Happy New Year!

Well, it's definitely been some year. It's been good. Really good. Here are some highlights:

- Had an awesome, memorable spring break. Took my first trip to the west coast and saw my first glimpse of the ocean. Amazing...




- I left my job at IUPUI and started an internship at Sallie Mae. I've been really blessed on my career track, and this was one of the stepping stones. Getting web design jobs on the side, then hooking up with a projects class taught by Ed Sullivan, who has become the best business contact I've ever had. Ed got me my internship at Sallie Mae, which has led to one of the later highlights in the year... ;)


- Took my fifth trip to Cornerstone. Another great trip - I got to meet and talk to one of my favorite authors, Brian McLaren, at length, plus I met some pretty cool new people.




- I started attending a new church, The Dwelling Place. Not just new to me, but new to everyone. So far so good - I've made some new friends there, and we have our first gathering in our building very soon.


- I moved into a new town, in a house, with a roommate. All of this is very new to me - I've always lived by myself, on the westside, in an apartment. So far it's going good, and it's nice being 5 minutes away from work.


- I graduated from the Purdue School of Engineering & Technology at IUPUI with my bachelors degree in Computer & Information Technology. Yep, definitely the biggest thing that happened this year for me, I think. 4 1/2 years of work involved with that one. Talk about a feeling of accomplishment - I honestly can't describe to you the feeling of finishing that very last final. What a rush.


- I was offered a full-time job at Sallie Mae, using my degree and making more money than I've ever made. Yep, God blessed me with this one. I have pretty much no doubt that I'm where I should be.


- I was offered the opportunity to teach a class at IUPUI. Very cool - a little extra money, an opportunity to learn more, something nice to add to the resume, and well... just the fun of being able to say "I'm teaching a class!". :)


So... I'm starting the year off with some things that are relatively new to me - a roommate, a bachelors degree, a full-time job, and a class to teach. Looks to be interesting.

And, of course, one of the best things of all - I made some new friends this year. Not only did I make some new friends, I grew pretty close to some of them. Two groups in particular:

1) My "family" and those from "dad's" message board and The Dwelling Place -
Maurice, Sally, Lauren, Jon, Crystal, Ro, Jenn, and more

2) Our "lunch crew" and friends from work -
Wong, Charly, Kelli, Mike, Vic, and Tony

People are awesome. And where would I be without my wonderful guys who keep me encouraged and reminded of how beautiful I am - Maurice, Jon, and Charly. I love you guys! :)

2006 is off to a good start for me. I'm looking forward to it. And whether it ends up good or bad, I know I'll still enjoy the ride.

You had to know this was coming...

I'M DONE!!!!!!!!!!

Finals are over! I'm now a graduate of the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology!!! (Well, as soon as everything's all graded and recorded and made official, that is. But I've completed all the requirements.) Yay me! :-D Hey, if you had spent the last 4 1/2 years of your life making this a priority - wouldn't you be just a bit excited too??

AND... yes, I have a new job! Come January 17, I will be the newest Programmer/Analyst at Sallie Mae, Inc. I will have benefits such as *health insurance* (which I have not had for the last 4 years), a 401k, and eventual stock options. I will also be making about $20,000 more a year than I'm currently making - and about $10,000 more a year than I made at the highest paid job I've ever had.

Wow. There is definitely something to be said for the feeling of achieving the goals that you've really worked hard for - especially when you've spent the last several years working hard for them. I have to say I'm on a pretty darn good high right about now. Merry Christmas to me. ;-)

Ramblings

I don't like today. It's just not fun so far. My feet have not warmed up since I came in to work this morning, and I'm wearing wool socks and decent shoes. Plus, part of what makes work fun for me is the people I work with. They're great. But most of them aren't here today, because of the snowy weather.

I'm also not too fond of this weather. I like snow, especially pretty snow - if it doesn't affect my world. Well, it affects my capacity to go anywhere other than home or work, and it affects my co-workers being at work. And I'm just not in the mood for it right now, I don't think. If it was Christmas Eve or something, and I was home with my family, settled in for Christmas, eating my mom's cooking and not really wanting to go anywhere - then it'd be great. Or I remember one trip up to Chicago w/ gRegor where we spent the day walking around Chicago and went to a show that night at the House of Blues (very cool venue, BTW) and it started snowing when we were walking back to our car. A *very* pretty snow. And I wasn't driving, so it was great. Haha. I think winter just came up to fast for me. I'm not ready for it right now.

Oh yeah, and another way the snow sort of affected my plans. I was supposed to go to the Pacer game last night, and I was looking forward to it. I could've still gone, because a co-worker offered me a ride, but I just really wasn't in the mood to go back out after being out and shovelling the driveway and such. So I didn't go. Oh well, hopefully there will be other opportunities. :-/ Heh... I guess I should be more like Sally and just enough the snow and how pretty it is, especially since my drive to/from work still only takes 15-20 minutes, even in the snow. But really - I'm just not in a snowy type mood right now. :(

So I guess my roommate got pissed at me for the first time this morning (well, first time that I know of, anyway). ;) I took an extra-long shower this morning and used up all the hot water. Oops. I don't normally take that long in the shower, I was just slow today. And I honestly just didn't think about it, since I'm not really used to having to worry about anyone else not getting hot water. So... my bad.

Job news - I posted for 2 more open positions here at Sallie Mae, and I now have interviews scheduled for both on Monday. So between that and the other position I interviewed for (that would probably be a lock if it weren't for the stupid budget issues), hopefully I can secure something soon. Like before my internship is up at the end of the year.

I have a short attention span today. I started this blog before lunch, went to lunch, came back, and now I'm not interested in saying much anymore. So... bye.

"Walking in a winter wonderland..."

The weekend

Well, I guess I'll follow suit and post about the weekend like some members of my "family" already have. :)

Friday night I left work and made a trip to the airport to pick up my roommate, who had been in Atlanta for the weekend. I got there about an hour before her plane was due to come in. I planned it this way because I needed some time to study for a test I had the next morning, plus I kinda like hanging out at the airport. It's a fun place to watch people. Of course, it also ends up making me long to be "leaving on a jet plane". I absolutely LOVE to travel. And it's been a bit since I've really been anywhere significant. I think my last trip might've been to Cornerstone in July. I can't think of anywhere else out of state I've been since then. If anyone else remembers me going somewhere with them since then, let me know, ok?

So after she got in, we ended up going to King Chef to pick up some cashew chicken and crab rangoon for dinner. I got free dinner since I was a nice roomie and gave her a ride to/from the airport. :) Man, I can't believe that there was a time when I used to not like Chinese food. What was I thinking?? Anyway, after dinner I spent the rest of my Friday evening finishing up the questions on the study guide and studying a bit more for my test.

Saturday - First Aid class in the morning, the test I had been preparing for. I got a 92! Yay, I think that's probably the best grade I've gotten so far on a test in that class. Only one more test next week, then the final the following week, and I'm done. 2 weeks - woohoo! Anyway, after class - I headed home to work some more on unpacking. With my roommate's help, we tackled the stack of boxes that have been occupying the living room ever since I moved in. We ended up putting that on hold to go shopping, however - she had a friend that works at the mall that she wanted to visit, and a coupon to use at Kohl's that was about to expire.

After shopping, I came back home to get ready for Maurice's Christmas party - theme: "Pirates and the Caribbean". I took advantage of the party to put to good use the dress I bought on sale at Hot Topic a while back. I also managed (at the last minute) to find a coin-looking medallion to wear kinda like the one Elizabeth Swann wore in the movie. Here's the result:



Fun, huh? Yeah, the party was a blast. I think that Jon especially enjoyed it, at least at this point:



He *really* didn't want to leave that couch...

But the party was great, and so was the after-party, and the, um... after-after-party. Lauren, Nicole, Ro, Jenn, and I stayed at the Broadduses that night, all five of us in the boys' room (they were at a relative's house). Jon stayed too (in the spare bedroom), but got up early the next day to go get his kids for church. The rest of us got up the next morning and headed to church at The Dwelling Place. I'm so glad we all go to church together. It was nice to hang out for an evening, have a LOT of fun, and then stay and go to church together the next morning. Jon, you need to switch and go to The Dwelling Place too!

After sliding out and de-icing all of our cars, all of us girls (except for Ro, who had also gone to get her kids for church) headed to Starbucks for a pick-me-up before church. I was teased for my order (a grande non-fat peppermint mocha w/ no whipped cream), being called "high maintenance". Thanks, Sis! :P

After church, we all ate a chili dinner together (white chicken chili, yum!). I then headed home where I had a pretty productive day turning in (without honestly really doing) my homework and finishing up my unpacking. No more boxes in the living room, yay! Now I just need to do laundry, more homework, balance my checkbook, pay bills, and hook up my TV/stereo/VCR/PS2. It's a never-ending cycle...

But the weekend was great! :)

More randomness

Unexpected phone calls from people that you really miss are always very nice. My day has now been made. :-)

I am now the proud owner of a "Spudtrooper". Funny what missional trips to Toys R Us can unexpectedly bring.


Starschmucks screwed up my order this morning. I ordered a peppermint mocha, NOT a peppermint *white* mocha.

My allergies are killing me. My nose has been both sore and occasionally bleeding for the last couple of weeks.

I love random job perks. Like a free hospitality suite ticket and VIP parking pass to the Indiana Pacers vs Washington Wizards game next Thursday.


Look, it's me (sort of):


Today's quote of the day goes along quite well with my previous blog entry: "Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious."

Still no definite word on the job I interviewed for. Basically, I'm in - if it makes it through this round of budgeting. Budget crunches suck!

Still not done unpacking - but at least now all the boxes in the living room have at least been opened and some stuff has been taken out of each one.

Yay, it's the weekend! Tonight - picking my roommie up from the airport and then studying for my First Aid test tomorrow. It's week one of three straight weeks of tests, concluding with the final. Suck. Tomorrow - class (test) and then Christmas party tomorrow night. Sunday - church and finishing (well, starting and finishing) my assignment that's due for my XML class. And sometime in there I'm hoping to finish unpacking as well as putting up a Christmas tree with my roommate.

Have a good weekend! Only 23 shopping days left... haha.

Enjoy the ride!

Sometimes I really think we take life way too seriously. We get too frustrated, stressed out, worried, and depressed over too many things. I know I'm definitely very guilty of this too. And yes, I know - some things really are enough to stress out over sometimes. If you have bills and no job, yeah, that does tend to be a problem.

But the other things that tend to frustrate us - like whether or not we're where we planned to be in life at the age that we now find ourselves at, either having or not having things like a spouse, a good job, a degree, a house, etc - I think sometimes we just take these things too seriously. Life really is like a roller coaster ride... sometimes it's up, sometimes it's down, sometimes it's peaceful, and sometimes it's downright scary. But roller coasters are better if you just relax, take everything as it comes, and enjoy the ride - even if it isn't exactly what you expected. You can't really tell what's going to be around that next turn.

And once again, Jimmy Eat World sums up some of what I'm thinking in some of their lyrics:

Are you gonna live your life wonderin' standing in the back lookin' around?
Are you gonna waste your time thinkin' how you've grown up or how you missed out?
Things are never gonna be the way you want.
Where's it gonna get you acting serious?
Things are never gonna be quite what you want.
Or even at 25, you gotta start sometime.
I'm on my feet, I'm on the floor, I'm good to go.
Now all I need is just to hear a song I know.

It's Christmastime now. The end of yet another year. People get depressed a lot around this time of year, whether it's because of family things or just because the year didn't quite turn out how they had hoped or just whatever. I challenge everyone reading this (myself included) to not let it be that way this year. Yes, life can be depressing and frustrating at times. But stop worrying about it and letting it get you down. Things are never gonna be quite what you want. Where's it gonna get you acting serious? So try - just for the next month, at least - to stop worrying about the things you'd hoped you'd have right now, or where you thought you'd be, and just live your life where you're at. Enjoy it. Christmas is a fun time, full of fun and parties and PEOPLE. Enjoy the people around you... we all have people around us that we can enjoy, and people are probably what bring the most enjoyment to our lives anyway. And enjoy where you're at in life, because you'll never quite be in this same place again.