Come Back to Texas

Hurricane Ike, Financial Crisis, What next?

There is a dark cloud over the McCombs School of Business this past week.... From the collapse of Lehmann Brothers, to the Merrill Lynch being bought out by Bank of America, to the decline in stock price of many of our major Financial institutions this is all a bit frightening. As part of the current graduating class, the competition for jobs after college just got a bit tighter. 

Hurricane Ike is currently in third place for the most expensive Hurricane in the United States, just behind Hurricane's Andrew and Hurricane Katrina. Personally, my house is in fairly good condition, despite not having power at the moment. We were very fortunate to not have any substantial damage to the house and just lost a few trees and part of our fence. 

On a random note, my house in Austin is the one with the water leak.... ironic.

Gloomy times. 

 

Forever Subsiding Their Pain

I have listened to this song over 100 times over the past week AND am not even close to getting sick of it.

Celine Dion, you are poetic. Talk about imagery.

Can we touch the soul of heaven?
Can we unite a sacred lesson?
Every child creates a skylight of beauty.

Can you hear cathedrals falling?

All the universe is calling

Cry a single cello, from your heart

Since the world has lost her way

Loneliness journey endlessly

Yet the promised chance remains

Gifts of what could be

So let the children remember the sun

Let them dance, Let them soar

For their lives have begun

Let the children engender the rain

As the river runs through fields

Forever subusiding their pain

Prayer

Every voice along the shoreline

Standing still within time

Spinning unresolved, the walking

As each season passes

Through wonderland and looking glasses

The Secret Garden shines, beckons you

Gentle flower don't fade away

Sweet innocence they're havesting

In the faith of golden dreams

Where one love lives eternally

Let the children remember the sound

Let them dance, let them soar

For their lives have begun

Let the children engender the rain

As the river runs through the fields

Forever subsiding their pain

Prayer

Bless the children, for they are the light

They are the truth of spirit in flight

Yes the children engender the rain

As the river runs through life

Healing their pain

You can trust with your heart,

One more time

Sweet angel, conceived you have

Forever and always believed
Prayer

The Daily Grind

This is the final week of consulting internship at Deloitte! My how the weeks have flown by. Here are some summary figures for my past 10 weeks:


Flights: 20
States Visited: 9 - Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, and Texas
Nights in Dallas: 15
Nights spent at the Marriott Park Meadows: 27
Days at the Beach: 9
Books Read: 10
Number of times I have seen The Dark Knight: 3


If I said that this summer I became a jet-setter, that would be an understatement. But flying all over the country does have its benefits. I learned that I LOVE to read on planes and can finish almost an entire book in one Dallas/Denver flight! I learned that for some reason I see my extended family more while working long hours.

As a huge adventure/water freak, I had the opportunity to go skydiving (twice), surfing, parasailing, and spent the perfect amount of time at the beach.

Whoever said you can't mix business with pleasure didn't work for Deloitte Consulting! I never had to struggle with work/life balance because their alternative travel policy encouraged my work/life balance.

Although, I hardly spent any time in Texas, I got to explore a beautiful new state and catch up with Texas friends in a different setting. And oddly enough, I am not missing Texas that much. There is so much more to see and experience. I feel like this is just the beginning for me.

So at the end of this incredible summer, I am actually going to miss the consulting lifestyle. I don't know how a job surpassed college in terms of enjoyment. Maybe it's the responsibility and independence associated with the job that really changed me. I held the responsibility of scheduling my flights, getting to the airport, hotel, client office and not once missed a flight or forgot to book a reservation. It became almost habitual, and relatively easy.

My final thoughts are good luck to Denver next week at the Democratic Convention! For those of you that are lucky enough to attend, it's a breathtaking city, with the mountain landscape and sunsets reminiscent of an impressionist painting.

current song: 'Prayer' by Celine Dion

Deloitte Bloggers?

I just discovered the CEO of Deloitte has a blog... and WHAT an inspirational/international/well written blog it is!!

It's reassuring to know as an employee, that those who are leading share the similar values and perspectives.

Nothing could have done more to improve my mood today. Thanks Jim!

Success is in the Eye of the Beholder

J.K. Rowling's Harvard Commencement Address



'So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life. '

'Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies. '

continue reading: http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2008/06.05/99-rowlingspeech.html

Bitter-Sweet Symphony

'My Sweet Song' by Toby Lightman

My sweet song

It's been a long time

What'd you come around here for

Cause that old love is gone

And I've since carried on

Thought I was rid of you for sure

Oh my sweet song, you don't sound so sweet no more

Please don't sing to me
Cause it hurts me to hear the melody that was
Good to me before
Oh my sweet song, you don't sound so
sweet no more

Oh you said love was forever and you told me
love would never
Break my heart, and I believed you as I fell
That's all over, let it go,
You're just a song I used to know
And your fantasy, it don't work for me
Go and pick on someone else

My sweet song
Guess I'm stuck with you
And someday, I'll find the love I'm looking for
Then my sweet, sweet song won't sound so
sad no more
My sweet, sweet song, I'll guess I'll always be yours

currently playing: 'P.S. I Love You' Soundtrack

Frighteningly Accurate

Best personality quiz I've ever seen:

I took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test! "Shelves her ambitions and forgoes her desire for p..." Click here to read the rest of the results.

The results are so accurate, you'll be afraid that you're so in touch with your feelings and ambitions.

I know I am.

How do you compare to the status quo??

statement	percentile
I dream about a rescuer.	96%
I am always on the go.	95%
I am extremely emotionally moody.	94.5%
I try hard to control my physical appetitites.	4.5%
I have trouble making up my mind	2.5%
I like science fiction.	6.5%

Take Free Percentile Test

Clearly, I don't. I know I was always in the 90%, but not for 'being dutiful to others', 'being a thrill seeker', or being 'capable at presentation'. What do other people do?

At least it's good to be in the bottom 1% for having 'difficulty controling my appetite'. No wonder, I'm not overweight, food's not a big deal to me. It's weird that for 99% of those test takers, food is their friend. I like chocolate just as much as the next guy, but I can control it.

current song: 'If I Ever Leave This World Alive' by Flogging Molly