Our troubles will be miles away...

I feel as though the entire country's Christmas spirit was stolen from them by a Connecticut asshole with a complex. The day of the shooting, I had planned to work on my annual new Christmas song memorization. (how pathetic in comparison) Apparently I'm in a soulful mood preferring Have yourself a merry little Christmas to the happier Jingle bell types. I sat down, with my guitar just to sing the song. I was sobbing by the second line... These poor children, and their educators were stolen from their families, just outside of the holiday season. How many gifts were already purchased? How many plans for cookies for Santa? I feel like every time I sing a carol, I'm singing what they cannot and start crying by the end. Are these songs my prayers for them? When I do pray, I end up just imagining hugging all these little children.

Only strong cause I have to be.

As of next week, Doug will have been in training for 6 months. 6 months of training, no where near his wife or his dog. I am not a fan.

I suppose at this point I am sort of used to it, and to that end, it will make a deployment that much easier for me because we have been there, done that. Sort of.
Once he actually starts his OCS (Officer Candidate School), it will be 12 more weeks. At this point 12 weeks sounds like so little.

I'd like to say that it's been easy, no problem, whatever. But I miss my husband. I miss his smile. We skype, so I see him, but there's only so much you can get out of an image. This has been a very frustrating experience for me, for him, and I am sure also for my parents, who have taken Juno and me in for the duration.

Just a little vent.

My Green Grass

Now that we have a social networking system that we can go online and see the brightest parts of every person's day, I have found myself seeing that other people own the greener grass. Here is my green grass. (tooting my own horn)

Education - I went to college in one of the "happiest towns in the world". No other student outside of SLO, in the United States can claim that one. SLO was beautiful and I believe my college experience was one hard to be rivaled. I was among my peers. A school for nerds, diverse intelligent conversations. They were my soul mates and I believe my time there brought out a better, truer me.

Work - After college, I managed to find work in my field; in Lake Tahoe, CA. Who can say that? Not many people, I know that one. I got to spend two years in one of the most gorgeous spots on Earth. I skied my heart out. More than 50 days in the winter of 09-10. I can ski down ANYTHING they can groom, and then some. I was exposed to some of the best wine in the country, by my Tahoe parents, the Kirchers and now believe I have a moderately discerning palette.

Love - I found my match. Or maybe he found me. Doug is a kind, gentle, and intelligent soul. Everyday I day I know his love for me. It's not the words he says, it's the smiles I get, the support he gives me. If he knows I am upset, he will stop what he's doing to find out why, even when it's late and he should be sleeping. He doesn't share his love for me to the world through silly means. He shares it with me, for me, and me alone.
Even now, when we don't have much as far I money, I tell him I'm thinking grad school, he says "go for it". He thinks it will make me happy, actually doing something towards the productivity of myself. How can I be sad when he gives me that?

Life - It is a month and a half out from when Doug will leave me for a while. BCT, basic training, then OCS, officer candidate school. Somehow I worry that this will be harder on me, than on him, at least in the beginning.

The green grass of this situation lies in the path. We will get to travel. Maybe see some of the world? We both love traveling, and to be honest, I have no idea where I want to live permanently. Neither does Doug for that matter. Maybe the Army will show us some more places we won't want to live. ;)

I'm studying for the GRE right now and every practice test I take, the numbers go up. (question is then. When do I stop practicing and just take the thing?)

So there you go. A snapshop of my grass not a celadon, but a true apple green.


Edit: 8/18/2011. The market took a big nosedive this week/last. I guess I should also be glad that Doug has a guaranteed job for the next three years, and I should be in grad school not worrying too much about unemployment.

On grieving and saying goodbye.

My Grandma Minkkinen passed away on July 12, 2011. She was 77 years old.

As I have mentioned in a previous post, I was lucky enough to get to visit her around my birthday of last month. I am so incredibly grateful I did. She was happy and smiley, the grandma I will always remember. Even now, I keep thinking of how her arms felt around me on our last hug goodbye.

When my grandfather died 6 years ago, it was eight months before I was back to myself. Few who knew me understood why I would cry at the smallest provocation, shout for basically no reason. I wonder now if it was from the shock. I remember the last two conversations I had with him. One about the weather, one concerning my grandmother, which was decidedly one sided. The latter was just minutes before he passed, leading me to believe he heard my words. I knew my grandpa was sick, but maybe I didn't understand. I had never thought much on death before.

At my grandmother Goodell's funeral. I didn't "visit" her. I was 13 years old and I know I only cried once. She had dementia and I had been grieving her loss slowly for years. Grieving the loss of a woman, I only knew from the view of a child.

For Grandma Minkk, I also watched her slowly disappear, knowing at the end of the visit when I say goodbye , the next time I see her, she would know me a little less. It hurts; then and now.

Tears happen. I am not ready to be strong. Not today.

Weeks after my grandpa's funeral I was attending church with cousin in Memphis. They sang the song posted below. I sobbed. It still makes me cry, but I think in a good way. Maybe.

Song That Makes Me Cry

Edit:
At the funeral my cousin's wife Shannon led us in "What a friend we have in Jesus". As she started singing, the funeral attendants slowly joined. A wave of song, everyone together, in a way I had never heard in a church before. Maybe my Grandma was with us to help.

MN & Grandma

Last week I got the opportunity to go to MN with my parents. Since Doug is joining the army, I don't know how many more easy trips there to see my grandma I can get. Since we were there, she broke her hip and is now refusing food and meds, so I thought I would jot down what I remember she told me when we were there. I wish her thought processes were finished when she talked to us, but she would start a sentence and not be able to finish.

She knew who my parents were and talked with us with recognition. She knew I was a granddaughter, but I'm pretty sure she didn't know which one. She called me cute and complemented my hair. "I don't remember you being so tall."

I looked through a stack of photos with her. All of them of her new great-grandson Jack. She kept talking about how she loved little ones and how they're so cute.

Though she wasn't really sure where she was, she could still point North. :)

The last two times we were there, she was singing.

Laura Jordan, Army Wife

On Tuesday of this week, that would be June 7th, Doug took his oath to join the United State Army. After much worry, he has been officially selected for Army OCS (Officer Candidate School). He will head to Basic Training in early October of this year, and will Hopefully finish OCS in April. Then we will find out what branch he will have.

It's a waiting game now.
HOOAH!?

New Year

It's been 3 years to the day that Doug had a little 3 word slip. I hope he would agree that, that particular whoops worked out in his favor.

Doug and I finally have moved all of our stuff, minus a box or two, into our apartment. Aside from the books, that have yet to find their way onto a shelf, I would say it looks pretty cute.

We have a fireplace and large piece of art sitting above it. And by art I mean beautiful 47" tv. Doug finished my Uber Computer which I have name "Mother" see if you can guess what movie I am referencing. I can't wait to see what all it can do.

No job yet, I suppose that leaves some of us a little uninspired.

November 2010

Because, I don't feel well, or am just lazy I will not go into detail of the last few months. But I will explain the happenings, just cause.

Doug and I, after looking for work from Tahoe for almost a year, decided to try our hand at Ohio. My family is here, my sister is pregnant and this would be a great, affordable place to kick off our lives together.

So far I have not found work, but it seems that I hope to get my name in to firms in the area to be a contract employee; to be another body that can come in and get things done when there's a deadline. That's the way the field works right now. No one wants to commit to a full time-employee when they don't know what the future holds. Doug has found work...for now at a local pharmacy as a manager, and he can pay the bills for us as we figure things out.

Doug and I are still living at Kara's and have been for 2.5 months now. Since Doug is working we will be looking for a new place this coming week.

Kara had a baby shower today. Though it lasted 4 hours, it was apparent from all the gifts, and the quality of them, that Kara's office and friends love her. So many homemade blankets. Wow. We know this little one will be spoiled already. ;)

6 5 2010 The Wedding Day

As I write this I am taking a break in packing for the honeymoon, I wish I could increase the brevity. Alas, I want to be thorough.

I woke in the morning of my wedding at 5 am. Who does that? Couldn't sleep after that, not a wink. I got out of bed, got some coffee and ate 1/4 bowl of oatmeal. I convinced Kara and Brandon to go to Squaw with my parents and waited for 9 am to roll around.
At 9 Jackie, Christine and I headed to Cal-Neva. When I got to the front desk, there was a photo of Doug and me on the counter. I turned the photo around and said "this is me, I need to check in."
The clerk laughed and said "Yeah, we had a discussion about that this morning. 'that's guy from Safeway!' " Apparently Doug is a celebrity in these parts. I was told to wait because they had to clean the room. Somehow there was a mix up because when we went up there, the room was still not clean. But Cal-Neva quickly changed that for us.

The view from our suite was absolutely spectacular. From the balcony there had to be a view of over 200 degrees of the lake. In this beautiful room, though stressing, Robyn, Jackie and I read magazines and waited for our hair appointments. During this time, I met with Meredith, my youngest cousin, to do her hair. Nice, silky and long, my flower girl's hair only took about half and hour, and had a perfect spot for the cala lily I had waiting for her. Before she left, I also painted Meredith's nails my favorite shade of pink. I had never seen the little girl happier. :)

After I brought Meredith back to her dad in the parking lot, I headed back upstairs to room 920 (top floor). I waited there, nervous and helping people with their nails until my turn for hair rolled around.

I headed downstairs and was very happy to see Whitney ready for me, (btw she did an amazing job with Christine's hair). Whitney sat me down and started working while both Sharon and Alex came in the ask some final questions. An hour and a half later, my hair was done, the tiara was in and my makeup was done. I headed back upstairs with my go to girl Jackie. We called Yuen (the photographer) to let him know the dress application process would be beginning.

Kara brought me into the bedroom part of the suite and very deftly slid the dress over my head. My mom stepped in to help tie me in for the day. By the end of it, I could only take a half breath, something that may have caused problems later. Once the gown was on, I was coerced to stand on the balcony. Not that I would have complained, it was the coolest place in the room.

After we were all dressed, we headed out to Mountain golf course for some photos at the putting green. With our props included we had some great pictures. Picture frames and Umbrellas, who could ask for more on their wedding day.

When the prephotos were finished we headed to the church, climbed in the back door and waited in Jim's (Minister) office. It was 3 minutes to the scheduled time. My adrenaline was going..it was warm in the office...no worries. Kara came back after checking on the status of things only to tell us we were waiting on the marriage license... Oh Doug...Apparently it was ready in the car and he was given a ride to the church so the license was sitting in his car at home.

So now that I find out I have time, the nerves take over as the adrenaline leaves...it's warm....Someone has me sit down on the edge of a couch since I have time...it's warm... I mentioned that I might have been a little faint. Kara looked down at my feet...They were purple. Hmm, that doesn't sound right.

I was tipped Kara and Christine onto the couch. Good thing too, the tunnel vision was starting, but quickly ebbed with my now inverted position. Once it seemed to be safe, and we were given the go ahead, and marched in file from the room.

While we stood waiting for the processional, I watched as my groomsman friends cracked jokes and gave high-fives. At least they seemed to be at ease. I had to slap myself a little just to calm down. And got some funny looks for that one. As pachebel's canon floated down the aisle, so did my friends, leaving my dad and me waiting with the Pepin children for my 'fairytale' (Tong Hua, it was the song).

Kevin started playing the guitar and I watched my flowergirl and ringbearer head towards my fiance. My dad and I followed...but something wasn't right. Apparently the lack of the Mendelssohn's wedding march caused confusion because no one stood up. I looked down the aisle to see Doug smiling at me. I missed his face, his first impression, his jaw drop, as he told me but between his smiles he was trying to coerce the congregation to stand. Mid length of the aisle they did and gave my thanks, which then caused an embarrassed general laugh.

Standing at the front of the church, my father and I waited as Jim went through the standard lines, and my dad handed me off the Doug. I don't remember much of what we said, but I know, I was shocked and terrified planning to mumble my way through the any of the ceremony that I took part in...too bad Doug did not have the same plan.

Proud, poised and clearly, with a smile on his face, he repeated the words led by the minister. In my head, "How dare he!" Prepared to be neither poised nor clear Doug challenged me to bring my A game. Somehow, I managed to repeat my lines without a voice crack or mumble. We married. Before we left the alter the congregation joined in song to "What a wonderful world". I was fine until the last chorus, when I forgot the words and finally was emotional about my own wedding.

The regular receiving line formed and I got to finally see my guests face to face. Again, the memory is a little faded a week later, but I was glad to see them all.

My new husband and I climbed into our limo, and the smile on my face promptly ended. Why? Apparently the limo company double booked our limo and we only had 15 minutes left because he arrived early. Anger. Yes. Anger. We had him bring us to Sand Harbor as planned and I tried not to worry about it.


It was a funny thing at Sand harbor, we started on the beach for some group photos and then headed to the rock side. Once we got to the rock side, after Doug graciously carried me off the edge, I climbed on the nearest rock with dress hoisted. I turned and saw all the bridesmaids doing the same. We took photos jumping from rock to rock, but the photographer, Yuen was better. We all worried for the safety of his camera. Doug had to carry me down a couple of them.

After the group photos, our limo left us at Championship golf course, luckily we knew Yuen and Jess were on their way. We quickly took a photo of Doug, holding a photo of Doug, holding a photo of Doug at one of the tee boxes and were dropped off at Cal-Neva.

Sharon met us up front and we headed downstairs for our grand entrance. One of the tribal songs from Civ 4. We sat down but I couldnt eat much, not that I really had a lunch, so I was not too surprised by my lack of hunger at dinner. I mingled instead.

Concerning the cake, I still maintain Doug did not listen when Sharon gave the instructions. :P He cut 2 pieces instead and one, so we dropped some. I was told later, by the ringbearer, that "It was very funny when Mr. Doug put cake on my nose," and I backed away from him afraid of a face full. Delicious cake though.

We finally got what I have been waiting 2 years for. Our first dance. We danced to Lucky by Jason Mraz. After months of practicing a graceful foxtrot my dress turned it into gown surfing. I'm pretty sure it was not too apparent, but try keep a smile on your face while your keeping yourself from falling.

The Daddy-daughter dance went with little hitch and according to Rose, the Mother-son dance was too short. ;) (4 1/2 min)

I was so annoyed at myself concerning the bouquet toss. Mine hit the ceiling. I almost caught it again for another shot, but alas, My cousin Anne picked it up off the floor....so sad. I had a fight planned an everything.

Once the party dancing began it didn't stop. Anything from 1961 to 2010 people were moving. I have to admit I am rather proud of my song choices.
I was also very careful to talk to everyone, even though the ringbearer tried to get more than his share of dances with me.

After the party ended...which Sharon let us have go late, we said our good byes. Doug brought me upstairs and carried me across the threshold of room 920.

Tuesday the 30th

Since the heel is trying to give Achilles a run for his money. I will not be enjoying today's blizzard-like conditions at Squaw today.

I am currently elbow deep in wedding planning, but I suppose that is natural when you're closing in on the 2 month mark. (Eeep) I went down to Woodland (Doug's parents house) to meet Mary and Christine, without whom I wouldn't have finished what I did. Rose helped with her beautiful, practiced hand to do the addressing. Other than a small hiccup with some glue and laser ink we finished enough of the invitations for every invited guest.

Where to begin.

I realize my entries for the past year have been few and far between, I will not make any excuses about it. Work is different than school and updating people on things that are always the same hardly makes sense. I will however try now to fill in that gaps that I have left.

In August of this year, Juno and I moved into a real home, not that small studio we both started in. We have a nice kitchen and a fenced yard now, complete with washer and dryer. There is even a Christmas tree in here, purchased from Forestland, through boyscouts. We have daily walks at the local park, but not that tourists have come in for wintersport, we have go deeper before she can run free.

At the end of August Doug wanted to go on a real mountain hike. We went up Mt. Rose with the dog and did a 6 mile- round trip hike through the valley of the highway (approx. 9000 ft). At the end of our hike was a waterfall, where we ate the picnic we brought, and where Doug dropped to one knee. I suppose my answer shows when you see my left hand, as his grandmother's ring sits on it. Since then I have been elbow deep in planning and we took a road trip home to Ohio to tell the news in person, not that it wasn't expected. We will be married in Incline Village on June 5, 2010.

Doug moved to North Lake Tahoe in July. He started working at Safeway for the Fourth and worked hard to get extra hours whenever he could. With that and his well-rounded abilities in the social scene, he has jumped rungs and changed ladders. He often works as a manager now, and easily jokes with his bosses concerning their idiocy. It would seem far too sincere from me were I to do the same.

In November jobs at my office hit the ultimate low. I was let go, with the promise of being contacted should anything come up. It's slow going right now, but I do have a season pass for Squaw, so once these holiday tourists leave, I will hit the slopes.

Office Website

I am adding to the Website again at work. I am also adding a link here, because apparently google and yahoo will see our site better with it.

www.prdei.com

Juno ≠ Hot Sauce

I was feeling particularly productived today and decided to make a rope for Juno. No, not like spinning yarn, or macrome, but just a nice rope with clips on the end so Juno can be on her own outside without a fence. It took a little work, as the local Hardware did not have any no nylon rope. Doug and I went down to Carson today to do a little shopping (costco...not little) and we went to Home Depot. Again, they did not have non nylon rope. I caved and bought some climbing rope and a couple clips. After just now assembling it, using the time patented double half hitch knot(Friendship bracelet knot), I put the new rope on the Dog to test it out. What do you know? Juno being who she is promptly started to chew on it. To nip that in the bud I decided to wipe the ends with hot sauce. I walked to put the sauce away and came back to Juno, back chewing on the rop again...but not for long.

She stopped, looked at me, and gave a start. While twitching she started to hop in place. She then quickly threw her head to the floor, pushing her mouth along the carpet like a self propelled Hoover. After a small bout of laughter, I caved and poured her just a little milk in her bowl to curb the burn. Silly pup, hopefully she learned from that one.

A breather

Wow, its been 9 months since my last post. That could worry some people about the things I have been up to...

In fact there is someone new in my life. She was born on January 26, 2009 and she currently weighs 53 lbs. My Bernese Mountain Dog Puppy, Juno. I had puppy fever, for well, lets face it, a couple years, but had started to call breeders after christmas looking for my very own. Much to my chagrin, Bernies are hard to come by and most people either send out for one from afar, or they are on waiting lists with breeders. Lucky me, a breeder returned my call a week after she told me all pups were claimed. Apparrently a girl who was supposed to take one was in a car accident and if I wanted the pup, I would need to act fast.

On March 27, two years to the day after I left for Europe, and 1 year to the day after Doug and I started dating, I got my puppy.

For the past 3 months we have been getting to know each other and the potty training is done. i have been kept quite warm at night. Although she is pretty good up on the bed, she insists on being like me and putting her head on my pillow. that will end soon however she insists on facing me at all times. Right now her head is just inches from my keyboard and she had twice now tried to put her own two cents into this post.

My other reason for not being present and up to date on my posting is LEED. (usgbc.org) I have spent the past 3 months intensely studying for a 400 dollar test for Accreditation. The past 6 weeks, any free time was lent to its study and walking Juno. However i am glad to say, that is all over and I have passed with cool initials after my name. Best part is, since i passed first go around, my office paid for it.

I brought Juno to the fireworks at the beach, and she was stunned by all the people. Thousands of tourists inhaling and imbibing, swearing and littering. What happened the beach on which I could walk with her alone? She was a little frightened by the fireworks, but I thought she would do better seeing the source of the sound. Juno sat on my lap and watched the fireworks with me, as intent as I have ever seen her on something that wasn't living, or food (or both).

I have been living here Tahoe for 10 months and am currently dealing with the summer flow of tourists. Boy do I hate them

Because they are on vacation, they assume everyone here is on vacation and therefore can wait for 20 minutes while a herd of them cross the road on red. They walk down the center of the road and glare at the cars who are just trying to get the errands done. No wonder the "locals of Tahoe" are such grouchy people. according to the tourists.

Ernie! S.O.S. Our Time Machine and Robot Need Fixing!

Today was the usual day, with some unusual humor that I thought I would share with you.

Over the weekend Meghan's (co-workers) computer was taken over by a vile Greek. I mean Trojan, or something of the sort. Either way it completely marauded her system, taking out all means of office printing and a location for her to work.

Meanwhile last night J. Bradley (also a co-worker) was working late to get things done sp that he could head up to Portland for Stream Bed Analysis Course. Computer Crashes, leaving him distraught and panicking. 6 hours of work seems lost.

No worries. Lets all use the Time Machine! That's right we have a time machine in our office. Unfortuneatley, it too broke in our most misfortuitous of weekends.

My boss Andrew called our tech guy stating "Get here quick Ernie, our time machine's broken and Meghan's Bot isn't doing its job!" Well, the time machine is a program in our server used to autosave backup files so that time are not panicky like bradley's was last night. The bot that wasn't doing its job was SPYBot on Meghan's Computer. Yeah, so bland now, huh?

Also, I got in a spicket spat with Andrew. Not really though, I just like the alliteration. We were debating over how to spell it, spigot, or spicket. I went with his way, cause well...he pays me money. However, I did look it up. Spicket and spigot are the same thing, different spelling, just a case of regional dialects and time changing what a word is. What sayeth thou now?

I also worked my first 11 hour day today, so I am tired.

My Oh My

Everyday here in Tahoe is beautiful, either its sunny, or its snowing.

Lake Effect Snow FTW

It was pointed out to me the other day, that I had moved from one vacation location, to an even more exclusive one. I guess that's my way of not needing to vacation too much.... darn.

An amazing thing happened today, something I don't know that I have personally ever experienced. It snowed today. It snowed weeks before Halloween, which, by the way boggles my mind. It didn't snow much, but it did just enough to keep me distracted from work as i could see the snowflakes falling through both periferals. I had lots to do today, but I am pretty proud about my success before the clock struck 5. I coordinated, assembled and formatted no less than 50 details on 9 sheets in the past 2 days. As this was only the 75% design docs, there is still work to be done, one being metric units needing conversion, but i will deal with that next week, if someone else doesnt take on that role for me.

I went by my new place after work to get my lease signed for my move-in next month. Yay exciting. My own refrigerator...Ive never had my own before. I was told by Cindy, the landlord, and her husband Dave, that they seem to have a nearby resident bear, who on description sounds an awful lot like MY bear. They also said not worry though, their dogs run that bear off, or the wrong direction into the front yard. But atleast they make the bear afraid, right?

As for me, tonight is quiet. And I am quite jealous as Doug is off with Sean and his parents in a weekend of contests of American splendor. That is...the Stanford game, a Sharks game, and the 49er's all in one swoop. Wow! Still jealous though. Me and my snow will get on just fine without you and your silly games. Thank you very much! Haha.

Lions and Tigers and Bears? Oh Yes.

I suppose it indeed has been awhile since I sat down and forced myself to retell some tales..of myself. I guess however it would be good to catch some people up on the current events in my life so that it is widely know that I was not swallowed by the Lake that is Tahoe.

Things have been going pretty slowly here, all things concerned. I have two new roommates, temporary ones, which seems to be the norm up here, though I suppose I am one as well since I will be moving into my studio next month.

Two weeks ago, I attended church in Incline. It was very nice that there was an acoustic guitar to play with the hymns, and that they played my favorite one too. Shout to the Lord. It gets stuck in my head even thinking about it. I talked with the minister, and he suggested that I check out all five of the "good" churches in North Lake so that I would find my place. OK then.

The next week was spent frantically trying to put together a statement of qualifications for a project that came up in Yosemite Park. 4 Days and many hours of scrambling, we created a nice little book about ourselves, including portfolio work...and my senior project.... who knew? Incidentally I answered a call from the Yosemite Fund after hours two fridays ago and our office, PR Design & Engineering Inc. was one of 4 chosen....including EDAW....uhoh.

Last weekend I took a day and half off work to go take part in a red carpet event. Robyn formerally known as Carmichael's wedding. It was quite the ordeal, and I am happy to say that it was one of the most fun Ive ever had at a wedding. With the wedding in the Old Movie theatre, The Fremont, the top hats, popcorn and prewedding slideshow trivia they were quite inventive in their themes. Even the vows alluded to films but my favorite comes from Derek (the groom). our love makes "Audrey Hepburn skip her breakfast and teaches Clark Gable how to give a damn."
Doug and I left early in the evening to make our way back north for school and work in the morning.

On another note, mountain life hits a little closer to home than I was perhaps prepared for. Not long ago, I returned home from a visit at Dougs. It was about 930 at night, and I had just parked at my house. I was walking across the street towards the door, when i heard a dog bark. I turned, expecting to see the neighbor's sheepdog Shiloh. Instead I see a huge brown bear looking at me as if to say, "Don't look at me, I didn't bark" It was a large thing coming atleast up to the back window of the explorer next to where he stood. And that was on all fours. I would guess that he/she weighed 600-800 pounds. I wish i were exaggerating, it was big.

That's all for now, as I am on my lunch break and will be driving to Truckee to pick up yet another packet put together by my office.

I have an address!!

In other news, I now have a mailing address.

Laura Minkkinen
P.O. Box 642
Kings Beach, CA 96143-0642

Ask me for my other address if you're not using USPS.

What does the CCC mean to me?

What does the CCC mean to you? Civilian Conservation Corps? California Coastal Commission? California Code Check? Yep, wait...what?!!

I'll explain in a moment. I have now been living in Kings Beach, California on the northern shore of Tahoe for six days. It's been a quiet start, as my roommates of the moment work odd hours, that do not seem to correspond with mine...silly people, What are they thinking? The town is very small, and much to the surprise of my parents, there isn't even a McDonald's....haha, cause I need one? Atleast I can say that living in small town I haven't driven much. Once I was settled in, I have driven three times, otherwise I bike, or walk to work.

Those three trips in my car included two to the grocery and one the Reno, which I must say, was a beautful ride, that I would love to see from a passenger seat someday....preferably from a car taller than my own. At Reno, I found the essentials; the airport, Kohl's, Wal-mart and of course, the mall. Haha....

As far as the community goes there are alot of Mexicans. I mean...a lot of Mexicans. If I would walk down the street and had a dollar for every time some Mexican looked back out his car at me, I would make more than I do Engineering. Seriously, I'm not joking.

But anyway, as far as work goes, I haven't really gotten too involved yet. The draftsman at our work had his last day last week as he moves on to bigger and better place, Cal Poly's Architecture Program. I guess I will be picking up his slack and taking on other responsibilities too. Including the Logo and Website. Today, being day three at PR Design & Engineering, I had my first staff meeting, and was assaulted with a series of abbreviations and acronyms. I was laughed at for my ignorance, but I'm not worried about it yet and they told me to look up the things when I have a free moment in the office. Learning and being paid to do so?! What an idea!
Alright, I'm off to eat a sandwich that I rode my bike to procure.