HAPPY SWEET 16 PAIGE!

HAPPY 16th BIRTHDAY PAIGE! 
I hope that you have an INCREDIBLE day today! Even though none of us can be home with you (besides Mom* and Dad*...), we are all thinking of you and can't believe that you are 16. very weird. Have SO much fun at the concert tonight and we will celebrate very soon when we are all together. 
LOVE YOU LOTS! 


xo Jamie - and the rest of the fam! 

going the distance

Hi family!

I thought I would give a quick update (with a couple pictures of course) even though I'll be seeing most of you in less than a week. That's right, Kim's coming to Chicago for Passover! Hopefully someone's as excited as I am, haha. And even more exciting news is that I'm bringing a guest with me, my boyfriend Brady, whom you will all have the chance to meet! I know we haven't been dating all that long, but we've been best friends since I moved to St. Louis and he is very special to me. I truly can't wait for you all to meet him.
Here are some pictures from Med School Prom this year:

    

Other news is that on Sunday I completed my first half-marathon!
That's 13.1 miles through St. Louis, up too many hills, and it was 85 degrees out, but I ran the entire thing and did it in 2 hours and 40 minutes. It was a little slower than my goal, but I did not train in the heat or on mountains, so I'm pretty proud of myself. I ran with my roommate Bethany and here's some pictures from that:

We can catch up more at the seder, just wanted to give the blog some action!

Love you all,
Kim

HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY JAMIE!

Although this is very late, I realized that no one ever posted for JAMIE'S 20th BIRTHDAY! (on February 28th). So Jamie, I hope you had a wonderful day and even though no one posted on here, we were all thinking about you :)  Love you!

with love, 

paige

Stuff I found at Grandma's house

Enjoy.

 (Grandma and Grandpa's minigolf scorecard from their honeymoon)

(note the date)

Some headlines...

Matt

Hello from Champaign-Urbana

Hello everyone! I just wanted to provide a quick update to how my semester has been going. Currently, I am in the midst of 2 intermediate accounting classes: Financial Accounting 1 and Managerial Accounting 1. These are my first two courses that are specific to my major, and I am really enjoying them so far! Perhaps financial accounting is more interesting, but managerial seems more of a broad topic that is applicable across multiple fields and industries. In addition to those accounting courses, I am also in a General Management course and a literature course on Grimms Fairy Tales. The Grimms Fairy Tales class is definitely interesting, but I do not see psychoanalytic interpretation of any literature, fairy tales or otherwise, in my future. Still, the people that I meet in this class are well...different than the run-of-the-mill business students in my other classes. These different perspectives are refreshing, but I am pretty confident that the Business School was the right choice for me.

In addition to those 4 classes, I am also in a class that is training me to become a Section Leader (a TA essentially) for a class next semester. The class, called Business 101, serves as an introduction for freshmen to the College of Business. The classes touch on topics ranging from professional dress to workplace ethics to creating a business plan. I took the class when I was a freshman, and so I am looking forward to being apart of this experience from the other side of the classroom.

Outside of the classroom, I am working on my 3rd project for Illinois Business Consulting. During this semester's project, I am working on a team (consisting mostly of engineering students) to help a valve manufacturer bring their product to the market in India. The project is a lot of market research and data mining, but so far, I have enjoyed the experience!

And for one last note...here is a link to a video about the PwC case competition (I have a couple of lines in the middle of the video)...just click on the link and then click on the orange play button to view the video.
http://www.pwc.com/us/en/careers/xtreme

Well, I am looking forward to seeing everyone very shortly as I travel back home for Spring Break tomorrow!

Hope all is well,

Daniel

BJ's packin' his bags!

Dear loved ones of the Slaw tribe,

Although I have already leaked this information to a few of you, I have exciting news that gives me the perfect splash with which to make good on my New's Year resolution to be more communicative using social networking.  Thus, my reappearance on Dummyline!  That, and I heard Matt and Daniel were sick of feeling like they were just talking to each other on here.

Anyway, my big news centers around the other New Year's resolution I made this year, which was to use my passport for the very first time.  In less than two months from now, your mild-mannered family goofball will be off on the adventure of a lifetime--to Thailand!!!

The idea sprang up a couple of weeks ago when I was talking with my best friend Jay, who has been living/working in India for nearly a year and a half now.  Jay will be coming back to Chicago in mid-April for a wedding and we will fly out together from Chicago to Tokyo (13 hours!) and on to Bangkok (another 6 hours!)

The plan is to spend two days of sightseeing in Bangkok--this will be the "traveling" component to the trip as I get a feel for a big city across the globe.  Jay has been to Bangkok a couple of times before so his familiarity gives me some peace of mind.  The second leg of the trip will be three days in southern Thailand at a couple of islands--this will be the "vacation" component to the trip as I relax on beaches and find some fun excursions like hiking and kayaking and maybe a pina colada drinking contest.  The final leg of the trip will be another day in Bangkok (including a night by myself once Jay flies to India) before I make the long journey home.  It's a short trip by overseas standards but it was the most time I could take given the school year at Lake Forest is still going on.  I leave right after the online registration period ends for the 2011-2012 year (which I'm coordinating) and get back right before final grades come in and Commencement. 

All travel tips are welcome as I begin to read up on Thailand's attractions.  I'm thinking I will also use this unforgettable opportunity to keep a small journal, not to mention trying my hand at taking pictures with my new digital camera. 

Let's all get back on the blog and share the love this family is reknowned for!

Love,
BJ

1st Place in the Country!

Hello everyone!

I am very excited to announce that my University of Illinois team was able to bring home 1st place at the PwC xACT National Case Competition this past Friday!!!

Aside from making my presentation on Friday morning, I had a chance to explore New York City. I had a fantastic time with my teammates as we walked around Times Square, went to the top of the Rockefeller Center, and watched the Broadway play Memphis. It was a great trip independent of the results of the competition, but being announced as the 1st place team in the country was truly the icing on the cake!

I hope everyone is off to a terrific 2011, and I am looking forward to some more frequent blog posts throughout the year!

Love, Daniel

Chanukah videos

And here are the links to the original trailers in case you want to see those again:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66TuSJo4dZM (inception trailer)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB95KLmpLR4 (social network trailer)

Enjoy,

Matt

PwC Case Competition Update!

Hey everyone,

Now that I have finished my final exams, I thought that I could take a moment to update you about a topic from my previous post: the PwC case competition. 

Last week, I was notified that my team and I were selected to travel to New York this coming January to compete as Finalists in the PwC xACT Case Competition! Out of 45 teams (45 schools each submitted one team from their campus) throughout the country, the University of Illinois was one of 5 schools selected to compete at the National competition. We will be competing against some of the best schools in the country. Specifically, the 5 National Finalists are:

1. Bucknell University
2. Emory University
3. Indiana University
4. University of Illinois
5. University of Texas

I am very excited to have this opportunity, and I can't wait to travel New York and represent the University of Illinois on a national stage!

I also can't wait to see everyone this winter break, and I hope all is well,

Love, Daniel

Brief Announcement

I was accepted to the Feinberg School of Medicine, Class of 2015 this morning!

I have really been looking forward to making a post like this!

That is all,

Matt

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day to the fam! So excited to have so many family members at our house. Can't wait to see everyone again over the next break.

Love,

Matt

UIUC Update

Well, it is about time I finally get around to making a post on the blog, seeing how I am only about a month away from Finals Week! So, let me update everyone on what I have been up to this fall semester.

First off, I am taking many business courses, 5 to be exact: accounting, finance, economic statistics, business law, and marketing. Ok, so maybe economic statistics isn't really a business course, but I like saying that I am taking 5 business courses. Surprisingly enough, even though all my classes are business focused, all of the professors have very different styles and personalities. For example, my marketing professor enjoys engaging the class in a discussion of real life examples of marketing strategies, while my business law professor is more of a "take notes now, ask questions later" kind of guy. Then again, I pretty much only get to see my finance professor if I am watching him on my computer; all of his lectures are pre recorded and so I get to watch them at my convenience, which has its ups and downs! Overall, my classes are very enjoyable, and although the professors do have different styles, the material in my classes does flow nicely, and I am beginning to see how marketing, accounting, finance, and law departments all work together within a company. Well, I think that is enough about academia for now.

Now onto the more interesting parts of this semester. Currently, I am working on my second Illinois Business Consulting project. With this project, my fellow consultants and I are trying to help a UIUC professor start his own company. Our main responsibility is developing an investor presentation that outlines the company and its new product. Our finished presentation will be circulated to potential investors of this start up company. This project is very different from last semester's project in which I worked with a gas manufacturing company, and I am glad that I am getting a diversified experience while I am participating in Illinois Business Consulting.

And now onto some very exciting news! Before we get ahead of ourselves, let's start at the beginning of the story. In addition to all of my usual schoolwork and extra curricular activities, I decided to participate in a PwC accounting case competition. About two weeks ago, I recruited my roommate, Eric, and another one of my good friends, Steve, to join my team. Eric and Steve found two fellow classmates to complete our team, and the 5 of us were ready to crack the case.

A little background about case competitions and this case may be helpful. First, a case competition involves giving a 12 minute presentation to a panel of judges who will listen to your memorized presentation and the ask a few questions after your presentation is over. The presentation usually consists of solving real business problems or dilemmas within the business community. Generally, there is no right or wrong answer, and creativity is a must! For this PwC case competition, our task (and 13 other UIUC group's task) was to develop a plan for implementing a change to the the traditional GAAP accounting standards. Specifically, should the new standards be adopted all at once, or should they be adopted during a staggered transition period. I know this is all very technical and boring, but this decision will have a big impact on investors, accountants, and companies.

Ok, so back to the story. We got the case two weeks ago, and we got right to work. During the first week of the competition, our team analyzed the case and developed a recommendation. Then, during the second and final week of the competition, we practiced our delivery and presentation skills. This past Wednesday, after much work and practice, we presented to the judges (partners of PwC). That same night, we were announced the WINNERS of the PwC xACT case competition!!! Needless to say, it was a very exciting night filled with much joy and enthusiasm for our entire team! Since we won the UIUC campus competition, our video taped presentation will now be sent to the national judges who will review our tape, and make a decision as to whether or not we go to nationals, which will be held in New York City during January 2011. Out of 45 schools, only 5 schools make it to nationals, and hopefully we can be one of them!

Well, sorry for the Great American Novel, but that is what I have been up to down here in Champaign. I can't wait to see everyone for Thanksgiving and I should be back in town this coming Friday. I also want to say that I am very excited for Jessie, Darren, and baby Jaylen! I can't wait to meet him!

Love,

Daniel

(minus one) Veterans Day

Today is a special day for veterans, but that's not to say we forget who are veterans are, what they did, and what they mean to us all other days of the year.

Here is a video in tribute to the many days of one veteran's life:

(Disclaimer: before playing, please note that this video is meant solely to be a tribute to Grandpa and is not meant to be upsetting. If the matter is still sensitive to you, watch this video at your own discretion. It's not scary or anything, it just may be a little sad...)

Matt

Congratulations Jessie and Darren!

To Jessie and Darren-

You two now embark on life's great journey: raising a life. You are now parents, and you will have to be teachers and listeners, care givers and chauffeurs, band-aid dispensers and breakfast makers, and whatever else is necessary to give Jaylen your best. It will be amazing watching him grow up before our eyes as it will be watching you two grows as parents.

To Jaylen-

I'm not exactly sure when you will learn to read or be able to understand this, but hopefully the blog is still around when you can, and you can get this message (that was written the day after you were born- that is pretty cool). First of all, you have a very special name. It starts with a J. This is very common in our family, so you will fit right in. Your middle name is also special. It is in honor of a man you will only meet through others' stories and memories of him, but you will know him and remember him as we all do.

You are also very lucky to be born at this time and into our family. You will learn from an early age how important family is, how important you are to this family, and (hopefully) how much you like spending time with us.

You were born at a time when many things are starting to change- from what type of cars people drive to how people interface with computers and communicate with others. You will grow up and take everything new in stride, while the rest of us will be left catching up and thinking about how things were.

For now, just take the world in (babies seem to be good at this), and I hope you are as happy and healthy as possible.

Love,

Matt (your first cousin once removed, I think)

And here you are (the first of so many pictures, I'm sure):

Me-sha-bay-raw-chhh

A baby will make love stronger, Days shorter, nights longer, Bankroll smaller, home happier, Clothes shabbier, The past forgotten, And the future worth living for.

When you see the Arch, you know you're there

This past Monday, I drove down to St. Louis to get a taste of the city and Saint Louis Medical School. The drive took about five hours. I saw a wind farm and a lot of corn, some cows, and I think I heard the Nelly song "Just a Dream" approximately 38 times. And one other thing: GPS navigation was invented for people like me.

When I arrived at Kim's place, I took the official tour and was introduced to her cats: Louis and Luna. Luna is Noir-esque in both look and personality: black and shy. Louis, on the other hand, tried to climb on top of me when he saw me. I didn't see it personally, but I bet he meows at the mailman. That night, we had dinner in the Central West End of St. Louis at a restaurant called Pi. We had deep dish pizza, which was similar to Chicago-style with a little St. Louis flair. After that, we drove around downtown St. Louis for a little while. We saw the Arch up close, Busch stadium, the St. Louis stars, and a Chuck Berry-themed restaurant/bar with an Ebay-worthy number of collectibles of anything from baseball cards to a toy version of the band No Doubt. Kim and I also discovered the St. Louis University newspaper, which somehow Kim had neglected all this time...

When we got back, I met Kim's roommates Bethany and Chris. Both were very nice and wished me luck for my interview the next day. After that, we all went to bed because we were getting up early in the morning for class.

The next morning, I had my first ever medical school lecture (although not as an official student yet). I felt a little awkward sitting there in my suit while everyone else had jeans and sweatshirts, but a little class never hurt anybody. The anatomy lecture went through the cross-sections of the lower leg with a professor named Organ (I am not making that up, trust me). After the lecture was finished, Kim went to anatomy lab, and I endured what was to be the most difficult part of my day- trying to find the library. Eventually, I found it, and I think after that I was pretty familiar with most of the main medical school building.

After another anatomy lecture, this time about lower body joint anatomy, I joined up with the other applicants (there were about 20 of us), and we toured the school for about an hour. We saw the student lounge, the hospital, the library, some nice auditoriums, the simulation center, the standardized patient room, and the histology lab. Then came lunch with applicants and a second year med student. We were able to ask him questions and just chat about the school and med school life in general.

Then came the fun part. After a short financial aid presentation, I went over to the children's hospital to have my interview (I had to go through two tunnels to get there). My interviewer was a very nice woman, and the entire interview seemed very relaxed. There were no big surprises. Overall, I think the interview went very well.

After my interview, I met up with Kim at the library, and we drove back to her place so I could change and pack up. We said our good-byes, I thanked her for letting me stay at her place and showing me around St. Louis, and then I was off and back to real life.

My final takeaway from the entire experience is that I believe St. Louis University is a place that I could see myself in down the road, and I hope that the school feels the same way about me.

Matt

Senior Year

To those in the family who are not on Facebook/still check the blog, this is for you.

My roommate Carl and I have moved into our new apartment (pictures below), and my class schedule is a little different than usual. I have only one traditional class- biochemistry- which has midterms and quizzes. I have an advanced chemistry laboratory course that occupies my afternoons on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I am also beginning an independent study project that counts for a credit each quarter that I am involved in it. The ultimate goal is to complete a scientific project for myself, hopefully produce a senior thesis, graduate with honors, and put a nice capstone on my Northwestern career. This year has a different feel academically to my previous years at Northwestern. I'm excited to get things underway.

In the medical school admissions process, I am between application submission and waiting for interview offers. I currently have three interview offers (St. Louis, University of Illinois, and Case Western), the earliest of which is on Oct. 12, when I will driving down to St. Louis. This is all also very exciting. I am only looking for an opportunity to start another journey, although I am trying to not look ahead too far too soon.

Below are some of the pictures of our apartment. Please keep in mind that we are still in the process of decorating. I look forward to seeing most of the family next weekend.

Matt

some new reading material

Hello!

So, since there seems to be a demand for more posts and it looks like I haven't posted in almost a year (what?? i know, crazy) AND because I should be studying, I decided that it is about time for an update of my life.

My second year here at SLU and in St. Louis is so far, so good. As you all do or should know, I am repeating the first year curriculum in order to make up for the classes that I didn't do well in/didn't take last year. Therefore, I am in human anatomy again. It is going much better this time, judging by my grade on the first exam, and hopefully this post won't be too long and I will get back to studying for my second exam! I am understanding everything better this time around and I actually like it a lot more.
The new class has a different personality than my old class, and I haven't quite figured them out yet. I am slowly finding my place and I have made a few new friends. I am running for a class officer position in order to really feel like I belong in this class. If I get it, I will be a Community Service Coordinator, so I will seek out and inform everyone about community service opportunities around town. I am also already a co-leader of an interest group called Child Abuse Prevention where we go to elementary schools and teach children about which kinds of interactions are okay and who you can trust to tell about any uncomfortable situations. In addition to those things, I also volunteer at our student-run clinic where we take histories, vital signs, give advice, (there's a doctor to prescribe medications and do physical exams), give vaccines and do blood draws. The phlebotomy (blood work) is actually my favorite part, although I do enjoy talking to the patients as well.

As for the non-SLU part of my life, I am overall very happy. I live in a duplex house with two friends from last year (my previous roommate Bethany, our two cats, and our guy friend Chris). It is going even better than I anticipated, which is such a relief. I am still seeing Mike, and we make as much time for each other as we can, whether it's meeting at the gym for an hour or setting up a date night to make dinner or see a movie. My days are usually busy and even my downtime has to be penciled in.

Since camp slaw I have had several visitors. Right afterward, my mom and paige drove me back here, my best friend from home, Erica, came for a weekend, and my dad came for Labor Day/my birthday weekend, which were all lots of fun! I am very excited that Matt has an interview here and is going to be visiting for a couple days! It'll be exam week again, so he will get to see what med school is really like, lucky guy :) Of course we will squeeze in some time to tour the city and probably get some St. Louis BBQ or pizza thrown in there!

That's about it! I'll throw in a couple pictures just for fun, but I suppose I should get back to learning/memorizing the countless parts of the head and neck!my roommates (being silly)

mike and me

family visiting!

Love you all and hope everything is going well for you too!

Kim

What has happened to our wonderful blog?
I miss having frequent posts!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSIE!!!!!!

Jessie, We hope that you have a wonderful birthday! Do something fun to celebrate!!!! With lots of love, Aunt Jeri