That's supposed to be like one of those "before and after" titles - though I had to cheat with the word birthday. Today was a pretty fun day. Got some info on the website job, and started playing around a bit with the admin stuff, learning how to do some different functions, and finding some problems that I need to bring up with some people. Getting some additional (and more formal) training tomorrow. Also got to see an old high school friend today – had lunch over around Hong Kong Plaza (had a chicken steak) (and lasted quite a while!) and got some cold drinks. It was a lot of fun, and a great opportunity to catch up and talk and spend time with him. Talked about summer experiences, went for a ride (with me singing my 80s songs), passed by Rincon. It was great, glad I had the opportunity to do that. Not a whole lot more to my day, so a new feature for you today! My news roundup for the day: Dow Jones plunges over 500 points – I got a text on this via CNN’s Twitter account – at first I thought it was a typo, then I heard it on news radio. Scary news. - http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/08/stock-markets-plunge-in-worst-day-since-depths-of-financial-crisis-.html FAA shutdown will be coming to an end – yay! Feeling much better about flying to school now. - http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/congress-agrees-on-stopgap-for-faa-workers/2011/08/04/gIQA9n7uuI_story.html NASA had a big announcement at 2pm EST today (according to their tweet this morning), liquid water may have been discovered on Mars! - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/05/science/space/05mars.html (sorry if this is using up one of your 20 articles per month on NYTimes) “Goodnight Moons?” Earth may have had 2 moons (that along with the Trojan asteroid discovered a few weeks ago) - http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Space/earth-moons-merged-theory/story?id=14233752 Happy Birthday, Mr. President! - http://bit.ly/mOrlVI (AP, hosted on Google – link was too long)
Today was pretty good, love Bagel Wednesdays in the office! Had an onion bagel today – tried the honey flavored cream cheese too, which was pretty good (not sure it really goes well with an onion bagel though). Workwise, I got some good feedback from yesterday’s research, and today was a continuation of that, adding more. It’s harder on the second day though, all the easy leads were taken on the first day, and you have to dig deeper now. Though that’s a fun challenge, and it makes it more rewarding when you’re able to find something! Sent in my info on my two topics and got some more good feedback. Would have gone for frozen yogurt today too with some office people, but I had to leave to catch the train before I could go – oh well, next time perhaps.
On the way back, there was a light out, or they were doing construction, and there were either police or Edison people directing traffic. I got off the bus early, and walked up from Sunset Boulevard to Hollywood Boulevard to catch the subway across from the El Capitan. Interesting to see how much can change within the space of a block or two, from where “real Californians” are to the touristy areas, and looking at how glitzy stuff is (or isn’t) – it’s amazing how fast areas can change. But it was quite crowded, Hollywood Boulevard was actually blocked off in front of the El Capitan, could be filming, but I think it might have been some Disney related premiere (premieres happen on Wednesdays, right?) – but it was a little faster (I think) walking and catching the subway than going on the bus to the other stop I usually get on the subway. The Hollywood Boulevard station was quite nice too! And it was somewhat obvious seeing who the tourists were using the subway as opposed to regular commuters (a bit like in London actually – or any big city probably.)
Some fun YouTube commercials I’ve been watching – love the fun quirkiness of the songs!
Twix Cops Singing (which is always shown before Conan when watching episodes online, and is apt to get stuck in my head)
2 GE Commercials with singing workers
Today was a good day – moved on to a new project from the game app, onto real TV! Today was doing some research for a tv pilot – I’m really in the thick of it now (somewhat at least) – working on tv! Sounds cool! But between this and London, this sure has turned out to be an amazing summer.
Transport wise, I’m starting to (re)settle into a routine. Nap on the first train into Union Station, because I can’t miss the stop since it’s the final stop! The rest of the commute is generally listening to a host of podcasts (mostly news or NPR), as well as on the way home. Today on the way back I was lucky enough to catch a 302 bus instead of a 2 – an express bus! The 302 doesn’t stop at the bus stop that I use, but I was lucky because there was a red light when I got there and the driver was kind enough to open the door for me and another person (and after telling us that she wasn’t supposed these “little stops”). But it was nice! There were seats for everyone to sit and no one had to stand, it wasn’t as crowded, and the AC worked (even on the chilly side a bit), and it didn’t stop very often, which was practically as fast as driving a car (not that driving along Sunset is much better, but it is significantly faster than the local bus) – and got back fast enough that I was able to make my connection and get on a (very crowded) train that got home 30 minutes earlier!
Some news items – interesting to see the public’s response to the DC sausage making with the debt ceiling – I’ve got an interesting analogy about “compromise” involving baked potatoes and hamburger – you should probably contact me about that though if you want to hear! Also sad to find out Congress hasn’t resolved the FAA renewal before their recess. I’m not sure how much is affected, what is and what is not (note to self: look into this!) but I’m not so excited about the prospect of flying back to school. It would also be interesting to see if Ithaca flights are amongst the subsidized flights or not – though I need to look that up too.
Good news on the website work front, time to start rolling up my sleeves and digging in!
Happy August all! I’m glad I’m able to type up this blog – we didn’t have electricity for a while today (and last night too – though it came on in the morning for a while. I wasn’t actually here for most of today’s outage – but it was still out when I came home from interning).
And a Happy Monday to everyone too – another work week starts. The morning commute today was pretty good, except the bus in the morning was quite hot, and only one person opened a window! Summer sure is here now! But the relief of AC in the office building felt quite soothing.
Today’s work was continuing last week’s work on viral marketing research. I got to play with the actual product today (not completed yet though), which was pretty fun too! Excited to see it when it’s finished! I could hear different people around the office playing it actually. Put all of my research into a little word doc presentation (headings, table of contents), went over it a couple times with the person who’s been supervising my work the past week, and sent it off - I think it will probably get forwarded on to the marketing team that’s working on this project. I appreciate that what I’m doing is not merely busywork, but looking up things that may actually be used, or spark a good idea in someone else.
Some stuff on Thomas the Tank Engine again (the railway series, not that tv stuff!). Looking out for copies of The Island of Sodor: It’s People, History and Railways by Rev. W Awdry and Sodor: reading Between the Lines by Christopher Awdry – 2 companion books to the railway series. Both out of print books which show the fictional history of the island and trains, including how it was affected by real world events like the nationalization and later privatization of British Railways (see, there’s real cultural and historical connections there! Not in the tv show though!) A more adult history of Thomas if you will. Except being out of print and relatively rare means all the ones I can find are 200+ dollars (or pounds, in which case it’s even more!) Though I have found some Christopher Awdry stories written for Thomas annuals (I think it’s like a magazine?) which I think take place in the original prime railway series universe (now I feel like I’m talking about Star Trek series!), but anyways, there are some people who have narrated them, so it’ll be cool to listen to some new short stories – like bedtime stories all over again!
Today I found the Media news section on the Huffington Post website – news about news! Or the news industry rather (and larger media industry). Some very interesting articles, about tv hosts, news contracts and the like, it’d be interesting to read to get some more info and viewpoints on the tv industry.
Last, work days means less time for tv (whether on real tv or hulu) – I’m behind on episodes of Conan and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon – I have no idea how I watched all of this last year, along with a host of other shows too. But it’s a scary realization about the “real world” and how time will be different than it is in college. (It always seems easier – no homework with a job! – well usually – But plenty of other things to worry about I suppose). But some nights it’s tv show or sleep? Sleep usually wins out. Oh well, life goes on…
|
RSS Feed