244/365
09012014
Another wonderful but short day at Ithaca. Woke up fairly early to get CTB with Tiffany, ChuChu, Sisi and a few of their other friends. Bagels so delicious. After that I had a few hours before heading back to VA, so Tiffany and I went to Purity, our go-to spot in Ithaca, and got 2 scoops of ice cream. Strawberry, as usual, and Bulldog Crunch. They were both so yummy! The weather was also soopah hot today so ice cream was perfect. We sat by the kiddy picnic benches they were so tiny hahaha. Then we went to Steamboat Landing to walk around there. It's so nice when the Farmer Market's not there and it's just quiet. Took photos there, some derp photos, and found sunflowers too! Then went to Stewart Park was gonna let Tiffany drive, but too many people and she didn't have her license. We stopped the car to let a huge family of geese cross the street hehe. Then I had to leave to head back to VA :( So sad the weekend's over but it was such a fun weekend!
245/365
09022014
Back on that work grind. Pretty slow day at work today just doing my own things. No one from my team was in the office today so technically I didn't have to go in either since I didn't have any meetings. Tomorrow I'm working from home because no one's in the office again and no meetings. Wooh means I can sleep in :) Had major struggles this morning because I forgot my wallet, and had to ask a friend to spot me for lunch merp. What a start to the week. Left work pretty happy for some reason not sure why. Went grocery shopping for food and I realized I got dumber at grocery shopping because I don't know what to cook. I ended up making broccoli and sausage over rice, which was better than I expected! For the rest of the night I sorted out random stuff and helped Tiffany with a physics question. I knew how to do it but Google kept giving me wrong trig calculations, and I thought I did it wrong the entire time. Mechanics heh, fun times.
246/365
09032014
Stayed in the apartment all day pretty much. Worked from home because there was no need to go in the office, so rolled out of bed at 8:30 and just worked in my room. I was pretty productive actually, besides the periods when I just could not stay awake. Working at home makes the work day seem so much longer because I don't walk around as much and don't really take that many breaks. Finally done with work and went to the Ballston Mall to get something. It was sooo hot outside I was sweating from the 10 minute walk. It was nice to get out the apartment though! Then went to the gym and took my time there while watching the US Open. More motivation to go now haha. Did stuff here and there and now sipping on some fancy wine. Not really, but it's good :D
247/365
09042014
This week is passing by so slowly and it's only a 4-day week. Work was alright today, just continued doing my stuff and got more context on upcoming projects I'll be working on. Lots of emails today, had to make a list of what emails to send to keep track of everything. I have more responsibilities now since the Senior BA is off the team, and if I miss an email or forget to do something it'd be all on me. Came home a bit later after work, and Katie invited me to play volleyball with her high school friends at Nottoway Park in Vienna. The park is so nice and there's so many sports fields! We played sand volleyball 4-on-4 and it was fun! No one was super good or super bad, so we were all pretty leveled and played 4 games. My team won 2, not bad I guess. I want to play volleyball more. Took the picture as we were leaving and there were still people playing soccer on the fields! Came home for a late dinner and then bummed. TGIF tomorrow!
248/365
09052014
Super busy but productive day, I got like 6 things done today. Lots of emails coming my way asking about the team, and I had to reply all their questions. Pretty good feeling to be able to answer questions from other BAs on other teams. The team room was so empty today and so many people left early, so I left at like 4:15 too since I didn't think I'd get much done in the next half hour or so. Today was also suuuuper hot. I went on a jog and I was dripping from just ten minutes. Bummed around home for a bit before going to Neal's with Jay to hang out. Watched As the Wind Rises, a Miyazaki film, and it was pretty good. I feel like I would've preferred a lighter movie for tonight, but still not bad.
249/365
09062014
Quite an eventful Saturday. Went to the Jazz Festival in Rosslyn in the afternoon and it was pretty small scaled and it was also suuuuper hot. Today was like 90+ degrees, my car said 108 degrees I was melting. The festival was alright, the best part was the 711 slurpee that we got haha. Walking back to my car, I was drenched in sweat and dripping. Chilled at home for a bit hiding from the sun, and then got Banh Mi and bubble tea from Eden Center for dinner! Was really craving those so it was a very satisfying dinner. At night went out to U Street with Katy and her friends, and Jay and Neal. We got in a speakeasy called The Gibson and had an off-menu drink called Musical Bartender? Something like that. It tasted like raspberry herbal tea and it was really good! Didn't taste the alcohol. Then bar hopped to meet up with Katy and then got McDonald's nuggets as munchies noms. On the metro home I bumped into a guy from TTT, who also knows Neal, and is also working at Capital One. Such a small world that we all bumped into each other! And then this drunk white girl sat with us and started talking to us and her voice was sooo high pitched. Clearly drunk and it was pretty entertaining. Then a Cheesecake Factory chef came on the train and complained about his work. Haha very interesting metro ride home.
250/365
09072014
Slept till noon today it felt so good. Literally watched TV all afternoon and then went to BBQ at Margaret's place in Courthouse. Just me, Margaret, Min and Tony. Her place is so nice with a pretty nice courtyard for people to hang out. We grilled steak, sausage, chicken, salmon, skewers and corn. Pretty simple but delicious BBQ. Chilled there for like 2 hours and then came back home to watch more TV. There goes the weekend.
251/365
09082014
Probably shouldn't have been taking this photo while driving down to Richmond, but it was a rainbow!! Today was a muggy day all day. Felt kinda anti social and at work we had training all day so didn't had to interact with that many people. Funny this is, for the software we're getting trained on, the server was down, so we couldn't write code on it haha. I ended up doing other work and left work pretty early to gym before heading down to Richmond. I was looking forward to Hamani Sushi the entire drive down, but when I got here it was temporarily closed until Thursday! D: So devastated. So ended up going to the same sushi place I went a few weeks ago and omg got so much sushi too full. Need to start cutting down on Richmond meals. Now got my wine in my room and time for some TV.
252/365
09092014
Busy busy day. Went to DMV before work to get my stupid birthday corrected on my VA license. I was working on a project that I needed to get done by Friday because I have training next week, and it got really frustrating because there was so many data issues. And there's just so many things going wrong with all the data pull ugh. But I think I got all the data and now just gotta do the analysis. Also, I worked with someone from another team to figure out this problem and I felt somewhat useful! I was able to write code to pull data that we were looking at hehe. After work I got dinner at Kona Grill with a few other people. The place is actually really yummy! Got rib eye steak and it was cooked perfectly, but couldn't finish so I packed it to go. Dinner tomorrow night! Did like 2 hours of work at night but didn't make that much progress, so ended up getting wine and calling it a day.
253/365
09102014
One of those lazy nights, but it was yummy! Work was busy today. Still struggling with the project due by Friday so worked on that all day. At like 3pm a bunch of walked in like a pack to get froyo. We walked pass my director and he looked at us and asked 'Is there something I should know....?' Haha. But froyo was delicious, good break from work! The drive up today was such a struggle, I got so sleepy like half hour in and I still got another hour and half! Stopped somewhere in the middle to get Panera and brought it back for dinner noms.
254/365
09112014
Minimal human interaction today it was horrible. Worked from home since everyone on my team and in my team room will be at the golf charity event after noon, so no point to go in. The day was soooo long. Worked on the same thing all day and kept running into problems, and not interacting with anyone didn't make things any better. Went to the gym during lunch and it felt great to leave the apartment haha. Jogged at like 5:30, a much needed jog to clear my head and it felt pretty good! I jogged to the park and just sat on the bench for like 20 minutes before walking back. Felt very soothing and relaxing. I heated up leftover steak from Richmond for dinner and then made strawberry-mango-orange smoothie! It was so delicious actually, gonna make more! But out of frozen strawberries :(
255/365
09122014
Had nostalgia today when I saw on Facebook that the Empire State was red for Cornell's 150th year. So then went through the photos in my room and I miss this BBQ so much. So much fun and so much derp I wish we could all get together again and hang out like that for a week. Work was tough today, trying to finish up everything before I leave next week. Spent a lot of time pulling data and finally made some progress, but I'll still be working during training next week to finish it up. After work I went to Tyson's Corner with Neal and Michael just to walk around. Not much there, and we ended up getting food at Mixing Bowl, it's like a Korean version of Chiptole. With bimbimbap and tortilla and all the toppings haha, not bad! At night I went to Jame's housewarming! I went in not knowing anyone but James, and the first 30 minutes or so was kinda awkward. But then I bumped into a Stuy '09 who recognized me and turned out we had a lot to talk about! Also met a buuuunch of Cornell '13 and I even recognized a few of them. They turned out to be really chill! Didn't really play any games I just socialized with people and met a bunch of new people. I saw Beverly there too! It kinda died down and we hung out in Jame's room talking about I don't even remember what haha. But it was a good night and it was nice meeting so many people!
256/365
09132014
Today was a weird day, had no sense of time haha. Woke up at 9 to go trail running at Great Falls Park in Maryland. Went with Min, Margaret and Tony, training for the Tough Mudder!! The weather was cloudy and rained a bit but the run was good! Total it was about 7 miles but it definitely didn't seem like 7. We went on the Billy Goat Trail and there were a lot of rocky areas, so we kept running and stopping. It was like hiking, but instead of walking we were running haha. We went to Great Falls overlook too and saw the Potomac River (?) with rapids and small waterfalls. Being there made me miss Ithaca and all the waterfalls. I got home from this early morning outing at like 1pm, and just watched TV and bummed all day, literally.
257/365
09142014
Hehe the 14th :) Today I lounged around the apartment in the morning, made food and watched TV until I drove down to Richmond at around 4! Went to pick Katy up from her hotel in downtown Richmond, but searched the wrong Hilton and ended up like 10 miles south of Richmond haha. So after finally getting to her hotel, we met up with Neal and Jay at the Fan, which is pretty much like VCU's collegetown. The restaurant we wanted to eat at, Heritage, was actually closed today, so we walked down the block to Foo Dog. It was like Asian fusion and I really liked it. Got Malaysian Noodles and we ordered a bunch of appetizers haha. It wasn't even that expensive! And really liked our waiter she was so cool, and plus her tattoo was really nice lol. We got some drinks across the street before all heading back to our hotels. Staying at the Aloft all week and the room is quite different from the typical hotel rooms. It feels like a summer cabin and feels homier and less hotel-like. I kinda like the hotel feel more..
258/365
09152014
Long day today at training learning about Marketing Analysis. Some parts were interesting, but I couldn't pay attention for that long. So I downloaded a bunch of games on the iPhone and played them haha. After training we went to this bowling alley in Midlothian for a Capital One networking event. There was food there but just wings and finger food, and we bowled a few games. On the way back we decided to go to Dave and Buster hehe, but today was a bad day. The ball dropping machine didn't cooperate and I didn't get that many points. Perhaps I'll get more on Wednesday when we go back for the networking event haha. Picture is of the Aloft crappy hotel!
259/365
09162014
Soopah full from all-you-can-eat sushi. We went to sushi after work and ayce was only $17! I ate $79 worth of food so I think it was well worth it haha. Today I did not pay attention in training at all, was actually working all day on something that needs to be completed by Friday. Very hectic and so many problems with the data, but I think I'm almost done with it! Oh, and at sushi I was trolling people's food. Put sake in someone's straw in their cup and they drank it, and then realized it wasn't water... bahaha. And stuffing wasabi in the straw. Miss the good times playing with food at dining halls. After sushi we chilled at the hotel lobby playing Apples to Apples and Heads Up. The bar looks pretty, but it's actually alright.
260/365
09172014
What a day. Learned Stats 101 today in training but I didn't pay attention much so I guess I didn't learn that much... After work it was the Dave & Busters networking event! More like playing games and getting tickets. We got 200 points from Capital One and we also got more ourselves, so I ended up with soooo many tickets - 21,000. Haha. I got this really soft bear, and this really biiiig bear, and then small angry bird plushies for Evelyn and Chloe hehe. We spent a good 3 hours at D&B and on the way back to Aloft bumped into Manita and asked us to go to Bar Louie. Might as well since other were there. Hung out and ate food but didn't get drinks because I was so tired already. I left earlier with the NY guys and right as we turned into the garage, Andy suggested McDonald's.... so we all went to McDonald's.. We went through the drive-through and as the lady asked us what we wanted, we told her we're actually gonna dine in. Hahaha. Obviously she knew it was us when we walked in cause there was no one else. And Dan still had his whiskey in a glass cup and tried to hide it at the counter, but the lady caught him and said he cant have that lol. Such a random night with spontaneous adventures haha.
261/365
09182014
Super tiring day. Class the same as usual, and after class I went to Sushi King for buffet again because I didn't want Peter Chang's. I didn't quite order as much this time so I wasn't completely stuffed, but still pretty stuffed. It was mostly with the NY guys and a few people from other places. After sushi we hung out at Keagan's, the bar below Aloft, to watch the football game. It was like 56-0 so wasn't that exciting. Then a bunch of other people came and we migrated to the hookah bar down the street and chilled there for like 2 hours until they closed. It was fun hanging out with the other BAs since we don't usually interact in the office. Different crowds, but we all ended up in the same place last night. I was exhausted last night and by the time I got back to the room I realized I didn't take a photo yet.. Whomp. But it was a fun night!
262/365
09192014
Last day of Experience Week, finally.. Today's classes were on digital and how Capital One is going on the digital track. More interesting than the other days, but still not interesting enough to be not boring. Ended around 2:30 and I drove back to DC... with the giant bear in the passenger seat haha. The drive was such a struggle since I was so tired and my eyes were so sensitive, the entire week too. Took a gas break and Panera break on the way, and the last half hour was such a struggle to stay awake. But finally home at last gonna get some quality sleep tonight. No more crappy Aloft bed. And also time to detox from a week of eating waaaay too much. D:
263/365
09202014
Finally a day to sleep in and it felt so good. Woke up just before noon haha. Today I Skyped the guy who might take over Susan's lease and showed him the apartment and amenities. Took like 2 hours, also got to know him more so it was good. Hopefully he does move in and solves this whole problem. Went to the Arlington library and got a library card! Haven't stepped in a public library in ages, felt like I was going back to the middle school years. Got two books, but haven't started reading them yet haha. My logic was to get a book so I don't watch as much TV, but all I did today was watch TV... After the library went to Great Wall, the land of Asians. Got some bok choy to make for dinner and a few other random stuff. Them ultimate bum night. Plans for the National Harbor got canceled so just watched TV and made a yummy smoothie.
264/365
09212014
Woke up late again and it felt so good. After exercising and lunch, went to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery with Neal. It was so hot walking around the cemetery but the place is really neat. The rows of tombstones are so straight and aligned and we walked to the Tomb of the Unknown. There are guards exchange ceremonies every half hour and the tomb is guarded 24/7 year round, pretty crazy. They do this in the winter and through any weather conditions. The guards look like robots because they do everything soooo synchronized it's crazy. We also saw the JFK gravesite. Afterwards, we stopped by the Clarendon art street fair which was too much art for me. The best part was sampling apple grape juice in Trader Joe's. :D Also upgraded to iOS8 and I don't like it... But downloaded this running app and played around with it, and ended up running again in the evening just to test it out haha.
265/365
09222014
Stuck in traffic on the drive down to Richmond. Today I surprisingly woke up not too tired! Felt like I haven't gone to work in so long since I was in training all week last week. Back to that work grind. Nothing too exciting. On the drive down to Richmond I saw a super nice sunset! There were clouds in the sky and the sun's rays made the entire sky look orange it was so pretty! But couldn't take a picture of it. Also, tried taking a shortcut and ended up driving 10 miles through this super rural wooded area. Smelled like forest and horse poop. Made me miss camping :( It was a interesting drive though!
266/365
09232014
New shoes! Anyway, had such a hard time getting out of bed this morning because the Hilton beds are just soooo comfortable. When winter comes and I'm snuggling under the blanket when it's cold out it's gonna be even harder to get out of bed D: Anyway, work was super busy. Had to solve a lot of data issues, seriously, this is neverending. But John helped so much and saved me so much time. Oh, lunch was delicious though - Kathi rice bowls :D After work I went to the gym at the Hilton and went for a run outside. The area is so...suburban/rural lol. Bumped into John at the gym so we got dinner with another John at Maya. There are so many John's and Alex's in the company, and on my team... Dinner was good, it was nice to get to know John outside of work since I only interact with him in the work environment. Then back to the hotel to do some work and bum.
267/365
09242014
Looong day at work today I was so busy and frustrated cause I couldn't pull the right data. But on a brighter note, I presented my the analysis I had so far to my manager and it went well! Whew. She has good intentions when she gives comments, but it just feels nice to do the first steps of the analysis right. But now I still got a lot more work to do... It rained all day today, and on the way back it was such a horrible drive. But I stopped at the $2.99 gas station as usual to get gas and snacks! Crazy how cheap it is here... Makes me happy to get gas haha. Did some more work at night T.T and now gonna watch TV! I'm never gonna get to the library books I got...
268/365
09252014
Doggy! Nothing exciting at work today. Played mini cornholes at work with a few people and just derped around the room since it was all analysts and no managers haha. Made progress on the projects I'm working on so we'll see where that goes in the next few days. Came home and Susan's parents were here, and his dad cooked us dinner! Pretty simple dinner, something I would cook haha. Ate with them and chatted about random stuff before going to Katy's for wine and cheese night! But there was no cheese.. Just wines and snacks haha. The dogs greeted us at the door so cute! It was so soothing running my fingers through their fur and just petting them and they liked it too! Played Jenga with different rules pretty fun. Then played a game called Fishbowl. It's like a mix of taboo, charades, it was really fun actually! Now super tired and I can already feel the struggle waking up tomorrow morning.
269/365
09262014
Technically this photo was taken last night after midnight, so today. But it was from Jenga at Katy's last night! Today was a fun day at work. I wasn't very productive because I was waiting for a reply from someone else, which I still didn't get... so just talked in the team room all day basically. Got excited for Tough Mudder tomorrow and then did the weekly brain teaser/riddles. I figured it out this time!! And also played some more mini cornholes in the office haha. Such a chill day but I didn't get anything done.. Whomp oh well. After the gym and dinner, Katy asked to watch Lucy at this shady theater in University Mall. It was only $4 though! But the place looks so run down. There was no service in the theater and there were seats missing that was replaced by a cardboard box LOL. The movie was so dumb lol. At least it was only $4 so I didn't really lose that much..
270/365
09272014
Tough Mudder. Wasn't as intense and hard as I expected it to be but still really tiring. Woke up before 7 and met up with everyone to drive to West Virginia. Got a little delayed a kinda lost, and we ended up starting at noon. We got so many compliments on our Muddy Buddy Turtle shirts hahaha. The entire course was 10.2 miles with sooo many hills and ups and downs. That was probably one of the hardest part. Most of the obstacles weren't too bad. Crawling in the mud under barbed wire, scaling a wall, running up a quarter pipe, jumping through a mud pool and getting out, jumping off a 15 ft plank into a pool. A lot of it was teamwork and the entire time our shoes were soaked in mud and we were pretty much wet from all the obstacles. There was this Arctic Enema which was going into an ice bath and it was sooo painful. There was this monkey bar obstacle that was like American Ninja Warriors and if you slip you fall into water underneath. The worse was the electroshock therapy at the very end where we ran through live electric wires and it shocked us so many times. It's zaps here and there and made my whole body spaz, but we all made it! Felt so good to cross the finish line to get our beer and tshirts. Fun experience, but not so sure if I'd do it again...
271/365
09282014
Recovery day today. Had lots of sleep and didn't do anything all day. Washed my shoes outside, but I don't think they'll ever be mud free. Even after washing it so many times, I still squeeze out muddy water. Guess it's time for new shoes! Met with the potential subletter this afternoon and showed him around and chatted with him. Seems like a cool guy so I hope everything works! At night a few of us went to all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ at Kogiya. Soo much meat it was so good. Then came home and watched TV. Meh don't wanna go to work tomorrow.
272/365
09292014
Back to the normal routine of work.. Work wasn't very productive today. Had computer issues all morning and didn't even get it resolved. And thus I couldn't really do any work so didn't have any data to analyze womp. Cleaned up a lot of files on my computer, sent a bunch of emails, and don't know what I did with the rest of my time.. But left early to go home to pack and get ready for Richmond and drive down! Pretty awake this drive so it was good! And then got Pho Saigon, lol the name, for dinner it's actually not bad. Then spent 3.5 hours reviewing Cornell resumes in my hotel room. John messaged me at like 10 and we were both on the struggle bus together. These take forever and they're a lot harder than I expected!
273/365
09302014
Woke up feeling sick this morning ugh. Horrible. Whole day throat's been bothering me I don't even know how I got sick. Anyway, work was filled with meetings and follow up emails. Nothing too exciting during the day. Had a pretty big project release last night at 4am so today the entire team was pretty hyped up and excited about the new launch. After work I went to the gym at the Hilton, and had some time to spare before dinner so walked around the Short Pump mall. There's not that much there, but nice to be outside since I'm in the office all day. Had dinner at Kanpai and we go hibachi. Can't remember the last time I had hibachi so it was nice. Everything was just doused in oil and soy sauce lol. Then back at the hotel I got locked out when I went downstairs to get water ._. Derp moments.
