It's crazy to think I have been working at the United Nations headquarters, in the television broadcast for just over a year now. I have seen quite the number of celebrities (Steven Spielberg, Stevie Wonder, David Guetta, Mia Farrow -- just to name a few) walk thru these halls, as well as decent high-level political figures (Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, David Cameron, Benyamin Netanyahu, and many others).
As I began my experience the UN broadcast dept, I was thinking the studios or control rooms or master control booths would be top of the line technologically... Ironically, it was quite the opposite, everything was analog and just transitioning into the new digital age (new cameras, tapeless recorders, high-def monitors, media management servers, etc) and everyone was starting fresh to learn it. Since there were few "new" guys, we knew nothing of the old ways and were able to quickly get a hang of the systems but the "old" crew took some time readjusting to the digital age. There were (and still are) numerous glitches in the system. I found out , actually that some local news stations run the system media management system and they have similar issues as well.
While the digital transition was happening for us, there was non-stop construction in the General Assembly (GA) Hall. Since before my time (Jan 2010, to be exact), the GA has been in a temporary building on the north lawn of the headquarters -- housing many conference rooms, offices, and storage. This month, the original GA Hall (built in 1952) will reopen after years of construction - including infrastructure repair, telecommunication upgrades, and general renovations. Our staff are planning to test all the new GA equipment soon and hopefully be up-and-running for the Debate in late September.
And today (18-Aug) is my birthday... our supervisors celebrate the staff birthday each month with cookies (or a cake, or cupcakes, etc) and I cannot be more excited for free cookies!!
In the end, this past year has been awesome -- with plenty of ups and downs, fun times and annoying times, and mostly learning experiences that help with progress my career.
