a glimpse into the future

so, as chris mentioned last weekend we went to greenville. it really felt like a sneak peek into our lives as of may '08. for one, we searched for apartments, which took us all over town. i'm definitely excited at the prospect of more home for our buck (or less buck for a similar home!). at the ge prom, i got to meet a lot of chris' coworkers and their spouses. some were super-friendly and wanted to make plans to hang out once we get there. on sunday, we visited a church in taylors (a suburb) where my pastor from my old church in augusta now preaches. we didn't see a lot of young couples there, but we also didn't go to sunday school or the contemporary service. and there are plenty of other churches closer to greenville we can try. it's definitely difficult starting over after living in atlanta for nearly 6 years. i feel in a weird position here in atlanta, knowing that we're about to transition and not wanting to get too comfortable or too involved where we're at. at the same time, i want to make the most of the last 3 months we have here! it's a conflicting feeling, but it reminds me of how God places us in certain situations as certain times for His purposes - and often blesses us through it (cf. story of esther). i find myself having to put my faith in Him more through this time of change.

speaking of the future, i've got all my application materials in to clemson! after i graduate from my counseling program in may, i'll have to take some additional classes once we move to sc due to different state licensure requirements. i'm not thrilled about going back to school right after graduation (rather anticlimactic), but i'm trying to look at it as a chance to meet friends and make some job contacts. chris is being a great sport about giving a portion of his paycheck to a rival university!

hot gas path!

in response to chris' penultimate post (i really just wanted to use the word penultimate), i am ready for the day he hands out business cards that read:

christopher golden, hot gas path

apparently people in "the biz" aren't phased by the hilarity of this description! does this mean chris is on the path to hot gas? i'm imagining bodily functions and wondering where the path takes you...

reboot

once again, it has been several weeks since our last blog post. i'm sure you're not even reading this because i haven't posted in so long. i told myself this wasn't going to happen, but i guess i have gotten busy with my new job. speaking of which it's going very well.

we had an excellent january. we started a new life class at church - we're taking dave ramsey's financial peace university. it's a very practical financial class that's helping us to learn how to budget and invest better and to in general become better stewards of the blessings god has given us.

it snowed twice in january. certainly a rarity, and i'm sure most of you know this because you also live in georgia.

i've been pretty soaked up with politics for the first time in a while. throughout most of college i was pretty apathetic about politics - this probably had something to do with studying all the time and not having time to be interested. i'm not so much excited about any particular candidate, but it's really interesting to hear all of the different policy opinions, both informed and uninformed.

in other major news - we went to the ge prom last weekend. it's not really called the ge prom, but that's what everyone in the office calls it. it's a yearly event for all the salaried employees in the greenville office. everyone gets dressed up and heads out for a swanky saturday night. ge throws in food, drink, music, and dancing. this year was a mardi gras theme, complete with masquerade masks, beads, mardi gras characters, and other assorted decorations. my highlight of the evening was the jazz combo and the unending pile of jumbo boiled shrimp in the buffet line. a close second was seeing how badly some of my coworkers dance (esp. when they have drank away their inhibitions). sorry we don't have pictures because we forgot the camera.

i promise it won't be so long until my next post.

the times they are a changin'

so it's been about three or four weeks since our last post. i was hoping we wouldn't go that long between posts, but the christmas holidays made it inevitable. but a lot has changed since the last time we posted.

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!

merry christmas!

merry christmas from katy and me! have fun watching.

p.s. thanks to liz for showing me the website!

christmas (to do!) list

i realized earlier this week that the upcoming christmas break may be my last one like it: three weeks sans school & internship! i've been a student so long that i haven't yet had to confront the reality that a vacation of this length doesn't come so easily after entering the "real world" of work. to make the most of my last student-sized holiday, i've started a "to do" list of things i want to accomplish over the break; most are fun, some are necessary:

• read one flew over the cuckoo's nest and watch the movie. i've had two or three patients this semester tell me that their experience in our hospital reminded them of this movie. coincidentally, one of the patients in the book/movie has the same name as one of our psychiatrists. hopefully, that's where the similarities end...
  
• finish two art projects i've started. one is a photo collage to spruce up the office at my internship. the other is a painting to put up in our living room.

unfinished work

• write & send christmas cards. we've already had a few start coming in the mail. i've never really had an extensive list to send cards to, but it sort of seems like a thing married people do. i also can't resist the opportunity to use pretty stationery and send snail mail!
• meet up with some friends from high school. i'll be back home for a week with my parents while chris starts his first week at ge. i'm looking forward to spending some time with friends that i don't get to see often, catching up and remembering old times.
• spend some time with my mom. we like to go antiquing downtown (she knows all the good shops) and eat at the local bakery. you never know what you'll find - as the name of one of our regular stops indicates: merry' s trash and treasures.
  
• start and finish my christmas shopping! i haven't made any progress beyond making a list (and checking it twice, of course). i'm glad my new family members have a custom of providing wish lists for each other to make the job easier. i'm looking forward to getting a jump start when chris & i go together this weekend to get some white elephant/secret santa gifts for two christmas parties we have.
  
• buy the nce study guide and start studying. the national counselor examination is a test i'll take next april to obtain national certification. a passing score is guaranteed with each purchase!

news and notes...

whoa! it has been entirely too long since i updated on this blog. it's been so long that blakely said, "life must not be so golden" or wtte. anyway - life is golden, blakely, and it always will be! :) but, since it's been so long, i'm just going to give a bullet point update.

we got our first christmas tree. i rank it somewhere about half way between charlie brown and southern living. but seriously, katy did a good job on it - all i did was put it together and put it in the right spot.



i've finished writing a journal paper and a project report for my research. now i just have to finish the thesis. i'm making consistent progress. unfortunately for you, there are no pics to go with this one.

chan gailey was fired at georgia tech. this isn't really all that blog-worthy, but it has been tempting me a lot to read news sites instead of being productive.

we found out recently that some good friend of ours are having a baby and moving to louisiana. jamey and mary have been great friends, confidants, and mentors throughout college for katy and me. we'll miss you droddys.

lastly, the christmas season is officially here, and nothing says christmas like christmas music. every year, i listen to this song - i know it will become a tradition for you too!