Ridin in Style...

I forgot to tell you this little bit!

A few weeks ago, one of the days when it was right about 0 degrees out, I was walking to the train to get to work. Usually, it takes about 45 minutes and it costs me $2.00. When I got to the corner, I realized I only had grabbed $1.00, so I decided (conveniently, seeing as it was so cold out) to just hop in a taxi and charge it to my credit card. (Almost all taxis accept credit cards.)

On this particular day, I was waiting for about 10 minutes (which is long), when a limo pulled up next to me. The driver asked where I was going, and told me he would charge me the regular fee of a taxi. NICE! I hopped it, but then asked him to pull back over because I forgot I had only been taking the taxi because I needed to use a credit card, which I'm sure he didn't.

He told me no worries, it was too cold out to be standing on the corner in this weather, and to have a nice holiday. This was a few days before Christmas.

I did take down his address so I could send him a 'thank you'. I'm continuously amazed at people's generosity, I think it is completely rejuvenating.

Happy Holidays, from the Harrisons

Whoa

Have I got a TON to blog about. I think I will vlog about it. Tomorrow though, because today's been ROUGH.

Catching Up...

I get it - I've been pretty bad at blogging lately. It's not that I haven't had a thought or two to get on and post; but there't this other issue - honesty. In that I want to be really honest on this site, and not write about things by just touching the surface. It's just that I can't help but wonder that if I'm writing about a bad roommates situation that's really bothering me, said roommate might log on and read about it. Or if I'm annoyed with my boss, a friend or a boyfriend, that said person will get on here and not understand me broadcasting about it to the world. Kind of that thin line between blogging as a substitute for journaling, and blogging as a substitute for journalism.

The past few weeks have had a lot going on, and so we'll categorize them into the basics.

1. Last weekend's wedding. Jon's best friend from high school and throughout college, A.J., married his girlfriend Lauren. They are absolutely adorable and so in love. Their wedding was great and it was awesome to have everybody together in one place to celebrate.

When Jon & I first started dating, we were together 24/7 [we still are, basically...minus that I live in Chicago.], we didn't get into our first fight until four or five months down the road. And to this day, we have never really fought over anything serious, minus the insecurities that come from dating long distance. Anyway, although dating long distance has been really good and I think we've been uberly successful at it, it still stresses us out to some degree, sometimes resulting in petty fights when we are together. The past weekend - or past 4 days - were really great though, with no hint of stress or arguing. It reminded me of when we first started dating, which is encouraging, because that's one thing I never want to lose in our relationship - the excitement in being with each other.

2. Pack Expo. As I mentioned in the last entry, Pack Expo is the second largest packaging expo in the world, second to Interphex in Japan. It's held in Chicago, which is relatively new territory to my company, and obviously, to me in particular. It was absolutely amazing to see so many people in the industry come out for it. I got a chance to meet with many of the people I had talked with quite a few times via cold calling, which is a big step for me. Up until now, most of my encounters with clients have been through cold calls. This is a really difficult medium to enter the industry through, because there is no opportunity to relationship build, which is necessary in my business. When working on a project, you meet with your clients multiple times, and a given project can take up to 2 or 3 years to finish. You end up knowing quite a bit about your clients. So, you can see how when a client is needing equipment, they would tend to go to business acquaintances for information rather than a voice on the phone whom they know nothing about.

This past week after the show, I was able to contact quite a few clients and get quite a few quotes. I'm really proud of getting so many quotes so quickly, but it gets quite frustrating at times. Not that I don't think my boss is dissapointed with my work, but like any director-type, he will always want to do better. I understand this, because I myself feel that I can always be improving and doing more. However, at some point, a little encouragement that I'm doing well would go a long way.

3. The Holiday season is FINALLY here! I am so excited - I love this time of year, because it makes everyone so happy. I love the gift-buying process. So far, I've got my parents & Jon's gift figured out. I'm really excited about both of them, because I wanted them to be really special, to have meaning. Especially Jon's, because my last boyfriend & I never did any gift-giving... more or less because he was just really not a very 'giving' person. Anyways, I had originally wanted to get him a GPS system for his car since his last one had been stolen and he didn't want to spend the money to get a new one, but today he specifically mentioned that he didn't really think he needed a new one when giving me an idea of possible gifts... :/ but, no worries, I've got something that makes MUCH more sense and has a little bit more sentiment... :)

That is all for now, time to get to bed...

Just a short entry real quick. I am headed to STL this weekend for a wedding -exciting! I was able to stop and visit with my friend Katie at ISU last night. I decided to make my journey to STL a two-stop journey because I was at Pack Expo all week at McCormick place in Chicago, along with my boss. Three of our manufacturers were there - it was exciting to see such a large amount of people in the industry there. I was able to generate over a 100 really hot leads, which is exciting. I will hopefully end up quoting over a few million dollars in equipment. Not that this is the industry that I necessarily want to be in as a career, but for right now, it is reassuring that people out there are buying - and therefore, I will have a job! More on Pack Expo when I have more time... lots to say!!

I guess I could dig socialism... I'm poor.

you can vote however you like

Election-ing

Pretty Cool

Liquor & Eggs

I'm laying in bed right now, feeling like shit. These allergies are killing me. I'm supposed to be working, but if I talked to any clients right now, they would probably think I was crying. One of the perks, as I promised my boss, of working for home - had I worked in an office, I would have definitely called in sick today; however, I'm going to ride it out and hopefully get a few hours of work done this afternoon after  I get my hands on some allergy medicine. 

On a more random note, my kitchen cabinets have been lacking hardcore. I haven't gone to the grocery store in a very long time because I won't be here for the next two weeks - but finally, yesterday, I had to give in. I went to the corner store - it's a liquor store with some necessities like bread, eggs, milk, etc - and picked up a few basics. When I got to the register, I realized I only had a debit card on me, and the guy only accepted cash. [That is, by the way, one of my major flaws - I NEVER carry enough cash on me.] I told the man, who spoke broken english, that I could not buy the groceries because of this reason, but he insisted that I take them anyways, and repay him when I could. He said "food is no big deal, you must eat. worry about money later." Granted, it was only 18.00 , but I was surprised to find that sort of small-town relationship/trust in the middle of such a big city, where everybody more or less is pretty jaded. It was refreshing. 

911 What is your Emergency?

So here's the thing about being a 'travelling salesman.' Or, saleswoman, I should say. You need to have a car to do the job. Last week, I was on my way to a business meeting at a hospital on the Southside. With a late afternoon appointment - 4:00 pm - I was forced to leave during rush hour. And for those of who are not aware, NOTHING about rush hour in Chicago is 'rushed.' As I am driving, I notice a funny smell. A burning smell. Coming from the dashboard - where my airconditioning is supposed to be coming out of. I think nothing of it, because if I pretend that something doesn't exist, then it doesn't. However, within a few minutes, it is hard to play that game because all of a sudden there is a white smoke POURING out of ALL of the vents. 

I'm sorry, WHAT?

Like they teach you to do in drivers ed - pull to the right. Oh wait, to my right? I'm sorry, there is a man in a jeep who is far more concerned that he move up six inches than let me into his lane. His lane? I need to get over THREE lanes. 

I roll down my windows so that in case they didn't SEE the white smoke clouding my car [sidenote: I can barely see at this point], they might be able to smell the awful burning plastic coming from my car. And, I beep.

Finally, I get over to the side of the road and call .... my dad. Not 911, because albeit the billowing smoke coming out of my car, I can NOT be having another one of those moments that only happen to me. But, apparently, I am. 

Dad, being a fire fighter, calls the nearby firehouse who sends out of a fleet of firetrucks. Because, of course, they have nothing better to do. Of course, as the firetrucks pull up they are blocking an entire lane of traffic, which does not make for happy rush-hour-ees still hoping to make it home in time to dinner. Cars are beeping their horns and shouting at each other. People like me are NOT helping them. 

The firemen take charge of my car, finding the source of the fire [an electrical fire, started by my 'blower' - the air conditioner & heater, basically.] They know my dad, so they temporarily fix it on the side of I-94 so that one of them can drive it back to the fire station. We get back there, and they work on it for about another hour - I've clearly missed my meeting at this point - and tell me that its okay to drive around, as long as I don't turn on the air conditioning. Or the heat. And the music. Okay, no problem. I'll drive around in a box with a motor, totally fine. But they do send me on my way with one caveat: that I should probably get it checked out by a professional.... and that I send them some coffeecake. 

Technology.

I am, in no way, calling myself Sleeping Beauty. But seriously, what would women do without straighteners? Or blow-dryers for that matter?

Hilarious.

what.the.fuck.

For some reason I am interested in this case, as much as I was the one of Madeline McCain. But at some point, shouldn't they STOP accusing the mother, or the family, and look elsewhere? They are turning this case into another Jon Benet Ramsey and its pissing. me. off. 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/09/22/caylee.protesters.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Party for One

My first business trip has begun, and ended. THANK GOD. I had all these thoughts of fancy businss suits and beautiful men and tasty food and impeccable hotel rooms with a mini-bar -- oh, how I was wrong. Well, not on all of it. Sure, some people wore expensive looking suits with colorful ties. And, there were a couple of pretty people to look at, but all over the age of 40, of course. Now, as for the tasty food and comfy hotel rooms - those were a treat. 

I've never gotten over the concept of how much money there is floating around this world - I really don't know if i ever will. It seems outrageous to me that my salary is - literally- next to nothing. However, the second I embark on a 'business trip', everything is expensed. EVERYTHING. Martini lunches at Hooters, five-star dinners at steakhouses, bottles and bottles of wine. These people LOVE to eat. I don't mind it at all, don't get me wrong. It was more than amazing - but, I realized a few things: 

A meal is more than a meal - it is the company you share it with. I'd learned this before when I travelled abroad in Spain. At my Senoras house, sitting down to a four course meal every night was a way of life - but it wasn't to eat. It was to get together, to share our days, to share our thoughts. Its where we had some of the best bonding. We sort of lose that in the U.S., amongst all the fast-food places. 

Most of the people I ate a meal with on this business trip were interesting; some of them had great things to say, great advice to give. One guy inparticular - Joel - I got to share almost all of my meals with. He and I travelled together in my car, and so in addition the meals, we had alot of time to get to know each other. He was very COOL--  as much a business associate my dad's age can be. He talked to me about moving in with his wife after knowing her only two weeks, about why he could never work for my boss but thinks its the best thing ever for me, and smoking pot.  Another guy was raised in Indiana, and had only come to the convention to get away from the chaos in his hometown, resulting from Hurricane Ike's rainwaters that flooded his street and his entire house. Losing almost everything in the house he had grown up in, he had come to the convention knowing that it would better occupy his time than sitting in a rowboat in his street, looking helplessly at his house, would do him.

These people, along with many others, are so great because they introduce you to an outside world, while simultaneously giving you a rare chance to truly appreciate the people in yours. 

Sure, swanky hotels are really great, and 50-dollar bottles of wine are truly delicious, but what is any of it if you can't share it with the people you love? 

Just another business trip. 

Business Trips are SO not the new Road Trip.

I go on my first business trip tomorrow. My. First. Business. Trip. I like saying it, it sounds professional. I don't feel that professional, and I don't feel that mature. When I get my things ready for work - my computer, my note cards, my planner, and put on my work clothes, and partake in discussions about 300,000 pieces of equipment, I feel like I'm six years old again and playing house. Today, I had to call my boyfriend - who, by the way, I am head over heels in love with - and ask him what sandbags were used for in relation to the floods in the midwest right now. Yet a few weeks ago, I had to turn away a sale at work because they didn't know (or care) that aerosole fumes can get through a HEPA filter, creating a hazardous - VERY hazardous - environment for their products and employees. I was trusted to just know that information.

At some point in my life - probably when I was enthralled in BSC books (the very then-famous baby-sitters club books)- that I came up with a very idealistic of how things were supposed to be. When I could buy my own lunch in high school, that was SO very uber cool and how high school kids should be. And when I got my license, it was so very cool of me to be the one with the car at the football games. And when I got to college, it was even more cool to be the first one with a fake ID. So what happens after college? It'd be even more cool of me to have the fantasy job. Company card, company computer, company cell phone. Oh, and a paycheck. Well, I have all of that - ANDIGETTOWORKFROMHOME. Every time I say it, and even write it, I'm impressed with myself. A huge part of me, however, is thinking - how the HELL did that happen. In my idealistic future, a college graduate with a super cool job was supposed to be way more mature than myself. A college graduate with a super cool job shouldn't have a million little insecurities and flaws like I do. They should have it together - ALL of it. And the truth is, there are only a few sure things in my life. Those, being that:

1. I will, everyday, spend at least 10 minutes looking for my keys.

2. That I will check gmail at least once every hour.

and,

3. That I have an amazing family, friends, and boyfriend, who, coincidentally, make a fabulous support system.

Lucky me. But, I do still find it weird that the-girl-talking-about-biohazardous chemicals-and-how-to-connect-the-hmi-to-the-zebra-printer is the same girl at the club on a saturday night throwing back cherry bombs. What would my colleagues think.

On a slightly happier note: one more sure thing is that I now know what sandbags are used for in floods -- to block the rain. a sort of levy, if you will.

Thanks, Jon.

the cable guy.

A little history first. I interned for a company my senior year of college, and after a skillfully planned proctastion period, realized that my college loans weren't going to pay themselves off. Oh, and neither were my parents.

So, I needed to get a job.

Seeing as how I had already committed to a higher-than-any-college-grad-without-a-job rent, I was stuck. I quickly gathered all of my shit into one giant organized mess, and presented to my boss that he set me up with a home office in Chicago. I work better on my own time, anyways.

You can look at a home office as those for underachievers, sure. As I've only been working a week, I can't attest that its not. However, the benefits for both the employers AND the employees, are, according to my presentation, VERY beneficial. More productivity, less sick time. No work clothes, no dressing up. Cell phone, computer, company card. And, what apparently is the most important - I don't have to take off work for the cable guys to come. If you've ever dealt with the cable guys, you can understand why this is, above all, very important.

Enjoy the blog, that I know you are secretly reading in your office cubicles. :)