What's The Diff?

The things Quicken Loans team members care about and want to share with the world

Sufjan Stevens Sings Across America

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Sufjan Stevens Sings MichiganBy Mark Messing

At some point, every elementary school teacher will have their students memorize all 50 states.  I personally remember my teacher’s creative 50-state-memorization tactic.  One by one, each student went up to a United States map, pointed to the states they had been to and described what kind of place it was. 

I would guess that every student in the classroom vowed to travel more that day.  As we discussed the interesting places we had been, it was impossible not to think of the places we hadn’t.  This sentiment was especially strong for me, as I only had two states to point to: Michigan and Illinois.  "Some day, I am going to visit all 50 states!" I told myself.  At the time, I thought it was quite an ambitious goal.

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Restaurant Proves that Skimping Doesn’t Cut It

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Interns Learn Lessons QuicklyBy Cassie Bixler – Winner of the DIFF Intern Challenge

I recently traveled back to my little hometown of Warsaw, Indiana.  It is a simple, small town; you might even say… podunk! However, sometimes it is in the small areas of life that we find the greatest things. 

I met up with a friend for breakfast at a little restaurant called Maria’s House of Pancakes.  If you are not from Warsaw, you would probably never find this place, nor bother to stop in.  There is absolutely nothing special about this restaurant — it is simple, tiny, and "country-ish."  Looking over the menu you will find that it, too, is simple, ordinary, and nothing unique. 

The meal arrives in a timely manner and it is at this moment that the
shock sets in.

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Karaoke Revolution – Can’t Lose at this Video Game!

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Can't Lose at Karaoke Revolution!By Jen Romanowski

For years I never really understood the obsession with video games. I used to argue that people who play them were either anti-social or too violent. After a while, most of my friends realized that it was useless to ask me to play, because I’d always pass. "No, go ahead and play. I don’t mind." So they would be in the living room huddled around the television, shouting and talking smack. And I’d be somewhere else mumbling about being bored.

Truth be told, I just hate losing.

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Auto Dealership Changes the Service Game

Monday, June 25, 2007

Dave Rigotti Gets Great Service from an Auto DealershipBy David Rigotti

Car maintenance is one of my worst nightmares.  It always seems to be stressful and annoying – especially having to deal with car pooling and repair people not returning phone calls.  For me, that recently changed.

My 2003 Ford Taurus was having intermittent mechanical difficulties, so I called Tom Holzer Ford, which incidentally, isn’t the dealership where I bought the car.  They asked me when it would be convenient for me to bring my car in, instead of telling me when to bring the car in, and they told me it shouldn’t take more than a day.

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A Barbecue Bash & Kids Day

Friday, June 22, 2007

Quicken Loans Barbecue and Kids DayIt’s something we do every year. Everyone from Quicken Loans, Rock Financial and Title Source gets together for a barbecue. I’m sure I don’t have to explain the concept or the food served. But, this year’s event took place on the same day as our own version of "Take Your Kids to Work" day.

Since school schedules vary so much in the Detroit area, we have our "Kids Day" in the summer. It seemed to work out well having the kids at the barbecue, too. Bryan Stapp’s daughters look quite happy. Maybe it was the ice cream.

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Where the Beer Is Cold and the Food Is Colder

Thursday, June 21, 2007

By Kathleen Wright

Great cheeseburgers are piping hotA few weeks ago I was going through a perfectly normal burger craving about lunchtime and thought (to myself obviously) that Champps sounded pretty good.  Knowing that I would have to swing over to the ATM before I picked up my lunch, I gave a call as I was leaving, and Shocker #1: was told that my order would be ready in 45 minutes. 

Thinking (again, to myself) that they must have to go out back and knock off another cow for the lunch rush, I figured it would be well worth the wait for a nice hot 1/2-pound of protein, nicely arranged on a toasty bun with waffle fries…

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Cassie Bixler Wins THE DIFF Intern Challenge

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Cassie Bixler Wins Intern Contest on THE DIFFCongratulations to Cassie Bixler, who won our Intern Challenge contest with this entry about exceptional leadership in a university classroom. Cassie will be posting here on THE DIFF each week during her summer internship, covering the things that she feels expose the gap between average and excellent, as well as sharing what it’s like to be an intern at Quicken Loans.

Cassie is currently an intern on our Mortgage Insiders team, and a senior at Purdue University, majoring in Selling and Sales Management. She is 23 and from Warsaw, Indiana. In her spare time, she rides horses and spends a lot of time on the lakes with her
friends.

Welcome to THE DIFF, Cassie!

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Computerworld Gives Quicken Loans a Three-peat!

Monday, June 18, 2007

Editor’s Note: Computerworld chose Quicken Loans as the #1 "Best Place to Work in Information Technology" for the third year in a row. Our CEO, Bill Emerson, couldn’t wait to share the news last Thursday evening, as soon as he heard. Here is his email. 

From: Emerson, WilliamSent: Thursday, June 14, 2007 7:38 PMTo: All CompanySubject: It's a three-peat!!! 

Good afternoon, everyone. 

I have great news to share! Computerworld magazine has named us the #1 "Best Place to Work in Information Technology" for the THIRD YEAR IN A ROW!!!   

The list will appear in the June 18th issue of Computerworld, along with an article featuring interviews with Frank Laura and several of our Technology Team members. Along with the article will be a photo of those same folks taken a few weeks ago on the court at the Quicken Loans Arena... our way of highlighting the coolness of the "Q" Express!!! 

Like other Best Place to Work awards (we’ve won a few now), the rankings were based largely on an anonymous survey that 250 members of our Technology Team completed. The folks at Computerworld said that the constant theme appearing throughout these surveys were comments about our culture, ability to take ownership of projects, work collaboratively with other teams, and to make a difference by building, not outsourcing, our technology!  

Following is a news release with some additional information about the selection process. 

Congratulations to everyone involved in making this a great place to work for people in any career field... which is everyone!! 

"You’ll see it when you believe it!" And we believe!  

Bill

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DIFF Intern Finalists – Help Us Pick a Winner

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Ok, here’s the deal.  Please help us pick a Summer 2007 DIFF Intern who will be a regular contributor to the DIFF blog.  We need your input to pick  a winner.

We’ve picked three finalists, Mili Pradhan, Stepanie Powel, and Cassie Bixler and we want your help to decide which intern should have a weekly feature on the DIFF blog as they go through their summer with us at Quicken Loans.  If you have the time, please read each one and leave a comment on the one you like.

Thanks for your help with this.  Choose your favorite based on their story and their writing. 

Help us pick the best blogger!

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DIFF Intern Contest Finalist – Mili Pradhan

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Editors note:  please leave a comment about Mili’s post if you like it.  Tell us if you think she should be the featured DIFF intern blogger this summer.

“I can’t stand it when mom’s always on my case,” I complained to my 18-year old sister as I drove her to school that morning. My sister gave me an I-know-how-you-feel look. My mom had just given me a “sermon” about how I was careless about my personal finances.  As I drove away after dropping my sister off, I reflected back on the fight I had with my mom that morning. Was she right? Did she always know everything?

I was only four years old when my dad left us. My mom had to bear numerous humiliations because divorce in India was unheard of. She had not even finished her college education. How was she going to support us? Luckily for us, we had our grandparents to help us out. She soon realized that she would have to do the unthinkable, leave her children for three years to come to US so she could build a life for us.

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Thursday, May 17, 2012