Finals!

Believe it or not I am actually thrilled to write the title of this post. Why, you may ask? Because finals this year include some pretty great stuff:

1. There are no chemistry problems
2. ALL of them are open-note; one will even let me bring my laptop and is serving pizza
3. I can get three done in two days and it isn't making my head explode
4. For once I don't have a final on the last day of the week
5. Brian and I will finish on the same day
6. Have I mentioned that there is no chemistry?

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited to be done. I'm not even sure it's really sunk in yet, I doubt that it will until I hit August and don't have to go back to school. It'll be nice to not worry about my school as I help Brian with his final Masters project next year. I really enjoy helping him build his crazy and incredible models, but it's a lot more fun to do when I don't have homework!

Oh my gosh, I'm not going to have homework!

B and I have really had a pretty good school year. Evidently we moved past the 'weed out' phase and our professors decided that we were in it for the long haul. So, they slightly toned down the needless yet traditional torturing. B had a photography class that was really a lot of fun for both of us as I tagged along for his photo assignments. My dad fixed up his old camera for us, since we needed a SLR film camera (apparently that means 'single lens reflex'). Thanks Daddy! It turned out the 1st place photo project for Bri's class, and we learned valuable lessons like putting film IN the camera. I really appreciate my digital camera now and its ability to warn me when I've done something dumb! Brian's project was exploring the trains at Union Station in Ogden, it turned out great. As you can see, he got very up close and personal.

I've also been watching Brian go through a 3D modeling and animation class. That class culminated in a 8 minute video showing off a spa that B designed. I'd post it here, but I'm pretty sure that the blog would explode from the file size. It's spectacular though! The boy does good work and this semester he was loving it especially. No, he really was. It's so much fun to watch him get into projects the way he does. Hooray for school!

My major commitment this year was, of course, the Moonbuggy. Happily, we finished it a month ago! So this last week we were one of very few senior design teams that was not staying up all night frantically to finish projects for presentations last Wednesday. Suddenly my whole team felt that their spring break locked in the machine shop was very well spent. We had a great time showing off our baby for the day while we drank hot chocolate and watched our professor write down our 'A+' grade.

So now we just have finals left. Brian has two take home finals, one of which is almost done. I have one tomorrow and two on Tuesday, but none of them should be too bad. We're really kind of used to it now. We made the traditional finals store trip, complete with Reeses Pieces, gummy bears, fruity Tootsie Rolls and multiple varieties of fruity drinks (we got real food too, I promise!) and the added bonus of Girl Scout cookies that just happened to be there. I did refrain from buying Coke, mostly because B said finals week is no excuse for drinking soda again. I found this odd, since it has always been my excuse, but perhaps I was misinformed. Dang it.

Despite the, for lack of a better word, torture that has been our higher education B and I know just how important the whole experience has been. On Monday I get to officially accept my new job which is also on that not-sure-I-realize-it-actually-happened list. I feel so lucky to have found this job, they are not easy to find right now! I know that I wouldn't have been able to find a good career without my degree at this point, or even during another time when it's been easier to get jobs. B and I will be glad to get back to full time work so we can really get our hands dirty at our jobs instead of just being part time and doing odd little things here and there. We are so excited for all the fun things in store for our summer--and for graduation for me on Friday!