Competitive Attitude

On Monday at work (disclaimer: some/a lot of paraphrasing is included):

Coworker: So which internship did you like better, last summer's at GE or this one?
Me: Uh, well last summer they let me drive a train and press buttons and stuff.
Coworker: If we let you push more buttons this week, would you say you liked this one better?
Me: Maybe?

(side note: I was IN LOVE with my job last summer)

Today at work:

My manager: I got a truck from Oly, want to take it on the test track? (Oly is what we call the plant 5 miles down the road where they test some Dodge Rams, the trucks our group's engines go into)
Me: Yes!

...so this afternoon my group drove out to the test track and each took a turn driving the truck. It was awesome. There was no purpose other than to have some fun at work.

I do love my coworkers, they're the greatest.

...part 5

27. Go to a tractor pull. And like it.
28. See a former classmate randomly, without planning it, in central Indiana.
29. Use pencils to eat M&M's. Or attempt to anyway.
30. Choose to get my finger pricked to find out my cholesterol and glucose levels...just for the heck of it. I'm in the normal/better than normal range, by the way ;-).
31. Get that round on my pro-e model working!!!
32. See a fomer classmate randomly, without planning it, in central Indiana (so incredibly surprising, I had to say it twice. I'll see him tomorrow, too. He works for Cummins also this summer, at a different plant than me in Wisconsin and is in town for an intern event. I didn't know.).

:-)

Things I never thought I'd do ... part 3

20. Ride on a company jet for a day of work!
21. Visit New Philadelphia again and NOT feel sad about having moved away (but happy for my time spent there and the awesome friends and second family I had there and still love)
22. Be told I look the same as I did in 5th grade by at least 8 people in one day (I thought I at least look a tiny bit different, but maybe not...)
23. Hold a puppy that weighs only 2 pounds
24. Climb on ladders through a field of rocks
25. Sleep on a memory foam mattress (SO AWESOME)
26. Be sad about leaving the cornfields and nothingness that is Indiana (but only slightly)

2 weeks and I leave here for Colorado! And then I go to Erie for a week! And then it's back to school, at a different place. I should be used to this by now though, right? I've only attended 6 schools already in my life at this point ;-) Time to add #7!

Driving

I posted about a week ago how much I loved driving long distances. I still do, but it's tiring, and I'm not particularly looking forward to driving 5 hours 39 minutes after work tomorrow. This is the 3rd weekend in a row that I've taken a more than 3 hour road trip by myself. Just in case you were counting, before moving to Columbus, I had never driven more than an hour by myself in the car...I always either had a passenger or I was the passenger. Just so you know :-) The longest road trip I had driven altogether was visiting Brad Sick the summer after freshman year with Ashley Loker, and that was 3 hours long (I also had a passenger, and hated that drive home). These road trips are astonishing and out-of-character for me. But so much fun. Just exhausting. All I got to do is get through this weekend and I'll be set for awhile.

I guess I can partially attribute the roadtrippiness to the fact that my new car is AWESOME. I am in love with the Buick. It's made for the highway, and other than the minor bumpiness because my tires are unbalanced, it's the smoothest and quietest ride in the comfiest seat ever. Once I steal those brand new tires off the Olds when I get back home, it will be perfect. God is good.

And the livin is easy...

Tomorrow night I go ice skating. Saturday through Sunday I make the mere 2 hour drive to visit Dan Kubacki and meet his new fiance. Right now I am covered in sand from a pretty epic sand volleyball match (we lost, by the way...but we had fun doing it).

I love summer.

The only thing it's missing is this:

On the road again...

I realized this weekend that I like driving long distances. Like, a lot. I drove from Columbus to Sandusky to Erie to Columbus (15 hours total in 4 days), and I didn't grow tired at all. I can listen to my music and ponder life, without being interrupted by other responsibilities. It's glorious. Driving through cities still scares me slightly (5 lanes of busy traffic = ahhh!), but those parts are brief. I found a new favorite song: Mercy Me Creation. Perfect song for driving.

Oh, and 4th of July weekend was good. I saw some cousins and aunts and uncles and gramma while eating a pig roasted over a grill, hung out with roomie, played with my dog, and attempted to have firework bliss with the 'ol fairview crew (almost missing the fireworks + Megan getting hit in the face with shrapnal + some grumpypants made the time less than blissful, but it was still great to see everybody again...I love every single one of those people more than anything). It was busy and totally worth the long amounts of driving.

I also went to the beach, which is even more of my favorite place than it was before leaving Erie. I miss the water and the sunsets and the sound of the waves crashing on the shore. I have decided that, when I "grow up" and settle down somewhere permanately, I want a large body of water within 20 miles from my house. They make life so much more beautiful :-)

...but I hated 6th grade.

I finally found my niche here. Today I played 4-square. Tomorrow we go rock-climbing. Thursday is volleyball. New friends are the greatest :-).