The End of Week Number 2

When I last wrote I was just starting the beginning of my second week of work at Abbott Molecular. I spent a lot of my first week at work not doing much, but it definitely picked up during my second week, and looks like it won't ever slow down!

The rest of my week at work I was busy with getting some of my work done. Last week when I met with my manager, she gave me a big list of projects that I need to finish before the end of my summer internship, so I started work on those. First up: a listing of all of the AMD products and where they are used as well as their medical application. While it's pretty easy to get the information and put it together, next I get to make it nice and accessible, which will mean that I get to spend some time at my computer over the next few days playing with excel and powerpoint.

I have also been helping one of the PDPs (it's a rotational program for new hires into Abbott) finish up her projects before she rotates to a new post in just a few days. We're (and when I say we, I really mean her) analyzing data from our products to show that two similar products that are making different amounts of money can be transferred into one product to make more money. It's just a lot of data on an excel spreadsheet, so I am helping the PDP clear up the data so that it's easy readable for her to analyze. It's not hard work by any means, but it is something to do.

I went in to have a 1-on-1 with my boss on Friday, and she gave me another task to do! She said that she gave me this task because I'm 'sociable' -- which I was sure if that was a bad thing or a good thing. For instance, does she mean that I am spending too much time not at my desk and speaking with the other interns, or is it a good thing because I'm making fast friends and getting to know people? Well, it was a good thing. She wants me to organize a visit for the North Chicago interns in a few weeks - which for any of you that know me know that I LOVE organizing events! It's what I've been doing with SWE for the past few years, and I enjoy being in charge.

On that note, I really enjoy all of the people that I am working with -- my group has some cool people, and it's small enough that I know that I will get to know them all this summer. Abbott Molecular is pretty small, but it is the fastest growing division in the company at the moment. They are even starting to add on more office space and rearrange the space they already have to accommodate the growth! My boss is incredibly nice. She took me to the fruit market with her on Friday, and then bought me lunch so that we could talk outside of our work environment. I know that I am going to enjoy working here.

Also! I got my first paycheck on Thursday. I have direct deposit so I didn't have that piece of paper in my hand, but I looked on Thursday morning and my checking account balance was significantly higher, which definitely made my day. I am now thinking that Thursday is going to be the best day of my week.

I haven't been doing too much this weekend. Last night Keith, Andy, and I visited some friends of Keith's in Naperville, which is about 40 minutes south west of here. We hung out, drove around Naperville, and pretty much were trying to do something different than just hanging out around the hotel. Today I got up, ate some breakfast (sometimes it is really nice to not have to cook at all -- but I miss having a kitchen most of the time), and then sat outside in the courtyard of the hotel and read my latest book "The Girl Who Played With Fire" by Steig Larsson. It is so amazing! The storyline is so intriguing, and catches you in the beginning and holds you all the way through. My one tiff with it though is that it ended pretty much on a cliffhanger, and I guess I have to read the next book to figure the rest of it out. Thankfully, the last book came out about a month ago; I have a feeling that I'm going to need to place a Borders order soon =D


Tomorrow I might go into the city and see some sights, depending on the weather. I also need to get at least one load of laundry done, because Keith keeps pre-empting me in laundry room. Damn Keith...haha

So now I am sitting, hanging out with the other interns watching "Transformers" on TV. Nothing exciting going on Des Plaines, IL.

Lesley