A visitor to Aldrich 107 on Tuesday, February 19th might have thought that the section had been taken over by cowboys. One by one, they each enlightened us during Strategy with “insider information” gleaned from the Dell company visit (even from those who actually did NOT visit Dell (Daniel). Except poor Patrick Flood, who did not get a chance to talk about PCs as he was warm-called to do the opening of Finance 2.
What exactly inspired these five men to don cowboy hats and “Dude” t-shirts, you may ask? Well, is seems that over the long President’s Day weekend, they ventured down to Texas for AustinTrek 2002. The weekend promised to be an extravaganza of job networking, company visits, good weather, and a lot of partying, and according to inside sources, it delivered on 3 out of 4. “I don’t really remember many of the companies,” recalled Patrick Flood, while Laurent Therivel (in a decidedly undistinguished and un-Presidential manner) remarked, “margarita.com was pretty good. They had a hell of a business model, with very accessible distribution channels.”
Some of the A-Team decided to forego most of the networking events altogether, choosing instead to enjoy Austin’s 70-degree weather and constant sunshine. For others, the weekend was ripe with employment opportunity. Peter Tynan and Neil Edwards both enjoyed visits with Dell, IBM, and Motive (to name just a few), with Neil remarking that Dell was “the most incredibly fantastic company that I’ve ever seen.” (Note: The fact that Mr. Edwards is seeking employment with Dell would never cause the author of this article to compromise her journalistic integrity).
All of the guys, however, enjoyed the social aspects of AustinTrek. From 6th St., to a live concert by the Gourds (“the second coming of the Beatles,” remarked Daniel Pullin), AustinTrek delivered on its promise of being the most fun Trek that goes to Texas. Several of the not-quite-Texans took the opportunity to procure some snazzy Western wear, and then flaunted it to the delight of the beautiful Austin locals (see picture). All in all, the weekend was a grand success, the only disappointment being landing back in frigid Boston.
For the rest of us who were not on AustinTrek, the long weekend offered other Treks, visits to see friends and family, or just good old-fashioned rest here in Boston. It seemed, however, that the faculty was determined to make us pay for this time off, as a nearly inhumane amount of reading, mixed in with more Baxter team meetings and random polls were front-loaded into the following short week.
However, we still had comedy in EM to keep us from getting too upset about returning to school. Chris Young once again used his real-word experience and gave a Cuba Gooding Jr.-in-Jerry-Maquire-like speech that he would use the “Loan Me The Money!!!” strategy if he was trying to raise funds for a new venture. Whereas Connor Searcy simply responded, “No.” Vuk Djunic also helped those unfamiliar with the lives of traders by showing us exactly how big a trader’s desk is: “About this big” (demonstrates with arms outstretched).
As we prepare for a (gasp!) five-day week, we take solace in tasting creative alcoholic concoctions from around the world during “International Drink Night” at Peter Tynan’s. Too bad the boys didn’t bring us back some Shiner Bock from Austin, huh?
