Februaryish

I need to catch up before Spring Break.  You'll see why, after Spring Break.  (13 days!)  Lots has gone on!  In no particular order...

I went to see The Killers with Jeph.  Naturally, it was amazing.  It was the kind of concert that gets me excited down to my bones.  It's hard to explain the feeling.  It's the closest thing to spiritual that I've ever felt, without it actually being a spiritual thing.  I've been to one other Killers concert right after I moved to DC - that was back when they only had one album, and now they have four!  (Yep, I've been here that long.)  

I just love watching Brandon Flowers. When he talks, he's awkward on the stage, like he just doesn't know what to say.  But when he's singing, he is in his element and you can't take your eyes off him.   (We wanted to make t-shirts that say, "I'm Mormon, just like Brandon Flowers!") 

At one point in the show, some helmet-clad dude jumped up on the stage and started strutting around like he owned the place.  He even gave Brother Flowers a big hug.  It wasn't until he stopped singing and said, "Who is this guy??"  that the security guards came running and hauled him off the stage.  Of course, after the song ended, he made it a point to get a big round of applause for the Fairfax security guards and to say hi to the dude, since they just sent him straight back into the crowd.  (We then changed our minds and wanted to make t-shirts with a drawing of helmet dude and "The Killers" on the front, and "Who is this guy?" on the back.)

My first friend in the DC area and longtime Census/workout buddy, Lauren, moved to North Carolina a few weeks ago.  It's hard knowing she's not here, but it's like with family - I know I'll be seeing her around.  Just not as often.  But I did throw her a big Census dinner party before she departed.

I've started getting back into the Salsa scene lately.  On Valentines weekend, for example, I actually went dancing both weekend nights.  My date was Marcia.  :o)  The skills are coming back to me.  It's bliss.  Kassandra dressed up like she was going to an 80's prom.  Doesn't she look hot?

I've gone to three birthday parties in the last two weeks.  All of them have been on Thursdays.  What's that all about?  During one of them, I won a contest and my prize was that I get to be Shark's BFF for the next year.  As you can see, he's very excited.
At another, I made a contact that could potentially lead to an incredible summer internship - but I'll tell you about that if it actually happens.  This pic has nothing to do with the internship, it's just some fellow birthday partiers.  (If you're curious, the guy on the right won - after about 5 minutes and two breaks.)
The third party was for my dear roommate, Jossy.  
There ended up being two birthday cakes, so we just sang to her twice.

Just a word about school - a few weeks ago we had a case competition, which is really just a big opportunity for all the students to get a little exposure, show off their presenting/analysis skills, and network.  Just like everything in business school.  It's all about the networking.  Basically, they give us a case and we have 3 days to prepare a presentation with all our solutions, then we present it to a panel of judges on day 4.  But this comes in the middle of all the regular classwork, so you can imagine the good times.  It was by far the most intense week I've had in school yet - I was either in class, doing homework, at a church function, or sleeping.  But my group was delightful.  

I think I've mentioned before that I sometimes get to show people around who are considering attending AU, to try to woo them to the program.  I'll take them to class, feed them, give them a tour of the campus, and answer Q's.  It's fun.  Now they're talking about putting us up on the Kogod website so people can contact us directly.  (You can see it here.  Just scroll down a little, you'll be able to see a few more of my attractive classmates.)  As a bonus, we got to take professional photos to go on the website.  So, now you can all see what I'd look like if I were ever a professional.  :o)

I recently learned about a massive service organization in DC called Greater DC Cares.  So, the other night I attended orientation so I could start getting informed about all the service opportunities out there.  I was very impressed with (1) how organized this thing is.  It's very large scale, covering a lot of different areas and types of service, and it's all volunteer, which can get messy.  But they've got it down to a science.  (2) how many other people were attending orientation!  It's just a really happy reminder that there are a lot of people out there who want to do good things, and all they really need is someone to take the lead and give them opportunities.

This weekend we had a big ice skating activity for Institute.  The place was packed.  I was playing tag with some people on the ice, but after awhile it was so full of people that we couldn't play anymore.  

The only downside is that the ice was only zamboni'd at the beginning.  3 hours of 300 people going in circles doth ruts in the ice make.  I actually took a pretty ungraceful spill (when I wasn't goofing around to deserve it) and now my right side is all bruised up.  Totally worth it!

Phew!  Caught up again!  Keep checking back for more birthday and ice skating pictures.