Chocolate Chips 'n Sprinkles

So, Justin's with Nestle-Purina this summer, and will be working on the line of dog food they call "Beneful". It's kind of funny, because we've never had pets, and although I grew up with dogs and other small furry creatures, Justin's family had nothing of the sort. He's not exactly pet-o-phobic, but the thought of animals other than fish inside the house gives him the heebie jeebies. Anyway, so we'll see how the summer goes and if it changes his train of thought at all. :-) People bring their pets to work all the time at Purina, and apparently as long as they're well-behaved they're welcome whenever. They also offer "pet insurance" as part of your full-time benefit package. Funny, huh?

I thought it was interesting they took 8 interns this year, and coincidentally two of them are LDS! I mean really, what are the odds? The other guy is from Thunderbird, and seems pretty sharp, too. He and his wife live in our building, which is fun because we'll be in the same ward and all, too. They seem very nice so far, and have been helping feed my husband while he's alone out there eating hot dogs and who knows what.

As for Purina, Justin got his assignment really quickly, and has enjoyed being supremely busy from day one on the job. His projects this summer all center around something called Beneful Harvest - doing market research, analytical stuff, recommending a marketing course of action and then designing the marketing plan and working with Creative to come up with print and other materials. It should be a lot of fun! He's liked everyone he's met so far and really feels like a part of the company, as opposed to "just an intern", so we're pleased with our choice. It also helps that the place is a ghosttown at 5:01pm, and the lunch policy for the entire company is 11:30-1pm. I've never worked somewhere with an hour and a half for lunch! Anyway, so far so good. His boss has also had some interesting questions about the Church, and his non-drinking/no coffee lifestyle, and has been really classy about it all.

Something else we've *heard* that I thought was interesting, is that should you get an offer from the company, they extend those in September, but the offer is open until you graduate in May. The catch is that your signing bonus goes down the longer you wait to sign. So you'd still have a job offer at the end of the year, but no bonus. I don't know if everyone does it that way or not, but I thought it was kind of interesting. Of course, it's a long way to September still, so we may or may not ever get to the bottom of that one.

The kids and I are hanging in there, but I'm looking forward to really rolling up my sleeves this week getting ready to go. I have a feeling this week will pass faster than the last did because we'll have so much to do, and I can't wait!