Work

Well I have joined the (adult) working world as a mere intern. Wow, yesterday was all massively overwhelming and today shows what the rest could threaten to be: rather boring but stressful. At least Andy is in the same boat as me, I'd feel really lousy if he totally knew what he was doing. Anyhow I think I will probably survive this summer but it's gonna be a lot different then I expected. For one my evenings will probably mostly start at 6:00 and end by 10:00. It's odd but I was completely able to crash at 10 last night and I am ready to crash now. Hope that to an extent this goes away, not that getting 8 hours of sleep is bad but I am totally fried when I come home. I can't do that for another 40 odd years of my life tho. Then again it is just day two, gotta wait and see what happens.

So let's see, what do I at work? Basically when it gets down to it I'll be programming in Visual C++. Please note this is different then the C++ I was taught a year or so ago at good ol' UWSP. We didn't have anything visual, we did it all through DOS. Noone use DOS for anything anymore. I want my tutition back. Now. However there is a fair amount of room for learning stuff here so I just have to batten down and try to figure out the gist of Visual C++ in 2-3 weeks. C++ is the same no matter the variation so at least I have syntax to an extent. Take some time to re-adjust to Visual Studio 6.0 too. Never thought I'd go backwards with programming stuff but that's what 6.0 vs .NET. Currently I am working on a testing (ie trying to break) a program for the Radiology department (since I am the PACS/Radiology IT subsection intern). Couldn't tell you exactly what it does beyond that it is used for invoices etc. That may in fact be all it is used for come to think of it. However the head of the Radiology Dept, whose also on the board of the Directors, is in charge (in the sense of pushing for the program/heading the non-IT side of it) so there's a little pressure to not screw up.

Ok, really, things probably aren't as bad as they seem right now. It's just all very new and very overwhelming. I feel small, dumb, and totally expendable. While I doubt this is an unusual expierence for IT interns it doesn't help much. In truth I suspect in a week or two things will have settled into a routine and I will be a quasi-happy cubical dweller. Anyhow I need to do a quarter of a million things here so that will have to be all.