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I thought I'd share my latest update to my Youtube page... it's so strange, I only made this in April, but there are things I hear on it now that I know I can do better. Growth is so gradual that sometimes you don't notice until you take a step back. Hope you enjoy!

Being a writer SUCKS

I know this blog is mostly about my internship, but I thought I'd share a bit with you about my experience as a writer for the school newspaper, The Daily Cougar. For example, here is a link to what was published:


http://thedailycougar.com/2012/06/20/uc-renovations-brings-food-options/


And here's what I actually wrote and turned in.

Eat Out or Stay In? A look at campus dining options for Fall 2012

            With so many renovations and replacements occurring on our campus in the coming months, the thought of finding food in the construction wasteland can seem more than a little daunting. Dining Services was kind enough to provide your humble correspondent with a few answers to some burning questions whose heat can only be matched by the flames of heartburn after some delicious and ever- greasy on-campus edibles.

            As previously announced, the UC will soon be closed for a massive renovation project that will hopefully take eighteen months to complete. In response to the closed restaurants and such that will not be able to feed hungry mouths on campus, Dining Services have engaged the help of several food trucks, including Bernie’s Burger Bus, The Waffle Bus, and Bare Bowls Kitchen, which will all be parked on a patio area in front of the UC in a sort of food court setup. Not only that, but the business hours for these trucks will be on the Dining Services website, which eliminates the horrible element of the unexpectedly closed restaurant for students who check this site.

            And what of the eateries that were serving in the UC? Sushic has relocated to the Satellite for the summer semester in the space that Montague’s Deli previously was; the deli will reopen in the fall where Cranberry Farms used to be. Otherwise, the UC will be sporting many new logos when its renovation is completed, including those of Panda Express, McDonald’s, Starbucks Coffee, as well as some old friends, like Chick-fil-A and a Cougar Xpress Mini Market. After Phase Two of the renovations, a Freshii restaurant will also be opening in the UC.

            Across campus, there is a newly-opened Taco Cabana in the new parking lot near Robertson Stadium. As of now, the only other tenant of this structure that can satisfy the rumblies in your tummy is another Cougar Xpress Mini Market, which will carry a smaller selection than others because of space limitations.

            Meal plan options are also getting an upgrade, starting with the new dining hall on the corner of the Cullen and Wheeler intersection. This cafeteria is going to be modeled after Oberholtzer Hall in style and menu, and is simply meant to replace “the O.B.”. The older version will remain open through the summer semester, while the new edition will open in the fall. There is more good news for the very hungry or avid snackers: All- Access meal plans have been approved, and students who desire to swipe into an on-campus dining hall more than three times a day can now do so as many times a day as they wish, with unlimited swipes every day. Either 5- day or 7- day per week options are available, complete with a limited number of guest passes for treating your friends and some Cougar Cash. Senior Media Production manager Danny Rojas weighed in on these changes, saying  “After the renovations of the Fresh Food Co. in Moody Towers, it was only a matter of time before the O.B. got the same treatment, which is definitely an improvement. As for the unlimited swipes meal plans, I think it really gives students more freedom to go in and out of the cafeterias. And the guest passes are a great idea!”

For more information about both on- campus dining and cafeterias, including locations and hours, visit uh.edu/dining.


So yeah. That's kind of how that goes... All that time spent trying to make dining option changes sound interesting and fun and that's what I get. Excellent.

Free cookie Friday!

If there's one thing I love about my office, it's the sense of camaraderie. People are always saying hi to me, even if they're across the hallway from us (KUHF 88.7 is located on the other side of the office) and even if I've never seen them before in my life. Or take, for example, my experiences yesterday: not only was it Free Cookie Friday (and I mean, these cookies are so delicious. I have no idea where they get them from, but it's probably Mount Olympus or something) but I had my first experience trying to make tea. This is how that went:
FREE COOKIE FRIDAY
I saw the cookies arrive from my ever- convenient watchtower of The Copy Area, where interns should be if they aren't busy reshelving or repairing CDs or doing research or important things, which is a straight line from the open doorway of our kitchenette. Apparently an email went out (which I didn't get because I still don't have an email or login to our server, which is just some kind of bureaucratic nightmare designed to make my job more difficult still) because while there had been one lone soul in the kitchen, suddenly there were three, five, ten people absolutely flocking to those cookies! It's like a swarm of vultures or something. But then, when those eager beavers started heading back down the hallway and had to pass me at my central location, many of them, including people I have literally never seen before started passing by, they would pause and gesture at me with those delicious cookies in their hands and speaking funny to hold all the crumbs in with a, "free cookies" that sounded more like a "shfreeeh chookiez". And then, when I abandoned my fortress of office supplies and printing machines, there were still a few stragglers in the kitchen who happily exclaimed over the cookies to me, which I agreed with entirely because as I said these are divine cookies made with the ambrosia of the gods. I mean, maybe I'm antisocial or something, but I don't think you talk to strangers unless you feel some kind of connection with them, and everybody is always saying things to me. Which is so nice! Maybe I'm overreacting, but I do enjoy a nice kitchen conversation over cookies.

Baby steps

Today, I finally got to do something other than the usual library maintenance or research for The Front Row-- I got to design my own sample show! There's an intern- run program on Sunday evenings called Music in the Making which showcases music from the Moores and Shepherd schools of music at UH and Rice, respectively. I did my very own programming and script for an episode! It was actually kind of fun, but I'm honestly afraid to run the show myself. Speaking on the air doesn't worry me, but running the board is very complicated and I feel like I'll make at least a few mistakes every now and again, especially when I first start at it. Hopefully nothing major goes amiss, though! Soon, I'll be a real radio DJ and announcer. I have the coolest job!!