1st Week

Is outta the WAY! WELCOME to the lobby of Discovery Headquarters. Greeting you is a giant caste of a TRex, made from an actual TRex bones at some major University.
Next to him is his little friend Mr. Triceratops Head (I hope I have my dino spellings right.)
This lobby is like a mini
Curious Kids Museum. Along with
the two dinosaurs, there is a
display of the Discovery USA Biking team, for the tour de France, featuring an actual bike, jersey, rider profiles and photos, the handmade chopper (motorcycle) by Paul Teutel Sr., and a humongous mechanical gizmo that is hard to describe. I'll have to get a picture of this contraption, but basically this thing transports little wood, ping pong sized balls up a twisting column an sends them down random paths to the bottom, traversing through hundreds of different tracks, doors, springs, jumps, etc...
This photo is in front of the main entrance to the headquarters. You can actually see the Discovery building from the Red line train which gets off in downtown Silver Spring..This is one of three buildings Discovery has in the D.C. area. I actually don't work in this building, but I did have orientation there on my first day. The building is only about 6 or 7 years old, so it's super new and hip cool ( such was the description via our intern coordinator.) It actually is amazing. Walking through the building you feel like you're in some posh Clubhouse for an upscale esoteric organization. The first floor boasts 2 cafe-like areas, electric scooters, and a full service wellness center. Yes you can wander out of the onsite coffee shop with your morning headache and stumble next door into the wellness center for medical diagnosis and treatment. Apparently Discovery is one of the Top 100 Fortune 500 places to work, and a 2007 Working Mother Best Company for Working Mothers, I'm assuming a lot of that had to do with our Day care service (and plans are in progress for a huge playground for the kids in the courtyard of the building). Yes this is big place, and the whole building is "green", meaning lots of CFL's, recycling bins, and my personal favorite, nonflush toilets ( a water saver....think about it.)
Discovery's second building is called the Discovery Creative and Technical Center, located about 4 blocks south of the headquarters. About half the size as HQ, this building is still ginormous. It features over 50 professional editing suites, each suited with 2 monitors, plasma screen tv for preview, computers, and thousands of dollars in editing equipment, another cafe, full time deli workers (my Latino amigos!) , and an escalator (apparently just to look cool).

Of course I do not work in any of these corporate paradises. The last location is located on the 8th and 9th floors of the Bethesda Towers, in Downtown Bethesda, MD (about 10 minutes from Silver Spring.) Parking is 8 dollars a day, the building is loaded with personal security guards, and of course, non flush toilets. I work in this building with my fellow Discovery Production Studios Co-workers. I have my own cubicle, computer, phone and extension, and age group (yes everyone is at least 10 years older than me.)

Well I need to go take more pictures of the DMV. Next might be some DC pictures.

CIAO!