Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Desi food makes you sleepy

***Before I say anything else, my mother pointed out that my last entry implied I flossed my teeth for the first time ever. I would like to point out that I have flossed many times before, it's just...been a little while... nobody tell Melvin!!!***

So day two of school was pretty good. I only have one class on Tuesday Thursday (T and TU as the University calls them) and it looks like it's gonna be easy. John and Matt (a guy in my department and a friend of another guy in my department) are in it with me so if nothing else I'll have study buddies (but I reinforce that I don't think I'll need them that bad). When I finished with that I went and transcribed my notes from paper to OneNote (if you haven't tried it you should-- it' s pretty great!) and then went home for lunch. I spent my afternoon doing a couple errands and then I helped Mahj make some desi food (the main event of my day...maybe my week). I made palak paneer which is literally translated spinach cheese. It sounds sketch, it looks suspect, but it tastes pretty good. We had all kinds of food and I ate enough for at least three normal sized people and possibly enough for a small child as well. It was amazing.

I would have stayed at Em's eating all night but I had to grade a quiz (thankfully... I think that much food could kill a person). I went to bed early so that I could get up EARLY (6 am...which I considered sleeping in this summer...oh how times have changed) to go swimming (I had to try to compensate for all that eating I did...). Since I was up I decided to blog. I know you are riveted by all this recapping...settle down.

Tonight is "old" roommate dinner with my girls Leslie, KVD, and Stacey. Gumby's! I'm excited! I figure since I'm off to such an ambitious start, my day is gonna be pretty good. I'll let you know how it goes.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Showing Dad that I'm no fool...

Today was the first day of school...hooray! It's been a couple days so quick recap of what you've missed (not much):
I am no longer jobless! I am grading Operations Research 1 for Dr. Wu. I am supremely thankful for this because 1) I needed a job that fit my schedule and grading rocks in this aspect and 2) I can't work at the GAP in real life because I would spend all my paychecks on their clothes (that arrangement only works in my dreams). I got my first quiz to grade today (Yup, day one... Wu doesn't mess around)
I've also decided not to mess with the title of the blog... so what if my life is no longer an adventure? I fixed the tagline anyway... I'll change it when my girl J Greene tells me what to change it to alright?!
I did go see Vampires suck with Scarlett and it was... a movie. Like those Scary Movies they made it is really awkward... I dunno.
Farmer's market was delightful. I got cherry tomatoes, edamame, and peaches. All tasty.
IE pub crawl was, as expected, lots of fun. Hitting the ville with my people is always a good time and it's just so good to get the band back together.
Sunday I discovered tamarind sauce. It's better than any condiment I have ever had. I can't do it justice in words so get to a store with a desi (Indian/Pakistani) food section and get you some. It will change your life.

So that brings us up to today. I didn't sleep well last night because I flossed my teeth last night and my gums hurt something terrible and I think I was excited to get started with the semester. Even so it was a good day. I started by visiting the office before class... there were PW cinnamon rolls and they were AMAZING.

First class was simulation with Dr. Wu (who doesn't mess around) and he told us (as he tells all his classes) that his goal for day one was "enrollment reduction" and he informed one of the grad students (who do all their projects solo) that project two (which will take something like 200 hours) was going to be...well... he said "if you alone...you get killed" (all in his fantastic Chinese accent). Good start to my day. I then sat through Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) and then Advanced Engineering Economy. Advanced Econ will be fun because it's an Easton class. CAM...well it'll be CAM.

Tomorrow is my last UGE credit, Urban and Regional Economics. I don't know what to think about this at this point. We'll see. After my one class tomorrow we get to meet our freshman "buddies" and talk to them about time management and all that good orientation crap. Should be fun. I'm just crossing my fingers that for once the kids I am assigned will actually show up and be in our department. The last two years I've had non-existent kids. Fortunately there are always unaccounted for orphans for me to adopt.

Tomorrow night is desi food night to say goodbye to Mahjabeen who leaves for NYC on Thursday. I promised not to cry... the jury is out on whether or not I'll deliver on that. I guess if it get's misty I can just cuddle up to some tamarind sauce or samosas...

Friday, August 20, 2010

Retail therapy is always the answer

Today I found out that I won't be getting my grader job back. I was informed Monday by my department head that he let the faculty pick their graders so I should contact the faculty not him. I did this and was informed by the particular faculty that because she's new and doesn't know any students, our department head hired her graders. So I have no job. Suck. That was a kickin' gig and I'll miss it.

Monday begins my hunt for a new job. I'm going to start with the leadership building (it's new and I hear they need lots of help over there), and if that doesn't pan out I'll also have put down feelers in the career and employment services office (both in that office and through that office). If I can't find a campus job (heaven forbid) I'm going to take a stab at a mall job (GAP!) and if I can't swing that... well as Mom said, there's always waitressing.

In light of being unemployed I had to race off to the GAP to do some retail therapy. I had coupons ok?! I got some sweet stuff and it's stuff I kinda needed anyway (it wasn't THAT much on the card... leave me alone!). Emily was there to help me make good fashion choices and to support my choice to get some professional, trouser style jeans for my new job hunt. They're cute-- trust.

Tomorrow we go farmer's market-ing for some tasty, good-for-me things. That will also boost my mood. I need to start eating better and what better way than to buy pretty produce from cute little farmer guys and their wives?

So anyway, that's what's up. Someone get to work on re-naming my blog please...I'm too emotionally irritated to do it myself.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

My So Called Life

Anyone remember that show? It had Claire Danes and Jared Leto in it. Anyway this has nothing to do with that show that re-runs on Nick...I just needed a title.

My life simply isn't so exciting as to warrant a blog entry every day. I am back in Manhattan (please Lord let me be done driving for a while) and today was errand day so nothing glamorous. I washed all the thousands of miles worth of bugs off my car, vacuumed out a dozen jobs worth of dirt and gravel and tossed my paper substitutes for GPS along with a bunch of other random car accumulations. I ate lunch in the WESP office with Em so I could reconnect with Manhattan humanity. I also went and bought Microsoft office, priced text books (holy cow I'm going to be poverty stricken this semester), got my tires rotated, grabbed crap at Walgreens, and stopped at Nespor's for wine to enjoy while watching Jersey Shore tonight (don't judge, it's a train wreck and we can't look away). I also stopped to see Scarlett on the way out to my errands because poor kid lost a month's worth of work and she needed a coffee like Lindsey Lohan needed a proper dad growing up. Don't worry, I provided the caffeine and I think she'll pull through.

Now for anyone still awake after the riveting recap of my day, the weekend plans:
Hopefully going to see Vampire's Suck at some point
Pre-School pub crawl with my IE's
Farmer's Market
School Supplies shopping (I have a weird enthusiasm for this don't judge me)

We definitely need to come up with a new name for this thing... these are NOT adventures...

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Gone Rogue

So I've been AWOL for a while again... sorry about that. I've been enjoying what summer vacation I get. Kyle visited me in Manhattan when I got back which meant I didn't sit down and type up anything. I then journeyed to exotic St. Francis (SFKS as I've been known to call it...) where I have hunkered into the buttery soft leather couches my parents put in our living room and realized I left my laptop cord in Manhattan so blogging has stayed by the wayside. Woops.

Manhattan is LOVELY... I just missed it SO MUCH! Kyle and I visited his friends...in Aggieville, and Pillsbury Crossing (I've never been so I can cross that one of the ol' bucket list). We also went and saw The Expendables (because as girlfriends go I am fantastic) which was pretty good (Kyle might have LOVED it) and saw Kate and Dad on their way to (and from) Atchison. All in all it was a pretty stellar weekend.

I came home Sunday (sans laptop cord) to hang out with the fam and meet our new dog Jackson (who we call Jack, naturally) who happens to be the cutest, most awkward dog ever. I love him already. The family is pretty busy living their lives so I sleep in and bond with the couch but I do get some face time with Aly...by visiting her at work. She's across the street at the "St. Francis Aquatic Park" (if you want to see the reason behind the sarcastic quotes, I'll show you on google street view why it's so ironic) where I used to "work" (best gig ever). I've tuned up my "tan" and even reconfirmed that I can still do a "one and a half" off the diving board (kind of... I think I may bruise a little from my less than graceful entry).

Last night we also went to dinner at Big Ed's just because I requested it (my family loves me...and steak). Tonight I made them Pioneer Woman pancakes so I think we're about even. On tomorrow's agenda is mani/pedi's for Aly and I (a late birthday present...) and then I think I may head back east. Mom's trying to talk me out of it (which I respect) but I have stuff to do in MHK so it's anyone's battle at this point. We'll see.

For now I close with this: I have been told that this blog shouldn't die with my internship ending. Should I chose to keep this up, a problem arises: what do I call this after I'm not having intern adventures? I'll probably keep the URL (to make my life easy) but the title should probably get a facelift. I'll be thinking on this as you should be dear reader(s?). If you have any wicked ideas please feel free to post them in the comments section and help a sister out. I can only be so creative on my own.

Peace, Love, and Chicken Grease, Sam

Thursday, August 12, 2010

That's a rap!

I am still alive. THE interns kind of own your life when they get together so I have been AWOL and I apologize. Here's the low down on our wrap up:

Monday we all presented our summer experiences and projects. I started the day off right by getting on the wrong shuttle with Chris and Donald and going to the training center instead of the office. Don't worry we got the shuttle driver to come back for us and take us but he didn't know where. Fortunately we had a dream combination of people in this predicament--Donald knew the address, Chris had an iPhone, and I was willing to talk to the driver in broken English. We got there which is the point. Luckily in spite of that start, mine went really well--I was the last of the Conway kids to go and we all had basically the same experience so I was pretty sure that people were going to be clawing their eyes out by the time it was my turn but on the contrary they seemed to enjoy my take on things.

That evening was dinner out on the company tab and this meant free food AND free margaritas. Love this. It was a great knight, hanging out with my new people and eating AMAZING Mexican food. Nirvana I tell you. Afterward we just went back to the Double Tree to hang out and drink some more in various rooms. We just wanted to hang out together... Awwww.

Tuesday we had to get up (in spite of some of us having had epic nights...not me but...well we'll leave them nameless) for exit interviews. Again mine seemed fine. It was over fairly early so us girls went to our free lunch and then decided to go shopping. Cute dresses had by all (well nearly all anyway). After shopping we collected a bit of sun at the pool before dinner at...get ready...The Hobbit Cafe. Yep. It was Hobbit themed. I had blackened fish tacos which were AMAZING and we also all had a seasonal German beer they had... it was dark and serious...like a beer smoothie. Also AMAZING. We wrapped that night by again knocking back a few at the good ol' Double Tree with all our new besties. Good times. Until people started trickling out and we had to say goodbye. It wasn't quite tearful but it was sad for sure. Crazy how much you can get attached to and miss people you only met a couple months ago. Le sigh.

I spent the whole day Wednesday driving to Wichita in convoy with Eric. It was a long day... but we made it to Justin and Kevin's and enjoyed the company in spite of the fact that the air conditioning was on the fritz and we all dearly died of heat stroke. I bandaged the wound by making PW pancakes (obviously) for all of us this morning. I rock.

I made it back to Manhattan today and I promptly went to lunch with Emily, Susan and Bre. The Palace knows how to throw down a pizza. God bless them. This afternoon Emily and I went to the new city pool (aquatic park/wonderland) and worked on our tans. Or freckles. Whatever. We capped off the day by eating La Fiesta... I enjoyed a healthy sized margarita. I seem to have missed enjoying a good bev on this dry summer...

Now I sit here amidst my stuff (I am a little appalled that I have THIS MUCH STUFF!) procrastinating putting it all away by writing this. I thought about continuing this to included the things I learned this summer, the best memories, the this I may miss or not miss... but then I realized that Kyle will be here tomorrow and my room makes me look like a hobo so I need to just suck it up and save all that mushy stuff for another day.

Coming soon: Lessons learned in the oil field, Things I'll miss about Conway, Things I won't miss, and a Greatest hits list of memories. Look alive.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Rooooaaaaadtriiiiiiiiiiip!

So Saturday was essentially all driving. Conway to Little Rock airport to Houston. It was just a long day on the road. I got to Houston about 5 (yea I didn't get lost or anything--miracle!) or so and was immediately greeted by my homegirl, Jennifer. Missed the crap outta that girl fo realz. We spent the rest of that evening on various shenanigans including, red wine + peach schnapps (which is DELICIOUS and DEADLY), dinner at Alexander the Great (a Greek place around the corner--I had braised lamb shank and it was delightful!), a run to Walgreens for CHEAP wine (we only had that one bottle which was NOT sufficient to meed the needs of all of us, let alone the new wine fetish of Julia and Jen), and drinking said cheap wine while we lounged around in Jen and Julia's room listening to some choice tunes. Those in attendance included Jen and Julia (obviously), Maria, Anjelica, Aislinn, myself, AAAAAND.... Donnald! That's right, the man we all know and love, the pimp the men envy, the one and only Rap Master D! Also known as D Money, he is so fly he can get his nails painted pink and have no one even dare THINK of revoking his man card (lest he shame them to their core with his lyrical stylings). It was a great night.

Today we spent the whole day at a race track. Not the ponies but go karts! It was a long day because there were so many (70) of us but it was a good time. We got there at approximately noon and the final race wasn't until 6 (a whole 5 hours after we began... we had to "warm up" and then qualify...intense!) so we didn't leave until... something like 8ish. Woof. When we finally made it back to the Double Tree we ate some of the tastiest pizza ever and then we all pretty much dispersed to go either to bed or to work on our presentations (don't worry I'm done). It was just a fun day but I'm wiped, however my devotion to you dear readers has kept me up long enough to do some behind the scenes reporting. You're welcome.

Tomorrow: presentations and then one of our infamous dinners on the company tab. I'm hoping my liver can handle it...it's kinda out of practice after this very lame summer. I'll let you know how it goes... eventually.

In unrelated news I finished my first recreational book in ages. State of Fear by the almighty Michael Crichton. Very good. Thought provoking. I recommend it.

And finally we'll wrap up tonight with the usual countdown:
Houston: NOW!!!
Manhattan: 4 days!!!
SFKS: ONE week!!! (MOM IT'S SO CLOSE!)

Goodnight and good luck.

Friday, August 6, 2010

The beginning of the end

Today I slept in, made pancakes, I went to get my car looked at (Thanks Toyota dealership!), went to the yard to register all my upcoming travels with Journey Management (if you actually want to know what that is we'll talk about it later... it's not real exciting), packed up almost all of my stuff, read a lot of my book (first recreational book I've read in... I don't even know how long which makes me sad), got a manicure (some femininity needed to be recovered lest we risk me remaining oil field trash forever), and wrote out my directions to Houston (yes I said wrote out...some of us don't have a Garmin, ok?).

Tomorrow we start our journey bright and early tomorrow morning at 7:30 by swinging by the yard to drop off our apartment keys, key cards, and internet cord and then it's off to Little Rock to drop off Anjelica at the airport. Once that mission is accomplished, I will ride off into the sunrise on my trusty steed (or in my maroon Camry...whatever) toward's Houston. I'll arrive (in theory) eight hours later assuming I don't get lost (riiiight). Don't worry too much about me in my travels, for I will be stopping every two hours as prescribed by my Journey Management plan and checking in with dispatch at each stop. Gonna be a good day...

Goodbye Conway! Goodbye Arkansas! Hello Houston!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Dun da-dun dun DONE!

I am done in Conway! I presented my project today and completed my exit interview and now I have a day to pack and I leave for Houston on Saturday. Glorious!

My presentation went pretty well, twice as long as it is supposed to be but other than that it was delightful I'm told. I can totally trim some fat so I'm not super worried about it. We took cookies to people as a thank-you for having us and I think that made some days. Not gonna lie here, I think we set the bar kinda high for future interns. Sharron tells us that she tried to dig up dirt on us (talking to people we worked with to assess our performance) and there was none to be had. These people seem to have loved us. Thank you Mom and Dad for my old fashioned, Midwestern upbringing--they loved that we SHOWED UP. It baffles me that this is apparently a recurring problem. I would think that would be the easy part of any job... go to the place of your work. Whatever. Bottom line, they love us. We got parting gifts too! Ok just a little "log book" type notebook (us girls got PINK), some hand sanitizer on a key chain, and a pocketknife (all company promotional items). I'm most excited about the knife. Being a lady of the Midwest I am used to the men in my company to carry them, and I know that I'm never expected to, but now being a piece of oil field trash I feel the need to have one to pry things apart, dig into and cut things, and just use for all kinds of good manly tasks.

Tonight, Anjelica and I celebrated being done by going to dinner at a Japanese steakhouse down the road for sushi. It was pretty tasty. If you're reading this in a timely fashion, my twit-pic should still be over there >> on the sidebar. Or you can see it on Facebook. It was pretty. Not to pretty to eat though. Very tasty! Nick, on the other hand, celebrated by leaving for Texas IMMEDIATELY. This whole damp county thing is suffocating him.

Tomorrow's agenda:
Sleep in (because I CAN!)
Get my car once-over'ed for all the upcoming driving (so much driving!)
Get my nails done (I need to feel like a girl again... very much need)
Pack all my stuff (which has spread out and settled in famously in the past month. Ugh)
Look up, write down, and draw out my directions for Saturday (many MANY times)

Countdown...
Houston: 2 days (ish...depending on how you count Saturday...whatever)
Manhattan (Manhappiness): 7 days
Francie: 10 days
I made it!!!

Also special shout-out to one (of 4) of my readers: Happy Birthday Heather!!! :)

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

I'm running out of clever titles for the boring days

So we decided not to work in the office today because the work to be done didn't require it. We slept in, I made PW pancakes for Anjelica and I, and then we went in to the yard just long enough for her to talk to someone about her project. I spent that time in the parking lot reading a book so no one would see me sitting around doing nothing (they don't like that... they prefer you to hide).

I polished up my presentation from the comfort of my couch and then I went to the pool to try to correct my tan lines (I swear, one burn, one time and you can't fix it! You either have to re-torch yourself or live with your circus pattern) before I bonded with the couch some more.

Productivity spiked again a little before 4 when I took Anjelica to the hair dresser. I came home and baked thank-you-cookies to kill time before I went to pick her up. Knocked out two tubes (one of them JUMBO sized thankyouverymuch!).

And thus brings us to the present, where our heroine sits on her couch watching Sinefeld. I'll finish baking at some point, perhaps read some more, watch SHARK WEEK and then go to bed. Looking like an intense night. Risky since I present tomorrow at 1pm but I like to live on the edge.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Cashing in my foregone air conditioning

I spent today working on my presentation in the office again. I touched up my "project" a little more and edited photos (which are a HUGE player in this presentation). I did that between Facebook checks. It was a boring day. Luckily, Anjelica finished early so we were home by about 3:30. I took a nap (not because I NEEDED it but because I was vaguely drowsy and I COULD) and after I ate leftover Papa Johns (I pledge allegiance to Papa Johns) we went to Wal Mart to get sour cream for THE Pioneer Woman pancakes we're going to have for breakfast tomorrow and cookie dough for our thank you treats we're bringing on presentation day.

Ok now if you're still awake after reading about my fascinating day...
The countdown to Houston: 4 days
The countdown to Manhattan: 9 days
The countdown to SFKS: 12 days
So close!

Monday, August 2, 2010

I used to long for days like this...why?

It's funny how when I was in the filed I used to dream about an office day, sitting at my laptop in the air conditioning wearing jeans and regular shoes and no hard hat. Today I had my dreams fulfilled and it was kinda boring. I think it would help if my project was a little more involved but I'm not complaining because the alternative is sleeping in a truck and lugging hose while sweating like a yeti.

I researched flow meters online, talked to people to get information, and started putting together my final presentation. I also Facebook'ed (a lot) and read some news online (Lindsey Lohan was released from prison last night in case you missed that earth shaking event) and listened to my iTunes. Don't worry I'm progressing just fine; I talked to Sharron and she told me so. She even thanked me for my enthusiasm. I'm glad she wasn't directly monitoring me...

Tonight is another Papa Johns night which makes me super happy (oh and lunch was Holly's--I had roast beef, mashed potatoes, and FRIED OKRA...yea...it was good!). I think I'm going to go to the gym tonight, too (who am I?). All in all this day (and likely this week) would be erased from the movie of my life but for now I'm ok with that. I'm just plodding along, looking forward to presenting on Thursday, packing all day Friday, and driving to Houston on Saturday to begin the final festivities with my new intern friends (who I miss a lot)! You know what Loverboy said: Everybody's working for the weekend... :)

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Easy like Sunday morning...

So today I didn't get to sleep in, I had to go to work at 8. It was a little rough to get up because Anjelica and I went to see Dinner for Schmucks last night and didn't get home until midnight meaning I got only 6.5 hours of sleep or so. Not ideal but considering my recent patterns pretty darn good. We went in for a "class day" with "Mama" Sharron which meant we talked all morning about our projects (and what they would be if the ones we were given were garbage) and our experiences. It was a pretty informal conversation, she just made sure we took turns and all talked about everything. I like Sharron.

We determined that my project was going to be a cost analysis of getting flow meters for the liquid chemicals so that it would reduce the discrepancies between the inventory records of the bulk plant and the coil tubing department. That is if I get the ok from Tommy for the project. I couldn't do that today because he wasn't there. I'll talk to him tomorrow. Because of this I just worked on getting my journey management registered and my reimbursement paperwork printed. So still a productive afternoon.

We ended up home by 2:30 which made up for missing mass this morning because I got to go to evening mass in Little Rock. It was particularly good today because they had a bunch of kids doing the music rock band style. Nice change from the slow, sad organ.

I polished off my leftovers from Los 3 Potrillos for dinner as I watched the old Shark Week coverage leading up to the new stuff for this years Shark Week. I really can't complain... my life rocked today. :)