24 Hours as an Intern
By Michael Corbett • Oct 30th, 2007 • Category: Following Summer
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In the spirit of a running diary, I give you 24 hours as a crush intern. This is a chronicle of my longest day so far, but others have been very close:
12:00 AM: Order another Racer 5 IPA at Anna’s Cantina, speak some Spanglish with Chilean intern.
12:07 AM: Sports center comes on Bar TV, Yankee’s got crushed by Indians…sweet.
12:08 - 1:30AM: Drink beer, dance, talk about wine with other crush interns.
1:31 - 2:00AM: Bar kicks us all out, hang out infront of bar and shoot the shit.
2:00 AM: Half hour drive back to apartment…man do I miss how close good bars were to my apartment in Somerville…
2:30 AM: Late night snack, hommus & crackers.
2:38 AM: Realize I smell like grape juice, take shower.
3:00 AM: Sleep, glourious sleep.
6:45 AM: Swear at alarm clock, get up.
7:10 AM: Breakfast time, 2 aspirin and a cup of coffee.
7:20 AM: Start drive to work, 10 minutes into drive say to myself “WOW…I live in wine country” (that still hasn’t gotten old).
7:57 AM: Clock into work, check work order. Today is going to suck, we’re pressing 24 tons of white grapes, and crushing 50 tons of red grapes…most work so far.
7:58 AM: Take sample and taste my white zinfandel…yup, I’m making a white zinfandel. I Got some left over zinfandel juice, and figured I should at least try to make something from it. I call it Zinfandel Rose…it makes me feel better about it.
8:03 AM: Turn on radio, start washing down equipment.
8:03 AM: My jeans get wet for the first time today. They will stay wet for the rest of the day….but my feet are bone dry…thank GOD for gortex and smartwool.
8:45 AM: Start loading press with chardonnay grapes. Sounds cool, but like all cellar work involves the breaking of balls.
9:05 AM: Chardonnay Grape delivery. Drive big pick up truck to bottom of hill, escort bigger tractor trailer up hill to winery. Jam out to Bob Marley the whole way.
9:15 AM: Start weighing grapes. No reds yet, and since I work with pretty much reds only, I have not much to do.
9:30 AM: Escort truck back down hill, jam out to Led Zeppelin the whole way.
9:47 AM: Clean a tank, good times.
10:00 AM: Bagel time…been thinking about it since I swore at the alarm clock this morning. Eat a bagel with cream cheese and jam.
10:15 AM: Hitting a wall, time for second cup of coffee.
10:17 AM: No grapes…I have nothing to do. Help someone inoculate a tank with yeast.
10:18 AM: My hands now smell like bread.
10:23 AM: Where are the grapes?
10:27 AM: Start hosing down the backs of tanks. If grapes don’t show up soon, I’m going to end up watching paint dry somewhere.
