October 2011
2 posts
9 tags
Shoes, in a New Light
http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/11940822584/newshoes
After LGO, one of the common traits alumni share is looking at ordinary things in a new light.
I excitedly bought a new pair of running shoes this weekend. Then I started thinking…
This spring, we did a case on New Balance in our Operations Strategy class. This course is the capstone of LGO, normally taken during the final semester...
8 tags
Cooking! Tomato Vodka Cream Sauce
http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/11886245319/cooking-tomato-vodka-cream-sauce
One of my recent favorite additions to my cooking: Tomato Vodka Cream Sauce. Its delicious and great for a fancy meal with friends or a quick sauce for dinner!
two small or one medium yellow onion(s) 3 cloves garlic generous amounts of good extra virgin olive oil 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper...
September 2011
1 post
7 tags
California Weather
http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/10046267788/california-weather
As expected, the weather here in Southern California is gorgeous all the time. Its nearly perfect 70-80s all the time, and I’ve only felt a sparce three droplets of rain. It hasn’t really rained yet in the two months we’ve been here. No bugs. Sliding doors and windows open all the time, not much use of air...
August 2011
1 post
11 tags
All fun, and no work!
http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/8333211519/allfunal
We’ve been in California almost 3 weeks now, and I still have another week off before I start work! Yeah!
So, its all party and California living for me! (I mean, with all that moving mess too.)
Nolan really likes what I call “fist-pumping dance music”, so driving along the California highways has added to the party feel. ...
July 2011
7 posts
18 tags
Starstruck
http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/8108339511/starstruck
“I’m going to a city where I have no friends, no family. It’s pretty scary.” -Bill Rancic
Now that we have cable (for the first time in a year!) in our new house, I’m again watching more TV and relaxing a bit before starting my new job. I’ve started watching “Giuliana and Bill” on the Style...
7 tags
"Where's Daddy Going?"
http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/8050409104/wheresdaddygoing
Today is my husband’s first day of work following a two-year parenting leave. We loved having him stay at home with Nolan while I was in school, and it gave us flexibility to travel and have an internship in Italy. Now, it is time for us to begin transitioning back to work and Nolan will go to pre-school. We’ve been without...
14 tags
A few bumps along the way...
http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/7980431478/a-few-bumps-along-the-way
We’ve been in California for just over a week now. Amazingly, most of our belongings are unpacked and the house is probably more organized than ever.
One of my high school friends who recently moved posted her top ten reasons she hates moving. Considering the fun we’ve had moving so many times in the past two years...
12 tags
What's Next After MIT?
http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/7687959520/aftermit
Now that I’ve graduated, what’s next?
We recently moved to Southern California where I will continue my career focus in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing at Amgen (LGO partner company). I start next month working in a corporate group supporting all of the world-wide manufacturing operations. So… that means I’ll be working as a...
11 tags
Happy Birthday Nolan!
http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/7522260405/nolanthird
We recently celebrated Nolan’s third birthday! He’s so fun and, I really think age 2 to 3 has been the most fun yet! It was good here!
He talks so much now, learning lots and even makes up jokes. It is also great to see him learning and interpreting new things and becoming more rational. On an interesting note, he was born in...
12 tags
Operations Lab Course - MIT meets The Real World
http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/7328493092/opslab
Operations Lab Course - Cold Chain Technologies Team
Mike Donohue LGO’11, Annie Kang LGO’12, Steve Wessels LGO’11, Kacey Fetcho-Phillips LGO’11 with Bob Bohne and Larry Gordon, Cold Chain Technologies
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As I was evaluating returning to school, one of my considerations was concern that I would mostly be working...
8 tags
Reducing Hotel Waste - Sharing Ideas from Europe
http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/7197571921/soap
Throughout my experiences living and visiting other countries, I observed many things that are different and unique.
I recently saw this article about the Global Soap Project, cleaning and recycling barely used hotel soap for populations needing increased sanitization. A great story about repurposing waste… but how could this waste be...
June 2011
3 posts
6 tags
Thesis - Done!
http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/6767952049/thesis-done
A key component of the LGO program is that each student writes a thesis about our six month internship (more details on the internship here). Here is my thesis - written, signed, and submitted!
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“Capacity Analysis, Cycle Time Optimization, and Supply Chain Strategy in Multi-Product Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing...
6 tags
The 1st Annual Ron Love Walk/Run for Hope
http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/6652367695/the-1st-annual-ron-love-walk-run-for-hope
During the short time that my classmates and I were on our internships last year, my sister-in-law’s dad, Ron Love, was diagnosed and passed away from a brain tumor.
Today, hundreds of us rejoin in Ron’s memory to raise awareness of brain cancer and funds for treatment and research in the 1st Annual...
22 tags
"101 Things To Do Before You Graduate from MIT
http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/6610149338/101things
I recently came across a list of “101 Things To Do (readable link)” before I graduated from MIT. While it is meant more for undergrads, let’s see how I did.
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A few highlights and comments from my review:
1. I’m happy to say I didn’t pull an all-nighter. It was hard at times but I worked to keep a strong...
April 2011
2 posts
13 tags
Moving to Europe (with or without a Toddler)
http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/4746911894/movingeurope
We were recently asked for advice from another mom moving to Germany with a 2 year old, and from LGO’12s moving across Europe for internships. After our experience last year living in Italy for six months, here is our advice for moving to Europe - with or without a child!
Books
Bring children’s books in your native language (and...
13 tags
Where to Live
http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/4624151306/where-to-live
Congrats to the LGO and Sloan Class of 2013 admits! Many of the admitted students have asked my thoughts on housing, so here they are for you as well, with our perspective as a family as well as advice for many of the single or non-parents.
Our Story
For us with a family, we lived off-campus in Kendall Square. This was great to have more...
March 2011
4 posts
8 tags
Asian Cabbage Noodles
http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/4177530484/cabbagenoodles
Tonight, I wanted to throw together something quick, healthy, and ‘different’ for dinner. I asked Chris for cabbage at the grocery, and he got savoy cabbage, an ingredient new to me. The result was tasty!…so tasty we ate it before I could take a picture.
Asian Cabbage Noodles from the kitchen of Kacey Fetcho-Phillips...
7 tags
MIT LGO: Relationship with Engineering...
http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/4027001124/cheme
A common question from prospective LGO candidates is “How is your relationship with the different engineering departments?” The MIT Chemical Engineering department really stands out in the interactions with LGO students. Here, I’ll describe my interactions with the Chemical Engineering department at MIT.
The Chemical Engineering...
16 tags
Pesto - Two Ways
http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/3991749210/pesto
It has been awhile since I posted any cooking recipes like my pizza dough. I’ve gained several new recipes during my time in Italy. One of my favorite edible discoveries is red pesto - a must try!
Red Pesto and Green Pesto: Two very versatile sauces; great plain on pasta, garlic toast, base for pizza dough. Red pesto is a flavorful addition...
11 tags
Watch out for the clouds!
Sharing a few really great sites I’ve become fond of in the last year …Grooveshark, Prezi, Google Voice, and Quertle!
Grooveshark
Free music streaming over the internet (not downloading). Great interface, and pay a little extra for removing ads and more features. Amazing for streaming my European favorites on my Italy-songs playlist!
Prezi
Tired of *another* power point...
January 2011
1 post
18 tags
Bah-stun LGO Interview Tips
I returned to a snowy Cambridge this week in preparation for my last semester at MIT.
As I write my thesis and prepare for graduation, applicants for LGO’13s will soon be trekking through the snow in Cambridge to interview on campus. Here, I will help Make Way for (New) Ducklings with a few Boston-themed tips to make your interview trip a bit smoother, with many pics from our first year...
December 2010
1 post
4 tags
What I'll miss about Italy
Today is the last day of my internship in Italy. and Today, I reflect on many things I will miss about Italy…
-Arancia Rossa, or red (blood) orange juice. its awesome and difficult to get home.
-2 Euro bottles of wine that are fabulous. There are 1 Euro bottles too but they tend to get questionable.
-Italian cheeses - parmigiano reggiano, pecorino, ricotta, marscapone, fontina….
...
November 2010
1 post
6 tags
Things I Learned in Italy
Beginner-level Italian Language, grazie mille a Giancarla!
I now like coffee - but only Italian cappuccino and espresso. American coffee, still awful. It helps when you are asked by kind Italians (or Brasilians or LGO classmates) to join for coffee!
How to drive a manual car (C-Max!)
Vaccine business intricacies and differences
Sunflower production - tons of fields!
Enjoying a gorgeous...
October 2010
1 post
9 tags
Italy - Driving
In addition to learning the Italian language, learning to work in a new culture and new company and in vaccines… I have also learned how to drive a manual car in Italy during my six-month LGO Internship.
I considered getting a manual car before we arrived in Italy, but ended up with an automatic when we arrived. After a few weeks, I found out I could get a slightly larger car for our...
August 2010
2 posts
25 tags
Italy - Music!
We have also been listening to Italian music! Primarily, in the car and in the exercise room at work.
In the exercise room, there is a TV that has a radio station that either plays the video for the song on the radio or people taking in the studio. The station is pretty funny in its own right, it is RTL 102.5 or “cento-due-cinque” where the DJs speak Italian but the segment titles...
10 tags
Italy - Food!
I have several updates on Italy, including all of our adventures, fun, and my internship! First up, my favorite thing, the food!
The food in Italy is amazing, as I expected. Pasta, bread, cheese, olive oil, fizzy water! The grocery store, restaurants, cooking Italian food at home, all fabulous. Also, much less preservatives, additives, and processed food than in the US. Delicious!
Italians...
July 2010
1 post
5 tags
Italy is awesome!... but a few things we miss..
We have been in Italy for six awesome weeks so far. Italy is great, and we have had lots of adventures so far (more to come on those later)!
However, in addition to our friends and family, there are just a few things we miss from the States that we were talking about tonight…
Chris - Vermont Sharp White Cheddar … and air conditioning in our place of residence
Dannielle - Other...
May 2010
2 posts
4 tags
The Charles "Harrison" Smith Award
An artifact of the great and lasting community formed by the LGO organization is the prestigious LGO award, the Charles “Harrison” Smith award. It is a peer award, with the first-year students nominating and then voting for our peers; selecting someone who has had a strong and lasting impact on LGO, honoring the late Harrison Smith from the LFM class of ‘99. (More details from...
5 tags
American Airlines Operations Tour at Logan Airport
Recently, I went on a tour of the American Airlines operations facilities at Boston’s Logan airport.
We went behind the counter to see offices, then downstairs to the baggage handling area. It pretty much met my expectations; its a small conveyor maze with automatic scanners that read your bag tag then arms that push your bag down a path, then on to one of those motorized carts to go to...
March 2010
4 posts
4 tags
Italy for Six Months! and LGO Internship Overview
A huge component of the LGO program is the internship/fellowship/thesis each student does with a partner company, and we recently got paired with our projects!
I am excited to go to Novartis in Siena, Italy for six months starting in June! I will be completing a resource and inventory optimization project in a bulk manufacturing facility within the Vaccines and Diagnostics division. It will be...
9 tags
Best Sloan Innovation Period (SIP) Classes Ever: ...
This week, Sloan does not hold regular classes. It is like a week of ‘training’ at work, where you refresh and gain some new skills to use in your day job (as a student). I explained SIP more in my Fall SIP post.
My two classes Monday may have been the best two SIP classes ever.
...
4 tags
LGO Ice Hockey Pictures
As promised, here are pictures from the annual LGO two-class hockey game. The ’10s played a good game but the ’11s won 3-1!
Most of the team has not played ice hockey before, and many of the people haven’t skated much, either. For me, I was on a championship floor hockey intramural team in undergrad, and I can ice skate (well enough), so this was the uniting of the two. ...
3 tags
LGO Ice Hockey Team
There is an awesome LGO tradition of playing ice hockey intramurals each year. Usually, the teams are pretty bad with people who can barely skate along with one or two good players to keep the team rolling. Last semester, during core, was a little busy so I didn’t play, but I really want to get out and do more things now that we’re out of the two busiest semesters of LGO. So, last...
February 2010
1 post
6 tags
Merry Valentines Day from Santa Cupid!
On Valentine’s Day, our apartment was visited by Santa Cupid!
As finals were done mid-December and we didn’t return to Cambridge until mid-January, we filled our time over break visiting friends and family. This meant, that although we had many great Christmases, we didn’t have one with just the three of us or exchange any gifts.
So after Chris and Nolan went to bed, I -...
January 2010
1 post
9 tags
January and December
January is here, and my family and I are now back in Cambridge after a busy time since my last post. Here’s a review of some of the things we’ve been up to.
Thanksgiving - We went to visit my family in Bethlehem, PA. This is where my Dad grew up and where his two sisters (and their families) and my Grandma still live. My parents and brother also met us there, so we were able to see...
November 2009
3 posts
9 tags
Fun Links - Manufacturing plant, Guinea, LGO
Here are a few assorted links I’ve found interesting over the past few weeks. Enjoy!
Pictures of the old coal plant in Indianapolis, good manufacturing pics and a touch of energy for the sustainability people. This guy climbs around lots of neat places and takes great photography too; check out his other posts. Awesome stuff, but of course check out his disclaimer.
...
10 tags
Pizza Dough!
http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/256148063/pizza-dough
Mmm… Chewy crust, hot bubbly cheese, fresh toppings..the perfect pizza from your oven!
Hungry yet? Making your own pizzas is lots of fun, and very tasty! It is also a great activity to do with your new friends at school or with family/kids in particular; everyone can make their own pizza!
I haven’t mentioned this on my blog yet,...
12 tags
Nolan's Halloween at MIT
We went to four Halloween events with Nolan this year! I made Nolan a costume; he was a ghost. Boo!
HallowMIT
Last week was HallowMIT, MIT’s campus wide halloween party. There were a bunch of carnival-type games, candy and cotton candy, balloons and the MIT Beaver mascot. There was also a room off to the side where you could carve pumpkins, but we didn’t find the room until...
October 2009
4 posts
6 tags
Sloan Innovation Period (SIP) Week
As of this week, we are halfway complete with our fall core semester at MIT Sloan! Yeah! Instead of the usual classes, we get a break in our routine, where all regular Sloan classes are canceled and we instead have a week of different kinds of learning. This is called Sloan Innovation Period, or SIP.
SIP is like at work when you balance your on the job development with training classes. Some...
12 tags
Summer Classes (part II)
Earlier I posted about three of my classes this summer. Here’s the other two:
ESD.60 - Creating High Velocity Organizations (Lean/Six Sigma)
This class was taught by Steve Spear, who is an expert on Lean/Six Sigma concepts and has done a lot of work with hospitals and Toyota. He recently published his book that was our textbook, called Chasing the Rabbit. This class was really...
14 tags
Finding the Right School for You: Visiting MBA...
How do you find the right school for you? I have several friends who are applying or considering applying, and here are questions I recommend pondering as you considering going to school.
What is important to me about the school and location?
How do I fit in with the culture?
Is this what I want to do, and what do I want to do afterward?
Are there other programs outside of a general MBA,...
11 tags
LGO Recruiting Time and a few good links
It’s starting up for recruiting season for LGO! Do you want to earn an MBA from MIT Sloan and an Engineering degree from MIT’s top engineering school? Applications are due December 15th which means you prospective LGOers should have the GMAT under your belt or signed up to take it in the next month or two. There is a LGO Ambassador Day and Information Evening. Come and visit us!!!
...
September 2009
10 posts
15 tags
Finding Your Passion
“Eh, do I really want to work in the oil industry?” - I overheard this in an engineering class today.
A big difference between undergraduate and graduate school, for me, is that I know much better what I want to do. I’m still trying to refine it, but its much better. Job and internship search in undergrad was definitely quantity over quality. I tried to target a lot of the...
14 tags
Other People Making the Leap
I blogged about my experience “Making the Leap” to school, and now I have three links to share of friends who have recently made a leap into something new.
Beth, a friend from high school and mommy of 9-year-old Austin and 2-year-old Drew, returned to college for Nursing. She and her family also moved back to our hometown where their families are able to help with Austin and Drew.
...
7 tags
LGO Brochure →
The new brochure is out for recruiting the 2012 class! If you’re interested in joining LGO, or curious to know what I’ve been up to, check it out!
Applications are due December 15, 2009; hope to see you here!
http://lgo.mit.edu/docs/lgo_brochure_12.pdf
10 tags
MIT-isms
MIT has several things that are special to MIT. Some make sense, others just are.
Grades are done on a five-point scale. 1 to 5, so its the same as 0 to 4, just increased by 1. I can’t complain, a 4.5 does sound better. :)
Instead of “I’m a Chemical Engineering major” its “I’m in Course 10”. This is confusing for new people because it takes a...
8 tags
13 tags
The Big Picture
First two weeks of classes are complete.
In the first week alone, several classes declared plans for keeping material related to current news. We talked about Cash for Clunkers in Econ. In Accounting, we talked about how accounting choices can impact a business, as was seen by Dreamworks with their Shrek 2 DVD sales. My Drug Development class has a structured plan for organizing who opens each...
7 tags
Making the Leap
It is a big life change to go to school. Most of us have left good jobs and moved here from all over the country, and a few, from other countries.
Some people in my class knew that they wanted to work for X years and then apply to b-school. Others were even more specific and knew they wanted LGO specifically. Some people they just decided later on they wanted to ‘accelerate their...
Litter
Something I’ve been thinking about lately is about litter. I will define litter as trash that is not placed in a proper receptacle but is rather just lying on the floor, ground, outside, etc.
What percentage of litter is actually intentional littering? How much is accidental; something fell out of your pocket or bag and you didn’t realize it. How much is unintentional? An example...