i'm now working for ge energy in greenville, sc. i started back on december 17, and i'm hoping it doesn't end for a while. i co-oped with ge when i was in undergrad, so it wasn't all that crazy starting a new job. i already know a lot of people, and i know the workplace, but now i have to think about all the other full time things like benefits, travel expense reports, and pensions (not so bad!), and employee evaluations (yikes!). best of all, i no longer have to work for gra pay! it is kind of different to think that my career will never end until i retire. this is in stark contrast to co-op rotations when i got to work for 12-16 weeks and then go back to the stay up late, sleep late lifestyle of a college student.
so what am i doing you ask? my official label is "engineer/technologist" (i like the sound of technologist), but really i'm a mechanical design engineer. i'm working in the shrouds group of the hot gas path component design group at a gas turbine design and manufacturing facility. katy finds the term "hot gas path" hi-larious, and maybe you do too. call me a dork, i just never thought about it being funny in all the time i've worked there. if you want to know more, feel free to ask - but i'll have to do some drawing.
katy and i will continue to live in atlanta until may when she finishes up her grad studies. i'll be working out of the office in marietta most days and out of the office in greenville every other monday and tuesday. it's definitely nice to work close to home and be able to work with my colleagues in greenville if i have any big questions. the move to greenville is definitely bittersweet. we're very happy to have gainful employment and new life challenges in a new city, but we'll also miss atlanta and our dear friends here. i've been through college, marriage, and many other growing-up experiences while living in atlanta, so it will always have a special place in my (our) hearts. still, we have some friends in and near greenville, and we'll be happy for lower rent, clean air, and less dense traffic!
in other news, i'm drawing dangerously close to the completion of my thesis. the new job has placed a damper on my desire to write in the evenings. but my advisor wants me to be done in a month or so, and i'm happy to have the accountability/motivation. i really have until sometime in april to submit the thing, but i prefer to go ahead and get it done without cutting it close.
t-minus 10 pages and counting.
we had a really good christmas break - we did christmas with my family, katy's family, and both of our paternal extended families (i had to miss out on katy's extended family due to work). highlights of the break include: me, my brother, and my dad working in the cold on my car, not figuring out what was wrong and still having to take it to the mechanic, my whole family seeing national treasure 2 together, the christmas eve service at the retirement home where katy's dad works, all of the food, and watching football with my dad and brothers. maybe katy has some others, but those are mine.
last thing in this post - funny story from christmas eve. we opened presents with katy's family on christmas eve. katy's dad received the game catch phrase. if you don't know the game, you just try to get other people playing to say the word on the screen without saying that word yourself. so anyway - katy's dad is trying desperately to get us to guess a word. his clues range from "kind of a redneck way to say chewing tobacco" and "slang for chewing tobacco" etc. after guessing, dip, snuff, chew, etc. we could never figure out the answer. here it is:
chewbacca! i think that was the hardest i've laughed in a while. anyway, i hope y'all are doing well if we haven't talked to you lately. happy new year!
