Haha

I only read the headline.

Rudolph the Red-nosed...

...is actually a little girl with strawberry jam all over her face.

As it turns out...

I went on an applying-for-internship binge about two months ago. One company to which I applied was PWC, one of the big 4 accounting firms. I should also mention PWC was the last place I thought would get back to me. This is due to the fact that the Phoenix PWC office rejected me. However, as things worked out, PWC was only one of two places to invite me for an interview (the other was PBTK). This internship was to take place in the Stamford, CT office doing taxes. The recruiter for the Stamford office wanted to call me, I assume to do a screening, but ended up so busy, he just sent me an e-mail with the specifics on the internship. I told I had no questions and what do I do next? I was invited for an office visit which took place yesterday on Tuesday.

Sunday afternoon, Laura and I and Ella drove down to Utah to stay with Laura's family. That night, we decided to put Ella to sleep on a mattress in the space below the stairs. She had a Harry Potter experience, I guess you could say. She only got up a few times at night. At 4:00 a.m. I heard her and got up in time to see her on her way up the stairs. She quickly went back to bed and so did I. As I was lying awake thinking about my trip the following day, I realized I had forgotten my suit and shirt. Fantastic. I would be leaving for the airport in two hours without possibly the most essential part of an interview. Fortunately, Laura's brother Jacob is about my size so I stole his suit and shirt for the trip.

Arriving at JFK airport, the shuttle service took me to Stamford, to the Marriot Hotel (just across from the PWC office) where I would be staying--or so I thought. Turns out the Marriot overbooked as so they sent me off to another hotel in Stamford, not just across the street from the PWC office.

Fortunately that hotel had a room booked for me on the fifth floor. Unfortunately, the room booked for me (as I entered therein) looked as though someone else was there. The T.V. was on, the bathroom light was on and towels were on the floor. "Perhaps they stuck me with one of the other guys from BYU-Idaho" I thought. I looked to see how many beds there were. Just one unmade bed. "Um, no" was my first reaction. So back down to the receptionist I went. Turns out the room just hadn't been cleaned yet. After a relaxed chat with a very surprised receptionist I headed back up to the fifth floor with an upgraded room--which was nice and clean this time.

That night, I couldn't find my gel or toothpaste. Fantastic. I would be going to PWC's Stamford office tomorrow without possibly the most essential part of an interview. I brushed my teeth twice with water before going to sleep that night.

In the morning I headed down stairs for some free breakfast (not free at the Marriott). I saw a bunch of BYU-Idaho students standing at the front door ready to leave. "I should probably go talk to them." And so I did...and I got some toothpaste. They were waiting for a shuttle which would take them off the PWC office. Instead following my brain and joining them, I followed my stomach and ate some breakfast. They were still waiting there when I went back up to my room. I hurriedly gathered my things, brushed my teeth with toothpaste, and went back down to the main floor. The other students had already left. *doh*

I got a cab instead. It took 10 minutes for it to arrive. On the way down, sweating my pants off because I thought I was going to be late, the cab driver stopped in an intersection to turn left. When the light turned red, instead of turning, he backed up. "Seriously?" Only moments before had I noticed that $0.25 was added to the fare for each 34 sec of waiting. Thanks cab driver, just soak it up. The office was right around the corner too. If I had known that, I would just have gotten out and walked the rest of the way, probably saving about $2.00 of what turned out to be the most expensive mile and half ride I have ever had.

The security guy on the main office floor fumbled his typing my name into the system as a guest and I began to think this to be comical by now. I was doomed to be the only one late. I made it up to the 9th floor just in time however. 9:24 I arrived with the presentation at 9:25. Not bad, huh? (Though I thought it was--especially since we had to mark at what time we arrived)

We had a presentation about PWC, why it was such an awesome place and such. Afterwards, we each received a laptop case, which fits perfectly on my current laptop. We then had a series of three interviews. A manager, director, and partner each talked with us in turn. They were enjoyable and speaking with them, I did learn some interesting things about the job and PWC as a whole I did not know before. Speaking with them actually made me want to work for PWC more so than before. I think they enjoyed me as well.

The good part about this whole ordeal is that before I went to CT, I got in contact with a director (who we will call 'J') at the Los Angeles PWC office. This was due to an accidental adding of mom's e-mail by some woman. A thank you note was sent to the woman and Mom from 'J' and he used his business e-mail. It turns out 'J' is a member of Mom and Dad's stake. Mom sent me 'J''s e-mail which included his phone number. I debated for about 10 sec as whether or not it would be appropriate to call him--I decided "who cares?" and called him up. He was very willing to help. I sent him my resume and he told me he'd send it off to recruiting and do what he could. He wanted me to let him know how the interview went.

After the fun time at Stamford (they called a car service to get me back to JFK and I had a nice ride in a Cadillac) at back to Utah and then to Idaho, I sent 'J' and e-mail telling him things went great. He called me later and told me he was sending my resume. About 4:30 p.m. California time, the LA office recruiter called me. That really is fantastic. She wanted to just make sure I preferred LA over Stamford, which I do. She is going to contact the Stamford office and get back to me within a week.

So, here's to hoping things continue to turn out as well as they have.

And to solve that money problem...

A few of my buddies and I have decided to group together and do taxes. I did taxes last year for individuals, mostly college students, but this year I am trying to pick up some businesses and people other than college students.

Let me know if we can do your taxes this year--otherwise I might just come after you...

And with the Christmas list out of the way...

I look around at what we have and think, "Man we are poor."

Then, I think about the people in Haiti and other parts of the world.

Then, I don't think we are poor.

Then, I choose to be grateful.

My Christmas List

1. Money to survive the rest of the semester.
2. Money to buy a new car.
3. Money to afford insurance for wife, baby, and baby #2.
4. Money to travel to Connecticut.
5. Money to cover first and last month rent and deposit for rent in Connecticut.
6. Money to have for anything I forgot to put on the list.