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…