Watching the Rain Fall

Tuesday I had some stuff at work until about 6:30. I left work. And I got on my bike and rode home. It takes 3 maybe 4 minutes. Get in the door, go to the bathroom and then I go to call my mom. I still haven’t gone past the first 10 feet or so of my studio. I cannot find my phone. I tear apart my room. I figure I set it down as I had retrieved my helmet from my work space, or left it in the conference room. No biggie. i go back the next morning and no phone. I go home later and search my room again. Still having not found the phone I go to the Sprint store here. I find out it is not a corporate store but a privately owned franchise. So I can a) pay $170 for a new phone b) find a phone on Craig’s List c) get my mom to go to a corporate store, use one of our replacements and get a phone for me. The third is not as easy as it sounds, that takes some negotiating, but we’ve had an account with them forever. Mom was successful, and sent my phone via FedEx. It arrived Friday morning. I was lucky enough to figure out how to get into my phone messaging (never did it from another phone before) and I left a message explaining my dilemma and telling people to email me. So I was without a phone for 3 days. I always have my cellphone with me. So to not have it with me was very strange. And since like many college students I have no land line. Oh so disconnected.

Monday I received some incredibly wonderful news. But before I give the wonderful news I must digress and return to an earlier entry. I mentioned my interview with Acme Construction Company… yeah didn’t get it. Anywho… Kept applying to internships that came my way.

As exciting as I thought the internship with Acme would be, I have always been interested in water. As Hillary (a sorority sister) put it, the real reason I broke up with my ex was because my heart belongs to Bernuolli. Water is becoming such a valuable resource, and clean drinking water is so vital. Many of our cities are facing degrading water systems, and I always found this field much more interesting than structural.

The day before I interviewed I was at OSU’s career fair. I briefly spoke to some people from Mid-Size Municipal Water (MSMW). I gave them my resume and went on my way. Just to give you an idea, I came with 6 or 7, and I ran out before the end. I didn’t expect much to come of it. A few weeks later, just after I found out I wasn’t getting the internship with Acme Construction Company, I received an announcement from MSMW. They were hiring interns for the summer. So as I was house-sitting I filled out an application, wrote a cover letter, and resubmitted my resume. Around the beginning of the month I was asked to schedule a phone interview.  I interviewed but was somewhat uncertain. It is really hard to gauge peoples reactions when they are silently sitting on the other end of a phone. On top of it I had to do it while on campus, so I was in a group study room on the top floor of the library, praying I had good reception, and that I wasn’t talking to fast… which I do… a lot. And I was a little nervous about the 3 people interviewing me instead of the 1 I have always had in the past.

I was being interviewed for 3 internship positions. The first was in water distribution, the second in water quality, and the third was a more design based position. I knew as soon as I heard the description that I wanted the first one.

So they tell me they’ll get back to me by the 25th of April. And I was able to just let it go for the next two and a half weeks. But I didn’t have to wait that long. Monday I was in at the Beanery with Akhila, and my cell phone (that is another entry!) rang for an un-ID’d number. I answer it. I knew it had to be one of two. The first would be my ex. As he is in Germany he uses Skype to call me, which is an un-ID’d number, but we hadn’t talked on the phone since we broke up. But every time I get a call from MSMW it is un-ID’d. So I answer it and it is Terry, who led the group that interviewed me, and would be supervising the intern for the first position. The coffee shop was loud so I went outside. Terry told me that they wanted to offer me the Engineering Intern position. I accepted. And he asked me which intern position I would like. I told him, and I think he sounded pleased. I still don’t know, thanks to my phone drama, if that is the position I will have. Terry called on Friday, left a message and said he’d call me back next week or email me.

Here’s the thing. MSMW is in such a location that living at my parents home is impossible. And an apartment is going to take a good portion of my income (which I rather use to pay off some debt incurred while in England or save for school). But it is a reasonable distance from my grandma’s house. Actually MSMW is across the freeway from the high school that my mother went to (she didn’t go to the local high school). So it is an easy enough commute (even if I have to pay for the toll bridge). So summer at the farm… here I come!

I spoke to Dad about transportation. Should I buy a car it would take most of the money I could earn this summer, and then there is taking care of it for the next 2 years, while I am still at school.  I responsibility I do not want or care for. Dad agreed to let me borrow the car for the summer. I have to pay for my gas, maintenance and insurance. But I think that is pretty good for the summer. I don’t have to pay rent, or buy a car.

Oh and my uncle has been with out anyone to mow the massive amount of grass for a couple years now. Every time we visit he pays my brother to mow the grass around the house, and down by the lake. I may be able get all my spending money just mowing grass on a ride on mower.

So I have an internship in the field I want to work in, a secondary source of income for spending money, a great place to live and a car. Now… if I could only make the term end tomorrow…

Woke up at noon on Sunday(now early Monday morning) and I felt like I’d been run over by a semi. Result of going to a party, no, didn’t drink, and coming back about to pass out from exhaustion, and passing out in my warmest sweats. I was so tired I didn’t wake up to take off the sweats. So I spent the day feeling like crap. Now I am feeling better. It is nearly 3 am. Joy. But frankly I need to get sleep. So I’ll write more later. Probably in WS or at work.