Almost halfway through?!

So, as of today, I'm four weeks into my internship, with six more weeks to go. Time has passed by so quickly! I can't believe tomorrow is already July (& that my rent is due...). Soon, I'll be moving back into Duke and my new room in Edens. I won't even have to cook anymore or worry about buying groceries because everything will be on food points (like monopoly money because it's easy to spend and seems unimportant.. until you realize that it IS real money). Woohoo! Anyway, back to the internship and what I've been up to.

I keep a clip file of all my stories so I'll remember what stories I wrote and go back to them if I need to refer to something later. (I clip together all my notes with the final product of the story, too.) I've written 16 stories so far, and since I've worked 20 days (well, 19, since one day was Memorial Day), I've had almost a story a day. You can check them out here if you'd like. It's interesting, though. I know I keep coming back to this, but some days I have 2-3 stories published, and some days none at all. I've definitely been keeping busy, though. Let's see.. A lot of basketball and baseball coming up!

Tuesday (June 22) - Attended a press conference about the SJG Greater NC Pro-Am Summer Basketball League, led by former NBA & UNC player Jerry Stackhouse. It was super cool hearing about the league, which features top athletes from Duke, UNC, & NC States, as well as some NBA players and high school athletes. Just to be this league in perspective.. John Wall played here for the last couple of years. (Aka this camp is super prestigious.. and open to the public to watch/shake hands/get autographs/talk with players!!) It was at the Tobacco Road Sports Cafe, which is a cool cafe that overlooks the Durham Bulls Athletic Park and has outdoor seating to watch games. I didn't take any pictures, so let me pull one up from the cafe's blog site.

 The cafe is right there above the scorebox

Wednesday - Attended the Camp24 Hodge (Julius Hodge Basketball Camp) in Raleigh to write a feature on Hodge and the camp. The kids there were super nice and friendly, and so was Hodge. There are some great pictures that accompanied my story on the n&o website.. Take a look!

Thursday - I headed out to the Carolina RailHawks practice in the morning then came into the office just in time for our Intern Luncheon. This time, we ate with the publisher, the executive editor, and a features/business/marketing all-around editor. We talked about the direction newspapers seem to be going in, the role of a newspaper, how to be a good reporter, and how to deal with difficult subjects. It was great being able to talk to people who were so experienced in the field. After, I interviewed someone for a story which hasn't been published yet, so I can't tell you, but it was really interesting!

Friday - Incredibly busy day! Debbie Yow was announced as the new NC State Athletic Director, so we had to find information about her, past ADs, try to get in contact with her, etc. And.. a really good football recruit, Kiaro Holts, committed to UNC, so we had to try and contact him, his coaches, etc. Then, I headed out to UNC to cover an event--women's basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell gave $50,000 to the NC Cancer Hospital, so that was huge. After speaking with multiple people, I headed to the Starbucks inside the cancer hospital and turned around the story in less than an hour. Then, I had to head to the Bulls park again to interview someone for a feature story (it's coming out tomorrow!), except I had to reschedule since the times were wrong. Phew! I had lunch with a couple friends then headed to a friend's apartment for a club tennis reunion--tons of fun.

Saturday - Headed back out to the Bulls park from Raleigh in the afternoon to interview some people then watched the game with Stephen. After, we met up with our friend Aditya and went to a Duke-hosted dance party/clubbing event at Mt. Fuji, a local sushi place. It was fun seeing people I didn't know were around in the summer. After staying around for an hour, we all decided to head to Shooters II, the place everyone goes to. It was great because both places had no cover, so we went in for free, and it ended up being a lot of fun. Below are some pictures from Mellow Mushroom, a pizza parlor right outside the stadium. I would definitely and vehemently recommend going there.

I just had to take pictures of two of my press passes :) I have one more for the Mudcats

Delicious.. the one on the left is BBQ Chicken & the one on the right is baked potato, sour cream, chives, bacon, & butter. Both were.. SO GOOD.

Sunday - Relaxed, off day. Didn't do much. I think I deserved a little break!

Monday - Back to the Durham Bulls park. I covered a game at 1 p.m. which was really exciting (even though the AC in the press box was broken and it was 95 degrees). We were down by 1 in the bottom of the seventh and managed to win it in the bottom of the ninth. Yay!! Here are pictures from the press box.

Tuesday - I had to go back and interview a couple more people for my story, so I headed out in the afternoon after cranking out two short stories. After the interview, I got to see Gabby and Chris (who came up from Charlotte). It was a lot of fun going out to eat with them at Bali Hai (mongolian bbq place) and just chatting it up. After, we played Mario Party, which Gabby rocks at. Then I called it a night.. time to sleep!

Wednesday - Not much has happened so far today, just writing a couple of stories. But tomorrow night a fellow intern and I are heading to the Stackhouse camp where we get to see our favorite players play!

Exploring Raleigh!

(Note: I wrote this last night but realized that I had only saved it and had forgotten to post it, so here it is!)

Wow, I've been super busy this past weekend, but it's been a lot of fun. I've decided that since I'm going to be spending the summer in Raleigh, I should take advantage of events that are happening downtown and try to see what it's like. I started Saturday, and my experience has been amazing so far!

During the week I had my internship as usual, and that kept me busy. It's definitely a very on-and-off job, very hectic and chaotic at times and very calm at others. Every Thursday we have our Intern Luncheons, where all the interns (from Cary and Raleigh)--there are four of us right now & two more start tomorrow)--meet together for lunch in a conference room and have a talk with the more experience reporters from the newspaper. Last week, our topic was learning our craft. The reporters talked about how they found their niches and how to develop yourself as a writer and sort of as a brand, somebody who is irreplaceable and has something to say rather than someone who just reports stories. It was an interesting idea, and it really got me thinking about what I want out of this internship and what I hope to accomplish. I'm trying to think of a project to do, but nothing's really come to mind yet. I'll definitely be on the lookout, though.

Thursday night, I headed back to my apartment and watched the Lakers game with Stephen. Boy, victory has never tasted sweeter. I'm still sad that I'm missing the Lakers Parade tomorrow..

Friday I had work again and headed to Durham to interview a couple people for a story (that hasn't come out yet, so I can't tell you .. Booo.) and then back to the office for a brief bit before heading out to Zebulon to write a feature about Sean Henry (story here), a left-fielder for the Carolina Mudcats. I headed to do some interviews before watching the game from the press box. It was a very cool experience. I love baseball stadiums! Now.. pictures!

Some pictures taken from the car in Zebulon

Five County Stadium from the press box

Fireworks after the game!

On Saturday, I finished up writing my story and had it edited to be published in Sunday's paper. Then, I hung out at the apartment for a little bit before heading out to the "Got to be NC Ag Jam" which was a music festival/fair sort of thing that promoted North Carolina agriculture. They had good live music, a lot of people lounging around (it was at a park), and multiple food stands with samples and, of course, your typical fried Snickers bar. It was humid and mid-90s, but the day was still amazing. Pictures of the jam!

After exploring for a while, Stephen and I headed out on an expedition to explore Downtown Raleigh. The place is so lively, and there are so many people hanging out there around 5pm and after. It's a very quaint, yet bustling and exciting place, and there are so many cafes all over the place. We walked around and took a look at the State Capiton, which was gorgeous, before finding a place to eat. We used Urban Spoon and decided to go to 518 West Italian Cafe, which was a way away. We ended up walking in the wrong direction and walked probably two miles or so just trying to find the restaurant, but it was a great way to explore downtown. The food was amazing, and we headed across the street to Turkish Delights, where we had amazing baklava. After, we hailed a Raleigh Rickshaw, which was super exciting! It reminded me of one of those older, historic places. There was a guy riding a bike pulling us around--about 6 blocks away or so, and he was super friendly and nice, and it was another great way to see the city after being out walking for so long in the afternoon. Oh, and two pictures below that are kind of random but that we took while walking around.

Picture of the ABC news station in Raleigh

Gorgeous time of day

After walking back to the Ag Jam, we sat on the grass and stayed for a bit just talking and listening to the music. The atmosphere was so nice--relaxed but fun, and a lot less chaotic and "touristy" than other fairs I had been to in the past. Then, we met up with some friends at the Wachovia IMAX Theater across from the park to watch Toy Story 3 in 3D. It was an amazing movie, and we all had a talk after about how we noticed that the movie seemed to be geared at our generation--the generation that had watched Toy Story since we were kids--rather than for kids now. It was an interesting concept that I hadn't really thought about much before with movies. After, we all headed home for the night, exhausted from a long, fun day out.

Sunday was not nearly as eventful, but still fun. First thing I did was call my dad and wish him a happy Father's Day to start the day off right. (Happy late Father's Day to all the loving fathers out there, too!) Later, Stephen and I met up in the early evening to watch Mighty Ducks 2 (since I'm from Fullerton, a city right near Anaheim, and I had never seen it, and "I just had to"), which was a classic "team sports" movie but still enjoyable, before driving to Chapel Hill's Franklin St. to grab a bite at Spanky's since I had a gift certificate. It was fun walking around after and lounging around at a coffee shop (my favorite thing to do!) before each heading back home. The day was much more relaxed than Saturday's, but still a great way to get out of the apartment and do some activities.

Back in Raleigh!

Ah! I'll try to make this trip make sense chronologically, but first.. the mayhem! Okay, not really. My flight left LAX Monday at 12:30am and I had a stop in Minneapolis/St. Paul at 6:05am. It was a brief one-hour lay over before my flight for RDU (Raleigh-Durham International) took off at 7:00am. We had a delay leaving LA and the flight was packed, so when we arrived in Minneapolis, it was already 6:30am, and we rushed to get to the other end of the airport for our next flight. And I guess because there was such a short period of time between flights, my baggage got stuck in Minneapolis and had to board the next flight to RDU, which arrived at 2pm & not 10:40am (like I did). It took a while to locate where the luggage was before being notified that a courier would drop the baggage by my apartment later. Turns out later means 3:00am this morning. It was unfortunate and sort of annoying because I was sleeping so I could be well-rested for work the next day, but it all worked out in the end.

Speaking of work, I had four articles published during my time off that I had been working on before. Check them out here! UNC's O'Donnell leads event, New Mudcat dynamo, A Tar Heel in Spain, and Pack runner seeks national title. Now, I'm working on another story (for next Tuesday or so) and a sidebar accompanying a story that is going in this Sunday's paper. I"m also looking to cover the Carolina RailHawks soon or the Durham Bulls. I have such bad timing! They keep playing away when I'm here and reverse!

Now.. my trip home. Gorgeous weather. 70-75 and sunny every day except for one, and it wasn't humid at all! Loved it.

It was great getting to spend time with my family and friends, and though a lot of them were still taking their finals, I still got to see a lot of them. I went swimming a LOT at home, went ice skating, ate a bunch of DELICIOUS food (Mexican, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean bbq, Chinese, In-N-Out, frozen yogurt, Sprinkles cupcakes!, Japanese curry, etc!), drove around my hometown, and went to the beach. Enough writing now. Here are the pictures! (Sorry, my Internet has a slow upload speed, so I'll come back in a bit and try to put them up.)

My cousin's graduation from UCSD. Congrats Jon! (Physiology & Neuroscience major.. headed to the Peace Corps in September)

Yum yum! Chinese-Thai food fusion at Banana Bay!

Newport Beach!.. But cloudy day :(

Beach again!

Sand crabs at the beach!

Super delicious tres leches birthday cake!

Boba (bubbles) at Boba Loca! Delicious White Chocolate Shake!

The ducks at Laguna Lake near my house!

Another view of the lake!

Walking to the lake from my house.

Ice skating at Anaheim Ice!

Penny again!

Eating pho (vietnamese noodles) at Pho 21, one of our local places.

Polo & Shadow, my cousins' dogs!

That's all for now!

And the work continues.. (& California tonight!!)

I'm blogging this right now on my lunch break. I've been eating healthier lately. I think it's because I'm buying my own groceries and cooking my own food so I'm sure to always have some sort of meat, vegetables, and grain in my meals for dinner. & Since I'm only one person, I can't afford to buy a huge variety of foods. I never thought I'd get healthier from having to cook.. Let's see. I'll break down what I had to eat this week (hopefully I can remember). Oh, and I've been eating a lot of Lunchables this week since I'm on the road a lot (and because my loaf of bread expired in the beginning of the week and I didn't want to buy another since I'm leaving soon).

Tuesday - Breakfast: Apple. Lunch: Lunchables. Nibblers. Water. Dinner: Steamed cauliflower, petite quiches, mashed potatoes, orange juice.

Wednesday - Breakfast: Apple. Lunch: Subway Melt & Tropicana lemonade. Dinner: White rice, scrambled eggs w/ cheese, onions, & steak.

Thursday - Breakfast: Scrambled eggs & cheese. Lunch: Lunchables, peach, water, mini pretzels. Dinner (this was for 2, and to get rid of all my groceries): Cooked ramen noodles with eggs, corn & ground beef, deep-fried fish (unhealhy, I admit), asparagus, orange juice.

Friday - Breakfast: Honey Bunches of Oats & milk. Lunch: mini bagel, tuna salad, yogurt-covered pretzels, snack pack, water. Dinner: TBD.

I'm not entirely sure why I chronicled all of that in such a detailed manner, but there you are. I wish I had pictures, but food, in general, is kind of boring.

On to work now! What have I been up to? Well, I've had one story published so far (http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/06/02/511338/devils-find-redemption-in-title.html), and I have four waiting in queue, but they should be out this week! Working in a newsroom is really interesting. It's not a 9-5 job at all. I knew that coming in, but I was surprised with the amazing flexibility, or perhaps, lack of.

Basically, the day goes like this: work on your story if you have one by interviewing people / waiting on interviews / working on other stories, reading emails that are sent to you from basically evey college/professional sport in the area to see if there are ideas, and following a team closely to find interesting stories. It can be really flexible in that there is a lot of down time just looking for and working on stories (that might just be because I'm an intern, though), but it's inflexible in that if there is an event, you have to be there to cover it. Oh, another thing. I'm on the road a lot -- I probably drive 30-80 miles a day, depending. It's great, though, I love it. I can't wait to get back and start covering game stories instead of just writing features (though those are tons of fun, too). Durham Bulls .. Bull City, here I come!!

Oh, & I'm leaving for California tonight for my birthday (yay, home!), so I'll try and actually have pictures in that post. Sorry about this one!!