What a vacation! I took off Thursday and Monday for a vacation with Vanessa. We had planned on going to Nashville, TN, but that fell through so we elected for a laid-back style of vacation. We decided on Thursday to go for a hike at Mount Magazine on their 9mi trail. That was one way, so we looked around and found a trail at Petite Jean that was a 12mi loop. We left Bryant at 6am and headed to Morrilton. It was an easy drive and we were there and on the trail by 8:30 or so. The start was a bit rough; Vanessa stepped down and was met with a rather short, fat rattler. For the next few hours we watched every step we took (especially V). The snake was not aggressive at all; it didn't act like it even noticed us. The first mile or three was really nice; there were all sorts of scenic views and a nice little waterfall. Unfortunately a majority of the other 10 miles were lame. The views were nonexistent and it was hot and humid.
We considered hitchhiking back a few times, but V kept me going and we stuck it out. I found like 10 geocaches on the way and those were fun, even though there weren't any trackables in the containers (weak sauce). A few of the caches had HORRIBLE coords but we came up with most of the finds. I did some climbing and scrambling and many times the cache was on the ground.
Work has been fast paced since I got back from New Mexico. I was appointed a chairperson of a group that is working a new set of launchers. Not too big a deal except that I was appointed by the program manager. I took it as a leap of faith, but then I have proven myself pretty valuable in my other work functions.
Last weekend I went to Fayetteville for a long weekend and man it was a good time. I went all over the place on Friday, including a new indoor park that has go-karts, bowling alleys, arcade and laser tag. We did all but the last one and I enjoyed it. We left around 1:30a and stayed in a hotel in Springdale (Jon P, Andrew and I). Saturday we went after a geocache that was up on a cliff in a cave. It was a blast hunting that one and I would post pictures, but they're not up yet. We found it and had a great time. Miranda and another co-op joined us for that one.
I talked to the ME graduate program on Friday and they'll pay me 1200 a month to be a graduate assistant, as well as pay for my tuition. I think if I can find another scholarship then I can most definitely swing that. There are only two things I am worried about: my house in Camden and my classes I am taking right now. If I quit Lockheed within a year of my classes, then I have to pay them back for the classes. I only need six more classes and I'll have my master's degree in Operations Management; I should graduate by Spring graduation. So if I go back to school next fall, I'll owe LH about $5k. If I start graduate school in the spring 2011, I'll owe them $1.7k. So it looks like spring may be the time to make my move. That will give me more time to pay for my house but surviving Camden for that much longer could be killer...we'll see.
Until then...geocaching.
