You're the party baby, I'm just the guest list

Pictures from this past week: taking a boat from Jason's cottage to the Detroit fireworks, grilling outside on the patio with the other interns/E1s, dinner with the robotics folks, and partying it up with Megan, Matt and D.

Don't get arrested

The other day I was getting on the highway and in the little triangle of grass between 8 Mile, the 8 Mile ramp onto 275, and 275 there was a man on his knees with handcuffs on and he was surrounded by cops!

Went to GLR: 548 made it to the semi-finals, Novi was 1/3 of the alliance that won, and PCEP didn't do so well. And a funny story: one of those freshman girls on the PCEP team turned around and told the team "on the count of 3, everyone yell 'Lindsey shake your booty!' " so everyone stood up and someone was trying to get Marty to get Lindsey's attention (and that one song "Shake it Like a Polaroid Picture" was on too). It was sooo funny, she started cracking up and doing this weird dance-y thing and I was just cracking up.

Went to have dinner with Colleen afterwards and was thinking on the way home about how we because good friends. Her ex was best friends with an old crush I had and the four of us went to homecoming my high school freshman year. Now, we've dropped the boys and we're really close :)

Here's where I'm at right now

My first week of school:

Monday - There was an accident on 275 so I was 30 minutes late to class, it took me another 10 to get a parking space, and I finally found room 1041 for my math class. Right? There is of course only one seat at the very front of the room available, and a girl has her pink purse on it, so I shuffle through the isle in front of everyone and ask if I can sit there. Ten minutes later, I finally tune into the professor (old asian guy) and he's like "Another good reason to study child development is..." and I'm like "hmm... definitely not math class". So I left to find my other class and there was only a few minutes left of that, so I basically didn't go to class.

The composition teacher I always complain about gave me an "NC" in her class, and I could not figure out why for the life of me. I emailed/called her dozens of times over break but could not get ahold of her. When I finally ran into her on Tuesday, I had to explain to her I could not take the next level of composition because of her "NC". She said she had not received one of my papers. Okay 1-I emailed her all my papers in one file and triple checked it and 2-If you really do not receive a student's paper, you don't give them an NC, you just lower his or her grade. Today, she admitted she did not realize the file was attatched!

Tuesday - Because of this composition class madness, I had to change my schedule about 5 times while having to walk back and forth from my advisor's office to the Humanities office to the Registrar's office to Ms. I-lost-your-paper's office. I had classes until 6 and one class I am still waitlisted for (even though I'm attending anyway).

Wednesday - No classes, went to Ricardo all day.

Thursday - I had classes until 9, met this awesome girl named Guilliana in my PoliSci class and ended up eating a late dinner with her after class.

Fun forecast for this weekend?
- PCEP robotics meeting!
- Maybe shopping with mom and Fuyen
- Maybe lunch with Natalie

I changed my title, okay?

My problem is, stability.

I hate that I've lost contact with genuinely good friends.

Spending time with certain friends over Christmas break and spending New Year's Eve/New Year's with D and both of us getting calls from drunk and hungover friends to come bail them out, I've determined I'm tired of friends like this. At one point, Dusan even asked me "Tammy, do you realize that what you're doing (names) probably wouldn't do this for you?" and it's true. I'm done with the moochers, the ignorant, the ones who constantly tell their parents they're with me when they're secretly hanging out with someone else... I'm sorry if you're offended, but I'm the one who is offended. I hate that I don't know how to surround myself with a great environment of people I can rely on.

On a seperate note, two huge debates I've been having with myself since Saturday, the 2007 Kickoff:

1. Whether or not to get back involved with robotics. This time as a mentor, instead of a student, and this time, with PCEP (a much more dedicated, self-motivated, impressive, and cooperative team) instead of Northville (which has the worst stability in a team that is possible and are rich, pompous asses). I miss the old 548.

2. I always get asked "When are you going to come work for us?" or "How come you're not already working for us?" by all the Bosch mentors. They always tell me they can snap their fingers and get me in, and I've always planned to end up there eventually. Ricardo is just a bridge for me to get where I want to go. I don't know why I'm not there yet, there's not reason for me not to be. I keep telling myself I get a much more personal experience at Rinc since it is so much smaller (and I know everyone), but I feel sort of like there isn't anything more for me here. I'm not going into IT, even though I love the tasks they give me, and JVA most definitely won't help me excel any more than he has already, if he has at all.

Claude even told me when we went out to lunch last week that he's "not by any means telling me to leave" but "it would be a good experience for you [me] to go to a large corporation and get a feel for that environment" and that "you can always come back here if you want, there will always be stuff for you to do here"

Am I read to make the move? This is always been a matter of "when" and not "if", but I always figured it would be a permanent move when my level of college education is much higher. There are still a few dream internships (I know that is the dorkiest thing I could possibly admit) I want to complete before I go to Bosch and try to make a place for myself there.

What I'm really looking forward to:
- A few more Pistons games coming up that we're going to
- Starting up some new classes and a new schedule
- My new obsession of selling things (like books) on www.amazon.com
- The North American International Auto Show!

Come and rest your bones with me

("Sunday Morning" - Maroon 5)

This song makes me thing of ATL '05. We were flying home from nationals on a beautiful Sunday morning, exhausted, and I kept thinking of the line "Driving home on Sunday morning, and I never want to leave".

Yesterday it hit me that if I had a dad, I'd be consulting him with sooo many things right now. I try to never really think about the situation, but I'm not even going to pretend that I don't wish to have a father figure around (other than Jay who I haven't talked to in months).

I almost forgot that this Saturday is the Woodward Dream Cruise that D and I are going to. Curtesy of Eaton :) VIP food, parking, and etc. Hopefully the weather will be nice and it will be a blast.

Had dinner with Winky yesterday since she just got back to Hong Kong and is leaving for GVSU next week. Tonight or tomorrow, I might see Colleen before she also goes back to GVSU. To add to the list, all the co-ops, Yvonne, my brother, and some other random old friends are all leaving soon too.

I hate when people leave.

Blood, 703/548, and Gambling

I spent the whole week wondering why I signed up to give blood at school since I'm deathly afraid of needles. I suspect it has something to do with the way Mike charmed me into it and kept talking to me about it during seminar. But still, I almost cried when I saw the needle Friday morning. It wasn't a big deal after it was in and I was waiting, but it took a reeeally long time, and when it was all over, I felt like I was going to throw up. Next thing I know, my legs and arms started to feel a little tingly, and I was breathing into a paper bag while the lady (is she a nurse? I don't know) put cold clothes all over my neck and forehead. I sort of blacked out into the lady's arms and she shook me and jogged me across the room to a bed. Since I had high heels on and couldn't keep up with her pace, I made a big racket with my feet dragging, and I am so embarassed everyone saw me like this.

Friday night, Lindsey and D came over, and the three of us drove out to Southfield to meet Joe and Stephen from 703, Stephen's girlfriend, and Stephen's girlfriend's friend. I'm hoping Joe and Lindsey will reconcile since he is the nicest guy ever, and she is so lucky to have someone like that who wants to spend time with her. Here's the cute "hopefully-to-be"-couple at dinner ;)Saturday night was Ricardo's Reception and Casino Night. DTC (Detroit Technical Center) Ricardo rented out this big banquet center at Livonia Marriot Hotel. There were like 300 people there and there was a live DJ, catering (a pasta bar where they make whatever kind of past you want on the spot with different sauces, veggies, or meats!), bartenders, and "in-training-to-be-professional" casino dealers. Here's us all dressed up :)
There was a roulette table, two poker tables (where we were), two craps tables, and two blackjack tables. Everything was played with "funny money", and whoever had the most money at the end of the night got prizes. There was also a raffle with some pretty crazy prizes (like a $500 American Express certificate), and a prize to whoever gambled away their money first which turned out to be me! Luckily, Jessi had to take his wife home to their six kids so he gave me the remainder of his and his wife's funny money, and Kathleen gave me $100 of the funny money she hadn't spent.

Lynda got drunk quickly (that's the other thing - we were probably the only two people "underaged" there), and her husband played poker throughout the night. We were at his table when the last round of gambling was called off, so everyone pretty much bet everything saying that whoever won this last round, would have the most funny money in the room. Sure enough, here is Rick counting his chips and Lynda smiling with a drink next to him!
I gotta say, gambling with four buddies you know in a quiet house for $5 is nothing at all like gambling at in a loud room with 10+ players you've never met before and a pro dealer! But I had more fun than I can remember having in awhile, and I'm glad D convinced me we should go :) I gotta say - it's going to be a nightmare for my bank account when I'm old enough to gamble!

Good times, good times indeed.

Before I talk about this weekend...
Today, Claude introduced me to Tracy who now works for John VanAlstyne who is the VP of Bus Dev and Marketing at Ricardo who I had an interview with about a month ago. You with me so far? I thought John had forgotten about the interview, even though it sounded promising when I had talked to him, but I guess he mentioned it to the rest of the department last week. Tracy schedule a meeting with me and John this Friday, and this SAE Trade Show is coming up and Ricardo has a booth and I guess that's something I'm going to be working on with Tracy starting towards the end of this week! And, it looks like I'm going to be a major part of Rinc US's starting newsletter :)

On Friday I went prom dress shopping with Colleen at Somerset after work. Unfortunately, of the two dresses I liked best, one was falling apart and the last size, the other had material so thin it was see through. Finally, we just gave up and went to the food court, and I ate the best salad I've had since the salad I had in New York last year. It's tossed the way a salad should be: the freshest ingredients (complete with meats and cheeses) with your favorite dressing tossed in a clean, large, bowl. Then the DVD of Seinfeld episodes (D burned for me) until I fell asleep.

Saturday was GLR first thing in the morning. D calls at 7 freakin' am, and of course that's nothing to him. And let me just say this. 548 won a Judges award for financial difficulties. I laugh because of all Detroit charter schools and all the teams Ford completely dropped, Northville - where everyone has expensive houses and cars - wins the Judges award for financial difficulties. Honestly guys, that's not something to brag about.

Highlights included:
Lunch with John and Kristin, Kevin, Nitin, Stephan, and D at one of GQ's (and Oprah's) Top 20 Burgers to Eat Before You Die: Sidetrack Bar and Grill. So 19 more and then I can die. The burger was not bad at all with its perfectly cooked meat and toasted bun, but what was better was the Cranberry Walnut Bread Pudding that Kristin and I split.Marty, in his shorts (on the far right, bottom corner), and Lindsey (on the far left, bottom corner) reffing the game and doing the "YMCA" during a break. Everyone else on the field who isn't a ref is a mascot.
Sunday included a massive load of cleaning, saying goodbye to Tim, and spending good times with old robotics kids. Dinner at Red Robin, cruising in D's Cobra, music blasting, and balls blasting out of my RoboPong 2000. Brings me back to the old days which I wish I hadn't taken for granted. Oh yeah, here's his oh-so-sexy Cobra:

What else? Oh yeah, Miami beat the Cavaliers after a couple quarters of trying to catch up with the Cavaliers, and the Pistons are now 50-12 (first in Central) but Denver and San Antonio are just trailing behind!