Monthly Archives: June 2008

CAS: Status Completed

Posted by on June 27, 2008 1 comment

The longest and at the same time the shortest 2 weeks of my life have just ended.

Core Analyst School is over and I’m sad to see it end. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I met so many wonderful and unique individuals. I can only hope and strive to maintain those relationships as the days continue. Thanks to tools like facebook, it should be easier to keep in touch, but not even facebook can truly overcome the difficulties of a busy life.

The two weeks consisted of a “work hard, play hard” mentality. We would rise early in the morning to make our 8:00AM start time. From there we would be in class until 6:00PM. From then on we had the time for ourselves. Every night was spent socializing, networking and building long lasting relationships. Some nights, some of us “networked” too hard. This would lead to difficult mornings. I’m proud to say that I managed to survive with about 4-5 hrs of sleep every night. Right now, I’m looking forward to being able to sleep in or I should say, not have to go to class. My body no longer sleeps in. The sun comes up and so do I.

Bullet list of things that happened (to be expanded upon sometime?)

  • 100% of flights I’ve had for Accenture have been delayed. Booo AA/Weather.
  • Drank every night
  • Learned how to play shuffle board and dominate at it
  • Did laundry twice
  • Sprained my ankle
  • Made a ton of friends
  • Experienced the Cadillac Ranch
  • Experienced Crobar
  • Drank about 80 gallons of water
  • Gained 9lbs
  • Expanded my professional network
  • Got staffed on an amazing (local) project
  • Rode in a limo 3 times
  • Went to Chicago
  • Learned my way around Chicago and St. Charles
  • A few people got hurt at CAS (Our leader and another Analyst, poor Ryan)
  • Had an amazing time
  • Learned a few things
  • Watched Spain beat Italy at the ESPN Zone in Chicago. Had amazing seats in front of the HUGE screen
  • Performed 2 miracles on computers
  • Never late for any class
  • Part of the winning Table from Section 4 (Table 4!!!)
  • Learned how to take a taxi to and from the airport

I’m sure there is more, but my brain is absolutely tired right now. Considering the condition I woke up this morning in…I’m impressed. The Cadillac Ranch on Thursday night certainly set up many of us for a difficult Friday. Kind of funny considering Friday morning we had to give our big group wrap up presentation. The school best trains you for the lifestyle. Basically, very little sleep and high expectations.

Well let me tell you. High Performance? Yea, it was delivered.

Night all

P.S. I had 8415 emails over 2 weeks.

Windy City

Posted by on June 15, 2008 2 comments

I will be in Chicago for the next 2 weeks for Core Analyst Training.  I’ve told and I’m hoping it will be a blast.  It won’t be all fun and games.  It looks like we will be working 10 hour days and at least part of the day Saturday.  Packing has become my biggest issue.  I’ve never had to pack so many clothes before.  This can be attributed to most of my vacations being focused around beach attire.  Where as the norm for the Q center (Where we will be) is business casual.  I purchased a rolling garment bag for this trip.  I figure it will serve a purpose in the future as well if (and when) I am staffed on an out of town project.

I started a facebook group for CAS and some of the people are talking of playing sports.  This further complicates my packing issue.  I’m not sure how much to bring or what.  I also have no idea what to wear on the way there.  I’m thinking that I’ll just go in my usual attire, jeans and a t-shirt.  I can’t see any repercussions for wanting to be comfortable on the airplane.

This will also be the first trip where my backpack is not my carry-on item.  In fact it won’t even be making the trip.  It saddens me because that thing has been with me everywhere.  It must feel abused being replaced by my laptop bag.  This will seriously hamper the amount of “fun” stuff I can bring with me.  Pretty much space for only one book.  So to help myself I made a purchase.  I purchased an Ipod.  One of the 80gb classics.  The 32gb touch was incredibly tasty, but for $500 I had to pass.  I’ve spent the majority of today with it syncing.  Oye, it’s annoying, but Sync Must Occur!

I think over the course of the week I will try to update a bit on what new toys I got since starting my job.  It’s expensive getting a job.

I’ve been playing a lot of poker this week.  Standing in for Justin and then some for myself.  I’ve made the money in every one so far.  No big amounts (all freerolls or $1 entry fees), but still many hands of poker.

Time to pack.  These next 2 weeks should be a blast, but I sure am gonna miss a few things.  Mainly getting to spend time with E.  Love you hunny!.

23 Plus 0.028

Posted by on June 8, 2008 No comments

I just wanted to thank everyone for the birthday wishes.  I had a wonderful evening at the Saint’s game.  We watched them pull out a victory in extra innings.  Then proceeded to act way beyond our years.  Most of us turned in pretty early.  I feel old, but work has the ability to leave me exhausted.  I can only hope that once my sleep schedule becomes more normalized, I will be more awake in the later hours.

Second week of SDF training is up this week.  We’ve made it past the difficult stuff in my mind (classes.)  Only one more week until we head out to the Q center.  That should be a pretty good time.  Due to some interesting bowling on “First Friday” Greg (from work) and I have lunch paid for on Monday and Tuesday.

Once again, thanks for all the birthday wishes.  Let’s hope this rain lets up!

Analyst Training

Posted by on June 3, 2008 1 comment

I’m currently in the 2nd week of training. There are a total of 5 weeks; 2 of which I will be in Chicago. It’s very exciting and I’m really happy with my choice to join Accenture. Training keeps me fairly busy during the work day and even long into the night. I’m pretty exhausted by the time “bedtime” roles around. This could largely be attributed to my less than stellar sleep schedule prior to my employment. Since the updates will be spotty, I figure I’ll leave you with this little math puzzle. (I found it in “A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market” by John Allen Paulos.)

Three gentlemen give the manager of a hotel $30 to rent a conference room for the afternoon. After the gentlemen leave to the room, the manager realizes that the room only costs $25 and that he has overcharged them. The manger grabs a nearby bellhop and gives him $5 and instructs him to return it to the three men. Not knowing how to divide $5 evenly the bellhop decides to give $1 to each of the three men and pocket the remaining $2 for himself. Later on the bellhop realizes that each man paid $9. Thus since $27 (9×3) plus the $2 he took for himself add up to $29, he wonders what happened to the missing dollar. Where did it go?

NO GOOGLE CHEATING!!!!