TGIF

I had another control room day, but otherwise it was a pretty slow day, as Fridays normally are. The other interns and I went through boxes of submissions for an old contest, separated the DVDs and personal info so we could shred them. Otherwise, we fielded scores of calls from parents trying to submit videos of their kids singing for a new contest. Our website was a bit glitchy so the parents were angsty, especially since they were parents of young kids.

After a week of lots of work, I'm happy for the weekend, but I'm also surprisingly a bit concerned about how I'm going to fill my time for the next 2 days. I have a ton of laundry to do and I need to catch up on some homework, and I'm also going to apply to some jobs.

Despite having three 12 hour days this past week, I'm really pleased with how it all went. It's nice that I'm in 5 days a week instead of just 2 or 3 so I can fanangle my way into the flow of things quicker. I hope I can go on a shoot next week, or start making some connections with some producers. I only have 9 more weeks left and I can see how this whole thing is gonna fly by.

Who's affected, what's the effect?

I've come to learn how influential media can be after only a week at one of the most influential media vendors. For example, we ran a story this morning about the MegaLotto or whatever it's called being at $500 million, and walking home today I saw a sign that said it was now at $540 million. That's nearly a 10% increase in one day, and I have to wonder if correlation had something to do with causation this time.

The Trayvon Martin case is another example. Before the case was closed, details leaked slowly, and people reacted quickly. The hundred hoodie march didn't just happen on its own, obviously. Now more details are being leaked, more pictures of both men involved have surfaced, and public opinion is changing again. Not to say the public is stupid - I wholeheartedly sided with the Martins in the beginning as well, but it goes to show how sensation is a powerful motivator.

I lost my first draft of this post, and i have to type this out on my iPad because my computer cant access the internet, so here's the abbreviated version of it.

I spun up two story ideas today, one was about the heart healthy affects that eating peppers can have, and i included the recipe for a Jamaican rub potato salad that looks tasty.

The other story was much more compelling, about viruses. I don't think I should detail it here, but hopefully it gets picked up! It's potentially great news.

Day of Days

Today was my first twelve hour day, and like Normandy, it was a telling threshold. If I couldn't storm this beach, the whole campaign would ultimately fail. This type of day is the longest one I'll ever have, so I just tried to grind it out without pouting too much. It turns out that it wasn't that bad.

Waking up at 445am was a doozy, but all I had to do was shower and dress and tumble downstairs to the car that was waiting for me. There were people around, but it was surprisingly calm for the city that doesn't sleep. I found my way to the control room, the most wired and pixel-packed room I've ever been in, and waited for my fellow (and thankfully much more experienced) intern to join me.

We grabbed the coffee for everybody at the beginning, but besides that, we didn't really contribute to the whole scene. It was still really interesting to see how everyone worked together and communicated with each other to put together the show. I got a feeling it was a unique sort of day, as one of the guests became a little weepy during an interview.

My suspicion was confirmed as I manned the front desk and phone lines for the first time. Like clockwork, viewers called in droves at about 20 after the hour, depending on their time zone, after that segment, to voice their disapproval of the interview. Most callers seemed to just want to give someone an earful, and luckily for them my ears are deep. Diffusing these disgruntled viewers was much, much easier than trying to pacify angry Macy's customers, who actually expect something to happen after their tongue lashing.

I logged some tape, learned how to sort and deliver mail, and eked out the rest of the day.

My comfort level today was much higher than I thought it would be at the day's end, so I'm hoping that continues to grow at that exponential, or perhaps at least a generous logarithmic, rate. The more people I meet and the more time I spend with them, the more efficable I feel, and that's a good feeling. Especially after logging the rest of the tapes for this particular segment, I'm looking forward to my first day of shooting, and my first time (hopefully) sitting in on the writing portion of a segment.

Matt mentioned yesterday that past interns have pitched segment ideas which have been picked up and produced, and I can't get that possibility out of my head. That's my new goal, but I really need to start focusing on the whole of the show so I can wrap my head around each hour to know how and what kinds of stories all fit together. If I can get involved in more stages of development of these segments, that will also help me realize, and hopefully actualize, the ideas that I plan to receive down the line.

Day the First

I 'woke up' in time to meet my intern buddy in the lobby so we could catch a cab. I don't think I got any sleep last night, but strangely I felt rested.

We were sent from the visiting center to orientation, only to find that we were in the new hire orientation. After a quick stop back to the center, we met with our intern coordinator, our daily supervisor, and we also met our fellow interns. We met with Matt, who was understandably bummed, but understanding, about OU's run in the tourney. He was more personable, and taller, than I thought he would be, and he single-handedly calmed the butterflies in my stomach that always come on the first day of anything.

I logged tape for the most part, in between learning the ins and outs of intern duties. Some say logging tape is the most dull task available. I hope so, because if so, I'm in for the most engaging, productive, and fun experience I've ever had.

I have to be in to work at 5:30 tomorrow morning to help out in the control room, but fortunately NBC sends a car to its people if they need to be in before 7am. Waking up won't be difficult this time, relatively speaking. I've had to be at work at 5:30am only once before, at Macy's, for my first day, on Black Friday. I'd much rather get up to do this.

And I think that sums up my first impression: I'm more motivated to do this work than any other work or school I've had to do. The work environment is unreal, or perhaps surreal, or perhaps I've just never worked in a big city at a big company before. I mean, I even get my own ID card to swipe at security points. I might be jaded to the fact that big companies all have security measures like that, but actually going through the motions gives you a good, if not proud, feeling.

So far the only bad thing is how fast the elevators go. I swear they drain my skull of blood every time I go up, and I've only gone up 5 floors at the most at once. At least I know I can't ever be a jet pilot.

About the blog

Hello reader, welcome to my first semi-professional blog about my first 'big time' professional experience! I'll be posting daily about life for a New York City newbie while I intern at NBC for the next few months.

A little about me for background info...

I'm a Midwestern guy from Cincinnati, Ohio, and as I mentioned, I haven't ever been to New York City. I used to live in the UK near London, however, and I was able to visit Geneva, Paris, Stockholm, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Lanzarote, Sardignia, Gothenburg, Edinburg, and Rotenburg, among other places. My father was working towards his doctorate at University College London at the time, and his company decided to pay for a good deal of our cost of living, which gave us the lucky opportunity to travel when we could.

We were expatriates for two years, and returned to the States in time for me to start high school in Cincinnati. I attended Ohio State University for my first two years as an undergraduate. I didn't have an idea of what I wanted to study, but I figured that one of the largest universities in the country would have the facilities for whatever field I chose.

Of course, I decided on the one field where Ohio State hasn't a proper program - video production.

Fortunately for a student like me looking to stay in state, Ohio University has a fantastic Media Arts and Studies school, which includes video production classes, and first-class intern opportunities. In fact, internship oportunity was one of the major reasons I decided to transfer at all, so I feel very lucky that I was selected as one of the six students that OU sends annually to Today as interns.

I wanted to call this the 'Ultimate Experience', but one thing I've learned after moving from place to place validates the old hackneyed Emerson maxim 'Life is a journey, not a destination'.

Life, in every way except as a whole, is penultimate. Lucky us!