I officially have a cunephew (cousin nephew). My cousin April just had her second child this last week! He is HUGE! 9.3 lbs, 22 inches... He is almost as big as his 4 year old sister (my god daughter, Ashlyn). Ashlyn has hypothyroidism, which causes her to grow slowly, so slowly in fact that she is only in the third percentile for height at her age. I just hope she gets tall enough so I can take her on roller coasters someday.

I have a few big companies, (that I will mention later once I'm either given an offer, or shot down) that are showing interest at me. One of them is my dream company for many reasons, but on top of that, it has been rated the best place to work for in the entire world. I've made it to the second stage of interviews and I am hoping to make it all the way. The whole idea of working for them is making me nervous, excited, confident, giddy, and ecstatic (to name a few). I know I am a perfect fit for a job, now I just have to convince them of it

My sister is moving into the townhouse next year, and it looks like she may have found two roommates to rent out the other rooms. This is definitely a good thing considering I am part owner of the place. Now I don't have to worry about loosing tons of money just because she couldn't find roommates. I spent all last night scrubbing every nook and cranny of the place! To get all the dog hair out, I had to empty my vacuum 5 times... Vaska sheds like crazy, but I love him none-the-less... Jäger on the other hand doesn't shed much. The problem with him is, despite knowing better, he has been getting into the trash, eating food of the counter, etc... REALLY frustrating, and I can't figure out how to get him to stop.

Labels: april pinner, ashlyn pinner, dogs, family, grant pinner, megan folts, work

So far it has been a hectic Winter break! Grandma and I drove all the way from Tallahassee to Lincoln Nebraska to attend my cousin Tara's wedding. From St. Louis all the way to Lincoln we had to drive through the massive storm that shut down the Denver Airport. We were supposed to leave Wednesday the 20th, but grandma showed up on Tuesday and peer pressured me into leaving a day early to avoid the storm. We made it to Metropolis Illinois around 11:00 PM (12 hours after we left), we gambled for about an hour (I won $80! Go me! Grandma broke about even), then finally we went to sleep around 1:00 AM. At 4:30 that same morning, Grandma decides that we should probably hit the road so that we can make it through St. Louis before rush hour... Unfortunately, we were further from St. Louis then we had thought and ended up hitting the beginning of it. About 4 hours into our second day I was exhausted, so we pulled up into a McDonald's parking lot and slept for an hour, restocked our supply of energy drinks, and then continued our never ending journey. Finally, at around 3:30 PM we arrived in Lincoln.

We spent the first night in Lincoln at my Aunt Kelly's house, but the next day Grandma and I, along with the many other relatives flying in that day, checked into the Embassy Suites... They had a complementary "cocktail hour" from 5:30 to 7:30 every night which was the first thing to make me feel like I was on vacation.

On the 22nd I went to the wedding rehearsal, and the rehearsal dinner... The dinner was much more enjoyable because it turned out that I wasn't even need at the rehearsal (I was an usher for the wedding). The wedding the next day was probably as close to perfect as a wedding could be... and the reception afterwards was a blast. Like my cousin April's wedding, I once again caught the garter... Last time I caught one, I ended up dating somebody for 4 and a half years, maybe this means something good is around the corner.

On Christmas Eve I flew from Nebraska to Salt Lake City, took a bus out to Park City, and met up with my second family, the Rushes. I spent the last two days on the slopes, but now my knee is killing me, so I reluctantly decided after the first run to take the day off. For those of you who don't know me well, my absolute favorite thing in the world is skiing, so taking a day off when I only get to go once or twice a season, is a really really big deal. I'm going to try and get back into my exercise routine when I get back to Florida and condition my knee for next time. I hurt it about 2 months ago while playing soccer.

Last night after skiing, Samantha and Astrid brought me to their Yoga class... an hour and a half of what seems easy, but really is a major work out... For the first time since I was 6 I attempted a hand stand, I had somebody helping, but I was able to do it, so that was exciting. The whole working your "inner-being" hoo-ha was kinda weird, but I don't remember the last time I was that relaxed.

Tomorrow I fly back to Nebraska to begin another endless journey back to Florida. Hopefully this time we'll have sunlight... Hope everyone is having a great vacation!

Labels: april pinner, aunt kelly, family, grandma, nebraska, rush family, skiing, tara polly, vacation, wedding, yoga

It's been almost 11 weeks since I was last in Tallahassee, but luckily there is only a week and a half until I am back again... Every day seems that much longer, and that much harder to get through... I don't remember the last time I was as homesick as I am now. I like Austin, but I guess I just never let myself completely settle down to make it feel like home. I miss my dog, my bed, my kitchen, my parking spot, my alarm clock, (you get the point by now)... Most importantly though, I miss my girlfriend Amanda! I'm just glad she has stuck with me even though we are 900 miles apart!

I am proud of what I accomplished for Freescale this Summer. Once again impressing myself... I can definitely see the my programming skill improving (at least in Visual Basic) which is a good thing... I like working on projects that I can see the results... I like knowing that it is making somebody's day go by with less obstacles... I hope when I graduate, and find a job, that I get the same enjoyment out of it... It'd be nice if I could feel this way about Graduate School as well, but it just feels so pointless because on-the-job experience seems much more valuable... We'll see.

My cousin April is having another baby! I am so excited, and I think it helps contribute to my longing for home (because she too is from Tallahassee)... She sent a great picture out to let the family know... The picture to the right is her daughter (my God-daughter!) I love her more then can be described...

Labels: amanda vichich, april pinner, ashlyn pinner, austin texas, family, freescale

The trek home wasn't as bad as I thought it would be... 12.5 hours is all it took... of course, this is after all the teeth work I got done in the morning (which cost me more then I thought it would)... I decided not to stop in New Orleans because I really wanted to get home... I had bought 4 red bulls, and casually sipped them throughout the trip... well, the caffeine buzz didn't hit until I got home... (11:00 PM EST) when I started to clean the fridge and oven, as well as strip all the kitchen cabinets clean of the crap I don't use (there were 4 coffee makers in the cabinets, and I don't even drink coffee...) I finally decided to force myself to sleep at 5:30 AM... But then at 8:30 AM (The oven self cleaning cycle hadn't even finished yet) I was up and at it again... Once the oven was done, I headed off to Walmart and bought $250 worth of stuff the house needed... ant bait, shower curtain, a rug, a mirror for above the fireplace, new shiny things that go under the stove burners, and a ton of cleaning supplies... (cheap paper towels, Windex, Swiffer Sweeper stuff, Febreze, Pledge, sponges, etc.)

Tatiana is in Dallas Texas and I forgot she wasn't going to be here yet... so I don't get to see her until tomorrow evening when her flight arrives... and April, Jesse, and Ashlyn were out of town until this afternoon, but once they got back they had to go to a dinner party for April's work... so I could have watched Ashlyn at this point, but the house was a mess with all the crap I was taking out of the kitchen, and definitely not baby proof...

The UPS guy came today, but he didn't ring the doorbell, I thought I heard somebody knocking, but couldn't tell if it was the neighbor's, or if it was my imagination gone astray due to the massive amounts of cleaning fumes I had been exposed to... But since the doorbell didn't ring, I figured it wasn't the door... but it was, and now I have to wait until the delivery guy gets back from his route so I can pick it up at the shipping center... which is down the street, but I have been there twice already today hoping he would be back, but then I decided I will go 10 minutes before they close... and just wait until he comes back... maybe then I will get it... I have never had so many problems with FedEX... but maybe that is just me...

The couches I got are awesome... I love them... and I was so excited to see them in my house... I got them from Adriana (Francisca's mom)... I am also happy because she got a job when she was having trouble getting one in the past because her English isn't 100% (I understand her perfectly, but supposedly there are some things she can't express clear enough...) oh well... I have to head over to the UPS center, it is about to close... Hopefully I'll get it, otherwise I will be pissed!

Labels: adriana infante, april pinner, ashlyn pinner, austin texas, francisca amunategui, jesse pinner, tatiana treffehn