Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Life on the road..literally

It's been a month since I've started my internship here in Michigan. Its been great. I'm getting use to driving around in an unfamiliar place and I don't have to always pull out the GPS now. Sometimes I'm glad not to use it because it can be distracting. I'm also getting use to being asked 'where are you from' everyday. I didn't think my southern accent was that strong but I guess it's really noticeable here. I've tried talking in a northern accent and I think it just makes me sound more southern. The weather here is really nice also, when its not raining every other day. It pretty much stays in the 80s, with some chilly mornings. It rained on me a little bit out in the field today, but I haven't had any issues with the weather restricting me from doing any pool inspections or beach sampling.

Last week and so far this week I've done a lot of shadowing in different programs at the health department. It's been really awesome to get a overall view of how other inspections are done and it will give me a better idea of what I would like to do in the future. I have an interest for the well program, so I would like to do more shadowing in that area. Today I saw a Geothermal well. The geothermal system basically heats and cools the water for the heating, ventilating and air-conditioning of a home or business! I thought it was really awesome and it's suppose to be more cost-efficient.

I finally found some post cards, so if I don't have your address send it to me and I will send you one! I can't believe June is almost over!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

So far so great in Michigan!

This week went by really well. Most of the time I was out on my own in the field collecting beach water samples and doing pool inspections. I'm pretty comfortable doing these things on my own. So far I have had good responses from pool operators when I've told them I have to close their pool. They have all been so nice and understanding. I spend a lot of time in the sun, and I like it, but my farmers tan is already starting.

I'm so excited it's the weekend! Yesterday I bought some cookware and this morning I was able to actually cook in the kitchenette on my hall!!! I've also been trying some different restaurants in the area that we don't have in the south. I went to this restaurant with another intern called Olga's Kitchen. I think it's greek, but not sure. The food was awesome.
Also, there's this store here kind of like a Wal-mart, but better. It's call Meijer, I've started going there for essentials. When I get home in the evenings, I love to relax or go to the coffee house down the road to use the internet. It reminds me of the coffee house I used to work at in Charlotte. On Tuesday, Evan was born (nephew #2). I can't wait to see him and more pictures.

In July my sister is coming to visit me. We are planing to go to Toronto, Canada for a day since it is only 5 hours away. I really want to go to the Detroit Zoo and a baseball game while she is here. I haven't sent out any post cards yet because I haven't seen any. This area is not really a tourist area so that's probably why, but I'll keep looking.

Overall, I'm doing well and meeting lots of people! Hope everyone is doing well!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Evan



This week Evan was born!! 8lbs 9 ounces and 25 inches long!!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Week two of Michigan

So far Michigan is treating me well. Last week I started work. I went through orientation and Swimming pool training. It was a week full of learning and was a bit overwhelming with the amount of information they threw at me. Training consisted of shadowing and in the classroom. By the end of the week I was doing pool inspections while supervised. Many of them I had to close due to low disinfectant in the pool, but the owners took it well. I'm ready to started inspecting on my own. I have a feeling I will get all kinds of reactions from pool owners when I start closing pools on my own.

This week I started doing Beach training which took place in a classroom. Basically I will be going out to 10 beaches over 2 days and collecting 3 water samples at each beach... and take the samples to the lab by noon... no pressure right. After training I mapped out the locations of my assigned beaches and began driving out to them to survey. Finding these places was a lot harder than I thought. Several times I had to stop and pull out a street atlas to find the locations (some didn't have addresses). It took me all day and I was exhausted. I'm going to be kept busy for sure, but overall I really like it. Tomorrow I will be doing more pool inspections with another employee before I start on my own next week.

I'm doing well. The county I work in is so big and soo many people live here...which means traffic everywhere. Also, I've learned that summertime in Michigan is when they like to do their road construction. I think they should start making left turns
(you can't turn left at a lot of places here-- therefore having make a "Michigan left" aka go make a u-turn). Yesterday for dinner I stopped to get take-out on my way home. Well since I couldn't turn left and drive 0.2 miles to home.. and there was road construction plus traffic down the road so I had to drive around the block and cut through neighborhoods driving several miles just to get home. It's kinda funny.

I hope everyone is doing well!! I miss North Carolina for sure. I'll let you know how next week goes!!!