A Weekend to Remember

This past weekend one of my fellow classmates, John G. Hafer, got married to Jennifer Martin.  It was a small intimate ceremony at the Botanical Gardens followed by an elegant reception at James at the Mill.  It was a fun-filled weekend of meeting with family members and celebration.

Friday night kicked off with the rehearsal dinner.  I wasn't in the wedding but John insisted that we, me and Kevin Oden, come and meet his family.  I'm glad we went.  His brother and sister are both younger, they were fun to get to know.  John's grandfather, Pops, had lots of stories and would just about suffocate you everytime he gave you a hug. John's wife-to-be's cousin, James, also sat near us.  He shared stories about high school that took me back to my high school days.  We talked about memorizing Brutus's speech from Julius Caesar and other things that I've already taken the test on.  It was nostalgic.

Saturday morning we got up early and got in a round of golf.  I hadn't played in a few months and the rust definitely showed.  The highlight of the day was holing a chip shot from 30 yards out or so.  We finished up the round and went our separate ways to get ready for the main event.

The wedding was outdoors, it started at 5:00pm.  It was a little warm out.  The ceremony lasted about 20 minutes, but then afterwards were the pictures.  So while they were taking pictures me and Kevin and our significant others walked around exploring the gardens.  It is a really nice place.  There are lots of bees buzzing about collecting nectar for their honey.  As long as you leave the bees alone they won't bother you.  After the pictures we headed over to James at the mill for a very nice dinner.  The cake was made by Rick's Bakery by Kevin's wife.  She did a great job.  The cake was delicious.  The room was arranged in a big "O" for Ohio State, since John is from Cincinnati.  Since the wedding was small everyone in the room was able to speak and tell stories about John and Jenn.  Stories flowed out and it was pretty entertaining.  All in all the wedding weekend was great.  I wish them the best as they set out on their own as husband and wife.

So then Sunday came and the paper I had neglected all weekend reared its ugly head.  I finished it up and got it turned in.  Then I needed a little retail therapy, so we went shopping for a bit.  There were plenty of deals at the mall with the holiday weekend coming up.  I picked a few things and suddenly felt all better.  I came home and wrote another paper just for fun :)  Ok not really but I did write another paper.  I spent Sunday night doing some leisurely reading.  The book for book club is Freakanomics, but I'm also reading Tuesdays with Morrie on the side.  Both good books I would recommend anyone.

And that was my weekend.

Hot Summer Days

Summer is definitely here.  The temperatures are rising and the crowds are headed to the pools and lakes.  The BP oil spill has surpassed 60 days and it's still spewing oil.  It's an environmental tragedy.  I had planned on heading down to Florida over the Fourth, but the oil has reached the areas I had planned on going to.  So looks like it will be some other destination this year.

Anyhow, the summer has been great so far.  I am taking one class, International Management.  It's wrapping up next week.  It's been a really interesting class, and I really wish that we had more time to discuss the various topics.  The class is taught by Dr. Vikas Anand.  There are many cases for the course and they bring up many important points of doing business internationally.  We have one more class period and a paper due.  The remainder of my summer will be class free.

We've also started a book club for the summer.  So far we've read The Likeability Factor and The Paradox of Choice.  Our next book is  Freakanomics.  It's a small group.  We meet about once a week.  It's been fun, the meetings are scheduled for a couple of hours but always run long.  Our last one went 4 hours.  I suppose that our meetings running long indicates that it's a fun meeting.  We talk about the books, and we talk about how the books relate to school and work.  We also catch up with each other and talk about some of the social happenings.  We rotate the hosting duties for each book club.  The host is responsible for leading the meeting, as well as providing dinner.  With the holiday coming up our next meeting may not be for a couple of weeks. 

Working at Walmart with the Analytical Research Center this summer has also been a great experience so far.  I'm getting high level projects, and the people I work with are wonderful.  My supervisor is great, and I couldn't ask for a better team to work with. 

That's a very broad overview of my summer so far.  There are plenty of details that I would like to add, but I don't want to make these posts too long.  I'll try to be more detailed in future posts.  So until next time stay safe and stay focused.

Walmart Shareholders Week

This past week was Walmart Shareholders Week.  Walmart brought in international associates from 15 countries for their annual meeting.  To accommodate all the visitors Walmart takes over the U of A campus.  Associates stay in the dorms throughout the week.  Shareholders and visiting associates have the opportunity to tour the home office in Bentonville and also visit some of the sights such as the original five and dime.

I was able to attend the first night of concerts which included the Zac Brown Band and Tim McGraw.  Below are a few pictures from the concert.

Aside from the concert there was also a vendor fair.  Vendors brought in celebrities like former NFL running back Jerome Bettis and Michael Orr whose life was made into the movie The Blind Side.  Here's a picture from the vendor fair.  We are in Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco.

The big day was the actual Shareholders meeting.  This was on Friday and we had to be there by six in the morning.  The meeting was hosted by Jamie Foxx and had musical guests Enrique Iglesias, Mary J Blige, Josh Groban, and Mariah Carey.  The entertainment was mixed in with the Walmart executive speakers.

The week was very fun and exciting.  This is an amazing event and all you have to do to get in is buy a share of Walmart stock or work for Walmart.  Afterward you can sell your stock so it's not expensive at all.   This is an event I would definitely recommend to anyone who is in the area.  I wonder who'll be coming next year.