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OMG LOL! (T-57)

For those of you not in the know, the above is shorthand for Oh My God Laughing Out Loud.

And here’s why I’m laughing out loud: I just came back from the Peterson AFB Med Clinic because I wanted them to check out a weird mole-y thing I have on my front waist area. I first show the nurse what I’m talking about and then she leaves; the doctor comes in about 20-25 minutes later and I stand up and show him, which requires me to pull the waistband of my BDUs down a little bit but not that much. Anyways, he takes a look at the mole thing and it turns out to be another damn cyst, which isn’t harmful but it is a tad annoying. Apparently my body likes to make those. So that’s a relief and as I’m buttoning up my BDU pants, the Doc segueways and says, “So, do you want to show me your penis?” I kinda stop what I’m doing, and look up at him with my most ‘WTF’ look I can give him. He sees the confusion in my face and continues, “No, seriously, while you’re here, you might as well.” What the hell is he talking about? Am I getting cruised? After my initial shock, I politely respond, “No, I’m good”. He then starts to realize something isn’t right here and says that his assistant said that I was visiting him for a penis thing. I reassure him that the mole was the only thing I was trying to get looked at. Then it really dawns on him what he’s been saying to me, and he goes, “Oh, I swear, I’m not trying to hit on you!” Thanks, Doc. So he starts just laughing, embarassed, and then starts retelling the story to all his nurses in his office, which cracks them all up and the more I think about it as I’m walking out, I’m freakin’ laughing my ass off as I’m leaving the clinic. It was just his matter-of-factness about the whole thing that made it hilarious.

Anyways, that was my funny of the day. I can’t believe I’m leaving for Chicago in a few days. I talked to one of the conference coordinators today and they gave me a preliminary list of those companies I’ll be interviewing with – some of them I’m interested in and some I’m not sure what kind of role I could play. I wrote myself an email after doing some preliminary research and I’ve put it below so you too can see what the Midwest opportunities look like. I wonder if this will be similar to what I can expect in San Diego? Like I said before, I’m using this mainly as a practice session; but if the opportunity and the actual position are interesting, then I may change my tune.

HOLYCRAP – Jenny totally warned me earlier this week but I totally forgot that BIG BROTHER 8 is starting tonight!!!!!!!! SET YOUR DVRs!!!!

RESEARCH EMAIL TO MYSELF FROM WORK:

You did some preliminary research on each one and found a website for each; also, you figured out some interesting facts about each one that may prove useful in the interviews. Here they are:

JF Ahern:
Website: http://www.jfahern.com/index.html
What I can figure out:  Fire Protection technology manufacturer that is primarily focused on the Midwest region of the United States. It looks to be definitely a manufacturing/industrial company; not sure what I could bring to the table here, to be honest. Need to do more research and also see what position is being offered.

CITGO:
Website: http://www.citgo.com/Home.jsp
What I can figure out: Obviously, this is the petroleum products giant. They not only make fuels for cars and high-performance applications, but they also are involved in plastics and asphalt production. Again, much like JF Ahern, I’d have to see what position is actually being offered. But in this case, it’s because it’s such a huge company, I am not at all certain as to what they are in need of – looking at their online listings, it ranges from financial, managerial, engineering, IT, etc. Definitely a global presence, so perhaps that is a possibility for travel. Have to wait and see what is being offered on Monday.

BVR Technologies:
Website: http://www.bvraero.com/about/
What I can figure out: Looks to be an aviation-type manufacturer; I think they make the parts that go into what the big guys (Boeing, Lockheed Martin, etc) overall manufacture, as they say they’re involved in commercial and military endeavors. But since I have not heard of them before, I assume they are part of the ‘guts’ of a plane, and not the overall plane designers. They are located only in Rockford, Illinois, which is almost smack-dab in the middle of Illinois. It appears to be a smaller company, but since it is involved in the aviation industry, I’m sure it’s lucrative. They are a subsidiary of EsterLine Aerospace and Defense, so perhaps it’s possible to
move around in the company. Again, don’t know what they’re looking for, and not sure what I can offer them yet.

TAMKO Building Products:
Website: http://www.tamko.com/
What I can figure out: A large and (seemingly the) industry leader of
making construction materials; used to be just roofing but now is involved in much of the materials that go into buildings. They are a national company. While reading the website, it became overwhelmingly obvious that they are wholly invested in the Six Sigma methodology of Quality Improvement. Memories of Total Quality Air Force came flooding back when reading this. Like I said, it definitely will pay off to come across as somewhat knowledgeable about Six Sigma, so here’s the Wikipedia link to it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Sigma. Be prepared to answer intelligently about this at an interview because of how overwhelming they have drunk the Kool-Aid.

Sterigenics International:
Website: http://www.sterigenics.com/sterigenics_international/Home.aspx
What I can figure out: A global company that focuses on the sterilization aspect of the healthcare industry, food safety and advanced applications. Who knew such a company existed? But it does, and the fact that it’s globally-known and an industry leader is very interesting. They offer many products, but one of the ones that caught my eye was an online portal called WebVantage
(http://www.sterigenics.com/SiteFiles/Library/Information%20And%20Answers%20
24-7%20WebVantage.pdf
) that allows companies to conduct their quality assurance/sterilization auditing (which looks to be FDA-mandated) through that portal by inputting data/relevant information. This effectively saves the customer the trouble of either paying someone to come to them or having to go somewhere to do this. The interactiveness I have not witnessed just yet, but I am intrigued.

– Littelfuse
Website:
http://www.littelfuse.com/cgi-bin/r.cgi/en/index.html?LFSESSION=8SZCb1zBvr
What I can figure out: Littelfuse makes circuit protection devices that help protect circuits from electric overload. Apparently Littelfuse’s products are in almost everything that has a computer chip in it, from automobiles to PCs to production equipment. It is very expansive. I did read their quarterly report and while their sales aren’t going down, they are staying level with last year’s, despite predictions for an increase in 2007. Not sure if that is a ‘sign’ of anything, but it makes you wonder. This is a global company as well, so there are perhaps opportunities on a worldwide scale.

– Kraft
Website: http://www.kraft.com/default.aspx
What I can figure out: Yes, this is that Kraft. It’s a freakin’ huge
company and #2 in the world in food production. You probably already know as much if not more than I do about the company; it’s involved on such a huge scale that I really don’t have a guess as to what they are looking for just yet. Could be IT, could be just management, etc. But it looks to be an interesting company to work for.

– Smurfit-Stone
Website: http://www.smurfit.com:8080/content/
What I can figure out: A leader in the development and production of packaging products, typically on an industrial level. Think cardboard boxes. But it looks like they are also making in-roads on the Supply-Chain model, as they are incorporating RFID technology into their products, as well as developing RFID displays for retail, that enable client companies to better track inventory and ensure inventory is managed/ordered on an as-needed basis. That is a very interesting aspect of what they do that would make me interested in working at this company.
So it definitely seemed that while I was a bit underwhelmed at first with the names of companies given, after doing some research, many of these companies would be pretty damn cool to work for. I’m not so sure about what my role would be at some of these places, but some, it’s not too hard to see where I might be able to fit in. Plus, I’m interested in traveling, and some of these companies look like that would be something that is possible to do.

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