Work News
Work News
Lots of stuff has happened since I last posted. Let's see. Still at work, liking it a lot. Still haven't started working on the website...but that's okay, it's not really a priority compared to other things like, say, research.
The key on my laptop for the letter P fell off :( I can still type on it, but it's weird (i think i'm touching a circuit or something when I do it..) but I'm not sure how to fix it. But this is partially a warning for if there are any typos later in this post, there might be a lot of missing Ps.
I have an apartment! Three of my friends and I found a fantastic place in Medford (that's near Davis Square). We're incredibly excited about this. We're hoping to be able to furnish it as much as possible finding
free or cheap stuff on
craigslist. We'll probably end up each buying ourselves a mattress, though...anyone with recommendations for brands/types/sizes/stores, please let me know!
I went to Cape Cod today! I'm not sure if I've ever been there before. I'm sure I went when I was really young, but it was nice to go hang out with friends and enjoy the beach and explore the area. We were at Corporation Beach for a while (which we all thought was a pretty odd name for a beach...). We ended up going pretty far up around the cape, and ended the night at
Provincetown, or, as many apparently call it, P-town. I'd never really been to any place like it before. We ended up just wandering around, eating ice cream, buying fudge and other candy, and grabbing a bite to eat. I think we saw at least 15 ice cream shops on our travels...makes me want to take a closer look at
this site.
I feel like more has been going on, but I can't think of anything else right now (maybe because it's 1:30 in the morning?)
I'm just going to repeat one thing: I am so excited about the new apartment! It makes me feel better about this whole college graduate thing...getting a lot more settled and living in a classy, attractive, affordable place.
Hopefully more exciting things will happen...
-S
So, this post doesn't have anything to do with the MTV show...it's about me getting used to my life post-MIT.
I have to say, it does take some getting used to. I mean, I have been living away from home for the past 4 years. But now I'm not a 10 second walk away from a bunch of friends. So it forces you to actually plan time with friends. I feel like I've been doing more on my own. But sometimes it does feel good to know that I'm working,
Well, speaking of work...I do have a job! This is good news, seeing as a few months ago, I wasn't certain of where I was headed. Anyway, I'll say as much as I can. I'm a researcher at DuraFizz, a startup company in the Food Science industry. I would link to their site, but currently, they don't have one....and they want me to work on it if possible....which is funny to me, since my web design skills are rather limited...but I digress. I like it so far, since I get to design and run experiments. It's funny...I only started like working in labs after my internship last summer...I did like the course 3 labs, but I feel like my internship prepared me for what you would actually do...in other words, I like having a reason for doing an experiment other than to get the answers for a worksheet or paper for class.
Anyway, so work has been good. The people there are pretty darn cool.
Oh, and I think I have time to talk about a restaurant I've went to tonight. When I first mentioned to one of my relatives that I was going to be in the Davis Square area, she told me she was jealous and hoped to hang out in the area with me. She also mentioned that she really liked going to
Johnny D's. The food was decent (I didn't get anything special, just a chicken quesadilla) and I also was a fan of their chocolate lava cake (I have now tried that kind of cake in 3 different places in Boston...
Finale and
Sidney's Grille... actually, I guess that's 3 different places in the Cambridge area) They often have
live entertainment there, which I hope to take advantage of later this summer. They also have a triva night with free pizza on Mondays. I know that
the Asgard and The Thirsty Ear also have trivia nights. (Asgard: Tuesday nights, Thirsty: Monday nights).
Anyway, I'm thinking I should go ahead and get to sleep, seeing as it's nearing 3 AM.
So, goodnight!
-S
So here goes nothing! I updated the links slightly, because I just found the Class of 2009 Calendar that I knew would eventually pop up (there were similar ones in past years). I guess there's similar information to Ann's Prefrosh Calendar.
I'm currently helping Joseph update the Next House Website, but as of right now, we haven't gotten stuff updated yet. I figured the whole website was a pretty big job, and that Joseph deserved a little help. So, I'll definitely let you know when the new site is up.
I'm going to be done with work in a little over a week. I'm a bit worried, because I should have all my data collected and ideas put together before I leave. We'll see.
I know a lot of you guys are packing and stuff right now, so if you have any questions about what to bring/what not to bring, feel free to ask me!
Hmm, for some reason I can't seem to write longs paragraphs right now. Oh well. Short little paragraphs will have to do for now. . .
-Steph
Okay, I just love that quote from Finding Nemo. Dory was such a great character! Anyway, I've been chugging along at work. I've actually found something that I think is pretty cool. I was able to get an imprint from a splice that, when viewed under a microscope, shows minute cracks. This may sound lame to you, but that's basically what I was hoping to find, and I never thought I would see them in such detail. But yeah, I'll keep recording all this fabulous data and things should go well.
Finished reading another book. I tell you, 4 hours of travel time really helps you get a lot of reading done. So, I just finished reading Let Go of Clutter by Harriet Schechter. She's got a couple of websites out there, too. One for the book, and one for the author in general. I really liked this book because I have so much trouble with clutter and trying to keep my room in order (just ask Katelyn or Sarah about just how messy my room can get)! It gave me a lot of ideas, and it got me thinking about all the stuff I want to do for my dorm room when I get to campus!
Anyway, that's all for now!
-Stephanie
My company made news for the second day in a row! Con Edison broke their record load yesterday, and again broke their record today. Why? Because it's so hot (high of 96° F in NYC today), and everyone is cranking up their air conditioners to try to beat the heat.
This didnt really affect me at work, where I was working in the lab (except I was kind of hurting the situation by enjoying the air conditioning. I'm excited though, because tomorrow I'm supposed to be working specifically on my project that was assigned to me for the summer (most days I just help the lab run smoothly, but sometimes I do get to work on "my" project. I'm still a bit anxious about it, since I have to write a paper for the 3B program, and I'll end up also giving a presentation at MIT on what I did (I'll let you know when the presentation is), and I'm just not confident in my report writing skills (after all these years at MIT!) Well, we'll see what happens.
Not much else going on. I've got a combination of feelings in me right now. Part of me wants to go back to school right now (mostly for all the fun stuff: setting up my room, meeting new people, enjoying pre-classes time at school with all my old and new friends, etc.), but I also know that with going back comes leaving behind my family again, which I have done before, but it's always weird leaving, plus classes are also making me nervous, because i have a feeling they're gonna be tough this year. Well, we'll see. I've started to ramble. That's my cue to leave.
-Stephanie
Well, I finally got a hold of the pictures from the day I went to the manhole . :)
In case you aren't sure, I'm the girl ;) The tall, young looking guy is my fellow intern, Chris, and the mustachioed guy in both pics is Vinnie, my boss. The other man who is in only one of the pictures is John, a chemical engineer that I also work with.
In other news, I've seen 2 movies this weekend. (I must seem like a movie maniac!) I went with my younger sister and her friends (oh man, I'm so cool) to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Friday night. I don't know if it's better or worse than the original movie, just different. I enjoyed it a lot. Really entertaining. I especially liked the one scene where they show a reference to Edward Scissorhands. I thought that was pretty clever, seeing as it's another movie with Tim Burton directing and Johnny Depp as the star. But I digress. There are plenty of good parts to the movie, and one improvement is that the songs in this version use the lyrics originally written by Roald Dahl (the poems that were in the book). So, overall, I liked it!
The other movie I watched this weekend was Manna from Heaven. It was so fun and heartwarming. And the thing I think my family and I liked the best about the movie was that it was set in Buffalo, NY, the city that my sisters and I grew up in. It was so much fun to see all the different places that we could recognize. Plus, the movie was an independent film made by 5 sisters, and because it was independent, the ending credits thanked all the different people and organizations that helped them. We recognized some of those names too! So, the movie is cute, and fun to watch, but it's especially fun for people from Buffalo.
Well, that's all for now!
-Stephanie
Well, since the last time I wrote about the books that I've read, I've finished two more. I read Maurice by E.M. Forster, and Artemis Fowl, the Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer. Maurice was actually written in 1913-1914, but was not published until after Forster's death due to the subject matter. The novel is basically like any normal love story, except that it was about homosexuality. This topic was too racy for the time period it was written in. But I thought it was really good, and I'm planning on reading more of E.M. Forster's works (I've already read one other book of his, A Room with a View). And I loved the Artemis Fowl book! I'm a fan of the series. It's very mythical, with fairies, trolls, magic, etc. But they're very well written. . .and I managed to finish the book in only 3 days! (it probably helps that I have such a long commute each day!).
I also went to go see The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants last night with my younger sister and one of her friends. Very good, though it's definitely a tear jerker! I don't remember the last time I cried that hard! But it's still a really good movie. Just don't forget your tissues! I hadn't brought any, and let me just say, that was one regret I had!
Well, that's it. Work has been going well. A bunch of people came to learn about what we do at the place I work as part of a conference sponsored partially by EPRI, Electric Power Research Institute. I one of the guys who presented was course 3 from MIT! I met him, and we talked for a bit. I gotta say, there's something that brings some sort of weird connection between MIT alumni/students. I think it's the shared pain, and the ability to talk about stuff that you both know about. He also got a glimpse of my Brass Rat, which he pointed out to me. That's another thing I like. The brass rat is like a universal sign that you have suffered through/enjoyed MIT. Or something like that. Anyway, I dont know what else to talk about, so I guess I'll end there. Keep the questions coming!
-Stephanie
Hey Folks,
I realized that I haven't posted since Monday. Let's see. . .I was asked to write up a procedure for one of the tests we perform. that's pretty cool, since I'm only an intern, but they were impressed at how I streamlined and fixed up the process. Yay.
And now, I've decided that you all should ask me questions, or give me suggestions for posts. Like, if you have a question about MIT, or just me, or anything, or if you want to see something posted, let me know. Because I mostly got this blog so I could help the incoming class of 2009 (because I'm a nice kid like that).
So, send me your ideas/questions. Either post them to me, or email them to me. Cool. To all of you going to interphase, have fun! And recommend to others that they should get blogs. I think this is a really nice community we're building here in the "blogosphere" or whatever it is.
Oh, and if you would like me to put a link to you, let me know. I lose track of things sometimes, and it helps to be reminded.
-Stephanie
Well, after a rather confusing weekend, it was back to work for me. I discoverd that I got my first paycheck. And I was reminded just how much taxes suck. I mean, sure, they go to some good causes and such. but my problem is the fact that almost half of my paycheck went to taxes. boo to that. Anyway, work went well, stayed a little bit longer (which hopefully means more pay!).
Anyway, about this book I finished reading. It's Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger. I guess the best way to explain it is that it's very Salinger-esque, if that makes any sense. It's the kind of book where, once you finish reading it, you have to close the book and just sit for a moment and reflect. I liked it, if that's any help.
So, not much else to talk about. The weather's been excrutiatingly hot, and it's not so great to walk from the subway station in the Bronx to my job, but I guess that's something I have to deal with. Hmm, time to go fix some links so they're better (i noticed that my links to the books could be linked to a better link. . .if that makes any sense.
Hope all is well with you!
-Stephanie
So I think that working for an energy company is pretty darn cool. Especially after yesterday, when the other intern and I went out to Manhattan and got to watch our supervisors working in the manhole. They performed all sorts of tests to make sure everything was as it should be. And being in the middle of Manhattan was pretty cool. It's definitley a bustling sort of place. haha, and yesterday, after work, the other intern invited me to be his friend on thefacebook.com. Fun times. Oh, and hopefully soon I'll have pictures I can post from my first trip to the manholes.
Anyway, not much else is going on right now. I'm starting to get used to the commute, and being in NYC and everything. It's an absolutely gorgeous day out today, so maybe I should be outside enjoying it instead of being inside blogging. But I think I'm addicted to this blogging stuff. I love seeing the comments you all post, as well as all of your blogs. Please feel free to ask me about anything, MIT or otherwise. Oh! some fun news is the newest Monthly Bale came out a few days ago. They're newsletters about recycling that are issued every month. I gotta say, I'm a bit of a hippie or conservationist or something. I actually am pretty involved in recycling at MIT. I'm the recycling chair for Next House, which means I coordinate the recycling program at the dorm, hiring student recyclers, contacting Facilities (who actually do a lot of different things at MIT) about recycling pickups and other needs, and making sure our house manager, Julie Mills, and our janitors all know what's going on in the dorm. Plus, I send out reminder emails and such to the dorm, and also listen to questions, comments or whatever from my dormmates about recycling. I was actually lucky enough to get facilities to send me boxes full of small recycling bins for the dormrooms, so people could have their own little bins. That was fun, especially since so many people contacted me about wanting one. Made me excited to know so many people were that enthusiastic about recycling. Hmm, as you can see, I get into recycling quite a bit. I guess if you have any questions about recycling, you can ask me. and check out those monthly bales, they have lots of cool information. Some of it is more geared at offices and labs, but some information is still applicable.
okay, enough of this typing. must go take advantage of this nice weather. Hope the weekend rocks (for you and for me)!
-Stephanie
Well, I have to say, one problem with work is that I have to get up in time to catch the 5:20 AM train. And then take that train, then the subway, then walk to get to work, which all in all adds up to a 2+ hours commute. Boo. But my job is pretty cool. I work at the Cable and Splice Center for Excellence, a part of the energy company, Con Edison. The first link is actually just a report I found online, I can't actually find an official website for that part of the company, because it's relatively new. Hahah, I love the name though. It makes me feel special. center for EXCELLENCE. yay. Anyway, it seems really cool, because I get to do stuff that pertains to a lot of different majors besides Materials Science. Don't get me wrong, I love course 3, but I guess I like that there's a lot of different aspects of it, like the Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Electrical Engineering type stuff I'll get to do.
One of my friends/classmates actually was an intern at this company last year. She, a guy, and I worked on a project together that I think is pretty cool. It was for 3.042, Materials Project Lab. Check out our project! It's about 3D printing (very cool stuff).
Well, believe it or not, it's just about 8:30 pm, but I should probably get to bed so that I can get enough sleep. haha, oh well. I hope all of your summers are going well. Let me know what you're up to!
-Stephanie
And I was definitley surprised how fast things seemed getting from NJ to NYC. It might have helped that I was on an express train that only had a few stops along the way. Comparing that to my ride home, which was on a train that made EVERY stop. Oh well. I rode a New York City Subway for the first time ever. I swear, I'm not some sort of country bumpkin who lives under a rock. Just usually when I go to New York, it's with my family, and we either walk or take a taxi to wherever we are going. Anyway, I only got on the wrong train once (I wasn't sure which way I was supposed to go), but I made it to where I need to be. Basically had to fill out a lot of paperwork, get a drug screening, and get my picture taken for my photo ID. I gotta say, the worst job ever is the guy who does the drug screenings. They're mandatory at most places now, but this guy just sits in a room with an ajoining bathroom and tells people when, where, and how to pee, and then pours the pee into the sample jars for testing. Oh, excuse me. He pours the urine into the sample jars. There, much better. I also met the other summer intern I'll be working with. He just finished his freshman year at UConn. He's also a materials science major. I'm a little nervous, since this guy is 2 years behind me, and I feel like if he knows something, and I don't, I'll just feel stupid. Oh well. It's bound to happen. But I'm sure there will be times when I understand something, and he wont. That's just how life is.
I finished reading my first book of summer break. It's The Funny Thing Is. . . by Ellen DeGeneres. It's pretty funny, just a lot of short chapters, that definitley makes you laugh. Definitley a good summer reading. Or maybe something to read when you're stressing out at school. Oh man, speaking of which, on my medical forms for work, they needed you to check off any symptoms or ailments that you might have, and then explain them. I checked off the box next to Stress, and for my explanation, I just wrote: I go to MIT. I know, it sounds like it could be snobby. But I guess that was the only explanation I could come up with on the spot. Maybe it will make whoever reads my forms laugh a little. Maybe.
Well, I'm pretty exhausted from running around Manhattan (in heels!), so I think I'm going to go take a nap. Thanks for reading!
-Stephanie
. . .because I have to go to NYC tomorrow! Yep, I get to see what it's like to work in New York City. Commuting every day, like a "real" person. I mean, I had to take the T to work last year when I worked at H.C. Starck. That was a pretty cool internship. I got to work with Tantalum. :) It was my first "real" job, basically because I had to use academic knowledge and it wasn't just a customer service job like you have in high school. Actually, one thing that is cool about course 3 (materials science and Engineering) is that you can choose to either take internships after your sophomore and junior years OR write a thesis senior year to earn your degree. I like the idea of getting paid, building my resume, and learning new things, don't you? Also, since this program is availible, the department actually helps you find a job. Basically, you send in your resume to a man named Joseph Dhosi, and he keeps track of companies and students and basically helps you network. Although, you definitley shouldn't let him (or your department's coordinator) do all the work! Definitley check out job fairs and companies online if you're interested in them, but don't worry, if you're an incoming freshman, it's okay to not have all your career goals in mind. I know I don't! The MIT Careers Office can help you find jobs, practice interviews, revise your resume, and lots more. One site that I actually got most of my interviews through is monstertrak. You can post your resume and information, and search for possible interviews. Of course, for certain access, you need to set up an MIT connected account.
Wow, i didn't mean to ramble on like that. Anyway, my job last year was pretty cool, and this is going to definitley be different.
Well, like I said at the begining of my post, I should be going to bed. Wow, right there I almost lost all of what I had typed because clicked on something and I was taken to another site. . .luckily nothing disappeared, whew. anyway, yes, here I go, to bed. hope all this career stuff is useful!
-Stephanie
So, I just found out that I'll have my tour/paperwork/introductions for my internship on Thursday, then I'll hopefully be starting Tuesday (since Monday is a holiday). I'm a little anxious, since I know the commute is going to be painfully long each day (at least an hour and a half each way), but hopefully since I'll be riding the train, I can get a lot of reading done, and also, if we invest in a laptop, i can arrange music for my a cappella group, Resonance. Speaking of Resonance, I just got a link to see some of the pictures we took for our second cd. here's one of the pictures I really like. We're standing in the Stata Center amphitheatre.
I was told I need more pictures up here. I think that's a good idea. If only I had gotten this blog earlier. . .when something exciting was actually happening. . .I suppose I could post pictures from older events. . .
I've noticed I use ellipsis a lot. I figure that's because I'm never sure what to write about. so please! Ask me questions. I love seeing that 09s are coming across my page. Special thanks to Kevin, who has been one of the people that most people find me through.
I guess possible news from me is that I went to see my little sister perform at the concert at my high school. i gotta say, the band and select choir were amazing. I mean, they were when I was in them too ;) But besides the awesome performances, the other thing I found so cool was the art exhibit they were holding in the cafeteria. There was art on display by many of the high school students. The best parts were chairs painted to emulate a picture by specific artists. Like, someone painted the Van Gogh "Starry Night", another person painted Monet's water lillies, and another Picasso's "Guernica". They were absolutely gorgeous. My parents and I think the school should auction the chairs off (as long as the students dont want them). They would definitley bring in a good amount of money for the art program.
Well, I'm sure that wasn't too exciting to anyone reading, but I guess I am using this a bit like a journal. At any rate, I hope people still read my posts, and I'm always willing to take suggestions to make this journal better.
-Stephanie