorite that we tasted from the trees. We picked a bunch of those and then sampled one each of the many red varieties. We picked some Rome apples and then picked up a few small pumpkins for table decoration at our respective houses. It was the perfect Fall activity and the weather was perfect.

Me among the apple trees. We were regular Johnny Appleseeds. :-)

One of the best parts of apple picking was sampling the apples from the trees.

Here we are in the pumpkin patch (or I should say one of the pumpkin patches since there were 2). There were some families there with little kids, which reminded me of going to pick pumpkins with my parents when I was little. I can't wait to have kids and take them to the pumpkin patch.

This gourd was actually shaped like an apple!

Indian Wedding

I had a great weekend, filled with fun and interesting events. I'll post one for each! This is about John's friend Jiten's wedding. It took place in Canton, MI on Saturday morning at the priest's home. Jiten and his bride Shubda are Hindu, so it was definitely a new experience for me.

The day began with John and I driving to a little town called Manchester to get the cake. Jiten had to order it from that bakery because it was the one one that could make an egg-less cake (Jiten and Shubda are vegetarian). Manchester was in the opposite direction of Canton, so we had to get there super early. It was possibly the most adorable tiny town I have been to. And it was made all the better since it was a crisp Fall morning, and I loved seeing all the townspeople in the bakery, eating breakfast and gossiping. There was also a beautiful stream that ran through the town. Incidentally, Manchester is the home of the famous "chicken broil"! I don't know what it is, but apparently that's what Manchester is known for. :-)

This is the bakery.

And the town.

A cute bar at the edge of town.

This is the cake! It was very pretty and simple and we sprinkled the rose petals on top once we got it to the house. And it tasted good too! It was a vanilla cake with whipped cream icing and a little layer of cherry filling.

The ceremony was about 45 minutes and the priest was really cool - making jokes along the way and explaining all the traditions we were witnessing so we understood what everything meant. This is Jiten's nephew - he is only almost 3 years old! Very tall for his age. He was so cute sitting next to Jiten. He rubbed his foot against Jiten's and then sat on his lap.

This was the altar in the living room.

Jiten and the priest, and his nephew, Aran.

This was a plate with icons of the various gods. Jiten had to put rice and flowers in front of the gods as sacrifices many times.

Before Shubda came in (the ceremony had gone on for about 20 minutes with just Jiten to cleanse him and prepare the space for the wedding), John and another friend had to hold a sheet up in front of Jiten so he could not see Shubda until she sat down.

Shubda entering the room. The man in the foreground was a member of Shubda's family who previously had to come sit next to Jiten and look at him to make sure it was the same Jiten that had agreed to marry her.

Here you can kind of see the henna on Shubda's hands. It was very pretty and elaborate and she said that the letters of Jiten's name were hidden in the design.

Then Jiten and Shubda had to walk around a fire 7 times. The last time around, Shubda led Jiten and the priest said that whoever sat down in their chair first was going to be in charge. I think it was set up for Shubda to win, and she did! Everyone was laughing. :-)

Another shot of Shubda's dress as Jiten feeds her a piece of cake.

And here are John and I.

Stressed

A departure from my recent football posts, I thought I'd let you into my world o' business school as it is 12:10 am and after a fitful hour or so of not being able to fall asleep, I have turned on my favorite relaxing movie, BBC's Pride and Prejudice, and decided to share my stresses with you all since writing usually relieves me from whatever I am stressing about.

The upcoming 2 weeks will be extremely packed with important things and I feel like I have no time to complete them. This is the last week of classes, and next week is exams (which in reality is one take-home exam, one optional exam, and 3 papers). Add to that 3 (up to a possible 6 if I get second round) job interviews and a wedding, and you can begin to imagine why I am feeling the crunch.

This Thursday at 8 am I interview with IBM Global Consulting. I really don't have a desire to work for them and actually didn't even apply for the job, but they put me on the closed list (which is B-school speak for the list of students they want to interview) I'm guessing due to my experience at Toyota. Good news is that it will help me gear up for the more important interviews next Monday and Tuesday with Bearing Point and Accenture, respectively. If I get second rounds with those firms, I believe they occur within 1 or 2 days after the original interview.

My papers are thus: 2 ethics papers -- one big team paper on the ethical issues of Merck's HPV Vaccine called Gardasil that they are attempting to make mandatory and one individual smaller paper on some ethical issues based on a situation we will be given. 1 big negotiations paper where I have to perform a live negotiation outside of class. My original idea was to negotiate with various body shops to fix the paint/scratches left on my car by an unknown person since they did not leave a note. However, I changed my mind and decided to try to negotiate a better deal on car insurance and possibly renter's insurance. So I need to do that this week and then write the paper on it.

Anywho, thus is the nature of b-school. Trying to balance job, school, and social commitments at the same time and excel at each of them. I know that I just need to take one day at a time and do the best I can. But it seems like a lot is riding on these next two weeks. I just hope I get a job offer that I actually want and then I can actually relax and get some sleep!

Thanks for "listening". :-)

Football Mayhem

Okay, I must post another football entry because one of the biggest upsets in college football history (there is a debate whether it's bigger than Michigan - Appalachian State) just occurred. Stanford beat USC!!!! WOOOOOOO - HOOOOOOOOO! (That was akin to my screaming and jumping up and down when they won.)

THE STORY
So, USC is one of Michigan's biggest rivals (we lost to them last year in the Rose Bowl) and was ranked #1 in the country until last week, when they slipped to #2. Considered one of the best college football teams in the country, USC was undefeated this year, and had won 35 consecutive home games. The last time they lost at home was also to Stanford, in 2001.

On the other hand, Stanford has only won one game this year against San Jose State, averaging a loss of about 30 points per game last season. USC was favored to win this game by six touchdowns. Stanford's regular quarterback was out having suffered a seizure last week, so in his place was a sophomore QB who had only completed 3 passes in his career.

I only tuned in to the last quarter-and-a-half of the game, but it was the most exciting football I have seen this year. Stanford was down by 6 points, 17-23 and had the ball. With 4th down and 20 to go, the young QB threw a risky pass to the receiver, who caught it amongst 4 defenders just inside the 9-yard line for a 1st down. They got within 5 yards of the endzone on the 1st down but then suffered a penalty pushing them back to the 10-yard line. After a few incomplete passes, they were again at 4th down and goal. The QB completed a pass down the left side well within the endzone.

And the screaming and jumping up and down commenced! It was unbelievably nerve-racking and so gratifying (I always like to root for the underdog, but especially in this case). It was amazing. And the Coliseum (USC's stadium) was silent. I must say that I can empathize since Michigan was in their shoes not so long ago. Then, over at the LSU-Florida game (LSU is now ranked #1 but currently losing in a close game to #9 Florida), they announced the score of the Stanford-USC game. The LSU fans all bowed to honor Stanford's win.

This is when I love football.

P.S. For more info on the game, check out these articles:
http://www.heraldnewsdaily.com/ViewArticle.aspx?id=174759&source=2
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/pac10/2007-10-06-stanford-usc_N.htm
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_7106598

In other news, UNC (way unranked) beat Miami (almost ranked), Illinois (unranked) beat Wisconsin (#5). Unfortunately, Ohio State (#4) beat Purdue (#23).

Christmas Comes Early

Last weekend was the first weekend this year with an away game, so you will be spared photos of people in maize t-shirts and a recap of the game. However, I do just want to mention that it was a totally crazy day in college football, with many of the top teams being upset by non-ranked ones. So I don't feel as bad that Michigan was beaten by Appalachian State. :-)

Anyway, most of my weekend was spent doing homework so that I could take a little day trip with John on Sunday up north. Friday was a girl's night in with Shannon, then Saturday night John and I went to a nice dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Red Hawk. It was delicious! Then on Sunday we went to brunch at a local breakfast place called Afternoon Delight. There are 4 brunch/breakfast places in AA -- Angelo's (very popular and was our original destination, but we decided to forego the long wait), the Broken Egg (haven't been yet, but have heard mixed reviews), Gandy Dancer (been there for dinner, but not brunch), and Afternoon Delight.

The only time I have been to Angelo's, I thought that the food was very dry, but most other people I know love it, so I had decided to give it another go figuring that maybe they just had an off day. But like I said above, the wait was too long, so we went to Afternoon Delight. And boy were we glad we did! The food was AMAZING. I had a huge blueberry pancake that had been pan-grilled, eggs, and their signature cinnamon raisin toast, which is to die for. John had a bagel with lox and cream cheese and eggs Benedict, which he said were delicious. So the next time any of you are in AA for breakfast/brunch, you must go there.

After that, we made our way an hour north to Frankenmuth and the Birch Run outlet mall. Frankenmuth is "Michigan's Little Bavaria" and according to the brochure, Michigan's most visited city, with 3 million (yes million) tourists coming every year. It was founded sometime in the 1800's by a small group of German Lutheran missionaries and has retained its German feel. It's not very big, but there are a few family style German restaurants, shops, and a bunch of hotels. It was very cute. But the main attraction is Bronner's -- the world's largest Christmas store! With an area of 5 1/2 football fields, it is quite sizable. John and I had a few good laughs, but it actually wasn't quite as tacky as I had imagined.

There were several sections for various Christmas things, like tree skirts, lights, fake trees, toys, nativities, Department 56 things, etc. But the largest section was for ornaments, categorized by type. I think the tackiest ornament I saw was one of a big glazed donut. Not even a donut with icing! Just a plain, glazed donut! Anyway, we had a good time walking around and of course, I took a few pictures. :-)

This is the entrance to the store.




This was hilarious -- at the front of the store, all the men were sitting in front of the TV watching football as their wives/mothers/girlfriends shopped. :-)

Inside one part of the ornaments section -- you can see the "Cats" sign for cat ornaments.

This is a singing reindeer that can mount on your wall. Not only can he sing Christmas songs, but also country classics!

Some scenes from the main street of Frankenmuth.

The outside of Bronner's from the road.

Then we went to the outlet mall and John bought a bunch of stuff, but I only bought a cute sweatshirt from JCrew. And that was my weekend!