Is It Hot Enough for You??

Greetings from the South! I sit here today with even more adventures to report on and with much more significantly sunburned skin than I had last time I wrote. This last week has been a total whirlwind with work, traveling, and getting things in order.

The biggest work activity I had this week was attending an intern kick-off event about 100 miles away. While it was great to get out of town, after driving 8+ hours the weekend before the event, I wasn't too enthusiastic about clocking another 4. Unforuntately, I caught some stress on the way to my hotel because I was planning on picking up a friend from the airport and waited around for an hour to find out that his flight was delayed enough that waiting any longer was futile. While that stunk, I had the opportunity to call several of my friends and family members to catch up with them. The other stressor was that when I arrived at the hotel I was hungry, but wasn't able to eat due to a series of events until about 11 pm. I'm not a huge fan of being super hungry so that naturally wasn't awesome for my mood.

The other stressor for that trip was losing my keys until 5 pm the next time. Turns out they were just in the pocket of my bag. Silly me!! The actual kick-off event went quite well. I got to catch up with friends working for my same company in several locations and also meet some new people. It was fun to see people I met at onboarding a month ago who can now give feedback on their projects and experiences with living somewhere new. I even got to catch a yummy Greek meal with a friend from high school. While the trip as a whole was pretty stressful, there were definitely some perks to getting away from my small town and seeing friends.

The rest of my week at work was pretty quiet and allowed me time to get in a good workout at the gym and catch up on some sleep. On Friday afternoon I was so tuckered out after work I passed out for about 1.5 hours. In that time I rocked some REM sleep and had a random dream about a shark. It had something to do with being in a huge pool and the person in front of me didn't believe there was a shark coming our way because their back was turned to it. I'm not quite sure how I managed to dream about something as random as sharks, but that was what I dreamt about. Aside from about one night a week, for the last 5 or so months I've been having incredibly vivid dreams. The other night I had one about getting an IV in my arm and was actually in physical pain in my dream. I woke up when i couldn't handle the pain and looked over at my arm to find it painless and without any odd holes.

My main adventure this weekend was going canoeing/kayaking with about 20 people from work at a creek 30 miles north of where I am staying. Even though it was super hot outside, we all managed to have a great time splashing around in the creek. I ended up renting a kayak to alleviate a spot in a canoe for someone else and was very happy with my decision. Kayaking is definitely a great time and a worthwhile activity. The way our trip was setup was that we had about a 4 mile stretch of creek to cover. We did the first 2 miles in about an hour, stopped for lunch/to cool off, then finished up the last 2 miles. There was definitely a significant difference between the two lengths of creek. The second half had way more shallow sandbars that required getting out of the boat or grunting your way through so it was quite a bit more strenuous. There were also several more trees over the creek so maneuvering was a bit more difficult. I'd say if the water was 1-2 feet higher the entire trip probably would have been better for actual canoeing. Other than that, it was really nice to get out in the sun and be outdoors without a flame retardant suit on.

After getting done with canoeing, quite a few of us came back and had a little pool party. We all had a fun time and enjoyed the cleanliness of chlorinated water. By the time the sun set, any of us who were pasty enough to get a solid sunburn were glowing like a light bulb. My sunburn is a combo of a deep face burn (minus where my sun glasses were), some funky lines on my legs, and some lovely stripes on my shoulders. None of it hurts too bad, but I definitely look pretty funny. I'm sure I'll get a number of comments tomorrow at work about my brightly sunburned face.

That about sums up my weekend down South. I'm very excited to meet up with my mom is Austin this weekend so explore the town with the motto "Keeping it Weird!" After my last trip there a few weeks ago, I've been looking forward to participating in even more activities around town and checking out more of some of the super yummy food Austin has to offer. Hopefully I'll get some fun shots to post on here next weekend so y'all can see what kinds of trouble we got into. : )

A Few More Weekend Shots

Mmm..manicotti!

Sans Cheese

Just About Ready!

Close Up of the Apple Pie

Bob the Neighborhood Punching Dummy Sporting His New Shades and Swimwear

A Foodie Weekend

Before I hit the hay for yet another hectic week at my internship, here's a summary on some of the weekend events for y'all.

Thanks to the beauty of 9/80 work weeks, I was able to have Friday off work and catch up on a little sleep. As a result, I was also able to spend a little bit more time at our friends' weekly BBBQ (the extra B is meant to be there). The guys made lots of shish kabobs which turned out pretty well. My roomie and I brought a pan of brownies and a few extra beverages to keep our thirst quenched since the average temperature around here at night is still around 80 degrees (yaaaay sweating).

The highlight of our BBBQ adventure last week was definitely dancing salsa around the kitchen with six other people. There's nothing more fun than convincing male engineers to dance! Especially something involving hip movement. Some guys get it...and some look like they have a steel rod connecting their hips to their shoulders. Kudos to the guys in this work that give dancing of any sort a try. Girls notice that you're trying even if it's awful and needs practice.

After a solid 8 hours of sleep Thursday night (yesss!), I got ready to venture over to Baton Rouge to visit one of my Northern dojo family friends. It was great to catch up with him and meet some of the friends he's made while working down there. We both agree that moving down here practically requires a passport. We have endless stories about witnessing creative acts of driving and hearing "Is it hot enough for you?" every time someone spies that we're from the North. Yes, it is hot enough for me thank you very much!

Saturday was our main adventure day. Since the heat index was over 100 F, we decided to do something that involved air conditioning and cooking seemed to be the best choice. Here's what was on our menu for the day:

• Manicotti -- Noodles and sauce made from scratch with sausage in the ricotta filling and ground beef in the sauce. All topped with some provolone cheese.
• Fresh Apple Pie -- Made from scratch. Apples from a fun little produce market down the road.

Here are some pictures from the results:

Saturday was also a good day for movies/TV. I watched Taken for the first time. Let me just say that Liam Nieson is a total BA! That movie was fantastic. The way they connected the small details was really great. I was at the edge of the couch for a solid hour clutching the nearest pillow. I probably looked a little strange, but it was well worth it. The other movie for Saturday was my second viewing of The Hangover. Of the random party/guy flicks this one is probably one of the good ones. It's definitely random, sporatic, and profane, but that's what makes it good. To top of the two flicks from Saturday, we also watched a solid amount of the Food Network. Yay for having friends who are into food as much as you are! It helps when you're so stuffed from a huge home cooked meal that the food you're too full to start wanting to cook what you're seeing on TV.

The last adventure of the weekend (besides my adventures in traffic in the bayou) was catching up with a friend from high school. This is a true testament to the fact that I remember people/keep friends for a long long time. My friend and I went to summer camp together the summer before our sophomore year of high school on the west side of Michigan. Her big sister was my cabin's counselor so she became an adopted member of our cabin. We shared two weeks of summer camp together which included snacking on terrible amounts of junk food, suffering through hours of concerts and walking countless miles through the forest. Given that she is from Louisiana, it has been hard for us to see each other often. We met up again the winter of our junior year of high school, but since then have only really kept in contact through the powers of instant messenger and Facebook (whooo for social media!).

Today we were able to get together for a late lunch to catch up on the last...5 years(?). It's funny how time flys and how you can pick up where you left off after many years and lots of changes. We've both dealt with a lot and changed our lives quite a bit, but essentially we're still addicted to Gardetto snack mix, can handle living in the Michigan woods like champs, and truly appreciate hot water after a long camping trip.

My final adventure for the day came in the form of traffic. For anyone who is unfamiliar with Louisiana, there is a portion of land outside of Baton Rouge where normal roads are just not enough. There are about 20 miles of bridges across the bayou. Unfortunately, the westbound portion of these bridge had crazy traffic today. I think I sat in traffic on these bridges for at least a half hour going no more than 10 mph. Fun, right? The best part was feeling the vibration on the bridge as traffic from the eastbound side zoomed along. While talking to my friend, we concluded that if the bridge failed I would be in some serious poo-poo. About 15 feet below the bridge was some serious bayou action. I'm talking mudbugs, gators, a variety of leaches and a smattering of parasites that could make itch for days in all sorts of terrible places. Luckily, the civil engineers knew what they were doing when they built that bridge and my air conditioning pulled through so the drive home was successful. For anyone who is in around the Bridge City area, definitely try driving over the bridges in the evening when all the lights are on at the refineries/chemical plants around there. It was a really cool sight from the top of the bridge.

I guess that just about wraps up this last weekend. More updates to come as events unfold!

Keepin' Austin Weird

I guess it's about time I put in my report for the week.

Work went well last week and I was able to escape small town Texas for lovely Austin to meet up with a good friend from school. We stayed at the Hardin House B & B about 4 block from University of Texas at Austin. It is a private girls' dorm during the year that is converted to a B & B during the summer. It was a great deal. Hardly anyone was there, the breakfast was yummy, and it was an easy walk from UT.

We got in on Friday night before dark just in time to watch the Redwings get defeated by the Penguins and gorge ourselves on wings. The wings were great...the results of the game were not. : / Saturday was our big adventure day. We walked around UT and sweated out at least 5 lbs a piece. After that, we opted for something with a little more air conditioning and hit up the Round Rock Outlet Mall up in Round Rock about 20 miles north of Austin. We all know outlet stores are a girls' best friend! I managed to find a few good items and so did my friend. She managed to snag a cute fleece shell jacket. I know it's crazy to contemplate buying a jacket when it's 100+ degrees outside, but it'll definitely come in handy when we move back up north in the fall. The other highlight of our afternoon was enjoying crepes in Downtown Austin. If you get a chance, definitely try one of the Norweigen crepes down there! It was fantastic! : )

The last part of our day was probably the most exciting. Austin was completely invaded by just about every avid motorcyclist in the state for the Texas Bike Rally. In addition to seeing bikers all over town, while at 6th Street on Saturday night we got a big 'ol taste of Texan biker culture. There were literally hundreds of bikes up and down 6th Street showing off their LED lights, revving their bikes and riding up and down the street. I figure there were three competitions going on that night. 1) Who had the loudest/baddest bike. 2) Who had the hottest chick on the back of their bike. 3) Who had the biggest differential in attractiveness between the balding, overweight biker dude on the bike and his eye candy holding on for dear life on the back. It was quite a sight. We got a good view of the street at the Iron Cactus while enjoying the boiling heat, the Texas-style crab cakes, and some chocolate mousse. Yum!

After dinner we continued to explore some of the 6th Street culture. It was hot, crowded, and super loud! We managed to find a great club that had a see-through floor and an open air roof. The DJ was great as well. Dancing was a good way to work off all that great food! Needless to say, we returned to our B & B in time to enjoy a midnight snack and pass out cold in our beds.

Sunday was devoted mostly to traveling back across Texas, but before leaving we got a chance to hit up the Austin Visitors Center. We managed to find a Texas patch for our good friend, a Father's Day gift for my dad, and a few cheesy postcards that I could send back to family and friends.

Overall, our weekend was a success. It was my first chance to get out of town since I got here so I was very happy to have a change of scenery. Next weekend I'll heading in the other direction to visit another friend from school who has settled far from home as well. It should be a great time! : )

That's about all for now. I'll hopefully be able to snap a few more pictures during next weekend's trip to post on here. Beyond a few hiccups here and there like having to get my brake pads replaced and rotors turned down because of a little warping, all is well here in the south. Can't complain!

More updates to come...

Another fun lotus picture.

For anyone's curious about what 6 AM looks like down South...here it is!

Food Exploration for the Week

Here's a couple of fun things I tried while cooking this weekend.

All-Season Cranberry Sauce

1 bag frozen or fresh cranberries

1 c water

1 c sugar/Splenda

dizzle of honey (optional)

Combine ingredients in a sauce pan over medium to high heat until cranberries pop open. You can tell if sauce is done when juice/water combo turns bright red.

Use cranberry sauce on pancakes, in yogurt, or in combination with anything else that could use a mildly tart side-kick.

Another thing I tried this weekend was preparing taco meat with a some additives that you wouldn't normally put in it. Here's what I did.

"Southern" Style Taco Meat

1 lb lean ground beef

1/2 jar of salsa verde (tomatillo based salsa)

1/2 c of Texas BBQ sauce

several dashes of Louisiana Hot Sauce

Garlic Power

Fresh Ground Pepper

Chili Powder

1/4 c water (because my meat was still frozen when I started cooking)

Steak Seasoning

Santa Fe Style Rice Mix (I had a 90 second microwave kind that I just threw in)

I let all this stuff simmer until it was boiled down to perfection then put it on whole wheat tortillas with lettuce and cheese. It was very yummy! : )

Hope you enjoyed my food sharing.

1st the Worst, 2nd the Best, 3rd the Nerd the Thunderbird...

I don't know if this title truly fits my experience so far, but it's still a fun title. Yes, I have officially survived my 2nd week in Texas and will be commencing my 3rd week day after tomorrow. Overall, my 2nd week was considerably better than the 1st. It was nice to stay in the same area for once. I literally did not stay in the same place from May 19th to the 27th. A solid 9 days of being a pro-mad...Mom's new word that combines professional and nomad.

Anyway, here are some highlights from the week. Work is really starting to feel more comfortable. One thing that I really like about my job is that whenever you see someone, you shake their hand and greet them. I know it's small, but it is actually a great change of pace. At home many times if you don't know someone well enough to hug them, you go through a little awkward moment during introductions where you don't know if you should hug someone, shake their hand, or just smile. Here it's a little more defined. Shaking hands is as common as saying "hello" here. Kind of a cool thing.

I think the main reason I'm starting to feel more comfortable at work is that I've been able to spend more time in the field with my co-workers figuring out what is going on at the plant. Instead of just being told about distillation columns or cokers, now I can actually look up close at some of the mechanics of them and actually picture what's going on. Another big help has been spending time in our machine shop. Our machine shop does service on a large portion of our mechanical systems and the guys over there have been incredibly accomodating when it comes to explaining what is going on in a pump or compressor.

Since we all know that I'm a big fan of heavy machinery, I'd like to announce my top 3 favorite pieces of big equipment for the week.

1. First Place goes to the "Evil Sisters". These diesel engines are nearly 2 stories tall and look like an automotive engine on steroids. They are no longer in commission, but just imaging the power they can put out makes me a little week in the knees (...nerd alert).
2. Second Place goes to a very special gas turbine generator. In comparison to the 1" motors I'm used to, this bad boy boasts a stator size of nearly 8 feet. Say hello to "Suck, Squeeze, Burn, Blow...and Generate" at its finest!
3. Third Place goes to a hot little number. Over a thousand degrees to be exact. This sweet little heater has a flame taller than me and can pack enough heat to melt even the coldest heart.

Now that flexed my nerdy muscles for the day, I'll focus more on other stuff going on around here. Outside of work, I've been spending many hours at our local gym enjoying free group fitness classes. Last week alone, I attend a yoga/pilates, spinning, and kickboxing class. All of them were really good. I felt like Gumby after the yoga/pilates, a sweaty mess after spinning, and a big 'ol pile of goo after kickboxing. It's been 2 days since kickboxing and I'm still super sore. This morning as I tried to get out of bed I not only made old lady noises, but I also teetered back into bed because my calves were so sore. Yay for getting used and abused at fitness classes. : ) Hopefully I'm come back to the Mitten looking buff and slightly tan (okay, sunburned).

Other highlights of the week have included hanging out with other interns/full-timers at our weekly BBQ or BBBQ as the guys call it, having Friday off (yaaay for 9/80 schedules), and attending the Buu Mon Lotus and Bamboo Festival. Check out some of my best shots of the day...

What's That Again...?! I Know You Just Told Me...

Well, here starts my 2nd week of work down South. I'm continuing to work on my "y'alls" and trying to perfect my Texas accent. It's kind of funny, but I take a certain pride in my Michigan accent a bit even though I catch myself with a drawl every now and again. It was the same way in Ireland. For the first 2 weeks, I started getting a hardcore Irish accent and even thinking in my head with an Irish accent, but after a while I reverted back to my old ways because it reminded me of home. We'll just have to see what happens as time passes. Either I'll come home with the most ridiculous southern accent ever (mixed in with Michigan, Cincinnati, Yooper, and Irish) or I'll sound like I did the day I left home. Who knows..

Anyway, my weekend was fairly uneventful, but slightly productive. I got my first real Texas sunburn while sitting outside writing/reading and waiting for my laundry to get done. It was nice to get a little sun even if my back is itchy now. I needed to get rid of the ridiculous tan lines I got in Cincinnati as well. Anyone who saw those tan lines can attest to how ridiculous they were. Completely lame and uneven. Other than my getting a "tan", most of my weekend was spent relaxing and multi-tasking on the internet. I'm proud to say I updated my resume to reflect some recent changes in GPA, projects, and my internship. Along with that I finally putin my submission for the SWE Region H Collegiate Emerging Leader Award (I hope I get it this year!!) and made sure that our SWE section put in its financial report. All is all, not a bad list of accomplishments for a lazy weekend. Plus there was an extended gym trip in there.

For anyone who is truly aware of my sleeping habits, let me amaze you by saying that I have successfully been to work by 6:30 AM since I've started my new schedule (okay, so it's only been 3 days, but that's a big deal for me!) and made myself go to bed by 11 PM at the latest. I even got to work at 6:15 AM this morning. I truly hope I can reform from my 12 AM - 8 AM sleep schedule to something like 10:30 PM - 5:00 AM (gack) so that I don't muss up my work by being late all the time.

Hmm...I got a chance to check out my gym's group Yoga/Pilates fitness class today. It was totally killer and awesome. I felt like Gumby afterwords and think the class could really up my flexibility fast. Next week maybe I'll do the spinning class before it...it'd be mild aerobic suicide, but I think I could handle it. Time to take on the engineering gut! That that caffeine, college food, and too many hours in the EB!

The only thing really left to talk about for this week is prospective road trips I have been thinking about. My top options look like they are going to be:

• Austin, TX
• San Antonio, TX
• Houston, TX
• Dallas, TX
• Galvaston, TX (Maybe?)
• Baton Rouge, LA
• New Orleans, LA

If anyone has any other suggestions let me know! I have a feeling I'm going to have the mad urge to get out of town soon enough. Including this weekend. It sounds like there may be some stuff around here so I guess if I pack a few fun events in staying won't be bad. We'll see.

That's about all I have to yack about! I'm alive and well and still super strechy from yoga! : ) It's still hotter'n heck down here and today was the 1st day of hurricaine season (oh crap), but I'm keepin' on keepin' on. Adios!