Alright, after a few days of deliquency, I'll finish my song and dance about Pennsylvania. So my first day was Tuesday and I arrived just in time (had a bit of trouble finding the plant because I couldn't mapquest it with the internet down). They had us file into another room to go through our paperwork, though I can't say I was overly impressed with the process or the organization because I was still never asked to show my I-9 information (passport or social security card) that I was told would be necessary on the first day. They also had a major backup in the ID center due to a, believe it or not, heart attack that occured that morning on the premises. So instead of having us all go and get ID's all of our "buddies" arrived and took us to meet out managers. The buddies are a GE employee who used to be in the same internship we're in right now and they are there to help us with any questions or problems we have.  After arriving in my building and waiting to meet my supervisor, which took about 40 minutes because he was working out on the floor. The place I work is a rebuilding station for old train engines (deisel engines that convert their power to electrical energy) and they has got to be about 40 different stations where different tasks are being performed one at a time, almost like an assembly line. The first thing I discovered was that I needed to wear eye protection and ear protection and steel tipped boots to meet all the safety requirements of the building. Then I discovered my job for the summer: sitting at a computer all day working on creating a database that logged the number of parts sitting at each station in Microsoft Access so my supervisor could run statistics on the data.  Needless to say, I was none to thrilled my first couple of days of work because one major reason I had ended my my computer engineering major was precisely because I didn't want to program all day at a future job. As the end of this week approached, however, a bright ray of sunshine opened up the cloads and revealed (drumroll please): A slightly more interesting assignment as soon as I finish this database, which is now almost complete.  This next job consists of updating and/or correcting documentation on how to repair a specific part. Although it sounds like just more computer work, I'll get to be out on the floor seeing people perform this job and talking with people who have done it so that I can understand what needs to be included in this document.  Outside of work, my life has consisted of watching some DVD's and hanging with my roommate, but I've been somewhat dissapointed with the lack of ease in meeting all the interns -- it seems they're all introverted engineers who stay in their rooms all the time (no comments from the peanut gallery). Hopefully the weekend will loosen them up a bit, as I noticed a nice little sand volleyball court directly behind our apartment complex that shouldn't be wasted.  As to the climate, it was just as miserable as Kansas when I first arrived, although the past few days it has finally cooled down so it's actually quite comfortable. However, I have been warned that the humidity comes sooner or later and that I have muggy days to look forward to thanks to that little pond named Lake Erie.  Overall, I would compare Erie to a smaller version of Olathe, so it has about the same restaurants, probably a bit more interesting things to see (the lake is an unfair advantage), and most definitely more people crammed into a smaller space making driving always an adventure.  I have never seen as many semi-trucks on city streets than I have while here, but maybe that is partly might fault (someone has to bring those huge train engine parts to the GE plant!).  Finally, I have to a most heartfelt thank you to David Glass because the Super-Walmart was the only place where I truly felt at home, recognizing the location of everything immediately due to the identical layout of the Walmart in Manhattan. 

P.S.  Here's a shot of my room with two beds in case someone wants to drive 14 hours for a sleep-over!

Sit tight group, because this could be a long one...

So I'm sitting here in my apartment room in Erie, Pennsylvania, contemplating my journey and my time here thus far. I left Sunday morning with only a minor cell phone fiasco (washed it with my jeans!) and nothing but optimism about the road ahead.  That evening I arrived in Cloverdale, a nice little one horse town about an hour from Indianapolis. One thing I noticed immediately: Kansas and Missouri don't care if you kill yourselves on the highways! Every state I was in past Missouri has a speed limit of 65 or less, which makes a nice political bumper sticker but makes for much slower going. After crashing...early to bed in Cloverdale ;)-- darn time zone changes -- I continued on my journey bright and early Monday. This was not only to beat the traffic in Indianapolis -- reference for the Indy 500 thrown in here -- but to attempt to arrive with time to unpack all my stuff since we had a lovely first day starting time of 7AM Tuesday (ie today for those of you not paying attention).  Let me also note this: Illinois has nothing outside of Chicago. Trust me, I've driven across the state west to east and there is nothing to see but trees and roadkill!  BTW, I hardly ever see roadkill on the highways in Kansas but if I had a dollar for everytime I saw it in Illinois I think I would have taken the money and quit the internship right on the spot!  Since I digress, I arrived in Erie, PA at around 3 pm and opened my room to much dismay -- NO AIR CONDITIONING!  After unloading my luggage I realized that I looked even more skinny, but then I noticed the pool of sweat on the floor and it all made sense. OK, bad joke, but you get the point.  After unpacking and a trip to Super-Walmart, which has exactly the same layout as the one in Manhattan (David Glass did something right), I hit the sack.  Instead of defending itself, the sack convinced the room to try to smoke me out. Ok, I'm definitely getting tired because the jokes are getting worse.  Point is, this was probably the only time in my life I actually thought about sleeping in the nude, but I doubt it would have helped.  At any rate, I finally cooled off just enough to fall asleep -- no covers and all the windows I could find set completely open.  Today I awoke to find all the insects in Pennsylvania in my bathtube, but I promptly drowned them all and showered for the day. And what a day it was! Unfortunately for you and fortunately for me, I'm going to end this little story right here before I pass out on the keyboard and all you get is aogiewoivnaopweivhjaowe;fjao;sjvopasdjvoawejfawoejfoa.  But, my most faithful readers, I will continue tomorrow and you can look forward to hearing all about what I'm doing at the internship and what a grump I was about it. For now, this is Sam signing off. Peace, love, and crabs (so the shirt says anyways).

So it's school again :(  On the upside, I get to see all my cool Manhattan friends...apologies to all those not cool enough to be in Manhattan right now    Classes look to be about average difficulty, but I will be starting my illustruous (is that spelled right?) career as a dining center worker. I'll probably be at Kramer, for those who know or care, so come on by and I'll fix you something (not saying it will be good!). Anyways, I'll write a longer update when I get to use my own computer...I'm on borrowed time. Later,

                                                 Sam