Summer is off to a great start :o) I'm not too busy because I'm still training at Target, but I'm sure I'll be working more hours once I'm fully trained. Right now I know how to work as a cashier and in "softlines", which are items like clothes and shoes. On Friday I'll be trained in "hardlines" which is everything else essentially; then I'll be prepared to work more than 15 hours a week.
On Saturday I'm leaving for my vacation with my grandparents to the southwest part of the country- I'm so excited!! I want to visit all the states, so on this trip I'll get to add 4 more states to the list of states I've been to. Right now I've been to 13 states, so I've got quite a ways to go! During my trip, I'll be visiting Nevada, California, Arizona, and Utah; I won't be doing anything in California really except driving through the bottom corner of it, and I won't be near the coast, so it sort of doesn't count as visiting the state, but I'll go back someday to really enjoy it.
We're starting our trip out in Las Vegas, where we're going to rent a car and tour several national parks. The trip will start out by driving to Flagstaff, Arizona; we'll also tour Sedona and its area attractions. Then... off to the Grand Canyon!! (Can you tell I'm excited!?) We're also going to see the Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, and the Meteor Crater in Arizona. Next we head to Utah to visit Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park; the pictures on these websites are pretty amazing and I'm sure I'll never see anything like these parks anywhere else :-) We'll end the trip by spending a few days in Las Vegas to see the city (but my Poppop says he won't let me gamble... darn). So that will keep me busy until June 5; if you'd like a postcard, let me know and I'll send you one! I even bought the nice postcard stamps (because now that actual stamps are 42 cents, it was worth it to buy the postcard stamps that are only 27 cents instead of just using the stamps I already had).
Later in the summer, I might also be joining Keegan's family at what I affectionately refer to as "Brochufest", which is their huuuuuge family reunion in Vermont each summer. Seeing as how Keegan's dad has 27 biological aunts and uncles, that makes for an absolutely gigantic family once they all marry, have kids, who marry and have more kids... If I go on this trip with them, I'll be adding Delaware, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Vermont to my list of states visited. Combined with the 4 states from my southwest trip, that will get me up to 21 states visited. That's almost 50% of the states! I'll get to all of them someday :-) I'd like to get to all the continents some day too; right now I've got North and South America checked off that list, and I'm not sure how I feel about Antarctica... but I'd like to go to all the other continents. There's so much to see! I sure hope this Ph.D. work will earn me a hefty salary so I can afford all these trips I'd like to take... or maybe I'll invent and patent some amazing method or device, then just live off the royalties. That would be nice too ;-)
On a totally unrelated note, I'm preparing to buy myself a laptop tomorrow. I really, really HATE Vista, so I'm buying my laptop now when I can still buy one with XP Professional. Other than the car I bought last summer, I think this is the most money I've spent on anything in my whole life. Computers are expensive! Luckily I already bought Office Enterprise 2007 from NCSU with my student discount; seriously, I get Access, Communicator, Excel, Groove, InfoPath, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Word (half of those things I don't even know what they are used for) but it was only $89 at the bookstore. If you buy that preinstalled on a computer, it's like $400 extra. I'm not sure what all programs I might need at Duke with my research, but it was only $15 more than the basic Office 2007 package, so I splurged to save myself potential grief down the line.
Well, I'm going to start getting some things organized for my trip to see if there are any last-minute travel things I need to buy :-)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
I am a college graduate!
The past few days have flown by in a flurry of many cakes and pictures, but they've been pretty exciting! I was able to attend Keegan's aerospace engineering and physics graduations (my mom even went to his physics graduation) and he was able to see my BME graduation (his parents came to my graduation, too). It feels weird to actually have the paper that says I'm an engineer, the culmination of 4 years of work all condensed on to an 8.5" by 11" piece of paper....
Mother's Day was spent in High Point visiting my grandparents who were unable to come to my graduation. We went out to eat with them and my aunt, uncle, and cousins, so it was a pretty big crowd!
Yesterday was my 22nd birthday, and it also feels weird to be 22 and a college graduate. No one really cares about being 22; after 21 I feel like there might not be any big birthdays left, except the ones where people start giving you black balloons as gag gifts :-P And 21 isn't that big of a deal for people who don't drink a lot. When I turn 25 I can rent a car- SWEET! That'll be what I look forward to now.
Today is my 2 year anniversary with Keegan, and I'm so excited! It's hard to believe that anyone could put up with me for that long; that's why I love him :-) He brought me gorgeous roses for my birthday yesterday also, so I'm definitely enjoying those. We're going to celebrate our anniversary in June once I return from my southwest trip; too many big meals crammed in to one week wasn't working for us. If we're going to eat somewhere nice, I'm going to eat as much of the food as possible to make it worth going out. I can never eat leftovers; I bring them home in the nice styrofoam trays, but they never get eaten. It's just not the same if you reheat the stuff, at least in my opinion. Especially french fries.
Today I'll continue waging the war against my bedroom and all the stuff I still have stored in the attic, but I've done some major clearing out, so at least I'm productive. Tonight I have orientation at Target so I can learn what all I'll be responsible for doing over the summer. Then I can start making the most of that discount!
Yay for summer!
:-D
Mother's Day was spent in High Point visiting my grandparents who were unable to come to my graduation. We went out to eat with them and my aunt, uncle, and cousins, so it was a pretty big crowd!
Yesterday was my 22nd birthday, and it also feels weird to be 22 and a college graduate. No one really cares about being 22; after 21 I feel like there might not be any big birthdays left, except the ones where people start giving you black balloons as gag gifts :-P And 21 isn't that big of a deal for people who don't drink a lot. When I turn 25 I can rent a car- SWEET! That'll be what I look forward to now.
Today is my 2 year anniversary with Keegan, and I'm so excited! It's hard to believe that anyone could put up with me for that long; that's why I love him :-) He brought me gorgeous roses for my birthday yesterday also, so I'm definitely enjoying those. We're going to celebrate our anniversary in June once I return from my southwest trip; too many big meals crammed in to one week wasn't working for us. If we're going to eat somewhere nice, I'm going to eat as much of the food as possible to make it worth going out. I can never eat leftovers; I bring them home in the nice styrofoam trays, but they never get eaten. It's just not the same if you reheat the stuff, at least in my opinion. Especially french fries.
Today I'll continue waging the war against my bedroom and all the stuff I still have stored in the attic, but I've done some major clearing out, so at least I'm productive. Tonight I have orientation at Target so I can learn what all I'll be responsible for doing over the summer. Then I can start making the most of that discount!
Yay for summer!
:-D
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
The perfect end to undergrad
I've been pretty busy the past few days unpacking all of the junk that I brought home from Wolf Village, and I still don't understand how it all fit into such a tiny room. Oh well, it's one of those unsolvable mysteries I guess. I'm also going through what was already in my room at home to get rid of all the things I will never use again; I'm going to donate them or give them to my stepdad to try to sell at the neighborhood yard sale. Things like my Will Smith cds, journals I never wrote in and will never write in (I'm not very good at that sort of thing, as evidenced by how frequently I write in this blog...), jewelry I never liked or don't wear... those things. I think I'm going to be trading bedrooms with one of my siblings this summer since I have the biggest bedroom, and I'm going to live in Durham after August or so; I don't want to be moving random junk around :o)
Now, I usually at least try to be humble, but I destroyed senior year (as far as grades go); I worked hard and I'm proud of myself for doing as well as I did. In fact, I've destroyed the past 4 semesters; pretty much once I got into my major classes, I loved them all, so I did really well in all of them. I'm such a nerd. That's why I'm going to take 5 more years of school (probably only 2 or 2.5 years of those will have classes though).
See? Destroyed.
I bought a graduation dress yesterday with Cait! It was 55% reduced and cost $37, so that was pretty exciting. I'll post pictures of it when I'm wearing it at graduation :o) It's halter-style and a lighter blue with white flowers and then navy "accents" I guess you would call them, but I'm not really good at describing clothes.
Today I'm going to be washing my mom's car now that water restrictions are lowered; it's part of her Mother's Day gift I suppose. Yesterday my brother and I bought her four hanging geraniums that are light purple- very pretty! They're hanging out on our back porch already and I'm sure I'll be able to enjoy them when I go out there to read. I've started re-reading some of the books we read in high school that I didn't like then but think I would like now. Some books are just not going to be interesting for 14 year olds; right now I'm reading Jane Eyre and I like it so much more than I did in 9th grade.
Well, I should get started on the car-washing and room-organizing. Only 3 days til graduation! 5 til my birthday! and 6 til our anniversary! What a happy week :-D
Now, I usually at least try to be humble, but I destroyed senior year (as far as grades go); I worked hard and I'm proud of myself for doing as well as I did. In fact, I've destroyed the past 4 semesters; pretty much once I got into my major classes, I loved them all, so I did really well in all of them. I'm such a nerd. That's why I'm going to take 5 more years of school (probably only 2 or 2.5 years of those will have classes though).
See? Destroyed.I bought a graduation dress yesterday with Cait! It was 55% reduced and cost $37, so that was pretty exciting. I'll post pictures of it when I'm wearing it at graduation :o) It's halter-style and a lighter blue with white flowers and then navy "accents" I guess you would call them, but I'm not really good at describing clothes.
Today I'm going to be washing my mom's car now that water restrictions are lowered; it's part of her Mother's Day gift I suppose. Yesterday my brother and I bought her four hanging geraniums that are light purple- very pretty! They're hanging out on our back porch already and I'm sure I'll be able to enjoy them when I go out there to read. I've started re-reading some of the books we read in high school that I didn't like then but think I would like now. Some books are just not going to be interesting for 14 year olds; right now I'm reading Jane Eyre and I like it so much more than I did in 9th grade.
Well, I should get started on the car-washing and room-organizing. Only 3 days til graduation! 5 til my birthday! and 6 til our anniversary! What a happy week :-D
Thursday, May 1, 2008
End of undergrad
Wow, somehow I never thought that May 2008 would ever get here, but now it's May 1- crazy!
So since I haven't written in awhile, I guess a lot has been happening; I finished classes for one thing, and exams. I was fortunate enough to not have any exams during the exam week, so I've been relaxing since April 25. Actually more since April 23, because I finished senior design on April 22. The symposium out at the NC Biotech Center went really well I think; it was crazy of course, with 24 presentations going on, and I'm still not sure if my feet have recovered from standing in heels for 8 hours, but hey, it's over now. I just get to wait for all my grades to be posted :o)
Now I'm getting everything packed up and moved back into my mom's house for the summer; I might as well just leave most of it packed, since I'll be getting my own place in Durham when school starts, but I have so much cleaning out to do, it's a little scary. Every summer I clean out my room, and every summer I'm shocked by how much crap I've accumulated throughout the year. But this will be the big overhaul summer where I go through all the stuff I've kept since high school (because you know my AP US history notes are really going to come in handy...) and get rid of it all. I've actually just gotten a job at Target for the summer too. I wanted a way to pass the time and make a little money, but pretty much I didn't want to go insane between now and August, because that's a long time. I can't apartment-hunt for 3.5 months, and now I can get a discount to buy things I will need for an apartment :o) I also didn't look for a summer research project because I want the option to take a vacation, and with research there's not always that opportunity. You've got to feed cells every day or check this and that every 12 hours, so that's not conducive to vacationing, and I WILL have a vacation this summer. I haven't had a real one since 8th grade, and it's time. Band trips don't count as vacations, and my family always went to the beach the week I was at band camp in high school... I wonder if they were trying to tell me something?
Keegan and I also went with his mom to see Bruce Springsteen on Sunday, and the concert was amazing! His politics suck and I came to hear his music, not his views on the death penalty. Eye for an eye man, now suck it up and play "Rosalita". I especially like how "earth-friendly" he is, yet he's willing have have 30,000 cars full of his fans idle in various parking lots around the city for 60+ minutes, just as long as he got that $100/seat price and then a ridiculous $40/shirt for each of them. Ahh, I see how interested he REALLY is in the environment. There's only one type of green that actually matters to those guys.
I've started running a lot too; well, not "a lot", but every day at least. Usually I go 2 miles and walk another 0.5, but sometimes more, sometimes less. Gotta look extra-nice in my graduation dress, even though no one will see the dress under my huge gown and various cords. I'll know it's there though, and that's what counts. I graduate in 9 days! I'll be 22 in 11 days! Our 2-year anniversary is in 12 days! So exciting! Man, too many exclamations there, but I am pretty excited. Back to the running thing: it's also a good way to pass time. There's a lot to think about while you run, and when I've got nothing to do but pack, going to the gym is a nice break from my room :o)
Well, I've got errands to run today; I'll try to be a more reliable post-writer for the 3 people that actually read this blog :-P
Happy May!
So since I haven't written in awhile, I guess a lot has been happening; I finished classes for one thing, and exams. I was fortunate enough to not have any exams during the exam week, so I've been relaxing since April 25. Actually more since April 23, because I finished senior design on April 22. The symposium out at the NC Biotech Center went really well I think; it was crazy of course, with 24 presentations going on, and I'm still not sure if my feet have recovered from standing in heels for 8 hours, but hey, it's over now. I just get to wait for all my grades to be posted :o)
Now I'm getting everything packed up and moved back into my mom's house for the summer; I might as well just leave most of it packed, since I'll be getting my own place in Durham when school starts, but I have so much cleaning out to do, it's a little scary. Every summer I clean out my room, and every summer I'm shocked by how much crap I've accumulated throughout the year. But this will be the big overhaul summer where I go through all the stuff I've kept since high school (because you know my AP US history notes are really going to come in handy...) and get rid of it all. I've actually just gotten a job at Target for the summer too. I wanted a way to pass the time and make a little money, but pretty much I didn't want to go insane between now and August, because that's a long time. I can't apartment-hunt for 3.5 months, and now I can get a discount to buy things I will need for an apartment :o) I also didn't look for a summer research project because I want the option to take a vacation, and with research there's not always that opportunity. You've got to feed cells every day or check this and that every 12 hours, so that's not conducive to vacationing, and I WILL have a vacation this summer. I haven't had a real one since 8th grade, and it's time. Band trips don't count as vacations, and my family always went to the beach the week I was at band camp in high school... I wonder if they were trying to tell me something?
Keegan and I also went with his mom to see Bruce Springsteen on Sunday, and the concert was amazing! His politics suck and I came to hear his music, not his views on the death penalty. Eye for an eye man, now suck it up and play "Rosalita". I especially like how "earth-friendly" he is, yet he's willing have have 30,000 cars full of his fans idle in various parking lots around the city for 60+ minutes, just as long as he got that $100/seat price and then a ridiculous $40/shirt for each of them. Ahh, I see how interested he REALLY is in the environment. There's only one type of green that actually matters to those guys.
I've started running a lot too; well, not "a lot", but every day at least. Usually I go 2 miles and walk another 0.5, but sometimes more, sometimes less. Gotta look extra-nice in my graduation dress, even though no one will see the dress under my huge gown and various cords. I'll know it's there though, and that's what counts. I graduate in 9 days! I'll be 22 in 11 days! Our 2-year anniversary is in 12 days! So exciting! Man, too many exclamations there, but I am pretty excited. Back to the running thing: it's also a good way to pass time. There's a lot to think about while you run, and when I've got nothing to do but pack, going to the gym is a nice break from my room :o)
Well, I've got errands to run today; I'll try to be a more reliable post-writer for the 3 people that actually read this blog :-P
Happy May!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)