Mariani Landscape has 5 interns this year, of which I am one. I have gotten to know these gentlemen quite well over the past few weeks, as we all live in the same apartment, and I'm sure that we will be getting more familiar with one another as the summer moves on...
The others are: (pictures to come soon)
Andy McDowell, my roommate, a Landscape Architecture student from Michigan State University.
He is the one with the easiest job, at least we like to think so, he helps out the existing Mariani design teams that consist of 14 Landscape Architects with their respective projects.
The Mississippi Boyz: both students at Mississippi State University in the Landscape Contracting program.
Andrew Rulewicz, the other Mormon boy (weird, who would have thought out of the 5 inters at a company, another one would come from the deep south?!?) and definitely the crazy one of the group, who is full of totally unrelated bits of information that he interjects into most conversations...we will say that he is the intern (class) clown.
Tatum Collins, the quite reserved one of the bunch.
Sam Kibler, a plant production student at the University of Illinois Cabannus. We will call Sam 'the local'. His girlfriend Heather, who is a client representative in training, for Mariani has lived here for about a year, so he knows the area the best. We ask him lots of really stupid directions and general Chicago questions as though he has lived here all of his life. Thanks dude, you have helped us out a ton.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Welcome to Chicago!
On our second day at work Andrew, one of my Mississippi State roommates, had a pleasant surprise down in the parking lot.
The common reasoning for this was his welcome to Chicago.
The common reasoning for this was his welcome to Chicago.
The moral of the story: don't leave your GPS sitting out where it can be seen.
My car was in between two cars that were broken into. A brick was thrown through the window and the goods were taken very early in the morning.
Mariani Landscape
This summer I am an intern with Mariani Landscape.
Mariani is a family owned and operated company that is celebrating 50 years of business this year. It has been a successful 50 years, as the company is the largest residential design / build company in the nation turning 36 million dollars in revenue last year.
We work primarily on the north shore of Chicago (a very wealthy area), although we are growing into other area's as well. The company has three major divisions: design, construction, and maintenance, which I hope are rather self explanatory.
I am doing a maintenance sales internship. Within the maintenance department there are 14 client representatives. As mentioned above, my mentor is one of these 14 people.
In a perfect scenario after a design / build job is complete it is transitioned over to the maintenance department and we look after it for many years to come. A client rep. is the person that sells and coordinates maintenance of the property as well as any enhancements (anything above and beyond the normal maintenance) to a property.
To see some of the work that we do here in Chicago, visit marianilandscape.com and click on portfolio. They do a better job of portraying our work than I could here.
Before coming to Chicago I thought that landscape maintenance was just mowing and blowing. I have been shown otherwise. With great attention to detail and keeping properties in their peak condition, I now broadened my horizons to now considering the option of working in landscape maintenance, if it is done the Mariani way!
During my time here in Chicago I hope to define what I would like to do, as far as what aspect of the industry I would like to pursue when I graduate next April. I am going to spend time with representatives of all of the departments of Mariani and ask them all the questions that I can think of to try and figure the ever going question of 'what do I want to do when I grow up?'
Mariani is a family owned and operated company that is celebrating 50 years of business this year. It has been a successful 50 years, as the company is the largest residential design / build company in the nation turning 36 million dollars in revenue last year.
We work primarily on the north shore of Chicago (a very wealthy area), although we are growing into other area's as well. The company has three major divisions: design, construction, and maintenance, which I hope are rather self explanatory.
I am doing a maintenance sales internship. Within the maintenance department there are 14 client representatives. As mentioned above, my mentor is one of these 14 people.
In a perfect scenario after a design / build job is complete it is transitioned over to the maintenance department and we look after it for many years to come. A client rep. is the person that sells and coordinates maintenance of the property as well as any enhancements (anything above and beyond the normal maintenance) to a property.
To see some of the work that we do here in Chicago, visit marianilandscape.com and click on portfolio. They do a better job of portraying our work than I could here.
Before coming to Chicago I thought that landscape maintenance was just mowing and blowing. I have been shown otherwise. With great attention to detail and keeping properties in their peak condition, I now broadened my horizons to now considering the option of working in landscape maintenance, if it is done the Mariani way!
During my time here in Chicago I hope to define what I would like to do, as far as what aspect of the industry I would like to pursue when I graduate next April. I am going to spend time with representatives of all of the departments of Mariani and ask them all the questions that I can think of to try and figure the ever going question of 'what do I want to do when I grow up?'
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Travels to Chicago...
I started my epic cross country journey by staying Monday night in Butte , MT with my sister Michelle and her husband, Barrett.
Below: my fearless ride, the Stanza, parked in historic 'Uptown Butte', what a view.
Montana was a good scenic drive, to pass the time, I took pictures of the mountains and talked to some folks on the phone, but once I crossed into North Dakota line, things declined rapidly...
Pretty mountains, IN Montana.
Below: my fearless ride, the Stanza, parked in historic 'Uptown Butte', what a view.
Montana was a good scenic drive, to pass the time, I took pictures of the mountains and talked to some folks on the phone, but once I crossed into North Dakota line, things declined rapidly...
Pretty mountains, IN Montana.
Where things started to decline.
The rocky mountains start to lose their steam and turn into much less interesting rolling hills. 
My bored face.
Until I came to the 'largest statue in North America'. North Dakota has to be known for something. -Note the pickup at the base of the statue for a size reference. 
Most of the signs in the state of North Dakota have this blue sign attached. Be watchful of your fuel gauge or you could be in some serious trouble.
Eric made it safely to Chicago in a total of 25 hours of driving. It was rough but the Stanza performed like a champ, contrary to most people's belief that I would be stranded somewhere along the way...
Most of the signs in the state of North Dakota have this blue sign attached. Be watchful of your fuel gauge or you could be in some serious trouble.Eric made it safely to Chicago in a total of 25 hours of driving. It was rough but the Stanza performed like a champ, contrary to most people's belief that I would be stranded somewhere along the way...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
