Let the Countdown Begin

My group is awesome; somehow we have managed to write all of our sections tonight, and tomorrow we are putting them all together in one grand report that can be edited by the teacher, fixed, and turned in without pulling an all-nighter for our last night. I actually just finished writing my part - the expense strategy settings (current and future). It took me awhile because I somehow managed to delete all of my Excel files and had to recreate my tables (the gods of homework and computers are not my friends tonight). Now that I am finished, I feel tired but a lot less stressed. This report will be thorough and satisfactory (I hope).

Although my night is ending on a good note, my day did not start out so well. I overslept my alarm (again!) and rushed through breakfast; I ended up only five minutes early to class, and felt bad because my group had agreed to try to get there ten minutes prior to start time. Everyone was tired though, so I was forgiven. The lectures were hard to stay awake through in the morning, but they were interesting. Reneta discussed housekeeping, showed us a partial episode of Undercover Boss (involving the Choice Hotels CEO), and revealed a Primetime segment on the cleanliness of hotel rooms. Let's just say that firstly, people - especially males -  need to find more appropriate places to release bodily fluids (please avoid the walls and the baby cribs), and secondly, I am never jumping face-first on a hotel bed again (no matter how fluffy it looks). I spent lunch talking with my mom instead of eating - not because of the video, but because I had a stomach ache. By the end of lunch, though, I felt much better.

During all of our afternoon segment, Reneta gave a lecture on the casino business, and particularly focused on the City Project in Las Vegas. This is an amazing feat of architecture, with the ultimate goal of building a city within a city and changing the face of Las Vegas. The plan is to finish it by next year; included is two towers that lean further than the Leaning Tower of Pisa, a 4,000-room mega resort, a shopping center filled with only the most luxurious and expensive stores, and condominiums that are selling between $1.5 million and $9 million. The buildings are very modern and transparent, with glass covering all sides. One building is rumored to have a "death ray" - when the sun has hit a certain point on the glass of the Vdara tower, people standing in the unfortunate concentration spot have complained of singed hair and melted bags. I would have thought, with all the brilliant engineers working on this project, one of them would have thought of this scenario.

After class, I and about ten others had to meet with Janna Bugliosi (one of the summer college program directors) at 4:15. All scholarship recipients are asked to write thank-you notes to their donors sometime shortly after they return home. We all had to sign an agreement to do this, and Janna talked with us for awhile about our experiences so far in the program. I walked back to RPCC and decided to have an early dinner, then take a nap. I discovered white rice in the Mongolian barbecue area! It's always nice to add something to my salad besides the usual salad fixings. I took a nap before leaving for class, and once again overslept. By running to class, at least I am getting good exercise, right?

Office hours were straightforward. We divided the report amongst ourselves, and my group members and I worked on it the entire time, occasionally asking each other for help with syntax or Excel equations. The work is not hard, but it can be time-consuming; as pretty as Cornell is, I am a little relieved that this class is almost over. The countdown to returning home has begun.