I can fit inside the hub of a tractor tire.

Hello all!

So last time Benny and I left you, we had just gotten back from Chicago.  Since then, Benny has added around 1,000 more miles... he's a trooper.  I love Benny dearly, and I hope nothing ever happens to him.

Last week, the interns got to go on tours of different John Deere facilities.  Monday we went to the Parts Distribution Center in Milan, IL.  This place is HUGE and this is where parts leave to go to dealerships and factories when they are in need of parts.

Tuesday we went to Harvester Works in Moline where they make combines.  And not just any combines... combines on steroids.  Going to these different facilities makes me realize how small Seeding actually is.  Below is a picture of the display combine... and I'm in the picture for reference (it looks more impressive when someone who is vertically challenged stands in front of it).

Tuesday after work Benny and I left for Peoria.  I made it in time to visit the admissions office and got to see all of the faces there that I miss so much!  That night wasn't full of anything really exciting... except for a Microeconomics exam! Woot woot!

But Wednesday... we celebrated America! I woke up and went to good ol' Walmart to get ingredients to make this dip I found on Pinterest.  (http://pinterest.com/pin/271975264967181217/) It ended up being really good! Yay for Pinterest!  A friend was having a party in Ptown, so that's where Benny, the dip and I were headed!  It was fun to see a bunch of people from school and hang out, grill out, and then go swimming in the pool.  I ended up throwing this football back and forth across the pool with another group of people hanging out for most of the time that I was out there.  That's relevant because for the next 5 days I could feel my arm, shoulder, and upper back from throwing that darn football.  Oy vey.  The fourth was overall a huge success and it was fun to see people who I hadn't been able to in a while.

Because the fourth was in the middle of the week, I had to go back for work on Thursday... so I left Ptown at 5 A.M.  I had to WAIT for Starbucks to open before I left.  Thursday at work we went to Davenport Works to see the construction and forestry factory in the Quad Cities.  I had gotten to see that factory last summer, so it was cool to go back and see what had changed.

Friday I went on a bigger adventure to a factory a little farther away - I went to Waterloo, IA along with 4 other interns and got a tour of both Tractor Cab Assembly Operations and Drive Train Operations.  Below are a few pictures outside of TCAO, which I think are pretty fun.  (Don't mind the boots... they're kind of ugly).

After I got done with the tours and we drove back, I hopped straight in the car to head for Somerset, Wisconsin.  Just for the record, I'm pretty sure this is the farthest north I've been in the midwest, and was the first time I had ever been in Minnesota.  I went with 10 other interns from Deere to camp by Apple River.  It was a lot of fun - we camped Friday night and then woke up and went floating down the river.  Because it was a holiday weekend, it was hoppin.  There were a lot of people there and it was fun to talk to people from all over.  One of the best conversations was talking about different vocabulary that people use... like what I call a casserole, Minnesotans call a "hot dish" and down in Texas (and a lot of southern states) when you ask for a "Coke" you have to specify which type of coke... here Coke means a Coca-Cola.  Different things like that - it was fun.  We camped out on Saturday night as well and then drove home on Sunday.  It was a long weekend and I had so so so much fun! (AND I only got a bit of a sunburn... and just on the front of my legs, so that's cute).  We stopped off to get corn from a farmer and I was hoping it lived up to Indiana corn... I should just stop getting my hopes up.  I miss Indiana corn.

Monday was an interesting day... I tried to sign into my email but I had changed my email password and forgot what I changed it to... and I forgot the answers to my security questions (that I made freshman year)... so I drove back to Peoria to visit the lovely Help Desk and change my password.  I had dinner with Cara! Guess where! Nope! Wrong... NOT One World.  We went to Panera instead! I then sat an office hour and a friend brought Cara and I ice cream from Ice Cream Shack, which pretty much made the night.  I then had to drive back that night for work the next morning.

The past three days at work have just been hectic and I have been working a lot... a lot a lot.  I had some different Econ things due, so I haven't been doing much else.  OH! Except for volleyball! We won one of the three games we played yesterday! And the funny part... only two people from our team showed up and the other two that we played with were just nice enough to play with us!  So now our winning percentage is a whopping 17%.  Yeah buddy!

As for what's coming up, there's only one thing I can think about.  I will be jumping out of a plane on Saturday.  Yes folks, I will be going skydiving.  I'M SO EXCITED!! That'll be in the next post!

So.  I hope everyone is doing well and having a relaxing summer!

With love until next time,

Rachel and Benny

Over 4,000 miles.

So I know it’s been a while.

Like 3 weeks. 

I’m sorry.

I think I get overwhelmed with everything that’s going on that I feel like I never have enough time to sit down and type it all up.  So from now on, I’ll try updating after something interesting happens. 

Three weeks ago:  Intern Conference.

So we had the annual John Deere Intern Conference.  This year’s theme was “Linked to the Land” and we got to find out all of the cool things that John Deere is doing for local farmers around the world.  Last year, the conference was held at JD Head Quarters but it couldn’t be held there this year.  Why you ask?  Well, my friends, it was because there were too many interns.  There were over 450 interns at the conference and HQ could not accommodate all of us – so we had to use the iwireless center (which people from the quad cities know as something else, but I always forget what they call it).  We went to the Putnam Museum in Davenport as part of the conference and there was a Dinosaur exhibit (cool picture below), and we watched a 3D video of prehistoric monsters (although that was right after lunch and I’m not saying it was a true nap time, but…). 

That night a large group of interns went to a brewery in downtown Moline (where all of the out of town interns were staying) and hung out pretty much all night.  (The brewery is called Bent River and has some of the best beer I’ve tried.  I’d definitely recommend it to all of you who visit the quad cities.  And are of legal age, of course).  The next day at the conference, we learned more about what John Deere does, and also about the opportunities interns have when we are looking for full time jobs.  Overall, it was a pretty cool experience and it was cool to see just how many interns there are around John Deere globally.

Wednesday night was volleyball and we might not have done as well as we did the first game.  Like at all. But that’s okay, because our team has fun, and that’s all that matters, right?

That weekend was basically just a bunch of interns hanging out, but it was also the weekend I moved into the dorms at St. Ambrose.  I moved into a suite style dorm with 6 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a kitchen.  It’s pretty nice and I really enjoy having people so close. 

(So over the next couple of weeks, I got to see a lot of people… I’ll put names and then Bradley or Deere with it, for a kind of reference for you… even though some of them might be self explanatory.  Also, I haven’t been doing fun things every day since I’m also taking summer classes so I won’t cover every day because talking about economics isn’t really included in the highlights of my summer).

Monday night I saw Avalon (Bradley) and spent some time with her.  So after work on Tuesday, Mackie (Bradley) came up from school to visit.  We went to Noodles and Co. for dinner and went out shopping which was a much needed distraction from school and work and such.  Wednesday was a pretty cool day at work because I got to go on a field trip.  A group of employees from Deere, both full time as well as interns, went to Dixon, IL to meet with a John Deere dealer and then take a tour of the Historic John Deere house in Grand Detour.  At the historical sight, there is a blacksmith who does demonstrations and shows how blacksmithing really works.  Below is a picture of a replica of the first steel plow that John Deere made back in 1837.  There is also a statue of John Deere as well as the storage area attached to the house where tools and such were kept.  John Deere is celebrating their 175^th anniversary this year, and it’s a pretty cool milestone to be a part of. 

Wednesday was also volleyball… let’s just say we’re not doing so well.  Thursday I went car shopping with Kurt (Deere) and then went to this little Italian restaurant in Davenport which was soooooo so so good.  The waitress we had was the cutest older lady and she stopped and chatted with us for a while and was pretty impressed that we were engineers and interns at Deere. 

Friday evening Benny and I drove to Peoria and had dinner with Cara and Brad (both Bradley) at Sushi Po Po (which is now called something else, I believe).  The next morning I woke up and packed up Benny and drove down to visit Katie (Bradley) at her lake house.  I got to go tubing as well as trying my hat at water skiing (TRYING is the key word, because I never actually got up). The next morning we went to breakfast and I remember why that’s my favorite meal of the day.  I just love all breakfast foods. Every kind.  And I had most of them.  In one meal. So. Good.

Benny and I left from breakfast to head back to Ptown, but got stopped at the outlet mall on the way home.  I got in a little bit of trouble shopping, but everything was totally worth the money (and I only bought 1 pair of shoes! That’s actually the only pair of shoes I’ve purchased all summer.  Who’s proud?).  I stopped in Peoria to pick up the rest of my laundry that I had done and have dinner with Anna (Bradley).  We went to One World.  Surprise, surprise. 

So now we get to the past week.  Monday after work, I left with another intern and engineer from Seeding to go to the Global John Deere Ergonomics conference in Des Moines.  We got there Monday night and stayed at the Stoney Creek Inn, not too far from John Deere Financial in Johnston (HQ for JD financial) where the conference was.  The conference started the next morning at 7:30, and a lot of factories that were represented, presented on ergonomic projects they had completed to benefit the employees in their factory.  There were people from factories all over the world (Canada, Mexico, Spain, Russia, Brazil, Germany, and the U.S.).  That night, quite a few of the people who attended the conference got together and it was really beneficial to be the only intern there, and network with people from different factories.  I am actually working on creating an event for interns here at the Seeding Group to get a tour of the facilities in Waterloo, IA for later this week, because of some of the networking I did.  The rest of the conference was awesome, and I got to meet a lot of different people from around the John Deere organization, and not just people here in the Quad Cities (not that there’s anything wrong with people here in the Quad Cities… I just have a larger network now).  

We got back around 3 and I realized I forgot my keys in Des Moines.  Good Job Rachel.  I guess it’s a good thing that I keep a spare key in my dorm.  My friend Travis (Deere) saw me stranded in the parking lot, and offered to take me back to my dorm and then back to where Benny sat in the Deere parking lot.  (He’s a pretty great guy).  (And I called Stoney Creek Inn and I had left my keys there so they put them in the mail and I had them by Friday so all was right with the world). 

Volleyball wednesday... yeah.  We played. 

Thursday I went out to dinner with Lindsey (Bradley) because she doesn’t live to far outside of the QC’s.  I think it’s fun to see people from school in not the school atmosphere.  After dinner, I went back to the dorm and started packing for Chicago so I could leave after work on Friday.  Kurt came over to keep me company, and watched Remember the Titans (my all-time favorite movie).  It was over 100 degrees on Thursday and all of the people that live in the St. Ambrose dorms must have turned their air on at the same time… because we overwhelmed the a/c and it wasn’t cold.  It was actually hot.  Like, really hot in the dorms.  So everybody was a hot mess.  Oh well, it’s better now. 

So Friday after work Benny and I left for Chicago after making a slight detour in Peoria.  I had planned to take Benny for an oil change at the mechanic near campus (at Robbie’s Service Center) and get a quote on how much it would cost to get Benny’s a/c fixed.  While Benny was at the doctor, I went to Sweet Cece’s with Mackie and then got a call from the mechanic.  He told me my car was done and when I asked how much it was going to cost to fix the a/c, he said nothing.  I went to pick up Benny and the mechanic showed me what had been wrong.  I haven’t had air conditioning for over a year and a half because the electrical plug that is supposed to go into the air compressor was unplugged.  Really? REALLY!?!  But Benny is all better and I would recommend that mechanic to anyone and everyone – he is probably the best and nicest mechanic I have ever been to.  After I got Benny back, I stopped into Admissions just to say hi to people that were there.  It was good to see those people... I miss Admissions. 

Then Benny and I were off to Chicago.  We went up to Round Lake Heights to stay with my aunt and uncle and baby cousins! It was kind of a spur of the moment trip and I had initially planned it to meet up with my new RA partner and some friends… so baby cousins were just an added benefit. 

Saturday, I got to play with Helena (almost 4) for most of the morning and hold Adessa (almost 3 months, I think?) when she woke up for a bit.  Below there's a picture of cousin cuddle time... Helena is a true character.  (My favorite quote of hers from the weekend was after she had jumped down the last two steps onto the landing, she said "I fly like a chicken!" and Aunt Shay and I agreed that was a pretty accurate description of the "flying" Helena did).  It was a fun day just hanging out with cousins, and by Helena’s nap time, it was really everyone’s naptime because she has more energy than any of us. 

For lunch I got to see my Uncle Butch and my cousin Sydney.  It was good to see them becuase I don't get to all that often with all of the back and forth and not being in the same place stuff that I do.

The next day I went to lunch with my new RA partner, Megan at Panera.  Let’s just say, I’m pretty darn excited for this upcoming year.  I can’t remember if I put this in an earlier blog, but I’m going to be back on Geisert 3 where I was my first year on staff! We have a co-ed floor again and I cannot wait!  We talked about possible floor themes and such… all I have to say is get ready, Bradley.  Get. Ready.

After lunch I went back to say goodbye to Aunt Shay, Uncle Colin, Helena and Adessa before heading out to dinner.  I went to dinner with Steph (Bradley) to a sushi restaurant.  It was really good, and good to see yet one more Bradley face. 

I stopped by a Starbucks to take an exam for one of my classes before hitting the road back to good ol’ Davenport a little after 7. 

Benny and I have traveled over 4,000 miles this summer already.  We have some more trips planned and I’m interested to see what spur of the moment plans we make as well. 

I’ll work on updating this more often so it’s not as long of a read next time (if you even got this far). 

Hope all is well with everyone – until next time…

Benny is getting old.

Two Mondays in a row! 

Ok. So.  Last week I left you right before I headed over to St. Ambrose to hang out with the other interns.  I got to meet even more interns, which seems like a never ending process.  I decided that I really miss being around so many people, and decided I was going to look into changing that later (mwah haha cliff hanger).

So last week at work I did more comparisons to get ready for the model year 13 build and then also met with my manager's boss.  I got a little more direction on my project and scheduled some meetings to continue plowing through figuring everything out to get the factory to where it needs to be in efficiency and such.  (I know that's vague... I can't really describe in detail what I'm doing). So that's work... I'm getting a lot done, even though it doesn't sound like I am. 

Wednesday I had a volleyball game in the Intern Volleyball League (we play every Wednesday night) and we won 2 out of the 3!  Team name: Our couches pull out, but we don't. Funny, right? All of the other teams have inappropriate team names as well but they're volleyball related... ours is just straight up inappropriate.  We had fun, even with a little argument considering there were some competitive people on both teams. Not me of course... no way. I'm not competitive.  Or sarcastic.  

ALSO, Cara came up to the quad cities that evening and I went to dinner with her and Avalon (another RA from last year).  We also hung out with Avalon's friends after the volleyball game and got to catch up and such.  Cara spent the night and was my first (and probably only) guest in my apartment.  I say only, because I am moving! I will be moving into St. Ambrose in the next couple of days (hopefully) and will get to live with a bunch of interns and not be all by myself anymore (thank goodness). I'll keep you updated on that too!

Friday I had to go back to school to complete my one weekend duty for the summer.  I went out to dinner with Mackie (RA friend) and then did rounds of campus.  I was exhausted and right after office hours went to bed.  Saturday I had lunch with Katie (RA, Hall Director, friend) and then got a hair cut.  I sat out on the quad with Katie afterward doing homework (which turned into me taking a nap) before I had to do rounds again! Woohoo weekend duty!  Katie brought me Ice Cream Shack which pretty much made my weekend duty! 

Sunday I spent the day doing laundry before packing up and driving back to the quad cities.  I have been procrastinating homework that I have so that's what I've done since I've gotten back.  The intern conference starts tomorrow and goes the next two days.  It doesn't start until 10 tomorrow, so it looks like I might be going out tonight (on a monday?! yeah...).  I'll let you know all about the intern conference next week!

So I titled this one what I did because I looked at Benny's odometer today and he's almost 170,000 miles old.  That being said, I am only 400 miles away from 3,000 miles since my last oil change... which was during finals week.  Benny and I have done a lot of driving this summer already and we're like 4 weeks in.  

Stay tuned throughout the summer for: skydiving, pontoon boating, more Ptown adventures, trip to Michigan, and MORE!

Until next week,

Rachel and Benny

Big adventures: Peoria, Chicago, downtown Davenport

Hello all!

Sorry I suck at doing this weekly – maybe I can get everything together and get a little better!

I forgot to mention in my last post - this fall I will be back in Geisert Hall on G3!! I'M. SO. EXCITED.  

So I just started my fourth week at the good ol’ green and yellow.  I have been keeping myself busy at work learning more about my project as well as continuing the assessment spreadsheet that I had started last week.  I am working over in the manufacturing department on a project for a little while getting ready for the next build season.  I am getting to know more people at work and there’s a large group of us that eat lunch together (like enough of us that we have to pull over extra tables). 

Okay, so two weekends ago, Benny and I were all over the place.  That Friday during work, I decided that I was going to go to Chicago to surprise my mom and sister who were also going to be up there (turns out it wasn’t a surprise, but I’ll get to that).  After work, I went home, threw all my laundry into my laundry bag, grabbed some other essential traveling items, and Benny and I were on the road.  That night we went to Peoria and hung out with Cara.  Cara and I went to Markin and then to dinner at One World (so that was 2 times in that week, for those keeping track).  After dinner, a resident from Cara’s floor last year, and a new RA on ResLife staff this year, came by.  It was fun to hang out and just chill. 

The next morning, Cara and I woke up to go to the Farmer’s market at the Metro Center in Ptown.  We left with fruits and veggies as well as a couple of plants (the rosemary plant gives Cara’s room a little more life).  On our way to the Farmer’s Market, we saw a bunch of garage sale signs and knew that we had to make some stops on the way home.  We stopped at 3 or 4 garage sales on the way home and found some cool things.  So we were on our way back to campus and getting hungry… so where did we go?  You guessed it… One World.  But it was breakfast, so it was totally different than the night before! I usually wouldn’t go into what we got, but it was SO. FREAKING. GOOD.  We ordered one of the vegetarian skillet breakfast things, but it’s what we got on the side that made it to die for.  If you get the Florentine eggs at One World, they put their wonderful spinach and artichoke dip in it… so that’s what we got on the side and then mixed it in.  It was like heaven.  You should try it next time you’re in Ptown.  And invite me, because I obviously can’t get enough of that restaurant. 

I left Peoria in the afternoon and headed up to the burbs.  So a little background – There were 3 families that met in Lamaze class when they were pregnant with their oldest children: the Taerbaum’s, the Carmichael’s, and the Briskey’s.  All three of our families have stayed close since then (and all of them actually had a second round of kids around the same time too).  Saturday night I went to stay with the Carmichael’s.  Aunt Lisa, Uncle Elvin and I watched The Longest Yard and ate Lou Malnati’s pizza (mmmmmmm).  Joey (their son who is my age) and I went running the next morning and Aunt Lisa and I did a little bit of shopping.  The big barbecue (and one of the reasons my mom and sister were going to be in Chicago) was on Sunday at the Taerbaum’s.  My mom decided that she was going to go to the Carmichael’s before the bbq so that was when I was going to surprise her.  She wasn’t surprised.  She was glad I was there, but apparently when I ask specific details of what her and Robin were doing in Chicago, they kind of caught on.  But anywho… we all headed over to the Taerbaum’s for the bbq and seeing old friends.  I mentioned that all of our families have kids that are the same age.  We’ve done pictures like the one below since we were born.  The oldest kids all took them and then once the younger ones got there, they sat in our laps (but now they’re too big for that…) and we’ve continued the tradition ever since.

Sunday night I got to see some friends from school and then Monday we all hung out at the Taerbaum’s in the morning before I had to head out and back to Iowa.  I made a stop to have coffee with another friend from school before driving back.  Davenport is really only 3 hours away from Chicago at the farthest part that I drove to, so it isn’t that bad at all. 

Then there was a week of work which I talked about in the beginning.  Basically during the week I go to work, go to the gym and then come home, eat dinner and go to bed.  (ALTHOUGH, tonight I think I’m hanging out with some interns). OH! And on Thursday I went to AT&T to upgrade my phone... TO AN IPHONE. Gaskdfjasljdflosofdiuosf.  I have a smart phone!  Okay, done freaking out now.  Good app recommendations anyone? 

This weekend was the first weekend I spent here.  Its hard being in my own apartment because none of the other interns are here, but I went to hang out with the other interns in the St. Ambrose dorms.  We went out both Friday and Saturday nights.  Because I don’t live close, people let me crash in their dorm apartments so I didn’t have to drive home that night.  The guys here are honestly THE NICEST GUYS. EVER.  There were a few girls that live in apartments but were crashing in the dorms and guys gave up their beds and slept on their couches instead.  So. Sweet.  I had a lot of fun and I really got close with some of the other interns that I went out with.  Yesterday, there was a group of interns that came over to my apartment complex and we swam in the pool (one of the perks of my apartment) and then went to the park and played volleyball. 

Today was just another day at Deere, although I found a couple more funny connections today.  I found 2 more Bradley connections – one is one of the manufacturing engineers I’m working with and another is a retired Deere employee (who came back to work) and has 2 daughters that graduated from Bradley, 1 of whom, is going back to work there.  Weird, right?

Well, next on my plate is a shower (because I went to the gym) and then I’m heading over to St. Ambrose to hang out with interns. 

Until next time (hopefully this weekend)! 

Rachel

(Speaking of this weekend, I'll be in Peoria for weekend duty, so stop on by!)

Hello from the Quad Cities!

This summer I will, again, be sharing my adventures with Benny, and as you can tell, it won’t be in email form this year.  That is why it has taken me more than a week to post – because I did not want to have to figure this whole blog thing out.  But I did and here ya go!

Before I go into what has gone on the past week and a half, I do want to say that the day I moved (Saturday May 12^th) was also the day my Grandpa passed away.  I am so thankful that I was able to visit him just three weeks prior when he was still smiling and joking around with me. (There's a picture of us below!)   Over the years, he has been the patriarch and the backbone to our family.  He passed along so much knowledge and wisdome throughout the years.  I loved to hear his stories, especially about how important family is and to cherish those who you do have with you in your life. I along with the rest of my family will miss him a great deal.  I found out about my Grandpa the morning that I was leaving, which made this move not your traditional move.  But, I had a schedule I had to keep and an apartment to sign the papers for.  SO.  It was time for me to pack up Benny and hit the road. 

This year I didn’t have to bring everything with me because I’m also on summer staff at school and was able to keep my same room.  So, Benny was not as much of a low rider as he was last year.  Benny and I had an easy drive to Davenport (its only an hour and a half away from Peoria) and after dealing with the rental insurance company a bit, I had the keys to my new apartment.  I was initially supposed to have a roommate, but it turns out she works at a different facility and she did not have transportation, so she had to be moved somewhere that did.  That being said – I have a 2 bedroom apartment to myself (for the time being).  If they end up hiring another female intern, then I will get a roommate, but it’s looking like I will be living it up by myself! (That means I have a spare bedroom if anyone wants to come to the QC!) 

So I get all of my stuff moved into my apartment and realize I have to go to the bathroom (this is going somewhere, I promise).  And then it dawns on me: I forgot toilet paper.  A real predicament, if you ask me.  I had seen a Hy-Vee on the way in, and drove back out for toilet paper and groceries.  (I visited the restroom as soon as I got there, in case anyone was wondering).  I realized again, just how hard it is shopping for one person.  You have to make sure you don’t buy too many perishable things or else you won’t eat them all.  You have to make sure you get things to wrap the leftover food up in.  I remembered that if I wanted to make large quantities of things, that I would be eating the SAME THING for EVERY MEAL for days.  I also did not know what kind of trash bags to buy; medium, large, scented, drawstring, etc.  This shopping trip turned stressful to say the least.  BUT, I got everything I needed, including the freeze pops that everyone loves as a kid, and I was set for the week. Once I got home, I put the groceries and started decorating with some of the things I brought with.  I also eventually unpacked everything... including the shoes.  There are a lot of shoes.

My first day was then on Monday and it went pretty smoothly.  (Actually, my entire time here has gone smoothly).  I was worried in the beginning about the whole friend thing because I didn’t have any roommates (who we all know become default friends immediately) and I am in an apartment complex with no other interns.  The first week, I ate lunch out with my manager the first day and then ate with 1 or 2 interns the other days.  I started to make friends, slowly but surely.  

The work side of things has been pretty awesome.  I am in the Manufacturing Engineering Department of the John Deere Seeding Group as an Industrial Engineering Intern.  Woohoo!  My project that I’m currently working on deals with the efficiency of the line and making sure all of the standards that are used for payment of the operators is fair. Basically, I’m using a lot of the same things that I just finished learning in my spring semester classes to finish this project.  Part of my training the first week was also an “Industrial Engineering Basics” course.  It is all online and the first part is taught by a gentlemen named Larry Aft.  The introduction he made included the fact that he finished his undergrad degree in IE at Bradley, and throughout his lecture, he included a few anecdotes from his years at Bradley, which I greatly enjoyed. 

The first adventure Benny and I took was to Chicago for my Grandpa's funeral.  I left straight from work, hit some traffic, and made it to the reception Thursday night.  After seeing the grown ups, I got to see Robin and my little cousins, who are ADORABLE. (I added a picture of them too).  Friday morning was the actual funeral and it was a beautiful service with full military honors, 21 gun salute and the whole nine yards.  The whole family went out for lunch and then we took a nap.  And then it was Italian for dinner for Aunt Beth’s birthday, and then bed time.  Basically, we ate and slept – a lot.  I enjoyed seeing and spending so much time with my family.  After a weekend of family, it was back to good ol' Davenport.  

The other adventure Benny and I took was to Peoria on Tuesday.  I had forgotten some stuff in my dorm so I wanted to go back and pick it up and while I was there I got to see Cara (an RA from Williams last year) and see her new room.  I also went to dinner with Anna (another RA!) and got my One World fix.  Then it was back to Davenport that night.  (It's kind of nice being this close)

Yesterday, I joined the gym at the John Deere location next door to where I work (the Cylinder Internal Platform, or CIP) and met up with some interns after work.  Then another group of interns got together to play volleyball at a local park and we had over 20 interns there.  Having upwards of 150 interns in the Quad Cities, I think I’ll be okay.

Then, I guess we're left with today!  I went to work and then the gym after work and came home to do the dishes (wild and crazy, I know).  So, that's what I've done so far.  I plan on updating this weekly, now that I have actually started it!

Soooo, until next week, folks!