Julie Minevich

As I mentioned, last week it was just me and the VP of marketing in the office. By thursday afternoon, I had pretty much gone through my list of “things to do”, so I decided to visit my old job on friday and help out there. That was my first mistake.

They are doing a new type of training in a couple weeks and I usually handle cover artwork creation and editing (grammatical and spacing) the manual itself. Because of the fourth of july weekend, our goal was to get the manuals to the printer, cover and all, by noon.

I arrived at about 10:00am and started frantically trying to get everything done. I use an old computer, and at one point, when I was opening up the manual document – 80 pages, full of heavy pictures – the computer froze. I went to restart the computer, but when it was shutting down, it froze. So, I pressed the power on button to get it to restart that way. Imagine my horror when I got a blue screen saying something was really wrong (don’t remember exactly what- the registry?) and to get the administrator.

I was literally shaking when I walked over to get our network administrator. It brought back all the memories of being a little kid and breaking the laptops my step-father gave me to use (which he brought home from work and were probably not doing well anyway). Anyway, the administrator, who is a really nice guy, but who I’m afraid to ask for help, told me that the data on the computer wasn’t lost… so I relaxed, a tiny bit.

But, let’s put it this way- my boss was not a happy camper (completely understandble). My boss had herself admitted that she does not handle stress well. I, on the other hand, being a college student, finishing assignments last minute, and dealing with my mother, have learned how to be cool, calm and collected in a stressful situation.

Friday before fourth of july, everyone trying to get out of the office, and having this crisis was very bad timing. The computer I used at work had all the company’s website stuff on it, all the special application, Adobe Suite, you get the idea…

Long story short, the manuals and cover were done by 8pm Friday night. The computer is now up and running. Hopefully, my boss will be in a better mood next time we talk. Hey, at least it was an interesting day, and as I told my boss (who was not amused), it makes for a good story.

Yesterday, I was having a conversation with two of our sales guys about how if I got arrested for rioting, it would be totally worth it.

On a side note, I understand that rioting is both disruptive and destructive. But, I think of it as a giant pep rally, something we didn’t have in high school. As a former high school cheerleader, I love school spirit and it was one of the biggest things that attracted me to Maryland. My school has cracked down on it so much that it’s become almost nothing more than students running to the “downtown area” and chanting phrases like “ACC champs!”, “F*ck Duke!”, and “over-rated!”. Yes, we stop traffic, yes, there are people who light fires, and yes, it costs the university money to staff the police officers and then clean up afterwards. But, I don’t think the university is doing anything to help the situation. If there was a designated place for students to go, like frat row, we wouldn’t crowd the streets, we’d celebrate together on that field. They could block off a space for fires, and that way keep everything in check. Students would still have a sense of being wild and crazy, without doing damage to the town’s property.

Anyway, after I made the comment that rioting would be worth getting arrested, one of my co-workers told me that I needed to mature a little (or grow up a little? something to that effect). That’s where he’s wrong. I need to stay as immature, as young, as possible.

I’m nineteen. This is my summer. Most of my peers are spending their summers sleeping until 12 or at summer camps or waitressing. I go to work every day, I dress like an adult, I try to sound like an adult. There’s no one here under the age of 25… Most of my friends go out partying with their co-workers; that’s something I wouldn’t ever thing of doing with mine. I spend my days talking about networks and tradeshows and collateral and leads and websites and analysts and partners and territories… you get the idea.

In some ways, I’m missing out on being “my age”. So, if my thinking is a little immature, that’s because it’s supposed to be!