A Social Project

So I just had an idea.

I spent 3-4hours a day commuting via public transit on the Pace Bus, Metra Rail Train, and CTA Bus. I sit next to new people, wait for busses by the same group of people, sometimes see familiar faces, and other times sit in a train car of others I've never crossed paths with before.

Wouldn't it be interesting to know their stories?

Not their whole life's drama or tale, but just to introduce myself, and ask each person I sit to on the train, or stand by at the bus stop the same short series of questions.

I could call it the friendliness project. Or the 3 minute story. I don't want to bother people, but I think it could be a very enriching experience for everyone involved. After a month of riding 3 forms of public transit, I think of how many people I could have met, and how we all share at least the common bond of being a commuter.

I could even stretch this into my time spent in the elevator in the office, or while waiting for jobs at the color printer. I know some people are going to find it strange, but I hope that most of them will be pleasantly surprised, and go on about the rest of their day just a bit happier.

Its always nice when people take an interest in you as a person, so hopefully this project could help ease the isolated commuter life of iPods, iPads, laptops, books, and newspapers.

But before I embark on this endeavor, I'd love for some feedback. My plan would be to write a short entry for each day I meet people, and share some neat things about them, as well as their general receptiveness to me starting up a conversation with them.

I think this could be fun! What do you think?

~Jenna
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Just The Way You Are

Many of you who listen to top 40 radio probably have heard this song by now. I find it to be truly wonderful, and hope that everyone has someone in their lives who thinks of them this way.

Since I love this song so much, here are the lyrics, just for you :)

Just The Way You Are - Bruno Mars
Oh, her eyes, her eyes
Make the stars look like they're not shining
Her hair, her hair
Falls perfectly without her trying

She's so beautiful
And I tell her every day

Yeah I know, I know
When I compliment her
She wont believe me
And its so, its so
Sad to think she don't see what I see

But every time she asks me do I look okay
I say

When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile,
The whole world stops and stares for awhile
Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are

Her lips, her lips
I could kiss them all day if she'd let me
Her laugh, her laugh
She hates but I think its so sexy

She's so beautiful

And I tell her every day

Oh you know, you know, you know
I'd never ask you to change
If perfects what you're searching for
Then just stay the same

So don't even bother asking
If you look okay
You know I'll say

When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile,
The whole world stops and stares for awhile
Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are

The way you are
The way you are
Girl you're amazing
Just the way you are

When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile,
The whole world stops and stares for awhile
Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are

Finding My Musical Taste

When it comes to things like "music", I've always been the odd one out in my family. My dad's into jazz and gospel, my sister pop and anything top 40, while I've always preferred alternative and rock, and anything I can dance to (club, hip hop, or world/tribal).

On Saturday, my dad and I were setting up iTunes for my mom so she'd have music on her iPhone to play when she goes walking. As we were asking her what she'd like to buy, she suggested groups like Aerosmith, and Creed. She found some cd's she had which are all of the rock genre. As we added them, my dad kept asking if she wanted some "soul" or "classics" and she sorta just shrugged. He searched some Caribbean tunes, but there was nothing she wanted to buy.

I now see that, despite how odd she made me feel when I was younger for liking music by "skinny white rockers" I'm no different than she was 30 years ago listening to music.

Its so silly how people go out of their way to make situations more odd than necessary. Its also interesting the perceived "need" from those on the outside to try and reign people back to what they "should" listen to, or what "other people like them" are listening to. In the past its been my mom doing that to me. That night, it was my dad doing that to my mom.

Forget 12hr energy, I've got 4-month energy

People often ask me how I do all of the things I do.

My secret?

I allow myself to derive excitement and energy from everything I do.

Now that may sound silly, but all of the people I meet, places I go, things I do and experiences I have energize my daily life and allow me to do more in a month than some people do in an entire year. Honestly! I could be fresh off of a week long trip abroad, then give myself a 2 day turn around before staring my full time job. Forget about jet-lag, I didn't experience it at all. Even after living 7 hours ahead for 5 weeks.

I thought about why I was feeling particularly tired yesterday, then I realized that i'm actually reaching the slow down of a 4-month roller coaster of adventures. My last "free" (non travel, non planned) Saturday was back on May 22nd. Let's see, since then I've done quite a lot. Wow. A whole lot. I planned this "super summer" and it's amazing to see how everything went above and beyond going according to plan.

It was awesome.  

What my Saturdays have been filled with since May. . .
May 1 - Graduation. May 8 - family stuff, first time back home. May 15 - Ann Arbor w/ Dom. May 22nd - Free!. May 29th - Return from Backpacking the Appalachian Trail. June 5th - Garage Sale. June 12th - En Route to Barbados. June 19th - En route home from Barbados. June 26th - Graduation Party. July 3rd - Dom in Town! July 10th - First weekend in Madrid. July 17th - Sevilla. July 24th - Barcelona. July 31st - Madrid. August 7th- First day back in the States. August 14th - Dom in Town! August 21st - Neil & Jabs in Town!

And tomorrow, August 28th, all I plan to do is work out, get my hair done, and sleep.

So for those of you who need to get your 8+hrs of sleep a night, or just always feel tired, here are my few suggestions:

- Do things that make you HAPPY. Even if it's just that dance class on Thursday nights, or watching some TV show online or off of your DVR, have SOMETHING to look forward to at all times. It makes the less exciting stuff much better, as it acts as a count-down rather than just a waste of time.

- Get energy by DOING. This could be working out, spending time with friends, traveling, reading, learning, whatever! Find a way to let the stuff in your life fulfill your life, and enrich it too. You will feel better, look better, and have everyone wondering how you possibly don't drink 2 cups of coffee in the morning. (I've never been a coffee drinker - it makes me super jittery. When I wake up in the morning, I already function like I've had several cups of espresso. People HATE me for this.)

- Find something to LOVE. What is your passion? What is your drive? What or Who, regardless of how you were feeling before makes you forget about your problems and smile? Some people may not even know that they're missing this, but after my 2 hour commute, getting a txt from my boyfriend or walking through the door and having Coco (only the BEST dog ever - if you doubt me, you can come and meet her for yourself) run up and get excited that I'm home, makes life all the more worth living.

- Ignore everyone else, and just do YOU. I mean, go with your gut instincts. Act upon what you feel and what you want to do. Forget insecurities, or the fact that you've never done it before. I promise you, you will learn something new, learn about yourself, and maybe even find a new hobby, friend, or place to love. This is how I discovered backpacking, and got closer to one of my now best friends.

There's probably more that I could say about making the most out of your day, and living the best life that you can, but i'm no professional. That may almost make this information better as I speak from experience, and the decisions i've made in my own life.

If you have questions, suggestions, etc, let me know! I'd love to chat with you.

Peace, Love, and Happiness,

~Jenna 

What is this feeling . . . (lessons in the work place)

Since staring my job, I haven't been writing nearly as much, so I've decided to start a mini-series of Lessons in the Work Place. Being an entry level employee is much different than my previous job experience, being a student, and being an intern, so as I discover some of 'life's lessons' I will share them with you. Hopefully it'll make you even more of a rock-star in your own work life.

----------------------------
Thursday, Aug 26th, 2010

I felt embarrassed today.

Not because I said the wrong thing in a meeting, spilled lunch on my clothes or tripped in front of a crowd.

I sent an email out to my team.

Now obviously there's a bit more than that. I've been doing some research on fast food combos and came up with this awesome chart that compares prices, offerings, sides, and sizes of the top QSRs. It was supposed to help us develop the creative and strategic briefs for a project that yesterday, was put on hold.

Since I was done, and both my supervisors had seen it at some stage of the process, I decided to send it out to my team, thinking they all could benefit from knowing about the current competition's combo meals as several of our products are pitched against price points, or another restaurants particular offering.

Once I emailed and printed it out, several people on the team said they loved it! Meanwhile, my supervisor was calling me into her office. She loved the work, but was upset by the fact that I sent it to everyone on the team without her "final blessing". As I work on her pillar, any of my work is her work, and a representation of her. Also, she didn't find this project relevant to everyone on the team like I did, so she would have more carefully tailored the target audience.

She wasn't mad at me, but just wanted to establish protocol for things to come, which makes sense, and I totally appreciated.

But I don't think I've felt that embarrassed in a long, long time. I felt my face turn red and everything.

Thinking about it, sure I overstepped her in sending something from our end out to everybody, but there was no way for me to really know better. During my internship on the same team last summer, I sorta floated and worked a bit with everybody, so everything I did got sent out to everyone. I guess I figured that same framework still stood, but I've now learned that I'm in a subset of the team, rather than an accessory to the whole group.

Out of my 5 year career of various types of employment, I've never had to report to anyone before. In all of my past jobs, sure I had a manager or someone above me, but as far as my daily tasks were concerned I was totally autonomous.

At the golf course I operated as my own manager working the cash register, tee times, lesson bookings, concessions, guest needs & requests,  and junior camps. I only looked to superiors if I had questions, it was something of their specialty (scheduling, outings, merchandise. . .) or if a situation was outside of what I normally handled.

As a campus day leader my morning duties, panel work, and tours were all my own doing. While I was greatly supported by my fellow leaders, the work and its time and execution was mainly what I wanted, and how I wanted/saw best to do it. This was a prided fact of our campus visits as compared to other schools as we didn't deliver you an "admissions packaged presentation" or a canned speech. Sure we were all trained the same, but each one if us had total freedom to execute the tour however we felt best.

In the mentorship office, Phd program, and marketing department, I was given a task and told what to do with it, but never how. I had free reign of design, execution, creativity, and information, and had total ownership of my work. When the task was done, I turned it in, discussed it with my manager/director/supervisor, received their critiques, recommendations, and approval, then moved on.  There was a high level of "Jenna's Work" that had nothing to do with input or blessings from anyone else before it was deemed complete and ready to go.

I sort of miss those jobs, but in a way my current position can operate just the same if I only look at my pillar of 3, rather than the total team of 8. I'm really glad she called me in to explain the "office" way of doing things, as you never know the local logistics and protocol until someone tells you. I'd much rather know that here on week 3 instead of being told the same way down the line after having sent multiple messages without her final blessing. Its all a learning experience and I'm totally down for the ride.

Even though I was embarrassed today, finally feeling my face back to normal 30 minutes later, one of the executives on the team loved the print out and even suggested sending it out to the client!

So I must not be that big of a screw up after all :)

Peace, Love, and Happiness, (and plenty of learning experiences too)

~Jenna

My "Favorites Toolbar" Alphabet

After adding Facebook, Gmail, Pandora, and Twitter to my favorite's toolbar, I noticed that I was well on my way to having an alphabet:

A- is for Advertising Age
B - is for Brandweek and Blogger
D - is for DraftFCB
F- is for Facebook 
G- is for Gmail
I - is for LinkedIN (the logo is "in)
M- is for Metra
N- is for New York Times
P- is for Pandora
S- is for Sporcle
T - is for Twitter
W- is for Wall Street Journal
Y- is for YouTube

Now I just need to find sites to fill in the gaps.

Any good sites for C, E, H, J, K, L, O, Q, R, U, V, X, Z?

Living in Transit

Strangely enough . .. my commute doesn't even involve a highway. Or a car.

As I was sitting on the train today, I thought about how I've made the labeled transition from "College Student" to "Member of the Real World". I think my membership card is in the mail...takes 3-5 business days. I love my job (even though I haven't really started doing anything yet. . . my supervisor just started last week and the other member of my pillar is out on a food shoot), but I can't quite say the same for my 2hr morning adventure.

If GoogleMaps could connect the local commuter bus to the train to the city busses, it would look something like this (detailed info like my bus routes and home address have been omitted):

[The little public transit button would be highlighted]
A. My House
B. The Office

Transit Directions to The Office
A. My House
-Walk to Gateshead & Copperfield (about 2 minutes)
-Wait 5 minutes for the bus
-Take Pace Bus to Naperville Station (30 minutes)
-Arrive at Naperville Station
-Wait 15 minutes for the train
-Take Metra Train to Chicago Union Station (34 minutes)
-Arrive at Union Station
-Walk outside to Canal & Adams
-Wait 0-8 minutes for the bus
-Take CTA bus to Michigan & Ontario (25 minutes)
-Get off at Michigan & Ontario
-Walk 1 block North to Erie
-Make a left turn
-Walk (about 2 minutes)
-Destination will be on your Left.
B. The Office

So, all in all its better than driving into the City, but not nearly as awesome as my 20 minute walk down the Magnificent Mile last summer. The current plan is to stay at home for the next 10 months to save money, then move downtown in May. I love Chicago summers too much to spend almost 4hours going back and forth. Plus, friends may start charging me rent if I crash on their couches too frequently.

To help speed up the feeling of the inbound commute, I started reading a book. (The Crush, by Sandra Brown). I've always been a fan of romance/murder mystery/drama esque books (so different from my normal carefree life) and figured that I liked her two other books I've read, The Switch, and The Exclusive so why not start another one.

After the Bus-Train-Bus, I found myself already on page 118. The book has 474.

At this rate, I'll finish a book in 3 days. Maybe even 2.

So, in addition to needing to get a library card, I can't wait till I have the money to buy myself and ipad.

It's...so....beautiful!

Yesterday as I waited for my friends to join me downtown Naperville, I wandered on over to the Apple Store to play around with my much wanted toy and pass the time. Before I knew it, it was no longer 6:30, but 7:09. Man did time fly. This will bring me games, TV shows, books, news, and fun photo applications. Its gonna be great!

Now, I just have to be sure to not get too excited about the cooking game and miss my stop on the bus. That'd be no fun.

Counting down the days till my paycheck won't have to immedieatly go towards paying for something.

~Jenna