This week has seen an evolution in the direction of my project with the strategy group, as well as the beginning of another piece of work with Ross. This work is concerned with marketing and is being split between Claire and myself. We have been given a complete blank canvas to work with which is very exciting and another reason why I’m glad I chose Lab49! This piece of work will also give us exposure to one of the main project management styles used by The Lab. Although Ross previously gave us quite a detailed explanation of how projects are run here, I’m sure experiencing the execution of the principles and practices we discussed will add greatly to our knowledge of high level project management.

Monday night marked the 1^st time I had been awake enough to watch my beloved WWE Wrestling ‘live’ on US TV. It finishes at 11.15, you see, and I currently consider that a very late night indeed due to my relatively early wake up time of around 6am.

Later in the week, The Team ventured into Manhattan’s Little Italy district for some authentic Italian cuisine and culture. Well you didn’t expect us to go there looking for Japanese food did you? Speaking of Japanese food Ross took me, Claire and new project manager Chok to a sushi restaurant for lunch on Thursday. Anyone who knows me knows how I feel about seafood. In my life only 4 things are certain…

1)      Death

2)      Taxes

3)      There is a Starbucks within 500 metres

4)      Stuart Gorman won’t be happy

5)      I hate seafood

Yeah I know that was 5. The point is, I don’t like seafood. I’m scared of it. But I decided to give it another chance because after all the Saltire Foundation is all about expanding ones horizons, experiencing different cultures etc. When in Rome eat a raw fish, right?

I ordered a chicken dish from the sushi bar but this came with the condition that I had to try a piece of Ross’ meal. I selected a salmon-looking thing and set about trying to pick it up with my chopsticks, an art I definitely have a long way to go in mastering. Tension in the room was building as I finally managed to grasp the food with the sticks and I could feel myself sweating. I hadn’t been this nervous since opening up my Aeroelasticity 4 exam paper (ask an Aero student about this and watch the colour drain from their face) and it took me several minutes to regain my composure and put the fish in my mouth…

I tried to enjoy it, I really did, but unfortunately I fear sushi will always be classified in the same category in my mind. Red Reels…

Anyway before that significant tangent, which I will now be wiping from my mind, I was going on about visiting Little Italy. I’m a huge fan of the famous Glasgow restaurant of the same name so I was keen to see if the real thing was just as good. And if they would accept my Little Italy discount card. It was and they didn’t.

On the way to Little Italy one has to pass through Chinatown. Whilst I found this pretty enjoyable, I was very surprised to learn that Chinatown and Little Italy were right next to each other in Manhattan. Now I’m no geography expert but I was expecting to have to (at the very least) eat chocolate in Swisstown, drink vodka in Russiatown and do Mongolian stuff in Little Mongolia whilst on the road from Little Italy to Chinatown.

Time in the office really is starting to fly past now as I am dividing myself between work on 2 different fronts but I wouldn’t have it any other way, after all, time flies when you’re busy/having fun/learning/eating free cookies.

Friday afternoon in The Palace of Wisdom was notable as in the early afternoon the place turned from a ghost town into a bustling centre of noise and pizza. The company holds regular lunch time presentations where a staff member talks about something which interests them and may be useful to others and the office was packed full of keen listeners. Oh and free pizza is provided as well, which helps. The title of Friday’s talk was ‘Getting Things Done’ by Joe Morrison, a senior figure at Lab49 Tower and it focused on advanced time management techniques for busy professionals. This was very well presented and interesting – Joe is obviously an accomplished cutter of promos – and I can see myself applying some of the principles discussed to my daily life. In a few weeks time they are running a workshop on blogging which I shall be attending. I may even write a (much improved) blog about it.

I’ll wrap things up by saying 2 things; Firstly as my internship progresses I am being exposed to more and more different people’s ways of managing and doing things. There really are a plethora (great word) of ways to skin a small furry animal at The Lab.

Secondly I’m realizing more and more how amazing this city is, people often say it’s the only place in the world where you can get anything at any time. Yesterday I was very close to purchasing a bright pink blazer which was reduced from $895 to $40…..and Ross tells me he proved this theory a few years ago by sourcing someone who would deliver you a yacht on a Saturday afternoon.

Let’s see if I can top that one…