YAY PHILLLIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO! They finally made it! NL East CHAMPS!!!!

So I have some catching up to do...

Rewind to Monday the 17th... my best friend from grade school and high school called me up with an extra ticket to the Eagles home game. We had a great time despite our team's loss! We had 9th row seats up from the field!!!!


Work has been wild and crazy! I'm back out in the field... but not under the Jersey Turnpike! I've been inspecting the installation of stone columns by Hayward Baker in Trenton, NJ.

We (explanation to come) went on a camping trip this past weekend tp Susquehanna State Park. We being me, my bf, my roomie, her bf, and DC (the guy who was our concrete canoe coach). It was an awesome weekend! Ignoring the bit of rain on Saturday morning (which was over by the time we got up and out of the tent), the weather was beautiful! We took two canoes and a kyaak out on the Chesapeake Bay... which was quite an experience as we were used to the calm waters of Marsh Creek Lake. We cooked great food over the campfire... I LOVE campfires and campfire food!!!!! Saturday morning we (the 20 something bunch) woke up with a turtle in our tent... hmmmmmmm. It was a cute little thing. :) Coach thought it would be funny to see my roomie's reaction. (This was her first camping trip). It was too bad that our other canoe buddy and her fiancee couldn't join us for the weekend. It was soo much fun! Perhaps it will become an annual event for the last weekend of summer.

This week starts the new school year here at Drexel. This means no more nice parking spaces available on the streets, drunken freshmen, loud parties, and all of the stress that comes with classes! I'll be taking a Finite Element Analysis course this term... please pray for me! I'm also going to try to continue singing in the Chorus... we'll have to see how that goes. I missed most of the first rehearsal last night, but at least I was able to pick up my music.

Well, I must unpack from camping so that I can repack to spend a night or two up at the jobsite. I have the option of staying or driving back and forth; so, I think I'll change it up a bit and do some of each.

E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!!!!!!

They lost... it was not pretty!
I saw it first hand! (that part was awesome!)

There's a mouse in the house...

I HATE MICE!!!!!!!!

How is it that such little creatures are so destructive?! A mouse has ruined yet another delicious dark chocolate candy... and it was still in a box! I nearly stepped on it with only socks on my feet last night... ewww! Today I found it next to the trap but it ran at me (away from the trap) when I startled it (and quite possibly everyone in the building as well as at my parents house - I'm sure that such a scream was not warranted, but the mouse ran AT ME!!!!)

Ok, I'm going to reorganize my closet with my new drawers. That mouse better be dead in the morning!

Crystal Bridges... like WHOA!

So, somebody thought it was a good idea to work 14.5 hours today... phew... g'night!!
While you're waiting for a post with a point (all 2.5 people who might possibly read this)... check out the project on which I've been spending so much time!!

If you're looking for some good music, check out www.omegarock.com ... great music, carefully selected lyrics for ears of all ages!

Thanks for all of the posting ideas, Julia! I will work on those after I get some sleep... 14 hour days at the office are apparently quite exhausting!

for T with Honey!

I'm so excited!!! Thanks to T with Honey I have my first topic.

How I ended up at Drexel...
Once upon a time, many moons ago... (more like sophomore year of high school) I really had no idea what I wanted to do when I grew up. Well, I supposed my dream of being the Philly Phanatic didn't really count. My Chemistry teacher sent me to an Engineering workshop just for girls at Widener University. I had a really great time at the workshop!

jump ahead two years...
Senior year of high school, I loaded up on the AP math and science courses... I took all 4 that were offered at my high school (2 science and 1 math... I threw in AP English just for kicks). Over the summer and during the fall I toured a number of different schools and their respective engineering departments. I didn't know what type of engineering I wanted, so I was looking for schools that had many options. I narrowed down my options and applied to Bucknell (although I wasn't quite sure I'd fit in if I went there), Lehigh, Penn State (only if I could go to main campus), University of Delaware, and Drexel. I was NOT impressed at UD... so that hit the bottom of the pile. Bucknell wasn't offering merit based scholarships... huge turnoff! Lehigh, Penn State, and Drexel were in the running for top 3 on my list. Lehigh and Drexel were in the lead since I thought Penn State's engineering program might be too large for my liking.

It was a georgeous day when I visited Lehigh (not like I hadn't already been there). The campus was lovely, but several faculty members in engineering gave me the distinct impression that they were not keen on having girls in their program... Flag! Another professor practically told me to go to Drexel.
I couldn't have picked a stormier day to visit Drexel. A security guard met us at the car to advise us to hide anything in sight before leaving the car. I loved every minute of my day at Drexel. I submitted my application before leaving campus. Drexel waived my application fee and my essays because I filled it out on campus! (This gave them super bonus points after having attempted the book of essays that Princeton calls an application.) Drexel came through with a decent scholarship and the opportunity to apply for additional scholarships. I signed the acceptance and it should have been in the mail by the time Lehigh called with their scholarship offer. My mom hadn't mailed it yet... argh! Lehigh's offer was somewhat better than Drexel. I decided to go with the decision I had already made.

In the end, I'm glad I did... and I'd do the same thing again if I could. I graduated from Drexel with two degrees, one of which I wouldn't have been able to persue at Lehigh. Drexel's co-op program was a big help in confirming what I did not want to do for more than 6-month at a time. I graduated with engineering work experience and I had a job in line before graduation. In fact, I like it so much that I'm continuing as a part-time night school student to persue a Master's degree.

BecaHawkette... dreams of Philly Phanatic... Drexel Dragon... maybe I'll write about mascots one of these days...

Yip-yip-yip-yip-yip! Uh-huh! Uh-huh! Uh-huh!

Since my last attempt at a Blog has been sitting dormant for quite a while (the xanga thing seems to have been a fad) I thought I might try a new one. Perhaps I'll actually get around to posting once in a while. Before you read any further, please note that I am an engineer... as such, my writing may not be nearly as eloquent as those whose Blogs I frequent before studying the backs of my eyelids!

The name of my site was somewhat provoked by the current (TEMPORARY!) location of my computer under my somewhat lofted bed near the campus of Drexel University (home of the Dragons). Given the 101 SF available in my room with five walls, my desk had to be disassembled when the landlord asked for it to be moved away from the window. This effort was warranted in order to attain glass in my window panes before it gets cold outside. The glass had apparently decided it was tired of my window and jumped to the ground! (luckily no one was in its path to the ground!) Now that my window has been fixed, I must get around to restoring my 7ft x 4ft L shaped desk back to its proper location.

If you have found this site, please leave questions for me in my comments section that I could use as writing topics... ad-thanks-vance!