"i work too hard!" "i want my money!" - Pearl

happy fricken friday y'all, by the way Pearl wants her money so she can get her drink on! (in case you can't hear the short film playing in the background; are you annoyed yet? hit pause!) for now, enjoy a great monologue by Rainn Wilson, hosting SNL:

from faux starbucks expresso & nauseating abbreviated class descriptions to beer bongs & mary jane

the day in the life of a typical MSU student vs. the day in the life of a Harvard MBA student...hmmm there are so many commanalities, it's hard to decifer. But hopefully by showing the picture of the "super cute" Harvard MBA'er it will help you figure it out. (the identity of my MSU buddy has been removed, we don't need no popo knocking down her door!)

indulge in what it's like to be a Harvard MBA student, tons O fun! it's a long one, get ready...

Day in the Life: Missy Blakeley
6:45 a.m. The alarm clock buzzes. I have never been a morning person, and waking up when the digital clock starts with a “6” is truly challenging for me. I roll out of bed and head to the espresso machine—one of my new indulgences, since my student budget just does not allow for daily Starbucks trips! I shower, get dressed, check email, and run out of my on-campus apartment. Today is a lucky day—I run into my friend Meredith on the elevator. I rave about her shoes; she compliments my necklace; we catch up on the previous night’s events and walk briskly to Spangler for study group. Our quick pace is due both to our tardiness for learning team and the wonderful Boston weather, which sometimes leaves me wondering if my ears are going to fall off in the cold!
7:35 a.m. I enter learning team five minutes late. My school-assigned learning team stopped meeting last semester, so I joined a different learning team that happens to include three of my best friends. As usual, Bob arrived early to claim the room and get first dibs on Spangler’s yogurt parfaits. If you visit, try one—they are positively addictive! Today is a three-case day with rather challenging cases, so we quickly focus on discussing the material.
8:30 a.m. Learning team ends, and we disperse to our sections. I am in Section F. I jaunt over to Aldrich, stopping to pick up a free Wall Street Journal on the way. As I read the M&A highlights, I feel bittersweet knowing that if I had stayed in investment banking, I probably would have pulled many all-nighters working on one of the highlighted transactions.
8:40 a.m. My Business, Government, and the International Economy (BGIE) class begins. Today’s topic is China. BGIE is the most difficult class for me, and also one of the most enriching. One of my classmates is from China and several have worked there, and I am once again awed by the depth of my sectionmates’ experiences. By the end of the class, I decide that I need to spend time in China soon. The more time I spend at HBS, the more things I add to my life “to do” list. Attending HBS can be an extremely exhilarating—and humbling—experience.
10:00 a.m. Class ends. I catch up with a few classmates at the coffee stand and stop at Dillon House to pick up some prospective students. As Admissions Rep for Section F, I bring prospective students to class almost every day and am constantly reminded of how privileged I am to be here.
10:20 a.m. Class 2: Strategy
11:40 a.m. Lunch! I head back to my apartment and read my third case for the day. Typically, I try to spend about two hours preparing each case, but with the never-ending activities at HBS, prioritizing among cases, meetings, speakers, recruiting, and social events sometimes forces me to employ speed-reading techniques. In my second semester, I have learned to read cases more effectively and, consequently, more quickly.
12:45 p.m. I return to Aldrich for section intros. Every three-case day, my sectionmates take turns talking briefly about their lives. Today, Tali talks about her time in the Israeli army, Alex outlines his journeys sneaking into the Congo on a banana truck, and Rebecca tells us stories about teaching in a public charter school.
1:10 p.m. Finance 2 class. Today’s class is about financial distress at United Airlines, and I make sure to contribute to the discussion since I worked with a bankrupt company in my previous job. My professor, Nabil El-Hage, is both a teacher and a friend to me. I have been sincerely shocked at the accessibility of professors here at HBS. All the professors are eager to get to know each of us personally and are truly dedicated to teaching. The tenure system at HBS demands that our professors are phenomenal in the classroom. It shows.
2:30 p.m. I meet up with my best friend Nikki, and we walk together to Shad (the fitness center). We hit the elliptical machines and multitask, skimming US Weekly and chatting about Nikki’s research with professor Myra Hart. Nikki and I met shortly after we were admitted to HBS and have been best friends ever since. I feel infinitely blessed to be able to share my time at HBS with such an inspiring, brilliant, thoughtful, and determined best friend. She is one of many lifelong friends I have made here.
3:45 p.m. I jog back home and check email and voice mail. The next hour of my life will have to be dedicated to returning recruiting phone calls! This summer I will be a consultant in the Boston Consulting Group’s San Francisco office, and I couldn’t be more enthusiastic about the internship. The number of firms that recruit at HBS is positively phenomenal; our Job Bank swells with new opportunities daily. Many of my sectionmates are avoiding more structured programs and are instead holding out for last-minute offers at niche companies or are even starting their own companies. Opportunities truly span the globe and come in all shapes and sizes.
4:45 p.m. I read one case for tomorrow. I am in charge of writing up and presenting tomorrow’s Entrepreneurial Manager case to my learning team in the morning, so I do a particularly thorough job.
7:00 p.m. I meet up with my friend Robby at a Wine & Cuisine Society event in Spangler. Tonight we are tasting selections from an Australian winery and are also nibbling cheese. While ostensibly it may sound as though Robby and I are just drinking wine and eating cheese, I promise that we are getting a good wine education that will be valuable for future business meetings. At least that’s what Robby and I tell each other.
8:00 p.m. My good friend Reid comes over for dinner. Reid also attends HBS, and although we have likely been within 500 feet of one another all day, we haven’t had a moment to catch up! We make calzones and Reid reprimands us both for eating dinner too late. He went to West Point and is one of the healthiest people I know, yet even he is guilty of being too busy to perfectly balance his life! Today is Wednesday, and we both have section social events to attend, so we eat while reading another case for tomorrow.
10:00 p.m. Reid and I head across the river into Harvard Square for our section events. At the beginning of the year, we spent more time on cases and less time on social activities, but now I truly believe that the social activities are one of the most important aspects of HBS. The friendships that I form at HBS will be just as important as the technical frameworks that I learn in the classroom. Never again will I be surrounded with such an inspiring group of peers, and time is truly flying by.
12:00 a.m. I walk back to campus with several of my sectionmates, go to my room, and crawl into bed. My attempt at reading a fiction book is met with sleepy eyes after a few moments. I drift off to dreamland, feeling genuinely lucky to have the honor of these busy days.

*a few comments: i only saw the word "bar" in this ONCE; lots of free advertising and kissing up to HBS in this; since when was eating at 8pm, late? losers! ellipticalling and reading US Weekly is tough, especially for people who are smart. WHO GOES TO BED AT 12am?
*side note: found this little tid-bit on Missy's profile, weeeee!
When asked how will she lead? in the real world, she responds, "I have tried to live by the Golden Rule since my days as a Girl Scout, and I will lead with that theme."

and now...the day in the life of an MSU student. note: where she mentions
smoking" i would probably insert "at bar" "getting a drink" "pre-drinking" "at bar."

9:15am: the alarm goes off for my 10:20 class, I hit snooze. At 9:23, the alarm goes off again, and I turn the alaram off-who are we kidding, we all know I am NOT going to go for the 3rd week in a row. It's ok because I have abotu 10 other people in the class I know to get notes from

Noon: I am still asleep, and definatley not going to my 12:40

1pm: Wake up and get ready for the day, my favorite soap is on at 2 so I have to be completely ready for class so I can get there when it is over. Maybe I will get stoned before class, it depends on how much weed I have and how quickly I can get more.

2:55pm-Head to my 3pm class...few people are on time so it usually doesn't matter.

3:50pm-last class of the day over, I usually walk home with a cigarette if it's nice, but usually I will con one of my sorority sisters into picking me up. We will definatly smoke weed before the all you can eat buffet dinners at the house.

6pm-Dinner is over and we have an hour before our next sorority event, I go to my room and play snood and talk to my bff, Mackenzie, she didn't go to ANY of her classes today-I am the big winner!

7pm-sorority event, that involves some type of hazing of pledges....I am so stoned and it's awesomely fun. If there is no sorority event, I will use the early evening to do MANDATORY homework-aka a paper that is due, exam the next day.

9pm-eat a snack and play some gamecube...after all I do have a 6 question homework assignment due tomorrow.

10pm-do the assignment and email it in, since we all know I am not going to class tomorrow either. Which is ok, I can just pick up the class notes from the notebook. I do a quick skim of a chapter I was supposed to read last week, in case I do decide to attend part of class tomorrow. The classes are so big, no one knows if you are there or not, and the profs don't expect much out out of us anyway.

11pm-drive around and get stoned with some sisters or go to the bar

12:30am-We decided to get stoned and raid the snack kitchen.

1am-I go into my room to pass out from my busy day and my bff Mackenzie is at my computer playing our favorite computer game, Snood. Although she is supposed to be writing a paper. I tell her I will do some reading with her.

2:30am-Neither one of us has accomplished a damn thing.

3:30am-off to bed to start another rigorous day at MSU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*a few comments: i really miss college; MSU was 4 years of a world that will never exist again for me and it was soooooo worth it.

note: this is not a Harvard tailgate, but just a regular MSU tailgate, at the rock, rockin.




(special thanks to my bud for the awesome recap of her day-in-the-life of a real college student)

you got GOT in the 4-eva 21!

my bud made it in the NY Times, but she got caught in Forever 21. it's a good store, it serve it's purpose, trendy cheap clothing for the time being, until it falls apart after 3 washes. i like the store, and colleen looooves the store. and what are the chances that someone caught her after work rummaging through the trendy merch? about 9-out of-10. enjoy the read:

On a recent Friday evening, discarded merchandise was hurriedly ferried from the canvas-curtained fitting rooms back to the racks and to tables piled pell-mell with castoffs. Colleen O’Neill, who works in the buying office of MaxMara, the Italian fashion label, ignored the line snaking toward the changing area, preferring to stand in the middle of the sales floor tugging a tropical print sundress over her shirt. “Who can wait for a fitting room,” she said.

With a friend and a fellow worker, Ana Burcroff, Ms. O’Neill scours the store for bargains every other day. “But it’s really hard to find things here in your size,” she said, explaining that they sell out quickly, “so we look for a style we like and go back and buy it online back at work.”

She liked that “the clothes are on trend,” she added, “almost indistinguishable from designer clothes.”

Indeed. On the evidence of the wares at stores in Los Angeles and Manhattan, the merchants are clever enough to emulate a handful of retail competitors, reproducing the styles scouted on the runways and at upscale boutiques.

Diane Von Furstenberg filed a lawsuit last month against Forever 21 for replicating a DVF dress down to its print, fabric and color. Current law does not protect clothing design from being copied (logos are an exception), but Ms. Von Furstenberg and other American designers have been lobbying Congress since last year to expand the copyright statute that protects music and books. Such a change is considered a long shot.

Anna Corinna, a partner at Foley & Corinna, a boutique on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, was startled to discover a photograph of a Forever 21 evening dress on a blog, Fashionista.com, alongside one of her store’s designs. From their fluid cut and noodle straps to the floral panel running down their fronts, the dresses were almost identical. The Foley & Corinna dress sells for more than $400, the copy for about $40.

“When I looked at those pictures, I didn’t know which dress was ours at first,” Ms. Corinna said. “It’s almost as if their people had told themselves: ‘Mmm, this is good stuff. Let’s forget product development and just make what they are doing.’ ”

“I would understand their being ‘influenced or inspired by.’ Everyone is,” she added. “But this is just a blatant steal.” She is not planning to take action.

Ms. Boisset of Forever 21 said that the company works with many suppliers and does not always know where their ideas originate.

In such cases, it is sometimes the customer who has the last word. “I found a wrap dress here that looked just like one by Diane Von Furstenberg,” Ms. O’Neill recalled as she shopped at the 34th Street store in Manhattan. Did it trouble her that the company appeared to be trading in knockoffs? “Not really,” she confessed. “That dress, you know, I bought it.”

[source: NY Times]

cheap chocolate sauce thrills

what i can say? i get my cheap thrills from a DQ commercial. i love their dairy products even though i am lactose intolerant, i sacrifice my stomach and eat DQ, it's that good. and their new ad for the DQ Chocolate Covered Strawberry Waffle Bowl Sundae is how i get my laugh on between watching all of the Flavor of Love spin-offs on VH1. click here to watch this humongo sexual innuendo of a commercial. enjoy!