I am a Marketing Genius!

This might be two week old news, but I still think it is worth telling.

On February 27th, the 5th Annual Financial Horizons Conference took place, and it was an overwhelming success. The event had 540 registered attendees, the actual amount who came is estimated to be about 60%, but I will have a concrete number when I finally motivate myself to go through the sign in lists (probably over spring break). Thanks to June, the mom of the club, (who I appreciate more and more the longer I am in UIS) everything went smoothly and without a hitch.

In addition, there were some amazing speakers in attendance. The ex-COO of Enron, Harold Buchanan, gave a presentation elegantly explained why Enron's actions were not criminal but just bad business. I am not sure whether I completely believe him or not, but his presentation really opened my eyes to another side of the story, not often told.

Another notable speaker was Mike Alfred, the founder of Brightscope. Brightscope is a 401k ratings company that is gaining more and more traction everyday. A lot of major news outlets have already taken note of his start up and pointed it out as the next big thing. Not surprisingly, he gave quite the anti-establishment speech about success, which is always refreshing. It is good to know that your major does not limit you or doom you to a certain career. Seeing Mike, a history major in college, start a successful finance company I can really believe that I can do anything.

Definitely the best part of this whole conference experience is getting credited by the co-president for making it a success. Justified or not, he feels that it was all my work that brought in these record numbers. It feels great when you see your flyers, tweets and facebook posts having an effect in bringing people in. The data I have gathered does not seem to suggest that I played such a major role in drawing people in, but goddammit I am still taking credit for the record turn out on my resume, and if someone credits me, who am I to turn it down!

-muffinman

Barcelona Love

Barcelona beaches

When we got to Barcelona it was fairly cloudy – however, on the day we left it was really nice. The sun was out, the beach was soothing, and the sand felt good between our toes. Even though there was a lot we could potentially do in Barcelona, we opted to be a bit lazier than we were in Madrid and take our time to enjoy the beaches. Even still, we saw the Cathedral Familia, Gaudi's Casa Batlló, Gaudi's Pedrera, Placa de Catalunya, Las Ramblas, and Port Olympic.


Sand sculpture


Gotta love that European liberty


Came straight from the farm


Cathedral Familia, back. Designed by Gaudi, famous Barcelona architect


Cathedral Familia, front


Gaudi's Casa Batlló


Gaudi's Pedrera


Placa de Catalunya


Tapas, Spanish morsels of delicious


Barcelona beaches at night


Port Olympic


Waves crashing against the rocks


Best paella in all of Barcelona, at Can Majo restaurant


Street performers


I'm going to miss these Spanish skies...

Additional Pictures

-Emoinacloset

Interlude: I Went To Hogwarts And Back

I didn't really, but I got the next best thing:



I found Platform 9 3/4.

-Emoinacloset

Trip Número Dos: España!

Matador!

Yeah, aren't I a lucky bitch. First I get to go to Paris, then I go to Madrid and Barcelona the following week -- life is fucking good right now.

We wake up at five in the morning, and get on a Ryanair plane, an airline which emphasizes its cheap tickets over service (a one way ticket to Madrid was around 30 pounds). The plane looked like it had touched down from the land of the sketch. Yeah, it flew -- and that was about it. The inside looked as if the people at Ryanair had exclusively used the "Fill" button on Paint to design the interior. To make matters even more sketch, the seats didn't even recline, allowing for a very uncomfortable plane ride.


Plane of the sketch

We touched down, checked in at our beautiful hotel -- right next to the airport. We got pretty gypped last minute in terms of our accommodations, so we were forced to stay in a place far outside the city center. At least the hotel was nice, even if the bathrooms didn't have locks on them.





On the first day, we basically failed in all aspects. Having failed to plan anything to do, we spent an hour looking for some Paella (it sucked); spent two hours at Zara -- a Spanish clothing store chain -- because the girls thought Zara in Spain would be different than a Zara in London or New York (it wasn't); and then walked down the theatre district looking for dinner when we finally settled at a Burger King (definitely authentic).

It was a sad state of affairs when we went back home. We were all exhausted and for what? Walking around in circles all day, failing to do any sightseeing that day -- I was not going to let a repeat of that day happen. When we got back, I researched what exactly there is to do in Madrid and made up an itinerary. Jim figured out the food.

We ended up hitting up all the major spots: Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor, Palacio Real, Catedral de la Almudena, El Retiro (the Central Park of Madrid), Museo del Prado, Gran Via, Alonso Martinez, and finally Plaza de España.

These trip posts are really taking a lot out of me. It takes too much time to flesh out everything in detail when all the pictures are there, so here I will just post the highlights of Madrid; Barcelona will be reserved for another post.


Symbol of Madrid, in Puerta del Sol


Plaza Mayor


Fat Spiderman at the Plaza Mayor


Palacio Real


Main door of the Catedral de la Almudena
Jim: "~king in the castle~ king in the castle~ Go take a picture with the king."
Kevin: "That's the pope Jim."


Palacio Real, garden view


The lake in El Retiro


The gang saying hello to fellow British travelers


Swan found in El Retiro


Inside the Museo del Prado

Additional Pictures, Madrid

-Emoinacloset