Another week goes by and I've learned even more about the the company. It's easy to understand why the University of Texas (McCombs School of Business) recommends taking as many internship opportunities as a student can get. Don't get me wrong: school is tough… especially when working 30 hours each week while i'm finishing up with courses within my major. But working in the corporate headquarters for a fortune 500 company gives you a much better perspective on what the real world is really like. It's a lot of work, but it has its payoff.
Working 40-50 hour weeks is definitely not as long of a week as some of my dads (and friends) 70-80 hour weeks. But it is representative of what the employees at Flowserve HQ work. We recently started doing "summer hours" in which we work an hour longer on Monday-Thursday then only come in for a half day on Friday. This is perfect for me. I come in early and leave late already — just to avoid the rush of traffic — and I get to extend the enjoyment of my weekends….
I went back to Austin for memorial day this (3-day, long) weekend to see Laura and my family. Laura got back from Paris on Friday and flew into Houston. She came out Saturday morning, which was perfect because I needed to fix a friends laptop on Friday. I bought a new phone (Treo 650 smartphone) on Saturday, then on the way to my parents house my car decided it was time for a new alternator.
We pulled the cable from the alternator, jumped the car, then drove it up to Georgetown with all the power-drawing equipment turned off. This works alright for old carbed motors that dont have much computer equipment. But with my car, the computer controls all the fuel ratios and everything else that creates a smooth environment for the engine. It ran rich/rough on the way up there, but it was a hell of a lot better than fixing the thing in the parking lot with little/no tools.
I ended up spending the whole weekend modding my dad's xbox (which might I add is pretty SWEET) and Laura wasn't too happy that I didn't spend more time with her. Well, lucky me, she's moving into my apartment this weekend so I'll be back in Austin again. I was really hoping to get out to the lake this weekend to run the Jet Ski.
I can't believe I forgot! The JetSki which was down for TWO (2) years has been revived by Travis and me. We pulled the CDI (electronic) box from under the oil tank only to discover that it had a seal broken and had a nasty funk growing inside it. We bought a whole new CDI box, choke cable (also was broken), and a new battery and got her up and running for the first weekend. We went out to the lake, got burned, and had a good time.
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