2 years with Aerotek

Today marks my 2 year anniversary with Aerotek. I am not only happy to have a job in this economy, I am happy to have a job I love working at! I love the company and what it stands for, but I also love working onsite at Gilead Sciences. I love waking up every morning and coming to Foster City to work. I admit, there are some moments throughout the day where I get overly stressed and think "I wish I had a billion dollars so I would be able to work part time" but that only happens rarely. I have gotten kind emails today with people telling me that they are happy I work here and that I do a fantastic job. :) Today looks like it's going to be a good day!

Facebook

Originally, I was a MySpace girl. I became addicted to it when I was going to move back to California when I was almost 21. This was a great way for me to get to know what I had missed out on in my friend's lives in the past 2 years that I lived in Utah. As time went on, I realized that there were many other people that I did not know that would friend request me. Many of these people didn't even live in the area! I am all for making new friends, but I found it kind of creepy that they would want to know about my life when I would probably never meet them! About 2 years ago, I was introduced to the world of facebook. Facebook is better than MySpace because if random people friend request you, they can't view your profile without your permission. Also, there is fun little pictures you can put on people's page (send them a little green plant), know about events that are going on, and most importantly: get in contact with people that you have not encountered in a LONG time! My main example is my experience this week with facebook. I received an email through facebook from someone I thought I didn't know. When she asked if I was "Lonnie's daughter", I thought to myself "wow, the only people who call my dad Lonnie are my cousins". So then I added her. Within 5 hours, I now have my 5 cousins plus one of my aunts as my friend on facebook. It has been at least 10 years since I last talked to any of my cousin's on my dad's side. I hope that now we can all keep in contact. As much as I like Facebook, though, I am making it a goal to never join TWITTER!!!

CLEP exam

Ah Math. I enjoy numbers, but when you start adding Statistics, Geometry, and Algebra, prepare to get the eyes-glossed-over look from me. I understand a lot of it, but I lose interest very quickly. I failed Geometry 3 times (with a D) simply because I lost interest about halfway through. So when it came time to set the remainder of my AA degree schedule, I was told I would have to take two 9-week blocks of college Algebra, back to back (3 credits each). My fantastic academic advisor told me the alternative to 18 weeks of hair pulling and frustration is to take something called the "CLEP". This test stands for "College Learning Enhanced Placement". Taking the college mathametics version of the CLEP means that if I pass it, I would get 6 math credits. I was told that it was either a pass or a fail, and my grade would not be affected by the score. Me being the lazy person I am, I didn't even study until the night before..... 5:30 PM-1 AM was spent studying for the CLEP with some practice tests.

Nick and I woke up at 7 on Saturday morning (3/7) to drive to San Jose so I could take the computer exam at 8:30 AM. I got there 15 minutes early, so I was able to attempt to study. The test was done on a computer. It was 90% multiple choice and the rest were fill in the answer. On a lot of the questions, I actually shrugged my shoulders before choosing the answer (the instructor even called me out on it after the exam was done). After I finished, the teacher took me out of the room with the test results. He told me that in order to pass the test, I had to get over 50 points. (There were 60 questions). My score was (deep intake of breath here).....51!! This was the first time in my college career that I was actually thrilled I got a barely passing grade!! Since I passed the test, this means that I will graduate on July 19 with my AA instead of September 20! I am very excited! I wish I could say that I'm going to be totally finished with school, but I am going to continue on to get my BA.

Napa

Greetings all. Napa was so fun! On Friday, we drove up to Napa to the Napa Old World Inn. This place was amazing. The service was superb, the ambiance was magical, and the company was perfect (yes, I mean Nick). We walked downtown for dinner at Downtown Joe's. The food was good, but not what Nick was looking forward to... aka a big juicy steak. Either way, we filled our bellies then went back to go to bed early (thanks to Chloe waking us up at 3 AM earlier that morning). The bed was incredibly comfortable. The feather pillows were a special treat. On Saturday, we had breakfast in bed. The B&B made a delicious souffle with fruit and OJ on the side. We then took a trip over to the outlet stores. 5 hours later, we came out with new shoes and new clothes. Due to the present economy, the outlet stores were even having sales. Leaving the outlet stores with empty stomachs, we had a gourmet supper of... Safeway Sandwiches!! :) We went back to the room to watch a movie on our 82" flat screen. It was really nice to relax and not have to do homework. We then went to a nice Italian restaurant named "Tuscany". The service was not that great, but the food was really good! After that, we turned in for another early night. Napa really does not have much going on after 8 PM. On Sunday, Nick and I were lucky to go on the wine train. The food was decent, but the train rocking back and forth made me a little quesy. We were able to tour the Grgich winery. It's amazing how they make wine. Such a long process. When we returned back from the wine train, we drove home. What a wonderful and relaxing weekend. I wish we were financially able to do that again! Thanks Sally!

Off to Napa

This last week has been pretty interesting. Our power went out from a tree falling on the power line (thanks to all the rain and wind we have been getting). I raised my grade in Finance (I am currently the top grade... there are only 7 people left in the class..... we started with 30! I barely have a B!!). Nick and I have been doing the Wii FIT and loving it! Nick and I did dance class last Friday and could not stop laughing out of our frustration with one another (I am a natural born leader, I guess. I don't care if it is supposed to be the man leading........) I saw Confessions of a Shopoholic and L-O-V-E-D it!! We experienced layoffs on Wednesday at my work, which was a really stressful time and made me appreciate my job even more. Kelly came and took Molly away (I don't care if it is her cat... Molly has become one of our family). Nick never ceases to amaze me of how wonderful he can be. Everything from the little things he does to the things he says. He never says unkind things even though I need to be reprimanded for things (like my cooking)! This weekend should be really fun. We are spending two night at a bed and breakfast in Napa. http://www.oldworldinn.com/ We are staying in the "Bella Tuscany" room. We would not be able to afford this without the generous gift certificate from the woman that we house sit for. I will attempt to take pictures so I can post them.

Valentine's day

It's this time of year where I find myself somewhat cynical. I view valentine's day as the day where men (or women) spend way too much money on flowers and jewelry just to prove to their significant other how much they love you and appreciate you. I guess I am cynical because it is not a poor man's holiday!! I want to buy Nick a nice watch, or some new shoes, or something. I want to send flowers to those I love. The main thing is that I do not have enough money to buy things on Valentine's day for those I love. Hopefully, those that I love will know that I do love you and am very appreciative of you.. and I am hoping you don't need presents from me to recognize that I do love you! If you do want a present, however, let me know! he he I love all my friends and family!

Nick is the ideal boyfriend. He shows me he loves me everyday with thoughtful things that he says or even just coming home and showing how happy and excited he is to be home with me. I did get him something for Valentine's, but it is not related to Valentine's day. I wish I had the means to buy him everything in the world, but my lack of funds means that he will just have to live with having me! (which is irreplaceable, as he tells me) I love you Nick!

Almost a month?!

I have been HORRIBLE with posting blogs. :( Here I was getting after Rachel for not posting and posts, but here I am at almost a month. Okay... let's try to summarize:

Cruise to the Bahamas: Of course this was absolutely wonderful with my honey! We flew the red eye on Friday night (02/23) to North Carolina (for a three hour layover) then on to Jacksonville. We found our shuttle ride within 5 minutes after getting our baggage, then it was off to the cruise ship. Looking at our "fun passes", it said VIP at the top. Not sure what this meant, we went to one of the attendants who told us that it meant that we got to go to the front of the line. The odd thing was, he said that we were the first inexperienced cruisers that got VIP. HOORAY!! We were able to check in within 10 minutes!! Looking behind us, the lines wrapped around and around like a snake. I'm guessing it took everyone two hours to check in. We then took our picture then got on the ship!! WHAT A HUGE SHIP! Since we couldn't get into our rooms for another hour and a half, we toured around. This was one of the few times I took pics. :( When we got into our room, we took a nap. We then went out to the deck to watch the sunset. How gorgeous the sunset is out on the water! We went to a nice dinner and met our table mates. Neshaminy and Tre were two friends from Georgia. Neshaminy loved to take pictures (I need to have her send me some more of the pics. Some are on my facebook). The other couple, Jeremy and Stacy, are from Nashville. It was so fun meeting both couples. Looks like we have a place to stay next time we travel east! We were able to go dancing that night near the casino....oh oh I better write shorter sentences now.. Ummm on Sunday, we relaxed all day long on the sun deck. Laying out in the sun on the ocean is great!! We also toured the shops and ate a LOT of food. On Monday, we were in Nasseau. We were able to tour the Atlantis hotel and walk around a bit. We stopped by this mexican restaurant called "Senor Frog" that included a bunch of people between the ages of 25-60 in balloon hats in a Conga line and dancing. Fun Fun. On Tuesday, we were at Half Moon Cay. There was nothing to do on this Island but walk around and lay out in the sun!! Lots and lots of sunscreen for both Nick and I semi saved us (some sun still got through). The water was a bit chilly... about 65 degrees. Nick said (and I agree) that this was our favorite day. It was hard to leave the white sand beaches and the deep blue water. On Wednesday, I got a bit sea sick. I was not a lot of fun because I wanted to sleep it off (the dremamine made me really tired). Dinner was good, though. The dinners were always gourmet. They included shrimp, steak, chicken, ravioli's, rolls, desserts (they had this one orange souffle that was mmmm mmm good), etc. This is why my pants are extra tight right now. :( Traveling back was so tiring, but it felt so good to be home in our own beds. A cruise again would be fun, but not for another year or so!