It's been a while since I last saw you

Sorry guys, for not updating in... a long time. My excuse is that I was back and forth between no internet and internet for a while, before I realized that something is wrong with my cable. Anyway, that problem has been fixed for a while now, but.. I guess I broke the post-everyday trend and didn't know where to pick up. Anyway.

Work hasn't been too exciting; I'm working on some online training for PRO-E (3D drawing software), so I've been sitting at my desk a lot, drinking a lot of coffee to stay awake. However, there have been highlights -- city girl has driven her first tractors, WHOOO!!!

Ahem.

So.. some things that we've done often since coming here:
-Jigsaw puzzles. We finished a 1200 piece one in half a week, and we are currently on our third puzzle. We have many more to go, including a 3D one. (!!)
-Walmart trips. The average intern goes once every 2-3 days, mostly because we keep forgetting things that we need. Therefore, it's almost a guarantee that you can hitch a ride with someone on any given day.
-Cheap food. Wednesday's $4 all-you-can-eat spaghetti/breadsticks/soda at the grocery store food court. It's actually pretty darn good.

I've been saying this since the Sunday before I started work, but I really need to get to bed earlier. The goal is 10 pm, and I've been sleeping at 11 every night. Ugh! Foiled yet again!


Meghan and me today at the Ride & Drive.

A quickie

... that's what... ahem.

So I've been getting less than 6 hours of sleep the past two nights, which... is a really bad idea since they've preceeded my first two days of work. My goal tonight is to sleep SOON! So, just a few highlights of my day, mostly for my future self:

-more seminars
-one guy passed out during one of the seminars, but he's alright now
-hanging out in meghan's room, getting to know more of the guys
-appetizers in the hotel lobby; more hanging out
-dinner with brian and meghan at hyvee
-more hanging out in meghan's room, including improv commentaries to muted animal planet

Tomorrow we're moving out of the hotel and into the apartments!!

In other updates, one of the guys is joining Meghan and me on Sunday for our church searching -- woot! Maybe the group will grow a little bigger by the time Sunday comes around.. :)

Oh, and yes, there are fields. ... Many, many, endless, flat... fields.

Psalm 16 and first impressions

"5 LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance."

Psalm 16:5-6

Orientation today was a bit on the boring side -- presentations and more powerpoints. We had our first tour though, which was great after sitting in the auditorium all day.. but at least 3/4 of the stuff our tour guide said went right over my head. All the first-time interns are going through this orientation week though, so we should be bonded fairly well by the end of the week. I think there were about 10 of us who went shoe shopping together after work, since we all needed to buy steel-toed shoes with metatarsals for tomorrow's tours and for the rest of the summer. Man, these women's shoes look pretty... eh. The guys got lucky; their shoes look like normal nice brown dress shoes. Ours have a giant plate on the top that ruins any chance of us ever wearing these shoes outside of a work plant environment. The shoes also cost $120 -- $70 coming out of our paycheck.

We had a group go out for dinner together at a bbq place.. and afterwards, the guys I rode with decided to take some detours and check out other JD facilities. We spent an hour and a half driving around town, looking for buildings, getting lost, finding weird signs and getting more lost.. but generally just exploring around. It was definitely one of those times when I felt like it was so much easier to hang out with guys than girls.

I'm looking forward to this summer more and more.

Meeting people

I met my roommates today, and we went out and got pizza. I think we're all getting to know each other fairly well; it seems like we'll get along. Too bad we're all working in different buildings around town..

Then we bumped into another guy... found two more guys... bumped into many more... and everyone generally seems to be alright. Most people are from nearby, i.e. Iowa, Michigan, Ohio... so Meghan and I are still by far the farthest travelers. I am really glad that we have this whole week of orientation to get to adjust. It's also very helpful that I'm meeting new people one at a time -- it makes keeping track of names and background info much easier.



Outside of boring event details, I had a few hours in the afternoon to take things slowly, so I listened to one of the northpoint messages. Every time I've heard Andy Stanley, I've come away feeling like I gained something.... but I guess the downside is that I feel like he only emphasizes one point over and over again. But maybe that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I kind of want to keep up with the northpoint messages along with the JCA messages... and definitely find a church here... but that might be a little too over-ambitious. I'll just start with finding a church... and making sure I keep up with my 1-on-1 time with God. First test will be tomorrow: making time before work starts at 7 am. Whoo..

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

I'm pretty much packed. A bit more excited now, but still in a kind of dreading way -- hopefully this feeling will change soon. I really hope I'm not forgetting anything. This will be the first time that I've packed my "life" [for the next three months] into two suitcases and a bookbag. Kind of freeing in one way... on the other hand, also making me very paranoid.

Here goes... to Iowa!