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Let me just put this in a Nutshell (since ranting hasn't made the situation better). At 4:30pm on Friday, Claude is like "Catherine and Tammy, have these 700-something licenses scanned, renumbed, and loaded into Lotus Notes with written descriptions by next Friday when I get back from the UK." And each license is about 5-10 or more pages long. This has got to be some kind of cruel and unusual punishment.
So to make me feel better, D brings me two lovely, pink orchids:
That night, we meet with Zach and Josh for some yummy Olive Garden food, a long ride around town in the Cobra, and ridiculous rounds of Poker with Bosch cards. Absolutely could not stop laughing the whole game :) I gotta say, it's the first time I've seen $2032 bets or $101 bets!
Lindsey sent me an email like "hi how are you?" and then "can you correct my paper?" Hahaha I love this girl!
Wednesday --
We left at about 11:00pm, packed up, loaded with snacks and DVDs, and a tank full of gas ready for this long drive to NY. Sometime between then and 6:00am (I slept the whole way and had a hard time waking up to do my share of driving), my mom accidentally took a wrong turn somewhere, or didn't take a turn at all, and we ended up 100 miles south of where we were supposed to be at the time. I guess what had happened when I was sleeping in the car was that Dusan and my mom were stretching their legs out at a rest station and there was a map on the wall. It said "you are here", and they looked at each other and said "no we're not". But we were. Good thing I was asleep!
Thursday --
In the morning we got to the buzzing city full of one way streets and honking taxis. The abuse of traffic laws in New York City never ceases to amaze me! Here's the Williamsburg Bridge, I think:
This was a watch shop that had international clocks on the building. Kind of cool the high class stores you see from just driving around New York.
After getting unloaded, parked, and up in the apartment on 72nd and Broadway, we realized the bathroom light didn't work, but that didn't stop us from showering! Of course Gray's Papaya was a must for hot dogs and drinks (here's a picture from last year):
First stop was the Empire State Building. What a disappointment, I have to say. I always pictured the interior to be an eloquent, fancy-schmancy building but it was beaten up, torn up, the lines were ridiculously long, the employees were ridiculously rude, and the NY Skyride (a show/simulation ride) was ridiculously terrible. If it wasn't for the amazing sight at the top, I would rate this a 1 out of 10. 
I love this picture! I took this at the 80-something-th floor of the Empire State Building. See the shadow?
Behind all these buildings in the middle/right are where the World Trade Centers are supposed to be. On the map that was displayed to show their old location, it showed that they were much taller than the building surrounding them (about half an inch taller on my computer screen).
Just so ya know, that's not my mom's hand in the picture below! It's Dusan's hand adjusting the binoculars for my mom. Haha... it looks funny, I know. 
Of course, we had to stop at Macy's which was just across the street from the Empire State Building. They were having some kind of annual flower show and everything inside was covered in flowers, plants, small trees, and fruits. This is a behive made of flowers with little, plastic bees sticking out of it:
If you've ever been to Time Square, you know at night it's pure lights and people!
There was this huge billboard that D had to take a picture of that was above Starbucks :) It just has all these mathmatical equations and all this stuff on it - it's actually pretty cool. The website for it is www.beyondthedrawingboard.com You don't know until after you go to the website that it's actually an ad for the GMC Yukon. Neat marketing technique huh?
At the end of the day, we were all kind of cranky and tired from the lack of sleep. We walked around trying to figure out for over an hour where we were going to eat, and finally we settled on Olive Garden. I know, lame... after driving hours and hours to New York, we just go to Olive Garden. It wasn't even that good, in fact, it was really really over priced compared to Novi's Olive Garden. It was cool though because it was like 4 stories and there was an escalator for waiters with lots to carry.
Friday -- More Grey's Papya hot dogs. And they have good drinks too like pineapple juice, coconut milk, banana milk, and of course, papaya drinks. Here's me trying to hurry up and finish one so we can get on our way:
And then off to the Intrepid Air and Space Museum! This was probably Dusan's favorite place. It was a museum actually on the retired Intrepid. Next to it was this airplane that D says is rare to find. Is it an Airbus? I can't remember but he took a million pictures of it so it must be a big deal!
Then the inside of the musem had a G-force ride that was crazzzyy. You could sit two people into one of these things and play flight simulator, except the little thing-a-ma-bobber you sit in actually spins 360 depending on how you drive it. Of course, Dusan drove and we did spins and upside downs and swerves left and right. There was also this 4D ride:
That evening, we went to the the place where the World Trade Center used to be. They're planting the "Freedom Tower" there, which is a tower made completely of glass that will be built in place of the World Trade Centers.
That night, we went to Chinatown for some authentic food. We got there kind of late so there's wasn't much to do or anything open, really.
Saturday --
Woke at 5am (yes, I can't believe it either) to get in line for SNL tickets at the Rockerfeller Center. Or so we thought. There were about 50 people in front of us who had been camping out all night with their sleeping bags and fold out chairs, so we thought we weren't getting tickets. 7:00am rolled around and we got these pinkish, reddish tickets that turned out to be stand by tickets (but we didn't know). That night, when we got to the SNL at 10:00, we were told that the tickets were standby tickets and only 8 people made it in. So much for all that waiting :(
On top of waiting almost 2 hours for SNL tickets that were non-existent, we waited a total of at least 5 hours in lines that day to see the Statue of Liberty. Like last time, we witnessed a couple guys get arrested by undercover cops for selling Folexes, Foakleys, and pirated DVDs. Anyway, we were in line for 1 1/2 hours and got towards the front when we realized we were in the wrong line! This wasn't the line for tickets, this was the boarding line! So D stayed in line for board while I went to a 1/2 hour line to buy tickets. Luckily, we made it in time but I can't remember when our feet have ever hurt that much in my life! Dusan and I took turns standing and sitting because our feet were just killer.
Dusan was like "pose for a picture" and I shook my head to get my hair out of my face because the wind was blowing, but he took the picture early and we ended up with this:
So he's like "looks like a model runway shot" and we started doing this thing where one of us had the camera, the other would walk away, turn on command, and we'd take these random, dorky shots:
After Libery Island, we went to Little Italy's for authentic, not to mention expensive, Italian pasta. We got such a kick out of the waiters there with their thick, heavy accents. Our waiter had a whole speech prepared (with hand motions and all) about the dinner specials for the day. D was like "I don't understand a word he's saying but it's fun to listen to him talk! Something about chicken and potatoes?" Haha his face is so pink from the sun. 
We went back to Columbus Circle just to hang out with in the park and listen to the amazing street performers. Here's the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Columbus Circle:
Sunday --
Ahh I gotta finish this entry later...
Our booth at the SAE World Congress with Steve and Roger in the white shirts talking to two Japanese guys (this was right before the show closed): 
I really lost it yesterday when I plopped down on D's couch and realized what kind of a week it had been. Machining through this past week and working every extra hour I had in my life on this Draft for John (plus checking on Brent's spaghetti code), I'm pretty frustrated with myself that the quality of my work is not my best. And sitting half awake in school bored to death (except for Psych and math) makes it that much more upsetting to know I have the time to work but don't have the opportunity. I'm upset because I feel like I spent every last ounce of energy trying to make my work deadlines and balance what's left of school, and the time was still not enough to accomplish things as well as my original standards had been. I'm pretty upset with myself.
I woke up at 6am today to find cramp pains exploding inside of me (sorry if this subject bothers you boys, but you probably don't understand anyway). I dragged myself out of bed to find one of those therma-heat things I bought, slapped one on, and fell back asleep. At 11am, I went with my mom to this kitchen interior design workshop. It was actually really informative and I love the idea that my mom and I are going to be able to do all this remodeling every step of the way - that is, if we end up in the original condo we had planned. It's amazing what you don't know notice about kitches: the toe-kicks, the crowning above your cabinets, the angle of your counters, the height between your counter and the cabinets above...
Then a late lunch with Natalie at Olga's where we discussed Prisonbreak, relationships, and dresses. I love this girl and I we need to hang out more often!
Tonight: I don't know. I have so much going on but I'm still irritable from the week's results. I'll probably end up going to D's and watching a movie until we're half awake, but I kind of feel like dressing up and going out. Oh well.
What makes me laugh: the person who instantly wants the most out of everything while continuously doing nothing.
What a winning characteristic to be like that person.And I never want to be the limo driver left out in the cold to wait for a man who is busy crying at a sad opera story.
Yesterday, we had a day off of school, but I spent it at work instead. It almost spoiled my day when I went to the lunchroom and found that the vending machine was out of Pay Days and Almond Joys. I went for the Raisinets instead.
Prisonbreak last night was most definately my favorite episode so far. Apprentice's time slot got changed so I only caught the last 20 minutes of it :( But I'm going strong because Allie, Tammy (can you guess why she's my favorite?), the European, and Lee are all still on!
I can't wait for this Thursday because D and I are going to go through the twenty-something bookmarks I made online of places the three of us will go over break. Only eight more days until we leave for Manhattan!
(A Berlitz commercial)
English man on radio: mayday mayday! Hello, can you hear us? Over. We are sinking...we are sinking!
German Coast Guard: Hallo... dis is ze german coast guard....
English man on radio: We're sinking, we're sinking!
German Coast Guard: vat are you... sinking about?
My new playlist consists of jazzy Wynton Marsalis, Eric Clapton's classical guitar, and some random Spanish romances. I don't know if that means I'm going through a different music phase, since I do that often, or if I need the music to relax my shot nerves.
Last Friday, D and I got 4 6-inch subs at Subway for $9.99 and then stopped by Lindsey's to hang out with her family. I think her family is absolutely the best family you could ever spend time with, and I hope when I grow up, I can be the kind of mom Lindsey's mom is with the kind of husband Lindsey's dad is (and have an adorable 5 lb. dog like the one she has)!
Last Saturday and Sunday, Catherine and I spent 9 hours and then 5 hours fixing up the North building phone room. I meant to blog, but you can imagine after working 9-6 in this ridiculous room, then finishing it off Sunday, and then going home to study for the rest of the night, I think it's excusable. Here's behind the panel before:
Here's behind the panel after we labeled, recorded, and unplugged everything:
Here's behind the panel we re-labeled, re-recorded, plugged, and organize everything (notice the millions of zip ties separating sections of TNs):
That was last weekend. Now this weekend: on Friday, D, my mom, and I went to Gourmet Buffet in West Oaks for dinner. It makes me laugh that D eats just as daringly as my mom, and he has even mastered using chopsticks after eating out with us so much (and sushi with the Josh and Ernie). Afterwards, he and I watched "Monster in Law" again only because D thinks the black woman (played by Wanda Sykes) is hilarious. This is probably the funniest line -
Viola - What's wrong with you?
Ruby - I am sick. I am sick, sick, sick of your shit. And when I'm not sick, I'm tired. I'm sick and tired.
Saturday, my mom and I spent hours looking at more condos, townhouses, and apartment complexes. One apartment complex had this amazing Donald-Trump-like clubhouse with a huge outdoor pool, an indoor pool, a jacuzzi, sauna, tanning center, kitchen, fireplace with couches, billiards room with big screen TV, and fitness center. Then the apartments were super crappy and it made my mom and me laugh. On the flip side, Singh has these great townhouses behind "downtown Novi" on Main Street. Whirlpool kitchen appliances, 2 car garage, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, intercom system in entire home, security system in entire home, spacious great room, spacious living room, and phone jacks in every room. Those were really nice.
In the evening, Colleen and I went to our usual Border Cantina where I bumped into Marc again. Afterwards, D picked us up in the Cobra and we went to CSC Novi :) And after that, they dyed my hair red and we played BS when waiting to rinse it out. I love these two!
That night, we meet with Zach and Josh for some yummy Olive Garden food, a long ride around town in the Cobra, and ridiculous rounds of Poker with Bosch cards. Absolutely could not stop laughing the whole game :) I gotta say, it's the first time I've seen $2032 bets or $101 bets!
This was a watch shop that had international clocks on the building. Kind of cool the high class stores you see from just driving around New York.
After getting unloaded, parked, and up in the apartment on 72nd and Broadway, we realized the bathroom light didn't work, but that didn't stop us from showering! Of course Gray's Papaya was a must for hot dogs and drinks (here's a picture from last year):
First stop was the Empire State Building. What a disappointment, I have to say. I always pictured the interior to be an eloquent, fancy-schmancy building but it was beaten up, torn up, the lines were ridiculously long, the employees were ridiculously rude, and the NY Skyride (a show/simulation ride) was ridiculously terrible. If it wasn't for the amazing sight at the top, I would rate this a 1 out of 10. 
I love this picture! I took this at the 80-something-th floor of the Empire State Building. See the shadow?
Behind all these buildings in the middle/right are where the World Trade Centers are supposed to be. On the map that was displayed to show their old location, it showed that they were much taller than the building surrounding them (about half an inch taller on my computer screen).
Just so ya know, that's not my mom's hand in the picture below! It's Dusan's hand adjusting the binoculars for my mom. Haha... it looks funny, I know. 
Of course, we had to stop at Macy's which was just across the street from the Empire State Building. They were having some kind of annual flower show and everything inside was covered in flowers, plants, small trees, and fruits. This is a behive made of flowers with little, plastic bees sticking out of it:
If you've ever been to Time Square, you know at night it's pure lights and people!
There was this huge billboard that D had to take a picture of that was above Starbucks :) It just has all these mathmatical equations and all this stuff on it - it's actually pretty cool. The website for it is www.beyondthedrawingboard.com You don't know until after you go to the website that it's actually an ad for the GMC Yukon. Neat marketing technique huh?
At the end of the day, we were all kind of cranky and tired from the lack of sleep. We walked around trying to figure out for over an hour where we were going to eat, and finally we settled on Olive Garden. I know, lame... after driving hours and hours to New York, we just go to Olive Garden. It wasn't even that good, in fact, it was really really over priced compared to Novi's Olive Garden. It was cool though because it was like 4 stories and there was an escalator for waiters with lots to carry.
And then off to the Intrepid Air and Space Museum! This was probably Dusan's favorite place. It was a museum actually on the retired Intrepid. Next to it was this airplane that D says is rare to find. Is it an Airbus? I can't remember but he took a million pictures of it so it must be a big deal!
Dusan was like "pose for a picture" and I shook my head to get my hair out of my face because the wind was blowing, but he took the picture early and we ended up with this:
So he's like "looks like a model runway shot" and we started doing this thing where one of us had the camera, the other would walk away, turn on command, and we'd take these random, dorky shots:
After Libery Island, we went to Little Italy's for authentic, not to mention expensive, Italian pasta. We got such a kick out of the waiters there with their thick, heavy accents. Our waiter had a whole speech prepared (with hand motions and all) about the dinner specials for the day. D was like "I don't understand a word he's saying but it's fun to listen to him talk! Something about chicken and potatoes?" Haha his face is so pink from the sun. 
We went back to Columbus Circle just to hang out with in the park and listen to the amazing street performers. Here's the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Columbus Circle:
I really lost it yesterday when I plopped down on D's couch and realized what kind of a week it had been. Machining through this past week and working every extra hour I had in my life on this Draft for John (plus checking on Brent's spaghetti code), I'm pretty frustrated with myself that the quality of my work is not my best. And sitting half awake in school bored to death (except for Psych and math) makes it that much more upsetting to know I have the time to work but don't have the opportunity. I'm upset because I feel like I spent every last ounce of energy trying to make my work deadlines and balance what's left of school, and the time was still not enough to accomplish things as well as my original standards had been. I'm pretty upset with myself.
Here's behind the panel after we labeled, recorded, and unplugged everything:
Here's behind the panel we re-labeled, re-recorded, plugged, and organize everything (notice the millions of zip ties separating sections of TNs):
That was last weekend. Now this weekend: on Friday, D, my mom, and I went to Gourmet Buffet in West Oaks for dinner. It makes me laugh that D eats just as daringly as my mom, and he has even mastered using chopsticks after eating out with us so much (and sushi with the Josh and Ernie). Afterwards, he and I watched "Monster in Law" again only because D thinks the black woman (played by Wanda Sykes) is hilarious. This is probably the funniest line -
