Moved in... more or less

The apartment is coming together. It's basically all done with some small exceptions. This is all for you mom...PICTURES!

Ok the livingroom is kinda messy but it's together so forgive that.

The kitchen isn't huge but it does hold basically all of my stuff. What you can't see is the stuff on top of the cabinets. Don't worry it's just the food processor, wok, and crock pot.

And then the bedroom...which is basically together but I know I'll be changing and reorganizing when I have time.

And if you saw it from the bathroom it would look more like this. Here's hoping my lead on a dresser works out... I'm too old for those wire snap-together squares. Right?

And a fun little story to go with all of this: Friday night I arrived back at my apartment around 11. I noticed what I thought was a cat in the "yard" but I noticed that this cat was very low to the ground and it would have been the least graceful cat I'd ever seen. It also boasted a large tail. So my brain compelled me to actually look at the thing. It was none other than one of the family of approximately six skunks that live in/around the apartment complex. He was kind of cute and also seemed relatively unconcerned with me. He wandered within 10 feet of my front door as I stood flabbergasted and tried to take pictures of him (or her I suppose). I thought I had failed to capture the fuzzball because of the magic blending properties of black things at night. Today I found that one of them turned out alright if seen on something other than my phone. Meet my little friend:

You can barely make it out but that is absolutely a skunk. 100% sure. I got a really good look. At a scary-close range. This was taken from in front of my door. The left corner is the 3 foot drop that separates my sidewalk from the lawn. Luckily he/she was scouting the grass for tasty bugs so the sidewalk was not on the agenda but it came to the edge of it right about where I stood to take that picture.

And there you have it. The excitement that is my life right now. Moving/unpacking/cleaning and skunks. Oh the life I lead.

Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah

I am here at...Rocheport Missouri...rhyming is overrated anyway. We arrived in Missouri Wednesday night after stopping off in Kansas City for dinner. We met Kyle and Chris (Scarlett's friend who is having her do website work) at Winstead's. If you've never been to one, go. It's cute. Very 50's diner-esque and tasty cheap burgers. Also the best onion rings I've had in a long time. Possibly ever. Bold statement, I know. But anyway...

We're staying with Scarlett's aunt and uncle in the tiny berg of Rocheport (population 208) which is comprised primarily of cute homes, b&b's, and antique shops. It's right on the Katy trail (the purpose of our trip) so it'd be an adorable place to stay if you were doing the Katy trail thing. Also it's close to Columbia and Booneville if you need to go shopping or anything of that nature.

Our trusty steeds courtesy of Chuck's Bikes in Booneville.

An OLD grain bin on the trail. A perfect chance to take a break. Hi, Scarlett!

A shot of the trail... super straight for a long time. But nice just the same... :)

Yesterday (Thursday) we biked from Booneville on rented bikes (thanks Chuck's Bikes!) back to the bridge just outside of Rocheport. We would have gone all the way "home" but the trail bridge is under construction. The trail is long and flat and for most of the portion we rode it was also straight. It's a nice easy ride and if the weather were nicer I could have rode longer than our two hours.

Scarlett looking up the mileage of our ride. Should've been about 13.5 miles but with the bridge out it may have been more like 10.

Stopped at Snoddy's after our ride to pick up a few things for breakfast. This is quite the convenience store. All kinds of goodies including decent wine!

Unfortunately the weather isn't cooperating so we are seeking other things to occupy our time. Today we walked down to the main drag and looky-loo'd through the antique shops and general store. I feel in love with some tiny little glass globes you put votive candles in and hang from the ceiling. I don't know where I'd put them so I didn't buy them... yet.

Now we're over in Columbia getting some Dunn Brother's coffee and mooching some free wireless. We are children of the computer era...we can't be disconnected for too long or we start to have meltdowns.

On the agenda for tonight: all we can eat fish dinner! Lent is not without it's perks. Unfortunately I'll probably go meat free again tomorrow because I forgot and had scramble this morning with sausage and bacon. Woops. Throw in a Hail Mary for me today, Mom.

We'll be heading back to Manhattan tomorrow "morning." On this trip morning has been whenever we roll out which tends to be near lunch. We'll see what that means tomorrow.

Not dead yet!

So I know I don't ever update and that makes Mom sad (sorry Mom) but I honestly spend most of my time being busy with REALLY boring things (read: Simulation). Since last I wrote not a whole lot of new and exciting things have happened...

This past weekend was homecoming and we had a home football game. Naturally that's the weekend we chose to do our IIE tailgate (IIE==Institute of Industrial Engineers...our professional society. I'm the Chapter Developement co-chair this year...). I was in charge of this event. Our president kept bugging me about if she could help (she didn't really want to but she had to look supportive) and honestly I didn't have much to delegate. Everything was gangbusters (what the heck are those anyway?) up until the morning of (we made breakfast burritos the night before and I rounded up all the stuff we'd need and had it staged in my living-room ready for pick-up promptly at 7:30 the next day!).

The morning of rolls around and Aaron overslept (the kid who was providing the vehicle and the ride for me and all my stuff). Not a huge deal but I realize I can't find the parking permit. Shoot. Well we finally get up there with 10 minutes to spare before this thing is supposed to kick off. Not bad. But we go to the gate to explain our parking pass issue and they give us the runaround for 25 minutes about not being on "the list" before finally admitting that there is no list and we never stood a chance. Buttholes. Whatever. We're late and we're not where we're supposed to be but we'll make it work. No one will die at this point.

We get over to the student lot and set up and get our crock pots going (to heat our breakfast burritos) only to find out that the emergency batteries (to jump your car) we brought can't handle the amperage (or voltage I can't recall how it works exactly) required to run a crock pot (who knew those things were such power sucks...) for more than 15 seconds. It's finally clear that this will NOT work so we have punted at this point and have Aaron's girlfriend Erin (yea...I know...) calling her sister to get a grill. God bless Erin and her sister because they provided us a way to serve our stupid (and yet quite tasty) breakfast burritos. Love her.

So at this point it's like 1/2 way through the event and things are finally good. Better late than never.

I get into the football game with all my IE's and Jordan (who acquired her dad's parking permit) tells me she just found the permit that started all this...in her pocket. Damn. Well no use crying over spilled milk I guess...

That night was "Halloween" (the "" are because it's really the day before but since it's a Saturday it counts). I was a "White Lie" (dressed in white with little notes on myself that said things like "You're a good dancer" and "He'll realize it was a mistake to dump you! He'll be back!") and I went out with Kyle a Capone era gangster. I saw Ed "Professor Plum" Zuiss, Brant "Mayhem" (from the Allstate commercials) Roney, Jordan "Bever" Bever, and also ran into a "Ceiling Fan" (white t-shirt with "Go Ceiling!" and "Ceiling is #1" written on it), and several Chilean Miners--one mid rescue (complete with the hoisting cage thing...)! It was a good night out. I bonded with "Ceiling Fan" guy over the difficulty people had at figuring us out. I got his without help but I didn't have anyone get me... Ha!

As for the rest of my life... well it's back to the grind this week. I made some drawings in my notes today in class (I take notes in OneNote and this class is BORING...so naturally playing with the "Draw" options is necessary.)

Yep...these are it. I know you're impressed.

SIM is about to rear it's ugly head once more... so I'll be gone a while. But this weekend Kate will be visiting to play Rugby and I just found out that Thursday I'll see the rest of the fam as they travel to watch Al try out for some sweet volleyball teams. Go girlfriend! I shall be persevering through the week with those bright spots as my guiding lights! :) Sometimes I wax poetic (wax? what does that mean... where did that come from...? Whatever... I didn't make it up).

See you...when I see you!

Behold!

I know you're asking yourself: "Self? What IS that?" The answer, dear reader (Mom), is Bubble Tea! It's a little weird but in all the right ways... Mine (left) is taro root with black tea (also milk and tapioca pearls--the black things at the bottom) and Ed's (right) is red bean with black tea (and milk and tapioca pearls). Mine tasted like cookies & cream to be honest which isn't what you'd think looking at this purple-y drink. It was yummy to be sure. Ed and I went to get these at the Chinese Grocery that opened up in Aggieville recently. It was a fun little field trip/experiment that we plan on repeating. there were plenty of nifty food items (none of whose labels were in English) and even a box of fresh (alive on Tuesday) crabs! It was a magical journey and I found things that one day I'll need to buy when I get ambitious and try to make fun Asian food that I like. Who knows when that will actually be...

Also before our field trip, I made Ed and I PW's favorite pizza: eggplant and tomato (produce courtesy of the farmer's market...mmmm)! It was pretty good but I think I have a few tweaks for next time planned. I still have 1/2 the dough I made (don't be impressed, it's SUPER easy) so I get to make my experimental pizza soon. I decided on chicken taco pizza. I'll let you know how it goes (and if it's good how to make it yourself!).

All in all it's been a really good food day. :)

Apparently I'm broke

So what happened this week... huh... not that much really. School, grading, some hanging out with friends. Nothing huge. Oh I signed up for Mint.com this week. Apparently the fact that there is any money in my accounts is basically a miracle. Like a serious, write-to-the-pope-to-get-this-validated act of God. Mint is basically budgeting and money managing software online. It reads your bank account and categorizes your spending. It sets budgets based on your spending habits and shows you at the end of the week how you're doing. It seems as though I've had no concept of my spending up to this point. Hopefully we'll get that under control.

Wednesday I had a birthday dinner at Olive garden with a group of my people. Leslie, Kristin, Stacey (and Mike), Carrie, Scarlett, Emily, Robbie, Brant, Jeff, and Ed all came. I felt so loved! :) It's always fun to sit down with you're people to break bread.

Speaking of hanging out with your people, we decided on a new Friday ritual--Friday FroYo at 5! There's a new self serve place called The Orange Leaf and it's awesome! Go check it out online (you can see a local perspective at thescoopmanhattan.com) and then promptly go there to experience it! This week we followed up our desert with dinner (just Robbie, Scarlett, Sarah, Ed and myself) at Pat's and then Robbie, Ed and I spent a night in (as opposed to spending money out and about) watching that old classic film, Mystery Men.

Today I mentored for a GROW event (because of the aforementioned lack of cash flow) in spite of having a weird vertigo type feel all day. I bucked it up and toughed it out and it got better enough to go to Emily's for a chilly dinner (which was spectacular to say the least). I still feel just a little wonkey but I think I'll survive. Hopefully I'll shake it enough to be productive tomorrow.

Oh and finally the highlights of Chicago! Enjoy!

The big city lights... as seen from the Hancock Building.

My drink at the Hancock Building-- so pretty!

Free hat at the Sox game in honor of 1/2 way to St. Patty's day!

Dinner at the Sox game--as good as(or better than) it looks!

Postin' up at the bean in Millennium park. Possibly favorite part of Chicago.

See? I rock the Sr. Pics at the bean...

Crew at that classy silver bean again...

Adam walks on water sometimes... whatev.

In the new viewing boxes that hang out over Chicago in the Sears (Willis?) Tower. I am breaking ground in the field of fake Sr. pics here people. Check me out!

And that red thing... I forget what it's called. We checked it out though. Also very cool. :)

There are more up on the Facebook and even more on SnapFish. These are just the ones that struck my fancy enough to make it into the blog...

I live to simulate another day...

So SIM got done Friday at 9:10pm and I promptly went to get my fun on. Power hour at Brant's is always a good way to start the night. :) Actually before that I took a break to have Birthday dinner with Kyle. He took me to 4Olives which is swanky-er than I knew. It was AMAZING. He also brought me flowers. Very pretty ones...

See? :)

He's a nice boy. Anyway, the rest of the weekend was pretty much engulfed by sports. The cats won but I didn't see it live because of the crazy weather and my wimpy outlook on said weather. But it was ok because watching it at Leslie's over pizza sitting on a couch was much more enjoyable than sitting through the end of the cold and then through some steamy heat and burning sun to watch my cats play like a high school team and just pull out the win in the end. Anyway I digress. We spent some time with Preston (Kyle's BFF) and his family that evening and then some more time with friends in Aggieville. Today we watched the Chiefs game at Tubby's (again with Preston and his girlfriend Alex) before Kyle left for home. They won too. Which is good because I figure Kyle would be crabby if they lost. He'll be in fine gloating mode since my Broncos lost too. Awesome for me. Anyway. I digress again. This evening I went to play flag football for my department. It was double header night and we just couldn't pull out a win to save ourselves. But true to our unofficial name, we will show continuous improvement (team Kaizen!). Football is always fun even when we lose.

We get our next SIM project tomorrow (it's technically posted now but I'm too scared to look at it) and I have to knock out a quick CAM lab report tomorrow before class so tomorrow is shaping up to be super fun. On the bright side, Stacey brought me cookies tonight for my birthday so I have those to look forward to...

PS Chicago pictures are uploading and I'll try to pick out highlights to post soon. I'm just too tired to do it now.

I hate writing papers...blogs are better.

Today we sat in the office ALL DAY and wrote our papers (ok that was a small portion because I started mine last night and it's mostly finished and whatever...). We worked on organizing our media to make our propaganda videos (that could potentially win us an iPad, iPod Touch, or and iPod Shuffle) and surfing the Facebook. Not until almost 5 did Ryan finally beckon us to come ask him all of our pre-job questions. That took about another 30 minutes and then we got to go home. It was established during this meeting that Anjelica and I would probably go on our job either tomorrow or Thursday (this thing keeps creeping away from us... such the life of a service provider I suppose). It was also established that we wouldn't have free time in the field (contrary to what EVERYONE else has told us...so we are a little skeptical of that statement) so we decided that we would soldier on with our videos in spite of having no coil tubing pictures since they're due Sunday. Our paper is due this Saturday so the coil department might get the short end of the stick there too. We'll see how this pans out.

As I said I spent my evening making this little video. I'm putting it below for your enjoyment. I had fun making it (so much more fun than writing a paper) and I think it's kinda nifty. I hope you like it!

OMGDAYSOFFROCK!

Today we had the day OFF. For those of you who may not know (I know I forgot) a day off means you don't go to the yard, and you don't have to stay in Conway in case they call. You also don't have to go to any job sites. It's amazing. To celebrate our day off, last night we found a concert in Conway to check out. It was a rock concert and not so much our style but it was outside our apartment so it's ok. The band we stayed for wasn't horrible and since there were only about 10 people in attendance I even got a song dedicated to me ("because you're right there...and very beautiful" good save there buddy). After we peaced out from that experience, we just headed to a pizza parlor/bar in Conway for a beer before we headed to bed. First time we've "gone out" since the week we got here... so it was kind of a big deal. Sad huh?

Today I got up and went to mass and when I got back Anjelica and I started to plan our day off. We were struggling to come up with something because we don't know the area at all (in spite of being here for about a month...we live at the yard). We settled on the zoo in Little Rock. We both love the zoo so it was the best plan ever conceived.

Anjelica and I LOVE the zoo!

The wire giraffe sculptures at the gate are pretty cool... just sayin'!

When we got there we headed straight for the Lorikeet Landing--and exhibit where you are in a large netted space with a bunch of Lorikeets and for a dollar you can feed them. It was the best dollar I've ever spent. These birds are "playful" and "friendly" and will climb all over you if you feed them. Brace for pictures.

So when you feed them they get excited enough to sit on your arm if their buddies are in the way of the food (the tiny cup of nectar).

This guy really liked me...

Anjelica made a friend too and she didn't even feed anyone! :)

See? He liked me a lot... or maybe it was just my hair product... I think it smells good too!

And now he brought friends! These guys alternated between biting my ears (which kinda hurt) and eating my hair (which felt funny and kind tickled). I'm trying not to spaz and scare them but it REALLY tickles sometimes...

After that even the giraffes paled in comparison... Just kidding I love giraffes...but I really want a Lorikeet now. For real. We moved on and looked at lots of other good stuff... I photographed most of it but as usual I'll just show you the highlights (I tend to over photograph and no one really does want to see 15 shots of giraffes that are all eerily similar). More photos incoming...

Anjelica is not a big fan of bugs... not at all.

Oh yea... Anjelica got a ride on a camel named Sassy! :) Throwin' up the gator bite from the back of a sassy camel, what's up?!

So yea, best day ever. Ryan just called to confirm what's going on with us tomorrow and we are to report "promptly" at "8:03" and we are to pack for "0 days" while "the dude" is to pack for 3 days. Nick get's to go out on a job tomorrow but we'll spend the day in the yard. I don't know what that really means for us. Oh well I'm sure it will be interesting. We will probably go out on Tuesday from the sound of things in the office. We'll see. At least we don't have to show up at 4 like originally told me (he likes to kid).

In summary: I LOVE the zoo. I LOVE days off. I LOVE not going in before 8am. I would like a Lorikeet for my birthday.

We interns are cursed

Day two in the shop makes me think we interns have some kind of hex on us, at least when we're in the yard. At least me. We got split up today and I worked with Matt on rebuilding a slinger (the thing that mixes the sand and water for frack jobs) and NOTHING went the way it was supposed to. First of all people needed the crane so we sat around waiting for it for most of the day. Secondly, when we got things taken apart we had to take about another one to trade the sand plates. When we did, the water plate didn't match up with the new sand plate which has never happened before in the shop. Literally everyone was stumped by this. Once we got ANOTHER water plate and put it on, the reworked bottom and middle parts didn't fit together correctly. What should have taken an hour or an hour and a half took ALL DAY LONG and wasn't even done at the end of the day because it had to be torn down, scrapped out and re-done by the night shift. Matt was ticked. Fortunately I still learned a ton about slingers and in spite of the troubles I think I could probably rework one if I had to (under close supervision of course...). I know the difference between a road-side and a curb-side slinger (the direction of rotation of the water...and how that slurry will get to it's next destination on the truck due to it's orientation) and I know that you never re-use a slinger bolt or the bolts that connect the plates. I also know that the top, middle, and bottom parts of the slinger can be re-worked once and then they have to be scrapped. I told him I am nothing if not a good listener.

I realize I haven't put up pictures in a while so let's have a moment to go back and appreciate some of my past adventures as well as some more current ones, in photos...

The bulk plant team!

My first job! A surface (cement) job on a VERY small well. Shawn's crew--you'll note that I rode to the site in the truck with the tanks (at right) and the other truck mixes and pumps the cement (rear of said truck at left). Shawn's pick-up monitors it all!

I don't know why but it refuses to let me delete this duplicate photo of Shawn... sorry.

Shawn (unaware I am photographing him) as the cement is pumped. In the background, Jay the pump operator makes the magic happen.

My bed for my first two jobs... yep... the cab.

This is Kevin on my second job. He's fun. Not a fan of the camera but he's fun.

On that second job we found a HUGE bug. A bug of EPIC PROPORTIONS!!! Orange glove for reference and Anjelica in the background for added drama.

That's a slinger...kind of. It's 1/2 taken apart. The things that look like giant mints are the water plates. The white (new) one is bolted to the sand plate.

This is Matt... he's attaching the water plate. He's a little frustrated by now.

This is Adam putting the middle and bottom parts together...or trying. They don't fit. He's irritated because he's not the first to try and it still isn't working.

That's the silicone job I did... lots of silicone! I was told to "annihilate" that thing with the caulking gun. Mission accomplished.

Another slow day in the bulk plant

As the title implies, I had ample time today to practice my new found skill of falling asleep while sitting on pallets of additives. I'm totally grateful that we didn't have a day like Nick had where we were stuck until 11 hauling sacks. Just don't think I'd like it much.

Today we loaded one cement job and then we spend the rest of the day doing cleaning and maintenance. We pressure washed the tanks outside and then helped them change out and clean "fluffers" on the tanks of raw materials. Fluffers are the parts through which compressed air is put into the tanks to help move the product out. I don't know if that's the main means of pressuring up the tanks because these things have rubber sleeves over the ends and Andy said when air goes through they "vibrate" to help the dry dust (cement and such) move better. These things get clogged up with cement and need to be rotated out for cleaning. There are several parts that have to be unscrewed (usually with the aid of a pipe wrench) and then have the cement cake chiseled out of them. This was where we were most helpful. We helped clean them and I helped put one back in too. Big day.

Here's Anjelica helping will get that rubber part off the end of the fluffer. Some of them are wedged on there pretty good. :)

To wash the tanks we got to climb on top of them. They're maybe three stories tall so that was kinda fun I suppose.

These are the tanks in question...

This is Justin, doing the very important job of holding the hose so it doesn't get tangled up. It's hard...

This is Mike doing work while Justin, Anjelica and I supervise. Get it, Mike!

And here I am supervising. Note the size of the truck in the background...we're up high. :) This is also my standard look--"one-sie" blues (not dirty yet), hard hat, prescription safety glasses (so I'm the only one who has to wear them 100% of the time...), and pigtail braids (they fit nicely under the hard hat...no muss, no fuss). Not attractive but whatev...

And...my custom tailoring of my PPE...they are a little big but duct-tape works just great for shortening them...

At one point today Mario was showing off with feats of strength... Justin didn't do an adequate job of tightening the wings and so Mario called him out. This was the result of the show of manliness:

Holding the sledge hammer with one hand... you have to touch your nose...without breaking it.

Of course, Mario can do it.

And then he was hot and sweaty so he had to go stand in front of the fan with his nomex open. He did a little dance for me when he saw I took out my camera. I love this guy...