This past week has probably been the most enlightening of my time out here so far! Not only have I made some really great progress with the Holt-Winter’s triple exponential smoothing model I spoke of last week, but I had some really inspiring chats with both my mentors, Ron and Devin, about where I see myself going after leaving University. Talking with the two of them has really helped me get a better understanding of what I want from my career, where my strengths lie, and what I can do to improve as an individual. In other news, our Holt-Winter’s model is coming along nicely, and having applied it to a number of datasets, we seem to be getting the results we’re after. Getting these results is all well and good, but if the model isn’t valid, then it’s all just a complete waste of time. Next week we will be mainly focusing on testing the model and making adjustments accordingly. I feel I’ve taken the model as far as I can now, and it will be left up to Ron to take it forward from here on out. The other side of my project involving the Risk/Reward problem, found Ron and I talking to someone in Treasury to discuss whether or not our idea is feasible, and if so, could he give us any advice on how to proceed.
I must say, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying our weekly outings to the movie theatre, but last week was a real disappointment! The three guys went to see ‘The Expendables’, eagerly anticipating seeing a modern day classic, but no. It was a real let down, mainly because it had no real plot or any substance to the characters. Shame, it looked so promising from the cast line-up!
The guys in my office kindly invited me out to lunch with them on Thursday to Paisano’s, a local pizza parlor, where it was all you could eat for $8! We came back pretty bloated and sat feeling rather dodgy for the rest of the afternoon. Ron and Andy also took me out to lunch at the start of the week to a place called BJ’s, a popular bar/grill less than 10 minutes from our offices here in St. Petersburg. It feels strange to be going out with the Director of Planning for lunch on such a regular basis, but I’m soaking up every minute I have with him because pretty soon I’m going to back in Glasgow, working a crummy job that no-one really cares about. My point being is that out here, I am somebody for a change! I’m making a difference and that feels good.
On Friday night, Louise, Tanya and I headed to International Mall for some late night shopping, whilst the boys headed out for dinner and drinks with some of the guys from their office. More shopping ensued on Saturday when four of us took a trip West towards Orlando’s Premium Shopping Outlet. Due to having a 20% off voucher courtesy of Ralph Lauren, and a further 30% off in stores, I managed to cut what was already a bargain, in half! Later that evening, we were all taken out to a line-dancing bar/club by a couple of the guys from Jabil. It was a great night and a good time was had by all! After having a well deserved lie-in on Sunday morning, myself, Chris and Martyn decided to have another lazy look around the mall, grab a coffee, and have some dinner. Before we knew it, the weekend was over and it was time for another week of work. Hope everyone is still having a great time on their internships!