This is March? I’ll take it

Not quite sure when march became absolute perfect weather, but I love it.  Somehow, just this weekend, we finally hit that warm-enough-to-be-out-at-night-without-a-jacket streak and then great the weekend just started to fall in place accordingly.

Friday night started with the intention of hitting up IKEA, however, since stores are not open nearly late enough (in my opinion) dinner ended up postponing that plan.  So, we took it upon ourselves to go exploring a friend’s new (and possibly my future) neighborhood.  Turns out, exploring on a March evening is a great idea– live music at the grocery store anyone?  Buy a bottle of wine inside and enjoy the free music outside.  I must do that again sometime...

Live music outdoors at the grocery store :)

Then, Saturday after helping Emily furnish her entire apartment (okay, maybe I like shopping too much sometimes...) an evening downtown was in order.  Perfect weather meant new dresses, outdoor concerts, and dancing on rooftop bars – a pretty awesome Saturday if I do say so myself.

I did learn Saturday that not nearly as many people here cheer at the “South Detroit” line in Don’t Stop Believing.... But, the few who do remember each other.  So, the lead singer may just find you after the concert to ask where in Michigan you’re from :) 

The Apartment Hunt

I can’t believe I’m coming up on a year since moving already... So the apartment hunt has begun!  It’s not necessarily that I don’t like where I’m living right now, mostly, I think I’m just ready for a change.  The apartment I’m in now is beautiful, with a ton of space, a balcony, and a nice pool – most of which I never use with my work/travel schedule.  I’m also getting a little tired of not being able to get anywhere without getting into my car.  Having lots of trees and nature around is nice, but I miss the days in college when I could just walk across the street to get a cheeseburger.

When starting the search back up again, it took me about two days to realize that I can’t have everything I want, in the area I want, for the price that I want (big surprise there).  So, I’ve since spent most of the week feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of options on the internet while I try to figure out what it is I actually do want/what I’m willing to pay for it.  On the advice of a couple of coworkers/ friends, I finally contacted a realtor who I’m very optimistic will help make my searching much easier over the next week.  I did start some tours today, and started feeling a bit better after seeing places in person.  Some places were clearly no’s: $1100/month for a studio is certainly not in my price range.  But, the maybe’s are a lot more difficult.

I’m thinking what it will really come down to is where I want to live: south area that’s close to downtown, or father north that’s closer to friends/the office.  I love the idea of staying south so that I wouldn’t have to learn a new area, and being nearly walking distance from downtown.   But, I am getting tired of feeling trapped by rush hour on Friday afternoons/evenings.  So, I’m looking forward to exploring the north campus area tomorrow with some friends and hoping that will make my decision a bit easier.

Hotel Cautionary Tales: The Iron

There are certain things I’ve come to love about living in a hotel all the time (maid service, someone making my breakfast, valet service, etc.).  However, I’ve also learned a couple hotel lessons the hard way, namely the iron. 

Every week, my routine on getting into the hotel room is throw my suitcase on the second bed, change the thermostat and check the iron.  Checking the iron may seem like a ridiculous habit, but, in just my few months on the road, I’ve stayed in at least half a dozen hotel rooms with irons with the bottom covered in rust.  The first time I noticed this was unfortunately while sleepily ironing a shirt to wear that day when I saw a huge rust stain on the front of my shirt.  Shirt was totally ruined - not a great way to start the day at 6am.  (Fortunately, the hotel did pay to replace the shirt). 

And apparently this isn’t an isolated incident.  Since hotels buy all their irons at once, they all tend to go around the same general time frame.  So, if you’re staying in a certain Hyatt they seemingly do not have any irons in the rooms that aren’t at least slightly tarnished.  Meaning that following the iron inspection every week is a phone call asking the front desk to replace my iron... again...

So, upon checking in today in my not-so-perky-Monday-morning-just-got-off-a-plane-haven’t-had-coffee-yet mood and finding yet another rusted iron, I decided that phone calls were no longer sufficient. I grabbed the iron, marched down to the front desk and calmly but assertively told the manager that I was tired of reporting the iron every week only to get them replaced about half the time (putting hotel pillowcases on top at least protects the clothing). The manager assured me that this would be taken care of with the housekeeping manager and that rusted irons were not acceptable. 

Feeling victorious much better after speaking to the manager directly, I looked forward to coming back to my room tonight to discover.... just a slightly less rusted iron. Here’s to better luck next week!

Des Moines

I’ve been working in Des Moines, Iowa for about three months now on the typical, out on Monday, back on Thursday schedule.  After being there for three months, I’m beginning to feel ready to leave, but at the same time, there are some things about Des Moines I’ve really enjoyed.

The Small City

The nice thing about Des Moines being so small, is that it really is pretty easy to manage.  I can drive most places without getting lost (quite the accomplishment for me) and it wasn’t hard to start feeling like I fit in there.  In a city this size, it’s pretty easy to get to know the different restaurant, hotel, and airport staff to make you feel a little more at home.

But, after 3 months, I am beginning to feel a little of the small town squeeze.  I’m starting to get a bit tired of the restaurants near me, and am still a bit nervous about venturing out to the suburbs where it’s quite uncommon for someone to eat dinner alone at the bar (making me self conscious about doing so).  I am quite thankful though that the downtown restaurants do have a bit of variety to their menu, so even when I repeat locations, I can still try something new.

Working Alongside the Client

In Des Moines, I’ve had the pretty awesome opportunity to work with the IT department at the client site.  Our team has about 8 developers, 3 QA staff, 2 business analysts, 3 subject matter experts, and 2 managers – only 2 of which are consultants/contractors.  At first, it was a bit intimidating that so many people with years of IT experience were working so close to me, but, over the course of the project, it’s gotten incredibly empowering.  Not only have I been able to learn more about their company and the IT world in general, but more importantly I really feel like I’m making a difference there.  Whenever I’m feeling a little uninspired, I think back to my first day on site where everyone felt a little clueless and reflect on how far we’ve come.  From things as simple as showing some one where a particular feature was or how to use it, to devising a solution for complex concepts that initially went right over my head, the team as a whole is accomplishing things I was worried weren’t even possible at the start.

So, while packing up for another trip to Des Moines on a Sunday night isn’t necessarily the most exciting weekend activity, I’m excited for what new challenges and accomplishments I might cross this week.

Starting to blog

Where to begin? I’m Veronica, a business process management consultant and a recent college grad.  Through my last 4 months of travels for work, I’ve realized that I’ve had some really awesome opportunities to experience some pretty incredible things. Whether this blog really grows, or even makes it out of the word document I write in to in the airport is still a question to be answered, but I look forward to sharing my travels, trials, and adventures with you :)