Week 11: A week of me time

Hello again! So this week has seen another new adventure of my summer. My sister and her family went back to Ohio mid week to visit both sets of grandparents. So this means that I had the opportunity to "house sit" we'll call it. I do have to say its been pretty boring... nonetheless this is this weeks top 10.


1. The one day we were outside using the hose to water some plants and my niece decides she wants to start blowing into the hose for some reason. So of course my brother in law decides he will play a lovely trick on her and this is the result. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN_RYdOGabc

2. Fun fact of the week. I discovered a new skill I possess, place and Oreo on your forehead and move it to your mouth with out touching it. You should try it... it's a lot harder then it might seem. The best part I discovered I had this talent at work! (In case you are worried that I just slack off at work, it was during a training meeting and they asked for 2 volunteers to attempt this feat) If you are wondering my time is 27 seconds forehead to mouth, I dare you to beat it.

3. I finally let the other interns in on my secret game plan. Lose every game intentionally so that the full timers will offer us all jobs. But the trick is still looking good and showing off your individual talent so that you get recruited for next year.

4. So needless to say we lost in kickball again!

5. I have found that swimming laps is kind of fun! And really really tiring!

6. Wanted: Eye donor... Strong pair of eyes that are capable of staring at an excel spreadsheet for at least 8 hours a day. I will swap you my current set they are getting a little tired...

7. Apparently my 4+ years of studying German are really paying off..... or something like that, because I can sit in my bosses office when she is talking to our Mexican coworker and I can understand over 50% of what they are saying

8. 2 hour staff meetings are not as fun as they might sound. Especially when most everything being discussed is stuff you have no clue about... But hey it was a good break from staring at my computer screen.

9. Our complex here at SCJ isn't huge, but I still get lost so its great that they give us these little maps to carry around with us. However, there is this intricate tunnel system that they have that connects every building (you know you are in the Frozen North (Wisconsin) if they have tunnels connecting everything). So I found it very interesting when employees who have been here for years still get lost (made me feel just a little bit better :) )

10. This weeks shout out goes to my pal Jason Taylor! So Ladies(if you are a flake you need not respond), Jason is a tall athletic confident guy that loves the outdoors and being awesome if you are interested just let me know and I'll hook it up for you!
(if you are interested in being next weeks shout out just call/skype me sometime this week and it could be you!)

Week 10: A new beginning... or something like that

So this week I began my second rotation of my internship. I am now working in Global Internal Audit and I get to look at countries in Latin America and do some lovely data analytics looking for trends and anomalies. So I'll cut to the chase here's this weeks 10.

1. So I'll just get this out of the way now. Intern Kickball team is 0 and 6 on the season. We have lost to every team once and my optimism for a turnaround is fading. We only had 11 players this week (usually 20ish) and we still couldn't pull it off.

2. I came into work one morning and I had an email that read:

Hi All

I brought Donuts today

Have a happy Friday

-Jesus

Yes Jesus brought me Donuts!

3. So I started in my new group this week, and unfortunately technology has decided to revolt against this move and has thus stopped working for me. The system I need for my project decided I do not have sufficient access, another program wouldn't let me log in, and my Outlook decided it just wanted to wig out for a few hours.... yup Love Technology some days!

4. So my 7 month old niece has been ... we'll call it scooting (almost crawling) around the house. YAY! Well anyways, one night she's on the floor taking a break so I got down and this was the result of my encounter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EaYyXx9MEw

5. Cute moment of the week: A few weeks ago my 4 year old niece told me I wasn't part of the family. Yesterday she told me she was talking about me during church. So I asked her why and she responded that they were talking about families. So I decide to ask if I was part of the family and she said YES and then gave me a big hug. :)

6. I wish I could keep track of everyones responses at work when I tell them I go to school at BYU. A lot of them end up being "How the heck did you get here???" Many start conversations about Jimmer. Every once in a while I get a comment about the church. But it's pretty much all of those in one form or another. On the same note I get different looks when I tell people at church that I work for SCJ but those are more looks than words... not sure why most of the looks are followed by " A family company" or "It's a good company"

7. So a about a month ago I went swimming with the Fam and my nieces were showing me their swimming ability... you might be amazed at what two weeks of swim lessons will do for them. The 7 year old is pretty solid, shes in and out of the deep end, and can go down the water slide all by herself and doesn't need as much help. However, the 4 year old while she has improved still needs constant supervision, this doesn't stop her from just leaping off the wall when you aren't looking and trying her best to reach you 6feet away before needing to be rescued.

8. I am a little surprised to find out that most of my Audit coworkers are extremely social and fun people. Yes I might be insinuating that accountants are usually dull and boring... but not this group.

9. My boss from my first half took me to lunch at ... Chipotle!!! Some of you might not know but I love Chipotle and unfortunately for the last 2 1/2 years I have gone without because the closest Chipotle is 40+ minutes away in SLC. Well as a good job / going away gift my boss gave me a gift card for Chipotle which will basically be enough for me to eat there once a week for the rest of the summer!!! I am very happy!!!!

10. I just have to let everyone know that Brooke Showalter is AWESOME.

Week 9: End of the first half!!!

Hiya all once again. Another week has come and passed. This week was filled with fun and excitement. I also finished my first half project and next week I'll be moving to a new area of the company and start working on another fun project. So like always here's this weeks 10.

1. I have really missed fireflies. When driving at night I can just see them flying through the fields all around and they are beautiful!!

(PS no I didn't take this picture)

2. So last week I mentioned that my work had given me a pair of tickets to Summerfest (which is a week+ long music fest that has 700 different bands that come and play throughout the 11 days) While I enjoyed the concerts (Neon Trees and Owl City) I've realized I'm not much of a concert person.

3. Milwaukee is affectionately referred to as Brew City. I've realize that they could also be called Fest City. They literally have a different fest ever week. They also love their beer, so that is why they even have a fest called brewfest... oh ya that is exactly what it sounds like

4. I've finally got back to what I am good at and that is baking. This week I have created a masterpiece and that is making mini cheesecakes! Yum!!

5. I bought a lovely pack of sparklers that my nieces enjoyed playing with. This is a picture of my 4 year old niece!

6. My youngest niece has started rolling all over the place. She is just about to the point where she will start crawling and is really enjoying her freedom. One night she was rolling around and the dog decided it wanted to join in the fun. So for a few minutes both baby and dog practiced rolling in sync.

7. Weekly kickball update: Lost again :( we took a 3-1 lead into the last inning and still lost the game.... sooo close

8. So I have spent the last 6 (really 4) weeks working on a project in my Business Planning and Analysis role. I was nervous to give an hour long presentation but the presentation went well. After some great feedback I spent 8 hours whittling down over 80 graphs on 50 slides down to 5 slides.... 6 weeks for a handful of slides....

9. It was great to finish my project and then my boss said hey take Friday off so you get a 4 day weekend. So when attempting to sleep in so far this weekend I failed pretty bad still waking up at 7 am .... lame when your biological clock decides you are going to wake up when you really don't want to.

10. So note to self, when shopping at 1 am and buying something in a poppin' fresh can, make sure it doesn't roll out of your grocery bag and sit idly in the trunk of your car for a day and a half at 90+ degree temperatures.... apparently when the can says keep at a certain temperature there is a reason for that... or it might go boom :(

Week 8: The first half home stretch

Hey again, its time for this weeks update of my life. So this week was week 5 of work meaning just 1 more week until I switch to a different division and begin work on a brand new project, Hooray!! This week was extremely action packed so here is my Top 10.

1. SCJ really wants to make a good impression on all of the interns so they plan tons of events that allow for networking and taking a break from all the hard work. This week they took the finance guys to a Milwaukee Brewers game. Apparently though this is Milwaukee and you tail gate for everything. So it was kind of nice getting out of work an hour early to sit in traffic, to then stand in a parking lot watching everyone else drink, and thoroughly enjoying watching one of the full time employees get WASTED... Kind of ironic seeing as they make the interns sign an agreement that we will keep our alcohol consumption in check.

2. I usually have a rule that I will never leave a sporting event early because my team is losing. Well I realized I didn't really have a horse in that race so I did not feel the slightest bit bad leaving after the seventh inning stretch after losing a bet picking the Bratwurst in the Sausage race (who would have thought that the Chorizo(mexican sausage) would have won that race...

3. I finally finished reading Catch-22. It is a great book by Joseph Heller. However this is the second time that I have listened to a girl when they told me to read a book. This one turned out a lot better then the first but man it took me... 3 months to read this book. If you give me something I love it'll be done in a week or two usually. So note to self DO NOT try to impress a girl by reading a book she suggests, 1. the book might suck or 2. by the time you finish reading it she has found herself another man... lame

4. I have found recently when holding the 7-month old she likes to slap me in the face and then slime me. I mean who would have known that my niece played a cameo role in Ghost Buster as 'Slimer'. She also likes to eat her food and by eat I mean smear it all over her face...

5. My sister is really working hard to find me a woman. So single ladies give my sister a break and just call me!

6. I opened up a piece of mail at work this week and found a pair of tickets to Summer Fest which just so happens to be a week long love fest of rock and roll! (well and other music too)

7. I present my project in a few days so my stress level is at about a trillion. So of course I am taking my lunch break to write this blog.

8. I have gotten so spoiled living in Utah for the last 2+ years and now have to deal with driving over an hour just to go to a church activity... Anyways I woke up Sunday morning and was extremely sore, this can be attributed to a few hours of Volleyball followed by an hour of ultimate frisbee than an hour and a half in the car the day before.

9. Weekly kickball update: Lost Again. 8-5. I think as team captain I should institute a no drinking policy because we seem to get worse as the game progresses and people become more intoxicated... However, I think the team would stage a coup and overthrow me as team captain. So here's to an 0 and 10 season!

10. I have found that more people than I thought read this blog so to all of you that read my blog, I am sorry that facebook was that boring and you had to click on this link to try and find some bit of entertainment.

Ps. For those that really wanted a picture of my car here it is in all it's glory.

Week 7: What do Trains, Rain, Golf, Parties and Mulch have in Common?

It has been four weeks since I started my internship with SCJ. It is crazy to think that in a week and a half I will be presenting my first half project to a group of upper level management and then moving on to another project. So needless to say the pressure is on and its go time, but here is this weeks 10!

1. This week I got a chance again to get a glimpse of the life of a parent. My niece went to camp this last week so almost everyday before and after work we got to pick her up and drop her off. This made me realize kids take up a lot of time. So needless to say, I am kind of glad that I yet do not have children and will not have children in the near future.

2. Going along with #1, we found that one 4 year old - one 7 year old = a sleeping 4 year old.

3. I managed to get stuck at the exact same train track twice in one day 5 hours apart. The first train had to be huge I watched at least 30 cars go by and it was already running when I pulled up, oh and the second train was just straight up stopped on the tracks for a few solid minutes...

4. This week my Kickball team lost again. Sad I know, but apparently they will not cancel Kickball for rain, so needless to say Kickball is not as much fun when its a little cold and rainy.

5. One might think that hitting a bucket of golf balls one night (and doing pretty well) would translate well into the next day... I submit that for some reason it is easier to hit golf balls when at the driving range then at the golf course...

6. In conjunction with # 5, I verified that in fact I am taking a Golf Class in the fall... and for good measure!

7. It was my sister's birthday this week (Happy Birthday Jenn) and my nieces decide that they want to throw a surprise party for their mom. I had to stop my 7 year old niece from trying to tape up a blank banner and then trying to write Happy Birthday on it while it was magically floating in the air with nothing to support it...

8. Along with # 7, the 4 year old niece goes up to her mom and says "Hey mom we have a surprise for you later, but I can't tell you about it, cause its a surprise" .... Hmm yep I think she missed the concept of a surprise.... :)

9. Here is an Algebra problem for you: 20 yards of Mulch + 5 hours on a Saturday afternoon + X = 1 Happy Brother In Law. (X = ME!)

10. Apparently 20 yards of Mulch wasn't enough.... So I have a feeling my services will be utilized more throughout the summer before I leave. But on the bright side, I am working on a tan and perfecting my Landscaping/craftsmanship skills the longer I stay here.

Week 6: A quarter of the summer gone

This week marks the half way point of the first half of my Internship. For anyone that doesn't know, I am doing two 6 week projects with two separate divisions at SC Johnson. So now I am at the point where all of the work I have done I know have to get ready to present. As always I'll give you my 10 from the week. (sorry no pictures this week)

1. I have discovered that I am the arch nemesis of my four year old niece. Not that I do anything mean to her, but she can go from giggles to screaming at me in about 2.5 seconds. This has been evidenced numerous time in the last 6 weeks I am just now convinced there is nothing I can do.

2. Upon arrival at my kickball game this week I find 2 things. The first that I have 2 more people that want to join, the problem with this is that I already have 27 people on the team when only 10 can play at a time. The second thing is that the league keeps changing things on me and makes me extremely stressed during the entire game. Interestingly enough my average is 2-2 and have scored 2 of the 4 total runs our team has scored in both of our games...

3. After a few beautiful days of 90+ degree weather an enormous thunderstorm comes rolling through the area and drops the temperature 40 degrees so that now it is in the 50s... Man how I have missed the midwest weather craziness.

4. I bought a car. Buying car insurance is a pain in the butt.

5. The great thing about this area is the beautiful back roads that you can just cruise through. Oh how I have missed driving.

6. At work I get out of a meeting with my boss to look at how my project is progressing. After talking for a while I walk out of the meeting and realize that I now have to repeat all the work I have done up until that point and I have to look at other things effectively doubling the amount of work I have to do.

7. I attended a party this weekend that was very informative. I learned a few things, met a few people and found out that some old geezers can shred hardcore on the guitar and have some face melting guitar solos. It was pretty cool.

8. When trying to teach my 7 year old niece how to throw a frisbee I found that she has a mean side to her. She also then understood very quickly that I wasn't going to take her being mean and she very quickly apologized and felt bad about it.

9. In the process of doing my work I pulled numbers from two different sources that should have matched. I brought it to the system administrator's attention and they began trying to fix the error. This is the system the entire finance part of the company uses. After witnessing the system crashing for a few hours I receive a phone call telling me that them trying to fix the error is causing the crash and that they will get around to fixing the problem when not everyone is at work trying to use it.

10. It is funny, when I am thinking about something and an hour later the Lord sees fit to make sure I know that he is paying attention. OK Lord, you got me.

Week 5: Spring has finally Sprung!

This last week the weather finally turned warm, which is AMAZING! It was also my second week at work (Short week thanks to Memorial Day. Like always here's my 10.

1. A 4 year old is fascinated with super soakers until her sister sprays her with one and then comes screaming that she is freezing (despite the fact that it is 85 outside). This lasts long enough for her to realize that she is holding a super soaker and can return fire.

2. This week I can report I survived my first wine and dine at work without incident, despite the fact that I was the only intern sitting at a table full of full timers.

3. When talking with a few of the big wigs in my division and asking all of them what is important about my project, they all tell me that something different from what the others have told me. Moral of the story EVERYTHING IS IMPORTANT.

4. I unfortunately made the decision to become the Intern Kickball Team Captain. Normally I would think this is a good idea, however when 27 interns are signed up when only 10 can play at a time it makes life a little hectic.

5. SCJ has this beautiful thing called Summer Hours, it means you don't have to work after noon on Friday, and that means the weekend starts nice and early!

6. I got to see my sister Susan for the first time in about 6 years. Her and her family decided to drive across a few states to come visit family in Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin. It was really good to catch up with her.

7. I got to meet Sean, Susan's 11 month old son. He's a fun little kid that sure loves screaming.

8. This is a message to all the single girls out there. In my gene pool exist Cute genes. If you looked at all of my nieces and nephews they are all so freaking adorably cute. So Ladies if you want cute kids... ;)

9. During one of the beautiful days here me and the fam decided to take a trip to a beautiful beach here in Racine. Yes I said that correctly, there is a nice beach here in Racine.

10. While walking in the sand the 4 year old exclaims "I'm sinking" because the sand was slowly shifting underneath her feet.