Bulleted Year in Review

Monday, December 31st, 2007

Bulleted Year in Review

Here’s an overview of some of SusanIsk’s personal highlights (and lowlights) in 2007. The year was fairly productive. I went to Europe twice. I graduated from college. I started my first job. Although, as you’ll notice, my life significantly calmed down with the job. My one resolution for next year is to have a unique highlight for each month of the year — whether it be travel, personal , I vow to have more adventures in 2008.

January
• Rang in the New Year in Michigan.
• Traveled to Chicago for corporate job interviews.

February
• Took my terribly pretentious 6 hour political science exam required for graduation.

March
• Traveled to France and Ireland.

April
• Went to Chicago to memorialize a friend.
• Traveled to St. Louis where I interviewed at the place where I now work.

May
• Graduated from college.
• Visited Michigan.
• Bought my first car (now aptly named “Death Cab (for Cutie).”

June
• Moved back to St. Louis.
• Became single.
• Started working as an Intern at my place of work.

July
• Hired as an Account Coordinator at my place of work.

August
• Began my position as Account Coordinator.
• Nick visited.

September and October
• Watched lots of Mizzou football … and that’s about it.

November
• Modest Mouse concert.
• Visited The Netherlands.

December
• Traveled to Jamaica (update coming soon, as soon as I can breathe again).
• Very sick at the beginning of the month and now again at the end of the month. I will not be kissing anyone to ring in this new year.

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Leaving (On a Jetplane)

Saturday, December 22nd, 2007

Tomorrow at 5 a.m. I’m flying with my parents and sister to Jamaica where we’ll spend the week. This trip culminates a year filled with many airplane journeys:

January
St. Louis to Chicago
Chicago to St. Louis
St. Louis to Columbus

March
Columbus to Detroit
Detroit to Paris
Paris to Dublin
Cork (Ireland) to Paris
Paris to Detroit
Detroit to Columbus
Columbus to St. Louis
St. Louis to Chicago
Chicago to St. Louis

April
St. Louis to Columbus

May
Detroit to St. Louis

November
St. Louis to Detroit
Detroit to Amsterdam
Amsterdam to Detroit
Detroit to St. Louis

December
St. Louis to Montego Bay … and back.

Due to the “constraints” of being gainfully employed (and not having a European travel grant from my American Studies professors that sponsored my March travel), 2008 will probably be filled with less air travel (although I already have one or two journeys in the works).

Merry Christmas/Joyous Festivus one and all.

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My Free Wake Up Call on Saturday Mornings

Saturday, December 22nd, 2007

The third false alarm in as many weeks:

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Last Rams Game of the Season

Friday, December 21st, 2007

Due to some silly calls by the coach (not going for the field goal in the third quarter) and the oh-so-common lackluster defense (and offense) in the second half, we lost. My colleague and I were the only two Rams fans in our section (the section, and the stadium as a whole, was made up of mostly Steelers fans). It was like the Rams fans were the visiting team. Watching the franchise retire Marshall Faulk’s jersey and Brian McKnight singing the national anthem were the highlights of the night.

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Why your first job is the most difficult job you'll ever have

Thursday, December 20th, 2007

I’ve said it a million times and I’ll say it again: I have one of the greatest first jobs a girl could have. Supportive coworkers (including, but not limited to (including, but not limited to her, her, her and her) who provide continuous suggestions for growth (as much as we all hate feedback, usually our success depends in part on the input of others), an awesome variety of projects, and let’s not forget an unlimited “free” supply of soda, coffee and water. That said, the first job still the most difficult job I think you or l will ever have, and here’s why:

You’re expected to know how to think/act/react/dress in any situation. When working along side seasoned pros, of course you’re going to look incredibly inexperienced (because you are). But why is this such a bad thing? It’s like when you talk with someone about your favorite hobby and they’ve never heard of it: it shocks you that they don’t know about something that you know everything about. It’s just a matter of exposure and time.

Anything that deviates from traditional expectations will be pinned on your age. You make a typo/leave out a comma because of an urgent deadline and it’s viewed as a deficiency that can be worked on; even though sometimes a forgotten punctuation mark is just a punctuation mark (I’m not saying that it’s o.k., just that sometimes that’s all it is). You feel like you’re playing dress up every time you wear a suit (and even though you’ve been of legal voting age for many years now, you’ll be reminded of how “grown up” you look while wearing one).

I was talking with one of my bosses the other day and we were discussing how in business, most projects are collaborative. I told her that in college, I had to do everything possible to set myself apart from my peers to get the grade. I had to be more eager, contradict (under the guise of debate) my peers and question everything. If you do this in the workplace, you just look like an a-s-s. Going from the rigors of an academic environment to the collaborative project-based environment of the business world is a great shift in thinking and does take some time.

So what do you do to make the first job easier?
You suck it up and deal. They say, “jump.” You say, “how high?” You take (most of) the feedback to heart. It might seem like you’re losing a sense of who you are by keeping aspects of your personality out of the workplace, but that’s business.

I’m Susan. I graduated from college six months ago and I’m stuck between being a kid and a career woman. I just wish that I could be both. Until I become the latter, I’m going to “suck it up and deal.”

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Twittering 40

Wednesday, December 19th, 2007

Cross-posted to Where Do You Stand?

My readers who make their homes outside of St. Louis may not be aware of the doom about to be faced by nearly all St. Louis-area residents on January 2, 2008. All lanes of 1-64/US40, the main artery for St. Louis commuters, will close in both directions between Ballas Road and I-170 before morning rush hour on January 2 and will remain closed for the entire year. The following year, another several-mile-long portion of the highway will be shut down.

Our friends at KSDK have so kindly created what I like to call a doomsday countdown on their Web site: as I write, there are 15 days, 09 hours, 4 minutes and 44 seconds until the highway closure.

Since I live on one side of where Highway 40 will be shut down and Standing Partnership’s office is on the other side, I have begun Twittering about the shutdown’s effect on my commute for the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

My updates as well as the updates of several area commuters (as recruited by Kurt Greenbaum, the Post’s director of social media), are aggregated into one Twitter event page called Hwy40 and will also appear on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Highway 40 Special Report. As Kurt pointed out, MTV did something similar with coverage of the Video Music Awards.

Follow the Hwy40 page as well as SusanIskOff40’s individual updates to see how the St. Louis area adapts to this significant change in our daily lives.

I’m thrilled that other tweeters have tacked the “Off40″ designation onto their usernames and that per my suggestion, Kurt was able to find other St. Louis bloggers to contribute to this project — FINALLY, I’m a trendsetter!

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Woe is me

Monday, December 17th, 2007

My car is sick. Only 4,000 miles and the poor Audi won’t drive — the dealership says they need to replace the fuel pressure sensor and it might take a few days for the part.

This morning as I attempted to drive to work, the steering and the engine went out. I couldn’t accelerate, I couldn’t steer, but the car was still on (the battery didn’t die). I was on a main St. Louis artery with the traffic of the Monday morning commute whizzing past me. I called Audi Roadside Assistance and they dispatched a tow truck – but I had to wait in my car for two hours for it to arrive.

I should tell you that today I have no coat. I’m wearing a puffy vest (I wasn’t planning on going outside at all today) and my dress shoes that don’t enable the wearer to wear socks. Three hours after the fact, my feet still feel like ice (and trust me, I know, I suffered from frostbite in the mountains of North Carolina when I was 16) and I was extracted from the cold just in time. The nicest two guys from a towing place in Florissant rigged up my car on the tow truck and drove me to the dealership. The three of us in the front of the truck cab made for a cozy ride.

When I bought the car in May, my car dealer at Parktown Audi promised that I’d always get a loner Audi just as he promised that my car would drive like a charm – it’s fitting that today I’m driving a loner Toyota (given to me with an empty tank of gas). The good news is that since my car is so new (4,000 miles, people) everything from the towing to whatever repairs that have to be made won’t cost me an extra penny … although my soul has already paid the price.

FADE TO BLACK with a melodramatic tune.

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St. Charles Christmas

Sunday, December 16th, 2007

I spent part of my Sunday with friends in St. Charles at the St. Charles Christmas. One friend is a Big Sister with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and her little sister certainly enjoyed the storybook characters, Victorian Carolers and Santas from around the world. I spent my entire childhood in St. Louis and didn’t know until today that this event existed. If anyone happens to know the Town Crier, give him my number — he’s a cutie!.

For more pictures of the day, visit my Flickr set.

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Ode to My Fly Kicks

Saturday, December 15th, 2007

I have the fly-est kicks around:

• Guys are jealous of them. Girls are jealous that guys are jealous of them.
• I can walk down the street with Michael Jackson, Phish or Snoop Dogg blasting in the background and the shoes fit in.
• Since there’s a red tongue, a grey tongue and a black tongue, they match almost anything.
• Pants tuck conveniently in between the red and grey tongues, keeping pant legs dry from the elements.
• If you step in play dough or bourbon, you can simply throw them in the washing machine.
• They slip on and off easily so that they can be shown off at eye level.
• It’s acceptable to drink chocolate milk or beer while wearing them.

I may not get fashion (or boys or life), but one thing is certain: my kicks are fly.

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Vacation can't come soon enough

Thursday, December 13th, 2007

10 days until this:

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