Week 6: June 30th - July 6th
Sunday:
In the morning we went to a different PCA church. Laura had gone there last week, and she really liked it. The service was just getting started when Laura grabbed my arm and said "That's my cousin!!". Her cousin who lives in Colorado was in Raleigh for the week visiting a friend. Neither of them had known that the other was in town, and Laura is from Florida and doesn't have family in the area, so it was a complete shock that they just ran into each other at a random church in NC. Her cousin was going to be leaving NC that afternoon, so they just talked after church, but the whole thing was very amusing. We went to the pool again that afternoon, and I got a teeny bit darker, so I am satisfied. We also finally finished the GRE that night. We were trying to get everything finished before I have to leave on Wednesday to go back to Atlanta. There were a few obnoxious questions that we are still going to have to get some help on (we decided that anything we didn't know was just a bad question), but on the whole, it was very helpful to go through the whole thing - and especially with Laura. So if we had 10 hours, open book, open discussion for the exam, we'd ace it. No question. ;-) But I do highly recommend working through it, and it always helps to work with someone else because it cuts down on frustration and increases the chances that one of you knows the answer.
Monday:
It has been a very long time since I updated this thing. I will try to remember what I did. There are several things I do know happened on Monday. First, they were giving out free ice cream outside the building. I support that. We turned "yogurt time" into "dairy product time" so that we could justify the excursion. Also, I picked up one of the new NC State CS Graduate Program brochures outside of the main office. As I was flipping through it, I noticed that I was in one of the pictures! (Wow. Right as I was typing this, Laurie came up to me to show me the picture... she just found it). So now I'm famous! I've always wondered who the people in pictures like that were. Now I know that it's just undergraduates from other schools masquerading as researchers ;-).
Because Laura and I were so diligent and finished working on the GRE, she rented The Others as our reward. I liked it, but I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't already seen another movie that's very similar to it, the name of which I won't mention in case you haven't seen it. (Aren't you curious now?)Tuesday:
This was the last day I was in Raleigh for the week. I finished up the justifications for both of the surveys (8 pages in all). Laurie also pointed out that the benefits I mentioned about Laura and I working together on the CS GRE are exactly the benefits of pair programming (which she's done a lot of research on). I hadn't looked at it that way, but it's a really good point.
I had to explain to Brent that I wasn't going to play volleyball. He threatened to cut me off the mailing list, but I'm not so worried about that actually happening. That night I just packed everything up for my looooong trip back to Atlanta. And Laura and I went to TCBY. Note: If the toppings look old in the container, they will taste even older in the ice cream. Just something to consider.Wednesday:
Laura, my good buddy, once again graciously took me to the airport in the morning. They went through my bag several times at the security gate. I have no idea what they thought they saw, but they certainly enjoyed rearranging all my belongings. The whole thing was amusing, but I could see how it would get old. I'm glad they usually don't check me. My dad picked me up in Atlanta around noon. We talked about going to the Braves game that night (I come by my obsession honestly), but I was tired, so I ended up buying a study guide for the regular GRE and started studying for that. We watched the game on TV though.
Thursday:
Fourth of July! I lazed around the house and helped my mom cook and clean some. We had people over for dinner, and then some of us went to the courthouse in downtown Lawrenceville to watch the fireworks. It was really a good show. I'm not a big fireworks person, but it was entertaining. The traffic wasn't too bad; it certainly helped that our house was 10 minutes away.
Friday:
Today began the wedding festivities. There was a bridesmaid luncheon in the morning, and then Jen and I ran a bunch of related errands. I had about an hour to sit and rest and then it was off to the rehearsal. That took about an hour and a half, which was fine, and very entertaining, but it is tedious standing up on a stage that whole time. The dinner afterwards was very nice, and Shawn gave us all beautiful silver necklaces to wear in the wedding (and a cute little book) as presents.
Saturday:
I woke up at the crack of dawn because I had to go to Walmart to get some miscellaneous hair products. Jen came over and fixed my hair while I managed to do my own makeup (bleh). Then we had to rush to the church because we were taking all the pictures beforehand. Shawn was so impressed with the final outcome, as I've probably never been so dressed up in all my life :-) (her dad kept calling me a sellout though). It was only the desire not to ruin her wedding that induced me to submit myself to such a state of girlishness... And it was worth it. She was very impressed with my tan as well, which is as it should be. The wedding was beautiful, of course. And no one cried (except the moms), which was a feat. At the reception, I got to see all of my roommates again for the first time in months, so that was wonderful. Jen, Beth and I stayed later and helped clean up a bit. Then we took all of the presents over to Shawn and Dale's apartment. We also left a few presents of our own for them there as well. Muahahahahaha. (They didn't have their car at the church, so what did they expect?) Then I took Beth back to Monroe and got to see her house, which I begrudgingly admit is lovely, even though she had to move out of our house to get there. The whole day was really busy, but good. It's strange that Shawn is married now. We still all seem so young.