How many 4000 level classes?

I'm tired. I shouldn't be typing this right now, I should be doing propulsion homework or reading or maybe some TSAD studying since I'm clueless (I'm actually pretty clueless in most all my classes at this point) or maybe I could be reading for ICengines. All of these things I need to be doing, on top of getting ready for class on Thursday, reviewing resumes, finding a job and studying for the FE. I'm just too tired right now. I stayed on campus until 5, with not much time to do anything but study German (I've got a test in a week). That's one class I don't worry about much. I should take honors German. hm...I can't stay awake in my 8:30 on MWF. I don't know why, but I fight sleep the whole time. The rest of my classes are okay though. I tell ya, I like the subjects I'm taking, but geez I wish we'd get through all the crap.

This weekend was nice. I watched "Smokin' Aces" on Friday. On Saturday we had a...um...practice? I don't understand the ideology behind never showing up for practice and expecting to win. Then I went to an awesome British car show with Schoolcraft and his dad and V. It was awesome and Vanessa wandered off the entire time taking tons of awesome pictures. I just wish we could've taken more of the Atoms. Oh well. Then we went to Target and bought scuba bags and groceries and then made sweet-n-sour chicken and watched Texas win and then went to Drew's place to watch the Hogs suck. It was cool hanging with the crew again, but I remember now why I love living off campus so much.

As for hanging out with people, it's be crazy lately. People are coming and going every weekend and I never know who's around and who's not. It's been nice not really doing any big get-togethers lately, I've enjoyed the more intimate settings of just a few people. Did I mention the hogs lost? What a bummer.

Oh yeah one last thing. V and I tried this new church this weekend and I won't say which church it was, but man it was horribly boring. The preacher read right off the slides and presented some pretty basic material. The singing was decent, but the preacher blew it for that church. I really don't mind Old Wire, I just thought we'd try something new. I still can't find a church that competes with my boring, preacher isn't great, all old people, church this summer. I wanted to go to church just to see those people smile and talk to me. It was great! The first Wednesday I was there, I lead a prayer. I've went to North St and Old Wire for months and didn't lead a prayer.

Time to sleep. My eyes are burning and it's only 11:15. Sad...

One last thing, one awesome point to my day was some pretty interesting corn bread and some great Mexican chicken. Oh yeah, you know it. Oh yeah and Kimi Raikonnen won too! Go Ferrari!

Stupid Alonso

Gaw...why can't my team win? It's Ferrari!!! C'mon guys. My racewatch went pretty well. I bought some pizzas and about 7 freshmen showed up. I figured as many, so I was glad I decided to go to Joe's instead of renting a HPER room. Raikkonen still has a chance to win, but it's not much anymore.
Last week lasted forever, but this week's looking better. Most of my freshmen showed up for the 1-on-1 meetings and we had some good talks. They're starting to open up a little more and tell me what needs to change in the program.
I've been really tired lately. I wonder if I'm not eating right or something. I've been eating just about every food group, but I could probably use a few more fruits and veggies. I'm just physically exhausted. I could barely stay awake in my first class. Ugh... Anywho I am going to read for just a bit and then crash...and burn. Have a great week.

Friday

It's been a little bit since I posted but I thought I'd get a quick summary of how things have been lately. My parents came to the game on Saturday and brought a grill and tons of food. I invited 15 or so people and we just chilled out, ate and swapped ring tones. We then rode to the game in the back of Adam's truck and got dropped off just a mere 30 minutes before gate time. Got good seats and I sat next to Cory, Vanessa and this other guy named Adam I know. It was fun. We sucked and the game was super boring for the most part. We won, of course but Troy made us look like a high school team. Texas won too, although they struggled a bit with Arkansas State. I suppose it's the first week jitters.
FEP is going good. I enjoy meeting with my freshmen and most of them enjoy meeting with me. I did have one leave this week to go home and I really liked him. I'm sad to see him go, but I suppose everything happens for a reason. We met for coffee yesterday morning before he headed out. This weekend a few of the freshmen are coming over to Joe's to watch the Italian Grand Prix, that should be fun times. I hope there's enough room for everyone. We'll see.
Classes are good, but tough. I have lots of homework and reading, but I enjoy them all so it's good. I still have enough time to get in time for a Bible study with Vanessa once a week and that's been a real blessing. Other than that, I don't have a whole lot of free time. I do occasionally play some Xbox, but that's normally when I'm caught up or ahead, which isn't normal at all.
I plan on going camping this weekend with the guys. We're going up to Joe's neck of the woods, so that should be interesting. Thinking about taking my car and rolling a little rubber off of the tires. There's some amazing curves. That's it for me. Have a great weekend.

Whew...it's over

This week has been long. Long and very, very busy. The sad part is that I haven't really started work yet. That fun ride will start this week. My four hour break on Mondays is now gone, but I think I'll get most of my mentees visited in convenient fashion. I am really pumped about getting to know the freshmen. They seem like an interesting bunch. I spoke with many of them, at the Friday picnic, about cars for 45 minutes solid. It'll be fun times and a little extra pay to get by with.
My classes are interesting. They'll be rough because of all the work, but at least they're interesting. Propulsion is already uber hard, but ICengines and and German are going to be okay. I really enjoy German so far, but it could be tough come the first string of tests. Ethics is not too tough and is really enjoyable and I think Lab III will be good stuff too.
Hm...let's see what else is going on. Oh yes, the house. The house is quite nice. Although there are plenty of things left to do, I really like living all off campus. Getting to and from class is kinda a pain sometimes, but it's well worth it. I've found that reading on the bus isn't too hard, so I can make good use of the time spent riding it. I even met a former ME on there who was super interested in cars. He joined ME but felt he wouldn't get to work with cars like he wanted to so he went to communication. I don't understand his logic, but oh well.
That's it for tonight. I doubt I have much time during the week to post here, but I will try to update as I can. I know once work and classes and football season get into full swing, I'll be out of luck for time. I'm good at making it, though, and I hope that skill gets put into full use this semester.

Guess who lives across from the Hog House???

So I'm moved in and my parents rock!!! My mom was so awesome decorating my room. I still have lots of room on my walls, but now it's dark in there when it's light outside, the colors match and it's the most beautiful burnt orange EVER. I've got my burnt sienna room, my burnt orange sheets with the horns, and some nice black curtains. It's cool cause I can look out my window and see this house covered in hog gear. It's all over the yard and stuff. So when they're having some pity drinks, I'll be sipping my party mixes.
So I got the two couches in, the recliner, my bed, and my drawers. I'm really happy with how the house looks, but since it's not done yet I'm a bit worried about when it will be finished. Michael mentioned reimbursing us for the days we're not going to be in the house, I hope so.
I finally heard from Steven. That lil punk's been hiding out all summer and so I was glad to hear he was still alive. It's going to be an awesome time this year with Jordan and Steve. We're going to have some sweet parties, some sweet Saturday mornings in the garage and some gooooooood cooking.
Work's almost over. It's enjoyed it, but I should've managed my time a little better. I am about half-way done with this project and I feel horrible. I hope the guys can finish it off. It'd be a shame to see all my hard, quick work go to waste. Anywho, I'm going to go read and enjoy my last night here in the country clu...er...villa. Good riddance.
Oh one more thing. I spend 2 hours yesterday making this awesome slideshow, with music and all, for Vanessa. I really think she liked it and that made my day. Check out onetruemedia.com to make your own. ;)

He thinks he can dance...and don't tell him otherwise

This weekend was amazing! I left on Thursday, alone, and headed for my grandma's house. This weekend could've been better if V would've came with me, but oh well. It was awesome nonetheless. I drove and drove and drove and finally made it into McKinney. I spent the night and the next morning hit up some thrift stores. I had planned on bringing all my dirty clothes to wash at my grandma's but I forgot them. I luckily brought a few extra sets of clothes to wear. I didn't bring any undies or socks though. I hit up some thrift stores and finally got everything I needed. My front tires were a little bald, so I got some new tires too. I ate some Arby's with my grandma and then headed off to Plano.
I picked up Amy in Plano. I planned a nice route on some turnpikes through Dallas. Earlier, on thursday, I paid 3.50 in a check to Oklahoma for the turnpike. Well we made great time, but it cost us over $2 to get there. When I showed up it was crazy! Everyone was dancing, the music was loud and the vibe was great. I was nervous. I hadn't really been this energetic in a long time and honestly hadn't hung out with anyone of a different race for more than a few minutes since high school; this weekend was going to be an awakening. I mixed and mingled and met this crazy short girl named Domonique. I laughed with her and Tori and Carol until I cried and then we ran off to McD's. I won't go through the rest of the trip, but let's just say I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.
Saturday morning came early. I grabbed breakfast, with one of my room mates and headed to registration. I only thought Friday was wild; Saturday morning was off the hook! We were yelling and dancing and I was not looking forward to the weekend. I shrugged it off and yelled along with them. That's when it started; I began to lose all inhibition. The rest of the day was a blur. I met a ton of amazing people, and thought about all I'd been missing out on in life. I spoke up when asked and followed with needed. We came up with chants "We represent" "HP, HP" "Nortel" "HP, HP" "Nortel". It was great. I learned about resumes and interviews and even more I learned about myself. I met a guy named Jonah, who was crazy loud and exciting. I met Charles, who was from Pine Bluff and a true leader through and through. I met PArker, who was nerd all the way and very proud of it. I met Gilberto, who really could relate to others. I met Alamzeb, who I never really got his name but made me laugh for his nutting speeches about dancing...er not dancing. I don't remember much of the day, but I do remember the Target party. It was WILD! Red lights everywhere and punch and food and crazy awesome dancing. At this point I had been wanting to bust my stuff, so I found a group of girls and jumped in the middle. It was awesome. Charles, I think, ran up to me and was "work it, Blair" or "there you go". I felt awesome at that point and danced until the lights came up. At one point some DLP guys drug me into a circle, mainly because I was stopped for a second to relax. That was cool. But yeah, Alamzeb wouldn't dance, but I did get Gabrielle to dance and even this cool guy from HP, Daniel. It was fun and I was so sweaty and hot afterwards.
Sunday I woke up with a killer sinus headache and a sadness inside. I knew it was the last day, of only two days, and I had just started meeting these awesome new people. We learned about diversity and did the coolest activity I've ever done. It involved beads and a clear box and the beads represented races. I found it sad that my box had 20 or so white beads and three other colors. THREE!!! I've been half way across the world and I had three off white beads. The questions were mostly out of my control, but still...I really felt sad. I learned that although most people tend to float toward one personality trait, I'm really right in the middle. Well we chanted and practiced more chants and then turned out to not get to use them. I danced some more and then....get this...I wont some money for being myself all weekend. I got $500 from HP and the HP people in our group picked me. It was me and Jonah and Charles and this other real outspoken girl, Randesha. I got up there, dancing and got Daniel to dance too. It was soooooo cool. I couldn't believe it. I was shaking and stuff. I listened to an awesome speech about getting my kindergarten confidence back and an even more amazing poem about living my life to the fullest from the coolest emcee, Trey. Then it was over. I packed up, hugged everyone and left. On the way out I ran into alam and Charles. We got a few more pictures together and left. Slightly before that, Alam told me he'd pick up one of those awesome Longhorn magnets to put on my car (he goes to UT). That made my afternoon. So yeah I'm pumped that I went, some for money, but mainly because of all the awesome people I met. I can't get over the leadership I witnessed this weekend. It was life changing in all ways and I can't wait to see where everyone else takes their lives.
I made it back to Gege's, after having a nice conversation with Amy and not hitting any tolls. The drive home was long and thoughtful. I jammed to every rap song I had on my iPod and danced and thought about all the good times I had.
Then it ended. On the way to work today my car overheated and stopped running. I had it towed into Joplin. It's going to cost most of the money I have left that I made this summer. All things end in time, I hope the same isn't true of my friendships with the people I met this weekend.

wow, that was fun

So I went to Joe's this weekend. It was cool; he's got a really nice place. We sat around, worked on our CP project and enjoyed just being lazy. It was nice. I played more pool and fooseball than I've played in the last year. I got pretty good at Joe's amazingly crappy pool table. I could just tap the ball and it would go in the hole, regardless of how far away. We got a great start on our CP project, despite Steven not being there. Then the weekend went downhill fast; I bought books. Not horrible this semester, I've saved a ton by buying online. Close to $90 or so I've saved and that's including a few other books that I got for myself.
This past week was fun. I was in Lean/5S meetings all week and got to meet the CEO/president of EP and also the chairman of the board. He wasn't too nice of a guy, but the CEO was a real cool guy. Probably in his 50's or late 40's, which seemed pretty cool. Dan, one of the other engineers, was gone all week so it was bonding time for me and the other intern. That was interesting. I got to avoid the nice hot snake building for most of the week and, of course, he didn't do much so it's still messy. I'll wrap that up this week, hoping it's not too hot.
I got my list of mentees for this semester. I looked up a few on facebook and even had one kid add me before I got the email. It's fun to think about how I felt when I was going to be a freshman; how excited I was and so eager to get started. The crazy thing is that I still feel that way towards the end of every summer. This summer didn't help much, though, as I saw just how much you don't have to know out in the real world. I'm glad I do know it, regardless, and this weekend really brought that out.
Well I'm heading out for a run, since this week's going to be a tough one. I'm trying to get off work on Friday and next Monday, so I have to really work hard and get my 40 in early this week. I'm thinking 10.5,10.5,10,9 or something like that. I do want to get in some more golf this week, it's almost time to put up the clubs for a little bit. ugh...

What a surprise...

This weekend was pretty nice. V and I went to this sweet little Japanese steak house and had the guy cook right in front of us. I ate some great sushi and some shrimp. Then we saw "license to wed". It was pretty funny, mainly because I could see myself reacting in a lot of the same ways as the main characters. Robin Williams was prett funny too. That was Saturday. Friday we watched "Shooter", which I was pleasantly surprised with. It had some sweet action scenes and awesome shooting. Saturday we watched "Premonition" cooked and then watched "Smokin Aces". Both were good. Smoking Aces was crazy; within 30 minutes 7 or 8 people had died, some of them who appeared to be main characters. Once again some great action scenes and shooting. Premonition was a "say what?!?" movie. V and I were discussing what was happening during the whole thing. It was neat to think about some of the stuff going on and wonder how it would turn out. Today we went to my church. It was so funny because I helped with the Lord's Supper and the preacher praised me for a few minutes, so I think I really impressed Vanessa with my involvement there. They're an amazing group of old people and so, so nice. There was a line waiting to meet Vanessa and to talk to me. She dressed perfectly for the conservative nature of the church, but at the same time looked amazing.
Vanessa and I talked alot about our spiritual growth. We're growing so close together and minus a few setbacks, we're doing great. We're talking more about our past and our future and especially our spiritual nature. I think that we're going to set up a Bible study for at least twice a week next semester. We pray before every meal and most every night. I fall so in love with her when I hear her pray. It's amazing the people God blesses us with, especially our exes, who we learn so much from. I can't believe how well God's plan always turns out.
So work's been rough this week. I'm working in a large, hot building filing away some old work orders and such and trying to keep from having everything I wear stick to me. It's not been too bad, but the other intern is rather lazy at times and I feel like I'm doing all the work. Oh well, I guess. I can do most of it better and quicker by myself. All in all, though, I'm learning a lot about the work life and seeing just how little from class you actually use. Yeah it's fun to throw out big words and talk about novel new ideas with the other engineers, but mostly you just have to know how to think your way through the problems. Simple enough.
That's it for me. I've got a busy summer for the remainder. Going to Joe's next weekend to work on CP stuff and then going to Dallas the next weekend to shop and go to a leadership conference at UTArlington. I'm going to buy one of those cool metal, magnetic longhorns for my car! Hook em baby!!!

Golf anyone?

So I've played golf four times this week. I am getting better and today I hit par on a hole or two. My dad and sister came into town this weekend and we've been having a blast. Yesterday we went to the driving range and hit a million golf balls and then I cooked them an awesome meal of green bean rolls, sweet-n-sour chicken and some crazy good rolls. This morning we teed off at 1030 and played 9 holes. I did really well, but still got beat by dad by 2 strokes. I caught him at his worst, he's breaking in some new clubs. We then ate at Arby's, hit some thrift stores (where I almost bought some super awesome jacket with lots of wool and stuff, kinda like Vin Diesel's jacket in XXX but shorter and tan), and then saw Transformers. I'm okay admitting I'm a super nerd, so I'll say that movie rocked my socks off. The CG was superb, the acting decent and lots of sweet eye candy (the robots, of course). BTW, there's a certain girl out there who likes the new Camaro and I want to say I'm sorry if I ever doubted your tastes in cars; the Camaro is AMAZING! I'm buying one, but only if they come out as wide as the one in the movie.

Okay, so catching up on a few other things. Mom's in Peru, and there are strikers everywhere catching places in fire and trying to stop the trains and such. V's recovering nicely from her surgery and getting around quite a bit. She could even grace me with her presence next weekend, we'll see. Work's going okay. I start a huge grunt job this weekend. I've got to organize some files and parts and such. And there are a ton of them!

Time to go for a run. I've been playing a lot of golf lately, instead of running and I think I need to do a bit to get my heart racing some. (As if the movie wasn't enough.) Have a great week.

She's a gimp, but she's still smokin hott

So V's ACL surgery went well. She made it through and now has rehab and crutches for a few weeks. I drove over to see her this weekend. When I got there she was asleep on the couch with this massive knee brace on. The thing seriously weighed five pounds. She also used a walker to get around, that was a real hoot to watch although I felt bad for the girl who was making moves and burning me to the basket just a few months ago. She's strong though and has already gotten off her pain meds. But I hung out at her place all weekend and slept on the floor in the den one night to help tend to her if she needed anything. We toured her old stomping grounds and although it was small and very country, I enjoyed hearing her talk about the good times she had owning the softball field or getting beat up by special kids. hehehe. That one really cracked me up. Her mom made some AWESOME food and I thought her dad opened up a lot more to me and we talked quite a bit. I'm not planning on seeing her this weekend, but the next weekend she might roll up here.

Work last week wasn't too bad. I put in some more long days trying to clean up this storage room. It's still not done, but I'm finished messing with it. The rest is up to the other intern. He's been rather lazy and I think it's time for him to do some real work. I really like my work, but I wish I had more to do. I don't like going in and not knowing what I'm going to do all day. I try to keep myself super busy and I like it better that way.

Golfing has been fun. I went twice last week and I plan on going a lot this week. My family is coming in this weekend to play and I've got to be ready to own them on my home course. I will to, you watch. Anywho I haven't showered since Friday and I think I'll go take one now. Think it's time?

What a weekend!!!

Vanessa is back, I got paid and this is a four day week. Things don't get much better. I picked up V at the airport Friday and I didn't expect it, but my heart was fluttering. It was like Christmas or something. She looked like she had been traveling for a while, but I didn't care one little bit. She had on a huge smile and my face hurt from smiling so big. She got her bags, told people good bye and we headed to the house. After she got cleaned up and I changed into some more comfortable clothes we went to a Mexican restaurant to eat. We split the fajitas and they were oh so good. She picked Mexican, as she didn't get any for three weeks while in SA. We then went to Hastings and got "The Painted Veil", "Deja Vu", and "Apocalypto". All three turned out pretty good. She showed me all her pictures, which sadly was only half of the ones she originally took (sorry V). She's much more of a landscape and natural beauty picture taker than I am, I would've take lots of pictures of cars and structures and people, but oh well. I liked them and I actually transferred most of them to my computer.

Saturday we ran to McD's and Wendy's for lunch. We then went back and watched "the painted veil". I then poked and prodded Vanessa to start getting ready for our big night. I made reservations at James at the Mill. After she got ready, I was knocked dead on my feet. She had on this white dress and was set to kill. As we ate, she banged her fork on the plate and drew lots of attention, and then she caused me to throw my bread "stick" on the floor. We both ordered things that we didn't know what they were and they both tasted great. Then came dessert. I ordered banana break with ice cream, pecans, and caramel syrup. V got a chocolate covered ice cream chunk. It was good too, and had some coffee sauce on it. All in all, the dinner was great. It wasn't cheap, but I suppose that is what you pay for good custom cooked food. Plus seeing her look that good was well worth every penny.

That's pretty much the highlights of my weekend. Lots of sitting on the love sack and movie watching. Oh yeah and Raikkonen won this weekend! And guess who just got a nice new Ferrari shirt to wear to show my support? V got it for me and it's made of the same super soft, stretchy cotton that my FIFA shirt is made of. So nice on my skin...hehehe. But yeah, it's great being able to pick up the phone and call her whenever I want. Real nice.

Loma Linda Drift

Disclaimer: If you are a Jasper County law officer, the following is not true. It is a figment of my creative imagination. Seriously, I drive a front wheel drive car, it's not possible to drift.

Yeah so I officially roasted the big curve outside here. I did it yesterday and some old guy shook his finger at me and then I did it today, but a little less awesome. I whipped it around and the tail got out from behind me a little bit, just enough to know it was out of line. A moving truck was coming, so I had to cut it short, but man it was a rush. I don't plan on doing it often, mainly because of the possibly legal percussions and due to the rapid heartbeat I experience. I've just been in a let's race mood lately. My clutch stuck some today and kinda scared me, but I think it's okay. Let's pray it is.

Work's been picking up. We've got some serious problems with a few processes and so myself and another engineer are isolating the problem and I think we have it by the horns. I'm still doing lots of drawings and my back hurts from sitting at the desk most of the day, but it's cool. I put in 10 hours yesterday and today, so the overtime money should be good. heheh.

Heard from V Sunday and wish we could've talked longer. I figure I might hear from her two more times before she gets back, boo. I'm dealing pretty well, though. I have been keeping myself busy browsing the web and I just starting reading the Bourne Supremacy. It's a slow read, but good so far.

I had something I wanted to post on here, but I've forgotten. Maybe it'll come back to me and I can post. Oh well. Have a great rest of the week!

Wow, that was fun

This weekend's been crazy. Friday I ran into town and deposited my first check, woo! I also got my car aligned, which makes those curves near the apartment extra fun. I ran to wally world and got some groceries and made myself some fajitas. Good stuff. Saturday was when the real fun started. I went for my daily run and decided to try a new trail. This trail took me all around the golf course, a whopping 5 miles or so, and took me about an hour and a half. I didn't run the whole way, but it still was quite a run. I went shirtless and the sun ate through my shoulders. Oh well, I'm tan now.

I stayed up late and watched blood diamond. Good movie, I've got to tell you. Really makes you think about what people will do for some rocks. It's cool that the guy in the movie who plays the mummy in the mummy returns actually speaks Afrikaans. Learn something new every day.

Vanessa called this morning. It was real nice to hear her voice, saying my name, it sounded so sweet...hehehe. But even though it was 7:30 when she called, I was glad to actually hear her. We only got about 10 minutes, but we covered a lot. Got off slightly on drinking and the conversation almost turned bad, but I suppose we'll deal with that later, if there's any dealing to do. I don't know why I don't like the idea of my girlfriend drinking. I don't think she'll cheat on me or anything, but I can't really tell you why it makes me uncomfortable. But anywho, I don't know how much drinking will be going on, but we'll deal with whatever when she gets back.

I'm looking forward to popping out some more CAD drawings this week. I've really got to get those to my boss for some revisions and such. Fun stuff!

Work week almost over...

So I experienced some funny stuff today. I went to Wednesday night church at this little church nearby. The average age is probably like 65 or something. I honestly only saw 4 people less than say 50 or so. They're really neat though. I like going to the church for some old reason; the music is poor, the preaching isn't anything special and there's no one within 20 years of me, but I like it still. So back to my funny stuff. The preacher asked me last night to say the dismissal prayer Sunday morning. I had planned on going to Joplin's church of Christ, but looks like I'm going here. Second, while I was driving back there were some kids out playing in a yard. Well two kids, probably 5 and 6 or so, were walking across the roof of a parked car. I don't know why, but it was really funny.

V emailed me yesterday. They had to make a slight change of plans due to the 20k or so people on strike in Johannesburg. She was having a great time and sounded like camping was fun. I can't wait to hear her voice, but who knows when that will be.

I'm in a weird mood today. I went to work and sat in on a meeting long enough to get a free lunch. I actually did learn alot and it was really interesting. I worked some on my main project, firing up an induction soldered, and worked more on some CAD drawings I've got to convert. I then came home and watched a movie about the trail of tears and now I'm watching a documentary about fathers. I like it because it reminds me of the movies I used to watch at governor's school. Ah...those were good ol' days.

I'm going to run some more. I have gone out every night this week and it's really peaceful just running along the roads here in loma linda, checking out the nice houses and stuff. I found a cool 1.75 mi route which goes through some woods and along the interstate. It's enjoyable. That and counting some calories has resulted in some decent, but slow, results.

Week one is over

Vanessa loaded the plane for South Africa today. I didn't think it'd be too tough, but it was harder than I thought. So she's on her way now. We had a great weekend. Friday we went to Lokomotion, after cooking some awesome sweet-n-sour chicken. She cheated and beat me in putt putt, but I OWNED her in karting. I didn't realize how awesome the track at Lokomotion is. Geez you can get some serious drifting there. Saturday we ate lunch with her family, which is always a crazy time. Her sister is so attention craving and wild. It's really funny to see how her family deals with each other and especially her sister. Today, at 4:30am the apartment woke up and everyone was busy getting ready. Anywho, Vanessa's headed to Africa now. I'm a little jealous, honestly, but I can't wait to hear her stories when she gets back.

Work last week was crazy. I didn't get a computer until Friday and one of my main goals this summer is to transfer a ton of ICI drawings into CAD drawings. So I finally got my computer on Friday and started work and within an hour, th electricity went out. I lost everything I did on my drawing. Now that I have a computer, I should be able to move along pretty quickly. I've got over 230 drawings to convert to CAD, so I'll be super busy. I'm looking forward to getting paid for all these early days, I've spent quite a bit so far.

My uncle died last Monday night. His funeral is this Monday in LR and I can't go. I feel kinda bad, but there's no way I could miss work for the first full week. Rest in peace uncle Tony.

Day two down...

Well I finished day two today. It was slow, but I found some stuff to do. I'll start with my day yesterday. I got there and first thing they told me was that I wasn't supposed to be there until Wednesday. So I got a cool desk right in the middle of the office. I had no cubicle, no computer and a ton of other people's junk on my desk. I went straight into an intern meeting about the two projects. I'm in charge of working out a new process for this induction solderer. It's going to be cool and I'm finding out more and more about it everyday. I overheard this super cool engineer guy talking about it and he found out some more information about the project for me. He's super cool and just graduated from college a few months ago, he's in his 50s or so I'd guess.
So on with my first day, I then had a safety meeting with Joe at 9. He forgot about it, so we went to him. He was really fun and we got to visit the super high, 8 people allowed at a time, cars can only be parked 100ft or more away, explosives mixing area. It was sweet, although nothing more special than seeing like concrete being mixed. We then did some other things which I'm not at liberty to discuss, but basically we got rid of some scrap stuff.

Anywho today was a lot of the same. I spent much more time on the production floor today, which was really fun. Everyone was super friendly and would talk to me about anything. So I did some research about the solderer and tried to find out a little about the problems and such with it. Well Ian is cooking dinner tonight and I'm going to help, so I'll finish this later.

Dinner was pizza and a salad. Good stuff. I think I've become much less picky since I got of college age. I still don't like a lot of stuff, but I'll eat it if I need to. I really don't have much else to talk about. A very old friend of mine from elementary had his sister contact me on facebook earlier and that made my day. I look for him on there all the time. It's cool he found me, finally.

I'm finally settled into my place in Missouri. It's not as nice as I thought it was going to be, but it's okay. My roommate, Ian, is an ME and seems interested in cars, so I think things will go good. I've got a drug test tomorrow and hopefully I can start work on Tuesday.

I feel like driving at an insane speed and hitting some curves. V sent me a Mercedes she designed and I must say she's got some good tastes, albeit expensive ones. http://www.mbusa.com/models/features/specs/overview.do?modelCode=SLR&class=06_SLR
But back to me driving fast, I changed some suspension parts on the front and now my alignment is off. I fixed the toe out problem by adding a bit of toe in, but now it's toe in and straight ahead isn't straight on the steering wheel. Oh well. It drives great and there's some AWESOME curves close to the apartment. I'm looking forward to hitting those when I get it all aligned again.

A new job?

I GOT A JOB!!! I'll be working for Eaglepicher technologies in their explosive devices plant. I'll basically be working as the utility engineer, basically just doing odds and ends work. Pay is good and the housing is amazing. I live in condo on the country club. Yeah, here I come golf course. I am super excited and hope I learn some good stuff and get lots done. Plus making money is always nicer than just spending it. But yeah, I start work on Wednesday or maybe Tuesday, it depends on when I get drug tested and such.

Well I'm in Fayetteville for the weekend, just hanging out before Vanessa goes to S. Africa. I'm still jealous of her trip and her new camera, but plans are in the making for me to go to Hawaii or possibly somewhere in the Carribean for Christmas vacation. We'll have to see, though.

In other interests, I put some new parts on the front suspension of my car and the toe was way out of whack. I could barely hold the wheel straight and it was shaking like crazy. I finally fixed it and went the opposite way, so now it'll run an awesome high speed straight line but steering is off (straight is actually about 10 degrees left of straight up and down on the steering wheel). It's running great though and I look forward to getting a few parts for it over the summer.

perhaps, perhaps, perhaps...

Still waiting on word from Eaglepicher. I've basically decided I'm either working for them or working here at the house. I've been offered a job here as a utility man, and pay will be a set number on a check at the end of the summer. Food and housing will be provided and all that jazz. We'll see, though.

It's been fun at the house. I've lost 8 rockets and used almost all my engines up. It's been awesome though. One rocket landed right next to me and one shot off like a missile towards the house. It's so fun seeing everyone scramble. I launched two for the elementary kids and they really liked that. One kid said "hey you, thanks for launching those, that was really nice and cool." Yeah I never found those two either.

Vanessa leaves in two weeks and I'm super excited for her. I know the feeling of waiting to go to a whole new place. It's going to be a blast for her and I am super jealous. I'm probably going to Jackson Hole for the summer, so HA! There's cool stuff there like trees and moose and such. Oh yeah!

Keep praying for me and my church. They're dying. It's always the same old service every morning. It's like a bad song stuck on repeat. The youth group is the only light right now. They're really busy doing lock ins and such and I think the future of this church is in their hands. They just need to get more recognition for that. We'll see. Have a great day and be careful who you talk about, you never know if that person is related...hehehe.

geo...what?

So my dad got my mom a new GPS handset and tomorrow they're going to look for items my dad bought and we hid all over this place. We drove all over this county and the next to hide those buggers and they're going to have lots of fun finding them. I've been busy cleaning this place up. A ton of people came up Friday and so all week I cleaned the pool and the house. I've got a nice tan now and the house is clean.

I'm going in for two interviews Monday. One is with Eaglepicher in Joplin and one is with an ironworks place in West Fork. I like parts of both, but the EP one is my pick. They provide housing and it would be a really great opportunity for me to get my foot in the door and learn a lot. Speaking of jobs and such, I talked to an old family friend Friday and she really got me excited again about being a mechanical engineer. I really want to do the whole automotive thing I really, really know I can. It's going to be work and not something that I jump into, but it will happen, mark my words. She was so encouraging and I really appreciated it. Thanks Renea, although I doubt you read this. hehehe. Maybe though...

Saw V on Tuesday at a horrible track meet. It rained and rained and thundered and rained some more. Funny story with her mom though. Some random black guy came and jumped in the back seat of her car and scared the poo out of her. It was so funny seeing V laugh as she told the story. It was good to see her and Hot Springs wasn't too bad. I did drain my battery on the way there, so had to fork out the mula to get one of those today. If it's not one thing, it's another.

Heading to Faytown tomorrow. Looking forward to being back in the city with good internet and such. Oh yeah and maybe looking forward to seeing Vanessa. Just a little bit though...a small little bit...;P