Week Four Ends _Here_

Hola mis amigos, once again it's time for that weekly intern update. I think today I would like to talk about inter-office-personal-relations (I just made that up). I was sitting at my desk last week, minding my own business, when Dusty walks in (I don't get to see Dusty very often because he is a very busy man...usually I deal on a day-to-day basis with Matt). Dusty asks me if I knew of this kid who is looking for an internship, what I thought about it, etc. - I found this to be quite interesting as a whole. I gave a good recommendation for my classmate and possible future coworker, and went on. It wasn't until Dusty had left that I thought about how odd all of this could seem - he was looking for my opinion on whether or not he should give someone else an internship. Because, yes it would affect me, as this person would (I assume) get half of the work that I have been doing..which in truth hasn't been all that much at all..It was just quite strange to be placed in that kind of situation, where it really seemed like my own opinion really did matter and had weight in the overall decision of whether this kid was going to be hired or not, even though I have only been interning here a few weeks, and will be gone in about as many. I realize it wasn't that big of a deal and Dusty is really a good guy and wanting my opinion on the subject, but I realize that in some work situations this scenario would never take place. I guess it kind of goes to that reading...but I've never really felt subordinate here. This may have to do with the fact that I am not expecting to feel any certain way and if I am - my expectations are low so that I will be pleasantly surprised. However, since I have been here I have been treated with nothing but respect and my own personal space in which to do my job in a timely fashion. This may have to do with the fact that I proved to those I am working for that I can and will get things done as quickly as possible, but the Business Incubator is generally laid back as it is anyway.

Overall, the people here are wonderful for making me feel so at home and not like an intern who will be gone soon. I cannot say much for the workload, as I have said before (and no, Scott...I don't think there should EVER be more than one intern here at a time...ever...), but thus far I have had a completely positive experience with the Business Incubator and look forward to the work they will pass along my way in the coming weeks.

Wrapping up Week 3

Greetings, fellow interns (and professor). I have hit a milestone in my own professional writing and editing career this week, and I am very excited to talk about it. I mean, I know it probably sounds kind of silly (and therefore, is...) but in any event, I felt it worthy to comment on: this week, something I wrote was 'published' on a professional website, in a very important kind of manner. Granted, the majority of the work was spent in accumulating quotations to use, but in any event...a post by 'Vanessa*" was posted to the BI website as its Feature story...so it's the one that you see as you first enter the webpage. Very exciting stuff for me, as this is the first time on the college level that I have been published anywhere that has meant something. And it all came so fast...one day my higher up Matt was like "hey, see this article? do an article like it for the website..no rush" and a couple days later, after I have drafted, edited, and frantically worried about each word choice, he showed me how to publish it to the website. And then bam, not ten minutes later (after he had decided what kind of graphic would best go with the article itself), there it was on the BI website, perfectly able to be emailed to my parents and oogled over. Flaws and all. It's a kind of scary thing...knowing you are THAT responsible for what you've written. I think there is a difference between academic (classroom) writing and this kind of writing in a professional setting. If you plagerize in a paper for class...yes, that is a horrid thing to do and will ruin your academic career and (hopefully) you'll feel bad about it until kingdom come..HOWEVER....for some reason I feel that getting something wrong on this professional kind of level is worse...(although looking back over this statement, I can't exactly see why...) perhaps not so much on the moral level, but on the general "I am a writer and that means that what I write is what I am" level (if that makes any sense). Academic writing is...a personal test of courage, but professional writing is...you putting yourself out there for whoever to read it, make a judgement on, and therefore label you as a writer "good" or "bad" or anything else....I feel like I'm not making any sense.

Moving on.... I would like to talk about the workplace today, as well. Matt is extraordinarily laid back and I've only even seen Dusty (THE boss) like...twice. Other interns feel free to answer their cell phones..AIM is the main source of communication (which could lead to potential other problems if your friend is IMing you jokes while you should be working on a document). I don't know..apparently there was a bowling tournament at the Mt. Lair that BI employees were a part of...they talked about that a lot, and I wasn't invited so I wasn't there..there's just a general feeling of very laid-backness in the whole lot. I find it an easy atmosphere to work in, but then again I am very good at tuning sounds out when I concentrate on writing (well...usually). I hava a cubicle with my own computer, but I can hear every conversation and phone ring on the entire floor. Usually there aren't that many people present and I haven't had any dire deadlines yet, so it hasn't really been a problem (and wouldn't be if it came down to it....I can do what I have to do to get done what needs to be done).

But in any event....I read back over the syllabus this evening and realized my previous blog postings may have been lacking in the "write for 15 minutes" department...so this is me making an effort to go for the entire allotted time.

Until next time,

End of Week Two

I think this week the main thing I could say I learned is working with coworkers, peers - it was an interesting thing to find out. I was assigned to work on the Locus newsletter, editing and whatnot. The computer in my cubicle was not equipped with the correct version of the software I needed to work on the actual document itself, so I had to work at another desk for a day while I edited. I then emailed myself what I had not finished, as another girl was coming in the next day to use her computer. This girl was the graphic design intern - and she and I were expected to work together to get this particular job done, as when I had edited the content, it was then her job to incorporate it onto the page and make sure it looked good. She and I had a lot of communication on one day in particular as we relied on each other to complete tasks-it was difficult to have to sit there and not have anything to do as I waited on her to complete what she was doing, so that I could get on to what I needed to do. You really have to learn patience when you work with other people because sometimes they will not work as quickly as you will. However, I finished my end and everything worked out the way it did. Week two went well.

Greetings from the other side of the first week

So I've officially been an intern at the West Virginia University Business Incubator now for a week (how exciting). It's really..not what I thought it was going to be at all (I always think things are going to be much, much worse than they really are). Anywho, pretty much everyone I work with is really easy to get along with. The first couple days were rather easy as I was just getting used to my workspace and proper protocol for things I needed to know/do in different situations. I actually walked in in the middle of the week and was told I had my first meeting with a tenant (meaning someone who works with a business that the BI is working with) and I'm not sure how in detail I'm supposed to get into this blog, so I guess I won't go into who the tenant was (maybe let me know if you want me to go into more specifics, or if I should?) but basically he was wondering about my technology skills - if I had any idea about html, what experience I had with dealing with making webpages, that sort of thing. He said he needed someone to help him sound better (to which I replied that that was sort of what I did...but that I was more into just editing). He said if I did end up working with him, we would work solely through GoogleDocs, which I have no real experience with (however I told him I learn quickly). My boss at the BI said to let him know if I thought I could help this guy out or not...because he didn't want all my time jeopardized with just one tenant when I had general BI stuff to work on as well as things for other tenants, should the need arrise. I gave the guy my email and he said he'd send me some stuff to look over, to see if I was into doing it because from the way he pitched the job to me I couldn't really tell if I would be able to help him as a PWE person or not (Multimedia writing, yes...but idk) and he still hasn't gotten back to me yet.

So...is this the right format? Just...what I've done in the course of a week? Oh and I spent a considerable amount of time on Locus, which is the BI newsletter, editing that. That was fun..and I'm not really done yet.

More later!