Is This What Real Work is Like?

This blog is especially for Susan, who apparently is so bored with her life right now all she wants to do is read my blog. Susan, I will do this only if you comment. Seriously. And Randi, cause she spent an hour on the phone with me tonight =D

I have now completed 4 days of work at Abbott Molecular, and I don't actually know what I am suppose to be doing. Well, actually, I know what I am suppose to do, but not how to do it, so there's a slight problem there.

Yesterday, Wednesday, I had a meeting with my manager and I learned what I will be doing for at least the start of the summer. I will be doing a complete asset analysis of the manufacturing process and labs in the division and then ordering drawings of the processes, and hopefully also figuring out how to better the processes. So, for the beginning, I'll be a professional counter....haha Great thing I've taken college level math courses for this, right? I think it will actually be a cool way to learn more about what Abbott Molecular does how to integrate myself with the process.

I also got to sit through my first meeting yesterday, and to top it off it was a working lunch. It was to learn more about 5S ways to make a work space more effective, etc. It was actually really interesting, and I got to meet more of the Manufacturing team. Some of what Abbott Molecular does is manufacture and package testing kits for machines that they sell to labs and then they also instruct labs on how to use these machines and testing kits in conjunction. Some of the things they test for are diseases like trisomy 23 (Down Syndrome) and other birth defects in the womb, and receive the results within hours instead of days. They also test for different strains/mutations of HIV-1, so that a more effective pill regimen can be prescribed. After reading through the site (about twice in the last two days), what Molecular does is really cool and kind of the perfect place for a BMED in Abbott.


Today, I got to head up to the "Park", aka Abbott Park, with Keith and Andy, two of the other Molecular interns (there's 6 or 7 of us all together), for an information session about the poster competition that we will be participating in. It wasn't too long of a meeting, but it was a nice change to get out of the office for a bit. I spent some more time learning about the PDP program that Abbott offers (it's "Professional Development Program"), which is a program for recent college grads that is a 2-year rotational program. I applied, and I hope I get an interview this summer for a job for when I graduate next June!

Ok, so Susan says I need to mention this stuff. I feel like my life is directly out of the movie "Office Space", at the moment (you know, when he says "I only do 15 minutes of real work a day"). I know it will pick up a lot real soon, but for now I do a lot of research and training of my computer at my temporary cubicle. I'm moving cubes in a week when one of the PDPs that I am working with right now transfers to a different location. I also sit RIGHT NEXT TO the copy machine, which always makes for some interesting talk I overhear. I also have a red swingline stapler -- life actually can't get any better, right? "I believe you have my stapler"; "Um, yeah".=)

Andy and I are going to head into the city this weekend to see some sites, because he's been here for a month and still hasn't gone in! I think some of his friends who are based out of Lake County are going to join us, because we're going to hit up the International Museum of Surgical Science! Oh man, I am so super stoked. We also plan on getting some delicious deep dish pizza. I'm also thinking of making plans to go to DC to see Gabriell for 4th of July...it would be so amazing to spend independence weekend in the capital!

As for my hotel, I get a room to myself, which is really nice. I discovered it's because I'm the odd girl out --- there's three girls and two boys who are staying in the hotel, so I was the last to get here and I get the single room. But most of the time, I hang out in others' rooms because we all just hang out together. We get free dinner four days a week, which isn't too bad of fare, and free breakfast every day, which so far I haven't strayed too far from my bagel and banana -- but apparently their breakfast burritos are delicious. I just never have enough time in the morning to actually eat a whole one.

So now, I'm off to bed because I would rather not fall asleep at my desk. So, Susan, I hope you're happy now, and yes, because I was so awesome with my red swingline, and my bosses were really impressed, so now I get to research cancer. Well, actually, help detect it, but you know, still cool. Haha.

Night everyone!

Lesley