Lauren Takes to the Airport for the Last Time

Well, this is it. I no longer have my fancy security pass and I'm playing the role of passenger today. I've been at the airport for the past 14 hours, since I came in for my last day of work today and decided I wasn't going to leave!

We had our Christmas luncheon today, where we all dressed up in ugly Christmas sweaters, ate lots of tasty food and participated in a gift exchange. Since I had nowhere else to go, I got to spend time chatting with some of the other engineers, directors and even the vice-president of engineering!

In case you haven't heard, I was also selected as Co-op Student of the Year for 2013! I'm thrilled about this and I'm sure that the airport is breathing a sigh of relief that their experiment in hiring me worked out so well. I even got to chat a bit with our new CEO at the luncheon, since he had also heard about the award!

I have a replacement coming in for January, so hopefully the student will be able to find as much value in this experience as I did. I think that the biggest thing I took away was the confidence that was reinforced in me to actually believe that I'm ready to be an engineer (well, an EIT), once I graduate.

I spent my last few hours at the airport with a few of the (female) engineers that I had become close with. We sat around in the Fairmont lounge, which felt pretty classy, even though I was wearing a sweatshirt. I think my uncle would also approve of the beverage I enjoyed before heading to security.

So, you might have seen the WestJet video where they asked passengers for their Christmas wishes and then there were gifts waiting at the destination. WestJet also gave me a bit of a gift this evening too. Although I'm convinced that my stuff has been multiplying in my suitcase because there is just way too much of it, apparently I've just accumulated too much stuff since moving here. My three bags weighed in at 51lb, 58lb and 61lb. Since the overweight limit is 50lb, they were going to be nice and only charge me overweight for two of the three bags. Today was a pretty busy travel day (apparently the busiest of the year) and the payment system was on the fritz as I was going to drop my bags. So, the agent said "Merry Christmas!" and told me that I didn't have to pay because they didn't want to deal with it. Thank you WestJet!

What else have I been up to this week, other than packing? Well, I decided to go to the Hannah Georgas concert last night at the Commodore Ballroom (she's really great live!) and passed marketing with flying colours! I also made these lovely candy cane reindeer because I'm just so crafty (and really like glue guns).

So, here it is. This will be my final post, since I'll hopefully be boarding soon (since the unusually massive amounts of snow are melting just fine) and landing in Toronto in a few hours (if the freezing rain can hold off). I am taking to the airport for the last time . . . for now, at least!

Still Holding Down the Fort Out Here!

So, I might have done that thing where I don't blog for a really long time again. Oops. I've been up to a lot though, between Sparks (we went to the firehall and the library!), school (been doing lots of 41X and have finished marketing, I believe, successfully!), work (I coordinated the building of a can sculpture and we had our Christmas party on Saturday night, which was awesome!) and adventuring around Vancouver (the aquarium, Science World and this crepe place that I found!) with the boyfriend.

Just to make things easy on you, I'll post lots of pictures, so those of you who are writing exams can save your brainpower for that.

The Vancouver Aquarium

We just really love it here. We probably should have just bought season passes because this is the third time I've been here since May and the fourth time this year. We saw the penguins (who never swim, ever), sea otters (they were feeding them shrimp treats!), the dolphin show and a sloth. The jellyfish exhibit was also on, so we had fun looking at that!

Science World

We hadn't made it to Science World yet, so we thought we would head over there one weekend. We went through and explored all of the exhibits (I might have also been very sore the next day from trying to beat the boyfriend in a jumping contest) and saw a movie in the IMAX dome, which was at the top of the facility. We had to walk up this long and winding ramp to get there, which was pretty cool! I created some energy in the running machine (which lasted about 10 seconds) and saw conveyors (I think work is getting to me) and a Pelton wheel (applied fluids and thermodynamics will never let me forget because this is the second Pelton wheel picture I've had in my blog!). We also saw a dinosaur (skeleton) and played with some fun machines.

Trixi's Crepes

I found this place one evening on my way to Sparks and have been going every week all month. I sit in there and have a crepe dinner between work and Sparks, since I don't have time to go home, and I work on the crossword or sudoku (usually I'm done this already because I've become a sudoku master while commuting to work) or read the newspaper. So tasty!

Can Sculpture

I coordinated and executed the building of this can sculpture at work during the airport's big charity blitz for the same food bank that we volunteered at earlier in the year. I drew up the design (the airport logo), selected the cans (which were actually not all correct when delivered, darn it grocery store!) and helped coordinate volunteers to build it on the day of the event. That's (almost) 800 cans you're looking at!

So, that's been most of my adventures lately! I've got less than two weeks left out here, so it will mostly just be packing and wrapping things up. My last Sparks meeting is this week and I should probably get around to my work report at some point.

Arts and Crafts

I had some pretty good pictures taken today, so I thought I would quickly share. I was making some full-scale, cardboard mock-ups of equipment for a project I'm working on, so we could pretty much "place the furniture". I also thought my parents would be proud of my engineering degree being put to good use for arts and crafts. I probably could have done this based solely on my Girl Guide experience. Good news though, the props worked SUPER effectively and everyone thought it was a wicked meeting. Yay!

I happened to get a photo of myself in the infamous high-visibility vest that I talk about, as well. Somehow our meeting turned into a photo shoot.

The Past Week

I've kind of been slacking on the blogging the past week, so here's the recap.

Friday

A few friends and the boyfriend and I headed to Gastown on Friday night for the "Make Music" festival. It's pretty much an event open to anyone who wants to sign up. We got there at the wrong time though, apparently, because as we walked from tent to tent each performer finished a song and then packed up. Luckily, on the way back, the performers decided to do more than one song. We heard a drum circle, rapping, folk, DJing, contemporary, jazz and more! Gastown was also a really cool neighbourhood . . . although I don't know if I would want to go down Blood Alley. We also saw the famous clock (which I failed to get a picture of). It even had a souvenir shop at one point, but it looked like it had closed down.

Sunday

My boyfriend was running a half marathon, so I got up early to go and meet him at the finish line. The half marathon also happened to go down the street below me, on the way from UBC to Stanley Park, so I was able to watch the runners as I walked to the bus and then got to follow beside them as we crossed the bridge. At the bus stop I got off at there was a community garden. I thought it was so cool that it was just there, in the middle of downtown Vancouver. Finally, I made it down to the park, where I encountered these laughing statues, perfect for me since I love to laugh! Called A-mazing Laughter, by Yue Minjun, they were designed for the Olympics in 2010 and were supposed to be temporary, but the owner of Lululemon liked them so much, that he contributed to the cost of keeping them there permanently. As for the race, unfortunately, I left the finish line before my boyfriend crossed it because I thought he had passed without me noticing. Next time we need to coordinate what each other is wearing before we go, so we know what to look for!

Tuesday

I was "voluntold" (my manager's new favourite word) that I would be working at the company golf tournament, which is run for airport employees and contractors every year and coordinated by the director of engineering. I had a "Lauren Conrad" moment because it seemed like such an intern thing to do. (It also meant that I thought about The Hills and have started watching season one again, oops.) I started with unloading all of the door prizes from the van, later helped organize and label all of the prizes and finally, ended up tallying gold scores until halfway through dinner. However, I was wearing awesome floral pants that I was complimented on multiple times, so that was certainly a plus. I didn't make it home until 9:00 pm and was up bright and early for work the next day.

Friday

Yes, I know, it isn't Friday yet. I do know what's going to happen though. I was supposed to get a half day off because of the working late on Tuesday, but a check-in conveyor I'm working on needs to be up an running for the long weekend. Of course, the project is behind schedule, so I need to be there all day tomorrow in case "unforeseen events" occur. Lucky me! The good news: if you happen to be at the airport and flying domestic, you might be able to use my lovely new conveyor. Yay.

Fortunately, this weekend is a long one. I'm excited to see fireworks and do some exploring . . . as well as relaxing. I'm actually really excited for fireworks because they didn't have any here for the May long weekend. Apparently, that's not a thing out here, like it is back in Ontario.

This Week In My Stomach

It turns out that working at the airport doesn't just mean that people from all over the world are travelling through it. It also means that I work with people from all sorts of different places. My manager is from Ireland, along with another engineer in my trailer (obviously different parts though, based on the fact that their accents sound NOTHING alike). The engineer that sits across from me is from New Zealand, along with the contractor I am working with on the drop-belt for the check-in. Some of the other contractors are from the UK and the Netherlands. Of course, there's also people from Ontario. Three of the engineers went to schools near Guelph (and by that, I mean they actually know what Guelph is)! Another one of the contractors is from Niagara Falls. It's really interesting to work with people from all over the place, but that's not the best part. It also means that I get some tasty snacks at work that I normally wouldn't pick up myself. This week has been particularly full of treats: a chocolate bar from the UK, pocky sticks and a cookie that tasted like cotton candy, but was apparently healthy!

I also got yet another free lunch (I think I've literally had a free lunch every week since I started!), but this time it was because of our new president and CEO. He also came around to visit us in the trailers yesterday and my manager decided to tell him how I wrote a letter asking the airport for a job. He also mentioned that they thought my pushiness was why they thought it would be good to hire me. Excellent.

I also got a surprise walking to the train today. I was walking on the sidewalk up to the terminal, huddled under my umbrella because it's been quite the rainy day today when I realized that something was in my path. I managed to snap a picture of this guy before he flew off!

I think it was a heron, but my brother can probably confirm that for me. It turns out that there's even a job for him here at the airport, having taken fishing and wildlife for his college program. The airport has an environmental management program and one of the employee's jobs is to deal with the wildlife around and in the airport. Sometimes, the animals apparently like to set up shop out on the airfield and someone has to make sure they get out of there safely!

P.S. In case you were wondering, I have actually learned to use that logbook that the chocolate bar is sitting on . . . more so than I ever did in my entire engineering education, in fact. It isn't just decorative!

P.P.S. This heron was much nicer than the crows I've been encountering and did NOT try to attack me. I still haven't walked down my street in that direction since the last crow encounter.