Bored in Batavia

Ok, maybe not bored, but relaxed? Lazy? Comfortable?

For me, this summer was the equivalent of 12 weeks of finals all in a row. The stress from Finals Week is bad enough, but looking back I just feel like it was week after week of that. No one notices my birthmark any more--which means my stress level has subsided...haha.

I'm just catching up on sleep and hanging out with people all week--oh yeah, and shopping and packing and getting ready for SENIOR YEAR. I can't be this close to done?!

Oh, Megan. I'm sorry about your issues with the Dove deodorant. I'm glad you brought them to my attention.... =)

I haven't decided if I will switch back to my xanga or to a different blog... haha, i'll keep you updated. =)

This is the tree in Guernica, Spain... Here is the wikipedia article about the importance of the tree (this picture is of the dead one) and here is one about the Bombing of Guernica

summer's out for school....

I'm no longer a CAT intern!!!

Ok, so even yesterday I didn't think that I'd be this excited to be done--and then my boss called me at 8pm last night. He and some other coworkers were trying to get some spreadsheets together and they wanted to know how I had done something on one I created a month and a half ago! whaa? Who remembers a month and a half ago? And did they really think that by saying "well, do your remember how you got $302?" I would actually remember what they were talking about? Especially since they were the ones who told me exactly what to do and how to do it--how come they didn't know the answers?! Whatever. After that I realized that 12 weeks was just right as an intern and now I'm ready for a vacation. I think I will be working there every Friday throughout the school year (drive up, work 10 hours, drive back to C-U). It's good money and it's good exposure and a good experience so... can't turn it down.

In other news, my personal life is sorting itself out--primarily by pretending some issues don't exist. haha, seriously though... things aren't good, but I'm more hopeful thanks to all y'all's advice and such.

I have to pack tonight and move out of this lovely apartment. It's a mess. I mean, if you've ever seen my dorm room, apartment, or room at home you know I get a little messy. Well, this one's worse than any of those. [sidenote: i'm watching Martha...haha] Anyway, I have to pack and clean for moving weekend 2 of 3. But then i'll be home and can slowly slide back into the non-corporate Susan.

This is looking up at the Alhambra in Granada. I wanna go back!!

New Day.

The best part about going to bed is that it is a new day when you get up. Things are feeling promising...then again, I'm still not out of my comfy bed... ;)


This is the Catedral en Sevilla. =)

Pain.

I would just like to say that I had a whole angry, sad, frustrated, bitter, emo-ish post written. But I deleted it. I've had a rough 24 hours which have left me feeling betrayed and sad. I'll be fine, I'm just bummed that I'm back at square one as far as trust issues. I guess I should've built taller, stronger walls that would have kept me from trusting in the first place? Dunno. Three more days of work... 3 days and 15ish hours until I am back in Batavia for a week.

This is a picture of the view from our hostel in Bilbao, Spain.

stupid is as stupid does

Sometimes it just hits me how stupid I am. I mean, seriously, what was I expecting?!?

In other news, I moved out of my Urbana apartment this weekend. My parents came down on Saturday and helped me box the stuff that was left there and then they drove it home to Batavia that afternoon. It was weird being in that room when it was completely empty. Good thing Michelle and I (and Brooke) hung went out to dinner and then ate (delicious) brownies. I'm sad that Michelle's leaving me, but I'm glad I got some hang out time with her this weekend. Oh, and we got to hang out with my future husband and his roommate, too. :)

They're building a new apartment complex right next to my Urbana apartment and so the driveway/steps are completely torn out of the place. We pretty much had to jump from my doorway into a pile of dirt to get all my stuff out of the place. My parents loved that, haha.

Now I'm back in Peoria. I had a pretty rough week last week with a lot of highs and lows both in work and out of work. I'd use the rollercoaster imagery, but I suppose it's been done. I need to stop being stupid about everything, rebuild some walls and suck it up. ...maybe if I stay busy with work I don't have to deal with anything real? Sounds like a plan, Stan. Less than a week...less than a week...less than a week...

Shrimp. Garlic. Alcohol. Fire.

I miss being able to carry a fan around with me and having that be socially acceptable (and not just weird). It's hot. Not as hot as Spain, but there you never got cold from air conditioning so it wasn't as drastic of a change. But I do miss my little 4 euro fan that I carried everywhere... I got really good at flicking it open, too.

I also miss olives. BUT, I found some really good garlic stuffed olives at the grocery store the other day. Pretty much amazing, but you can tell (because of the garlic) that I'm single. Oh, and thanks Megan for the Facebook fact that only 26% of females are single at UofI. This from the newly engaged girl to the single girl. =) I'm not so unhappy being single at the moment--perhaps because I can eat garlic stuffed olives? Or, maybe I just tell myself that I'm not unhappy...? Who knows.

Oh, I had an amazing dinner last night. It involved shrimp, garlic, brandy and open flames. Yeah, I was pretty impressed. Tonight, however, I had a chocolate bar, some tuna (from a can) and rhubarb cobbler. Excellent. While I enjoy all of those food groups (um, I've built my own food pyramid, don't question it), it just really can't compete with some of my more recent dinners. And dinner conversations aren't as interesting when I'm just talking to myself.

I'm getting sleepy. I haven't been sleeping much lately, but only for good reasons. And, when I try to go to bed my brain starts working overtime (and it doesn't even get paid time and a half!) and everything seems even more confusing, more impossible and more--frustrating?

On another note: tomorrow I get to tell The Boss that he's wrong... that should be fun. Wish me luck...no, just hope with me that I don't do or say something stupid.

Only 8 more days of work! =) Only 8 more nights of Peoria-ness. =(

Don Quijote statue in Madrid

Sunday = (not so) Funday

Normally Sundays are amazing days, but today just felt like any other. Actually, I worked 7 hours today... but from my couch, in my pjs so it didn't feel too bad. I was entering data from in-depth interviews done in Japan. Yeah, it was in Japanese... most of the important stuff was translated, but it's still kinda daunting.

This weekend was much less eventful than last weekend. I took some online training courses on Friday night (I wonder if I can charge them for that time, too... probably not) and then did some cleaning and shopping and laundry on Saturday. (yay new clothes!) I know, exciting, right? I thought I had pink eye (thanks to my right eye that has a pink ring around the iris) but it doesn't itch and it's not gooey so maybe it's just from when I hit my eye with my mascara brush. Ha... that incident made for a great morning on Thursday. =)

Oh! I made all of my deadlines (so far)! I am actually really proud of that because I didn't think I could do it. Unfortunately The Boss pretty much rejected all of my proposals, but whatever. I'm (trying to be) over it. It's not that he didn't like what I did or how I did it, he just decided to go a different direction--so I'm back at square one. Oh. Well. 10 more days.

Last Tuesday The Boss did talk to me about full time hiring and stuff--but it (unfortunately) doesn't look good for this department. Again, not because he doesn't like me (cause i think he does again) but just because I'm an undergrad and it's just really hard to get in to marketing research from outside of Caterpillar.

I'm hoping the overtime kinda simmers down for the next two weeks... maybe it'll completely go away? but either way I should have some more time to relax and hang out with people. I can't believe there're only 10 working days, 12 actual days until we're done and I'll never see the other interns again. Sad. =(

This is my current favorite Spain picture from last summer. Pretty sweet, eh? Sometimes I don't believe that I was even there. It's from the Alhambra in Granada... i wanna go back and i wanna go back right now. so there.

smashed windows

These are pictures from when the window was broken...

somebody's got a case of the mondays

I got married in one of my dreams last night. It was really detailed, though, so I woke up kinda freaked out... I sure hope my subconcious isn't trying to tell me something about the guy though... haha. weird...

The rest of the day was good, though. I entered 60 projects into my database today, which means only 40 to go. Only. Ha. I had to bring them home so that I can try to get some of it done...I'm a lot closer to making the deadline than I thought, though. I also have to give a kinda big presentation tomorrow (yup, taking out one of the suits for this one). I should go practice and then enter some projects... yay for Mondays.

police at 4:30am and glass stuck in my hair

This weekend was pretty spectacular in all ways but one...

Friday: KTP and Drew showed up for some exciting Peoria adventures! Yay for the Three Musketeers reunion. We dined at Flattop Grill (pretty much amazing) and chatted it up like the old days. It was so nice and easy to get back in the swing of things with these guys. Then we headed over to Sam's place for a little pre-partying (my first non-fruity tasting shots) and hanging out (also spectacular--especially the music and the lights =). We decided to go to some of the exciting Peoria bars and Sam's friend Jeni dropped us off. I've now learned that Peoria Friday nightlife is pretty much left to the creepy dancing people, but that's another part of the story. To cut to the chase, we went to a few bars and decided to head back to Sam's place around 3:30am (sidenote: I had been up since 6:00am the morning before). We decided that we would walk back since it wasn't too far but then Sam was a little nervous about one of the neighborhoods we had to walk through so she decided to call Jeni again for a ride. So we're walking and talking and being jolly. Then, from a field on the left, three or four guys came out of a field and started walking towards where we were. All the little hairs on the back of my neck stood up because of the situation: three girls and a guy walking home from the bars a little tipsy at 3:30ish am and three guys walking towards us. We decided to cross the street to where there was more light--and, let's be honest, we would've been a little farther from the guys. As we were crossing, Drew said he felt a rock hit him on the foot but I didn't really register his comment. Just at that second, Sam's friend Jeni came down the hill to pick us up (good thing, too). As we trotted over to her car we were laughing and saying what good timing she had. We all piled in (KTP, Drew and I in the back) and slammed the doors when there was a loud crashing sound behind us. Jeni squealed away and I turned around to see that the rear window was shattered and there was glass everywhere. The rest of the story is pretty uninteresting, but to summarize we went to Sam's, called the police, they waited 45 minutes to help us and then pretty much treated the situation with no urgency. Their response to the people who threw rocks at us was "Well, if they do anything else bad tonight we'll probably pick them up then." Way to be proactive. We still had glass all over and I even found a bunch in my hair the next morning. Spectacular. Anyway, all of Friday was a pretty big experience--the drinking with KTP, Drew and Sam and then the window "issue". It also turned into an expensive experience... =)

Saturday: We slept in (but still only got 6 hours of sleep) and then hung out and went grocery shopping. For dinner we grilled some chicken and corn and had some rice dishes and 8 people ended up eating (it was originally 4ish... =) We didn't run out of food, though, so that's good. THEN, the cultural experience of a lifetime. Erin (an intern friend who's addicted to line dancing) and I dragged (...literally in some cases...) 4 other people to Stone Country for some super amazing dancing experiences. =) I think everyone liked it--at least that's what they tell me. I had a good time again, even though it was really empty this time.

Sunday: Drew went skydiving this morning with some friends from school so KTP and I hung out by the pool and watched a movie and talked and it was pretty sweet. Again, I get excited to see that even after some time we can all still hang out together and get along so well. Drew came back and picked KTP up and they're on their way back to Batavia. My apartment seems so lonely after having them here and with so much going on. I need to get some work stuff done tonight, but I kinda need to get out of here for a bit so I'm going to go eat at a friend's place.

This week will be pretty intense--my deadlines are finally happening and I'm not ready. Plus my boss is back in town and I have a presentation in front of some pretty crucial people on Tuesday. Sorry for the novel, but Friday was a pretty...interesting... night and I felt like sharing. I'm just really glad Jeni came when she did, otherwise who knows what would've happened. Maybe nothing. But maybe it could have been much worse...

Let's see...

I had a really great weekend at home. Erin (an intern friend) and I went to Batavia and hung out with KTP and Drew (yay!). It was pretty much spectacular. AND, I got laundry done. haha. Mom and Dad were visiting my Uncle and his family in Michigan so we had the house to ourselves. Oh, I went to IKEA and only spent $47! I know, pretty much a miracle.

I'm swamped (again) at work this week. I just got another project for my boss that I got done (to a reasonable degree) by the end of the day, but that whole time was spent away from all the other projects I need to be doing. I know I should be saying "no" to people who need help, but I don't really have the option when it's my boss... and the other projects I just really want to do. I mean, I took this internship to learn about marketing research...not just about database creation. I think I just have too many bosses. Oh well...

quick news

Megan Casey got engaged!! Yay!

new career path

Korin (my roommate) and I were watching TV and talking tonight and we've decided to become models. I know, I should have seen it coming...it's an obvious career move for me.

In unrelated news: I had good dinner last night. Andrew made a delicious shrimp/peppers/butter/pasta dish with good salad and even the bread with the olive oil dip stuff. Ok, I suck at describing food (that doesn't even count as a description) but it was good. It was good tonight for dinner, too.

I brought some work home with me today to see if I could be productive here. I kinda failed. I mean, I did about 2 hours of work, but I'll only bill 45 minutes because it was so unproductive.

This is a super lame post. I'm not even going to try to save it, though, cause I need to pack for Batavia and then go to bed.

I should start sleeping more, but other things and conversations are much more entertaining. I've been sleeping through my alarm in the mornings, too. Bad news bears. Ok... bed?

Taj Mahal

I'm going to India!!!

The internet doesn't work in my apartment so I'm hanging in Katie and Erin's place and stealing someone's wireless. I don't know why it works here, but whatever. I had a really good day and here's why:

1) India! I got some e-mails from my Prof. about setting dates and getting deposits to him and stuff which means I can finally get really excited. I'll be gone from 01/02/07 until 01/12/07 (I think).

2) I got some promising news from my boss! The Boss pulled me into his office at the end of the day and pretty much told me that I'm amazing. ok, kidding. But he did transfer me to another manager...which sounds weird, but my boss might not be The Boss when I want to get a job there, so he transferred me to a manager who will be there for sure. That way when I want a job I will have a MUCH easier chance of getting one. It'll still depend on final grades/my performance this summer/if there's an opening. But still! The Boss was like "I really don't want to transfer you, but I am doing what's best for you." Yay!

There was something else, but I don't remember what.

I worked 22:45 hours of overtime over the last two weeks. I guess it's worth it to get my project done and according to The Boss my "sense of urgency has not gone unnoticed." He did still stress that I haven't proven anything in these few weeks... I still have to work my ass off to get a job in the end. I feel like lots of the other interns are pretty much shoe-ins for a job after they graduate, but since I don't want just a general marketing job (i really want research) it's more competitive. Oh well... keep on truckin'.

I need to go home now to clean my apartment cause it's embarrassingly dirty. One of the interns I met is cooking dinner at my place tomorrow night and I need to at least try to get it clean. I hope it doesn't still smell... I think I'm used to it by now so I don't notice. Whatever. I want a clean apartment. =( My dad thinks that the air conditioner was leaking. (oh yeah, my parents came visiting on Saturday... my mom thought my apartment "could be really nice" but it was a little too messy for her tastes... =)

I'm going to India!! The Boss likes me again!! I get good food tomorrow!!

cheer up, charlie

My parents are coming into town today! (Doug broke his car window...long story but they're swapping cars with him until it's fixed.) And, I get to go cook my potluck dish at my brother's house (in his CLEAN kitchen)! And, I get to hang out with work people outside of work. AND, a group of people are coming from UofI to go linedancing at Stone Country... a group of interns are going, too!! So, last night was good until I started getting really tired (bad news bears), but my energy's picking back up and today should be great! Life looks better when I'm not tired.

Oh, and I'm not in the office like I was last weekend!!!!

yuck

my apartment smells. really bad. it is dirty and smelly and ew. we have a puddle of water that's trying to evaporate. don't know how it got there, but the carpet's wet. just thought you should know.

Facts:

• I like people.
• I am going to see Pirates tomorrow.
• I need to make some potluck dish to bring to a BBQ at my boss' house (ah!).
  
• I'm the only person in my department who can do what I'm doing at work.
• I have run out of work clothes that I enjoy wearing--nothing really appeals to me in the mornings.
• Coffee is good.
• I plan too many things in my life, which restricts actually living for the sake of living--and is instead living for the sake of completing tasks/goals.
• I have church-y thoughts swimming in my head again.
• Erin cooks a mean cashew/chicken/spicy/sour/sweet dinner.
• I need to go to bed, but I'm too tired to move from the couch.
  
• Overtime is occasionally overrated.
• I am going to bed.
  

Happy Fourth of July!

I can't believe it's July 4th already... when did that happen?

This time last year we were doing some wine tasting/tapas making at a Fourth of July shindig in the Sacramonte (I think it was up there...). I tried to make sangria today, but I wasn't too happy with the result--the fruit I used tasted funny. Kinda disappointing, but whatevs. People still drank it and now I know what not to use (be very selective with citrus...). : )

Today was fun--grilling with friends and then relaxing before going to Peoria fireworks. Good times. We watched from a parking lot near the river and Katie and I went crafting in Walmart while we were waiting. We painted boxes... haha, I think you had to have been there to understand. I've been getting these craft urges lately, but nothing ever turns out the way I want it to. Hm...symbolic of my life? Just kidding, just kidding.

I should get to bed. The last thing my boss said to the group at lunch yesterday was that "we should enjoy the Fourth, but come back to the office ready to work on Wednesday. We're going to work a long, busy, full day. Just be ready for it." Great. I wonder how long a "long day" is...

New Links

Howdy. Happy almost Fourth of July!

I put my favorite links over there to the right. They're pretty much amazing in every way...

I worked this morning, but it wasn't too bad. I'm getting nervous for Friday (Deadline Day) because I'm (probably) not going to be done and I have a million other things to be doing, too. Ah!
Well, I'm off.....

sleepy time

It's Friday night. I'm going to bed at 11.

Oh! I saw Devil Wears Prada tonight and it was really, really cute. I saw Superman on Wednesday and it was also amazing. Anywho, I'm exhausted. I *get* to work tomorrow, too. Woo hoo! Wish me luck.......

Whew.

What a week. My boss (who had previously only been around for 3 days since I started) came back from his business trip to South Africa, Geneva (Switzerland) and London. Just in time for my performance review. Spectacular. It wasn't terrible, it wasn't great, it was just exactly average. I guess it's good to get feed back earlier than later. He also mentioned that they haven't hired interns into this department for the last 5 or 6 years and back when they did hire them it was only 1 in 3 that got hired...which is a lot lower than I had anticipated. If I want a job here I have to sell my soul to the devil. Haha, just kidding...kinda. Oh, I have to not let my GPA drop, too. Apparently they don't even consider anyone for this department with lower than a 3.6... I guess that says a lot for the department, though. It's a pretty elite group of people, but in the good way. They're all so nice and smart and sarcastic... Overall a really great group.

Anyway, the job is still going well. I ended up working 8 hours of overtime this week...one day was a 13 hour day. I'm creating a database to track all of the 545 projects based on 30+ attributes that have been completed so far... Each project takes on average 10 minutes which is 91 hours which is over two weeks of work... if I were doing only that. Anyway, I've been doing overtime and my boss finally put someone else on the project with me so it'll get done. I'm also researching a way to put the database into a different database system (right now I'm just creating it in excel)...and then I have to convice my boss that it's a good idea to move it. Anyway, I have my work cut out for me.

I'm in Champaign this weekend hanging out with people. Peoria's fine, but it's good to get away, too. I'm sitting in the union (we don't have wireless in my apartment anymore) and there are two weddings going on here this afternoon. That's devotion. Weddings at the union? I guess they're big Illini fans. =) One of the brides just walked in but she didn't exactly look happy...haha, the flowers are pretty, though.

Anyway, I'm still alive. My ego bubble has a puncture wound from my review, but I guess it'll just make me work harder for the rest of the summer. I hope everyone's doing well. Keep me updated on how your summer's going, please!!

Weekend #1 in Peoria

So, this weekend was my first in Peoria. I've learned some very important things:

1. Peoria - Champaign - Batavia. No matter where you are, no one can pick anything to do on a Friday night. (Erin and I ended up renting Match Point [pretty good movie].)
2. The sun. The pool. The odd tan lines. (I went out to the pool that's in my complex and got some funny tan lines. I was only out for a little bit, but it was enough for some color, yay!)
3. When you only bring books in Spanish 1 of 2 things can happen: 1) you force yourself to actually read the books...thus advancing your Spanish abilities, or 2) you start reading the books, realize that it's kinda tricky and that your Spanish abilities are semi-nonexistent at this point and then borrow a book (in English) from a friend. (I picked option 2 and went from reading Fiesta [the Spanish translation of Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises to reading Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich).
4. Festivals + 5pm on a Saturday does not equal a crowd. (Erin and I went to the Washington Cherry Festival at the town just east of here... and it only took about 5 min to walk through. So small, so empty, so... sad?)
5. Ivy may grow in the forest, but they both came and visited me! (One of my roommates from UofI (Ivy) and her fiance (Forrest) visited me on Saturday cause they were in town for a wedding reception. Yay for visitors!)
6. Even with nothing on TV on a Saturday night I will still sit and watch it for HOURS until 2pm when I can't keep my eyes open. (I think Ron White is hi-larious...thank you Comedy Central for showing 3+ hours of back to back Ron White-ness. Too bad the jokes sometimes repeat themselves... =) )
7. Sam Lipman has a lot of stuff. (I helped Sam/Focker ;) move into her apartment today... it was a lot of trips, but I was glad to do it. Her family took me out to dinner, too! Free food!!)
8. I miss being in Spain. (KTP came home from Granada on Thursday and I talked to her for a long time on Friday. It just made me miss Europe even more...)
9. YOU should come traveling with me next summer. (The plan is to spend a month in various parts of Europe/Asia?/Australia before my [potential/hopeful] job would start in the fall. Of course, I have to have a job lined up so that I'd be able to pay the parents back for the loan I'll need to travel, but still. Here's my temporary list of places to visit: Portugal, Spain (again ;), Italy, Greece, Singapore?, Japan (to see Saori!), and end in Australia--where my oldest brother Brian and his wife will be living (!) for over a year and a half when he moves with his job. I also wouldn't mind hitting some of Germany, England, and Ireland, but I think it'll be easier/more probable that I'll get to those countries when I'm older. BUT, if you want to come with me and you really want to see those places or more... let me know. =) )
10. But I am le tired. (Getting up early stinks. I have to start getting ready for bed at about 9:30 (oops) if I want to get to bed in time to get "enough" sleep.)

On that note I should pack my lunch (!) and pick out clothes for tomorrow. Haha, I'm such an old woman.

I hope everyone had an amazing weekend. I'm thinking about heading to UofI next weekend (night of June 9th-11th) and I'll be home in Batavia Father's Day weekend (June 16th-18th). I may hold off on UofI until after that. Let me know if anything is going on...

My, how quickly I've aged

So I've become an old woman. It's 11:25 right now and I'm exhausted. I'm about an hour past my new bedtime and I have to wake up earlier tomorrow morning, too.

I've also been worrying about things like packing my lunch, nylons, coding questionnaires, TPS reports (haha, just kidding on that one), how to make a meager wardrobe not look like it's in a 2 week rotation, etc. When did I enter the real world, and is it too late to look into grad school for Fall 2007?

There's training to go to tomorrow for Six Sigma Yellow Belt awareness, whatever that means. Caterpillar pretty much loves the Six Sigma system so they use it everywhere, in every department. I guess it's kinda a point of tension, though, because the older people in Cat think Six Sigma is a waste of time and really just wish it would dissapear.

So, I really like the people in my department. There are only about 10 people in my immediate group, and probably 35 in my next bigger circle. The average age of the 10 is probably well under 30 years old and everyone treats each other like they're siblings, so it's really fun. They're also all pretty newly working, so it makes it easier to ask them questions (they remember what it was like to be confused).

Oh yeah. I work in a cubicle, but it's pretty big and there's a window right next to me. Some of the other interns have to share cubicles or their desks are really tiny so I feel pretty lucky with my nice, spacious one. It's still a cubicle, though... when did I get old enough to have a cubicle?

I'm going to leave you with one of my favorite Office Space quotes. I still like my job, so it doesn't really apply... but I still laugh every time I hear it.

Peter: So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life.

The Life of an Intern

Ey! So, I've mostly stopped updating my other blog(s) and I decided I needed a change. At first I was like "no, stick with what you have, don't change!" but then I was just like "wtf, why are you talking to yourself again?" and I switched. So, here it is: The Life of an Intern

So, let's see. I'm living in Peoria this summer at a lovely place called Woodview Commons with about...200(?) other Caterpillar interns. There are ~485 interns at Cat this summer but some live near enough to Peoria that they didn't need housing. I would guess that about 65% are engineers and 15% are finance/accounting 10% are marketing and 10% other (communications, pr, etc.). It's probably a 50% split on guys/girls but we're all different grades in college. There're quite a few UIUC people here, but I recognize/know only 3.

I live in a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom apartment that's really nice (you can see pictures on the above "Woodview Commons" link). My roommate's Korin and she's really really nice. Korin just finished her freshmen year at Iowa State in Chemical Engineering. We both zone out in front of the same TV shows, so we've bonded. :)

I'm working in the Marketing Research department at Cat in the Market Analytics division (or something like that). I've had an overwhelming week of learning. Monday was orientation for all of the interns but on Tuesday I reported to my department and since then I've been listening and trying to remember what they taught me. I've gone over proposal writing, brainstorming sessions, questionnaire writing, coding, analyzing and reporting. It's been pretty much a crash course in advanced marketing research all in 4 days. The funny thing is that I really really like it, I just haven't actually started doing it.

So, in summary, I'm pretty excited for this summer. I know this is a long post, but I'm actually trying to avoid my family right now... :) I came home this weekend because my dad had intense back surgery on Monday and I wanted to see him and my grandparents are also over this week (kinda to take care of my dad becuase my mom started a new job on Monday, too) and there's a family graduation party on Sunday (omg, my Uncle Jim makes the best ribs ever... totally worth coming home just for that). I hope everyone's doing well, thanks for hanging in there on this post...the rest will shorter! :)

Quote

You can only be young once. But you can always be immature. - Dave Barry