Today, we drove to the east side of cary to look at office spaces. As a real estate agent, it is important to have a central location to meet clients and investors. Without an office of her own, Tiffany has been meeting clients in coffee shops, restaurants, and offices of the clients or investors. However, it would be more convenient for Tiffany while saving a lot of driving time to have a centralized office where her clients can come to her to meet. She would, of course, also be working out of her office, so her commute would be limited to to and from the office and showings. Tiffany decided that with her growing business and team that it was time to get an office. She hired a commercial real estate agent because commercial listings are all about relations with other commercial agents since the MLS equivalent to commercial is alway out of date. There was an old office space in Cary that we visited, but it had not been updated since the 1980s when it was first purchased. Although old, the office had a good structure and extra room Tiffany could rent out to individuals that would practically cover her mortgage. An office space that allows less driving, convenience for customers, and costs practically nothing = a good business decision.
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Tag: Day6
Day 6: Counting!
Most of today was spent doing paperwork and helping Nicole (one of the Ph.D. students). She is currently doing a project where she counts the number of Phytoplankton in various water samples. She introduces multiple nutrients to the samples and sees how their presence affects the colonies/population of the Phytoplankton. When I toured the lab before DT, she was in the lab counting the plankton through a microscope. Her project is supposed to last for two summers and two winters, and she is currently halfway through. My job was to help her tally up the numbers on her data sheets. Combined it took us about 3 hours, and I’m just hoping I didn’t mess up the math somewhere along the way.
The rest of the time I worked on the projects from yesterday and helping Ms. Mackenzie work on more Kjeldahl nitrogen tests. She let me be more involved and do a lot of the pipetting (I’ve improved since yesterday yay). As for my organization projects, I got through the NH3 and Nitrate spreadsheets/reports
Image 1 & 2: Nicole’s Tally sheets (I did the furthest right columns & there are probably a bunch of math errors haha)
Image 3: spinning test tubes for the nitrogen test
VBA
Today, the controller was in numerous meetings about the new time management system: which means, I was left alone, tasked with finishing out the excel problem. As such, I devoted the majority of the day attempting to fix the infamous issues that plague the finance department!
Needless to say, I made numerous trips to the Stack Overflow archives, as Microsoft CEASED supporting VBA in 2006… it’s an artifact of another age, and it handles like one too. Countless unexplained issues later, I’m down to the final bug: two cells won’t evaluate out to being equal (despite having the EXACT same number in them…. odd.).
I’ve also learned that (132 – 4) * 13 makes for an AWFUL number of text boxes to close out of… Thank god for exit labels. Let’s just say that outdated practices made another comeback today.
I went out to lunch with the controller; we discussed colleges, and he offered to write me a rec for the future.
The 2 o’clock went off without a hitch, and there was minimal work done today across the board; no one does any work after the boss leaves the plant (good future lesson).
All in all, not the most exciting day, though I had fun debugging more code. Hopefully, Ms. Follet and I can go to the floor tomorrow; though, it depends on HR. Y’all then.
(no pictures today.)
Day 6- Quads, You’re Fired
I started off my adventure at Wake Orthopaedics in Cary this morning with Dr. Sarat Ganga, who specializes in trauma and fractures. The majority of the morning, we looked at X-Rays and and met with patients who had already broken their bones. All of the patients were post operation, but each was at a different point in time of recovery.
Dr. Ganga did a lot of tibia and patella surgeries, and he kept reminding the patients how their ultimate recovery goal was to be able to completely straighten out their leg while standing. When a patient can do so, it takes a lot less stress off of their quads. If they are constantly bending their knees, it can cause the quads to flair up and could cause problems with the muscle.
In the afternoon I shadowed Dr. Curt Hanson, who specializes in sports medicine and total joint replacements. We saw lots of arthritis and some fractures, but most of the patients were either post or pre operative meetings.
An interesting patient to interact with today was one who was addicted to narcotics. She was whiny and complained about crazy pain while her mobility was exceptional. It was interesting to see a patient like her in comparison to a patient who wanted to get better as soon as possible with a happy, positive attitude.
I noticed Dr. Hanson’s little quotes he mentioned every time with a pre-op patient. He would always end with “Let’s Get you Fixed”. I enjoyed today’s clinic with Dr. Hanson because of how he explained each procedure, MRI and X-Ray so in depth to me so I would be on the same page as everyone else in the room. He even asked me if I wanted to try to talk to some patients, but I quickly rejected the idea as I knew I lacked the knowledge to have a productive conversation.
Day 6 – Overview of HR
Today I got to the office around 10:00 a.m., per usual, but instead of arriving at building C, I went to building Q. I started out the day shadowing Kayla Woitkowski, one of the managers in human resources. After spending an hour talking with Kayla, we sat in on a presentation she was giving to all of the interns. This was a very interesting presentation to watch because it was directed at students. Kayla had a game they played after each part of her presentation, kind of like a kahoot. It was interesting to see what she threw in there to catch the attention of the younger generation and how she revised her presentation based on her audience. After the presentation, we ate lunch with a woman on her team named Kristen Stewart. After lunch, we met back with Kayla and she gave us another overview of her job. She told us what type of things she’s looking for when she recruits and more about her job. From 2:00-2:30 we also met with a woman named Jessica McNulty. Jess works for the university recruiting also and showed us the process that one goes through if they are being recruited or applied for a job. At 2:30, we returned to Kayla where we sat in and gave feedback with an early-onset meeting of potentially putting SAS recruiting in an Instagram sponsored ad. The picture I have included is a diagram that Kayla drew on the board when she was giving an overview of HR as a whole.
Day 6 – Tergus Pharma: Mhmm Fleshy…
Yay to new stuff! Liya and I worked with Monica and Brandon, two members of the IVPT (in vitro permeation testing) team. They test a drug’s potency and efficiency in penetrating through the multiple layers of our skin. Today, using skin tissue from donor cadavers, Brandon and Monica were comparing a marketed brand-name drug vs. a client’s proposed generic version. After soaking the excised skin in various solutions to preserve the living enzymes, vertical diffusion cells were used to mimic the way our skin and blood interact. A piece of the skin covers each jar which is filled with a solution, and a small dosage is applied to the skin. As the drug seeps through the skin, the drug mixes with solution which they measure in 4 hr. increments for 72 hrs!
The process wasn’t overly complex, but the procedure was incredibly meticulous. The skin had to be kept at an exact temp while each step needed to be written down with an explanation for each deviance from the guidelines. When the dosing steps begin, an auditor needed to be present to confirm that the work is in line with FDA regulations. We learned a lot about FDA guidelines such as Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and the implications of improper logging.
Afterwards, we met with another lab member, Lynn who worked with the mass spectrometer and liquid chromatographers. For one sample, she had to extract the solution in a dark room because the chemical was light-sensitive. Not gonna lie, many parts really went over my head, and the learning curve for the programs and aspects of the analysis is really steep. However, I’m glad I got to observe Lynn’s work because I learned a lot more about LC/MS functions.
Day 6: General Assembly
I arrived at the General Assembly at 9 a.m. and met Jess in the 1100 court–our usual spot. I worked on my tasks for the student webinar until Susanna joined as at 9:30, when we headed into the judiciary committee public meeting room. The committee meeting was hard to hear, as I was sitting in the back of the giant space. I discerned that the senators were discussing the Rape Evidence Toolkit Bill, an adoption Bill, and a bill about barbers (apparently electrolysis is a big deal when you’re a barber). I left about forty-five minutes through the meeting and walked to the press conference for Senator Pittman, who has introduced a bill to arm teachers. My Why Wake Walks peers had advocated for my attendance to oppose this new bill. Luckily, the crowd in support was small (95% were old white men, I might add) and the bill was so controversial that the General Assembly refused to prioritize. I listened with pursed lips as Paul Valone from Grassroots NC (directly quoted in an N&O article opposing the Why Wake Walks agenda and vowing to “kill any bill proposed”) stated all of the reasons why willing teachers should be armed. Each man argued the right for a student to be able to defend his/her students in the case of a shooting, and all prefaced the shooting with a “when”–not an “if.” These men were smart and educated enough to know that there will be another shooting, but unable to recognize the fact that a gun in the hands of a school shooter is what causes a school shooting. Not a novel concept, but ungraspable for these individuals. Nevertheless, the press conference was informative. It was so interesting to be in a room with numerous people who share view points that are the polar opposite of mine– I had been introduced to a new world.
Following the press conference, I attended the Fair Courts, Fair Votes Rally with Sarah and Molly. The rally was centered around a few new General Assembly bills introduced to redistrict Superior Courts for partisan advantage, as well as the probably upcoming Voter ID law that will disenfranchise many marginalized individuals.
In conclusion, today was both de-stressing and educational. I look forward to my two final days to come.
Day 6
Today, I shadowed some software engineers today. I can’t tell you what they showed me, but I learned a lot about embed programming and low-level programming. I got a chance to try programming in virtual studio. Virtual studio is very different from any IDE I had ever programmed in. It was much easier to program in as it is easier to move the aspects around than to reset the value across a grid. I made a project with two radio buttons and a single button that updated everything. Depending upon which radio button was clicked when the update button was clicked different text would show. I also had time to work on the software for my project. I began by writing out an algorithm design and implementing code. I used example libraries to help me as I am not as familiar with C as java. Additionally, Zack had an idea to create a user interface. This meant connecting Arduino and another IDE called Processing. This is done through serial communication, something I had never done before. This creates a series of calls and responses. While this makes the program more interesting, it creates some challenges as multiple messages can not be sent. Therefore, the messages must be combined into something that can be passed into a single message and then decoded on the other side. I created a way to put together and decode a message. Check it out below. Tomorrow I shall try to finish up the code and put everything together, as I shall make a presentation on Thursday about my project. Luckily, I have documented very well so it shall be easy to prepare. I hope that as I begin to try to fit everything together that I haven’t made any errors.
Day 6- Orthodontics
As I mentioned last week Sims Family Dentistry is closed on Tuesdays. So today, I will not be going into the office and I decided to focus my research for the day on something that delves a little deeper into the world of dentistry: orthodontics.
Orthodontics requires the same knowledge of the mouth and skull that is required for dentistry, but to a deeper extent. An orthodontist must complete dental school and receive the same degree that a dentist would receive, but they must also complete three to five years more of specialized training regarding specifics of how teeth move and how teeth movement and the bite can be changed. This specialized training involves several exams throughout the time period to ensure that a student has a wide knowledge of the topics they are being tested on. Students pursuing orthodontic certification are also presented with several cases and are to discuss how they would treat these certain cases and a time frame for the treatment. All of this may not seem like much but the schooling is quite rigorous and only 6% of dental school students progress forward and become orthodontists.
This 11 years of college (4 undergrad, 4 in dental school, 3 in orthodontic study) comes with a somewhat hefty price, but pays off when a starting orthodontist receives their salary. Orthodontists who own their own practice can also decide their own hours and many of them, like dentists, are only open four days a week and they sometimes practice at several locations. The salary is dependent on the geographical location where the orthodontist works, much. Like any other job, but in my opinion the salary they receive is much worth the education required to get there.
A few short years ago, I finished my time in the orthodontist’s chair. I had two sets of braces, a retainer, three oral surgeries and it took around 6 years, but it was all worth it. Orthodontists have to work with people, mostly children, every day and interact socially with both them and their parents. Along with understanding what it is like to be a patient in the orthodontic experience, I also love interacting with people and I have a passion for children.
These past few days I have seen a few kids in the office who had braces. I have been able to witness their treatment from the dentistry side of it all and understand why they have difficulty in cleaning their teeth along with why they have frequent and slight bleeding in their gums. I have found that the way orthodontics effects the oral cavity and the bite of someone’s teeth is quite interesting and I think that it is important to have braces because from what I have seen in several patients is that it can prohibit certain problems from occurring in the future.
Orthodontics seem interesting, and I find it interesting how closely they relate with oral hygiene and the problems a dentist deals with on a daily basis. I am interested in hopefully seeing more kids in the office this week with braces, even though that is not my primary focus. After today it will be goodbye orthodontics, and hello again to dentistry!
Photo Citation: “Youtube.” Youtube, m.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wp37UanAOs.
More driving, more meetings, more models!
Apparently, my wicked good looks and on the spot smarts make me look like an actual agent because EVERY SINGLE PLACE I went today someone asked what agency I worked for. I’m 17 guys, not that hard. Today started at 10, a bit earlier than usual, with a tech tips meeting. We pretty much learned how to use the KWMLS (Keller Williams Multiple Listings Service) and how we can put leads into a database. In real estate, leads are the biggest help because they help agents gain listings and therefore gain business (and money)! Afterwards, I re-parked my car because anyone that has seen me drive knows that is a necessary endeavor, which made Natalie and I almost late to the team meeting. In the conference room, we met with Kristi, Sarah, Ed, and all of the other agents to catch up on how everything is going. The team members shared leads and listings, a mortgage agent answered any questions, an attorney helped brief everyone on what to do, and everybody thanked each other for all the hard work. Naturally, Natalie and I headed out after to go check out even more new construction. I’m not going to lie, at this point every house looks the same. We went to one development near CA that was nice, albeit cookie cutter, that gave us good insights into the difference between Cary and Durham’s new developments. Afterwards, we headed out to check out another model, learning a lot more about what is takes to both stage and sell a model home. Finally, we headed to another development near downtown Cary and while there was no model, the agent on duty was more than happy to brief us on both the neighborhood and the industry as a whole. I have to admit, with each day of work, my interest in real estate just intensifies!