Catching Up

So, I've been meaning to update this since the weekend. Not that anything really exciting went on this weekend (it didn't). But there are a few random tidbits of interest to share. So, since I am friendless in Minneapolis for the next two weeks (my good buddy from Andover is in NYC through labor day), I decided to use Saturday to make some progress on unpacking (yeah, it's bad...I still have several boxes chillin in my kitchen). I did get through about four boxes....you wouldn't know it by looking at my kitchen though. I decided Saturday night that I would have a movie marathon to relieve me of my boredom.....except my computer decided it wanted to crash. Some type of hard disk error (yeah, I know, not good).
Sunday morning I took myself to church since I missed it last week. I went to First Baptist - the same church I attended last summer when I was here. Yes, this is the same Baptist church that manages to get through their entire service in an hour. Puts Beulah (my home church) to shame! Returning this summer reminded me of my love/hate relationship with this church. On the one hand, I love their pastor - everytime he preaches I feel like I get something out of it, and I always end up thinking about things in a new light. And isn't that one of the key reasons people attend church - to be fed spiritually? On the other hand, I'm used to my upbeat, soulful, gospel and praise-filled worship service, complete with "hallelujah", "Amen", and "preach Pastor!!!" thrown in every now and then for good measure. Coming from that background, the service at First Baptist can put you to sleep real quick. I was amused when they sang "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" as one of their praise songs...it sounded like the Metropolitan Opera version. If I weren't staring at the words on a screen, I doubt I would have recognized it. This church needs some soul. Ahhh....but the pastor's sermon was about worrying. And given all the worries I've accumulated related to this new job, new city, moving so far from home, family, friends, etc....it was a message I needed to hear. He preached from Luke 12, in case you need to hear that message too.
After church, I had a moment of randomness. As I'm walking toward the Target store to pick up "a couple of things" (which coincidentally, turned into several couple of things), I ran smack into Jovan Martin. Now unless you're one of my Wharton friends or my brother, the name probably means nothing to you, but Jovan is a first year from Wharton (well I guess technically, now a second year), and also happens to be the cousin of one of my brother's good friends. You ever run into someone you know, but in a context that's completely unexpected, and you just have a moment of confusion, while your mind tries to sort it all out and make sense of the situation? Well, yeah, I had one of those moments when I saw her - I thought I was seeing a ghost. Turns out Jovan is interning at General Mills for the summer (and as she reminded me, if I ever bothered to show my face on campus last year I would have known that...so sue me, I was too busy enjoying the luxury of only taking 3 classes as a second year...I paid my dues!). Jovan was with two other GM interns - one from Harvard and one from Illinois, who were both nice enough. This is their last week of the internship so they were prepping for final presentations...ahhh, I remember those days...the stress of wondering "am I going to get a job offer or not???" I'm so glad those days are over. I told Jovan to call me this week before she heads out, then made my way to the Target store.
Now, here's the problem with shopping Target. I went in, thinking I'd check to see if there was anything in shoes or handbags on clearance that might be of interest to me (btw, I've got my eye on this Botkier for Target clutch - I'm waiting until I see a paycheck to buy it - everytime I pass by it I'm tempted, it's so cute). And I figured I'd grab a couple of basic groceries (bread, milk). By the time I left of course (about an hour later), I had all a full basket of groceries, toiletries, and other random items that I had no intention of purchasing...except that they were all such good prices, I couldn't pass them up!
So anyway, that was my weekend in a nutshell. This week at work is a busy one. We have a team outing on Wednesday to a baseball game (I'm just so thrilled, can't you tell....been living next to Yankee stadium all my life and I can count on one hand the number of games I've been to). Then Thursday we have a big company meeting that I won't say much about now, but I'm sure I will have lots to say about after the fact. It was the highlight of my internship last summer. And Friday, I'll be sitting in on vendor meetings with my mentor, which are always fun, because it feels like home shopping. The rest of the week is mainly training. Boo.
Oh yeah, I had a lunch scheduled with my old manager for today but she had to reschedule at the last minute for next week. But coincidentally, I ran into her on the elevator while I was looking for my old mentor. She looks like she lost a little weight and she dyed her hair...she looked like such a diva - if I didn't look her in the face, I wouldn't have recognized her! We hugged (I love happy reunions!) and briefly caught up (about as much as you can during an elevator ride). I also heard from my other old mentor who will be back from maternity leave in October, which I'm very excited about. I've pretty much set up touch bases with most of my old team, so now I have to work on my new team. I started scheduling those today. There are so many people to get to know.
Anyway, enough for now. I need to take advantage of the fact that I was home by 5:10 today (oh yeah, I timed my commute, it's an official 5 minutes door to door - 8 if I'm walking leisurely). I'm about to find me something to eat and get back to that movie marathon (my computer recuperated sometime on Sunday so I watched "Meet the Browns", the play...HILARIOUS!!! I was in stitches for 2 and a half hours!). I think tonight its going to be Akeelah and the Bee - I never saw that - or this other movie I bought called Snatch (with Benicio Del Toro....mmmmmm). Later y'all.