I Now Have Credentials

After a long while, I am finally able to put some credential letters behind my name.  I am now officially a Certified Quality Engineer, CQE.  I had been wanting to take this exam for some time, but the problem was that I needed to get materials to study, actually find the time to study, and then shell out $350+ to take it.  Luckily, now that I am working at Badger Meter they are picking up the cost of the test as a job related expense as it is part of my professional goals.  The rest, getting the materials to study and actually finding the time to study were the hard part.  I was actually originally slated to take the exam last December.  However, with spending all my time trying to redo the kitchen last summer, and then having other things going on in late October/early November, I had little free time to study (unless I wanted to just forget about sleeping).  So I was able to postpone it until today.  And after 5 and a half hours of hell, I finished and got my results right away.

Like I said, the test was 5.5 hours, and was open book.  And I took every second to finish.  In fact, I think I may have had 20 seconds left on the timer when I submitted all my answers.  But then after the timer ran out, The screen said "Congratulations, you have passed."  WooHoo!  Now I just need to wait to get me actual certificate.  It said it will take up to two weeks to get it in the mail, but then I'll need to get myself a frame for it to hang in my cubicle.

Goings To Semis

We made it to the arena just a short time before our session was supposed to start.  Last year was a little chaotic, but I am glad to report that in contrast to last year’s competition this year they figured out how to keep things moving.  Part of it was that all the results were announced in a different venue (the baseball stadium across the way).  That way, UCA kept things right on schedule, or at the very least within roughly five minutes of the scheduled time.

Our girls were slotted in the first ten performances, or so.  And unlike the last couple of years, we have learned that you don’t need to sit in the venue for the entire session.  We were there for a short time before, and then as soon as the girls were done, we cleared out of there and went to hang out someplace else.  This kept the crowds in the venue small, and we were able to get a good spot for the girls’ performance.  And we didn’t have to sit thru the rest of the teams waiting for the results to be announced.  We saw the girls shortly after they performed, and then went over to wait for the results announcement.

As far as the performance went…  they were on.  The cheer went well, the dance and tumbling was great.  There were a couple of small wobbles, but for the most part they were perfect.  

One thing that I thought was not really fair is that they get judged on crowd participation.  One of the first teams that went were from Jacksonville, FL.  They had a LARGE contingent of fans, and why not?  They are only about a two hour drive away.  They were very, very loud and raucous.  As opposed to us, who had pretty much just the parent contingent to cheer on the girls.

The results?  Well we ended up making the Semi-Finals.  I should add there were three sessions for Ali’s division, and a total of I think 54 teams?  That’s a rough number.  But 50% of the teams make the semis.  And then they pare that down to 15 teams for the final.  This year (as opposed to when Ali’s team made semis when she was a freshman) they got to celebrate.  Two years ago, the announcer botched their name, Menomonee Falls.  Everyone was sort of sitting around like, was that us?  This year we were announced about midway thru the teams, and they got the name right.  So it was very exciting for the girls!  Congratulations, now on to the Semis!

Having To Move

Today is Preliminary Day, and instead of taking the time in the morning to meet, focus on their routine, and maybe get in some last minute practice, Ali’s team had to move hotels.  HAD TO is a relative term I guess because they didn’t actually HAVE to move hotels.  But since the team had to stay in the Wyndham off the Disney grounds, they are not able to utilize all the Disney perks; mainly being the transportation.  So instead of having to have the parents shuttling the girls around from the hotel, to the competition, or to their practices and the parks, the coach is moving the girls to a Disney resort/hotel.  So we are getting the girls all loaded up and shuttling them from the Wyndham to the Disney Pop Century Resort.

The move actually went pretty smoothly.  We ran into a little problem when we got to the Pop Century because I followed the instructions from the guard at the gate, and we ended up in the wrong place.  Luckily we figured it out and got the girls to the main lobby with the rest of the team right away.  The bad part was, however, that they couldn’t get to their rooms right away.  They were going to have to drop their stuff off, and then after their round, they’ll head back to the resort and get moved in.  But I guess that at least having their things there is the important part.  So now they have about 4 hours to prepare.  I hope this doesn’t throw the girls off.

2nd Place

In preparation for the UCA Nationals (not exactly) Alison had her Brookfield Blast cheer competition today.  The team always (or at least always has) attended this competition, and it just so happens to be the week before Nationals, so it serves as a good warm up.  I will say that this is the competition I absolutely loathe.  That is because this is a competition that last the entire day.  I think the competition starts off at around 9:00 AM, and because there are so many teams that do it, there are several sessions.  Part of the reason is that they include individual cheer routines and stunt groups.  It takes FOREVER!!!!  It is the equivalent of a dance competition doing individual solo routines.  This year there were three sessions, and we were in the final one.  Oh, and Brookfield always “honors” their seniors since it is their last competition, and they do a big thing for all the seniors too.  It really does make things take forever!

This year there were something like 4 or 5 teams in Ali’s division, and they weren’t bad.  There were a couple of flaws/mistakes with their routine, but there was another team (I am not going to name them) who ended up being better.  I can’t say that I disagreed with the results.  I was hoping that I missed something or there was something that the judges saw that your average spectator would say, “huh”?  But no.  So congratulations girls!  Let’s build on this and go tear it up at Disney!