Adventures in Work
For those who are interested, my project is starting to near the final phases. (Or for those of you who are fans of the RUP -- The "transition" phase...see the picture)
My project is alive and well, and my work these days consists of tying up all of the loose ends everywhere on the site and then documenting EVERYTHING (and your mother). Basically, when I leave, not only are they going to have a huge document of code to read through, but also well over 50 pages of documentation with which they can assemble manuals for the different users of this site.
I'm starting to feel very accomplished at the work I'm doing and I love it more and more everday. (Perhaps this is because it's almost done?? Not sure.)
Anyways, it's almost complete -- I'm at a great spot because originally I was worried I wouldn't be able to accomplish the huge task set before me in May. Not only do I have it almost completed, there have also been many unanticipated additions and setbacks with this project that have been taken in stride.
Adventures in National Holidays
So Saturday was the 4th of July. I have loved the 4th of July for a long time. It's one of those underestimated holidays that I really appreciate. Anyway, to celebrate -- I worked on Friday (see below) and then spent Saturday in town with Damien.
Arcata loves their "festivals". I use the term "festival" loosely, however. We aren't talking like the Milwaukee festivals. Rather, "festival" = excuse to block off the town square and get schwasted. Needless to say, I'm game to go watch.
We get into town and check out a lot of the vendors and such. I find some trinkets for various people. I won't go into too much detail because I don't want to ruin any surprises. But I found some very cool, yet local things to buy people.
After this adventure in town, we decided that a grilling of processed meats was to be in order for the afternoon. I mean, how else can you celebrate America's Birthday? We found some brats at the Safeway and all of the necessary accessories. I'm not going to lie -- that grilled piece of processed meat was just what I needed. It was just a little taste of home and for us, that was enough.
Later that night, we decided that we would go into town and watch the fireworks. Now let me give you some lay of the land here. Damien and I live in the side of a hill (we'll call it Hill A). South of us is another hill (Hill B? Yes.). Okay, the south side at the bottom of Hill B is where they shoot the fireworks from.
While this doesn't make sense at first, you have to remember that the spot where they want you to watch from actually makes this a PERFECT spot to shoot off fireworks.
Okay, so our plan is to walk to the top of Hill B and watch the fireworks from there. On our way there, at the valley of Hill A and Hill B, we run into my supervisor Jeremy and his fiance shooting off their fireworks. We decide to stay and watch, enjoying the fountains and sparklers. (Morning Glory's ... they are more environmentally and kid friendly. :-) )
After we are done, Damien and I decide that because we haven't seen or heard fireworks going on behind us that we will continue our trek up Hill B....only to discover a MOB OF PEOPLE walking THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION. Naturally, as it turns out, we missed the entire 7-minute show while doing the sparklers. The best part, we saw nothing. heard nothing. We rationalize this by saying that obviously they couldn't have been much to look at.
(This story is such a perfect indicator for my life...a day late and a dollar short. haha.)
Adventures in Spirituality
One thing that I take heavily forgranted going to Marquette is easy access to every ministry-related resource I could ever get my hands on. It's something that has become part of my being.
Enter Arcata, CA. Well....there really isn't a bounty of churches here, none of which are Catholic. That being said, I haven't noticed how much this frustrates me until lately. (well -- last week) I've been coming up with my own ways to try to make this happen, and it's worked, but I when I reflect on my experience of faith outside of the realms of the church -- I realize that I really enjoy it.
As most of us know, I had a bit of problem with the Catholic Church last semester. Hmmm...I take that back. A rather large, deal-breaker type of problem. I won't go into the gory details, but let's just say that I was on "hiatus" for a long time.
You know how when you get into a fight with a good friend...and you reconcile your differences, but you still need that extra little time apart? That is where I'm at right now. I kind of like it. It's given me a lot of freedom in exploring this part of my life. But I'm ready to return -- keeping my freedom, but giving it another try at the formalities of faith.
Adventures in Travel
I'm going to Seattle this weekend to visit Tim. :-)
I'm not going to lie -- I'm pretty excited.
Details and pictures will follow.
Until later,
M
Give my boy Tim a hug for me. I miss him!
ReplyDelete