The WEbook Interns' Blog

Reflection of WEbook!

2009-05-11T20:36:00.003-04:00

Through out a 6 week period I had an internship at WEbook, which is an online publishing company that's known for its user generated books. At WEbook I helped them go through projects on their website and look for interesting projects in which Id recommend for publishing, I've also worked on marketing and editing at WEbook. I helped WEbook come up with marketing ideas for an upcoming book and a coworker at WEbook showed me his editing methods and showed me how to use them, which I used to edit my previous blogs. They are many job positions at WEbook and to learn more about them I set up interviews with 2 of staff members at WEbook to learn more about there job, pay, experience and etc. From my experience at WEbook I must say I have learned very much as a student, employer and a person in general. I have learned how important certain skills are needed for jobs and their expectations and classes necessary to qualify for these jobs. At WEbook I became a different person then I was at school, taking on a more business like persona very concentrated on my work and completing all necessary work. This more business like persona was very different then how I am in school because at school I am more lay back and tend to slack on my work out of boredom but at WEbook I found my job interesting which helped me get more into my work. A job at WEbook whether its editing marketing or even production, Id find such a job very interesting for myself in the future and I believe this internship gave me a good training of these type jobs.

last day at WEbook

2009-05-01T14:32:00.003-04:00

Sadly today is our final day interning at WEbook. Its been a great experience meeting new people and working in a different environment than school. Working here in WEbook for the past 6 weeks has been good and a learning experience for me. I got to see how it feels to work in a office job doing the type of work im interested in. Some of the things me and my fellow classmate did today was interview two of our co-workers here at WEbook. We asked them a couple of questions that we had on our interview sheet but we also got to ask more personal questions about them being here at WEbook. After we finish that me and my fellow classmate started to practice our lines for a video we was going to do for our project at school. We making a website and on that website we putting our video, pictures at WEbook and a little bit of information on what we do here and what WEbook is about. After we we done creating our web page we will be presenting it at our school Gala for our students, teachers and staff. As my day comes to and end here at WEbook i remember the past 6 weeks i been here and im glad i came and i don't regret one day.

Last day of internship at Webook!

2009-05-01T14:20:00.003-04:00

Making an end to my journey here at WEbook, i must say I've had a wonderful time here at the WEbook office. I've had many experiences here at WEbook in which help me touch my more literal side and show me what it takes to be a employee at WEbook. There were many tasks for me today such as completing a project for school on the internship here. I interviewed 2 of my co-workers at WEbook whom had different job titles and helped me understand the requirements for a job here and what skills and classes are needed to have such a job and master a job title of that kind. Instead of making a poster for our project we decided to create a web page about our experience at WEbook, we also made a video for our website describing the WEbook website and its purpose to viewers. The web page is currently still in progress but I will use the web page for a presentation I have at my school's Gala. Though its been 12 days here at my internship time here has come to an end, I'd like to thank the company for letting my classmate and I be interns here and take part in a memorable lifetime experience.

Spring Break!!!

2009-04-23T11:01:00.003-04:00

Finally back at Webook, its been two LONG weeks and i wish i can be sleeping still. Over the spring break i did a few exciting things. I went to the queens mall with my girlfriend and spent the whole day shopping there.I spent almost my whole vacation with her either in her house or outside walking around.Other days i went bike riding with my co-worker/best friend justin we went t0 Pelham bay in the Bronx,we also went to a skate park learned a few new tricks. I also caught up on alot of work i had to make up for school.Overall i had a good spring break it wasn't the best but it was better than the other school breaks i had this school year.

SPRING BREAK!!!

2009-04-23T10:54:00.002-04:00

Returning back to the WEbook office this morning, after a quite bitter vacation. Spending my two weeks of relaxing and trying to make up work for school. I Had a lot of home alone days That i spend outside either riding my bike or painting canvas'. There were days were I hung out with a different group of friends each day and days i had spent alone studying. It wasn't the most exciting spring break ever but I made the most out of it that I could. Though the days i spent with my significant other made the vacation go by faster. Id say the most i did this vacation was express myself in art in many forms and take a few bad spills at the local skate park on my bike. Now it back to buisness for me this week. Had my time to slack and now its back to the books or as I should say now back to the WEbooks.

Internship Day 7 of 12

2009-04-02T14:15:00.005-04:00

Hectic day today at WEbook, brainstorming for the release of an upcoming WEbook novel called ''The Legend of Vinny Wiskers". We had a meeting at our office today considering which type of audiences would find the book appealing and how in what was can we attract readers and other sources of reading such as blogs and Internet sites to really place this book on the market. Though we have came up with many ideas to advertise this novel to readers nothing is set in stone and finalized. This book may be a great book for young readers, that are more of the reading types interested in reading about a talking prairie dog in a war with rats. There also was another book on it was for production called "Shirt for Dessert", a children's book about a child who can break a habit of chewing on her clothes. This book is a great story for children and add some small humor to its text for the enjoyment of young, I personally think its good and would recommend it. Tomorrow, beginning a new day a further instructing of my marketing and editing skills here at WEbook, until then my day here has ended.

7th day of Internship

2009-04-02T14:15:00.004-04:00

I feel like today was the longest day at Webook so far. While we was here we read a short story called "shirt for dessert" and a novel called "The Legend of Vinny Whiskers". After reading my classmate and i wrote down ideas we thought would be good to market the novel for different age and social groups. In my opinion i found the short story very interesting but i didnt really find the novel fun to read but younger readers may like it more than me. After coming back from lunch we had a a meeting in our conference room talking about the different ideas that can be used to market the book to sell more copies to a vast audience and to bring more people to Webook.

Internship Day 6 of 12

2009-03-27T14:04:00.002-04:00

Half-way through my internship days, and I must say I have really progressed from the first day. Today I have worked on many different areas of WEbook On the Voting Section on WEbook today, I voted for 2 projects "Getting Older" and "Collection of Jokes". "Collection of Jokes" is a muti-author book of many jokes and "Getting Older" is about life tips you gain as a teen. Which I found both these topics not only interesting to myself though I think others would also enjoy to read a few funny jokes and teens would want to read some tips learned in life. I shared my voting choices with my colleagues at WEbook to display my opinion of what readers might want to read or find interesting, and I also showed them other books and projects in the voting section that i found interesting. This afternoon I read through WEbook's book called "101 Things Every Man Should Know How To Do" and my co-worker John showed me the editing process it takes from paper to finalization for a book and writing in general. Dan edited my previous blog entry to show me the simple literature mistakes that I commonly make and how to smoothen out my writing to make it better. These simple tools can even be used on the best writers in the industry because there are some simple mistakes that can be made and way to make your writing sound that much better. Now with these tools i will begin pre-editing my own work before finalization. To end my week I am going to continue reading the "101 Things Every Man Should Know How To Do", so for the WEbookers and other readers who do not have this book please read it there are many pages in the book that could make your day.

6th Day of Internship

2009-03-27T13:54:00.004-04:00

Today at Webook my classmate and me worked on a few different tasks. Upon entering Webook in the morning we started to look for submissions that we would find interesting to vote for. Whenever we vote for a submission it gives a chance for the author to have their work publish. One submission i voted for is called "The Misguided Knight Dawn's Awakening". I voted for this submission because i found it a very interesting book that not only i would read but would attract a broad audience. Another submission i voted for is called "Beast" i liked this book because it seems different from books being publish now. As we looked for books we wanted to vote for we also had another task of looking for book that had many project leaders. As i looked for project with a few project leaders i found a submission that was very fun to read which was called "I Survived a Zombie Outbreak!" hopefully later i can find some time to finish reading it. After finishing this one of our co-workers helped us learn about different editing skills. He took one of our past blogs and edited it for us to see what mistakes we have and to show us what a editor does when he goes over a piece of writing. He also showed us past editing he has done on a book that has been publish by Webook which is called "101 Things Every Man Should Know How To Do". As today comes to an end i look back a i feel happy because im goin to go home knowing i learned something and accomplish something today.

5th day of internship

2009-03-26T14:20:00.004-04:00

Today at internship me and my classmate was instructed to submit our own author to the 25 Random Things project. We picked J.K Rowling who is famous for writing the Harry Potter series. Me and my classmate split the anount of facts needed in half and exchanged our information in order to come up wit 25 different and not known facts about J.K Rowling. We visited a few sites in order to make sure the information we search up was consistant and simliar. After completing this project i gained some knowledge about j.K Rowling which is she one of the wealthest women in britain and shes even richer than the queen. As we finish the project our co-workers at webook explained once we finish making our pages for the 25 Random Things project we will look through the webook site and vote on submission that we think are interesting and we will be editing each other projects that we created last week for webook. Overall i enjoyed my day at webook and im becoming more comfortable with this work environment and more open to write down what i feel.

Internship Day 5 of 12

2009-03-26T14:15:00.005-04:00

On WEbook there is an excerpt about 25 Random Things about an author, where you place 25 Random Things about an author of your choice. My partner and I chose to work on the author J.K. Rowling, and we came up with 25 uniquely random things about the author. Starting with her first failed marriage to having great success and remarrying, and also showing how she made her rags "to" riches change from being on welfare to being the 12th richest woman in Britain. We both came up with 12 things and then finally combined them after editing and revising each other's work. Tomorrow, we are going to vote on WEbooks projects that have been submitted for publishing. I have searched through a few projects in the voting section today, but have not made my final choices. I plan to look more thoroughly through the other projects and books in the voting section tomorrow before following up on other work. We are also going to make our Facebook pages tomorrow, and edit them to make them a little bit more personal and go through others pages to get the overall feel of Facebook. For now, my day here at WEbook has ended, but it is back to work for me tomorrow morning.

Intership Day 4 of 12

2009-03-20T13:43:00.001-04:00

Pace-full day today, I assisted a fellow intern from my school helping him set up his blogger and finish off a project he wanted to create about what your last actions would be if u had 45 minutes to live. His project is still in production but contribution for the project can always be revised or renewed on different moods. I have also contributed to his project with a quick explanation of what Id do with such valuable time. Today I also began brainstorming authors for the 25 Random Things Project, I have not currently made a choice of a specific author but will begin to do so when I return back to the WEbook office next week. An adviser from my school visited me and my other class mate Today at the WEbook office to follow up on us to see how we are doing as interns and what type of work we are doing. Though i must say being a intern at WEbook is alot better than being in school. Next week i have a lot a few projects to work on such as the Facebook Fan Page project, Dan's SEO project and the First Click projects on the WEbook website. I have been thinking about adding a few of my very own projects to WEbook over the week and contribute to others work also. Yet again another productive week has come to an end but I am looking forward to coming back to the we book office next week. Have a good weekend Bloggers nd WEbookers!

4th day of internship

2009-03-20T13:38:00.005-04:00

Today i created an gmail account for the use of blogger to blog about my day to day experience interning at webook. After acquiring blogger i went to the webook homepage and started my first project on the site. The project was about if you had 45 minutes to live what would you do i submitted a response to it to start it off for other people. A few hours later me and my classmate went to lunch while outside we discuss which authors we should use for our 25 randon things project we both are still undecided but will finish this next week when we return to webook. Once we got back to the office from lunch our advisor from our school came to visit and check up on us just to make sure we are on task we showed her what we been working on for the pass few days since we came to webook and she seemed proud of us. After she left my classmate showed me his old blog so i can get an idea what to write in a blog. Overall today was an good day and i enjoyed myself at webook.

Intership Day 3 of 12

2009-03-19T13:54:00.004-04:00

I edited a previously unfinished project and completed it with my very own contribution. My project is called "Best Pranks" for an overall basis of all the best pranks you've ever made or heard or seen take place. For All the WEbookers here's the link to my project (http://www.webook.com/project/Best-Pranks). My contribution was just about camping trip prank I had made during the winter that ending up turning out as an all out war between two cabins, I sent out a few invites to my current colleagues at WEbook and feedback of my project and other contributions would be appreciated. I worked on creating my GMail account today for the use of Blogger and edited my Blogger profile but left room for a few finishing touches. WEbook has a vast amount of projects and books on its site and i seem to find something new everyday. The website can keep me occupied for a long time especially when responding to others work or creating my own, but the Humor section is always good too. Ive submitted my own article to a project called "The Poop Confessional" may have not been the best fit for all people especially those who easily find many things disturbing even in a literal way, But for the safety of those portions of people, Id say don't read or don't contribute if you don't have a sense of humor. Now to conclude my day with this blog, continue to write and type other WEbookers. I'm most likely brainstorming for the next upcoming book as you read this.

What's a WEbook Writing Tips Widget? Well I'm certainly glad you asked!

2009-03-16T17:06:00.011-04:00

Sometimes, we're sitting here writing, trying our hardest to create new and exciting WEbook projects, and yet our brains fail us. Our creative juices run dry.

We know we're not the only ones who need a bit of help mid-day to keep us going. Which is why we've created a writing tips widget to get us through those most difficult brain failing moments. What's a widget, you ask? Well, I'll explain what a widget is to both you and my mom, who surely has never heard of this "inter-web type word."

Because we all love a multiple choice test (easier, right?), which is the best definition of widget?
a. A widget is a device placed in a container of beer to manage the characteristics of the beer's head.
b. Doodad: something unspecified whose name is either forgotten or not known
c. A widget is a live update on a website, webpage, or desktop. Widgets contain personalized neatly organized content or applications selected by its user.
d.A third party item that can be embedded in a web page.
e. all of the above

Answer: While it's true that "e. All of the above" is the correct answer, we're going to focus on"c" and "d" for the purposes of this post. Save answer "a" to impress your friends at happy hour.

The WEbook widget is a free, daily writing tip that you can embed on your facebook or myspace page, or even your very own blog. It's extremely simple to install - even us interns have figured it out!

Pretty much, all the cool kids are adding it to their networking pages, so why haven't you added it yet? Are you, dare I say it, uncool??

Add it NOW! http://www.webook.com/landing/Writing-Tips-Widget

WEbook, a whole new game.

2008-09-19T02:11:00.002-04:00

Good news, there are lots of people out there who enjoy writing. Lots. Some enjoy writing so much that they decided to back WEbook financially. The ranks have grown as have the coffers. Our newest investors have added greatly to our company and I bid them welcome.

I don't feel like going into great detail so...For more info check these out: Techcrunch and Marketwatch.

In other news. There are a ton of great projects floating around the site. They need some quality reviewers. Do you know how to read? Do you know what you like? Can you play well with others? I bet you're perfect for us and don't even know it yet.

"WEbook Takes on the Big Book Boys"

2008-08-20T12:58:00.002-04:00

We've been silent for a while, but we've been busy. WEbook had its first ever voting cycle at the end of July and the users narrowed the selection down to a final 10%. I can't wait to see who gets chosen, can you?
Personally, I'd like to see the top 10% compete in a literary decathlon.
The EVENTS:
1) the 100 word hurdles
2) the 6 Word sprint
3) Plot vs. Detail tug-of-war
4) the Plot-twist discus
5) the Flashback long jump
6) the Clean Story Arc javelin
7) the Drive the Point home shot put
8) the 400 meter Poem
9) the Bestseller pole vault
10) the Path to Publishing marathon
I wanted to throw in something like mud wrestling, but was convinced to preserve the Olympic spirit and stick to "real" events (though I did manage to push the line at a few points).

Hey, did I mention that our CEO, Itai Kohavi was recently interviewed by Jemima Kiss of the UK's Guardian about WEbook AND his MUNI-riding ability? Itai's pretty awesome by the way, I can't imagine a more in-touch CEO. Do you know anyone who rides a mountain unicycle?
Not only will this article convince you of Itai's fantastic sense of balance, it will also help you know how to explain WEbook to your mother. Did you know that (insert statistic)% of mothers don't yet know about WEbook!? Isn't it about time that they did? Let's get out there and make a difference, one mother at a time. Need some WEbook projects for mothers to help with the explaining? Here are a few: A Mother's Love, Motherhood, and My First Year with Mommy.

Did I also mention that we now have over 10,000 book projects for your reading pleasure? And while you go browse through those, we here at WEbook are going to go back to disrupting "a notoriously elitist industry". :~)

Goodbye To You

2008-08-15T14:57:00.002-04:00

There comes a time in every intern's internship when the summer must end. The job is done. Certain people have to, you know, pack for college. I've had an awesome time getting to know both the WEbook staff and the WEbook site members, and I hope to keep in contact with quite a few of you. You know what my penname is; message me sometime.

Enjoy what's left of summer, and keep writing!

~sara

Publishing is MINE!

2008-07-09T13:43:00.004-04:00

I really wanted to say that. I found this blog: http://koreaismine.blogspot.com/ and decided I find it funny. Not as funny as this one: http://users.livejournal.com/kim_jong_il__/ , but the livejournal one is no longer active.
It's getting close to the voting period here at WEbook and you should come read the projects that have been submitted. It's like a hunt for buried treasure. We all enjoy treasure hunts, don't we? I mean, we all secretly want to be pirates, right? The official WEbook blog went pirate-y recently.
I had a classmate in an English class show up in full pirate garb refusing to speak in any lingo but pirate for the entirety of International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Until that day, he was so reserved that I honestly wondered if he actually liked anyone else in the class or merely tolerated us. Now I know that he, like all the other people in the class, was simply a freshman afraid to interact with others and show personality lest a demonstration of individuality go over badly. Isn't it ironic that at the beginning of college so many people are afraid to stand out and by the end it seems like most people have personalities so bloated that no one else can fit in the room with them? Please excuse the tangent.
I'm in a very random state of mind today. I'm trying to brainstorm for writing as the creativity well has been particularly dry of late. Will return later with more. Later may be tomorrow. Or next week...

Intern Olympics

2008-07-01T13:21:00.002-04:00

No need to wait until August- WEbook's interns have a little olympics of our own. Starting today, Andi, Sam and I each created (or will be creating, I suppose- Sam's project isn't up yet) a writing project. We're actively campaigning these, trying to make them as well-known and popular as possible. There's a complex point system involved, and an unannounced prize for the winner.

Andy's taking her chances on a universal emotion. Her project, FEAR, asks for "Any genre, any fear." It's got 4 submissions, and 4 comments- the highest so far.

I'm looking for a niche in Top Writers Under 20, trying to find WEbook's greatest young writers. I'm in second place with 3 submissions, 1 comment.

Sam, however, may be the wild card here- she's holding off posting right now (for strateigic reasons? what's her secret?), and we'll only know how well she's doing as soon as she gets her project up on the site.

This early, though, anything can change. The projects will run through most of the summer, up to the first intern's last day. And only time will tell whose methods will pay off.

There are no torches, no opening ceremonies, but the message is clear- May the best intern win.

Fun site

2008-06-30T14:04:00.002-04:00

Just want to leave you a pretty awesome website: http://www.etsy.com/

The Last of June

2008-06-30T11:23:00.009-04:00

We haven't posted in a while...Things have been a little busy here in the office. Things have, in fact, been going pretty great--We've had a ton of New Projects and New Users. (Check out the New Projects and find something you like.) Also: If you're going to be in the DC area for the 4th of July, we'd like to give you FREE Ice Cream. Yes, FREE. Though we will make you write for it.

Posting links here at Blogspot (or Blogger) seems to be a bit of an issue. They don't like to be edited or format correctly during the posting process. We have another blog-like entity for your viewing and reading pleasure: The WEbook Live Journal. Sara keeps it going, and she's pretty great at it.

In the coming days, we Interns are going to have WEbook Intern Olympics . Basically, we will each create a project and see who rocks it the most. I screwed up and used an awesome project idea as a test run and now it doesn't get to count as my entry. Check out My Project, "6 Word Stories" and add yours.

A full office, a full day of work

2008-06-18T16:34:00.003-04:00

Two weeks ago, I stepped into the WEbook office for the first time. Now, when I think back to those first couple of days, I remember (fondly, of course) a quiet environment suitable for the long to-do lists we had, a lovely white wall that had a black speck two inches directly above where my line of sight hit, and empty offices just waiting for a person to fill them.

Needless to say, things have drastically changed (most definitely for the better). Now, there are 4 loud, outgoing interns who sit at a kitchen table typing away together, group outings to explore Bethesda during lunch, and (the best part of all) a vibrant blue wall with no visible specks.

There's also more work to do, though that seems counterintuitive: with more interns, shouldn't we each have less on our plate? Not at WEbook, where things are still growing and changing at rapid paces. But hey, I'm not complaining (much).

Speaking of work, as much fun as reminiscing is, work awaits and I really would hate to be fired (especially now that I've discovered the candy basket).

I'm out.

2008-06-18T12:01:00.002-04:00

I feel it's time to write a new post. There are so many things out there (in this internet world), that it seems silly to just focus on one or two things. My job has opened up a lot of places on the web that never popped up in my everyday life before June--despite being a college student desperate for means of procrastination. So I want to devote this post to both things that will help you procrastinate and things that will hopefully inspire. (Also, the period key [.] on my computer is dying--if you notice one or two missing, trust me, I've noticed already).
Sites to help you procrastinate:
twitter.com
www.plurk.com
digg.com
Things to inspire:
http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/all/
stumbleupon.com
www.wikihow.com
Okay, so there are too many things out there. Avoid Plurk. Not worth the trouble.
The people on plurk...let's just say this: Karma is the point of plurking. People don't seem to care about talking--I mean plurking--with people they don't know. Just a lot of bugs. I'd say try it out in about a month--I'm betting things will be better by then.

Watch our Earth

2008-06-18T10:23:00.002-04:00

http://www.breathingearth.net/
If you've got a minute, check it out. We know this information. Somewhere in the back of our minds, we know it, but seeing it played out gives it new meaning.

webook + livejournal = love

2008-06-17T10:42:00.002-04:00

Hey guys, as if I needed more proof that this job, where I'm told to update facebook groups, post editorial feedback, and eat candy (Well, alright, the last one isn't an assignment. But candy-eating certainly goes on, regardless.), is very cool, my latest project is to start a webook livejournal.

Or rather update it. Webook has had an account since January, but it was basically a default account. Nothing posted, no interests, etc. But now things are looking a little brighter for webook at livejournal. Join me there, friend me, and we can have some social-networking-style fun.

Digg

2008-06-16T11:29:00.002-04:00

Be my friend!
http://digg.com/invitefrom/anwollitz

Mercedes

2008-06-16T09:32:00.003-04:00

Another week, another intern. We welcome Mercedes. If I spelled your name wrong, you can make fun of me in your post. To everyone else...check out this week's WEbooker of the WEek post to see more writing from me. I'm filling in for Melissa while she's on vacation.

i have a twitter

2008-06-13T16:46:00.001-04:00

in case anyone cared, i have a twitter now! so following "threeara" is another way to learn about the joys of interning.

the newbie posts

2008-06-13T11:41:00.002-04:00

so. i finally get to webook.com, and i'm supposed to blog, update facebook, and browse the webook site. which is pretty excellent, by my standards.
let's see. since i'm new to the blog, and the job, i guess i'll do some introduction:

webook.com name- saraelizabeth (come be my friend!)
favorite genre- all of them, but i like short stories especially
favorite authors- stienbeck, kingsolver, neruda, alvarez, fitzgerald
now reading- the namesake
now writing- this blog post. but also feedback on some webook.com nano stories (I can multitask!)
projects- none yet! but these nano stories are looking pretty neat, so maybe i'll join + post one soon.

um, i can't think of any more revelvant stuff for the intro. but if you have questions, relevant or irrelevant, let me know!

Newbie

2008-06-13T11:05:00.001-04:00

Welcome Sara! We have back-up! Happy to have you, now get to work! Mostly kidding. We like to talk too. But work is so fun, why the hell not?

Long Week

2008-06-11T15:48:00.003-04:00

Wednesday? Is it really only Wednesday? This has been a long week. A very long week. We, the interns, have been out there looking for you; the bloggers, readers, and writers of the world. We want you to know about WEbook. It is very important to us that you know about WEbook. One might even say our jobs depend on you knowing about WEbook. Please excuse the slight edge of desperation--It's 4:00 pm and my lack of sleep is catching up. If you see my landlord, please take away his remote garage-door-opener. Or move my room to a location not directly over the garage door. Or even better yet, tell me if you know of anyone in the DC-MD area renting out two rooms at a reasonable price. All jests aside, I really want to move. I'm enough behind on sleep that my boyfriend is actually becoming more personable than me. I tell you, that's sleep-deprived for me. I would love to sit on the WEbook website all night reading every single project I can get my hands on, but by the time I get home, my eyes are so tired that staring at a computer screen isn't an option. I'm going to start listing some of the new projects I've looked at in this blog. Keep an eye out.

2008-06-10T10:38:00.002-04:00

SO MANY NEW PROJECTS! I just need to keep up on them. They are trying to swarm me all at once and I am diligently ticking them off my list one by one by one.

Monday Monday Monday

2008-06-09T10:32:00.002-04:00

Monday is a great day here. I can't wait to get back to work. I spent most of my weekend in a car on the New Jersey Turnpike. No offense to New Jersey, but you stink. The state just smells. Instead of New Jersey's version of "fresh" air, we (my boyfriend and I) turned the air to recirculate over and over again without so much as passing breeze allowed in. To be fair, the heat probably didn't help. Heat makes any slight stench overwhelming to the point it can knock you on the ground and roll you up like the Wicked Witch of the East's legs after Dorothy nabs her shoes. We ignored New Jersey by creating six word stories for the project I created at the end of last week. Because we collaborated, I think we may end up arm wrestling for some of the stories. Who should get what? Does the creator get the credit or the most creative collaborator? I have a few that I'm pretty willing to fight over. We should be putting them soon, so keep and eye out for posting by AndiJayne and Jowe. Let me know which you like best...we have a little bet going.

What's in a label?

2008-06-06T10:52:00.005-04:00

It's Friday!

In 6 hours, I will have officially survived my first full week here at WEbook (I started on a Wednesday). It's been a great 10 days full of assignments, meetings, and controlled chaos... and ok, maybe it felt more like a month than a week and a half, but still, I enjoyed it.

I started as a marketing intern with immediate priorities that included social networks and mass outreach. As of 2:30 pm today, I will be an "everything" intern who gets to still play around on Twitter and MySpace, but also gets to do math! Oh, fun! Analytics much? I have also decided that Google Analytics will be my new best friend since we will be spending long days and nights together.

Speaking of new friends...

Follow WEbook on Twitter

Add me on MySpace

Last thought of the moment: why do to-do lists never get shorter?

Last, last thought of the moment: after re-reading this entry, I realized that I sound completely out of it. Sorry.

Oh what a beautiful Morning...

2008-06-06T09:06:00.005-04:00

Good Morning! I think I had the best commute in to work that I have ever had or will ever have. I got a seat on the metro. I didn't have to touch anything. I didn't have to bump into people or stand there while quite creepy guys "sneakily" take my picture with their phones. I just got my first cell phone with a camera last week and I was beginning to enjoy it (camera snob that I am) until I began to ride the metro during busy times.
But today was a good day. I think the reason I was able to get a seat was that I was late. I ran up the escalator just in time to watch the train I wanted pull away. I'm not very good at counteracting my own momentum, so I just sort of kept running--not at any great speed mind you. I wasn't, after all running with any purpose in mind by that time. My inertia carried me down to the farthest end of the platform, previously unexplored territory for me. By the time I realized I hadn't yet stopped moving, I was about as far as I could go. So I sat down on a bench and waited. The next train pulled up about 5 minutes later and I could see crowds of people swarm into the cars nearest the escalator, most of them making a mad dash for the doors, choosing to risk having their most personal assets divided rather than miss the train. But who am I to comment really?
I ambled onto the first car of the train and lazily glanced at the half-empty car before grabbing an open double-seat. For the first time all week, I didn't get motion sick and even managed to read on the metro.
After all this relaxation, I decided to hike up the monstrously long escalator out of the Bethesda metro instead of my usual "stand and wait for the top to come to me". This decision was influenced in large part by the fact that I have not yet gotten around to joining a gym in the area. Or really even finding one for that matter... All I have to say about this hike is that it became quite obvious exactly how long it's been since my last visit to a fitness center.
My morning commute is always a source of great entertainment for me. I lead a simple life.
I'm riding the metro for 3 main reasons: 1) I don't have a car (perhaps the most influential reason), 2) the most convenient access to the WEbook office is granted by riding the metro, and 3) I've been trying to go slowly green over the last year.
Being Green should be a way of life that becomes so ingrained that people don't even think about it. Unfortunately, it's not at that point yet. My realization of the importance of being Green came in mostly during the last year. Among many other driving reasons, I found out that my adviser at Vassar is the head of the Sustainability committee there, I took an Oceanography course and learned just how doomed our planet is--which also led to meeting Wally Broker, the guy who essentially discovered global warming was happening--and the influence of my boyfriend who wrote his senior thesis on solar cells and now works for a clean energy company. I also watched "Living with Ed", Ed Begley Jr.'s show on how to green your life. I tell you, if you're going to go Green, you want Ed Begley Jr. telling you how to do it.
I've just learned that WEbook has a great project going right now called "My Hybrid Life". It's a great place to tell your story about going Green. Hope to see you there!

2008-06-05T17:26:00.002-04:00

Did I mention how much New Users Rock!? We're on track to have one of our best days ever today. We just kick butt, don't we? We're going out tonight as an office to celebrate. We were going out anyway, but now we have something concrete to celebrate! We get to celebrate how much butt we're kicking. Good deal I say.

2008-06-05T17:10:00.001-04:00

Thanks for the backup Sam.

Just so that Andrea doesn't feel lonely...

2008-06-05T17:00:00.002-04:00

Here's my post for today.

This really displays my creativity and personality.

Later.

2008-06-05T16:17:00.001-04:00

Is it healthy to hold a job that actually feeds my internet addiction rather than takes me away from it for 8 hours a day? I've just joined both Twitter and Plurk, started a blog, and spent a large part of today on Facebook. And I'm being encouraged to do these things. Not just encouraged, expected to do these things. I would say my job depends on me doing these things. Note to readers: jealousy is not becoming.

2008-06-05T14:42:00.002-04:00

The projects on the site astound me. So many people are so creative. I hope you have time to drop by and read a few. There is literally something for everyone. And if I'm wrong, go fix it...Create a new project. On that note, I think this job is making me even more blunt.

Start in the middle

2008-06-05T09:50:00.003-04:00

Let me just say that my commute to work is like a piece of stinky swiss cheese. The DC metro system is only about a 1000 times cleaner than the NYC subway, but the humidity tends to make you forget that. Luckily, getting into the office is a much less fragrant and sticky experience. Thank goodness for that. I've only been working at WEbook since Monday and I'm already becoming a devotee. We interns have it pretty good here. My computer is always in front of me and open to new projects from our users or any of a large number of social networks we're trying to reach. The office walls were hand painted by your lovely WEbook staffers (the regulars, not the interns coincidentally) in bright and cheery orange, white, and blue. I imagine if we had a flag, it would be orange, white, and blue...
The tone of the office fits those colors to a T. Orange for cheery but also busy, Light blue for good times and clear skies, and white for "What can we do next?"