following up

The site is complete and live as of this afternoon. The stakeholders chose my completely overhauled version of the site over the existing site with minor revisions.

Here it is: http://smartsolutionsonline.com/

Today my sponsor offered me a paid position at Smart Solutions, and I plan to start next week. Success!

Airdate

My story on Cleveland Flameouts will air tomorrow night, June 2, at 10:45 pm on WUAB 43's Sports Extra show. It's a 3 minute and 30 second story that I'm going to introduce, and also features me on the voice over. If you miss it, I'll also play it on Friday for my presentation.

-Myles

Part 2 of Project: Boston

My time in Boston has definitely been a very different experience than that with ReCreation. I have spent my time with a family friend who is an otolaryngologist, head and neck surgeon, as well as a plastic surgeon. He has 2 offices, one affiliated with the Mass Eye and Ear hospital where he primarily sees his head and neck patients and the other is a private office for the cosmetic part of his practice. I was able to follow him at both offices during his days where he sees patients. It was interesting to see the differentiation in patients between the two practices. Most patients were willing to allow me to observe and very nice. On the day I went to his cosmetic office, some of those patients were a little more private, however many of the procedures are the same, so once I observed a couple I got the big picture. In his otolaryngology practice many of his patients suffer from allergies, head colds, hearing problems and some other mainstream ear, nose, and throat problems. However, Dr. Lazor does a lot with head and neck cancers and septoplastys. A septoplasty is basically when someone breaks their nose and the main portion of the cartilage is moved, which causes trouble breathing. Many of his patients have the surgery because of breathing problems as sometimes one side of their nose can be almost completely blocked. A rhinoplasty is similar except that it usually involves some type of cosmetic portion besides fixing the septum. I was able to observe in the OR with him a septoplasty, a rhinoplasty, as well as a cancer cell removal from the nose and a skin graft. All of the surgeries were interesting to watch, sometimes a little gruesome at some points but I was not grossed out. Watching them use the mallet to break/move the cartilage etc was probably the worst part. The last day I spent with his wife who is an anesthesiologist. That day she was working at a surgery center on the team with an orthopedic surgeon. These surgeries were all arthroscopic shoulder and knee surgeries. It was very interesting to watch this as it was much different from the rhinoplastys etc. Watching the surgeries from her point of view also gave me a different perspective. Although I obviously was not allowed to do anything pertaining to the patients care, I was able to help her load many of the drugs and antibiotics into the syringes and attach the needles. Overall I’m really happy that I explored this part of my project as it gave me more insight into the medical field.

Business & Web Development at Smart Solutions Week 3

So for the past week on project I've been doing... exactly what I was doing the previous week. Oh boy! But I can't say it was boring, I enjoy the type of work I'm doing. Just no game-changers or anything happened this week. The upside? Ten days of uninterrupted work, I got stuff done.

So the site is (basically) complete. I keep tweaking it, but in my opinion it has been suitable to go live since Sunday, when I went through and made sure the page would render correctly in all* major browsers.

* “Internet Explorer 6.0”? What's that?

There has been one small problem however... the site won't load at all on computers networked to the Smart Solutions office. It's a server issue and not my fault, but it means the employees -and my sponsor- have yet to see any of what I've done! The only exception being when they glance over my shoulder from a short distance. Did I mention I'm doing the whole project on a netbook with a ten inch screen?

So with the bulk of the work out of the way, now I have to sell the thing to the higher-ups, then if all goes well I can implement it incorporating their feedback. Following that, I will (finally) be able to link to the site from here.

- John K.

P.S. Seeing as I can't provide anything until my project is done, I will give a quick example of something I can do with HTML and CSS. If you look to your right, you will notice that you are now being watched.

An American Revolution or Revelation?

I'm going to switch things up a bit in this blog post. My Senior Project Sponsor and I went to the GM plant in Lordstown to sell the employees there tickets to Geauga Lake. Although this doesn't really pertain to the water park industry, my visit to GM was an eye opening experience and I thought it would be worth blogging about.

We've all seen how the US auto industry has been a hot topic lately. The three big Detroit automakers have all had their share of financial woes, even requiring US taxpayers to bail them out. Plus, the quality of American made automobiles has long since been a question.

The first thing you notice when pulling up to the plant is the lack of foreign made automobiles. You won't see a single Toyota, Honda, Volkswagen, etc. anywhere in sight (which took some getting used to). In fact, there are even signs posted on Union property that foreign made automobiles are required to park in parking lots across the street (and this rule is actively enforced).

Upon entering the factory, I was exposed to a very different working environment. To be blunt, I after my visit I am not surprised the auto industry is in the state it is in. When talking to employees about what they like best about working at the plant, they openly brag about the fact that they get great pay without having to do much work.

During my time sitting at our table trying to sell tickets, I seemed to keep seeing the same workers over and over. They kept coming back and forth. Upon inquiring why the same people kept passing by, I was informed how rampant absenteeism and other attendance abuse is. The workers have scheduled breaks throughout the day. However, a worker is essentially able to declare a break whenever he or she wants. If you need to be excused from your station (i.e. to use the restroom or get a snack) you have to call over your overseer who takes your place on the assembly line while you are gone. Again, workers openly bragged to us how they abuse this privilege. I was told that in order to "get back" at an unpopular overseer, workers will work together to take as many breaks as they can throughout the day in order to keep their overseer as busy as possible.

We were also told how each worker is allotted a certain amount of time in the plant's medical facility per week, and that workers tend to utilize all of this time even if medical attention isn't really required. In addition, we were openly told that workers tend to do their jobs as slowly as possible in order to minimize how much they do on any given day. For example, one job entails driving finished cars from the factory out to a storage lot where they will be prepped for shipping. Again, workers openly boasted how they would drive the cars as slowly as possible to minimize the amount they had to move.

Some workers were also openly talking about how they hoped to get laid off, because as per the current agreement, laid off workers still receive a large sum of their salary. All the while, we could overhear constant bickering and complaining about seniority, and how it wasn't fair how this person was assigned to this part of the assembly line and not that part, etc.

When I decided to walk through the plant I didn't see much improvement. I saw numerous people sitting reading a newspaper or talking, etc. And yet no matter how poor an employee performs, it is nearly impossible to fire them (unless they kill someone or commit a felony). Upon asking a few of the employees, they openly admitted that there were a lot of "poor performers" around that the company simply isn't able to get rid of. All the while these employees are getting incredible benefits and excellent pay.

This is only a small sampling of what I saw on my visit. I have to say I was pretty shocked how employees so gleefully and openly abuse their employment situation. It seems no wonder now why American automakers are having such a difficult time competing right now, because you can clearly see the kind of overhead costs they have weighing them down. Don't get me wrong - I met a lot of nice people. But in an environment where you hear so often about people working as hard as they can just trying to avoid being laid off, it was somewhat strange to see quite the opposite...

-Andrew

(Sorry, but we weren't allowed to take any photos within the plant)

Week Three With the SHPD

This past week at the Shaker Heights Police Department has actually been less exciting than previous weeks. Halle and I did a bunch of filing last week: traffic tickets, gun permits, other documents. But we've been really lucky to have all the cool experiences that we have had so far, so we can't complain.

Although two days were devoted specifically to filing, we still managed to get out on ride-a-longs last week. Halle and I are usually scheduled for ride-a-longs on the same day, but we alternate traffic and shift; if Halle's on a traffic ride-a-long, then I'm on shift. Traffic ride-a-longs are pretty self-explanatory, and those officers will respond to accidents, write accident reports, and run radar. Shift officers respond to 911 calls, alarms, etc. I rode with four different officers this past week (one traffic, three shift), and the officers I was with responded to a dog incident, an accident, a few alarms, and reports of stolen items. I actually got to witness another arrest today!! We almost got two more in the afternoon, but some issues got in the way (for one, the warrant was active in Berea, and the Berea police were not going to come to Shaker; for the other, the warrant was for some outstanding court fees (I think?), and the woman claimed she was on the way to the courthouse, so the officer compromised and just followed her back to the court).

Halle and I also had another K-9 demonstration last week, and this time I put on the bite sleeve. The bite sleeve is a hard plastic sleeve that comes all the way up to your shoulder, and it's wrapped in some carpet material. The sleeve doesn't have an opening for a hand; it instead has a metal bar inside that you hold on to. Anyways, the whole contraption is used for the police dog training. On the officer's command, the dog leaps, grabs ahold of the sleeve, and does not let go at any cost. Eventually, the bite sleeve wearer lets go of the metal bar inside, letting the sleeve slip off, and the dog will run off with it still in its mouth. So, I gotta say it was a bit frightening having a massive German Shepherd come at you pretty quickly. You don't feel a thing in the sleeve, but the dog is incredibly strong.

Halle and I have court and the dispatch center tomorrow. I think we have two more ride-a-longs total before the end of project. I think we'll also wind up in the detective bureau sometime this week as well. But needless to say, we're both having a blast, and I think we'll both be sad to see our project coming to a close.

Hope everyone is well,

Becky

Week 3 at CMNH

Today I took Clover (one of the museums educational animals) for a walk as enrichment for her. We ran into a lot of school groups and most of the kids were very nervous about her until I assured them that she had been descented then they completely surrounded Clover and I. They all wanted to pet her and ask questions about her and how we care for her and her sister Chrissy. Clover really enjoyed the walk she was running all over smelling everything.
Last week I helped to mulch part of the deer pen which is not as fun as it sounds. I kept sinking in the mud and when I tried to walk my foot kept coming out of my boot. So basically I was a hot mess. I also scrubbed old perches that had been in the raptor center.
Sadly one of the boa constrictors Brooklyn died she had a 1 1/2 inch mass in her trachea. But we moved some of the snakes around so now they are all in bigger cages which made them happy.
Eddy the groundhog almost escaped from one the the bigger cages we rotate the animals through. There was a gap near the top and he had managed to get his head out. I of course began to panic but was able to get him down and distract him by giving him a dried apricot.

End of ReCreation/ Part 2 of Project

This week wrapped up the first part of my project at ReCreation and GaREAT. This week involved finishing the various projects I had been researching. This included researching the history of a company called Golfsmith, which is now nationwide. Golfsmith has made it possible for golf supply stores, like Golf Galaxy, as well as pro shops and such to make clubs custom fit for the buyers. The owner of Golfsmith designed the machinery to be able to make the clubs to the exact measurements necessary for someone to have all the possible advantages with their own clubs. I found this really interesting as I did not know much about the company before this and as a golfer I can definitely identify with having your own custom fit clubs, it makes all the difference.

My bigger project for the week was writing a proposal from the marching band research I had done. In the future GaREAT is hoping to host some of those national band competitions as it would be the perfect place with all the amenities and space available without having to go off site. My proposal was a plan for how I would go about this project and how we can promote the amenities at GaREAT to a group called Bands of America. BOA is responsible for organizing all of the national competitions as well as working with schools to promote their music programs. Jeff, my sponsor, was very pleased with the proposal and told me that one day when I come back things that I researched would be in place. I was happy that I could contribute and help with projects that actually mattered in the scheme of things.

Monday and Wednesday I was out at GaREAT and I sat in various meetings with those in charge of IT. They were all very friendly and I have gotten to know the one guy, Sydney, who is taking over IT operations. A lot of the discussion was over my head in regards to the technology and wiring that is involved in the facility; however every one that I’ve met that has just toured GaREAT for the first time is completely overwhelmed. In respect to the IT everyone in that field is amazed at the how well planned the building was in order to plan for all IT problems like wireless internet, the phone system, and eventually wireless video. Being in charge of IT is a big job and up until this point it has been run by the IT people from Nordic Air, the company that the CEO owns. The meetings were mostly about how they will transition that over to Sydney and what aspects of the wireless they still have to deal with.

I am sad to leave my project with ReCreation as everyone has been really nice and fun to work with. Jeff and his partner Brad are great guys and I would recommend anyone who wants to do their senior project with them. Although half of it was office work, it wasn’t filing or doing mindless tasks as someone people find themselves doing, it was interesting projects that allowed you to used your creativity. I look forward to the second part of my project in Boston and I’m excited to see if the medical field is really what I want to do with my life.

Week Three at WOIO

As a whole, the week wasn't that busy for me, but Friday was definitely something special. For one, I was on TV in this video!



That video was a portion of the 5 o'clock news from Friday night (5/21). We shot the clips of Tony and Bob Golic and the Bernie Kosar thing earlier that day. And, for those wondering, I only needed two takes for that, ha.

I also was able to meet and interview Bernie Kosar and Bob Golic for my project that I'm doing with Tony Zarella. It was sort of nerve racking to meet both of them, as they are true Cleveland Browns legends. However, I was prepared with my list of questions and even though we didn't have much time with them, Tony let me ask as many questions as we had time for. After we finished the interview with Kosar, Tony had me start writing the script for the package. It was really awesome to just sit and write something that is going to eventually be on the air. He would check in on me every so often to see how it was going, and the first time he read the first few paragraphs, he said something to the effect of "Wow Myles, this is good enough to be a column!"

Later he and I were talking to his wife, Denise (who also works at 19 Action News as a reporter) and he told her that most college interns can't handle themselves and conduct interviews like I did with Kosar and Golic. Obviously, that was really nice to hear.

The other highlight of the week came from talking to anchors Paul Joncich (4:30 & 5:30) and Denise Dufala (4, 6, 11). Their cubicles are connected in sort of a triangle formation with Tiffani Tucker's desk, and because she doesn't work Thursdays or Fridays (it's her weekend, since she anchors the weekend newscasts) they put me at her desk to use the computer. Both of them are so nice, and they're also really funny. Thursday, Paul showed Denise and I this youtube video of an unfortunate college anchor who doesn't usually do sports and then his teleprompter went out. He thought it was hilarious; Denise just felt bad for him. Then she told me about how when she first auditioned for a news station, she did weather. The thing about weather is that it's all ad-libbing - you really have to memorize what you're going to say for 2 and a half minutes. She said she just couldn't handle it, she freaked out, hyperventilated and was just a complete mess. Then told me that it happens to the best of us, and to not worry if it happens on my first audition since everything gets better with experience. She is so incredibly nice, and I really appreciated that advice.

As far as I can tell, my package on Cleveland Flameouts will probably air the last week of project since we'll be finishing interviews this week. I'll let you know when there's a set date.

-Myles

Week 2 at CMNH

Last Friday I got to go and watch three baby Peregrine Falcons be banded. Fist a skinny guy from the Division of Wildlife squeezed through a narrow window an grabbed the chicks from the nest while trying not to be knocked over by the very angry mother Peregrine Falcon whose name is SW. After grabbing the babies we moved into a larger room so that all the press and people who had come to watch could see. First they put a band around the bird’s ankle with a number on it that’s equivalent to our Social Security number. Then they put on a purple band on the other ankle with an I.D number on it that birdwatchers could see. Finally they drew blood from the birds. They believe that two of the falcons are girls and one’s a boy. They were named Arrow, Dart, and Spike. Then we were allowed to pet the baby birds. I can honestly say that they are probably the softest things that I have ever touched. After all of this the same skinny guy from the Division of Wildlife put them back and again tried to avoid being attacked by SW and Ranger (her mate). After all this was over we went back to the museum and I got to work in the deer yard which is becoming one of my favorite things to do. The deer are so sweet and try to eat your cloths. Later that day I was allowed to get Sweetie (one of the museum’s Red Tailed Hawks) on the glove which took me about 5 tries before I was successful. If you want to see the baby Peregrine Falcons then go to: http://snipurl.com/w8ogb

-Emily

Week Two of Fighting Crime in Shaker Heights

With my second week of project complete, I think it's safe to say that there is never a dull moment at the SHPD. This past week, Halle and I have observed court/arraignments, been out on more ride-a-longs, worked with detectives, observed the dispatchers at work, and even got some time at the range. While I could easily go into depth and share many stories about each thing we did this week, I'll spare you the boredom and just share three highlights.

1.) Witnessing an arrest!!
Oh yes, I did in fact see an arrest happen this week. A warrant for a woman's arrest came up when the officer I was doing my ride-a-long with ran her license plate. Upon pulling her over, the officer told her why she was pulled over and then waited for a confirmation of the warrant. When we received the confirmation from dispatch (and also got another police car to the scene), the officer cuffed her and placed her in the back of our car. The woman had a passenger in her car, but since he did not have a valid license, the car she was driving had to be towed (something she was quite displeased about....more so than the fact that she was being arrested). The officer I was with had to search her car, leaving me alone in the car with the arrested woman. Needless to say, it was incredibly awkward. The warrant for this woman's arrest was active in another city, meaning the SHPD cannot take her into custody. So instead, we had to drive to a meeting spot to hand her over to the correct jurisdiction. Definitely an exciting afternoon out on the road.

2.) Visiting a "crime scene."

I put the phrase "crime scene" in quotations because it was not technically a crime scene; it was more a scene of an incident. On Thursday, I was with the detectives when a call came in. Apparently, a man was out mowing the lawn, and he happened to have a gun in his pocket. Somehow, the gun discharged, injuring the man. His wife made the 911 call. When officers first arrived to the scene, the man said he was not mowing the lawn at all but checking the air in his tires. Upon further questioning, the stories between the wife and the man did not add up, leading officers and detectives to think that they were not telling the police something. I went with a detective to the scene because he needed to do a gun residue test. The scene was buzzing when we got there; about six cop cars were present, along with an ambulance. The street was blocked off for through traffic. The man was already in the ambulance when I got there, so I didn't see anything too bloody. I originally stayed out on the street (I didn't want to get in the way of the process), but one of the detectives beckoned me onto the lawn and told me to get right in there with everyone else. So I got to listen in when the police asked the wife more questions, and I got to observe when officers tried to recreate the scenario and search for the missing bullet casing. The injured man is alright, by the way. They took him to the hospital, and he's doing fine. In all, the police decided the the gun discharging was an accident, although there is just a little more investigating that needs to be done.

And finally (best for last)...

3.) Time at the range

Halle and I actually got to shoot at the range twice this week. With help from an officer, we learned how to load and shoot a handgun, an MP-5, and an M-4 (the gun which the military uses). The MP-5 and the M-4 can either shoot single round or multi-round (I'm not sure the correct term for it is), which is like a machine gun effect. Our first time around we were only allowed to shoot on single round, but on our second day at the range, the officer let us try putting it on the machine gun-type mode. It was pretty alarming, especially on the M-4 since it has a kickback to it. But we both had a lot fun down there, and we're hoping to try to shoot again at least once more before project is over.

Yikes, this was much longer than I had planned. So for those who dozed off while reading, my apologies. Hopefully you'll wake up to see the pictures below.

<-- Me rockin' my bulletproof vest.

<-- Halle in the bite suit. I talked about this a little bit in my last post (I think?). Well, in case I didn't, we got see a K-9 demonstration in our first week, and Halle volunteered to put on the bite suit and have a police dog bite her. Sorry for the blur.

^The MP-5 I shot. It's quite heavy. The big round black barrel with the duct tape around it towards the front of the gun is like a silencer.

<-- The M-4. It's even heavier. Kind of pathetic, but my arm is a bit sore from it...

<--And the handgun.

Well, that does it for this post. Hope everyone's projects are going well!

-Becky

The Bun Man Comes to Visit...

The representative from the Nickles bread company came to the park around lunchtime with a few big containers of various bread products. Never before did I realize that picking out bread was such an important decision!

We first started with the hamburger buns. There were a lot of factors that went into the ultimate decision. We set all of the various buns out on the table and examined them. We looked at their sizes, their weights, etc. We also picked up all of the various buns in our hands and felt how firm / soft they were. Some of the buns were also significantly denser than others. We also looked at the aesthetic appeal of the buns. For example, some of the buns had more of a yellowish / light brown tint than others (which is desirable in retail locations). Some buns also had different types of toppings (like brushed garlic or herbs) which is desirable because it makes the buns look more substantial and expensive.

The winning hamburger bun is the one in the lower right hand side of the photo:

We then moved on to hotdog buns, where many of the aforementioned factors applied in this decision. We also debated between the hot dog buns with the split center verses the solid center. Also, we looked at the normal sandwich bread, garlic bread sticks, etc.

The next step involves taking all of these bread products into the park and actually working with them. They will test how they look with the actual hamburger patties / hot dogs / meat / etc. in them. They will also look at their moisture tolerance and shelf life.

Overall it was pretty cool to be able to help pick out the bun that will be eaten by hundreds of thousands of guests this summer!

- Andrew

Business & Web Development at Smart Solutions Week 2

With the formalities out of the way, I was able to spend the past five days working on the website. I set up two “demo sites” on the company's server, as previously mentioned, with one displaying the existing site with tweaks and another being a total overhaul. The former has already been finished and I think the overhaul is coming along pretty well. (I would link to previews, but this blog is public and internal corporate stuff is confidential etc etc etc)

I began working on tweaking a copy of the existing site last Tuesday (following the meeting on Monday), and had implemented all of the proposed changes by mid-Wednesday. If they end up choosing to go with the minor update, it's already available, sans some in-site content that I will need to work with employees to come up with (ie; text, photos, updated contact information).

Creating a revamped version of the website has been my primary focus since. The existing site runs on Wordpress with a custom theme. I figured I'd start from scratch, so I copied the site's users/pages/posts over to a fresh Wordpress installation with the default theme. I'm designing it with the existing color scheme (corporate colors, no choice, but I have no problem with them) and with a similar page layout in lieu of the original so that the changes won't seem too radical. I hope to finish or come close to finishing the overhauled version by the end of this week so I can have some time to collect feedback and go from there.

-John K.

Week 2 at GaREAT/ReCreation

This week I did not get to be working out at GaREAT as my sponsor was on a business trip. Instead I was working at his office in Chesterland. I worked on various projects and research that he gave me daily which included the Rock N' Roll Marathon Series, International Junior Golf Tour as well as basic things for GaREAT like ticket systems and fitness equipment. Prior to this week I was not really sure what the Rock N' Roll Marathon Series was about. My tasks with this involved researching the Rock history for each city that a marathon is going to be held in. The purpose of this was to find things like artists that started in the city etc. Therefore they could tie those things to the event. I also got to put together a preliminary list of 10 hours of rock music for the events. I liked working on this project as it allowed me to explore something I was interested in. I was also given the job to find things that could be sold or exhibited at the events whether that is face painting for kids or rock memorabilia. One of my days in the office I spent trying to contact golf associations in various states to find out about their databases and how many people they reach out to. This was a bit trying as many of them are not allowed to give out that information. Overall this week presented a lot of learning opportunites and a change of venue. I look forward to a few more days with my sponsor before I head off to Boston for the second part of my project.

~Dani

Week Two at WOIO Channel 19 Action News

My second week of project allowed me to sort of settle into a rhythm of coming in during the early afternoon and sticking around for the evening news broadcasts. WOIO is unique in that it is the only news station to broadcast a 4 o’clock news in its viewing area, so I’m pretty lucky in that I get to see 3 broadcasts at work from 4 to 6:30. In the beginning of the week – including my sponsor Sharon Reed – who are all incredibly nice, helpful, and willing to help me with whatever I need. One anchor, Denise Dufala, was joking around with the producers and me on Monday and then she showed us the proper form of how to throw a discus. It was great, the producers wanted to take a video of it to put on Facebook but she wasn’t going to do it again.

Tuesday I was able to go down to the Q with Sports Director Tony Zarrella and he showed me the media room and all of the special amenities that those in the press get behind the scenes there. We had a lot of down time between his segments for the 4, 5 and 6 o’clock news, so we talked about what I could do as an intern to make my project truly meaningful, and so we decided that I would work on a substantial story that would air on the Sports Extra show on WUAB. He’s going to allow me to really come up with the concept, and then he’ll help me write it, edit it, produce it, the whole nine yards. We both think it’s going to be great resume material.

Wednesday was sort of an exciting day at the news because of the house explosion. It was a story they interrupted normal programming for in the morning at probably 8:45am, when they only had one anchor in the building because their morning show was over. I didn’t go into the station until 11:30 that morning, but I was later told that the 12 o’clock news was put together in under an hour because there was still so much flooding in from ground zero of the explosion.

To sort of wrap things up for the week, I sat in the camera bay on Monday and then again on Friday. The in-studio cameras are all operated electronically by a joystick and a touch-screen computer monitor. Since I had observed her on Monday, Danielle let me go on headset with her on Friday and let me set up some of the cameras for the next segments during the commercial breaks. Then, towards the end of the broadcast, she even let me do a “push” (zoom in on an anchor when they’re talking. WOIO does it because they are “action news”) on one of the anchors.

With all of that, it was certainly an “action news” packed week and I look forward to working with Tony Zarrella this coming week to put our story on the air.

-Myles