The Week that Was

Ha ok, so maybe this is now a once-weekly blog, but still a blog none-the-less.  This week has been quite solid, capped off with an amazing weekend that I will soon get to.  The work week was busy with a lot of projects and meetings.  It was cool because they brought in all the interns from the other plants for two days and we had various things going on.  On Tuesday, we got to go out to Hagerstown, Maryland to a nice restaurant for a lunch with corporate.  All the execs, including the CEO, were there and we had an amazing three course lunch.  It was  cool talking to all the higher ups that deal with all the big picture business of the company.  We also had a "Donuts and a Download" with the VP of engineering who talked to us over a teleconference about his job and all that JLG does throughout the world.  The coolest part of this internship is getting to experience new things and learn things that the classroom would never teach me.  I have gotten a lot from this, even from the projects that are not that fun.  I am excited to go back to school, but I will certainly enjoy what is left of this internship.

The rest of the week held nothing too exciting, but the weekend was amazing.  I had a tough choice between going up to Pittsburgh with some of the interns for a Pirate's baseball game or go up to DC for what was promised to be an "epic weekend."  As I usually do, I picked the epic-ness.  I left early Friday from work (note to self: tell boss early next time you plan on doing that...), and cruised down to Fairfax Station, Virginia.  I had dinner with my favorite family to dine with, the Foggs and got to check out "the wall."  What is the wall you ask? Other than a Pink Floyd album, it is a secret place inside a small suburban neighborhood in NOVA.  So hipster.  We hung out there for a little bit before I needed to go meet up with my big in Fredericksburg.  I spend the night with him and fell asleep through the movie we were watching. Sorry, but I had been up since 4:45 AM.

I finally got to sleep in for the first time in weeks, and it was amazing.  It was only till 9:45, but that was all I needed.  I got ready and went to cruise around Fredericksburg with Phil.  Got to see many historic sights, like where George Washington went to school, and then went downtown for lunch.  Had a baller black bean burger.  But it was time to head back up to the Fogg household for the meat of my awesome weekend.  We had to wait forever for her friends to arrive, but once they did we headed down to Pohick bay for an afternoon of paddleboarding and kayaking.  As I blogged before, paddleboarding is one of my newfound passions and it was great showing someone else the excitement and difficulty of the sport.  I may have fallen off, but it was due to a lack of concentration, not a lack of skill.  I do have to say, Alex was quite the natural.  She has agreed to paddleboard across a large body of water some day (one of my new life goals), and she recommended going from Australia to New Zealand.  I do not think she understands how long that is, but oh well.

Once we got back from the bay, we immediately got ready and headed out for our evening plan, a camping trip.  To me it wasn't exactly camping, as we were staying in cabins, but it was still pretty cool.  It was pretty much dark by the time we got there, and we had not even gotten food yet.  We went on a side adventure to get food, booze, and other miscellaneous supplies for the evening.  Upon returning it was definitely dark and we enjoyed a night full of drinking, games, and fellowship.  The Taco Bell big box and super taco pack was an amazing choice.  The tequila was not.  The raging fire kept us warm through the night and a trip to the mysterious cabin B1 was enough to make the night epic. 

Our friend the beaver from the Ranger Station

We woke up the next morning and slowly headed back to civilization.  I did little for the next few hours after that, but laid around and watched Rat Race, my favorite movie prior to approximately 9th grade.  So many memories were rekindled while watching that movie.  I reluctantly made the voyage back up to Pennsylvania and am about to go to bed so I can get up early and start my week tomorrow.  Until next time people!  (or person, as I probably am down to about 1 follower..)

Fathers Day weekend (6/17-6/19)

Oh man, was this weekend something.  Friday, upon the completion of work, I was picked up by my roommate and we headed up to northern PA to spend the weekend up there.  There was a golf tournament that he plays in every year that is supposedly pretty fun.  So after a 3 hour drive we arrive up in Saint Mary's, Pennsylvania.  After a dinner with his family, we start drinking as he invited all his friends over.  We hung out in his backyard having some brews and hanging out.  He knew everyone there and I knew no one but Donnie, but it worked out ok.  I was only slightly awkward (which says a lot for me). I crash pretty early because we had to get up at 6 am the next morning.

So drinking that many beers was a bad idea when you have to get up at 6 AM.  But I suppose these are the years you learn these things.  I was able to fall asleep on the hour long drive up to the golf course thank god, which helped rid of my hangover.  We get there and everything he told me about this not being a serious golf tournament was true.  We started drinking at 8 AM and all the rules were adjusted to lower the scores.  Donnie and I played on a team in a two-man scramble type tournament.  As the day went on, I got more and more drunk but somehow did not get worse at golf.  We shot a 6 under which put us somewhere in the middle of the pack (like I said, the rules were very relaxed).  I won the longest drive competition, but I did not put my name on the card as I thought it was for 50+, so I did not receive a prize. Oh well.  We finished up the round and headed to one of the guys "camp," which was pretty much a log cabin out in the middle of the woods.  We continued to drink heavy amounts and play a variety of games.  Day turned into night and drunk turned into blackout.  I passed out a little before 11, which put me at over 14 hours of consecutive drinking in a day.  Needless to say I was exhausted.

Waking up early again the next morning (I have not slept in in weeks, this sucks), we head back to Donnie's place.  After getting ready we made the 3 hour trek back to Mercersburg.  I've been exhausted all day, but still got up enough willpower to go on a run.  I get back to call my Dad for father's day only to hear some terrible news.  The other day, he got in a bad car accident when a young kid hit him on the freeway where he lives in California.  He blacked out as soon as it happened and he woke up in the hospital with 150 cc's less blood and 15 metal staples in his head.  He was hit at an angle which threw him into the guardrail and then continued to flip and rotate his car multiple times.  He was going the speed limit, but clearly the guy that hit him was not.  He had a concussion, but other than that he is going to be ok.  Will definitely be in some pain for quite a while.  I was in shock when I heard this because this man, my Dad, seemed almost invincible to me.  While I may not live with him, he has always been there for me.  He has gotten in many accidents from when he played rugby, mountain biked, and did other crazy things, but never this bad.  This news hit me because if one thing did not happen like it did, he could easily be dead.  The thing to take from this is to never take life for granted, while we think we will have so much time on this earth, we may not have as much as we truly think.  In a blink of an eye, things can change drastically.  So don't hold yourself back when presented with an opportunity, don't procrastinate, don't hold back the way you feel for someone.  Because if you think about it, my Dad was one of the luckiest people on the planet that day, and I thank God for that.  Take time this Father's day to go out of your way to tell your Dad how much he means to you.  If the unthinkable would have happened that day, I would not be able to live with myself knowing I did not tell him how much he means to me every day.  Without our dad we are nothing (but I guess an egg inside your mom).  I hope to someday be half as much as good of a father as Jeffrey Curtis Sinfield. 

Catch up

Ok, so I let you down.  And worse than letting you down, I let myself.  I just lost all motivation to blog lately.  And it is not that I lost motivation really, I've just had nothing to write about.  I have gotten in such a rhythm with work that it feels like nothing exciting is going on worth blogging about.  Every morning my alarm goes off at 5:05 AM.  Hit the snooze and get out of bed at 5:15.  Go take a shower, get dressed, and then eat breakfast while watching the Washington morning news.  I make my lunch for the day and then I am out the door, either to drive or get driven by my friend.  Get to work, check my email and try to wake up for about 30 minutes.  I finally get started on my work and work until lunch.  I tend to slack off a little bit right before lunch, but that is fairly normal.  I either eat with some friends during the production lunch, or stay with the guys I am working with and eat in the conference room.  Every once and a while I luck out and have a "Lunch N Learn," like today for example, where we get paid (instead of taking off for lunch) to eat free food and listen to usually interesting talks.  Today's was about different generations in the work place and how to deal with them.  We are generation Y, and we are all tech savvy and think we know it all.  Some points were very true, but others not so much.  Not all of us think we are the shit.  I try to act very humble when I am at work because I understand that I don't know shit compared to just about everyone at this place. 

After lunch I can usually get a solid amount of work done and I leave around 3 or 4.  Head home, change, and dick around for a little while.  I will either go on a run or just do nothing.  I make lunch around 5 or 6, which is something I have grown to truly enjoy.  I love finding new recipes and trying new things.  I am fairly cheap though, which limits my options.  7 rolls around and we watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.  Always the highlight of my day.  I will either stay there to watch a little more TV or just head home and hang out until I go to bed (usually around 10.  Pathetic, I know).  I wake up the next morning and do it again!

I am not happy to say that I am in this vibe.  I am someone that always likes exciting things to happen to him and I get bored with even a little monotony.   It was nice today because I picked up another project for me to work on, which will allow me to break free from doing the same thing the whole day.  But still, I need to find more things to do to spice up my life.  There is nothing wrong with having a rhythm, as a matter of fact it is a good thing, but it is always nice to keep things exciting by trying and doing new things.  So I will be brainstorming new ideas and please help me if you can think of anything.  This weekend, I am going to my roommates for a golf tournament.  It is more of a "get drunk and play a little golf" tournament, but I suppose a tournament none-the-less.  For some reason, I am not that excited about it, but I'm sure it'll be fun.  We went to the range and I was hitting the balls pretty nicely and then I won a bet when we had a closest to the pin contest with my roommate (he owes me a beer) so maybe I wont do half bad.  That is subject to change when I get hammered though...

Well folks, it will probably be a few days before I talk to you again so please hang in there.  I know not having daily updates in my life to read everyday will just totally mess up your daily rhythm, but as the post says, maybe that isn't a bad thing.  Here's the quote.  Enjoy!

"In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm... in the real world all rests on perseverance." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Sunday, June 12th, 2011

Update: Yeah, I'm way behind on this blog.  Attempting to catch up.  Sunday was a terrible day.  I caught the redeye Saturday night, which dropped me off in Atlanta at 6:30 AM. I had a three and a half hour layover, which I thought would have a highlight when I saw that there was an ABP there, but alas the biddies at this ABP don't know how to make breakfast sandwiches as good as the ones at Tech.  I survived both the long layover and poorly made sandwich and boarded my flight to Charlotte.  Was able to sleep for the whole ride, which made things a little better.  Arrived in Charlotte, and then had to drive another hour and a half back to Winston-Salem.  I needed to update my phone and this one guy said he could give us a good deal so we had to drive an extra 30 minutes out of our way to do that.  The bastard took forever, but I am not the owner of a Droid.  I miss my blackberry so much, but I think this change will be for the better.  If you have an iPhone or a droid, add me on HeyTell and Kakao Talk!  We can chat it up.

I did not really get to play with my phone much though, because the last leg of my journey was the 6 hour trek back to Pennsylvania.  By the time I hit the road, it was already 5 PM, so I knew I was in for a long drive.  The massive Red Bull I drank to keep me awake wore off the last hour and I was struggling to make it back.  I was going 20 over in a 65 when I cop pulled beside me.  I was about 15 minutes from home and started cussing.  All this way to be pulled over.  Then all of a sudden he just jets off without even putting on his lights.  He had to be going well over 100.  Got lucky there.  Finally made it home and crashed.

Yeah, so that's why I was in no rush to blog about that day.  Did not really want to relive it. Saw this quote on someone's blog, thought it exemplified my trip to Oregon.  I also like how it can be taken both literally and figuratively (I believe this is the correct use of these literary terms).  Literally, it means location.  Where figuratively, it can mean anything you have yet to accomplish.  I'll let you decide,

"My favorite thing is to go where I've never been." -Diane Arbus

The Rose City, Portland. Saturday, June 11th, 2011

Holy Catfish, what a day.  Somehow, the family we are staying with convinced my Dad and I to go to an exercise class at 7 AM.  I agreed for some reason and there I was, up at 6:15 AM on my vacation day.  It was actually a lot of fun (well not as fun as sleeping) and it was a really good workout.  It was just like bodypump, which I do whenever home, so nothing that killed me too bad.  After, we went to the Lake Oswego farmer’s market, which was really cool.  All the local vendors were set up and we got this awesome breakfast at a “northwest-mexican food” stand.  We headed back to the house and I went on one last paddleboarding session before I had to head out.

A one hour drive later, we were back in Salem to pick up my sister.  I really wanted to see Portland before my flight at 10:50 PM so we got her and headed up to the city.  The saying, “keep Portland weird” definitely makes sense after a few hours in the city.  I was looking forward to seeing hipsters everywhere when I arrived, only to find purely strange people.  There was a hipster here and there, but overall I was let down.  Regardless, she showed me around Portland State, where she will be starting college in the fall.  The bulletin boards were full of extremely cool classes that would blow your mind and I would love to take, but unfortunately engineering does not give me any leeway in my schedule.  It is a cool school, in the heart of the city.  If she makes the most of her time there, she could come out with both a great education and a whole new mindset on the world.  We had a few hours before we had to be anywhere so we headed to my sister’s favorite place in the world, Powell’s city of books.  It was like a 3 story mansion full of books.  I got lost on multiple occasions, but I found an extremely cool book in the super exclusive third floor.  Someone was getting married there; they must really enjoy reading I suppose.  

We then met my Dad’s high school art teacher from when he was in Hong Kong.  Him and his family spent 4 years out there when he was younger, living in the heart of the city.  He and his teacher spent a few hours telling us stories of Hong Kong and some of the adventures they used to go on.  It was an experience that changed my Dad’s live at the time, and truly opened him up to other cultures.  He often encourages me to study abroad.  I am hoping to fit a trip to either Spain or New Zealand someday.  I only have a few years left, so hopefully I can work something out.  College is the best time to do a trip like a semester-abroad, so it is best to take advantage of it while you can. 

After dinner, we walked around for a little bit more and then it was time for me to catch my flight.  I got the cheapest flight possible flying a redeye from Portland to Atlanta and then Atlanta to Charlotte after a 3.5 hour layover.  As a matter of fact, I am in Atlanta writing this blog post right now.  7 AM in the morning, exhausted because it is impossible to get a good night’s sleep on the airplane.  Oh and with the time change it feels like 4 AM.  NBD.  I cannot complain, as there is an ABP in the ATL airport.  What more do you need.  Even though I will have difficulty paying for it, as I am used to using my hokie p.  I also get to spend the next few hours people watching, one of my all-time favorite activities.  The pleasure of seeing so many different cultures and ways of live is better than any reality tv show to me. Can’t say I am going to get deep on your ass today, as I can barely stay away to write this.  But don’t you worry, I’ll leave you with a quote as always.

“An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

Graduation Affairs. Friday, June 10th, 2011

Well, today was the big day.  My little sis graduated high school.  Crazy how it was me walking that stage two years ago.  For those of you confused to why I had to come to Oregon to siee my sister graduate, let me explain.  She is technically my half-sister.  In other words, we have the same dad and different moms.  We were both born in california, only my mom and I moved to North Carolina later in life and her and her mom moved to Oregon fairly early in her life.  Whenever I go out to visit my dad, I try to coordinate with her so we can be out there at the same time.  She is a lot different than me in personality, but we still get a long well.  I try to keep in touch with her on a fairly regular basis, but it can be difficult seeing she does not have a cell phone.  Her mother is very strange and has led her astray in many aspects of her life.  My dad and I try to right the ship.  Love her regardless.  She will be heading off to Portland State next year to potentially study urban planning, or something of the sort.  Best of luck to you Bianca.  Even though you said you wouldnt show me your blog, so I probably wont give you the link to mine and therefore you wouldn't be reading this right now.

Early on in the day we went out on the family we are staying at's boat to cruise around the lake for a little bit.  The number of beautiful houses around here is amazing, and it makes me want to go be extremely successful and marry some babe.  But I suppose I should graduate college first.  We got ready and headed down to Salem, where my sister lives.  We met her for lunch at a steakhouse and caught up for a little bit.  We cruised around Salem, Oregon to see her stomping grounds.  She has an awesome internship at the local art museum so we checked out there and then we went to some desertery for some baller cake.  We had to get to the graduation 2 hours early in order to get a seat, but don't worry, it gave me plenty of time to read Harry Potter 7.  I was definitely overdressed, considering I wore blue pants, madras tie, and a vest to an ourdoor graduation.  But hell, like I say, "if you look good, you feel good."  Bianca went off after the ceremony to go party with her friends, and we headed home to go to bed.  The house next door was having a party and I was temped to go over, as there is a girl going to Stanford that is an all-star tennis player and extremely smart and beautiful living next door.  Aka perfect wife material, but could not build up the confidence to go to some rando-house party just to hit on some babe.  She'll have to come to me if she wants that ring...  (I think I lost about half of my followers in the last few sentences alone...).

Today's quote was sitting in a book by my bed and I thought it was very appropriate for today's events.  It is a little bit longer than normal, but hang with me,

"Place yourself among those who carry on their lives with passion, and true learning will take place, no matter how humble or exalted the setting.  But no matter what path you follow, do not be ashamed of your learning.  In some corner of your life, you know more about something than anyone else on earth.  The true measure of your education is not what you know, but how you share what you know with others."

To me this quote exemplifies what education is all about.  We spend 13 years in school by the time to graduate.  And then 17+ by the time we graduate college.  But to learn what?  I do not think we pay all this money and spend all these hours going to school to purely learn what is in books.  And if you do, you are not really getting an education.  In order to truly learn, you must grow as a person and develop the skills necessary to communicate and interact with others.  You may not get a 4.0, but if you develop the right attitude and place yourself among those who push you to be better, you will do just fine.  Confidence is key, as it will allow you to believe in yourself and follow through with what your mind sees.  So to those of you still in school (and maybe even out of school), it is never too late to "learn how to learn." 

Birthday Festivities

Today marks the 20th anniversary of me coming out of my momma's belly (C-section to be exact, I was a bitch to my mom).  Oh who doesn't love birthdays? Gifts, nice dinners, and those once-yearly facebook comments from those people you never talk to.  How did I spend my special day? Let me walk you through it...

Woke up, and as you may or may not know, I am in Oregon for my sister's graduation.  I spent the night at my Grandma's sister's place (great cousin?) in a suburb of Portland.  I was very skeptical coming into Oregon, due to my narrow view, but this place is actually pretty cool.  It is very green and Portland is a very cool city.  I can't wait to check it out more.  We got ready and as soon as my Dad arrived, we headed out.  We drove around the city looking at the places where my grandma grew up.  Everywhere used to be farmland, but now has developed into suburbia neighborhoods.  We had a nice lunch at a very cool, authentic, German sausage place which probably doubled my blood pressure and then we headed off to the mall.  Grandma said she would get me some clothes for my birthday so I got a cool shirt and a pair of jeans.  Headed back to hang out and then my Dad and I peaced out.  We stopped by costco to get me a pair of sunglasses for my birthday, and then to his cousins place where we will be staying for the weekend.

This place is incredible, truly the life I want to live when I grow up.  Which is funny, because Scott, I guess my Dad's cousin-in-law, is doing pretty much the same thing I want to do after I graduate.  Maybe there is a future for me after-all.  He graduated from Stanford, so he's obviously a smart cookie though.  They live on a lake, not too far from Portland.  Beautiful house in a great neighborhood.  We took the paddleboards out, which for you East-Coasters are big surfboards that you stand up on and cruise around using an oar.  I've seen guys do it everytime I go out to visit my Dad, but never did it before.  I was a natural.  I added it to my life goals to paddleboard across a bit, notorious body of water, not sure which one yet.  We had a lovely dinner and relaxed around outside (apparently this was one of 4 days of sunshine oregon has gotten this year, no joke).  My grandpa is notorious for drinking too much wine, and he slipped and fell and hurt his head.  He had to go to the hospital to get stitches, but he will be ok.  I just hope I know how to control my drinking (and any other bad habit) when I am older.  They got me a birthday cake, in which I had two pieces (hell you only turn 20 once), and then it was time for bed. 

I sit here in this four post bed exhausted due to the time change.  Sure it wasn't the craziest birthday I have ever had, but it meant more to me to spend this time with my family than getting hammered at my apartment.  Never forget the importance of your family in your life.  Especially those that are older, because they will not always be around.  My grandpa who fell will not always be lucky and I have realized how much I should cherish him.  So go out of your way to call your family members and see how they are doing, ask them if they want to go to lunch or have them over for dinner, be the loving grandson they think you are.  Your family is your roots, and the reason you are here today, so give them the respect they deserve.  Without them, you wouldn't exist, so I say that is enough to warrant a phone call.  I am going to leave you with a quote from someone who is genious enough to make LOTR, so I suppose they are smart enough to make a quote as well.

"Not all those who wander are lost." - J.R.R. Tolkien

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

I am writing to you today from lovely Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.  And this guy to the right of me is reading everything I'm typing.  Oh look at that, he just looked away.  Today marks the beginning of a journey to Oregon to see my half-sister graduate high school.  Ah Oregon, land of hipsters, trees, and crystal meth.  I've never been up there despite a large amount of family in the area.  I've never been a fan of the place, but we'll see if that changes.  I do not know if ill be able to blog the next few days while I'm out there, but you bet I'll try.

Today was a nice day as I got to hang out at home before heading to the airport.  My birthday is tomorrow, so my mom wanted to take me out to lunch as I'll be in Oregon for the big (really not big at all considering I'm turning 20) day.  Among the errands we ran included going to the Verizon store.  I have a month to keep my discount if I want to get a new phone.  I love my Blackberry, but everyone is leaving the blackberry world so BBM is becoming less exciting.  If anyone has any recommendations for good phones to get, please let me know.  I'm thinking of joining the droid world.  I packed my bags (didn't spend enough time doing that, you'll see in minute) and was out the door.  As always, my mom yelled at me for driving too fast (I'M ONLY GOING 6 OVER MOM!!! haha) but we made it here eventually.  Had no problems until I arrived at security.  This other hot girl and I got screened (who complained as she always got screened, what do you expect hun? If you were some middle-aged, male security guard would you pat down you or some 300 pound woman?).  And then they alerted me that my 16 oz. water bottle filled with bourbon could not go through (kinda forgot about that).  Oh, well that is fine, it was my bad for forgetting.  And then they said they found a swiss army knife in my backpack.  So there is is!  I lost that thing months ago, turns out it was deep in some pocket.  I thought it was a goner, but luckily they said I could mail it to myself for a nominal fee.  That is my first and favorite knife so I suppose it was worth it.  Maybe next time I'll spend more than 5 minutes packing my backpack to travel.  Made it regardless.  And there is this preshtown rescue dog waiting to board as well, I want one.  It even has the little vest that says rescue dog.  The guy with it said, "she's lasted longer than 5 girlfriends." haha, like him already.

A pet peeve that I have is how everyone runs to the gate to board onto the plane.  What's the rush people!?  You are about to sit on that plane with nothing to do for 5 hours, why do you want to get on so early.  There is wifi and cinnabun outside, I see no rush.  I will probably be the last one to blog to give myself time to finish this blog.  Another observation is how many different type of people there are.  People-watching is one of my favorite hobbies, as it is truly interesting to me to see how different backgrounds change people.  Like in my view now is a guy covered in tattoos and looks like he is on crack, an extremely nicely dressed woman who is probably a divorcee as there is no ring on her finger, a stereotypical tourist couple, a hipster with a guitar, a typical American family ready to go on what seems to be a family vacation, an old couple whom seem very content (the grandpa is about to fall asleep though), a middle-eastern man who probably had more trouble than me getting through security, a typical suited-up business man with this smartphone device, an extremely casually dressed woman (sweatsuit in the middle of summer...) who is probably in her midlife crisis, an old man wearing sunglasses indoors, a man who is probably in his 30's who is wearing paisley pants and a golf shirt who I saw checking in his clubs at the front desk (future me?), and then myself, a 19 year old (almost 20!) tech-savvy, male, college student who probably thinks he is much cooler than he actually is (oh man, I got so caught up in guessing about other people that I did it to myself).  Now maybe it is wrong that I judged all these people, but it is just something I do to get myself by.  I have no problem with any of these people, and I am probably wrong in many cases.  I just find it interesting how many different people walk this world.  The guy next to me just commented on how it aggravates him how everyone is so impatient and huddles around the gate.  YES, I love that guy. haha

I must go though, as it is time for me to board.  More like bored.  Oh Dane, you're so creative with your one-liners.  Next time I blog, I'll be in Oregon (and no longer a teenager)!  Here's the quote of the day,

"Trust your intuitive heart." - Richard Carlson

Return to Tobacco Road

Today marks the beginning of vacation (even though I've only been working a little over 2 weeks).  Tomorrow I will be flying to Oregon to see my half-sister graduate high school.  But first, I had to get through a long day of work.  Got in the office at 6:30 AM as always and began working.  Struggled to get to lunch, but time flew by after work, even including the hour of overtime, and I was out the door.  Threw all my stuff in my car, and southbound I headed.  It was a 6 hour drive which was a little rough, but I made good time and somehow kept myself occupied. 

I stopped at Dave's by JMU which has the best food ever for a gas station.  Got my favorite Gyro (for all you shoobies out there, it's pronounced yee-row, not as it looks) and was back on the road.  Needed the help of an energy drink to stay awake, and those things make me a little loopy.  So as I was driving, I was going a little crazy.  But with the help of my favorite CD ever, Tom Petty & The Heartbreaker's Greatest Hits, some Lady Gaga (The Edge of Glory is one of the best songs ever), and a few random Virginia radio stations, I made it home with all my sanity.  It was really great seeing my mom, and I look forward to spending some time with her tomorrow before I leave.

It was cool when I was driving, because three times I passed equipment that JLG (the company I work for) manufactures.  The first was an Arial Work Platform (see previous blog with pictures if you don't know what these things are), the second was an M-ATV (which is the new government humvee, extremely badass), and then a telehandler, which I have been working with directly.  I would have never noticed these if it wasn't for the internship, and it gave me a sense of pride to see these being shipped to various customers.  During orientation, they said how much the employees of JLG took pride in their products and jobs, and how it showed in the end result.  This has become very apparent through first hand experience.  I find it very important that your career is something you truly enjoy, and most employees feel this about JLG.  I am not sure if this is where I want to work after I graduate, due to the location, but this has shown me how important loving your job is.  If you do not have a passion for what you are doing day in and day out, you will not be happy and it will show in your work.  There are too many people without jobs now-a-days, and companies cannot afford to pay someone who is not taking pride in their work.  If I am not happy wherever I am working post-graduation, I hope I have the courage to just leave and find somewhere that will give me the chance to be happy.  There is a sticker on every JLG machine that says
"made with pride in the USA."  It is my favorite part of the machine, and it is 100% the truth.

My quote for the night comes from my favorite song of all time, "Just like Heaven," by The Cure.  Not entirely sure what it means, but I think it is great.  This comes to mind as it was one of the last songs I listened to on the way home. haha  I've attached a link to it below.  The quote comes from the end of the song.  I have listened to this song so many times I could never begin to count.  I will occasionally just leave it on repeat, because I always find something new when I listen to it.  I think that is the mark of a great song.  You may not like it, but music hits us all in different ways.  For whatever reason, this song hits me.

"You stole the only girl I loved
And drowned her deep inside of me"

"Somebody has got a case of the Munndaysss"

I did not actually have the case of the Mondays, today was a good day. Back to work after a good week.  Woke up a little late today (5:22 am instead of 5) which led me to be a little rushed this morning.  Have no fear, got to work right on time (6:30 AM).  Work went by pretty quickly today as I kept busy updating those SWIs.  Before I knew it, it was time to get off.  It was really hot out but I went on a run anyway.  Saw that the interns were playing tennis on my way back so played a few games.  I thought after watching all that tennis this weekend, I would have learned a few things.  I was terrible.  Lost both games.  Made a solid dinner and then it was Jeopardy time as always.  The guy that won was a total douche, but he started to grow on me.  Came back to skype a few people and now here I am.  Don't have much to say in terms of deep thought, considering I just blogged a few hours ago.

Here is a quote I try to live by daily, I hope it helps you out in whatever voyage you may be on.

"When life hands you melons, you may be dyslexic"

Sunday, June 5th, 2011

Late again.  I'm terrible at this.  I do have an excuse if you stick with me.  Yesterday was a great day.  I literally did nothing for a majority of the day.  Watched like 4 hours of tennis, read about 10 chapters of harry potter 7, made a grilled cheese, etc.  It was a great day.  Now that I am a working man, I do not feel bad about doing absolutely nothing on my days off.  The evening was much of the opposite though.

This girl (from the first blog post) and I wanted to be able to see each other for one last time before I am gone the next few weekends, so we though of what to do.  I thought it would be cool if we met halfway between where her and I lived.  Turns out Frederick, Maryland is right in the middle.  Neither of us have ever been to this lovely little town, so it was a little bit of a gamble.  One that as you will see, paid off.  This town is a quaint little historical town with a personality.  The main street is full of unique restaurants, bars, and stores.  I wanted to go somewhere unique, so we hit up a place called Isabella's, which was a tapas bar.  Tapas, for you uncultured folk, are small dishes that are meant to be shared.  You order about 3 or 4 each (which turned out to be too many) and mix and match with each other.  Simply the delicious, especially the pork (maybe chicken?) on bread thing.  After a lovely meal, we decided to cruise around good, ol' Frederick.  Somewhere past the christian-science bookstore and the adult video shop, we found a cool canal that looks just like the one in Venice (or so I could imagine).  Bridges, fountains, musicians, and drunk sketchballs surrounded the canal.  It was really cool just walking around this place checking it out, as I am sure I would never have a reason to go there otherwise.  An hour drive back and I was too tired (and I had to be up in less than 5 hours) to blog.  Sorry 'bout it.

Which leads me to my thought of the night (can't take too long as Wheel of Fortune is about to come on).  Never turn down a chance to try something new.  Opportunities will come to you every once and a while and you will have to decide whether to take the easy route that you are comfortable with or take a risk and step outside of your comfort zone.  I say take the leap.  Following the same route day in and day out will never allow you to discover new things that can become an integral part of your life.  The example I often use (oh crap, have I already blogged about this? ruh row) is how I got a flyer to join the club rowing team.  I decided to take the leap and join and it turned out to be amazing.  Your parents always told you as a kid, "you'll never know you won't like something until you try it."  The same holds true in life as in eating brussel sprouts (sorry Dad, I'm pretty sure I don't need to try those to know I won't like them).  It can be scary, but will almost always pay off in the end.  And if it doesn't, just learn from the experience.


Be back in a few hours to blog about today, I gotta catch up.  But for now, it's Wheel and Jeopardy time!  Since I'm reading HP, here is a quote from the author herself,

"It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be." - J.K. Rowling

Saturday, June 4th, 2011

Yeah, so I kinda forgot to write yesterday.  And all of today until now.  Whoops.  Yesterday consisted of a somewhat lazy day.  Hung out around the townhome for a majority of the day.  Hung out at the pool, etc.  The night was quite a crazy one, as the other interns and I went out for some pizza and drinks in Hagerstown, MD (the only decent sized city around) and then came back and drank at the apartment.  I haven't gotten that drunk in a long time, phenomenal time.  After a long week of work, a weekend where you do nothing is appreciated.  While Jagerbombs are almost always a good idea and I could never regret drinking them, they made this morning a little painful. 

Remembered about this cool website called www.oneword.com.  Essentially it gives you one word and you write for a minute about it.  Then you can see what others wrote and what not.  Used to do it in class all the time.  Great time waster.  I am substituting this in for the deep section.  I did today's word and attached it.

Plaid:

"Oh plaid.  Plaid shirts remind me of hipsters.  Gotta love hipsters.  Which reminds me of my friend steve who is a wanna be hipster.  Oh and it reminds me of forestry majors like my roommate from last year.  Plaid just wishes it were as cool as madras or seersucker.  ahh out of time!!!"

haha that was weak.  it is a lot harder than it looks!  I've got to go though, got a big date tonight.  Enjoy the quote of the day!

"You get what anybody gets - you get a lifetime. — Neil Gaiman"

Friday, June 3rd, 2011

Friday at last.  Today felt like the longest day all week because I didn't have any meetings for once, which meant I worked straight through the day.  8 hours of updating SWI's will make for a long day.  As soon as it was 3 PM, I was out of there.  I originally planned on working Saturday, but I need to sleep in.  I got a lot done today and it felt great, I'm just tired.

I made an awesome dinner tonight for my roommate and I after work consisting of jerk chicken, green beans, and my favorite potato dish.  Needless to say, we enjoyed it thoroughly.  After a short nap followed by jeopardy/wheel of fortune, we headed out for the night.  Now going out really doesn't consist of much around here.  So by going out, I meant we went to another intern's apartment and drank.  Watched a movie, hung out.  I was exhausted from being up all day, but that was not going to stop me from causing a little mischief this evening.  This other guy and I (everyone else either bitched out or fell asleep) hopped the fence of the pool and took a little dip in the hot tub.  Felt great after a nice booze session.  Naturally, we were not allowed to be there considering it was after hours, but who is going to catch us.  Then all of a sudden the security guard rolls up.  Thanks to the ingenuity of my friend and I, we were able to escape.  And here I am.  Literally falling asleep as I write this.

I am going to make this part short and sweet because I really want to go to bed right now.  The lesson for the day is simple, sometimes it is best to wait things out.  We had a nice, in depth conversation while at the hot tub this evening, and it made me realize this.  Most of this spurs from his personal relationship with his girlfriend and how it is struggling due to the long distance, but I found multiple instances where it applied to myself.  Sometimes, we get so caught up in what is going on right now that we lose focus on the future and what lies ahead.  While we may be going through a rough patch at the time, it will almost always surely benefit us in the long run.   It takes courage and perseverance to get through those tough times, but it is almost always worth the wait.  This does not just relate to men/women.  Many instances we fall to our surroundings instead of looking on the horizon.  My advice is to never forget what lies ahead and always keep track of where you are going.  Otherwise, you will settle for the present, which is often less than you deserve.

Apologies if that didn't make a whole lot of sense, as I told you I've been drinking.  Goodnight, hope you enjoy the quote of the day:

The preppy asshole from every 80's movie. TFM.

Ok so it's not really a quote, and it's not the best TFM, but like I said I am drunk and tired, give me a break...

Telehandler Thursday

What a day, what a day, what a day.  Worked from 6:30 AM till 4:30 (two hours of overtime, hell yeah), went on a run, watched the wheel of fortune and Jeopardy (I do this every day, I shouldn't even have to tell you anymore), and made an incredible snack of grilled cheese and arnold palmer for dinner.  As I lay in bed blogging before bed, I am content with the contents of the day (and the use of a homonym in that sentence).

You would be less than entertained if I continued to talk about my day, so I am going to jump right into the meat of today's blog.  What is on the docket you ask?  I have been putting this one off for a couple days so I am quite excited for it.  Due to an undisclosed person, I have decided to make a list of things I would like to do before I graduate.  This is just a preliminary list, as I would be disappointed if I did not expand on it.  I am a person who believes it is always good to have goals, so I figured this cannot hurt.  I am always looking for new ideas so please help me out if you have any good ideas!


-leave personalized graffiti somewhere around Blacksburg. (After seeing Exit Through the Gift Shop, I decided that I want to leave my mark on Blacksburg in a physical manner.  I have yet to decide what I want to paint, but I want it to be unique and reflect me)
-Run a half marathon (I love running, and it is a matter of time before I actually compete in one)

-Run a marathon (this one is a little bit of a stretch, but I think I can do anything I put my mind to)

-Go backpacking in New Zealand (I think it is the coolest place in the world and I want to go there more than anywhere else.  I figure there are few better ways to check it out than backpacking through the backcountry)
-Be an Orientation Leader (Two of my biggest loves in life are my school and helping people.  To me, this position seems like the perfect way for me to embrace those things.  All the OL's I know are amazing people and truly leaders on campus.  I will have to give up the chance to get another internship, but it is something I have wanted to do since I went to orientation so I figure it is worth it)
-Hold a position in the fraternity (I am involved in various things around campus, but my favorite extracurricular is my fraternity.  The friends I have made and opportunities I have gotten have made it more than an extracurricular, it has become a way of life.  Holding a position would allow me to give back to the guys that have given me so much)
-Fall in and out of love (I can honestly say I have never been in love, which means I have never fallen out of love either.  It is not like this is a goal, just something I hope to experience at some point.  And I am not saying I want to get my heartbroken, but something I should experience eventually, so why not now)
-Leave an impact on the school (I do not really want to have my name all over where I have been, but I want my hard work while at school to leave positive things behind for others to enjoy.  So this may be through Ring Dance committee, through the fraternity, or just how I interact with others)
-Regret as little as possible (I am not going to be someone who says they "live life with no regrets" because I am pretty sure that is impossible.  But when I graduate, I want to look back and know I spent the last 4 or 5 years the best I could)
-(possibly)Hike the Appalachian Trail or Pacific Crest Trail (I don't want to go all out and set this as a goal right now, because I like to be set on something before I commit to it.  But I think it would be the most rewarding experience I could ever take part in.  Living out in the wilderness for upwards of 6 months would have the power to define a life.  Think about it, you might life till 80.  Taking 6 months off is 1/160th of your life, or .625%  Really not that big of a deal considering how much of an impact it could have)

Ok, well I have either forgotten the other ones or I am done with the list for now.  I might update things every once and a while.  Someone showed me a new place to get quote so I am going to give you one from there for the day.  If it is not as good as the usual ones, blame her.

The secret to life is meaningless unless you discover it yourself.

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

Today was cool because I finally started actual work.  I know it is my 7th day on the job, but it has taken this long to truly start working independently on something instead of sitting in a classroom or following people around.  The big project that I will be working on over the course of the next few weeks is updating SWIs.  What are SWI's you ask?  Standard Work Instructions.  At JLG, they make various machines.  One line is devoted to assembling telehandlers, which are essentially giant forklifts that can put pallets and other various objects up a few stories high.  These badass machines can lift up to 12,000 lbs 55 feet in the air.  Standard Work Instructions give you step-by-step instructions on how to assemble them at each station.  Pictures, directions, arrows, and colors are all used to help the worker understand as much as possible.  Naturally, many of these guys have been doing this for years and certainly do no need these.  But anytime someone new comes in, or substitutes for them, these SWI's are very important.  Also, during the occasional audit (god forbid), they are vital.  Almost all of these SWI's are outdated and I am the lucky one who gets to update them.  What I do is look at the old one and work with the guys on the line to find the discrepancies, and do what I need to do to fix them.  It is a lot of work, but fairly interesting.  It is cool because I have to understand as much as anyone what is required to build these machines.  So if you want to know how to build a JLG G9-43A, I will be able to tell you.  The challenge of interacting with the men and women on the line, as I discussed last week, is certainly coming into play with this project.  So far, almost all of them have been helpful and it has been a good experience.

After work, I had to go to Hagerstown, MD (30 minutes away) to take care of a few chores.  I took my mom's car to get an oil change and they said it would take an hour and a half, so I walked over to the mall to hang out.  I saw a bookstore and decided to go in so I could get a gift for my sister for her graduation.  Right in the front delay were two of my all time favorite childhood (and maybe current) books: The Giving Tree and Oh, the Places You'll Go.  So without even hesitating, I took the books and found an empty isle to sit in.  Plopped myself on the ground and started reading.  Memories of laying in bed and having my Mom or Grandma read these amazing stories to me flushed through my mind.  I liked them back them because of the cool artwork and comfort of my family.  Now, I understand what those stories truly mean and I love them just as much, if not more, than back then.  Just like when you go back and watch a kids movie from your youth and pick up on so many things you didn't before, I started realizing why my family read these to me.

Reading these stories reminded me of the saying "all I ever need to know I learned in Kindergarten."  So True.  The values of perseverance and caring taught by these books are among the many things taught to us at a young age that are more important to our success than any college degree can ever give us.  The golden rule, what is right and wrong, and how to tie your shoes.  What else do you need?  A person that can utilize what is taught at a young age is much more likely to excel in life than someone who disregards all of that but can do higher level calculus statistics.  Essentially what I am saying is not to forget your foundation.  Without a good foundation, any good structure will fall (you don't have to be an engineer like me to know that).  The same is true with a person.  I believe that the foundation of a person is in their beliefs and values, and if we cannot maintain those, we have nothing.  I am not saying turn around the way you are living live, just always remember what your parents and kindergarten teacher taught you and you'll be just fine.

Couldn't find a good quote from my limited source of quotes (my imagination and twitter), but I think this TFM applies to me and my newfound corporate setting,

"Straight shooter with upper management written all over him." TFM.