First, my most-wonderful job with "the shoe giant" has ended. My last week was a big-ol' ball of stress, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I had to give two presentations -- my first "real" presentations outside of school. The first being presented to my boss, my boss's boss and my boss's boss's boss. I will hand it to them for creating such a structured, rigid and somewhat micromanaged hierarchy, but this was still nerve-wracking. I had to present on an area of the department that I thought needed improving -- hard not to sound like a know-it-all straight out of college. But, things went well. I picked up my last paycheck, turned in my badge, visited the employee store and said farewell to the company. Maybe, if I played my cards right, I'll have a "same-time-next-year" type of deal.
After wasting some idle cycles, I decided that it was time to bestow my presence upon the fabled land of Southern Oregon. I took my Explorer (which I still suspect think is a lemon, because the price was so low) on her first long trip. This car, although I really wasn't interested in buying a new one this summer, has been great so far. It's given me perspective on my pickup and how gutless the thing was. On the freeway, I'd have to start gaining momentum a mile before any big hills (kind of hard to predict, sometimes) if I ever wanted to reach the top. Now, I have a problem that I go too fast up big hills. Bobbing and weaving cars at 85mph. Yes.
The valley was great. I relaxed at my parent's estate during the day, hiking around in the hills alone, working on a tan and spending the nights in Ashland, catching up with my friends. It was perfect.
Then, there was the much-anticipated family reunion. In a campground just outside the Dalles, a large chunk of my family congregated. It was interesting seeing everyone. My dad has always kept a fair distance from these people, and for the first time, I could kind of see why. Family is important, but this was overkill. I did, however, meet a 12-year-old kid that shares the same name as me. We talked about computers and middle school. I made him promise not to fuck up our shared name and I did the same.
Next on my list is to get the fudge out of Beaverton. I've been packing, preparing for the end-of-the-month move back to Corvallis. I will miss Portland, but I can't wait to get to Corvallis -- it's like a magical wonderland -- free of any serious responsibility. It's like I get to go back to being a kid, if only for one more year.
Get the beer bong ready, Corvallis, I'm commin' home.
sarah -- e-mail me and I'll get your account re-setup. I had problems during the laxt redesign with the user flatfile
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