Internship with WorkXpress

Currently I am a business intern at WorkXpress, www.workxpress.com, which allows organizations to produce, without the need for programmers, sophisticated, customized software applications at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional methods. WorkXpress is located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and is about a 25 minute drive from Messiah College. In case you are interested, their application information can be found at http://www.workxpress.com/applications

europe and roadtrip photos

okay, so i finally got my the rest of my europe and roadtrip photos up on facebook. so here are the links to view those albums:

Europe:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044618&l=7871e&id=55303386

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2048883&l=1aa99&id=55303386

Roadtrip:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2048887&l=a1463&id=55303386

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2048890&l=c60bf&id=55303386

also, i'm not the only shorts boy with a blog. My twin, alex, who is studying civil engineering at cal baptist and plays waterpolo there, has a blog called The Rocks Cry Out. In this blog he dives into some theological debates with his friends, he elaborates on some of the books he has been reading, and he also really takes a fresh look at the bible and what it is saying to us. in other words, you should check it out. here is the link:
http://ashorts.wordpress.com

roadtrip photos

calfornia coast line on the way to the allen's in ventura
southern california, part of our 8+ hr drive to the grand canyon
in arizona, a pic of alex's rock layers

a sign we passed with $3.75 a gallon right after we paid over $4 (we've paid within a range of $3.49 to $4.59 on this roadtrip).
on the way to the grand canyon in arizona
our campsite off the side of the road right outside of the grand canyon national park







one of my favorites
lookin into the grand canyon

to get to utah, we had to drive around the tip of the grand canyon, which took forever


arizona, on our way to utah

arizona

southwestern utah, on our way to zion national park
our campground in bryce canyon national park, utah
alex cooking, i believe spaghetti



part of our trail


after our 2.5hr hike in bryce canyon national park, utah


awesome.
our campground in moab, utah

entering arches national park, about 7:30ish am.




the double o arch (i think)
the landscape arch in arches national park, eastern utah


alex
arches national park
the delicate arch
utah
another rainstorm, this time i think in colorado. the running joke on this roadtrip is everytime i drive it rains (pretty much true, until we got to illinois, we had rain in every state, but this picture is while alex is driving).
the rest stop in wyoming where we spent the night in the minivan and got up at 6:10am due to the sunrise coming through the windshield.


crazy horse. we didn't want to pay $27 to get in, so we took a photo from the parking lot
mount rushmore
nick at wall drug
our campsite in wall, south dakota

south dakota

howdy. right now alex, nick, and I are chillin at our campsite in wall, south dakota. here is an update since the last blog: in arches national park, alex and i got up little bit before 7am, had breakfast, then took a tour of the park. in order to see some of the arches you had to walk, so we did at one point a 2.5hr hike to see some of them. after arches, we drove a long time (and got stuck in traffic and got in a rain storm in colorado) and picked up nick about a half hour after his flight got in. we couldn't find any campsites in denver, so we decided to continue driving on up north (to see mount rushmore in South Dakota). we ended up not being able to find one, so we pulled over at a rest stop somewhere in wyoming and we slept in the van. not the most comfortable but it got the job done.

since we were in a van and surrounded by semi's, we ended up hittin the road about 6:30am. so after driving for quite awhile this morning we saw the crazy horse monument (cost $27 to get in, so we took a picture from a distance), mount rushmore, some lakes, then booked it east across south dakota cause we are seeing a buddy of mine from my china trip tomorrow in sioux falls. oh yeah, on the way to our campsite here in wall, we stopped at wall drug. we started seeing signs for this place about 30-45minutes before we got there, and it was pretty nuts.

i tried to upload photos. but it was taking too long. sorry.

CA-Arizona-Utah-and tomorrow Colorado

so. after kicking starting our trip to the allens, we had a long long drive on 6th to the grand canyon (close to 8hrs i believe). once we got to the park it said one of the campgrounds was full, but the one 25 miles down the road was open. after getting to that campground, we found out that one was full. but a ranger said if we got down the road another 5-8 miles, we'll start seeing some dirt roads and to just pull off there and camp for the night. so that's what we did. that morning we checked out the grand canyon for awhile, then drove on to Utah (another long trip) to Zion National Park. After driving around zion for a little bit and eating some pb and j for lunch, we left for Bryce canyon national park, where we camped for the night and checked out some of the view points.

this morning (the 8th), alex and I did about a 5 mile hike throughout one of the canyons in bryce and we did it in about 1hr 40 minutes (it was a canyon, so lots of ups and downs). we left bryce about 11 (after sneaking into a nearby hotel to use their showers for their pool) and got to moab, Utah around 4ish. about 5 miles down the road is arches national park, which we are going to check out tomorrow morning, followed by a 300 mile drive to pick up nick at the airport in denver, colorado.

i don't have any photos uploaded to my computer yet, so no dice on uploading them to this blog. alex and i are at a cheapo campsite in moab, and randomly get wireless internet, so that is how i am posting it. it is sprinkling right now, which is our 3rd night in a row with some sort of rain. seems a storm is following us on our roadtrip, there was some thunder and lightning earlier but we are hoping that dies down. there is also a relay for life deal going on about 100 yards from us, which means blaring music and lights, which we are also hoping will stop soon. well, its a little past 9pm, which means it is getting close to bedtime (i know, its early, but we are camping, meaning, no lights, and we are getting up before 7am tomorrow to get an early start on arches). ok, bye.

USA! USA! USA!

I am back in the states, and it is good. i flew in on the 31st (london to detroit to LAX to San Jose) but didn't make it to san jose until about 12:30am. unfortunately, i still don't have my luggage.

after the hague, we went to paris and then london. currently i am at my friends, the allens, in ventura, but once i am finally settled down (which will be beginning of september) i will put some photos up of those cities and explain what I did while i was there.

As of yesterday, Alex and I started our summer roadtrip from CA to PA. Nick is meeting up with us on the 9th in Denver after he gets back from his missions trip in Costa Rica, then I am dropping them off at the airport in Philly on the 20th. Alex and I are at the Allens last night and this morning, but we've got a long drive ahead of us today as we are off to see the grand canyon. i'm not really sure what our internet access will be like but i'll try and post updates when i can. alright, later.

clogs, windmills, and rain

musuem with Rembrandt

amsterdam

boat crusie in amsterdam. lots of house boats
the boardwalk in the hague. and where i went swimming
why do they make the spoons so small?
urinals. am i using it for real? that is the question
at the pottery place
me and ben

getting my hair played with by women = awesome


me and tanner lookin tough
flower seller
clog place
cheese factory
fishing village
windmills. never knew this but they help with pumping the water out so the netherlands, which 60% of it is below sea level, doesn't get flooded all the time.

the last two days have been pretty touristy, but fun. yesterday we spent the day in amsterdam, and don't worry it was in the good part of town. we went to the Rijksmuseum, which is known for its Rembrandt paintings. afterthat we went to a diamond place, a pottery place (don't remember what it is called but it is known for its blue pottery), took a boat cruise down the canals, and also went to Anne Franks house. Last night (and the night before), I, along with about 5-6 other people, took a 25 min. walk down to the coast of the north sea and took a swim. water was actually pretty nice and it has been a ton of fun.

today we left nice and early (7am) and went to the flower auction, which is housed in a building that covers over 250 football fields. after that we went to a clog making place, a cheese making place, saw a bunch of windmills, went to a fishing village in northern holland and ate some more haring (still gross) and spent the rest of the evening walking around near our hotel, eating dinner, and studyin up for class tomorrow. tomorrow we have our last corporate visit with Shell and their strategic planning branch, a few classes, then off to paris on wednesday.