this is a lot longer than planned...
Hmm. I just had the realization that I haven't posted for something like 3 or 4 weeks. Time to update my journal (and the few that read it) on what's been happening in my life.
Chad (my cousin) and Sheena's wedding was on the 8th, and it was very beautiful - I had a good time, and it was fun to see my relatives for the first time since I started my job. It felt good to feel like I'd proven myself. (Okay, so it's not like anyone was expecting me to fail or anything - it's more because none of my mom's brothers and sisters went to college, and I'm the first of the nieces and nephews to finish at a four year college in four years at the same college. Needless to say, my aunts and uncles are a tad skeptical of the whole college learning experience. But there I was, just graduated in spring, and now I'm an environmental scientist working at the state capitol in Bismarck. To say the least I'm a bit proud of myself - and very thankful.) Anyway, the wedding party was pretty large - there were 7 or 8 bridesmaids and groomsmen, and they picked a beautiful shade of brown complimented by a nice cream-color for accents. Sheena was gorgeous and so was her dress; I can only hope that I'll manage to be that beautiful and put-together when my big day comes around...but I digress. The whole show was wonderful, and it was nice to be home for a little while.
The 10th - 13th was more wetland mitigation monitoring on US Hwy 2 near Stanley, and we got everything done except one 10 mile stretch near Williston. Side note: no one in their right mind should stay in the motel in Stanley - I don't know if it's just the 70's decor or the fact that there's an empty lot behind it, so half of the rooms overlook a cemetery... That place just creeps me out.
Tony came over to see me the weekend of the 14th - 16th, and we had a good time walking all over the city. There was a street fair over on Broadway that covered four blocks and side streets for a block in each direction. After that we walked to the mall before heading back to my apartment. We went to Famous Dave's for dinner, and it was wonderful - I love spending so much time with him (and having the money for us to enjoy ourselves a little) - it makes me look forward to the day when we'll finally be able to wake up together every morning.
The 19th and 20th I was in Williston with Mike and Dan again to finish up the last 10 miles of wetland mitigation monitoring for Hwy 2, and all in all it was an interesting experience. By pure chance I ended up with the smoking room (when we booked, all they could offer was two non- and one smoking), and it smelled awful - then we went to Applebee's for dinner, and I ended up finding most of a plastic bread bag tie in my pasta. Yum. But I survived, and we finished up the rest of the monitoring for that stretch of highway (for this year at least).
I had last weekend to myself, and I really enjoyed it. It was nice to be able to completely relax and take care of things I'd been meaning to get around to. My new mattress arrived on the 21st, and it's amazing. Like sleeping on a giant pillow - definitely much better than feeling springs jab into my side if I rolled the wrong way. I finally bought a pretty table lamp for my bedroom, some more dress shirts for work, and a couple of posters to put up in my cubicle at work.
This past week felt kind of long, but at least I got out of the office on Tuesday to check out a borrow site (where a contractor took some dirt and gravel for a road project) with Dan, Tom, and Greg from work. It was originally supposed to be just Dan and me, but Tom called the contractor just to let them know that we were headed out there, and he was told that the site had already been disturbed, even though their environmental clearance permit hadn't been approved. Therefore Tom came along to take a look and Greg (from cultural resources) came along to make sure there weren't any archaeological sites there. So we had a good time driving out to Dodge and checking it out.
Half of Thursday was spent filling out timesheets, since we get paid on Monday (yay!), and I was done for the week at 5:30 on Friday. I've commited to four 10 hour days Monday - Thursday, 7am to 5:30pm. It sucks working the extra 2 hours each day, but it's splendid having three day weekends.
Tony came over on Friday to visit me this weekend, and we had a good time just relaxing and spending time together. We went to TGI Friday's for dinner on Friday night, and ended up bringing half of our entrees and both desserts home because there was too much food (we did the 3 course deal for $12.99). Stopped for a little alcohol and some Coke before heading back to my apartment to drink a bit and watch some tv. Yesterday we did a bit of furniture shopping, since I'm planning to buy a couch for my apartment in the next couple of weeks. We found one that we love - it's a neutral color, microfiber, and really comfortable (and it's less than $450), but I'm worried that it'll be difficult to get into and out of my apartment, since it's 90" by 40" by 37", and my doorway is only 36" wide... maybe they can remove the legs to get it in easier. Anyway, it was a lovely weekend, and Tony left just after noon since he has an exam tomorrow, another one on Tuesday, and a 10 page paper due on the 8th (and he won't have much time to work on it next weekend, since I'm coming over on Thursday night; his sister Anna, her husband Nate, and their two little boys are coming up on Friday; and his mom and dad are coming up on Saturday since it'll be Concordia's homecoming.
In the meantime, I'll be "working for the weekend" yet again - don't get me wrong, I love my job - it's great to know that I'm doing important work - and my coworkers are a lot of fun (Mike, Steve, Dan, and I went to "Dragon Wars" on Thursday night and had a great time making fun of it - we had the whole theater to ourselves).
Anyway, that's an excessively long update on my life - I hope all is well with everyone else (Amber, I'm glad things are going okay so far - you and your baby are in my prayers) - take care and bye for now!
Chad (my cousin) and Sheena's wedding was on the 8th, and it was very beautiful - I had a good time, and it was fun to see my relatives for the first time since I started my job. It felt good to feel like I'd proven myself. (Okay, so it's not like anyone was expecting me to fail or anything - it's more because none of my mom's brothers and sisters went to college, and I'm the first of the nieces and nephews to finish at a four year college in four years at the same college. Needless to say, my aunts and uncles are a tad skeptical of the whole college learning experience. But there I was, just graduated in spring, and now I'm an environmental scientist working at the state capitol in Bismarck. To say the least I'm a bit proud of myself - and very thankful.) Anyway, the wedding party was pretty large - there were 7 or 8 bridesmaids and groomsmen, and they picked a beautiful shade of brown complimented by a nice cream-color for accents. Sheena was gorgeous and so was her dress; I can only hope that I'll manage to be that beautiful and put-together when my big day comes around...but I digress. The whole show was wonderful, and it was nice to be home for a little while.
The 10th - 13th was more wetland mitigation monitoring on US Hwy 2 near Stanley, and we got everything done except one 10 mile stretch near Williston. Side note: no one in their right mind should stay in the motel in Stanley - I don't know if it's just the 70's decor or the fact that there's an empty lot behind it, so half of the rooms overlook a cemetery... That place just creeps me out.
Tony came over to see me the weekend of the 14th - 16th, and we had a good time walking all over the city. There was a street fair over on Broadway that covered four blocks and side streets for a block in each direction. After that we walked to the mall before heading back to my apartment. We went to Famous Dave's for dinner, and it was wonderful - I love spending so much time with him (and having the money for us to enjoy ourselves a little) - it makes me look forward to the day when we'll finally be able to wake up together every morning.
The 19th and 20th I was in Williston with Mike and Dan again to finish up the last 10 miles of wetland mitigation monitoring for Hwy 2, and all in all it was an interesting experience. By pure chance I ended up with the smoking room (when we booked, all they could offer was two non- and one smoking), and it smelled awful - then we went to Applebee's for dinner, and I ended up finding most of a plastic bread bag tie in my pasta. Yum. But I survived, and we finished up the rest of the monitoring for that stretch of highway (for this year at least).
I had last weekend to myself, and I really enjoyed it. It was nice to be able to completely relax and take care of things I'd been meaning to get around to. My new mattress arrived on the 21st, and it's amazing. Like sleeping on a giant pillow - definitely much better than feeling springs jab into my side if I rolled the wrong way. I finally bought a pretty table lamp for my bedroom, some more dress shirts for work, and a couple of posters to put up in my cubicle at work.
This past week felt kind of long, but at least I got out of the office on Tuesday to check out a borrow site (where a contractor took some dirt and gravel for a road project) with Dan, Tom, and Greg from work. It was originally supposed to be just Dan and me, but Tom called the contractor just to let them know that we were headed out there, and he was told that the site had already been disturbed, even though their environmental clearance permit hadn't been approved. Therefore Tom came along to take a look and Greg (from cultural resources) came along to make sure there weren't any archaeological sites there. So we had a good time driving out to Dodge and checking it out.
Half of Thursday was spent filling out timesheets, since we get paid on Monday (yay!), and I was done for the week at 5:30 on Friday. I've commited to four 10 hour days Monday - Thursday, 7am to 5:30pm. It sucks working the extra 2 hours each day, but it's splendid having three day weekends.
Tony came over on Friday to visit me this weekend, and we had a good time just relaxing and spending time together. We went to TGI Friday's for dinner on Friday night, and ended up bringing half of our entrees and both desserts home because there was too much food (we did the 3 course deal for $12.99). Stopped for a little alcohol and some Coke before heading back to my apartment to drink a bit and watch some tv. Yesterday we did a bit of furniture shopping, since I'm planning to buy a couch for my apartment in the next couple of weeks. We found one that we love - it's a neutral color, microfiber, and really comfortable (and it's less than $450), but I'm worried that it'll be difficult to get into and out of my apartment, since it's 90" by 40" by 37", and my doorway is only 36" wide... maybe they can remove the legs to get it in easier. Anyway, it was a lovely weekend, and Tony left just after noon since he has an exam tomorrow, another one on Tuesday, and a 10 page paper due on the 8th (and he won't have much time to work on it next weekend, since I'm coming over on Thursday night; his sister Anna, her husband Nate, and their two little boys are coming up on Friday; and his mom and dad are coming up on Saturday since it'll be Concordia's homecoming.
In the meantime, I'll be "working for the weekend" yet again - don't get me wrong, I love my job - it's great to know that I'm doing important work - and my coworkers are a lot of fun (Mike, Steve, Dan, and I went to "Dragon Wars" on Thursday night and had a great time making fun of it - we had the whole theater to ourselves).
Anyway, that's an excessively long update on my life - I hope all is well with everyone else (Amber, I'm glad things are going okay so far - you and your baby are in my prayers) - take care and bye for now!