Friday marked the end of one of my summer classes, so it was nice to have some time this weekend to finally relax a little bit. I had good intentions for Saturday to clean up around my room, but in the end I kind off took the day off. Sunday was fun because not only did I spend the day meeting new people and eating great food, but Lindsay is finally in town!!

Blake had told me that he was putting together a bar-b-que for some friends at his place, so Sunday afternoon I headed over there. The weather wasn't the most ideal for an outdoor get-together, but we ended up having a lot of fun. Most of the people there were people he worked with, and two girls came also who are girlfriends of some of the guys he works with. The guys all packed up the food to take out to the grill while the girls decided we were fine with waiting inside. The food was all delicious, and the company was really fun to be around. I really enjoyed getting to meet some more of the people Blake hangs out with all the time.

From Blake's house, I went over to Frontline church service at the McLean Bible Church to see Lindsay! She's doing a one-year internship with the church, and she just got into town on Saturday. Her host mom lives in Reston, which is really close to me so hopefully we'll get to spend some time together this summer before I head back to college. I loved seeing her mom and sister, Natalie, again, and it was fun meeting some of the people Natalie worked with this past year and who Lindsay will be working with as well now. It's always nonstop laughter when there are Bingies involved, and they definitely did not disappoint!

I've taken the Myers-Briggs test several times now. I take it every few months to see how consistent the results are. Or maybe to see how consistent I am. :) Either way, the results have always come back the same:

I am type ISFJ.

You can decide for yourself how accurate this is:
ISFJs are interested in maintaining order and harmony in every aspect of their lives. They are steadfast and meticulous in handling their responsibilities. Although quiet, they are people-oriented and very observant. Not only do they remember details about others, but they observe and respect others’ feelings. Friends and family are likely to describe them as thoughtful and trustworthy.

This is a continuation of my last post, so if you haven't read that... do that now.

Okay, now that you're up to speed, we'll continue.

I had a kind of rough day at work today. I was confused and frustrated and tired from being at work all day, so when I got home I put everything aside, threw on my Snow White dress and joined Bailey and Brylee for some quality princess playing time. It's always so fun to watch them, and I try very hard to keep up with them. I didn't (still don't) have much of an imagination growing up, and they just amaze me with their ability to make up stories on the fly. Sometimes that's just as much work for me to follow as my programming assignments at work in languages I don't know. Haha, anyway, after dinner I headed back up to my room to finally settle in for some homework time.

That's when I checked my phone to see if I had any missed calls or texts, not really expecting anything. But yes! A missed call! And a message.... It was Blake saying hi, hoping I had a good day at work, and was wondering if I'd like to see a movie sometime this week. :) I called back, and we decided to see Up on Wednesday after work. Awesome! I'd been wanting to see that, and of course hearing from Blake was exciting!

>>Fast forward through the work/homework routine to Wednesday evening.

We ended up meeting up near the theatre to get kabobs for dinner before the movie. Neither of us had been there before so we asked the guy at the counter what he liked. The guy next to him had a great sense of humor and told us that guy #1 liked HIM, but sadly he was not available. Haha! We got our food and talked more before heading over to the movie.

For anyone who has not seen Up, it is a great movie, and I will definitely be buying that one when it comes out. It's sad, funny, and altogether adorable. I'd say it was probably one of the best picks for a first date - or second date, I suppose. :)

The rest of this week has been absolutely chaotic in my life. Today was the last day of my Western Civ class (HOORAY!) and a test day in my APE class. The only way I could get everything done just for classes was to take today off from work. I haven't heard from Blake since the movie, but he mentioned having a bar-b-que at his apartment Sunday, so I think I'll give him a call tomorrow to see how those plans are coming together and explain my recent hermit-like activity.

Ok, so here's the post my mom wanted me to write... Honestly, I'm somewhat ashamed to be writing this and still seriously shocked at my mom's reaction when I told her about it. That being said...

This past semester, my friend Tracy and I joined an online dating site. As a joke. At 3am. Out of boredom.

*sigh* There's just no cool way to say that.

Alright, now that you think...whatever you think...I'll tell the tale of my bike riding date. Without explaining all the ins and outs of online dating, I received a message from a guy about a week ago. Now, messages are quite varied in content. For emphasis, I'll go hunt down some random ones I've gotten:

you look like a fun girl. You actually travel instead of just claiming to like to travel, you go sky diving... I'm curious, why are you interested in moving to the UK?

Hello, I'm a professional male from Reston, Va. I'm a laid back down to earth kinda guy. Was wondering whether you would like to chat and see what spurs up.

ill be really honest, i didnt even read your profile, you seemed cute enough to msg, hi there :)

For the most part, the guys are nice and I'll at least message back to say hi, but for the most part, I find myself to be pretty picky. And I don't see anything wrong with that. I'm really not in a good position to date long-term right now anyway, but it's nice to chat and get to know people all the same. With messages anyway, there is always that underlying tone that can make things awkward sometimes. I mean...obviously...we're on a dating site. So, what are we looking for? Well, dating I suppose. :) Then this past week I got a message, that was truly the sweetest I'd ever gotten. (And I told him that, Haha) Blake...we'll call him Blake...mostly because his name is Blake... wrote this:

Good luck with your cs degree, wow you've done awesome things! Keep it up.

:) How sweet. Of course it was getting close to 1am by the time I finished my homework and saw it, and I knew I couldn't stay up any later but I had to at least respond. So I thanked him for his sweet message and hoped we could talk soon.

We did. A couple times, just talking about work (both in the tech world), being out in this area (he's from California), our college experiences, and hobbies. I mentioned that I really enjoyed biking every now and then, and he told me about the W&OD Trail. In fact he was going the next day, and I should join him! :) So, of course...I did!

Let me pause here to say that when I say I enjoy biking, it's because it is a freeing experience for me to get away by myself, feel the wind on my face, and go wherever I feel like going for no other reason than because I want to.

About a half mile into our biking trip, Blake told me his biking distance record was 100 miles. Ah, sheesh.

But we had a lot of fun. :) We started in Herndon and headed west, away from DC. Along the way, we talked for about half the time which was nice for getting to know each other. In Ashburn we stopped at a place with picnic tables for bikers to chill at and took a breather then hopped back on the trail heading home. Overall, I was really impressed with myself, and only about the last...2ish miles was I really slowing down and getting worn out.

In the end, we got back to his apartment and chilled on the couch talking to his roommates drinking lots of water. It was fun, but at that point we were past being able to make good impressions on each other. Haha! When I left, I really wasn't sure how he felt, and while I hoped he'd call me back...I didn't want to get my hopes up. No matter what it was a great day, and I felt great having pushed myself to go those 15 miles. Blake is a really nice guy, and it was a fantastic way to spend a Sunday afternoon and to meet for the first time. :)

Okay, so I've been lousy at keeping this up to date, but at request of my mom (who didn't even know about my blog) I am updating this. I would break this up into separate posts, but honestly, for the past month not a whole lot has been going on. I'll explain...

Since my first week of work, things have been going good in the office. My mentor, Lidong, is really nice. She hasn't been with the program for too long either, AND her programming history is all in C++ too, so it kind of helps to have someone who understands where I'm coming from sometimes. Mostly I dig and dig and dig into a problem until I THINK I found where the issue is, try a few little things on my own...fail...then ask Lidong. Haha! Yeah, that's basically the pattern of how I work these days.

Devin is interning with DSI again this summer, so it's nice to have a familiar face and someone to chat with throughout the day. We mostly joke around with the other people in the office when we're taking a break and make fun of each other. Sometimes he gets on his high horse and tries to tell me what to do. I quickly and shamelessly knock him off that horse, and we move on. :)

I caught up with the Dannenbergs again this summer at church, and it was really nice to see them. We decided we'll have to get lunch sometime with a few of their other friends I got to know and love last summer also. Betty said Klaus kept up with my Pac Rim blog quite a bit, so it will be fun to show them my pictures and tell some stories when we get the chance.

Other than that, my online summer classes through OC have kept me busy in any free time I would have had outside of work. The other day I was realizing that I should have taken summer classes all along the way, but then I also thought about the self-discipline it takes to get through these things. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been as devoted to my classes in previous summers, but with graduation peeking around the corner...yeah, that's a motivator. But seriously, these classes are killer. It's 16 weeks of coursework all squeezed into 4 weeks. The first one, Senior Bible Seminar, wasn't so bad. In fact, it was downright easy now that I think back on it. I finished that one before I got up here to Virginia, and then I immediately started Western Civilization the same day I started work. That one was considerably more work, and I had to keep myself focused everyday to come home from work to read my 2 chapters, take my quiz, and make an entry to the discussion board. It got to be a pretty good routine, so I got through it pretty well. The only thing is 2 weeks into that class, my American Political Economy class started up. Now, one summer class is manageable. Add to that a full-time job, and it gets a little tiresome. Throw another class on top, and.... I don't like when sleep becomes the optional bit of my life.

I got an email recently from Abigail, who is really involved with Wishing Well. Her update email included:

• Working on getting 501c3 status this summer
• The Wishing Well documentary getting picked up by Ethnographic Media. These are the people who did the documentaries for Miss HIV and Invisible Children
• The possibility of going to the Sundance Film Festival with the finished documentary
• A TV special airing in early September for the National Day of Encouragement - 4 teams of youth traveling from California to NYC doing competitions representing a nonprofit org in different cities, and Wishing Well is one of those! The show will probably be shown on MTV and Nickelodeon and hosted by Jeff Foxworthy. The show's NYC finale on live television will feature the World Premiere of the Wishing Well documentary!

Now that Wishing Well is becoming much more wide spread, we are starting to look into a long-term kind of signature product. The goal is to find something that will be marketable, creative, and of course bring in money to put towards the production of more wells.

I actually came up with the idea of using a water bottle I had seen online once before, and the rest of the crew loved it! The 360 Paper Water Bottle is made of completely renewable resources unlike plastic water bottles, and from the beginning we all agree that it looks like a great fit for Wishing Well's purpose. I sent them an email this week, and we're anticipating a call back soon.

So this summer, I have rediscovered my love of bike riding, and as I looked forward to moving back up to Virginia I started looking at buying a cheap used bike for the summer. I hunted on Craigslist every now and then trying to find something inexpensive that I could sell again or give away in August, but really there wasn't much to find.

Until Sunday. That's when I found a posting that had only been up for 7 minutes, and it was advertising 7 bikes for free. Someone just looking to clean out their basement was trying to get rid of 7 bikes of various sizes and conditions for free. I emailed them immediately explaining how excited I was to have finally found a bike I could use for the summer and asking them to hold onto one adult bike for me.

Too late. They'd already gotten rid of all 7. :\ But, they said, since I was only in the area for the summer, they had 2 more bikes they were planning on keeping. They were in great shape, and if I wanted to just borrow one for the summer and return it in August I was more than welcome to do that. AWESOME!

So I went over in the bug, flipped down the seats, covered it all in plastics sheets and just barely got the bike to fit completely inside the car. They were super nice and didn't ask a lot of questions other than how I was enjoying the area, etc. I can't wait to get some real use out of this bike this summer.

It's good to know there are still people in this world who are so trusting and generous.

So, now that something has actually happened lately I figured I'd write again. I got up here all in one piece, and I'm so thankful my grandpa drove with me. Actually, he did all of the driving, which was totally awesome. For the most part we drove it straight through, but we did make a stop in Nashville, TN for the Country Music Hall of Fame. It wasn't necessarily that big of a deal for me, but it was pretty cool to see all the stuff they have in there. My grandpa likes the old country music, so he really got a kick out of it too. Definitely a fun stop, and now I can say I've been to Nashville. Haha!

I'm staying with the Jeffrey's this summer, and they are a really nice family I met at Fairfax church of Christ last summer when I was up here. They have 3 adorable kids: Bailey, Brylee, and Caleb, and I only feel bad that I can't stay home and play with them all day long. They're so sweet though, and it's cute to watch them play together or even when they try to convince me that it's ok to break the rules. I feel like a big sister sometimes having to suggest that maybe their parents know what they're talking about. :) Emille and Sam are great too, and they're always trying to find ways to make me feel more at home.


Work started on Monday, and it's been kind of weird stepping back into the same office but on a different team. The eRule team from last summer isn't there anymore because they lost their contract, but I came back to work with the DSI team this year. My first day, my boss brought up dress code, and the relaxed rules they have regarding it. Haha! I can pretty much wear nice jeans and a professional shirt any day of the week. It's like casual Friday everyday! That's definitely something I can get used to. They assigned me my first task on Tuesday, and I'm excited to complete that so I can understand the project I'm working on better and become more useful as the summer goes on.

Unfortunately, yesterday I woke up with a terrible sore throat. I emailed in sick to work, and I went to an Urgent Care clinic up the road. As I suspected, they told me I have Strep Throat so I ended up taking all of yesterday off. I intended on being well enough to go in for work today, but I woke up feeling worse today than I did yesterday so I emailed in again. Hopefully this downtime plus the weekend will give me the time I need to get back on my feet.