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The whole of design engineering was forwarded an email from our VPs today. The email said that we kids obviously do not know the meaning of “business casual” and must be beaten to submission. Exact directions were not given, reason being it would take 3 pages to list all the appropriate clothing. The email ended with recommendation that we dressed like we would be photographed with former presidents of the United States, which incidentally happened to our VPs a couple of years ago. Seriously… who writes stuff like that?
It’s just as well, I decided that I need a new wardrobe anyway (sorry Dad, please take consolation that I decided against buying the dinning room set now).
Problem is, I’m not sure where to start… I’ve been wearing jeans and polo shirts to work for the last 4 years and this clothes buying business is going to be tricky.

  

Originally Jennifer and I wanted to bike down the Freedom Trail, but we ended up visiting museums instead.
We stayed at Harding House, which I would recommend to anyone. There is always tea and cake in the dinning room and you can request a plate of cheese and crackers with the hostess. Harding House also provide you with free museum passes, so the money you spent are almost complete offset from the savings. We visited the Museum of Fine Arts (2 x $17) and the El Greco to Velazquez exhibit (2 x $23) as well as the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (2 x $12). Paid around $150 for the room and saved $100 on museum tickets
We also went to the Children’s Museum, the New England Aquarium, and Quincy Market to press pennies.

  

Jennifer and I stayed up too 3AM watching NCIS last night, and we plan on doing the exact same thing tonight since my morning flight leaves at 6AM and pulling an all nighter makes more sense than going to bed at 9.
Around noon, SO called to inquire about the weekly groceries list and to remind me that there is more to New York than the bed I was lying on. I actually had a pretty productive day though, despite waking up in the PM. Here’s a water list of what we did all day: Picked up a free lip balm at Kheil’s, bought a sushi making kit for SO, got a great deal on a pair of jeans ($15) w/ free alternations at Uniqlo, had tea at Cha-An, hung out at Strand, went against my better judgment and let Jennifer get a mattress at Sleepy’s, pressed pennies at ESPN Zone, discovered a new machine location on Fifth Ave., ate again at Tibetan restaurant Tsampa, was ripped off on a pack of Amstel Light… then went home

  

Don’t want to write too much since I don’t have the pictures uploaded yet. So you’ll just get general life updates for now.
I went to the dentist before leaving to NYC. I don’t mind going to the dentist, but I really hate it when I can’t get MY dentist. I doubt I can pick her out even in her own practice, but I can’t stand male dentists ever since one of them spat in my mouth… Anyway… I’ve been having lots of trouble closing my jaw lately. I end up grinding my teeth trying to find the proper fit and getting a bad headache at the same time. SO thinks that I must constantly get these muscle pains from talking too much, but the truth is this is the first time. Well, the dentist told me that it’s due to stress and that I should just relax. Either that or spend $400 on a mold to put in my mouth at night.
So this whole weekend I’ve been trying to fit my jaw back in and relaxing muscles simultaneously.

  

I was uploading the robin picture onto flickr and I looked through random people’s photos. Taiwanese LOVE giving the V sign in pictures. I went through this girl’s photo album (knew she was Taiwanese because of her name and I recognized the amusement park), and there must have been 50 photos all with V signs. Whenever there were people, there were V signs. It would be something like this: girl 1 in scenic spot with V sign, then girl 2 in same spot with V sign, then both girls at the same spot again both with V signs, then boy 1 and girl 2 on (again) same spot with V signs, then close up of boy 1 and girl 2 in exactly the same position but not close enough to cut off the V signs…
I know it’s awkward when you are being photographed to have no inventive things to do with your hands. When I took ballroom dancing lessons, the instructor always say my arm limps during Triple Time Swing. So, I feel your pain. But, seriously, you’d think that these kids have thought of a cooler pose by now. I mean, Taiwanese have been posing the V sign since the 80’s…
Okay… fine… Truthfully I just envy them. It actually looked like they had tons of fun.

  

FINALLY!!!
I didn’t want to post anything before everything is set, but I finally got my formal offer letter from the mail today.
I’m leaving AEP and will start work with Bechtel in mid June. Just gave my 2 weeks notice today.

  

Went to Ann Arbor today for Alison Weir’s discussion on her new book.
She gave an abridged version of “The Lady Elizabeth” and answered a few questions. I was glad that there weren’t a crowd of people at the event. She was cheerful and humorous and seemed happy to see all her fans. I asked her if her next book is also going to be a novel and she said it’ll be a work of nonfiction on Anne Boleyn and her time in the tower. Actually, she probably said all those words but I didn’t catch them (I was really nervous). I only realized exactly what she said after I checked her website later. Truthfully I thought she said she’ll be writing about the princes in the tower and that puzzled me since I thought she published a book on the subject already.

  

Okay, I’m all rested up. Time to talk about my day.
The girl scout event was actually a legacy from last year’s SWE agenda. Melissa, who was in charge of out reached, suggested it and it has been in the schedule ever since. Originally it was called “Engineering Week at CNP”, focusing on women engineers, but we couldn’t pull it off in February and it got moved till now.
I can proudly say that I planned the whole event With a lot of help from others of course. It wasn’t too tough though since I decided that we should start small with just Brownies (girl scouts in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades). We had 7 activities and a handful of volunteers, everyone had a blast. These girls are so smart it was shocking. They already knew famous women like Marie Curie and Amelia Earhart; they can probably explain to you the theory of relativity if Einstein was on the list of women pioneers.
The activities included careers, science, radiation protection, and plant overview. Even the adults liked the weird glop we created in one of the science activities (mix 2 part corn starch with 1 part water). In the end we gave out goody bags left from the WOW Engineering event from last December and all the girls went home happy with 2 earned TRY-ITS badges.
There is still so much work to do though! I need to return all the material that we didn’t use and read the evaluations. At a quick glance, one of the girls wrote that she would like to explore the big concrete domes… Well, that isn’t going to happen…

  

The girl scout event I organized went really well, aside from the fact that I’m totally beat now that it’s over. I’m sooooo tired!! Will write more later.

  

Love her nonfictions, but not so big on her novels…
SO and I went to the bookstore today and I happened to see Weir’s new novel. She’s touring the US for a few days in May and I am so excited to be chasing authors again. She’ll be in Ann Arbor this weekend, then Detroit on Monday and DC mid next week.
Here’s the problem I have with UK authors, I can never tell which is the true first edition since UK and USA publish their big sellers at almost the same time. I’m going to have to find out before this weekend…