Great Saturday !

It actually all started on the day before :) Jim called on Friday afternoon, he had taken the whole day off. He actually thought we were going to go to the movies, but that's next week. So instead he ended up shopping in Ann Arbor and bought $100 worth of blue and maize selected items... all made in China. I called Aaron to make sure he would join us since he was flying back from New York that day. The gathering point was at Brian's house. Unfortunately I had the first week debriefing meeting with the Auditors scheduled at 6:00 pm and with the CEO on his way back from Europe I had to attend. Everything went really well and after a quick meeting I was on my way to AA. Of course everybody was already there when I showed up watching the Tigers' game. OK we don't want to talk about that. So we headed out to O’Neil’s downtown and had a great typical Team C time. These guys are really great. I have to say because I am always amazed by how great I feel when we are all get together. It goes well beyond average friendship or mutual understanding. We all just perfectly connect, feel the same way about a lot of subjects, have the same enthusiasm for life, similar cultural interests, and the same sense of humor. Witnessing how these guys can give the best of them and solve incredibly challenging problems is really impressive and the ExecMAP project was a great illustration of that. This energy is always here, among us, floating around every time we meet. And every time we meet I get re-energized. Ready to face whatever is coming and knowing the future will bring great things.
So after a bunch of memorable discussions and comments including a girl next to us stating that "France and England was the same thing to her" and Aaron giving a detailed geopolitical analysis of the Middle East to somebody from North Carolina, we headed back home. Actually it was a little more complicated than that. After Brian disappeared (we still don't know where to btw)... Aaron went home, and Jim and I decided we were hungry. We opted for White-Castle since Jim assured me he knew one pretty close... "Oh yes I used to go there all the time" he said... well guess what? When we got “there” the White-Castle was gone. Several options came to mind: 1. Jim needs a serious vacation. 2. Aliens came and moved the White-Castle to their planet. 3. Jim got struck by the Harold & Kumar syndrome, or spent too much time with Freakshow... Anyhow, no cravers... but we found Brian though, he was eating cold pizza in his garage (go figure...). After the pizza we thought it was time for bed.
On Saturday morning I felt sort of rested. Jim was still concerned by the destiny of White-Castles in the world and looked a little tired :) Outside the weather was getting pretty…bad, but nothing can stop U of M students and we were going to go to the Big House no matter what. On the way I got a call from my friend Rodrigo from Mexico. We chatted for a while because he sounded like he needed to be cheered up. He is having a lot of relationship problems lately (who doesn't) and as everyone knows it’s never easy. I think he is doing better though and starts to understand that it's time to turn the page and enjoy life! But the Big House was around the corner and we needed to find a spot to park. After turning around and around we parked in the front yard of an older lady who was very nice and charged us 15 bucks! All of a sudden Jim and I got hungry...again...and opted for an Italian sausage, not the most healthy but we'll run tomorrow!!!

The Big House was almost full in spite of the weather. The game was a little slow but fun and when I starting to feel cold I just looked at the guy next to me wearing shorts and a tee-shirt and immediately felt better. During the game I got a call from Frederic who was watching Notre-Dame - Navy in France (lol). The wolverines won and remain undefeated which is excellent... Wow, 10:50 already I'd better finish the Strategy assignment. I'll write more tomorrow and I'll post the pictures I promise! I also need to mention I was glad to get an email from somebody on the West Coast today ;)