Category Archives: Food

You Can’t Spell Job Without OH BOY!

Posted by on March 28, 2008 No comments

It has been a while since I’ve made a personal blog post; as has been kindly been brought to my attention.  It is because a lot of things and yet at the same time, not much had happened.  I feel confident now in having something substantial deliver to my audience.

Important things first:  I purchased Super Smash Brothers Brawl (Wii) and Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (X360).  SSSB is an amazing game with a surprisingly very enjoyable single player and co-op.  I recommend it for any Wii owner.  (We even got Elizabeth to play and she seemed to be having a bit of fun once she found a character she liked.)  RSV2 is a lot like RSV1 with sprinting and a RPG aspect not unlike COD4.  The single player story is fun to play but ridiculous.

Hockey has been down right amazing.  The Gophers went on a streak to beat Mankato 2 out of 3 games that all went into over time to get into the Final Five.  The Gophers then went on to beat St. Cloud State and Colorado College to make it to the championship game.  Ultimately Denver won but The Gophers put up such an amazing effort that it is impossible to be upset.  If they continue to play this hard they have a great chance in the Frozen Four.

This past Tuesday I made crab cakes.  They were pretty good and with some tweaking they could be great.   Perhaps I’ll share the recipe if there is any interest.

I leave on my Ski Paradise vacation soon.  A whole week of water skiing in wonderfully warm and sunny weather.  It should be an absolute blast.  I only hope that my body can survive 4 sets a day for 5 days.  I leave on the 5th and come back on the 12th.

I had a slight cold this past couple of weeks, but nothing Halls cough drops couldn’t fix.

Visited the family on Easter.  Really strange when only half the family is there.

Gas is expensive ($3.10+) and influences me not to drive anymore.  I have the feeling that when I look back and read this post I will be jealous of the low price.

It appears that a lot of my favorite shows are starting to air new episodes again.  Reaper is on, South Park has been on for a while and I think the office should be coming back sometime soon.

The snow is melting and things are heating up.

I got a job.

…

Wait what?  Yup :-)  I have been offered a position at Accenture as a Consulting Analyst and I have accepted it.  The start date is May 27th.  Meaning, I’ve got a couple of months to wait.  However, as an entry level job I would be hard pressed to find anything better in this line of work.  The job will require hard work, networking and perhaps frequent travel, but at this time of my life that sounds incredibly exciting.

The last week or so I’ve spent going through the interview process.  I first was contacted by the recruiter and communicated with her.  After that it was a phone interview.  Having success in the phone interview led to an office visit.  At the office visit I had a couple of interviews and lunch with a fellow potential hire and three employees who were in our position a year or so ago.  Even though it was an interview and interviews are supposed to be huffy, I had a great time and met some very wonderful and interesting people.

I had originally been informed that I could start in April.  This date has be canceled for some unexplained reason.   My guess is that they don’t have enough new hires to warrant batching the training process.  This means I will be starting in May with all the new college graduates.  That’s fine and waiting the extra month while I live on a budget is fine.  Where things get complicated is the 2 weeks of training at Accenture’s campus in Chicago.  This will likely occur at the end of June.  Right about the time Becky and Brad get married.  I can only hope that I’m allowed to fly back, if even on my own dime for that, or that the training wraps up on Friday and we leave Friday night.  If anyone has any thoughts on this I’d be happy for any advice.  What if I’m not able to come back?  For now it’s as the old adage goes, “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

I now have about 2 Months (minus vacation) to spend on a side project or catch up with friends, because once I start working I have a feeling I will fall off the face of the earth.  I kid, but seriously during the week I will be a ghost.  You will only be able to catch me on the weekends.  Weekends are pretty sacred at Accenture.   I’d be happy to share more details in person.  I don’t feel comfortable expunging details on the internet, never know who is listening.

That leaves us with today.  I’m going to be picking up the parents from the airport after their two week long cruise.  They have yet to hear about my job, so that should be good news for them.  I’ve got laundry that needs to be done and some other misc. cleaning to do in preparation, so have a great weekend everybody!

Shatter expectations and conquer the world!

Things I’m looking forward to:

  • Starting training for my Job
  • GTA4
  • Spore
  • Water Sports

Things I’m not looking forward to:

  • Juggling personal and work life
  • Commuting/Driving

A Tale of Two Suits

Posted by on December 30, 2007 No comments

Woke up at a decent hour today to go suit shopping.  Elizabeth was kind enough to lend her opinion and joined my Mom and Me on our adventure to Men’s Warehouse.  Up until today my suit shopping experiences have been limited to paternal hand-me-downs and consignment piecemeal.  It was quite a different experience from the moment we set foot in Men’s Warehouse.

It was a cool December morning.  The way to our destination was hectic and filled with perilous traffic.  Never fearing death, we steadied our hearts and our minds.  It was then that the labyrinth entered our sight.  Not knowing what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised to see no minotaur but rather a normal American store.  Instantly we were asked if we had been helped and when we replied in the negative we were paired with an associate who was more than happy to be our Sherpa on this journey.  He brandished his tape measure in a fearsome manner and collected the necessary measurements.  Without a moments hesitation we were off to the racks to find our would be suit-ors.  Like an Aztec Priest he sacrificed suit after suit to the judging gaze of our trio.  It was apparent that he had done this a few times for the first suit I tried on was one of the two suits to eventually come out of this fray.  The process was draining.  It was a frantic whirlwind of fabric, buttons and criticisms.  Too brown, too grey, too long, too casual, too old, too 70’s and just No.  The few that remained of the rack were lined up.  Some easy cuts were made and eight turned to four.  A simple remark from Elizabeth turned four to three.  It was here that our tribe needed to enter serious deliberation.  It was clear that one suit was going to be purchased this day.  It was the suit I previously mentioned, a navy and silver pin striped three button.  That left us with two suits to decide between.  Now it was time for us to make our way to the land of mirrors.

We arrived and I quickly donned one of the suits to be cast under my personal judging eye.  It immediately felt right and I knew the other suit was going to have a hard time in stealing my heart.  To be fair I quickly changed suit jackets and was surprsied at how much I liked this other jacket as well.  What was a guy to do in this situation?  Ask the Girlfriend and the Mom of course.  Unfortunately the general consensus was that each suit had its pros and cons.  When the concept of flipping a coin came up we now looked at the price.  The first suit was much cheaper and Elizabeth noted how it went really well with my hair and eyes.  It was done.  I had found the two suits that were the prize of this quest.  The first already mentioned, the second being a cream/brown two button European suit.  (The description does not do it justice.)  With decisions in mind and suits in hand it was time to get the measurements for them to be fitted.

Not sterotypical at all, a small Asian women appeared out of no where.  (I would have to say Chinese or Korean, but I’m terrible at that.  I’m sorry.  I later found where she came from.  There is apparently a backroom where they do their tailoring.)  She was very assertive and had a delightful demeanor.  Directing me what to do and how to do it, she utilized her chalk blade to mark the marks that would make me beautiful.  In a very short time she had marked up both jackets, vest, and both pants.  In confused bewilderment I was directed to a table with undershirts and ties placed in two familiar jackets.  It took me a while to notice that these accessories had been place in and around MY jackets.  With their new cohorts in fashion excellence, they were truly stunning.  My mind salivated with the imagery of myself adorned with such finery.  Silently at first but echoing louder and louder the voice of reason began to ring.  While everything looked so wonderful, I realized that all these accessories were meant to destabilize me into purchasing more than the budget had accounted for.  In an effort of compromise we decided upon two ties that looked absolutely stunning; with the idea that more ties could be purchased at a far more reasonable price in the future.

Our associate drew up the designated purchases, collected my information, and handed me the slip of slips that spoke of when I should return to claim my prize.  We were ushered to the cash register where I handed him the preferred method of payment, Visa, and was informed that I had spent enough to earn a “free” gift certificate.  I am now (, in three weeks when it should arrive,) the proud owner of a fifty dollar gift certificate. (Should be good enough for another tie.)  Our Men’s Warehouse adventure drew to a close with our associate shaking all of our hands.  Our trio donned our jackets and steeled ourselves against the frigid grey of winter and in a blink of an eye we were gone.  Never to return again until a couple of weeks from now.

End Scene.

So after Men’s Warehouse my mom had to pick some things up from JC Penny’s.  She had purchased some curtain rods for the cabin and had to exchange an item.  This was Elizabeth’s first time shopping with my Mom.  My Mom is a very assertive person and doesn’t let stores take advantage of her.  It can often result in awkward situations, but I can honestly say that she gets some of the best deals ever.  The point is pretty mute since on this trip there was very minimal resistance and not a whole lot to go wrong.  I picked up some slippers and some “burgundy” shoes to go with my new suits.  Shoes are expensive.

The day didn’t end there.  We barely had time to relax once we returned home and Elizabeth and I were off again to her Aunt’s for a Christmas Party.  It’s not the present crazy type of party but just a laid back time for family to get together and enjoy some wonderful food.  We had the Patriots-Giants game on in the background.  Witnessed the Patriots going undefeated in a season.  (Actually saw this when we got back to Elizabeth’s house.)  I dropped Elizabeth off at her house and stayed for a few hours.  We watched some terrible television and I decided it was time to leave.  We have Gopher hockey tomorrow.  Gophers lost today and will likely lose tomorrow, but being around friends is always fun.  It’s possible that we might even squeeze some hockey in for ourself before we leave downtown to watch the game(s?).

Thank you Mom and Elizabeth for all your help today.  Without the female perspective, today would surely have been a disaster.

The Pre-Christmas Warm Up

Posted by on December 24, 2007 No comments

If you haven’t noticed, it’s been a few days since I’ve last posted.  A very influential reader informed me that it would be best if I did so again.

I feel I can not be blamed for the passing of time and of the rate at which it travels.  To me the past few days have blended into one giant super day.  It is mostly the effect of a multi day graduation celebration.  A number of us made trips to Minneapolis (or stayed there since some live there) and we got our “party on” as the kids (ha!) say these days.  Greg found it in his infinite wisdom to purchase a Breathalyzer.  We turned it into a game of sorts and were certainly surprised by the results.  The most interesting part of the night occurred when JJ while playing wingman happened to be the only one to come out “victorious”.  JJ ended up staying and chatting with the girl when the rest of us decided to get out of his hair and head to KHK to see Quigley.  He was a wonderful host but that doesn’t change the fact that my desk is better than his.  Afterwards we stopped at the lovely Burrito Loco to get some food.  Back at Chops’ place Greg and Elizabeth quickly slipped off to dreamland after finishing their Loco. They were the top players in the Breathalyzer Olympics.  Elizabeth being the winner with a BAC of .21.  Chops and I entertained ourselves by making a video of JJ’s empty room and then watched TV while we waited for JJ to return.  JJ showed up in short notice to inform us of the anticlimactic end to his evening.  Unsurprisingly the girl was not JJ’s type and who could blame him?  It’s not that he didn’t have the chance to make things happen, it’s just he is a better guy than that.  Still, it was something out of the usual and that is always a good time.   That was pretty much the end of that evening.

Saturday was quality time with Elizabeth.  We just relaxed the whole day together.  Moments like that are far and few between.  It is wonderful when we get to enjoy each others company alone for so long.  It had rained the previous evening and sequentially dropped back below freezing so I had to veraciously scrape off my car.  The roads were pretty nightmarish when driving Elizabeth back home.  Capped off the evening with some COD4 and some ranked doubles in Halo3 with JJ.  We pretty much rocked everyone we played by a good measure.

My effort to go to sleep early last night failed.  (I blame myself, although JJ could hold a close second.)  Which in turn threw my plans to wake up early and finish my Christmas Shopping into blarney.  (English references ftw!)  Woke up around 4:00pm.  Found, to my wonderful surprise, that my parents had cleared out the middle stall of the garage so that it could now be used to berth a car like it was intended.  Thus, scrapping ice from my car as previously detailed has come to an end.  It was with good timing as today we were hit by a good dose of snow and wind.  So at around 5:00pm I headed out into the storm to finish my Cristmas shopping.  I still had my sister, Secret Santa and few more items to purchase for Elizabeth.  I headed over to W******* L**** and W**-M*** to make my purchases.  I was lucky I had woken up so early (</sarcasm>) because W******* L**** was closing at 6:00pm.  I stopped in 3 different stores and was able to pick up some gifts for my sister and Elizabeth.  With still a few things in mind I headed off to W**-M***, the store that never closes.  I was able to pick up the remainder of my gifts for all three people.  Total time was 40mins for that shopping trip.  Given the terrible driving conditions and the amount of walking between stores I must stay that I deserve some kind of medal.  The only demerit I deserve was forgetting a battery for the garage remote.  A23 battery?  Honestly, what the crap kind of battery is that.

I must reiterate that people are terrible drivers.  You live in Minnesota.  It’s going to snow.  It kind of happens every year.  Long term memory exist for a reason!  Remove head from arse!

Able to rest having completed all my shopping I spent some quality time with the parents.  We prepared for the family Christmas Eve party while Discovery Channel was on in the background.  (A cool show about a couple living with Wolves in Idaho.)  My Dad helped prep the Turkey, my Mom made the stuffing and I made the Chex Mix.  I had to improvise a bit because of the size of the batch we were making but it turned out well.  (Kind of hard to screw up.)  When we were done cooking and the show about the wolves was over we switched it over to Comedy Central where we watched Trading Places.  As the night drew to a close and the show was over, I retreated to the basement for some COD4 with Chad.  We tried to get JJ to play with us, but he his home for the holidays and doesn’t have the mechanical means to connect to Xbox live.

And now we come to the present hour and find me wrapping up this post with a cliche conclusion.  I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas Eve and if you are having a party, party in moderation.  Enjoy the holiday season and be safe on the roads.  Merry Chirstmas everyone.

With great knowledge

Posted by on December 19, 2007 1 comment

…comes great responsibility, is half the battle, is power, corrupts absolutely.  Pick which ever you think best fits the situation, but it doesn’t change the fact that I am graduating.  The University of Minnesota has found it to be that I am qualified and have met all requirements to be presented a Bachelor of Science in Economics.  Ok, so I don’t have the diploma yet, but I have gone through the formalities and I know I passed my final today.  (More than just passed I would say.)  Econometrics has succumbed to my will.  However, I am not without battle scars to show the treacherous path that I have walked.

I’m going through these Monster Cookies at an alarming rate.  I can safely say that it is not helping my exercise goals.  I really need to build that exercise app. for the site to apply more fictional accountability.

You may notice that Gravatar as well as twitter has been added to the site.  If you aren’t part of either app. may I suggest you sign up.  It will increase your happiness by 5 points.  (You can sign up for both by clicking on their respective links.  I promise that it is supper easy.)  Becasue I have installed both these apps, I figure that I might as well partake in both.  This is why I’m now working on an icon to represent myself.  I’ve not had to make a small icon for a long time and since I want it to be used globally across all apps I figure it should be neat.  So I’m trying to make a neat icon.  Yup, a neat icon.

People don’t say the word neat enough.

During my last commute home from school, I once again came to the conclusion that as a race human beings don’t deserve the right to drive.  Everyone is a terrible driver; including myself.  I’d like to think I’m better than others, but that is pretentious and I’m sure from a different set of eyes I would be dangerous and aggressive.  This is why I think we need to phase out “driving” and”roads” altogether.  I have a solid idea and plans for implementation that need a little more work, but I think that it would be the very beneficial solution to many of our problems.  It would cut down on CO2 emissions, general stress levels, accidents, reliance on petrol, commute times, shipping costs and countless other issues.  Just saying that if anyone is interested in talking about it, I’ve got a lot of ideas.

Next task to work on will be the resume.  If anyone knows of a position for a Econ BS Major, Math Minor and Management Minor give me a heads up.  In the mean time it’s time to lay the groundwork for a productive future.  Here’s hoping that all the knowledge I’ve collected doesn’t corrupt me.