intern hopes and woes..

just finished writing my report so decided to take a break and finally update my blog. yes i know it has been a long time since i last blogged. i think that the last time i blogged, dinosaurs still existed...
well, other than the fact that i have to wake up at 545am every morning, life at PHILIPS has been good. I am supposed to write a log book of sorts to write on what i have done. so i guess i could kill 2 birds with 1 stone by blogging about it as well. the downside is that some parts may bore you... cos i know it's bored me...
some of the work here is mundane...for example, while doing data entry, i actually fell asleep at my computer...that's how repititive my work was... lesson learnt: never ask an intern to data entry when i am still getting used to waking up before the sun rises...
but i can't blame my company for that. after all, it is not their fault. they can't expect me to go and design a product for them from the start. i've got to slowly ease myself into the complexities of product design. in the meantime, this "easing" process is making me fall asleep.
but i just realised one thing. blogging makes me look busy.. haha... here i am typing furiously at my keyboard and all my seniors are giving me that look of approval like as if i'm doing alot of work. they probably thought someone just shot me an arrow and this young chap started work on it straight away like the diligent man he is... boy are they mistaken or what...
that doesn't mean i want to slack here as an intern. the real reason i'm slacking is because i finished my work and also because my supervisor is away on a business trip. thankfully for me (and his colleagues), there's a shortage of staff so i'm given all the work the colleagues either don't want or wouldn't have done if not for the walking target board they can pass the work to. that's my impression anyway.

OFFICIALLY, i've so far..
1. measured, recorded and analysed readings needed for Cp and Cpk analysis.

UNOFFICALLY, that means i've stood for 8 hours along a factory line surrounded by aunties..randomly taking out samples from the line, then measuring the size of the compressed rivets. (if the rivets are uniformly compressed, the machine is working well). each sample has 9 rivets. i measured 50 samples.. so you can calculate how many rivets i measured. (and being the conscientious person that i am, i measured each rivet twice...) so you can imagine how sick i was of rivets after that.. haha..

but still.. i did enjoy learning these new terms called Cp an Cpk.. these terms are readily taught to industrial engineers so the fact that i'm slowly coming on level terms with them can only be a good thing.. it'd benefit me alot if i was not just a mechanical engineer.
then again, i suspect all ME students will learn this eventually either in school or in work.. but learning it before everyone else can't be a bad thing =)i'm looking forward to my first big project here. i really hope that all this analysis and date recording and entry (which any O level student can do to be honest) are just preparing me for that big challenge looming ahead. like i said, my supervisor isn't in so for all i know, he already has a project in mind for me. it's just that he hasn't told me about it.
i like challenges.. at the very least, they can keep me awake!! if i have to do data entry for the whole internship, i think i'll soon be known as "the sleepy one".. people will start theorising that i must be one of those covert "ah bengs" that look innocent on the outsie but actually havoc through the graveyard shift at night.. after all, they would reason, what else could explain me nodding off everytime i key in data.
well i'm certainly wide awake now when just half an hour ago i was struggling to key in the next digit... and i think the reason for the difference is obvious.. i'm using my brain now!!
philips seems like they could do with more engineers to solve their design issues.. and i'm a student dying for a challenge.... so hopefully we'll be the perfect match... if not, i guess i could always blog and look busy again..haha