I LIVE!

Time, as has been noted in the past, flies.

I'm about halfway through my summer internship with GE Transportation (formerly GE Aircraft Engines, 'til they merged with GE Rail).  It's been going pretty well, although it started off rather slowly.  I'm working in the supply chain in the Structures CoE (Center of Excellence--if there's one thing GE does well, its acronyms--heck, just look at the name of the company!) in the GAP group: Globalization, analysis, and producibility.  Basically, we deal with ways to make jet engines easier, cheaper, and faster to produce.  Right now I'm working on improving a database of drawing notes and thanking providence that I had a course on engineering drawing last semester.  Yay for true position tolerancing!

In other news, I was on vacation the first of July through the eighth.  My family and I went up to MN to visit relatives, go canoeing, and generally unwind.  We spent all day Friday driving (it's between 12 and 14 hours--I was asleep most of the time) and made it up to Mankato late Friday evening.  Saturday my Uncle Tom, my cousin Isaac, my brother, and my dad all piled into my uncle's homemade canoe and went on a scouting trip down the Cottonwood River.  It was quite the sight.  Turns out that, even in high water, the Cottonwood is more full of rocks than of water.  They ended up breaking the copper-reinforced oak keel on my uncle's boat (don't worry--it wasn't bad enough to really hurt the boat). 

Sunday my immediate family and I went to church with my sister, then out to brunch with some friends of hers.  A good time was had by all.  Sunday afternoon we had a big party for my grandfather's 75th birthday.  My dad's *entire* family was there, and we got photos taken (I'll post 'em when we get 'em back from the photographer).  To give you an idea of the chaos involved, my dad is one of eight children, and all but one of them have kids. 

Monday we started off on our annual canoe trip down the Minnesota River (the Cottonwood having been unanimously declared too damn rocky). 
"We" includes:

my dad's brother Tom
Tom's daughter Ann
Tom's son Isaac
me
my dad
my mom
my brother
my sister
my dad's sister Liz
Liz's son Sean
Liz's son BJ
Liz's daughter Erin
Liz's fiancee Tom M.
Tom M.'s daughter Christiny
Tom M.'s son Cully
Sean's friend Nick
Christiny's friend Kelly
my dad's sister Kay
Kay's grandchild Amber

It was quite the fleet, let me tell you.  Eleven boats total--four kayaks and seven canoes.  Getting all the gear packed and all the people launched was...challenging.  But it worked out okay.  We spent the night on an island, then paddled the rest of the way down the river in the morning.  It was a lot of fun, though we did have one adventure.  In the early evening, Nick somehow accidentally stepped in the fire and got second degree burns all over his feet and toes.  My dad and Tom M. had to canoe him up to the landing and take him to the emergency room, but he was fine the next day (though he had to wear these comical little booties to protect the blisters).

Wednesday my dad got roped into plumbing a new sink for his dad and step-mom, while my brother and I went to go see "War of the Worlds".  It's largely more a horror than an adventure movie, and I didn't like it all that much (although the do get points for keeping the kids alive).  Thursday my dad and I managed to get out and do some kayaking in the evening down the Minnesota.  We didn't get quite as far as we wanted because the river is slower farther downstream, but we still had fun.  Friday and Saturday we drove back, and Sunday we veged.  Monday, it was back to work, and I've been there ever since.