Alphabet City, Spiderman, and Software Compliance

With a bid of a late/mid-week review...

Sunday was another great one at TSC, with David Wilkerson still being gone, but Carter Conlon preaching about "Redigging the Wells of Abraham." I thought I'd heard Alphabet City was a good place for brunch, so I got off at Houston on the 3 train and walked all the way East across Manhattan to the Avenues A through D area. I ended up walking for a total of 2 hours and finding nothing good to eat there. I was hot, faint, and sweaty. It was one of those days I cursed this city under my breath for its neverending concrete, mortar, and stone. I hated the city to its core for being so big and cold. I eventually found and ended up eating an overpriced meal at Applebee's, of all places. I would later tell people in the week, "I've been as far west as Colorado, as far north as London and New York, and as far east as South Africa, but the best food in the world is in the south, in the State of Louisiana."

This week I've had the privilege of working with the IBM Software Compliance engagement team. In essence, the project helps add value to our client, IBM (one of the biggest software companies in the world) through helping claim extra licensing revenue opportunities. Business customers will sometimes be using more software licenses than they have purchased (and are entitled to), and Deloitte does investigative research for IBM to help the corporation discover these extra opportunities. For me as an intern, it mainly involves loads of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, learning lots of technical information that is foreign, data mining, and feeling silly. The learning curve is high for this particular engagement. It is not traditional internal audit work but is part of a new service, Contract Risk and Compliace Services, so it's exciting to be a part of that.

Everyone on the team is loads of fund. There are many personalities and ethnic backgrounds represented, very diverse. I was also able to eat dinner with my Deloitte counselor, Sarah Mann, on Wednesday. Destin and I usually get to work about 8:45 a.m. We have to start by 9 a.m. and we're there 'til 6 p.m., so not to shabby at all (especially compared to the schedule of an investment banker, for example). I have learned to consume lots of coffee during the day.

Monday night was a fun intern event sponsored by Deloitte at Dave & Busters, a restaurant/bar/arcade. I played lots of video games, namely Time Crisis 4 and several machines that dispensed massive amounts of tickets. I got 1,944 tickets and purchased a 2-foot tall plush Spiderman and a box of Hot Tamales. I have thankfully also gotten back into the habit if running and lifting weights at the fitness center this week.

I cooked my second meal ever tonight: A can of Ragu tomato sauce, 0.83 pounds of ground round beef, a little vegetable oil, some frozen onion bits, and 1 lb. of pasta. =spaghetti=delicious. The thing is I have about 9 servings of pasta left. I cooked a ridiculously large amount of that.

The weather here for the past couple days has been comparable to Louisiana weather in late February. A high of about 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Windy and overcast. I never thought I'd miss the heat, but I have to say the bright and cheery South is thought fondly of by me.

If you're a loved one back home, this goes out to you tonight. I miss you.