Eh...

Pretty interesting day at work today. I got to tour our Davenport factory. I haven't been on that factory floor since 2004. I love factory tours.

When I got back to my office I had to messages. One that I am going to help fill in for a co-worker who is having surgery. Neat opportunity for me to learn a different job (one that I'd like eventually). The other was from University of Iowa. They are accepting me 'conditionally' on account of my low score on the GMAT (see 'frikin idiot post). Well, I won't start classes in the summer because of the fill in at work, but I likely will be able to start in the fall.

I am excited about the opportunity at work. Means I get to travel to VA and WV a few times.

Oh, and it snowed today! It's like 5 days short of being April and we're getting snow?!

Wicked

We went to Chicago last night to see my Christmas present - tickets to see "Wicked" the musical. SO good.

Miner stayed home by himself and we stayed in a Hampton Inn in the theater district. Our neighbors took care of feeding Miner and letting him out. He was a good boy.

We are now calling Miner "Sandwich Snatcher" and David is no longer allowed to leave food in the living room. You can figure that one out.

fruit loops

I know they aren't good for me, but there could be worse things to snack on, right?

I'm seriously mental

After the Grand Canyon, we went to Sedona, AZ. We took a Jeep tour. The kind where they take you off road and give your chiropractor extra work to do. We stopped at this sink-hole called Devil's Kitchen. It collapsed in the late 1800's, and then another huge chunk fell in a couple of days after the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. Needless to say, the rock lover in me was SO excited about all the cool geology in the area.

What seriously freaked me out about myself was this: a family was hiking with their boxer dog off leash. The dog gets right up to the edge of the sink hole. I instantly suck in my breath, afraid the dog is just going to jump in. WTF? Dogs aren't 100% stupid...it wasn't like there were any animals down in there (at least none that I could see) that the dog would want to go after. And it wasn't even my dog!

Like I said, WTF?!

Canyon? What Canyon?

We left Las Vegas yesterday around 10 AM. Traffic at the Hoover Dam was slow, but then we were on our way. We had rain, snow and some mixture thereof for a good part of the way to the Grand Canyon. When we finally made it to the National Park, this is what we saw:

Overnight, we got about 3 inches of snow, as evidenced on our rental car.

Luckily, after some breakfast and packing everything back in the car, the sky had cleared some. So, we did get to see the damn thing.

I'm all about it now...

I had this song stuck in my head for a week. Last week was ConExpo in Las Vegas. It's the biggest trade show that happens in Vegas every 3 years. Our booth was pretty awesome. We unveiled the 764 High Speed Dozer. The link below has the video that played in our booth about every 5 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwq99t3AKIA&feature=email

freakin' idiot

I took the GMAT this morning. I am a dork. I forgot to pay attention to the time, and didn't finish all the math questions. My little engineer brain was all, "Oooh, I know how to do this one. Let me finish it." I must have been doing well, because the questions got more difficult. Then the 5 minutes remaining thing popped up. I was just over halfway through. I left 10 unanswered. I feel like such a moron. I know I would have done better had I better managed my time. I worked lots of practice problems, but never any timed. THAT was my downfall. I would have noticed that I spent too much time.

So, I will just see what the U of Iowa people say about my score. It's right at the minimum according to what my co-workers have said. And I know at least one of them got pretty close to that minimum, and they still got in, and they are super smart people. If I can get in, I won't take it again. If the rest of my application isn't good enough to get in with a score like that, I'll take it over.

I hate the fact that you are tested not on what you know, but on how well you can take this one particular test. Ah, well. I can't do much about it now. We'll just see what the admissions lady says.

Maybe I'll go put a coat of paint on my desk and chair.

wild and crazy girls

Saturday, 4 friends and I drove to Chicago for a bachelorette party for my friend Diane. We met up with Diane and a friend of hers from the area. We hung out at our hotel, had fun and gave Diane a bunch of presents. Then we went to dinner and to a piano bar called 'The Redhead.' It was a lot of fun. In the photo (left to right): Karen, Kristin, Emily, Diane, me, Jen, Vonda and Diane's cousin Yvonne.