Sunday, July 5, 2009
Hello world, its been a while. I blame myself really. I could make up some excuse about all the crazy things I have going on in my life: my crazy summer vacations, my ever growing modeling career, or my strenuous campus job, but ultimately I think I will chalk up my absence to my mourning of the king of Pop.
So here is hoping I can stay more on top of this blogging thing, maybe now that I live 850 miles away from the land of milk and honeys I will do better in keeping everybody up to speed with my life.
I left for my internship here in San Jose first thing Thursday morning. My good friend and fellow intern Ty caravanned with me to the golden state so as to avoid bad guys, rouge tumbleweeds, and most importantly, those savage Laker fans. We made pretty good time actually. We both listened to audio books during our pilgrimage. I listened to Angels and Demons, care of the Beck family. Ty listened to the first Harry Potter, apparently he had not read any of the books yet -- I immediately questioned his patriotic allegiance. Angels and Demons was pretty good, I do regret seeing the movie first, but all in all it was pretty good.
Our first weekend we had exceptional weather, in fact it was on of the hottest heat waves the bay area has had in years. Noting the heat, we decided to hit up the beach our first saturday. The only problem is, everyone in the whole state was thinking the same thing. We made our way to the Santa Cruz boardwalk to see the most crowded beach I had ever seen. It was still quite fun though, well worth the trip. Little did we know that we'd be back on that beach 2 more times before the next week was over.
Our roommate situation couldn't be better. We got in contact with these guys through one of my friends back in Provo, and it turns out these guys are stand up guys. Little known fact: it turns our that the term "stand up guy" is a masonic term. One of my roomies works for PwC in IT audit just like me, another works with Omniture but works on-site at Apple, and me and Ty are kicking it at EY. The singles ward is pretty sweet out here. It is actually one of the largest singles wards in the area, if not the largest. We've had an activity of some sorts like every other day, so we are meeting a lot peoples.
Monday - Wednesday was training at the firm in the San Jose office. We were joined by the Palo Alto interns for training, all in all there were about 50 people in our class. Way cool people as well, I've really enjoyed getting to know everyone. Most of the interns come from Santa Clara, Cal Poly, Berkley, and BYU. Only about 5 of the interns are assigned to the same IT Audit/Consulting practice as I am though.
Wednesday night we joined the ward in Oakland for our ward temple night. It was an awesome session, its amazing how a new stage in life opens up a whole new perspective. Following the session we all ended up in at In and Out as you do when you live in Cali.
We had Thursday and Friday off for the the holidays, so we took the opportunity to see the coast. Thursday we headed out to Monterey to see the sights out there. Thinking of my sister Wendy the whole time, we hit up the aquarium which was awesome! They had some pretty wicked jelly fish, sea horses, and sharks on display. It was pretty sweet man! After seeing some sweet sea carnage we embarked on the famous 17 mile drive. According to 100% accurate Wikipedia, "the 17 Mile Drive is a scenic road through Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach, California, United States, much of which hugs the Pacific coastline and passes famous golf courses and mansions. It also serves as the main road through the gated community of Pebble Beach. Like the community, the majority of 17-Mile Drive is owned and operated by the Pebble Beach Corporation." Pebble was awesome, it was my first time at a world famous golf course. Tee times were a very affordable $350 a person. I played the best golf of my life knowing that I was golfing with the worlds best.
Friday was our first surfing trip, and great was the trip thereof. It turns out one of my good mission friends Brian Green is from the area, so he got a group together to go surfing in Santa Cruz. I was riding a 9-foot longboard, made of newbies like me. Maybe it was the adrenaline rush, maybe it was the fact that I had 9 people watching me, or maybe it was because I was swimming from a pool of great white sharks, but my very first wave, very first try I caught a beautiful wave and was up on my feet riding it all the way to the shore. It was a thing of beauty. It was the only time I actually stood up during our 3 hour session, but it was still way fun. So I was lying a little about the sharks, but we did surf beside 4 dolphins and 2 seals so that was cool.
Saturday, the 4th of July was spent at the Call's home. The Call's were in leadership in our ward a few years back and I guess they just love having us over because they host the singles ward at their beautiful house twice a month. We played tennis, volleyball, and the highlight was watermellon water polo. After the day at the Calls we went to a park in Santa Clara and watched a wicked firework show. It was jam packed because most of the cities is in the area canceled theirs due to the fact that the whole state is bankrupt. Party on.
Well that is my first week in Cali. I'll do my best to keep you up to date with my travels. Stay thirsty my friends.
P.S. I lost my charger for my camera, so I'll have to post some more pictures when I steal them from my roommate. Sorry.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Well, I know. It has been a few awhile. I must apologize for my absence. There was a freak accident that prevented me from blogging. That freak accident happens to be that evil that is the Marriott School of Business. While it is the 5th best business school according to Business Week, it also ranks #1 in home-wrecking ability, #2.4 in blog delinquency, and #450,983,143 in free time availability. I guess I got myself into this whole mess, but you know, it was really worth it. I have seen a lot of progress at the business school this year. I thought I would justify my absence by filling you in with the highlights of this sheltered soul. Here is a quick look at the past year at the Business School:
1. New Extension to the Tanner Building
For those of you who do not have the opportunity to grace the great and spacious building of Provo, it just got a lot bigger. This addition hit especially close to home for this Information Systems nerd because it came with a fully equipped ISYS lab, that my teammates and I have placed at roughly $1 million dollars. Its a pretty sweet setup, its a perfect get away for all of your homework needs. That lab is awesome, we have an incredible opportunity to play with some pretty high tech gear. It does loads for our program's growth, and we are getting there. Tech Republic said BYU's ISYS program is among the top 10 ISYS programs in the nation. Sure its no Business Week, but that report is still pretty cool.
2. Shameless Recruiting
One of the joys of the ISYS program is the recruiting process. We are extremely lucky to be actively pursued as we have been. The primary recruiting players in our program have been the big 4 accounting firms: Ernst & Young, KPMG, Deloitte, and Price Waterhouse Coopers. We were also graced by professionals from Accenture, Protiviti, Exxon Mobil, WallMart, Apple, Microsoft, Capital Group, and many more.
Day one of the ISYS program in our orientation was my first exposure to this process, an aspect of the program that I didn't expect at all. I would have never guessed we would be so lucky as to have weekly networking events and several recruiting fairs. During that first day they informed us that applications were due for internships for the big 4 later that week for IT auditing/consulting. I didn't even know what IT auditing was at that point, and as for consulting? That was the coverup my Dad used during his underground drug circle in the late 90s. Who knew what consulting really meant? (Inside joke of course, the Papa Bradley is free from all charges as far as I know...) At the time I figured I would be applying for the Masters program in ISYS, so I didn't bother with applying. Then it all hit the fan, I realized technical superpowers was not my calling in life. I was made for something much more, that is why I dropped out to pursue my career as a rapper. We all knew thats where my true talents lie. Ok, maybe it wasn't rapping, but I did feel like it was too much technology for me to swallow. I preferred the people side to ISYS much more than the technical, so I decided to abandon ship on the masters degree. At this point I had missed the first round of internship offers, so I had to get busy. I did my best to get applications off to as many firms as I could, these are firms I met with (in order of appearance):
- Apple - Software Development
- Ernst & Young - IT Audit/Consulting
- KPMG - IT Audit/Consulting
- Protiviti - Risk Consulting
- Accenture - Systems Integration
Its a humble list, many of my fellow students interviewed with dozens of firms. By the end of this short list I was warn out. The High of the recruiting experience was my response to the favorite "what is your greatest weakness" question. My answer? "My looks, they have torn too many homes, obsessed too many women, and caused limitless feelings of jealousy." Obviously I didn't actually use that in the process, but it was a funny answer I came up with my roommates.
3. The Final Destination
After the several 4am homework runs, recruiting events, and failed exams, its nice to finally see the reward at the end of the academic tunnel. This last week I had the chance to fly back to San Jose, California for a 2nd interview with Ernst & Young. I was there for the summer advisory internship, with an obvious emphasis in technology. You may be wondering why I chose San Jose? I know my immediate family would have preferred something closer to Orange County, but San Jose was the place for me. The primary reason I wanted to head to the Bay Area was the client base. Silicon Valley is synonymous with nerd heaven. E&Y has a very impressive list of clients they serve in that area including Google, Facebook, Apple, Cisco, Intel, AMD, and many more. I wanted to get under the hood of these juggernaut organizations and see what makes them tick. One of the presentations at the San Jose office was recounting E&Y's initial involvement with Google and Facebook before they made it to the big leagues, they left us with one of those intriguing hypotheticals: you may work on the next Google or Facebook. Ooooo. Ahhhh...
Anyways, my time in San Jose was incredible. They treated us super well out there. We stayed at the Hilton which was right across the street from the San Jose headquarters. I had the chance to meet with some very impressive people in the San Jose office. I was there with about 20-25 students from various universities in the west, 5 of those students were from BYU. I was already impressed with the firm, but meeting everyone in San Jose sealed the deal. Everyone I spoke with carried a respect for the firm that proved they really do put people first. Its a little scary joining a developed firm like E&Y as run the risk of becoming a number, but you could hardly feel the size of the firm due to the warmth of the people.
I left San Jose with an even greater desire to contribute to that team, and left feeling fairly optimistic. I didn't do anything that I knew of the scare them off completely, it was just up in the air. They told us they would let us know their decision the following week, so I landed in SLC thinking just that. The very next day while at work I missed a call and subsequent voice message from one of the principals (partner without a CPA) informing me that they would like to extend me an offer for an internship this summer. I called him back and the rest is history. I start in June and finish in August.
Businessweek reported E&Y as the #1 firm to launch your career from. To say that I am excited would be an understatement.
End.
Well that is this past school year in a nutshell. I just wanted to take a second and thank the academy for this honor. With an honor such as this, it does make you feel very grateful for all those who made it possible. So thank you family and friends for all of your love and support through the years. I have to give my Dad public praise, partially because I defamed his name earlier. Thanks to this great man, I know what it is to meet potential. He always saw it in me and pushed me until I realized it myself. I would never be who I am without your help, so thanks again.
Well, I'll be San Jose this summer if you need me.
-Nelly
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
After being 'tagged' by both of my roommates, I guess I had better get my act together and answer their questions three. I guess how this works is I'm supposed to list 3 unimportant things about me, so pull up a chair and be prepared to get blown away.
1. I have worn the same $2.50 Old Navy flip flops for the past 4 years (including tracting on the mission) and they are still beautiful. I challenge anyone to step up to the plate and out flip these flip flops. Look at Old Navy try to be sneaky making extremely cheap flip flops assuming they will just break after one season, but it looks like I have bested you again world. Do you realize my full name contains 'Bradley Wittwer?' Thats what I thought.
2. I struggled to classify my next entry as 'unimportant;' however, I know that many of you will say that this talent is unimportant, unnecessary, or just plain vile. Notwithstanding the naysayers, here it is: I have I have a 6 inch toe span on my left foot. Don't mess with Texas.
3. The most played song on my iTunes is 'You and I Both' by Jason Mraz. I have no idea how it got so high, but apparently I have listened to that song over 300 times. I did try to learn it on the guitar once upon a time, but it doesn't explain 300 times. Everyone knows my favorite song is 'I Just (Died in Your Arms Tonight)' by the Cutting Crew, all I am left to ask is "what kind of hotel is this?" I don't know if I want to live in a world where 'I Just (Died in Your Arms Tonight)' isn't the most played song on my computer. I will beat you world, just you wait.
Well I guess that sums it up for this round of blogging tag. Until next week, ...FLAVA FLAV!
Monday, June 23, 2008
Alright world, lets talk. Many of you have known me for a long time, some of you have just begun to explore the greatness that is me. For those of you who do know me, you will know that I am an avid poet. I enjoy the classics, Green Eggs and Ham, anything Shel Silverstein did, and of course, who could overlook the great TuPac. TuPac of course is still alive and well, he just had to go into hiding for a bit because things were just too hot for the big TuTu at the time. Maybe if we clap loud enough and chant "I do believe in ferries" the gangsta Gods will bring him out of hiding. But enough of TuPac, where were we?
Some of you were present at that fateful night when I read my first poem out of retirement at the BYU 149th ward talent show. After what was arguably my best performance, I am now emotionally ready to release the words of my poem to the cyber world. So pull up a seat, stay a while, relax to the smooth sounds and funky beats of poetry minute. This episodes title is: Mac and Cheese, a Tribute.
Before I dive right into the goodness, let me create the atmosphere that was there that fateful night. There we were, 149th Ward, having a jolly old time, when the lights went dark and the fresh funky sounds of a hot bass walk filled the air. Gently the spotlight fell on the great one, when to his side stood a shrouded object, standing mysteriously in the night. But what was that mysterious object? Check this one out world:
Question.
What is the reason that drives this array of words?
What is the season that gathers this entourage of love birds.
A vestige that brings the most spectacular reward,
A Prestige that will strike your inner-most chord.
Our present purpose: to unveil the identity of our little masked friend
By rhyme, by mystery, and by sonnet let us transcend
Her dangerous curves have known to transmorphozise to the familiar shapes of youth
Bringing better texture, and enrooting the deepest of eternal truths.
Some, we are sad to report, have been known to plague her deep, golden locks with the plague of sliced franks, pepper, or even hot sauce.
For tonight’s thesis is the fountain of youth,
the 7th,8th, and in some countries, the 9th world wonder.
Perhaps some of you have a wager, a guess, as to the identity of our masked friend?
Answer.
Prestige.
The Cheese
Friday, June 13, 2008
After many months of verbal and physical abuse, I have conceded to the globally anticipated second post on Nelson vs. World. And great was the post thereof.
Let's get the skinny on the world of Nelson.
After a solid month and some change of living in the hallway
in Salt Lake City, I have moved back to Provo crashing at the Liberty Square, home of free hot dog Fridays. Before I get into the details of my new Provo life, lets take a recap of what went down at SLC this last summer.
The best thing that came out of my stay at home was the discovery of the 13th world wonder: Gianna the Wii sports superstar. Check this one out world, coming in at 24.3 lbs, this feather weight champion destroys the competition with her fierce moves, startling physical physique, and her glamorous boxing coach. I was an eye witness of this superstar downing 28 bags on the Wii sports training mode, a feat that I have never seen anyone rival. I take all the credit, I taught her all she knows. Her secret is her height, when you are 2 feet tall every shot you take is an uppercut, which leads to complete pulverizing power. Take a look at this freedom fighter making this world a safer place to live in. This boxing coach has great hopes for G-unit's boxing future. I want Hollyfield.
Inbetwixed my SLC adventures and my Provo pilgrimage was the annual Wittwer Midway gathering. The major event this year was the all inclusive family kickball game, complete with nose breaking action, Richard Orr shanking batting, and amazing outfielding by yours truely. I remember the play vividly, bases were loaded, my team was up by 37 points, and Dave Helm was on third base for the opposing team. Jason, our fearless pitcher wound up, pitched a knuckle ball, and the race was on. Dave was on the run for home, Bryan Orr fielded the ball to Jason, and Jason dove headfirst for the incredibly nibble, incredibly lanky Dave Helm. A snap crack pop later, and Jason was on the ground with brown stuff coming out of his nose. Quickly Jason recovered to pitch the innings of his life. Grandpa made a cameo appearance as he had a ghost runner do his dirty work. It was good to see him come out of retirement for this gig, I think the fans really appreciated a blast from the past. Thunder-thighs Wittwer still had it in him as he posted a double from the plate. The problem is, he will have to wait another 20 years to be inducted into the hall of fame for appearing in another regulation game, but I think we all agree, it was well worth the wait. Later, Richard Orr would have all five of his kicks caught by my amazing outfielders, what happened Coach? Oh, thats right, you weren't counting on me being in left field. Think twice before you mess with Texas.
The game was interrupted by the arrival of the newly engaged Spencer Orr and Rachel Taylor (Orr). The fans were really disappointed to see the game come to an end like that, but the celebration made for a great halftime show. The brains behind this outfit was Julie Orr, who made McGiver look like a sissy with her integral welcome plans for the newly engaged couple. Truly this was a spectal to be seen, as if Spencer's classy Disneyland engagement wasn't classy enough, Julie wanted the soon to be Orr to feel welcome to our crazy family. After covertly ascertaining the position of the the mysterious Blue Chevy, Julie had set up the welcoming committee. The center piece to this welcoming party was a giant green banner that read "Spenc CTRachel," or something like that, suspended from the deck of our Pizza-hut shaped cabin; the details are kind of fuzzy due to my excitement after being handed 14 sparklers. So what would you do in that situation? Exactly what my family and I did when the Chevy strolled into the U-shaped driveway, we frolicked, and we frolicked good, and we did it with our sparklers burning, mama didn't raise no fool 7-up. Rachel later commented, "I can't believe how well they frolicked, I seriously questioned marrying into this family, but now I have the sparkler frolick guarantee. I couldn't be more happy." My seal of approval for the marriage was given later that night after I drilled the young Rachel with Little Rascals trivia. She correctly stated the street value of Porky's pickle, that'll play Rachel, that'll play. CTR, choose the Rachel, way to go my good man, way to go.
The lineup for next week is finals week for Econ 110. I have a midterm on monday, and a final on Thursday. Luckily I wont have basketball to distract me anymore. After Sunday's game, that show will be long gone. As a bandwagon Jazz fan, I feel I have all the right to hate the Lakers, so here it is, your moment of Zen:
How do you like them apples Kobe? You gave up a 24 point lead in the third quarter at home? What a beautiful game, MVP for shizzle. Now go away before I taunt you a second time.
Friday, May 2, 2008
I know you have all been waiting long and hard for this moment, I have finally decided to get my blog on. I really have been simply waiting for a window of opportunity to get started on this baby. Good timing really because this summer I've got too much time on my hands. Clap clap. I think another reason why I didn't jump on the blogwagon sooner is I didn't like the stock templates this blogger.com site offered. After fiddling around awhile, I think I have finally made something that makes my blog look as good as me.
Stay tuned for my plans for the summer, my views on politics, my latest fashion tips, and samples of my original poetry.
Here is a photo for you, thank you for wasting time on my blog.
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