I think Ross and I have officially discovered the most stressful 2 weeks of our lives so far. We thought planning our wedding, buying our first house, or evening moving to a different state was stressful. Those events don't even compare to last week and this week. We both knew that finals this year was going to be more intense than last year, but not this intense. And then throw in two audits for me at work and you have the perfect storm.
Last week Ross had his first of four finals. Usually his finals were split up pretty evenly between the two weeks. But this year had to be different. One final was one week and the other three are the next. And to make things even better, two are back-to-back. Which makes studying for them even more difficult. Last week for me was filled with my first audit. To keep the details at a minimum, the audit was to review our Technical Files of all the products that are manufactured. Each product is put into a Family and each Family has a Technical File. So, one of 30 files was selected to be audited. Well, what made this audit more stressful was that these files hadn't been reviewed and updated for quite a few years. Which meant I was the lucky one who got to spend a lot more time at the office making sure they were as current as possible and ready to be torn apart by an auditor. So you can imagine the extra stress I brought to the table. But after seven and a half hours of overtime in just three days, we passed the audit with no issues! Too bad I didn't have much time to relax and enjoy the feeling of passing because we had one day to get ready for another audit. Thankfully I wasn't too involved in the second audit but I still had plenty of work to get done that would be reviewed. And good news is that we passed that one as well!
So now the focus goes back to Ross and finals. The last few days have been filled with reading, outlining, going through flash cards, and just flat out talking through the outline to make sure all points are covered and memorized. There have been some late nights but he feels pretty good about the one today. Which means tonight is going to be another long night of flash cards and talking through the outline to get ready for the final tomorrow. The last final of the year is on Friday. And after that we are planning on movie marathon weekend and nothing but relaxing. We are also planning an evening in Disneyland since the last time we were there was when Mom, Dad, Shaun, and Amanda were here back in October. I think it's time we visited the Magic Kingdom again.
Once finals are done I think it will be easier to get into the holiday spirit. Although the weather out here has not been very helpful. This past weekend the temperatures were in the mid to upper 80s! That's right 80s. Thankfully they are are slowing starting to get back into the low 70s and upper 60s (which is cold for people out here). I guess you take what you can get.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
December Already
It's hard to believe that December is already here. It feels like last week we were figuring out Halloween costumes and looking forward to Thanksgiving. December not only brings Christmas and holiday events but finals and the end of another semester of school. But before we get into December, we need to talk about how we spent our Thanksgiving weekend since it was filled with a lot of firsts for us.
As this was our second year as orphans, we found other orphans just like us and had our own Thanksgiving. Last year we celebrated Thanksgiving early when my parents came out but we didn't do anything on the actual day. So this year we actually helped cook. If you were to look at just the food alone that was spread out on the table, you would have thought there was going to be about 12-15 people getting together for dinner. Really there was only 7 of us, so needless to say there were tons of left overs.
Friday night we went out bowling to celebrate a friend's birthday. This was the first time we have been bowling since moving out here. And all I can say is that the bowling alleys out here are nothing compared to what they are back home. You are basically going to a fancy restaurant/bar that just happens to have pools tables and a bowling alley. Oh yea, and a live DJ playing music. So the atmosphere is nothing like the old bowling alley feel but more of a bar/dance club where they serve you food and drinks at your lane. Something you don't see at home.
Saturday night we went out yet again to celebrate another friend's birthday. This birthday celebration, however, was held at an Indian restaurant. So another first for Ross and I. Thankfully there was a large group and most of them have eaten there before so they were able to give us tips on what was good and what to stay away from. Can't remember what my dish was called but it reminded me of chicken wings. Ross' was more of a sauce/gravy you have over rice. The taste was pretty good but the portion was small.
And finally, the last first for us that took place Thanksgiving weekend was the we put up our Christmas tree and some holiday decorations! We have a fake tree that is 7 and a half feet tall and worked perfectly in our house with the vaulted ceilings. But out here in the small apartment, the ceilings are only 8 feet. So we improvised and removed one of the center poles so the tree is about 5 feet tall. I think this is the first time I was able to put the angel on top without having to stand on a step stool or ladder. I posted some pictures below of how our modified tree came out.
After our Thanksgiving weekend filled with a lot of firsts, we move into December which brings with it something that is very familiar.....FINALS!!! The first of four finals takes place this Wednesday. The last three are all next week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday). All Ross can say about finals this year is that they just plain suck. Things are so stressful that it's even harder to get motivated to study. And what makes things worse is when we have technical issues and Ross loses 2 and a half hours worth of work on his outlines he uses for studying. Sometimes it feels like when it rains it pours and nothing seems to go right. All I know is that we are both counting the days til finals are over with and we can both relax and enjoy three weeks of no school!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHpwNk89jFBFjIh59LYM10GFFELbafKS33MmFzL3ZNwjhWcJIA5HAaqBgY-WVUJ2OJprO0m-W0ViXI5IMSJjT646tZjOkkZfRI0GBCGyiR9xOX3c9NvVT3sJCGRjBCTJ1xQVry-hI8UlA/s400/DSC05676.JPG)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrGir72IBhGUjNC0zfOridc4zUhyyXBMvQeWWRS7ibccTNBBb8X9o5Je284gy_bwJr2_2WOanD2GJM8n12K5Q5CzjcBT2wKnRnRpFns5Iekg2G1aOy6OBlhi4SZ2ibYY-blya40gN4ceo/s400/DSC05677.JPG)
As this was our second year as orphans, we found other orphans just like us and had our own Thanksgiving. Last year we celebrated Thanksgiving early when my parents came out but we didn't do anything on the actual day. So this year we actually helped cook. If you were to look at just the food alone that was spread out on the table, you would have thought there was going to be about 12-15 people getting together for dinner. Really there was only 7 of us, so needless to say there were tons of left overs.
Friday night we went out bowling to celebrate a friend's birthday. This was the first time we have been bowling since moving out here. And all I can say is that the bowling alleys out here are nothing compared to what they are back home. You are basically going to a fancy restaurant/bar that just happens to have pools tables and a bowling alley. Oh yea, and a live DJ playing music. So the atmosphere is nothing like the old bowling alley feel but more of a bar/dance club where they serve you food and drinks at your lane. Something you don't see at home.
Saturday night we went out yet again to celebrate another friend's birthday. This birthday celebration, however, was held at an Indian restaurant. So another first for Ross and I. Thankfully there was a large group and most of them have eaten there before so they were able to give us tips on what was good and what to stay away from. Can't remember what my dish was called but it reminded me of chicken wings. Ross' was more of a sauce/gravy you have over rice. The taste was pretty good but the portion was small.
And finally, the last first for us that took place Thanksgiving weekend was the we put up our Christmas tree and some holiday decorations! We have a fake tree that is 7 and a half feet tall and worked perfectly in our house with the vaulted ceilings. But out here in the small apartment, the ceilings are only 8 feet. So we improvised and removed one of the center poles so the tree is about 5 feet tall. I think this is the first time I was able to put the angel on top without having to stand on a step stool or ladder. I posted some pictures below of how our modified tree came out.
After our Thanksgiving weekend filled with a lot of firsts, we move into December which brings with it something that is very familiar.....FINALS!!! The first of four finals takes place this Wednesday. The last three are all next week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday). All Ross can say about finals this year is that they just plain suck. Things are so stressful that it's even harder to get motivated to study. And what makes things worse is when we have technical issues and Ross loses 2 and a half hours worth of work on his outlines he uses for studying. Sometimes it feels like when it rains it pours and nothing seems to go right. All I know is that we are both counting the days til finals are over with and we can both relax and enjoy three weeks of no school!
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