Week 21: 05/17-05/23

Week 21

     05/17 - Today was my final day at the University of Illinois. I am a college graduate. It's very surreal. Last night I stayed at a hotel with my mom and brother, and today they and my dad and grandma attended my graduation ceremony. Before all of that, I attended Melissa's ceremony and got to watch her graduate with the College of ACES. At UIUC, the various colleges have separate ceremonies due to the large college size. The College of Engineering is so a large that they even split it up into two separate ceremonies, so, of course, I wasn't until Sunday night at 7:15pm. The weekend was extremely frantic and exhausting. I basically wore a suit for three days straight during the most humid weekend of the year, yikes. I'll be sure to get that dry cleaned before I leave Loves Park lol.

     I will never forget the people I have grown close to over my four years at UIUC. They have become like family to me and for that I am forever thankful. I'm going to create a Google spreadsheet with everyone's contact info that we can all keep updated. I hope this will help us keep in touch over the years and give us an address to send postcards! I love them all. I'm going to miss them a ton, hopefully I can manage to drag them all out to Seattle to visit.

     05/18 - After the craziness of graduation weekend it feels good to be home. Now it's time to pack strategically. When I packed up my room at school I made two separate piles for clothes, one for Seattle and one to keep at home, so clothes should be good. Otherwise, I have to make sure I have things like kitchen knives and my hammock. All a man needs, right? Hit the bank and yes, I got the suit dry cleaned, thank God.

     05/19 - Packed and ready to go! I will be taking two 45lb checked bags and a carry on bag to Seattle, plus a laptop. I was originally only gonna bring one large bag and Mail myself a box of goods, but it turns out it's cheaper to check that second bag. I'm excited for tomorrow's trip and hope everything will go well. Also, I made that spreadsheet I talked about, now I have to get people to fill it out.

     05/20 - SEATTLE Bound! The day has finally arrived to fly out to Seattle to begin my internship. My dad and I had a 7:00pm flight out of O'Hare. We got to the airport early and ate some Macaroni grill (lasagna). I am currently at 10,000ft up looking down on possibly The Badlands or something, everything looks rocky, hilly, and desolate, maybe we are already at the foothills of the Rockies. There are very few cities and lights below....Currently looking down on mountains! Finally!

     When we land the plan is to get out rental car and get to the hotel. My new roomie Ryan is already in Seattle at the apart,net, but we'll join him in the morning. UPDATE: Capt. Just came on intercom and said we are above Montana, so there we go. 1.5 hours left.

Where they throw fish!

     Made it safe and sound to the hotel, too tired to do anything so goodnight Seattle!
     05/21 - Took full advantage of my first day in Seattle! We visited the apartment and met up with/picked up Ryan there. It's a nice place! First we walked down to the building I'll be working and checked that area out. Apparently KPFF is in the hub of shopping so that's convenient. Next we visited the Space Needle, which was really neat and not too expensive. Afterwards we walked on over to the famous Pike Place City Market where they throw around fish and put gum on the wall. We didn't actually see the gum wall yet but the market was sweet. It's only a few blocks down the hill from where I'll be working so I'm sensing fresh fish and veggies in my future. I'll just eat like a European and get my daily dinner each day on the way home from work!
     For lunch we grabbed some food at Anthony's Fish Bar, which was pretty decent fast seafood, though I know there will be much better fare in the city elsewhere. After the market we decided it would be good to get some essentials for the new apartment. Thanks to Melissa, I have a handy pocket notebook to keep track of my day and make the all-so-important "to do" lists that I've become a slave to. Using said notebook, I jotted out a list of items we needed to turn the apartment space into a home. We decided that the 'burbs would be the best place to get all our stuff, so we headed out to Rentfort, WA, first stop: Goodwill.
     So, at home and anywhere I'm a pretty big Goodwill junkie. I thrive on buying seemingly (and actually) useless items to clutter up my living spaces with the idea that it's just junk so if it gets thrown out, no biggie. What I've found about Seattle is that the Goodwill stores here are HUGE and loaded with treasures, real treasures, not just junk. It's a good thing I don't have a car here because that could become dangerous. Anyways, we went to Goodwill and got enough stuff to turn an empty apartment into a ten-week home. each of us got a plate, cup, coffee mug, and chair and we also picked up necessary pots, pans, and utensils...and a narrow table.

   


     Next we hit up Target for misc supplies to round-out our adventure. Finally, we ate at a sweet Rock n'Roll themed restaurant called The Rock: Woodfire Pizza and Spirits. The burgers were massive and the beers were delightful. That about rounded out the first day. It was exhausting but a lot of fun and I looked forward to the next day's activities.
     05/22 - Today was another adventurous day. We took the ferry to Bainbridge Island to check out what was over there. We found a quaint little town with some cool small shops. We went on foot but next time it would be good to bring a car. We stopped at a cool bakery called Blackbird Bakery. They had good treats and coffee. We also took a short nature walk along the water. I would highly suggest taking a ferry ride if you come to Seattle, it's the best way to see the Seattle skyline!
     When we got back to the mainland we visited Top Pot Doughnuts, it was really good. (ASIDE: Note that you can always find more details about Seattle in my other page). For dinner we hit up Pike Place Brewery, which I hope to return to enough times to try all of their in house brews. After that we went to Owl and Thistle Irish pub and listened to a pretty cool musical duo play some folksy songs. Finally, we ended the night at Fado Irish Pub around the corner and listened to some live music by a live Irishman...Long day...Wait, just kidding! After Fado we went over to the Triple Door to find out about live music in the area and ended up staying for a bit, listening to yer another live musical act. It was a fun evening and I'm glad I got to bar hop with my dad.
     05/23 - Day 3 of Seattle had less rushing around, but we still did some pretty awesome stuff. First we took the Seattle Monorail to the Folklife festival in the Seattle Center, followed by a walk through the EMP Museum (literally just walked through, didn't want to pay to see exhibits). The Folklife festival was pretty cool, there was tons of music to be found and a bunch of food/stuff vendors. Apparently this festival is completely funded by donations, making it the largest donation-funded festival in the country.
     Later in the day we decided on a whim to try and drive up Mt. Rainier. We didn't really think it through, and being cloudy it was not the greatest day to go. We started towards the mountain and took the wrong route (thanks Google Maps). The route DID take us the shortest path but it wasn't to the entrance of the park, just a random side road. Anyways, it was super cloudy and foggy as we got up into the foothills, so it didn't really make a difference, we couldn't see a thing. We did have a really fun time though driving through the fog. We got out a few times to breathe in the fresh mountain air and listen to the sound of silence. I took this picture that I thought was pretty neat:

Week 20: 05/10-05/16

Week 20

     05/10 - I've decided that this week I'll do away with any presumption that the only posted pictures are the weekly selfie. I like pictures I want to post several as they are required. Good day.

     05/13 - Update on my life: finals week sucks, but honey roasted peanuts are good. I've basically been living on naught but peanuts and coffee for three days, I may be insane.

     05/14 - FINISHED MY LAST FINAL EXAM AT UIUC!!! ....and it was awful. I was literally hot and bothered. The exam room was very warm, I was in a sweater, and it was tough, couldn't have been a worse last exam, but I'm DONE! It's Thursday. Time for the Illini Inn!

     05/16 - Today begins graduation weekend at UIUC. This morning I went to the large convocation ceremony at Memorial Stadium. It was cool to see just how large the graduating class is and how the difference colleges compare in size. In the afternoon I went over to Melissa's graduation party at her family condo. Her family is loads of fun and they apparently turn every event into a tailgate, which is pretty baller. My mom and brother picked me up from there and we hung out to make up for a distanced Mother's Day. Even though we tried to make it about her, she ended up buying US a bunch of new shirts and food and things, thanks Mom! now I have a bunch of fresh dress shirts for my new job. Later we hung out at the Shack one last time with the Mass family and the gang. Sure gonna miss that place :'( I ended up staying with my mom and bro at the hotel they rented, they'll be attending the CEE stuff tomorrow.

Commencement at Memorial Stadium

Week 19: 05/03-05/09

Week 19

05/09 - Unfortunately, this was the only picture taken of me this week. Also, I'm not exactly sure of what transpired this week. There was a lot of HW to finish up due to it being the final week of actual classes. Steel II was a great class but man did it have some rough HW at the end.

Profound Thought of the Week: "Try your hardest to be photogenic. I have some pretty bad pictures out there in the ethos."

Week 18: 04/26-05/02

Week 18

     04/26 - So today my parents came down to CU to pick up most of my stuff. The rug is gone that tied the living room together, so that's weird. Also most of my bedroom is pretty stripped down. I packed up my large quantities of Murphy's logo glasses, a very large box. I finally took my parents to Black Dog with Melissa and it was a hit. If you don't know about Black Dog, you should. I would argue it's one of the best restaurants in the state of Illinois, definitely the best in town.
     04/29 - Murphy's Pub. I can't remember if I've talked about Murph's before, but I ought to. Every Wednesday for the past year I've gone to get their "Logo Glass" special. Basically it involves purchasing a branded glass of a different beer each week and getting cheap refills. The best part is you get to keep the glass! There have been a few flops, but many have been very cool. Some favorites are the Capitol Supper Club glass, a Stella glass with stem, a Two Brothers stemmed Domain Dupage glass, a Shiner Bock glass, a tall Budweiser glass, and a Revolution can-shaped Rebel IPA glass. Many of the beers themselves were crafty and wonderful. It's a cool tradition that I'm glad to have been a part of here. Many of us go regularly, but only I went enough to get every glass and the T-Shirt that was earned.  
     05/01 - We finally got to implement the big Aubra surprise party. After several weeks of designating tasks, gathering materials, etc., the kegger was thrown and it was a wild success. It was my first kegger and it was great. I did a keg stand, as is my right. We tried to help Dwi do one but he wouldn't hold himself up so it turned into waterboarding (beerboarding). Nobody died or got sick so that's a plus. This week we'll finish off the last quarter of a keg.

Profound Thought of the Week: "where did all the Sour Patch parents go?"

Week 17: 04/19-04/25

Week 17

     04/19 - I think I had an undeclared rule that I would only use true "selfies" as my weekly photo. Well as it turns out, I didn't take one this week, not a single one. BUT I did take this photo with this beauty. "Who is this person?!" you might ask. Well folks, I have a confession. I am dating Melissa. I have been basically sort of for a while (we never actually put a date on when it started). This is the very same Melissa I have referenced in the past, she who shares an interest in blogging. Anyways, spring break happened aaaaaaaaand long story short, the cards fell nicely into place :) Now I don't think this the the proper medium by which to pour out all my feelings. I know a lot of people do that in blogs but they ain't me. I'll leave you with this: I'm happy, we're happy, life is good.
     04/24 - Today is my good friend Aubra's birthday! 22! ... We've been in the process of planning an awesome surprise birthday party, but we can't implement said party until next week. I'm not afraid of this spoiling the surprise because honestly these words were not written on 04/24 but on 05/04. Yes, I'm behind the game when it comes to updating this blog.

Profound Thought of the Week: "There's no such thing as poor timing. Life is all about those moments in the present, and nothing is ever timed the way you hope or expect."

Week 16: 04/12-04/18

   

Week 16

     04/13 - I got a fellowship for Texas A&M! I still have to hear from Purdue, but this fellowship is a great deal and may be the deciding factor. The best part about it is that I get to pay in-state Texas tuition, which is half of the out-of-state cost. I'm hoping to know by the end of the week what my decision will be.
     04/14 - I caved and bought GTA V for the PC. I haven't really played video games since like November, and as such I was not going to get the game, BUT I decided to get it because my best friend Brendan always talks me into buying things basically. This is probably good considering he's going into professional sales. Also, I finally cut off my hair but I'm happy about how it turned out. I think I finally figured out how to talk to the hairdresser in such a way as to make her understand what I want it to look like haha. Next time I'll just bring in that ^^^ picture.
     04/16 - I didn't get an offer from Purdue, but I feel good because TAMU is going to be great! I officially accepted the fellowship and admissions offer, I'm soon to be an Aggie!

Profound Thought of the Week: "Having applied for four schools but only getting a fellowship offer from one, I realized that 1) it was good that I applied to TAMU and 2) Not getting good offers from the other three schools made my choice much easier. Rejection can sometimes be a good thing."

Week 15: 04/05-04/11

   

Week 15

     04/05 - Happy Easter! I went to my great aunt and uncle's this year, as is the tradition. I got to see most of my family, which was good because I realized I may not see them for a really long time. I mean a really long time, like September. After Seattle I'll be heading to grad school someplace almost immediately, so the next time I'll be around is the first week of September for Kelly's wedding.
     04/05 - Still not certain about graduate school, but I know I've gotten into Texas A&M! It's in College Station, TX and has a top-ranked structures program. It would be very cool to spend about 11 months in Texas, so I just may end up going there.
     04/10 - Mom's Weekend. So this year my mom couldn't make it out for mom's weekend but I had a lot of fun hanging out with some other moms. On Friday night we all watched Katie's long-anticipated dance recital for her club Velocity Dance, of which she is the president. It's a Mom's Weekend tradition and something cool we look forward to each spring. Afterwards, several of us went to our favorite place on campus, the Illini Inn. Mel's mom (hereby known as "Sweater Momma") and Kathleen's mom (hereby known as "Liz") joined us in our not-so-drunken trip. Mom's Weekend is a fun time to hear about the "good old days" of college-age life from the mothers, definitely a fun perspective.
     04/11 -  Today we went to the Indian color festival of Holi, which celebrates good times and color. Our party consisted of me, Melissa, Sweater Momma, David, Aubra, Dwi, Jimmy, and some guy named Brandon I think... Anyways, it was a lot of fun throwing around bags of colored powder at each other and strangers, all for charity. There was also some stellar Indian food there, which I always tell myself to eat more of in life.

Profound Thought: "Family, family, family. I realize I do want to explore the country, but when it comes time to settle down and raise a family, I want to be near family. Also, remember to eat Indian food because it's yummy."