Iain Wilcox

When 'Good Night' is really 'Good Morning'...

So here I am.

I sit alone in Seattle's SeaTac airport at 7am after a sunrise flight from Bellingham, and find myself in a mood of tired, but quiet reflection. I've just been skinned $8 for some internet access to pass the time, so I think it would be a wise move to post my final entry.

Whilst this is the end of the internship, it is the start of my 10 day adventure. But in some respects, it's not really the end of anything. The last 8 weeks of my life have literally vanished before my eyes, and I could not have wished for an adventure any more amazing. The last 8 weeks have given me a taste of what it is like to work at an international organisation, experiencing a new culture and a new lifestyle amongst new people. The last 8 weeks represent what life might be like after I have graduated, and hopefully, landed that dream job somewhere.

I am so lucky to be here, and to have been trusted to take on such a massive opportunity. So firstly I want to thank all at the Saltire Foundation (past & present) for making this possible- Irene, Melissa, Innis, Jen, and anyone else working behind the scenes.
Then there's the great people at SPIE who took a risk on me, and had the vision to make this work. Randy, Paul and Peter, thank you. And thanks again to all the people who made sure we were having the best of experiences both in and out of the office; people of which there are too many to name individually, but you all know who you are.
Thanks also to Lorraine, for being a great placement buddy and for putting up with me for 2 whole months... (we never did make it back to Mallard's did we? Next time for sure!)
And lastly to the man at the Bose sound station in the airport, who, as I stare out over the tarmac on what looks like another blistering morning on the west coast, plays Paolo Nutini through his sound systems. That's just the icing on the cake, and a little whisper in my ear- Home is calling.

Over the past 8 weeks I have done things I never imagined I would do, seen places I had previously only dreamed of seeing, and have made contacts that I know I will keep for a very long time to come.
They said that this would change your life. Now I don't want to get all slushy, but it has. And so for anyone reading this in the coming months who is considering whether or not to apply for 2009, I will say this: Dr Pepper. For what's the worst that could happen? You might just find yourself sitting here at this airport in 12 months time, having had probably the best summer of your life, that has opened your mind to so many new opportunities, and will land you with friends and contacts on the other side of the globe. Who else can say that?

So although the work is finished, the benefits will still be felt for a long time to come, not just for me, but for all the interns and all the stakeholders this year. And that's a benefit that will ensure the longevity of the Saltire Foundation for years and years into the future.

And so, without further ado, I'd like to end this here by recycling a scribble on a sticky note that was left on my desk on the last day in the office. It read, simply but effectively: "Thanks for being cool".

To everyone, I truly mean that.

Should I stay or go?

This week has been another eventful one. The Labor Day weekend in Vancouver was really fun. Arriving Saturday afternoon and leaving Monday afternoon, gave us 2 full days there. It has been my favourite city I have visited on the trip so far. Downtown is like a city of glass, everything is new and sparkles, and the city itself is really clean and green (with the exception of East Hastings at the cheap end of town, where happened to be our 'budget' hotel, slap bang in the middle of the bronx...).
There is a huge park that covers a large piece of land that sticks out into the bay, called Stanley Park, and is about 10km all the way around. There are beaches and marinas along the trails, and it's the place to go for exercise or relaxing. After finding our bearings on Saturday, we decided that this would be the place to go on Sunday, so hired roller-blades and skated around the park from the start to the finish. Not realising it was so far to get around, we made good use of the large beach at English Bay and rested a while before getting back into the city late afternoon.
Vancouver has a vibrant ex-pat community from Hong Kong, making up a large percentage of the residents of the city, so we took advantage of this Asian flavour and dined at a Korean restaurant in the evening. After a hard earned sleep, Monday was spent downtown, amongst all the big name stores and some cool boutiques too. I managed to find a huge suitcase which I was in desperate need of to fit all my newly acquired stuff in before going home, so I was happy. Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the station to check in for the train.
(We needed to go through immigration again so had to be there in plenty of time to answer the same old brain teasers... Are you carrying: Explosives? No. Firearms? No. Livestock? Ehmm... No.)

And almost as soon as it had begun, the long weekend was over and it was back to work on Tuesday. We had our Bonfire / BBQ on Tuesday evening at a place called Birch Bay near the Canadian border, and it was at a location that was simply stunning. So peaceful, and so relaxing. Which makes the next part all the more shocking:

Click here.

The town in question lies less than 20 miles South of Bellingham.

And so Wednesday began. I spent the day with Kevin, the New Media Projects Manager, who deals with all things New Media (digital & interactive content, if you weren't sure). It's a new position that he has been promoted into, so things are just getting up to speed for him. We edited some video footage from Optics & Photonics for most of the afternoon, after spending the morning in a brainstorming session with Amy, SPIE's PR manager, about new ways of innovation and engagement with the various client groups that SPIE serve. I must say, that was one of my favourite meetings since starting 8 weeks ago since it dealt with a really concentrated marketing philosophy: adding value in a way that is meaningful to both the client and the organisation to achieve benefits that can be recorded and measured, then communicated through each department in a way that allows them to become more customer focussed. (Wuft! That's enough head-frying for you, poor reader)

Anyway, I REALLY enjoyed it, and it's a shame to get involved in something like that so close to the end, because I can't add anything more to it. And it's clear that the fun has only just begun for them in that area.
And so it got me thinking: should I stay or go?
I don't actually have a choice about it, but I do have mixed feelings. I am excited to be going home but at the same time I have really enjoyed this experience and will be sad when it's over. Tomorrow is the last day, I should get my market development wrapped up in the morning and will spend a couple of hours tidying up my data sheets so that the next step of the Industry Outreach initiative can be continued from where I left it without too much trouble. I need to also see so many of the people who have been so good to us over the past 8 weeks and thank them in person for making us feel right at home from day 1; that should be a task in itself. Then after work is our leaving party, along with one of the other members of staff who is also moving on. The weekend is our own, but there is still a lot to get done, primarily seeing the friends we have made here one final time, before getting out the door for 4am on Monday morning for the airport.

But for me the journey doesn't finish there. I will stay on for a bit, firstly going to Chicago for 5 days to meet up with Andy and Euan, then going off on my own to San Diego for a few days before taking the train from there back up to Seattle, and finally arriving home 2 weeks from now- stretching the trip to 10 weeks. I think it is at that point, when I get back to my flat and crash into my own bed, that I will finally realise what it is that I have just done.

The beginning of the end

So that was week 7.
In some ways it feels like we have been here for ever. In others, it feels like we have only just arrived. I'm really comfortable here, but at the same time I'm starting to think about finishing up next week and heading off to do my own thing. Already we've had to do some goodbyes, both from the CEO Eugene Arthurs and Senior Director Andy Brown. They're away to Europe (including a stop in Glasgow for an event and a quick visit to the Saltire Foundation), and it was very flattering to have them stop by and wish us the very best for the future. It's equally flattering to know that people at SPIE really have taken an interest in what we have been doing and how it affects and benefits the organisation. I'm really interested and also very keen to see what happens between the Saltire Foundation and SPIE next year, especially since circumstances have allowed a face-to-face meeting between the executives, and also just from the general buzz that surrounds any mention of 'The Interns' within the office. Knowing that we have performed well is one thing, but seeing a relationship develop between both parties for next year would be another, and a relationship that I know I have played a major part in creating. Most of what happens now is out of my hands, but I've played my part and I know I've done the best I can...

No pictures this time, partly down to laziness, but still plenty other stuff to talk about. It's (finally) the Labor Day weekend, the holiday that's been teasing us since we arrived. I don't really know the ins and outs of what Labor Day is all about, but apparently nobody goes to work. So Labor Day then... they might want to look into the name of it?

It seems that everyone has made plans too, the guys down in Houston heading to New Orleans and hopefully defying the hurricane that is looming down there, and Lorraine and I venturing at long last to Vancouver after getting our Visa's approved to cross the border. I've lost count of the amount of people who have sang the praises of the city, and with it being so close (about 70 miles), it has been frustratingly out of reach until now. So leaving tomorrow, we have 2 and a half days to explore yet another great city. Don't get me wrong, we have traveled A LOT since arriving, sometimes on a whim and sometimes planned ahead, but this really is the opportunity of a lifetime and i don't want to waste it by staying in the same place for too long. As soon as we come back, we're having a Bonfire / BBQ thrown in our honour on Tuesday evening (anyone one from SPIE reading this is cordially invited too, incase you haven't heard already), along with casual lunches and dinners peppered throughout the remainder of the week with various others, not to mention our official leaving party after work on Friday....

Work has been slightly varied this week, doing more of the same market development research carried from last week, along with some sessions in the boardroom on internet Findability, a debrief from the Optics & Photonics meeting in San Diego 2 weeks ago, a very involving conundrum regarding memberships to the society and potential growth routes, and lastly some web analytics looking at web traffic. I'd really love to expand on what it is i'm actually doing on these tasks, but that would mean giving away some really secret secrets to people who we don't want finding out! Also, because marketing is my major, a lot of the things that we do in the office and the reasons behind why we do them are second nature to me, so forgive me if I sometimes sound a little brief or maybe even blase about them. Believe me it's not like that at all!

Also, the snowcone truck made a stop outside the reception this week to give everyone a snowcone on-the-house, but not before a good old fashioned game of Bean Bag Toss in the gardens and a chance to make a complete fool of myself. Still, my efforts didn't go completely to waste, since I won a pre-paid Starbucks card for my sharp shooting skills! Gotta love the Starbucks mindset, they've got concession stalls inside every supermarket in Bellingham. I don't really want to try wrestling a wonky wheeled trolley round a 2 acre grocery store whilst carrying a burning hot beverage so I think I'll save it for later.

That's pretty much all the chat I have left for now. Will try to blog again soon with another update but I know that next week will be non-stop for work and events so will do my best to keep you informed.

Oh, and if you're really bored, or better yet if you're reading this at work (Rory), Google my name....

I'm kicking ass! It must be all those Findability meetings...

The best made plans

The best made plans always go to waste. This is a saying that rings so true for us....

Saturday was great fun, the sun was out and we chilled in Bellingham at Boulevard Park before heading out on the town for some good wholesome fun.

Sunday was forecast for heavy rain, so we decided to play it safe and not go to the San Juan islands incase we would end up stuck in the car all day. Not wanting to waste having the car, we drove down to Seattle instead, after a hearty French breakfast in town. It was pretty warm until about an hour after we got there, at which point the heavens opened. Still, we made the most of it, and got pretty wet in the process.

I then enjoyed what I think was my most difficult drive I have ever done, 90 miles up Interstate 5 in torrential rain amongst some crazy drivers who didn't even have the courtesy (or sense) to put their lights on, on roads that probably don't see that quantity of water very often....

Lorriane was scared, Rory was thrilled, and I was just speechless. Still, now I have the confidence to drive a left hand drive car in a foreign country in some serious weather...

Who's going to drive you home.... tonight?

You know that track 'Drive' by The Cars? That's our background for this one!

Are you ready?

WE HAVE A CAR!

A Station Wagon, to be precise. Just for the weekend, all insured and everything, given to us by the lovely MaryJoe from the meetings department. It's nothing when compared with Kyle's monster from Sun, but it moves, it's safe, and it's going to get us to the San Juan islands to the South this Sunday.

San Juan is the place that pretty much everyone has asked 'have you been there yet?', to which we've always had to reply by staring far into the distance, putting on the saddest face imaginable, and saying, 'no, if only we had a car, we could get down there....'

Well sad face no more, interns!!!

Although, we only had the car an hour before we were in the tyre repair garage getting a slow puncture seen to, which by this point, we found hilarious as it seems to be just our luck with anything that needs inflated. Remember the bikes saga? And, to rub salt in the wounds, we punted our football onto the roof of the school opposite our apartment while playing football tonight.

Anything with air in it, we break. Fact.

So, the car development is top secret from Rory, who is currently on a flight to Seattle to come see us so we can surprise him with a mystery tour on Sunday.....

Work has picked up a little since I last wrote. We're doing more research into market development, trying to understand more about a selection of clients, and spot any similarities that may exist between them. Along with this, we're doing a little bit of new media jazz, putting video content onto the website, and also dropping by a few 'Findability' meetings (how easy can we be found online). Some of the technical details go right over my head, but it's nonetheless interesting to see the inner workings of things I would normally take for granted.

At 5pm, it's still not over for us, oh no! On the work / networks side, we squeezed in that dinner with Adam, the Promotions Project Manager, round at his amazing house with his family. Last night we also went to a baby shower for a member of the marketing team, before hitting downtown with Andy, a senior executive in the organisation who is a Fife boy through and through.

It's really hard being a student intern you know. So many dinners to go to, so much wine to toast with, so many beers to chat over....

How to break the blog in 5 easy minutes

Ok, I'll admit that IT WAS ME.

I broke the blog.

There I was trying to do a nice thing for all the people who stop by to read about my adventures by uploading a cheery photo of myself to sit next to this fine bit of literature.  Nothing bad, no?

Agreed!

So, Choose file. Upload. Bingo. Good work Iain.

So I skip away to Rory's blog to see his take on our wild weekend, and there I am grinning like an idiot at the top of his page. And, more frighteningly, at the top of everone's page that has the 'display photo' button checked.

So I have a small panic, and try to retrace my steps to undo the done deed. Typepad was having none of it, the swine! So, now at the top of some of the blogs you will see the pretty 'Saltire Foundation' logo (see top right) looking all sweet and innocent.

Believe me it's much more appropriate than my cheeser.

So friends, deal with me as you see fit. I await your sentence with head hung low.....

"D

As promised...

"The coldest winter I ever experienced was a summer in San Francisco" (Mark Twain)

It was a bit chilly than what we were used to, but that was about as chilled out as it got in San Francisco. From the moment we got into the city centre from the airport and met up with Rory, it was non-stop until getting back on the flight to Seattle the next evening.

Getting a tiny bit of sleep on the bus from Bellingham to Seattle cushioned the long day on Saturday slightly, but I did make a few extra trips to the coffee kitchen today to try and keep myself 'hydrated' after such an action packed weekend. We arrived into Seattle at 4.30am, and tried in vain to get a pint of beer with some breakfast. Washington state laws only allow alcohol sales between 6am & 2am, even in airports. You wouldn't get that back home!! We were into San Francisco city centre by about 10.30 and met up with Rory to dump our bags, before doing a little 'speed sightseeing'. (You know the sort- do the important stuff, then bail.) We jumped on a cable car, possibly the most dangerously overcrowded and inefficient method of transport after the Glasgow Subway, and went to the top of the famous hills before deciding enough was enough and jumping off to head into China town. We grabbed some lunch from a local Chinese place which wasn't really up to much, and headed on to the piers to see the sea lions who hang out on the decking. I've never been to Blackpool, but I imagine this is what it must be like: crowded, tacky, ignorant and just wrong. There was an Irish themed souvenir shop amongst it all. Do I need to say any more....? Even though we're technically tourists, you dont feel like it after so long in this country. The last thing we wanted was to be surrounded by Brits. The Saltire experience is supposed to be an adventure, so we headed back into the city to find some more authentic things to do.

After making our way to an altogether trendier part of town (I know, life is hard!), we grabbed a couple of drinks and did some people watching before going to the Safeway food store. It's the same one that we used to have before it got bought over by Morissons, but with much more for your money (PUN!!!), so we headed to the refreshments section to see just how much more we could get. We did rather well, and so hustled back to Rory's to get ready for a healthy night out on the sauce.

It was at this point that Kyle arrived from Santa Clara in his very lush hire car from Sun Microsystems, along with designated driver Simon, another Sun intern. After this, we ventured out into the evening to test the nightlife....

Our tests proved rather successful... Suffice it to say that there were 4 very sore heads in the morning!

Having the car made the Sunday more straightforward, and allowed us to nip over the Golden Gate bridge to get some brunch on the opposite side of the bay. Whilst being a real pull for sightseers, the bridge also serves 8 lanes of traffic, so it's crazy busy with both cars and pedestrians. Unfortunately though, foot traffic is free but cars are $5 so we had to cough up for the privilege of getting on it. Even our best "But bridges are free in Scotland" chat was getting us nowhere with the bridge attendants....

Before we knew it it was time to head back to the airport. Even though it's only a 2 hour flight, check in and transfers stretched the journey time to 8 hours, so at 2.30pm we had to drag ourselves away after only 28 hours there. That part I didn't enjoy so much!

Still, the trip was thoroughly worth it and I'd go so far as to say I'd do it again next weekend. But, there's no need, since Rory has been sold by our talk of golden sunsets and beautiful scenery and is coming up to ours to see what all the fuss is about.....!

On the work front things are a little quiet. Today I concluded the mapping exercise and actually have nothing to do when I get to the office tomorrow. Half day perhaps? I should be so lucky! There'll be a new task up and running by the end of the week so I'll be sure and update.

In the meantime, here's ten things you should know about San Francisco:

1) A select few people there are infuriatingly rude...but some of the European tourists are just as bad.
2) Homeless jakes will walk up to you and ask you for money as if you owed them it outright. The cheek!
3) The transport system sucks.
4) Good service doesn't come as standard. Sometimes you may as well serve yourself....
5) ...There is such a thing as a free lunch.
6) The nightlife kicks.
7) It's cold!
8) It's cool!
9) It's hot!
10)I love it.

A big thanks to Rory and Kyle for an amazing experience!

Now I need to get myself some more sleep, it's late already. Time flies when you're having fun!

San Francisco and back

It’s true. Virgin America are amazing. Vases of fresh flowers at check in, jazz funk music at the gate area and mood lighting on the plane made the trip that little bit special.
It was great catching up with Rory and Kyle, seeing another great city and making the most of the Saltire experience. It was a really useful reference point to be able to talk about our internships so far, and also just to sit round a table with some drinks and get the banter with other Scottish accents. It’s strange in that it immediately removed the sense distance we are from home, because in that moment we were just a group of friends hanging out and I completely forgot where we were.

It’s only about 700 miles to San Francisco, but the way of life seemed a world away. Whilst the city lived up to some of it’s stereotypes, a lot of the romance and glamour was missing. You forget it’s a working city and not just a tourist attraction when you watch too much American TV. The city certainly had an attitude and I found it quite like London: edgy, grumpy, exciting, diverse and multicultural.

Rory was an excellent tour guide, even though he himself had only been in the city for just over a week, and even though it was a flying visit I feel we achieved a lot.

Better split now though, it’s time I left for the office. Will give you all the lowdown when I get home tonight…

A weekend to remember...

Everyone you meet in America has Scottish ancestry. Even 'Kent', the cashier in the local supermarket. "I was named after a county there, you see".

Go Kent!

You have to love the amount of people here who claim Scottish ancestry (rightly or wrongly). I knew we would get a little bit of that kind of chat, but it really is every 3rd or 4th person you meet that plays the 'me too' card when they ask where you're from.

So, after 5 weeks, my ''act surprised" routine is foolproof. I might even try and get an acting job on River City when I get home, just for beer money...

Anyway, I digress. It's about half 8 on a friday night and we are in the apartment, getting ready to go for a disco nap, we're back up at 1am for the San Francisco weekender.

Laptop is coming, so will blog again at the airport. This is my first trip away since Seattle 3 weeks ago, and I'm really looking forward to it. As much as Bellingham is a wonderful place, it lacks real hustle and bustle. Whilst I'm not homesick, I do miss the city lifestyle.

It will also be a Saltire Foundation West Coast reunion, not to mention Rory's birthday too, so it's going to be a team effort! Let's just hope we don't end up in Alcatraz....

Speak soon...

Small, Small, Small World

The last couple of days we have broken up our market research by spending some time in tutorials with a PPM (Promotions Project Manager), who is responsible for the communications processes which occur in the lead up to one of SPIE's industry events. With a big SPIE event (Optics + Photonics) underway in San Diego this week, the marketing department is pretty quiet, so Lorraine and I have been hanging out with the very funny Adam, who talked us through the various roles that a PPM plays, and also showed us the sweets drawer next to the graphic artist's station (big mistake!!).

We updated some web content from a news feed coming from the San Diego show, and did a little housekeeping around the SPIE home page, before constructing an e-mail to be sent to industry professionals, a final rallying call for them to attend an upcoming event in Europe.... non other than SPIE Optical Systems Design 2008 at Glasgow Caledonian University! (100% Coincidence)

Now, if I may direct you to Rory's post entitled 'When will I, Will I be Famous', amongst other interns' SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION (we love it), you will see that their cheesing grins have appeared on their respective university home pages along with the news of the Saltire Foundation internships....

....pretty much everyone I think...................except me!

Now stick on that Boy George and Culture Club track- 'Do you really want to hurt me?', and leave it on repeat for a while.....

But on the plus side, Adam has invited us round for dinner, and all of a sudden everything seems better.