Books, Trip, and Ice Cream Truck

Whew! It's been a while... Let's catch up on the past week. First, my books arrived last Friday! They contain pretty pictures. Makes my hands itch to make something right now. They were from Interweave's Hurt Book Sale. From the looks of them, there's nothing wrong at all. What a bargain!

Color on Color, New England Knits, I <3 Patchwork, and French Girl Knits

On Tuesday I had a last minute business trip to Bath, Maine. Good thing I kept my bag packed and ready for this trip. It was still in limbo on Monday. We were supposed to leave Monday night, but it was delayed. We got the go ahead on Tuesday and left work at 9:30 am and arrived in Bath at 1 pm. Bath is a little town that's known for their ship building, specifically U.S. Navy ships like the DDG-51 and the DDG-1000, Zumwalt class destroyers.

My co-worker, Stephanie, and I were there to replace some parts on the ship. It was cool to walk through it, but we picked one of the hottest days to be on the ship. We had to wear long sleeves and long pants along with a hard hat and safety glasses. Don't know how those guys do it everyday. After running back and forth between the shipyard and the warehouse, we finally finished around 3 pm on Wednesday. We got home later that evening and I was glad to take a nice cold shower at home. I miss being home with Chris and our boys.

This restaurant was attached to the Holiday Inn.
It had a maritime theme, quite appropriate for Bath.
The Bounty.

Thursday was Ice Cream Truck Day at my company. The Fun Team arranged for an ice cream truck to come for two hours. You can pick whatever you like. I had one of those chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches. Yummy!

Let's gather around the ice cream truck!

Today, I just did a lot of laundry. While I'm waiting for Chris to come home, I'll probably start a new craft project. It's been so busy and I've been slacking on the craft front. The hard part is picking out a project...

Ashland's Relay for Life

Today was a beautiful day for the Relay for Life in Ashland, MA. The sun was out and very few clouds in sight. My company gathered many volunteers from a variety of departments - Engineering, Marketing, Customer Service, and HR - and everyone showed up to support the cause. Together we raised over $15,000 for this event in a span of one year. We held bake sales, casual Wednesdays, raffles, and a golf tournament throughout the year.

I managed to convince Chris to join me and I believe he had a great time once I put him to work selling lemonade, popcorn, and chili. See for yourself!

Chris advertising the popcorn and lemonade.

My company's tents - manicure and massage on the left, food on the right.

Together, we can!

All the pretty signs. I made the Chili and Chips sign.

Manning the popcorn machine.

1st Place Winner!

Good news! I won the Bake-off at work with my entry, Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars! I'm so happy. The prize was a $25 Premiere Choice Award. I can redeem it for any gift card I want. So exciting!

I'm part of my company's Fun Team and we organize little events like this every month. We're going to be putting together a recipe book from all our bake-off/cook-off events. Coming up in August is the Dip-off. We'll have people make dips and the Fun Team will probably supply the chips and veggies. We'll be having a Chili Cook-off in November. Can't wait!

Keeping Track of Books

Okay, I have a confession to make. I used to have a spreadsheet of all the books I own. I was keeping up with it until May when I went to Thailand. It seems that after Thailand I pretty much stopped doing everything that I used to do for better or worse. I'm not on facebook 24/7 anymore and I barely update my photos. I still tweet, but less often. I used to crochet like a fiend, but now I can't find the energy to do so. I used to blog all the time, now I update maybe once a month.

Part of it has something to do with starting a full-time job and getting a puppy. I can't blame Kujo for my laziness. It's just me. I got sick of the internet after experiencing Thailand for a month essentially without it. Maybe I have less to say? Nah, I doubt it. I just don't feel like typing it all out right now.

About that spreadsheet... I need to find it and update it soon. I have way too many books that I haven't kept track of.

Interview with the HR Director

I felt like writing "Interview with the Vampire," you know, similar to word association, that whole "Interview with" just made me want to add the rest. I've never seen the movie from beginning to end, but I might have to do that eventually. Okay, I'm rambling. Moving on.

The HR Director contacted me this morning around 10:30 am. She was very pleasant to talk to on the phone. Oh boy was I nervous. This is the beginning of my life after college. My first job. (Well, my first real post-college job... I've been on co-ops and had about 7 or 8 jobs so far.) We talked about the Engineering Development Program, my salary, relocating, and other random questions that happen to pop into my head. I'm a people person and I love to talk and find out about someone. That's probably why I get along with a lot of people.

My advices to people who are currently looking for a job:

1. Go to career fairs and NETWORK!!! - That's how I got my first interview.
2. Brush up on your interviewing techniques and phone etiquette.
3. Research the company.
4. Send handwritten Thank You notes - Thanks Solange for the info!
5. Last but not least - Be open and honest. Be yourself!

I'm heading back to Boston tomorrow morning so I can write 100 invitation envelopes by hand for the Advancement Office. =)  I can't wait to relax in Boston. I'll catch up on my reading then. I've been crocheting up a storm. I'll post the pictures tomorrow.

Offer of Employment

I'm so excited! Around noon today the HR Director of UTC Fire & Security called me to let me know that they would like to offer me a place in the Engineering Development Program. She wanted to interview me, but I had to reschedule because I was in the process of moving from Sean's in CT to my home in NY. She was very nice and we're going to have the interview tomorrow morning.

I'm currently sitting in the computer section at the South Country Library in Bellport. Nice. I don't have internet service at home because my mom doesn't use the computer. Okay, I gotta run. Sean's currently browsing the movie selections. But now he's hovering behind me. Bye!

Fridays, I love them so

It is Friday, the day of the week that I look forward to the most. The reason? My art class meets today. Unfortunately we are not meeting this week since my instructor is sick. =( I woke up this morning at 6:45 am to get ready for work at 7:45 am. I worked until 12:40 pm and made a couple of purchases before leaving. I had a sweatshirt on hold for my sister for the past two weeks and my co-worker Meredith recommended a book to me: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I've seen it before, but never made an effort to actually read it. But now I will. I'm always looking for book recommendations by my peers. It's always interesting to see other people's interests.

My interview with UTC Fire & Security, Fire Safety Division went really well. I got there early so I sat in the car for the next 10 minutes reviewing notes I made about the company. I met with HR, the engineering manager, the program manager, and the director of engineering. I also received a tour of the facility. Very nice. I'm pretty excited and also in awe. The engineering manager has two Masters degrees and the director of engineering has three. Wow. That's dedication. I would like to do that one day too. For now I would like to get more experience in industry before I decide if I should get an advance degree in any field.

That's all for now. I'm going to go lay down and maybe play Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia. =)