Lions and Tigers and Hurricanes, Oh My!

All of a sudden, it seems like hurricane season has approached. When I left work on Thursday afternoon and when I checked on Friday morning, there was only one tropical depression in the Atlantic Ocean. Now that has turned into another and brought friends! Since this is my first hurricane season near the Gulf and I only have 2 weeks left in town, I'm really hoping that these storms avoid the Gulf and more specifically, our area. So far so good.

Lately things have been pretty calm around this area. Work went really well this week. I'm about 4 days from my final deadline for my big intern project so I've been spending a whole lot of time working on that. Last Tuesday we had a set of intern presentations in front of a lot of the big wigs at our plant. The assistant plant manager laid out a little competition. The top three presentations received $50 gift cards. Given that I'm competitive and in need of funds for the drive home, I was definitely focused on getting one of those top three places...and I did! : ) The presentation went well and I managed to get most everyone laughing with a cheesy joke.

Aside of telling jokes at work, all has been going pretty well. I got a chance to tour one of our units with one of the subject matter experts and hunt down some machinery I've been trying to validate. It was a great experience to get out into the field yet again and see what all is out there. The only downside is that it was SO hot outside! When I got back inside and downed several bottles of water, I realized that there was only one itty bitty dry spot left on my shirt. Lovely, eh?

Aside from work, this are going well here. I've been spending a lot of time with friends around this area. It's definitely been a good time and I'll miss them when I leave for the North. We're really been pretty busy this weekend with a farewell/welcome party of the outgoing interns and newcoming engineers, trip to the beach last night, and I got the chance to see "The TIme Traveler's Wife" with one of my friends as well. I managed to cook up a little culinary goodness for the party on Friday night with the help of some fresh fruit, chocolate, and bamboo skewers. Oh, and some marshmallows. The result was fruit fruit kabobs with a semi-sweet chocolate drizzle. They were a big hit!

Our visit to the beach last night was quite an adventure. It was my first time to the Gulf of Mexico so it was pretty cool to see. By the time we got there, the sun had set and the mosquitos had set in with a vengence. Between admiring the stars, sound of the ocean, and lights from all the offshore rigs, all of us were completely swarmed by some of the most blood-thirsty mosquitoes I've experienced in a while. We finally gave up due to lack of blood and came back into town to scratch our wounds.

All in all, the weekend has been pretty decent and I've been able to get quite a bit done (including packing for home). Now I just have to survive 9 more days at work, my final presentation on Friday, and hopefully avoid any hurricanes that may approach the Gulf.