Day 50 (Monday, July 31)

It feels real good to be in New York. It feels amazing. Especially when you start off the day the way I did.

I met Brian (who is in the Detroit bureau) for an early 6:30 a.m. jog to Central Park. We ran about three miles as we bumped into a lot of people at the park. That morning jog set the tone for the rest of the day.

We came back to the hotel and got ready for our long day ahead.

We all met downstairs at the breakfast area and had a community breakfast that was cool. Travis (Minneapolis) couldn't get his tie to work, so a very nice w/omyn stepped up to the plate to help him out.

The previous person that sat where Ben (San Francisco) was sitting left al mess. So, he very interestingly cleaned the sugar away from the table by blowing it away.

We had a tour of the New York headquarters from Will Chang (above), who is the senior recruiter at the AP and the person who we all had to convince in order to give us a chance at the internship.

During the tour we stopped in and listened to the morning budget meeting. I couldn't believe I was there. The number one office at one of the most important meetings in the company and I was a witness to it all. My teenage dreams of seeing the big show are now a reality.

I was pretty impressed by all the people at the morning meeting. These are the all-stars of AP.

The tour of headquarters continued. As we walked all around the building, we were able to see some of the cool sights that the building has to offer.

During a brief break, Ben sat on the frame of the window. So, I decided it would be cool to get a portrait of him.

The AP building has a pattern of square and lines throughout the office window. Mr. Chang explained that these markings spell out Associated Press in Morse Code.

And if the coding on the floor doesn't sound cool enough. How about the skyline view basketball court that AP employees get a chance to play on. It's on the 14th floor of the building w/ a spectacular view. There's even a APBL, AP Basketball League, which allows staffers to get into a little more serious ball playing.

The other side of the building has a great view of the East side on an outside patio area.

Being that the Empire State Building was on the view, I decided this would make a nice self portrait.

The tour was nice and we got to see where it all gets done. However, it was not all just walking around the office. We engaged into seminars that allowed us to discuss many aspects of the journalism world through the eyes of AP. We even had an activity in which writers, photographers and business interns got a chance to share ideas during a small little project. Above from right, Marcus (San Francisco), Ben (San Francisco), Sonia (Dalas) and Khristopher (Louisville) talk about their project a cool little bags we got sits on the table.

We spent most of the day in meetings, seminars and being introduced to the key players in AP's operation. Being that I was inside the office today, I decided to take a nice self portrait of me inside this place. Y'all know I had the outside shot from two years ago. Today I have the inside view.

The day at the office was good and I was pretty excited about it all.

After we were done w/ everything, I took a walk back to the hotel. It was an 19 block walk. It sounds more painful than it actually is. These are New York blocks, which means it would take 10 blocks to make a city block in L.A. So, in a sense I walked about two and half miles on just two blocks.

I walked north on 9th Av. I think the best way to see New York is by foot. There's so much to see, so walking makes it a lot easier to go sight-seeing.

We finished our day at headquarters and New York was us to paint red. After a small break a few of us met up and headed to dinner. As we waited for people to show up Sonia (Dallas) pointed out that Oscar (L.A.) had a photo in today's USA Today. Being the humble man that he is, Oscar ran away from the idea of posing w/ his printed photo.

It was really quite funny how he didn't want his photo taken. Still, I managed to get a few shots in so I can show him and his photo. After all, he deserves the recognition. How many student photographers can say they've been published in the USA Today? I can't think of many.

After our group was complete we headed to a Greek restaurant on 9th Av. It was fun being there because some of the dishes were pretty cool. Above, the waiter added something to the cheese that just made it flame up. It was cool.

I am particularly proud of the photo I took of Sonia (Dallas) and Oskar (L.A.) that I shot above. I focused my off-camera flash on Sonia as I was able to fit Oskar in the light bubble on the right of the image. You can see both of their profiles. I am pretty happy about the way it looked.

Ok, so there is something cool about the L.A. bureau. If you haven't noticed there are interns with the name Oscar and an Oskar. To make it more confusing, they are both in L.A. Sometimes you have to ask which one is being talked about. We can't even say "the one in L.A." So, we resort to the obvious - "Oscar w/ a C" or "Oskar w/ a K."

After dinner we headed to Zuni. Earlier today as I walked back from the office, I saw a sign at Zuni (located at 9th Av. and 43rd Street). The sign said they have live Jazz on Monday nights. I made a mental note and when we were done w/ dinner, I suggested we'd go to this place.

We didn't hang out too long at Zuni. That's because it took long in order to get a table and have our meals at Nick's Kitchen, the Greek place where we had dinner.

It was pretty late when we got to the Jazz presentation. I hung out for about 45 minutes enjoying good Jazz and then I came to the hotel so I can get some sleep. Tomorrow is a long day and I want to be ready for it.

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