i My Goodness

It's a phone, a music player, a planner, a web browser, a calendar, a texter...someone said it can also check your blood sugar. It's the iPhone...who spent $499 and bought one today (the cheap one)?

I know how Apple's mission is the make things as user friendly as possible, and I know they've been marketing that aspect about the iPhone...how it's so easy to use. When I turned on "The Today Show" this morning, little Merideth Viera pulled one out and said "Look what I have! Apple gave us these to demo". However, poor Meredith just started laughing and didn't even know how to use it. It rang, and she couldn't even answer it! I don't know if this is because Meredith doesn't know how to use a phone, or if it's not as easy as they say. Either way, not a good way to showcase your product. This phone was hyped up so much, I don't understand how it can meet the hype.

Work went well, pretty slow but relaxing. After work I came home, changed clothes, and wanted to go to an electronics store in Sterling Heights called Microcenter. It was a long way away, and I had to go through Detroit on the way back. I don't like that side of town so I'm glad I live on the west side of the metro area.

Tomorrow's Friday

...I'm glad the weekend is almost here. I want to sleep late on Saturday, really late. Paul called me this evening, that was nice. He said it's really hot in Columbia, I can imagine. It's been really nice here. Tonight it's a little overcast and in the high 60's. Nice moderate summers mean cold harsh winters, I bet. We'll see.

I bought Tyson's buffalo chicken at the grocery store and thought they were tenders. Well, when I opened the bag I found out they were little chicken balls, like spheres of chicken. They weren't so good. I also made mashed potatoes.

This weekend I think I'm going to use my $100 gift card for the furniture store I got, just to get some pillows, or something under $100. I'm also going to another AXIS get together Saturday so that should be a lot of fun.

Busy

Work was actually very busy again today, I barely got to eat lunch. After work I had to go to the Secretary of State to get my Michigan driver's license. It was weird because they gave me a sheet of paper, and said my license would be mailed to me. I also registered to vote.

I heard a conversation at the Secretary of State's office today that I thought was crazy. A guy behind me yelled to the guy about 2 people ahead of me "Hey Mike". I guess they knew each other. The guy behind me was large, I'd say he weighed atleast 350 lbs, conservatively. He then said "Yeah I applied to Chrysler...they wouldn't hire me because of my physical" then makes like a "sheesh" noise. His friend just goes "oh, yeah". The guy then said "yeah they called back and said I didn't pass my physical because of high blood pressure, and I was overweight...what do they expect, I'm not 25 anymore!". I thought to myself "and you being overweight is who's fault...?" Then, there was a TV in the office and a Ford commerical came on. He just yells out "Look how stupid, Ford spends their money on THIS...they should show a commercial of them laying people off!". After that, he said to his friend "yeah, Jerry got fired because he wouldn't do something that wasn't in his job description...that's not fair". I was just thinking to myself how lazy and annoying this guy is. I heard on NPR that the average US Autoworker makes around $70.00/hr when you take into account their benefits, etc. This guy just epitomized what NPR was saying...most of these people are just used to making exhorbitant salaries and getting away with whatever they want. They're going to have to get used to the new way and deal with it if they want a job. I don't have much sympathy for people like him.

Answer to my questions

When Matt and I saw the IMAX movie about the moon this past weekend, I wondered briefly if conspiracy theorists were right...did the US fake the moon landing? Tonight on National Geographic they interviewed an "expert" on the matter, an old man named Bill. He was introduced as:

"Bill lives alone in the Nevada desert and runs a cat sanctuary". The camera then panned to a bunch of cats crawling all around his legs.

Question answered.

Sad Day

I couldn't sleep well last night. I couldn't fall asleep first of all, then it was the sleep where your mind isn't asleep, but somewhere else. And then, when you wake up, BOOM the thought that you couldn't espcape is right there when you wake up. That thought for me was Fuji, our Shar Pei. He had been missing since Sunday and was nowhere to be found. Today while at work (I'll get to that later) I started to think about him again...where he could be, if someone stole him, if he was hurt etc. So I called me my mom at my desk and she broke the news, he had died. He was in our garage the whole time and was apparantly hit by a car, came back to the house and died in our garage. Not the primary garage, but the 2nd garage we don't use much. Cosmo was trying to tell my mom for a few days by walking towards the garage, and crying. She went in today and found him.

I'm really sad because I loved him a lot. And, animals are always so hard to loose, other than close family members or friends. They're just so special, dogs especially. I will miss him a lot, and I'm sad I didn't get to see him one last time.

Work was actually annoying (a little) today, partly because I had that on my mind, and partly because of people's attitudes and bureaucracy that was rampant. I was given something to do, which is good, I'm glad, but it was more busy work for me because I had to SIT for about 5 hours total and WATCH the drafter draw what I was telling him because I don't know the CAD language he was using. So that was hard, and the fact that he was Romanian didn't help either. I finally got a laser pointer and sat back, and pointed at the screen so he could see what I was talking about. I know that sounds snooty, but leaning up, and back, and up, and back, and up again because he didn't understand gets real old after about an hour.

Then I had a meeting with an engineer and our accounts manager. That was just annoying because it was drama that wasn't necessary...a lot of hard language and demands. Not what I want to hear. So I didn't leave until around 6:00. I missed the bank, so I still haven't deposited my paycheck. I then went grocery shopping and had the pleasure of waiting in a line at Meijer's. You can go on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday...5:00 pm, 11:00 pm...it won't matter. You'll wait a good 15 minutes in line to pay them for their overpriced food. Lastly people today at work were being pretty lazy, just sitting around and complaining about how morale is low, and how they're tired...again, not what I want to hear today.

The engineer I work with is a nice guy, he's my "buddy" assigned to me to get me accustomed. Now, I don't want to judge to hastily or jump the gun, but he isn't really showing me what he should, in my opinion. For example, we have lots of forms and formal items to present on each project, and reviews to complete etc. Well I questioned if he'd like me to go ahead and check on getting a form taken care of since it was over due for the project. He just said "ehhh, nah, I mean, I don't do those because it doesn't help me get the product designed, so I don't do it". Well, that's nice for you, but I'm organized and want stuff done when it's supposed to be done, and I don't like having a million things in my "head" instead of on paper, filed away. The accounts manager I mentioned earlier actually is a lot like me I'd say, but a little more dramatic and demanding, so he wants to be organized which is good. I think that's why he was so demanding today, is because he's been in the dark too long.

Atleast I have things to do tomorrow to stay busy. I'll miss you Fuji.

The French

...or worse, French Canadians. Canada doesn't claim them (except Quebec) and France thinks they're fake. This video proves my point, and the fact that they do it with a Saturn doesn't help their case any.

I took my white Saturn to get the oil changed today. I ate popcorn, a cookie, and drank a coke at the dealer...all for free. Then, when I paid the receptionist asked me if I wanted to take a rose home with me. Apparantly when you get your car serviced you get a a flower...how sweet. On my way home, when I was turning onto 8 mile road my service light came on. This is not Service Engine Soon, which is emission related, but the "Service" light with a wrench next to it...it basically means there's something mechanically wrong with the car. When I got back to my apartment I pulled in my space, turned my AC off and let the car idle for a few seconds. After the AC compressor shut off, the light went off and never came back on. Weird. I swear this car is taunting me now. It's saying "Come on David, I know you don't like me so much anymore...this is fun". I also noticed that the headliner is starting to sag near the front around the maplight. Pretty soon I'll be one of those ghetto people with a headliner sagging down.

Work was nice today, I had things to do. I found out I take my first "business" trip in July to Maine, and then Ohio on the way back to Michigan. It's for 3 days and I'm going to visit 2 plants, and to accompany a guy from Japan with an engineer I work with.

Fuji, Dawn's dog (and the family's) is lost. They're not sure where he went, but I hope he shows up soon. I'd like to see him again and I miss him a lot. I miss Cosmo too, AND my family.

I had Mac and Cheese for dinner. I need to go to the grocery store tomorrow and get some things, mainly fruit! I want fruit bad and I don't have any. Some apples and bananas would be nice.

The Hoosier State

That's what Indiana is called, and people from Indiana are Hoosiers. I had a really good time this weekend there with Matt. I hadn't seen Matt since December, so it's been a while. I got there around 9:30 Friday night. Friday at work I had to go to Lapeer, near Flint in the afternoon, and then I left straight from there to go to Indianapolis. It took me around 4.5 hrs to get there. The drive is really easy, it's all flat with maybe a few tiny tiny hills. It's basically just a bunch of cornfields for 4.5 hours, not too much to see.

Saturday we went to the state museum which was fun. They had a nice space exhibit and we saw an IMAX movie about the moon producted by Tom Hanks. I liked that. While at the museum, we were going through the state history section and they had a Klu Klux Klan uniform in a display case. A little girl beside me went "oh look mommy, a ghost costume. That's a big ghost costume...".

After that we went to The Cheesecake Factory. It was really good, but a lot of food and ofcourse we both had cheesecake for desert. This morning I went to church with Matt and that was nice, I liked the church. I left to come back around 2:30 and got back home around 6:45 or so. It was a nice weekend.

Hopefully Matt can come up and visit me soon. I think we're going to go to Cedar Point in Ohio the 2nd week in July, so I'm looking forward to that. I'm still enjoying work, everyone is still very friendly and very helpful.

One wonderful thing about Indiana is that they sell Mobil 1 5W-30 synthetic oil in 5 qt containers at Walmart for $19.98! I bought 2 so I could stock up since they don't have them here.

Today was my parent's 29th anniversay, so Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad. I think you'll get a card soon (hopefully if the USPS didn't loose it behind a desk).

Excuse me, may I squeeze in?

Today when I left work I decided to go by a Walmart to see if they had the oil I like to buy, Mobil 1 5W-30 synthetic for my white Saturn. Even though I can't change my own oil because of my living situation, the Saturn dealers will let you bring your own oil, and they'll change it and just charge labor. Fine by me. Well, I was about to get on M-14, which is like an interstate and I see traffic backed up really far in the left lane to turn on the highway, BUT, this was about 1 mile from the turn. So, I figured that lane was just backed up from the red light. So, I move right and go up...and nothing, no openings at all. The road ends, and you have to turn on M-14 because of construction. So, I'm up at the end, in the right lane, and nowhere to go because traffic is backed up in the other lane about a mile back. So, I move slowly, and almost stop. I even get a confused look on my face, like other drivers will see me and go "aw, he must not of known the RR tracks are out, let's let him in". How embarassing. I don't even have an out of state license plate anymore. So, instead of looking confused and lost, I just looked like a greedy car driver who breaks in line. Oh well, I got in, and made it to M-14 much faster than the other cars. Sorry everyone.

Another thing that I realized. Our administrative assistant, Jamie took Wednesday through Friday off. For vacation? No, to get ready for her "yard sale". People in Michigan are insane about yard sales. They take vacation to host one. On the weekends you see dozens of signs saying "neighborhood yardsale" etc. Bill's wife Mary Kay told me that when they've hosted them in the past, they'll have people come up to their house 2 DAYS before the actual yard sale and say "I'm going to be out of town, but I really wanted to see what you had, can I look and pick out what I want?". She said also they'll come really early the day of, and just wait outside your house. She's even had people come up to her door and ask if she's ready to start the yard sale. There are dedicated yard-salers here. Apparantly though you can make around $500 by hosting one...if you have enough junk you unload.

I ended up finding my oil though, not at Wal-Mart, but Advance Auto. $25.00 just for oil. I don't think I'm going to keep this synthetic business up any longer. My Saturn now has 176,000 miles on it. The sunroof is broken, it's getting old and I'm just going back to regular oil. There comes that point when you still like your car, but don't baby it so much. I still like it, but $40.00 total for an oil change is too much, especially for this old of a car. It never had a name, like some people's car but Paul called it Rupert.

I got my first paycheck today! The first one is nice because there's not health insurance taken out, or 401K but the next one I'll have to start paying. It's nice to have a cash flow now.

I'm going to Indianapolis tomorrow to visit Matt for the weekend, so there will not be any posting until Sunday, maybe Monday. Linda, I hope you and your friend at work will make it ok, hang in there. Have a nice weekend everyone.

Mid Week

Today at work was really a good day. I got myself organized with what I had learned so far. I also did some more orientation stuff out my orientation passport and learned a LOT today. The guy I did the orientation with is named Dan. He's only 30 years old and he has 6 patents under his name. He seems like a really smart and creative person. He's really nice though and said if I needed any help or had any questions to just come see him and he's be happy to help. That's my favorite thing about work, is that everyone is approachable and willing to help.

Tomorrow I have pretty much the whole workday booked with training. I have to go the post office during lunch to mail a lot of stuff. I got my first bill today, it was for gas and it was only $6.24. I can handle that. I don't want the electric bill though.

This weekend I'm going to Indianapolis to visit Matt. It should be fun, it takes around 4.5 hours to get there so I'l leave Friday and come back Sunday.

Well, I'm off to bed! 6:30 comes earlier everyday.

Suprise

Suprise, Michigan doesn't tax groceries! But, we have the highest gas in the nation at $3.29/gallon down from $3.50/gallon when I moved here. But, even though I pay more for gas I got 2 boxes of Special K Red Berries at Kroger today for $4...beat that!

At lunch today I was asked if I could drive up to Saginaw (about 95 miles north) to pick up some parts, and bring them back. Sure! I get paid mileage, and I don't have much to do now so I went. Michigan can be boring to drive though because there aren't really any hills, and the interstates out on the country areas are in really bad shape with potholes and cracks everywhere. Actually, in the Detroit area a person died when a piece of concrete broke off an overpass and landed on their windshield killing them. That's how bad some of the roads are. Many other cars were struck by falling concrete from overpasses that just breaks off.

I really really want a pet. A pug, to be exact. I just can't right now, well, I can, but it's just to expensive and it would have to stay here all day while I'm at work, but I could let it out at lunch. I saw 2 seperate ads for pugs in the paper. My fish is fine for now I guess, but I can't hold him or play with him or pet him.

Week Start

Today was a pretty uneventful day at work. Well, I got my business cards in so that was the highlight of the day. I stared at them for around 5 minutes, because it's my first business card ever and it looks really professional, having my name with Design Release Engineer underneath it. It even has a fax number on it.

It's still that stage in work where you don't really know what to do. I know what my job is, but I'm not sure how to actually conduct it, or even if the work has really been "handed off" to me yet. The engineer that is working on the stuff I'm taking over is telling me things as they come up, but I don't think there's a lot to do now. I think they wanted a new person (me) to do this project, because it's honestly small compared to what other people are doing, and they have maybe 2-3 projects instead of just one. I think this may develop into a larger project, but it's good to start on something like this. I'll enjoy it when it picks up some. Right now, I'm always trying to find things to do to keep me occupied. From what I see from Tom, the other engineer who is doing the work that will be given to me, it's just a lot of answering emails. Literally, you just sit and answer emails as they come in, and usually the answers you give take some investigating and engineering knowledge. Which, leads me into my next topic: Offic subculture.

Someone should really do a study on this. Offic culture is so funny, and weird. You can see people walking around, acting like they have work to do, when they really just want to get up and walk around. Or, you see people talking in a whisper, so others won't hear. And, you know people listen in through the cubicle walls (like I do). It's almost like I want to stand up and just go "ok everyone, we're all trying to act professional, but let's stop the charade and just talk out loud, get up and walk around when we want, and stop the acting". It's just funny is all, not in a bad way, but just comical because it's just not natural.

I had vegetable and beef soup for dinner tonight, mainly because I forgot to take out something this morning before work. So, you can't really defrost anything in 2 hours. I had this ice cream for desert, which I'm guessing you can only get here in Michigan. It's called Makinac Island Fudge. Makinac Island is in northern Michigan. It's basically vanilla ice cream with fudge and chocolate pieces swirled in. It's pretty good. I ran out of apples today which is a shame because I love eating them. I was eating 1 a day but I'm out now.

Bang Bang

Yesterday I went to a shooting range...I know I can't believe it either. Dan, one of the people at the AXIS gathering asked me to go with him and his brother. Dan's last name is Smith. Guess what his brother's name is? David Smith. So, there were 2 David Smith's there. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't what I'd go out and do for fun either. It's just too loud, and shooting guns is just not for me. The range was run by Michigan's Department of Natural Resources, so it was very safe and they were very strict about what you did. They had about 3 workers monitoring people, checking to make sure you were following procedure. Every 15 minutes, they made you stop, step back, and they checked your gun and changed your target. It was nice of Dan to invite me though.

After that I went to Meijer to get some small things like milk, salt and pepper, and fish food. I really don't like that store. Imagine Walmart, and then multiply that X2. Granted, it doesn't have the same caliber of people, as in, at Meijer you won't find people riding adult tricycles around picking through the ashtray for used cigarettes to smoke, but it is crowded and unorganized. Since Farmer Jack, the other grocery store just closed Meijer pretty much has a monopoly now. Luckily I found a Kroger about 2 miles from me I'll go to now.

This morning I went to church at Community Bible Church. After the service I went to the same Sunday school class as Dan. It was pretty good, but they have about 6 different Sunday school classes for adults to choose from so I want to try some of the other ones.

I called my dad to tell him Happy Father's Day. The church service was about Fathers, ofcourse so that made me miss my dad. He got my card and giftcard though before today so I was happy about that.

I have to share this with you all. It's a wonderful dish called Haggus It's on TV right now as I'm typing this. Sounds good huh? I remember at ZF in Duncan my boss was from England and he told me about it, but I actually watched them make it on TV just now. When I was in England I actually ate Black Pudding which is the weirdest thing I've ever had.

AXIS

I had so much fun tonight. Today was fun, it was the last day of CATIA class. I got a little diploma saying I completed 40 hrs of training. After class, I drove back to Novi and got my haircut, and went by Meijer's to pick up some fruit for tonight.

Tonight was the first get together for "AXIS" which is Community Bible Church's group for single 20-30 year old professionals out of college. Since being in your 20's, out of school working, is actually a weird thing...I promise you. You're not quite in college with that mindset where alcohol is a new thing and taboo, and you're not exactly that 40 year old with 2 kids either. So, I think (and the others agreed) that we fall between the cracks sometime. This group was created especially for that purpose. Tonight the get together was at a guy named Fred Smith's house, who lived in Fowlerville, about 30 miles away from me. The group consisted of Katey, Dan, Robert, Fred, Olivia, Pamela, Daniel, and me. We had a cookout and then played spoons, a card game. It was a lot of fun. I'm actually going to host the next one, in August, at my apartment. They were all great people, really fun and easy to talk to and get along with. Katey is who started it, and she's really just a good person, I can tell. Some people you meet just have this aura about them and she did. She had a laugh and smile that just brightened up the room. Actually tomorrow I was invited to go out with Dan and his friends so that should be fun. It's nice to meet people in my general age group.

Dan is moving to Indiana this coming week, he just graduated from Michigan State as a mechanical engineer and will be working with Cummins. Robert just moved here not long ago from California and is working as a test engineer for GM at their proving grounds. His job consists of road testing cars in all sorts of conditions. Robert was funny, because since he's from California he told me "the winters...they're terrible. Everyone here tells you it's not that bad, but I'm from the same climate that you're used to in South Carolina, and yes, it's bad". Oh well, we'll see. I might have to put a jacket on.

I got two special phone calls today. First from Vicki (Hi Vicki!) It was good to hear from her. I also got to talk to Sonia, her sister and her mom. I need to buy a phone card so I can call her. The next call was from aunt Linda (Hi Linda and her friend who sits beside her!) UNbelieveable. It's nice to hear from aunt Linda and Vicki because it lets you know people you don't get to talk to so often are thinking about you.

When I got my haircut, the lady cutting my hair found out I was from South Carolina and said "I was in SC once, in Charleston, in August". Then, she let out this groan like she actually visited the worst place on Earth. She said "the heat, my GOSH it was horrible...that's why you people from South Carolina are so slow, it's because of that heat". That made me laugh. Wow this is long, but I had so much fun tonight I wanted to write about before bed. Goodnight everyone. Goodnight aunt Linda and Vicki.

PS. You can comment on my blog if you like, I enjoy hearing from you. Just click where it says "0 comments" under my post, and you can write something.

Soup

I had soup for dinner, it was really good. I was looking forward to vegetables because I hadn't had them in so long. Class is still going well, and it's more fun now that I know more. Tomorrow is the last day, then back to regular work on Monday.

I went to Saturn of Plymouth tonight to get my oil changed in my 92 Saturn. When I pulled in the service advisor said "wow, you really take care of this thing". It only took them 30 minutes and they charged $25 which wasn't bad. As soon as I got back to my apartment though I looked under the car to make sure they changed the oil filter and checked the oil, to make sure it was full. All was ok. I just had to make sure, I wish I could still do it myself.

The little house I like it still for sale. My dad and I saw this house in Plymouth that was a 3 bedroom/2 bath house with a 2 car garage. Just something small and older (probably built in the 70's). It is in REALLY good condition, on the outside atleast, and the neighborhood is really nice and kept up. It's for sale by owner and they're asking $183,000. I need to find out how work is going to go, if I will be moving later, or some kind of exchange program with Germany...something. If I will be here for a while, I want to save up and buy a house like that because rent is basically a mortgage for me. I saw the house tonight when I was going to the Saturn dealer and it was still for sale. I really like that house. So now, I have to decide if I want to save up for a new car or put away for a house in a few years. Adulthood.

I saw some guy getting arrested today on the side of the interstate at the 8 mile road exit. He was driving a BMW 3 series convertible and looked Italian and was dressed very well with slick hair. The cop had him leaned over the trunk putting handcuffs on. I wonder what he did wrong?

Take Me Out to The Ballgame

Tonight Bill and Mary Kay took me to a Detroit Tigers baseball game. I usually hate watching sports, but I had a really good time. I had my CATIA class this morning, from 8:00 to 3:00. It's still very easy, and actually pretty fun now that I'm learning tricks and how to create more things. The class is just laid back and comfortable. Back to the game.

I went to Bill and Mary Kay's house in Troy, about 6 miles south of Auburn Hills after my class. Then we left to go to Detroit. My first time in Detroit. I guess you could go ahead and say every steretype you've heard of Detroit is true. It's bad. I don't think I have every been in a metropolitan area that is so racially segregated. Literally, whe you cross 8 mile road from Oakland County ($$) into Wayne (ie poor) it's like crossing a border. The roads go from clean, manicured in Oakland to homeless in Wayne. The buildings, left standing, are abandoned and some even burned shells. There are people hanging around all over the sidewalk. There are old factories just empty. There are 40 story tall buildings abandoned, with no windows. What's even weirder is that there are empty grass lots all over the city, from what I am told is where building used to be and are now torn down. The city of Detroit tears down 1000 buildings/year. It's really a mess. One of the small towns in Detroit actually went bankrupt and the state had to take over fire and police. It's pretty rough.

The ball game was nice though, Detroit lost but the stadium was brand new and you could see the huge GM Renaissance Center which is actually a neat building. The weather was nice and it was refresshing just to be outside.

Once again Bill and Mary Kay showed me a lot. They said they're always happy to show people around, they're very nice. I'm just happy I live and work in the suburbs! It really is like night and day. It's just so weird to have an area with million dollar homes and 20 miles away, have burned out buildings. It's late now, and I have to get up early so goodnight!

Tuesday

Class is going well, it's still very easy and the instructor is really lax. We don't get started until 9:00 or so, take about 1 hour worth of breaks, go to lunch at 11:30, come back at 12:30, take another hour break or so, and then leave at 3:30. We're still learning the material, but it's a small class so we go over the material quickly and it's not hard.

After work I stopped by Saturn of Southfield to get a service menu since I can't service my car on my own anymore because of living in an apartment. Let me just say they were a rip off. An oil change is $38, a transmission fluid change is $199, the list goes on and on. Then I stopped by Saturn of Farmington Hills, also on the way home and they were MUCH more reasonable. The oil changes there are only $25, and I can bring my own oil if I want to and they'll just charge me labor, which is $12. So, I'll be going to Saturn of Farmington Hills. Saturn of Plymouth is really close to me also and I'm actually going there Thursday to get my oil changed in my 92 Saturn.

I also went for a jog today around my neighborhood. I just can't get into running. I've tried on several different occasions but I absolutely hate it. I hate the way I feel when I run, I hate the way my body juggles and my stomach flies up to my heart, and my side starts stinging. I hate it. So, I'll walk, treadmill, or do the eliptical trainer but I just cannot get into running. I also had to go get something for my dad for father's day.

I made a frozen pizza for dinner, and saved half for lunch tomorrow. I also ate a gala apple, it was really good. Tomorrow night I'm going to a Detroit Lions game with Bill and Mary Kay, so I'll finally get to go into Detroit and see what that's all about.

I guess that's all for now, everything is going well!

In School Again

Today I had my first CATIA class at Oakland County Community College. I left my apartment at 6:00 am to ensure enough time to get there. I had plenty of time, I was there at 6:45 am and the class didn't start until 8:00 am. I read a story in the newspaper about how Diamler had to sell Chrysler. Remember that bald headed German guy who did the Dodge commercials about a year ago, Dr. Z? He was in the article...and he sounds harsh. The class today was really easy, and today was very very basic. There are only 7 people in the class, including myself. The teacher, Derek, is really young and funny. We already were comfortable with one another by lunchtime which was nice incase we had any questions.

The class only goes from 8:00 - 4:00, with an hour lunch. Today we left at 3:30 which was nice to have a big chunk of the day free. Only, on the way home I got lost trying to find I-75 and ended up in Pontiac. Around Auburn Hills the roads turn crooked, and winding like they are in South Carolina so you have no sense of direction. Add to that one way streets, construction barrels, and Michigan left turns and it gets really confusing. I made my way back though.

I constantly hear people here talking about the job situation in Michigan, and how it's so bad and people are leaving. Well, some people in the class were talking about it today and I don't think that's it's bad, rather they don't want to work for the wages being offered. Some of them said they were worth $70/hr. Well, good luck with that one no matter where you live. Also, a third person today referred to me being from North Carolina instead of South. I don't know why people can't get that right.

Morning Commute

For this coming week, Monday through Friday I will be attending a CATIA fundamentals class in Auburn Hills, about 30 miles away from me. It starts at 8:00 am so I'm going to have to leave early to make sure I don't get stuck in traffic.

See the map. If only I could drive in a straight line...

New Clothes

I was looking foward to this Saturday, mainly looking foward to sleeping in. For some reason this entire past week, I have naturally been waking up at 5:30 am even though my alarm doesn't go off until 6:30. I have noticed over the past few years I have an internal alarm clock. If I think to myself about 3-4 times before bed "I have to get up at X time" I will generally wake up way before that time, on my own. Now, I would never trust it and not set an alarm, but it's funny that it happens.

Today I woke up at 5:30, as usual and then fell back asleep until 9:30. I got up after watching 30 minutes of some murder mystery on TV, and called the gas company because I thought I had a small gas leak in the water heater. While I waited for them to come I got ready. It was pretty embarassing when the gas guy came, because he must have thought I was stupid. I told him several times "I'm from the south, and I've never dealt with gas before, only electric". He looked up at me confused and said "oh...ok". He said the slight gas smell was normal, especially since the vent goes to the roof. I feel better now atleast. Gas is scary. I like electric things better.

I drove out to Howell today to the Tanger Outlets. It took me around 30 minutes to get there, but it was worth it. I got some great work clothes. Banana Republic has these odd sizes, but they work for me well. A 36/30 has gotten a little too big for me, a little baggy. The 34/30 is still too tight. Well, Banana Rebublic makes a 35/30 which feels like it was tailored just for me. Not only that, but all things in the store were 50% off. So, I ended up getting 3 pairs of pants, 2 shirts, a belt, and 4 pairs of socks for $150 which I thought was really good. It's really nice stuff too, all dress clothes. At work, the human resources generalist after telling us the dress policy said "You're working at the Headquarters for North America, how do you want to represent that?". I get the idea, and I like it. I used to hate wearing dress clothes, but when I bought a suit and started interviewing for jobs I liked it. I think it helps my self confidence.

After I got done with that I went to Wal Mart to buy milk and a fire security box for my important documents, all 4 of them. Passport, car title(s), birth certificate, and social security card. I don't have all the bonds, stocks, and jewels, and gold that adults do yet, but I'll try. I put my apartment lease and renter's insurance policy in the box though to feel special.

Apparantly I do have family in Michigan, near Flint that I've never met. It's my grandmother's sister's daugher. I emailed her to introduce myself and mentioned possibly meeting. Her response: "David, we go camping a lot so I don't know if we can meet". I guess they must do a lot of camping. How strange.

I also got a $2 car wash today in Novi. There are two car washes within 2 miles of me, a $2 car wash and a $3 car wash. I saved a dollar, but used it to vacuum out my car. Those places are so great, it's a really long automated wash and they have attendants that wash the front and back of the car off. I know I'll love that place in the winter time, I'll probably go there everyday to wash the salt off. There are still cars here with salt all over them...and it's June! Wash your car! It drives me crazy. Especially when I see a salty Saturn.

I went to a church tonight. I'm going to another church tomorrow that Jeff, my supervisor, goes to and recommended. The church I went to tonight was called Northridge and was pretty much a mirror image of New Spring that I went to in Clemson. Actually, it was a little smaller. The worship style was very similar and it was pretty nice overall. I'll probably go back. It's really close to me also, only 5 miles away. I'll see how the church is tomorrow too, so I can compare them. The service tonight was on communion and baptism. I don't know what it is, but New Spring and this church, Northridge have soapboxes about "full immersion" baptism. You HAVE to be fully immersed. New Spring says so because it's the closest you'll come to death, symbolizing your old life before Christ "dying". Northridge says immersion is the way to go because that's how everyone in the bible was baptised, by immersion. I personally think it's a baptist thing, but who can tell. New Spring in Clemson and Northridge are non-denominational churches, but I think they are baptist inspired.

After that, I went to IKEA to look around and get a few small things I wanted. And dinner. $2.50 for 2 hot dogs, chips, and a drink is amazing. I ended up buying $130 worth of "small" things. I bought an end table, 2 pillows, 2 lamps, bamboo, and some other small things. One of the lamps was broken though in the box, so I need to take it back and exchange it. IKEA still doesn't have my bedside table in stock yet! I want to get it because I'm tired of sitting my alarm clock on the floor.

I'll post tomorrow about the other church. It feels so nice outside now. It's around 70F and clear skies. I think I'll like the summers here.

EV1

Tonight I went over to Bill and Mary Kay's house in Troy, which is north of Detroit and about 45 minutes from me (just to show you how big the metro Detroit area is). Traffic was really bad. I left work around 5:15 or so and stopped by Meijer (Michigan's grocery store) to buy some flowers for Mary Kay making dinner and got money out of my bank for the weekend. The interstates here are interesting. People going 80, 90...faster is common and potholes/cracks in the roads are everywhere. All of a sudden people slammed on their brakes and traffic slowed, and I see glass all over the road and a random bumper in the middle, and people just drive around it and get back up to 80 mph. Apparantly about 7 cars slid all over the road smashing into each other, but what I liked is that they were smart enough to MOVE into the emergency lane so traffic could keep moving. Normally that kind of wreck would back traffic way up elsewhere. I guess these people are more accustomed to that happening everyday.

Dinner was really nice though. In case you didn't know, Bill was an electrical engineer for the GM EV1 since the beginning, and is retired now. He's a huge fan and share's my interest and perspective on the EV1. We ate pork, green beans, carrots, and some apple stuff with breadcrumbs for dinner and talked about Detroit, then after dinner he showed me all his EV1 paraphanalia like brochures, posters, documents etc. I was there for around 3 hours and didn't see 1/4 of what he had.

Work is still really great, each day is better as I get to know people more. There's an administrative assistant named Jamie who lived in North Carolina for a few years, and moved back here to Michigan. She asked me today if I was going to miss southern food, and I said "no, not really". She said "You know we don't have Sonic or Chick Fil A here, right". I didn't know that, now I will miss it. Apparantly she drives to Indiana to go to Sonic. I won't miss it THAT much.

Everyone at work though has been really helpful and easy to talk to. I think at Bosch people were so uptight all the time looking back on it. At the time I thought that's how office settings were, but now I know it was just Bosch. My group is a fun group, people laugh and make jokes and are down to earth. I like it.

What else...what else can I tell you...? Oh yeah, tomorrow I'm going to Tanger outlets in Brighton (between Detroit and Lansing) because I need some more clothes for work. I went to a huge mall here called 12 Oaks and the stuff was too expensive, so I'm going to go outlet shopping and get the clothes cheaper. I filled up with gas today. $3.27 / gallon and $30 to fill up a little over 3/4 of my tank. I've never had to pay that much before. Atleast I live close to work/shopping/stores.

Well that's all for now. I need to take pictures of my apartment and post them. I tried taking some pictures the other night but my camera is really junky now that I have used mom's 7.2 MP camera.

Welcome

I decided to start a blog so my family and friends can see how I'm doing, and read some of my daily happenings, because I always seem to forget things when I'm on the phone. Then I hang up, and 2 minutes later realize I forgot to tell a funny story, or something interesting that happened. I suppose I'll post things here that have to do with just living in Michigan and my new job.

It feels so weird to be here and working...and out of school. It was only a few weeks ago that I graduated. Then, I came to Michigan to get an apartment, back to South Carolina for 3 days, then to Trinidad to meet Vicki, my penpal, then back to Michigan to live. It all happened so fast. I remember my first day of work, before even going while getting ready thinking to myself "today is the first day of your career...and the rest of your life...I hope it's good". It has been good so far though.

I guess I can start with work. Monday morning there were 5 "new hires". One technician who was maybe 3 years older than me, a contract worker from Pakistan doing IT stuff, and two Germans in their 30's doing 2 year work programs in the US. They were all nice, but we all knew after orientation we'd probably never see each other again...maybe in passing, but not much. The orientation was typical and consisted of 3 hours of a powerpoint about dress code, forms for just about everything, and collecting paperwork. I never get much out of orientation because let's face it, who's going to remember all that information cramed down your throat in 3 short hours?

After orientation I was dropped off at my supervisor. I just want to say I'm so happy he's my supervisor. He is such a great person to work with (so far, and I think he will be). He is from Michigan, and went to college at Purdue. He tries really hard to help me fit in with the "team" and always is open for questions. He has this tone in his voice that just lets you know he's there for help, and it's not annoyed...it's comforting. My desk is funny, I was told "ohhh you got lucky, a single!". Which means, a "single" cubicle not shared with another person. I guess I'm lucky...but it's a cubicle, how great can it be? One thing I don't like is that the lights are always off...only small desk lamps are on. Supposedly it's because people's eyes will hurt since we do CAD work with the lights on, so they stay off. I'm sure it will be great once I'm doing CAD work heavily...but this first week I'm reading through hundreds of pages of design manuals and from the hours of 8-12 my eyes cannot stay open with the lights out. After lunch I'm fine.

Everyone here has been really nice to me. Since I had always lived in South Carolina I had heard the term "southern hospitality" but never really embraced or noticed it. To be completely honest, people here are nicer (in my opinion) than in South Carolina...so far. Nobody has been outright rude, and they're just as friendly. I guess the main difference is that they don't TALK as much, about how their sister's friend's wife had a cold, and bless her heart. But as far as being friendly they definately are. The accents take some time to get used to, but I noticed today I don't "notice" it like I did a week ago. A week ago I would just pay attention to the acccents, not what the people were saying. It seems natural now (although I don't think I can ever speak like that). I wonder if South Carolinians will sound funny and out of place when I go home again?

There are some things that really stick out though, still, like when at lunch today I was asked if "I was drinking a pop", or when someone says "oh geez e pete" or something really corny with a midwestern accent. Some are worse than others, some aren't.

Being the "new" guy at work had to come at a price though, and that happened today. I went to leave work, and go out to my car. I stick my key in the lock, and turn it, but only the driver's side door opens and not the rest (because I have power door locks). Hmm I think, I guess the fuse must have blown. Then, I go to start the car and nothing. I left my lights on. All day. And my batter was dead. And I didn't have my jumper cables. Back into the building I go, to Jeff's office and ask if he could jump me and he gets this look on his face like he wants to help, but can't because he rode a motorcycle today and didn't have cables. He said "oh but don't worry, this happens ALL the time and we'll get some for you" and goes walking around asking people. He's that nice. I'm fortunate to have him for a supervisor.
Otherwise things are fine. It's weird living alone, even weirder cooking for one. I just added up what I owe my parents after plane tickets here, furniture, tv, and stuff I needed when moving in: $4,300 or something like that. Bye Bye first paycheck, and probably second too. Oh well, what can you expect because I came pretty much empty handed.

After work each day I've been kind of driving around just to get a feel for the area. In case anyone was wondering I live off 9 Mile Road. Yes, just one mile from 8 Mile Road but really like 30 miles away from where the movie was beacause Michigan's mile roads run east west. So, one can technically be out in farmland and be on 8 Mile Road.

Oh, one other important item. Bill and his wife Mary Kay are two VERY nice people I know here who live in Troy. I met them through a guy at Clemson, who worked for GM on the EV1 electric car program. He introduced me to Bill (through email) because Bill was with the EV1 from the beginning. Bill, Mary Kay, my dad, and I all ate dinner together when I was here looking for an apartment. They invited me over their house Friday for dinner and to talk about EV1. That will be fun, they're very nice people.