Wallace's Grommets

A few weeks ago, Keith and I (and when I say Keith and I, I really just mean me since it really was my idea, Keith just encouraged it) had this great idea for the Abbott website. On the Abbott employee intranet, there is this site not unlike craigslist for employees to place ads on. Seeing this, I had an incredible flash of brilliance!

The founder of Abbott is Dr. Wallace C. Abbott, who was a doctor in the late 1800s. And, as some of you know, Wallace & Grommet is one of the BEST movie franchises of all time! I was introduced to these brilliant movies when I was about seven years old, and Uncle Richard sent us a three movie set for Christmas. And, grommets are also a term for a type of fastener, or, as I like to call it, a do-hickey.

Therefore, I had a flash of inspiration -- why not call the ad website Wallace's Grommets! I thought it was an extremely great idea, as did the other interns (yes, all two of them). Now, if only corporate would go for it....

In the ten minutes I have been sitting here writing, the weather went from hot and muggy to wet, rainy, and thunder. For once, my laziness has paid off....it's long run day according to my running schedule, and around 11 I was going to go out for my leisurely 4 mile run. If I had....I would be out there, at this moment, getting completely soaked. Oh joy. But no, instead I decided I was going to wait for it to cool off, to go out later in the day. I told Randi that I have a major problem motivating myself when she isn't there to motivate me, or at least guilt me into going to practice.

While I do have trouble motivating myself to go out running, I did go for a nice bike ride yesterday....the five mile round-trip to Target at least. Well, I needed a few things, and Target is pretty close, so I figured it would be a good ride. It's only about 15 minutes or so by bike to Target, and it's all flat -- so unlike San Luis Obispo. And it was incredibly hot then, too! I didn't feel it as much when I was riding because I could catch a slight breeze, but as soon as I stopped I was just sweating like crazy...and this was at 8 pm!

Since the 'rents left, life here has been pretty uneventful. I am still working hard at my job. I had a small thought crisis earlier this week when I realized one of my projects is taking much longer than planned (and I missed my deadline by a week so far), and another one of my deadlines is quickly approaching. One reason why I missed my deadline is because the project is taking much longer than both my boss and I thought it would take. We've discussed it, and as long as I keep her updated with my progress, it's fine with her. On that note, I really enjoy working for my boss (she is incredibly funny, and you can tell she has teenage kids whenever she speaks to you because she is definitely a no-nonsense kind of woman), and the people in my group. I get picked on, but it's just cause I'm the newbie and it's all in good fun. As for my other project....it's not actually due until the end of the summer, but I have a presentation on it in two weeks. And it's not even close to being done yet! I'd say that I'm 15% along, so it's going to take a lot of work for me to get it done on time.

One of the great things about the Abbott intern program is that they plan a lot of activities for us. One event we recently got to participate in was a dinner at the Abbott house. The Abbott house is a replica of Wallace Abbott home where he first started up his company, Abbott Alkaloidal, in the late 1800s. The original sits in Ravenswood, IL, and the one on the Abbott property is a replica. It was built in 2005, and is there to host board meetings, and events such as the intern dinner I attended on Friday evening. We weren't allowed to take photos inside, but the outside is pretty neat.

The intern dinner is where they bring in interns from all across the country at all of the different Abbott divisions, and we get to meet some of the senior board members and learn more about the company. They are definitely grooming us to accept jobs with them in the future, that much is obvious. But it's also obvious how much everyone in the company cares about the work that they do. It's not just about the amount of money they make, but the fact that the research that they are doing, the drugs that they are making, the tests that they are perfecting, make a giant impact on the world and that's why they do what they do. This is why I want to work in a field like this, where I know that the work I do can directly benefit the good of others. It's why I became a biomedical engineer.

On another note, I am getting a lot of reading done while I am here....but not much research. In fact the amount of research I've done for my thesis equals about....0. It's just hard to sit down at my computer after a full day staring at one at work and work more. I have to start making myself do it! But I am reading a lot of books...I bought a couple more books on sale a few weeks ago, and I am steadily making my way through them.

In the past twenty minutes, the weather has changed again! It is now sunny, and I can't tell if the noise outside is from the airplanes or residual thunder. Guess I'll find out soon enough.