reminder

(talk about 'informal' meetings)

End of Week 8

Kind of...I'm having my wisdom teeth out tomorrow, so I figured I would go ahead and post now, since I will be rather incapacitated when I would normally make my posting. This week has been CRAZY. There's a to-do list on my desk that's like a mile long...and I walked in this morning and had to spend an hour on something Jo needed help with, she's writing a grant for WVUBI to get some money from the stimulus package that's out right now. I had a couple articles to post yesterday that Matt wanted me to work on - I have a FIELD TRIP next week to go on that I am super excited about (even though I'll have to play more like a journalist..that's ok) and the huge project that Dusty wants me to work on that seems like a super massive thing to really get into this late in the game, but he said that he didn't expect to finish it before I left, so that's ok too. It's just a general framework for something they've never done here before (kind of like an annual report) so whatever I do will be a helpful guideline for whoever comes after me. I'm waiting on Matt to get back from lunch so I can ask him about this thing that I'm not really sure about - I vaguely remember him telling me about it yesterday, and I wrote a short note on it, but since I got like five assignments yesterday and this was something he told me just to do "whenever" I must have not listened as well as I should have. Something about Morgantown though...I've got the notes in front of me. But I don't remember how he wanted me to compile the information...it's on the website, the first version of it, and he just wanted me to update the website with more current statistics (since they haven't done it in about four years). Thursdays are always a little different than other days, because I stay longer than normal and I'm here while every one else has lunch - so if I have a question, I just have to wait and do something else until they get back. I hope I did what Jo wanted me to for that grant - it is two pages in like a questionaire format and she just wanted me to use information that they had previously put on another grant that had been written a while ago - she was working all the numbers and (I'm guessing) the bulk of the grant itself, and she just told me she wanted me to make it "flow" (she is always really hard on herself, saying she can't write and whatnot...I'm sure this is not the case and either way...I'm here! PWE Intern to the rescue!) haha...no, I felt pretty important though, because in part of the previously written grant, there was a section dedicated to what the WVUBI does for tenants, all the survices we provide them, and "expertise in professional writing" was one..teehee. I loved that. I love how people come to me and ask my opinion on stuff, or they just automatically assume that I know better than they do how to "professionally write" something. Its a really cool feeling. I had a meeting with Dusty this week to discuss this project he wants me to work on, the annual report they've never had before, and he scheduled a time with me and got the room for us and said he valued my opinion and was really listening to what I had to say - it's a really awesome experience to be in this kind of situation, I didn't really think I would be treated like this in an internship (and I'm sure my colleuges may not be having the same experiences I am...it's just that the WVUBI is very...young.) Not that being young is a bad thing...I wanted to say hip and fresh and new and inexperienced and kind of flying by the seat of their pants...there is not a feel of any of this being a negative thing, everyone here is very professional and there is no question of their work ethic or anything of that sort - but I think in another company, being an intern wouldn't be this experience of feeling that my opinion and knowledge matter....really matter in the workplace. They really treat their inters with respect - I'm sure it would be different somewhere else if there was some sort of writer or editor on staff, and I was under them, persay. I hope I am making myself clear here.

Shame on me for all of that being one paragraph.

End of Week 7 (is that possible?)

So here I sit at the Business Incubator, watching the clock. Fifteen minutes until Spring Break (wow). That seems a little crazy to me. I thought I should write in my blog now because I would probably forget to later on and wanted to make sure I could document this week freshly from my memory. I've just sent out a reminder email regarding that annual assessment Dusty had requested that I work out - I never got one email back from anyone about it, although Jo did say she had it typed out and just kept forgetting to send it to me. I think maybe that's why it seems like there's not much to do here...I'm going down a rabbit hole (?) but anyway...it seems as though in life people aren't willing to do things until it absolutely HAS to be done RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND..it's strange. I don't understand procrastination when you look at it rationally. I've been in college four years now and have spent countless hours on Facebook (of which I am not proud) but I have learned something, and seen it as well - procrastination is pointless. It is better to just do something and get it over with than to sit around and wait until it's almost too late to get it done. The same principle applies to other things in general, things that are not necessarily necessary - like this report. I mean, yeah I could be working on something else that NEEDED to be done, but since I've not been given an assignment like that recently, I started working on this idea Dusty had - I brainstormed out a rough outline of what I thought he was talking about and and sent that out to the people he wanted to be included - questions they could answer survey-style about their job for the past year. I realize this is not a pressing issue, especially since it's not something that's ever been done before, so they were not prepared to document what they've been doing and will therefore have to just rely on memory for the most part - but still. I realize they are busy and they have their own jobs to attend to and that my little survey is not the most pressing thing they are doing. But I am not given much to do. What I am given, I want to do quickly and precisely to make a good impression. I try to do assignments that way so it seems like I am capable and eager for work, but it seems like it just ends up being me not having anything to do. Sorry about this rant. It was a little pointless.

Everything is fine, I'm not aggitated that I haven't had any response yet - I wasn't really expecting any.

Have a nice break and see you on the other side.

Ciao.

MidTerm Self Assessment

I didn't notice any questions on page 23 of Portfolio Keeping, but we'll just see what happens. The examples all had kids taking a look at their writing processes, and trying to decide what to do to better themselves in the workplace. I think I'll go with that approach.

Here is what has been typical thus far:
1) I receive an assignment (whether writing or editing a previously existing document
2) If writing, I check up on background info that I need to know, and then write
-If editing, I edit
3) I step away from what I am working on, whether it's because it's time for me to go for the day, or I just get on Facebook for a minute to stop thinking about it and clear my head
4)If writing, I surface (typos) and deep edit (does it make sense? am I saying what needs to be said and not saying things I shouldn't?) , usually simultaneously
-If editing, I go back over what I have edited
5)If writing, I go back over what I have written and then edited, just making sure one more time


and if I have more time, I check over it again once more...

6) I then turn everything in

So far, I see this as an effective way to accomplish tasks at my internship. I never have anyone bothering me, so I can work at my own pace with minimal to no distractions. This, for me, usually produces a clean and polished document

The only problem I can see thus far is the amount of time I am dedicating to each project. This is not a problem at the Business Incubator, as I am not ridiculously busy with work (thus far) and can spend (usually) as much time as I want to on any given document. However, this could and most likely will be an issue when I get into a job, as I will be dealing with deadlines and....more colorful people (those with less patience and more demand). I feel I will need to learn to work more quickly to produce the highest quality documents I can, but I am not sure that the environment within the Business Incubator is the precise place to test this assumption and hone this specific skill.

So...that's my midterm assessment.

End of week 6

So this past week at the Business Incubator was a little more busy than usual. We had a couple of people sick because of the weather - but that's irrelevant. Matt sent me a couple links that he wanted me to use to put together a new feature to put on the website. I sort of remember him telling me about this assignment early on in the week and I was worried about it 1.) because I had forgotten how to post stuff to the website and 2.) because the lingo in these articles, dealing with one of the Graduate Tenant's new machines, was a little hard to read without my eyes glazing over. I didn't start cracking on it the day Matt told me about it because he told me right as I was about to leave, and I hate not being able to start something and really put effort into it. The next day I read over the three links he had sent me from various sites that were reporting on the new machine, and I ran into a problem - one of the sites, a news television site based out of Charleston, said at the bottom that the information within the article could not be, among other things, "rewritten". The last article I wrote the way Matt wanted me to, I made sure that if I used their wording, I cited the information and definitely gave links to where readers could refer to the original content. Matt was never intending me to write something fresh and new - or he wouldn't have sent the links he did. I was, however, still wary of what the website said, and he and I chatted about it on AIM (the chosen communication tool of the BI for when you are too lazy to stand up and ask a question), and he decided it was ok as long as I put "refer to HERE for more information", and made it blatantly obvious that I was not writing it myself, but that I was getting it from somewhere else. I don't know...I don't think I could do that as a job (I'm sure there's no such job in the world)...but I still feel weird about it, even though I cite. So anyway...after I wrote it up and edited it out a little bit, I fiddled with some titles, sent those to Matt (because with a place like the BI I don't think a cut and dried title is appropriate since it's such a "hip" place, but going overly artsy isn't their style either) ... and somehow by mistake came across the website editing tool. I posted and saved so Matt could look it over, and he then came over to remind me of a few little things...he wasn't mad I had forgotten, but I will sincerely try to remember next time...repetition is the key, I think. And that was that.

Another project that came up the same day - only this one was from Dusty, my boss boss. Matt actually came to talk to me about it first, said he didn't really know anything about it. The next day, Dusty comes in and tells me he wants me to do this, but says he talked to Matt about it and that Matt would have more information for me. Then Matt is sick for two days. Finally Dusty comes back and tells me he wants a report of the past year, what all the Business Incubator employees have been doing, to show HIS boss. (and that's not tenants of the BI, but people actually working for the BI itself, like Dusty and Matt). He says maybe I could write up a survey and email it to them, Jo, and Sarah (the four people he wanted included) and we could all have a meeting to discuss what they felt needed to be in this report. I sent out my version to the four of them last week, and only Jo - the accountant - has said she will try to get it back to me soon. No one else has said anything about it. I don't know, it kind of sounded like a fun thing to do - he said that there really were no guidelines as nothing like this has ever been in place before. He said he just thought they really needed some sort of - record of what they had been doing the past year for his boss.

So that's where I am right now. Things are going swimmingly. Everyone is still nice. Have a good one.

Goodbye Week Five

So ... what to talk about? Matt knocked on the partition of my cubicle one day last week and told me I had an assignment from Dusty. He said Dusty had come in to see me the day before but I hadn't come in yet. He said that Dusty thought it would be a good idea to get some sort of document together for the "higher ups" containing all the latest information for all tenants of the Business Incubator for the past year - sort of to let Dusty's boss know what all the companies had been up to in the last twelve months. Matt told me he didn't really know anything else about it, and that I would need to email Dusty to talk to him to get more information, so that is the very first thing I did. I still have not heard back from Dusty about this document he wants me to produce. I IMed Matt and told me Dusty had not responded, to which Matt said he wasn't surprised because Dusty is an extremely busy man, and that I should just start trying to find the information through the WVUBI website, based on the tenant's information. Each of the current tenants has an information section on the BI website, and then most of them also have a link to their own company website. I start checking these, and really can't find any sort of "Recent News" sections...there are a lot of "here's what we're about to do" but not a lot of "this is what we have done" since, I'm guessing, many of these "start-up" companies are newer and not as focused on previous events - and more focused and upcoming events, since they don't have that many things they have already done. So, anyway...moral of the story is that I haven't really had anything to do recently at the Business Incubator.

The guy with vIDentity never emailed me back, so I feel like I shouldn't really touch the stuff on Google Docs. I've looked them over and there's nothing ridiculously wrong with any of them (typos, etc)...nothing surface editing would fix. There are no real graphic design stuff at all..it is all just plain wording...but still. Until he emails me again, to tell me what he wants me to edit for, I don't really feel there is anything I can do.

Matt did have something he wanted me to add to the website (not something to edit..just something to post) but I was leaving just as he asked me to do it - my schedule is posted on the outside of my cubicle, so....yeah.

Not much to report.