Christmas #3

Christmas celebration #3 was with Dad's side of the family, where we continually strive to define "Big Family"... I love it! This year we have officially outgrew anyone's house. Both Christmas and Thanksgiving were held at the Parish Hall at St. Mary's Church in Navilleton, Indiana. While it's not quite as "home-y", the Aunts did a wonderful job of decorating and setting up for the event.

Family members started trickling in about about 5:45 pm with dinner planned for shortly after 6pm. After a delicious dinner and catching up with cousins and family, we gathered around the grandparents for gifts. Grandma sewed all the ladies a large purse and all the children a shoulder bag. She's crafty and makes gifts every year. One year she made everyone a chess/checkers board!

After the gifts, the next generation of family (the great grandchildren) resurrected the traditional Christmas Talent Show! It brought back memories of my childhood and putting on the show for the parents! Although thanks to the church facilities, the great grandchildren had a real stage on which to perform, while the grandchildren always made do with the basement corner or the cleared out dinning room.

Anyways, here are some pictures from the evening!

Grandma, Grandpa, 16 grand children (2 not present), 13 great-grand children (2 not present and 2 on the way!!!)

Foster lounging after the show

More home made music

In-laws... we'll let them stay.

Cousins Michelle, Lucas, Sarah, Katy, and Mom and sister Laura

The Talent Show!!!

More Talent Show!

Cousin Lisa and Conner

Lilly and Kaylee...Sisters?

Cousin Michelle

My dad's sisters... each individually known as my favorite Aunt.

Grandpa and Grandma and their 7 kids (Dad is on the left).

Christmas #2

My first Christmas celebration of the year took place in Boston with Dave and Rebecca. Now that I'm back home again in Indiana, our first extended family celebration took place on Christmas Eve with my mom's side of the family.

My Aunt Faith graciously hosted the family for an afternoon and evening of great appetizers and dinner followed by the traditional gift exchange and perhaps a new tradition of attending midnight mass.

The gift exchange is always fun because it's a white elephant style exchange where everyone brings a somewhat generic gift. We then pick and order in which people select and open gifts with the option to "steal" previously open gifts. It's always fun to see the reaction when the uncles open a gift containing jewelry or the aunts open a gift containing tools or car care supplies. I lucked out and ended up with a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble, which will be put to good use with the upcoming Domestic Plant Trek.

Here are a few pictures from the get together!

Sister Laura and Cousin Andrea who visited in September.

Mom and Granma
Aunt Kaaren and Aunt Carolyn, say that 3 times fast.

Cousins Jared and Patrick:

Merry Christmas (#2)!!!

A White (Day After) Christmas

We woke up to a nice dusting of snow the day after Christmas. I'll count it as a White Christmas because we'll be celebrating Christmas that evening!

Merry Christmas!

Home Made Music

While I may not be the most musically inclined individual in the family, there is plenty of talent elsewhere to make up for me. Here is a clip of my dad and grandpa warming up for the family Christmas celebration that evening. Enjoy!

Headed Home

I’m now headed home from Boston. I will not return for over a month, with classes not starting until February 2^nd! It’s going to be an enjoyable and long break from the daily rigors of coursework. While 6 weeks off seems like a lot, it’s going to fast.

The first two weeks of break will be spent with family and friends celebrating Christmas and New Years. I have many friends and family to catch up with in Indianapolis so scheduling is going to be hectic but worthwhile.

After the holidays at home, I’ll be rejoining the LGO class for our Domestic Plant Trek where we will be traveling around the country visiting various manufacturing facilities of our program’s partner companies. That will be an excellent and fun experience.

After the plant trek, we have interviews for summer internships… which means crunch time. We will each be interviewing for at least 13 internships over a week. It sounds like a lot of suit time to me. I better get my suit to the dry cleaners when I get back into town.

Then classes start again. See how fast that goes?

Dank

Sunday evening, Dank, my roommate from undergrad was in Boston visiting his brother. We were able to connect up in the Boston Commons and hang out for the evening. It had been almost a year since I’ve seen him so it was great to catch up. We headed to several bars and venues in downtown Boston before heading on our ways. A perfect last night in Boston.

Early Christmas

Mom, Dad, and sister Laura came out to Boston for the weekend to celebrate Christmas with brother David and sister-in-law Rebecca since they will not be able to join us in Indianapolis this year.

The Boston winter, thus far has been pretty mild. There have only been a few days below freezing… until now. My parents flew in on Thursday, and the Boston winter hit hard Tuesday with a significant temperature drop into the 20’s and even teens with significant snow fall expected over the weekend. Thursday night we enjoyed home cooked pizza and the 14^th Indianapolis Colts win of the season (and no losses) via the internet because, like most Colts games, it was not broadcast in the Boston area.

Friday while Rebecca and Dave were at work, Mom and Dad and I headed to MIT’s campus for lunch, bookstores, and a quick visit to the MIT Museum. A quick tip for anyone going to the MIT Museum… go upstairs first! It’s deceivingly big up there and we ran out of time before we saw everything..

Friday evening, Laura arrived and we met back up with Dave and Rebecca for a delicious dinner at Gargoyles in Davis Square. Laura and I then headed back to my apartment to work on our Christmas gifts for the family!

Saturday started with a morning run and stair climb. Laura and I ran to campus and then ran up the stairs of the tallest building in Cambridge… twice. We then ran home and got ready to celebrate Christmas.

We arrived at Dave and Rebecca’s apartment and were greeted with smiles, hugs, and BREAKFAST! After breakfast, we relaxed for a while, watched some movies, listened to Christmas music. Dave spent the afternoon preparing and cooking the turkey while the rest of us enjoyed each other’s company and waited for the blizzard to hit.

After dinner, we exchanged wonderful gifts. The snow began to fall as we settled down to watch the movie Elf. We stayed warm inside as 8 inches of snow collected overnight… a beautiful sight to wake up to with the family at Rebecca and Dave’s apartment.

Sunday was by far the most relaxing day I have experience in recent memory. I did NOTHING and it was great. The most work that I did was moving from the air mattress on the floor to the couch. A wonderful weekend after an intense semester.

Finals

Done and done!

Well, that marks the completion of half of my coursework at MIT. Two semesters of classes down, two semesters of classes and two semester of internship to go.

All I know at this point is that I don't have another class until February, not that I won't be busy with other stuff, it's just nice to know that I don't have to sit in a class for a while.

Up next for the LGO program is the almost famous Domestic Plant Trek. Starting January 3rd, we'll be heading around the country visiting manufacturing centers starting with Boeing in Seattle (congrats to Boeing for the first flight of the 787 today!!!). We then head to Thousand Oaks California, Phoenix Arizona, Austin Texas, Raleigh North Carolina, and Detroit Michigan.... I think that's it.

All I know is that it's going to be a GREAT trip. Watch out! Here we come!!!

Sanda Speedo Run

The Santa Speedo Run - Hands down one of the strangest activities I have ever participated in.

First, it's not so much as race as it is a "spectacle". From what I could tell, the object is not to cross the finish line, but instead the object is to bring as many smiles to faces around you as possible (and help raise lots of money for charity).

Everyone gathers at the bar, dresses down to their speedo, and waits for 1pm to come. As it grows towards 1pm, there is a silent pressure to move towards the door. Everyone gathers outside among the vast sea of cheering supports. There is time to snap a few pictures...

Then the group then takes off!!! For the first few blocks, the streets are lined with supports who know exactly what is going on. People are cheering and the runners are cheering louder (I think that is the spectacle part). As the group continues it starts to spread out. When it's 26 degrees out, a group closer together is warmer than a group spread out, so many people stop to do pushups to let other catch up.

Continuing down the course, I noticed a distinct transition in the people lining the streets. As we ran, the spectators smiling and cheering faces turned into faces of smiling confusion and laughter. We transitioned from people who knew that it was an organized Santa Speedo Run, into people minding their own business and happened to cross paths with a large mob of cheering half naked Santas. Very entertaining!

At the finish line everyone headed back into the bar where the heat was cranked up to enjoy beer and each other's company... in speedos.

Thanks to everyone for their support!

Speedo Status

Saturday 10am, T-minus 3 hours till run time

Current Temperature: 26 degrees F

Current Wind Chill: 13 degrees F

Speedo - Check

Santa Hat - Check

Holiday Spirit - Check

Breakfast... working on it

Christmas In the Commons

I was in the Boston Commons over the weekend, and that's when I realized it's almost Christmas. I've been rather "head down" in my school work with limited time spent watching TV (where there are Christmas commercials) or walking around in the shopping districts.

The surprise of the closeness of Christmas was quickly followed by the apprehension of trying to figure out a Christmas gift for everyone on my list. I need to get through finals first.

Regardless, here are some pictures I was able to snap as I concentrated on gift ideas. Enjoy!

The Christmas Tree in Boston Commons

Lights on trees in front of the state house.
The state house! No Christmas decorations, but a beautiful gold dome.
The outdoor ice rink at Frog Pond in the Commons.
Merry Christmas!

First Snow

Tonight was the first snow that I've experienced in Boston. In typical college fashion, regardless of the time of day (or night) I'm out there to enjoy. So here are some late night pictures of the snow man that Kevin and I made at approximately 2am. Please note, the trapezoidal shape was fully intentional....kinda. We'll just say that we were mimicking Taipei 101 with our snowman architecture.

And then we changed the attire so we could go to be and leave the snow-awesome-man out for the night. I wanted to keep my sun glasses and top hat in good order... I can live without the bandana and straw hat. Besides, he looks a little more midwest(Brad)/texas(Kevin) this way... except for the red cherry tomato eyes.

Good Lookin' People

Check out the updated LGO Brochure. Many of my classmates are featured models in the brochure, and don't they look good!

Money Train

I was riding the Red Line T the other day and while I was waiting to head inbound toward MIT and Boston, the outbound train pulled up. I quickly pulled out my phone and snapped this picture. The yellow sign in the window of train car indicates the destination of the train. Look close! I guess this one was on it way to MONEY!!!

GOAL!!!!

Headline: LGO 11 Hockey Team Actually Wins a Game!

Last night, it is believe that the LGO 11 hockey team made recent LGO history by actually winning a game. The competition was fierce (by 5th grade little league hockey standards) and the teams were determined, but the LGO's exited the rink in victory over the Sigma Nu.

In all reality, the teams were pretty even regarding skills, but luckily we had 3 full lines of rotations while the other team had 1 extra person. I think we just wore them out... but a win is a win.

Thanks to all the fans who came out and supported/heckled/laughed at us! We now have a one game winning streak, a streak that should hold for 3 months (our next game isn't till February).

2 Weeks

I believe that December 15th is LGO significant in two ways.

1.) It is the date of my last final of the semester, marking the completion of half of my formal course requirements for the LGO program.

2.) It is also the due date for the LGO Class of 2012 applications.

To me, the first item is much more significant, but to readers, I think the 2nd is more significant. I supposed I can speak to that. Here are my 5 easy steps to the application process. As usual, these are my thoughts and do not reflect in any way the thoughts, feelings, or instructions of the admissions committee.

1.) Relax. While this appears easy, it is typically not easy, but I still highly encourage it. That's why I put it as number 1.

2.) Proofread. Proof read your essays. This is the first impression of your true personality that the admissions committee receives. GPA and test scores do not show personality.

3.) Peer Review. Have other eyes look over your essays, especially people who are not familiar with your chosen examples. They will be able to tell you if you have presented a clear story. Friends, family, co-workers, etc serve this purpose very well. I had the luxury of having a journalism major review my essays. She did a great job!

4.) Recommendations. Give your recommenders time to complete this task. It is important!

5.) Turn it in... early! In that last minute before the submission window closes, a million things could go wrong. Hurricane, electrical blackout, hard drive crash, combustible bananas, or even an agitated sea bass attack. Just turn it in early! You'll feel better.

5.) Relax. We hope to see you in late January/early February.

As usual, don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about the program. I'll answer to the best of my abilities and/or refer you to someone who knows more!

Good luck!