The 'good' old days.

I was out to lunch at Pizza di Roma the other day with a friend from high school who was home for the weekend. We were walking down State Street (where we use to hang out 'back in the day') talking about who has gotten knocked up since graduation when we saw a former classmate of ours. We all stopped and hugged each other and caught up on what's been going on, and then it dawned on me, she was a bitch in high school. She never talked to us, we even had class together one year.

You see, I use to a be a bit nerdy. I broke out of that nerdiness a couple times a year, for our DECA (highschool marketing) competitions. I would show up at school in business clothes, heels, hair up with makeup on, and everyone would be in total shock that I could indeed look girly. My marketing teacher would always tell the teachers from other school that I was his student who could 'sell a freezer to an eskimo, overhaul your engine, build you a barn, and still wear heels and makeup.'

I have seen a few people since graduation that I never talked to prior to it. It seems as though when you are in highschool you fall into a certain click, a nich if you will, and when you change yourself to not conform to that nich, like when I dress business professional, people seem worried and are fearfull of that change. When you graduate that nich you belonged to, with all its strict social laws, seems to desolve, and it is suddenly okay to do whatever you want. Maybe that is why its now deemed 'okay' to talk to people who were considered lame in highschool.

Well, that and the fact that most of the 'popular' kids have (a) failed at life or (b) gotten knocked up (only applies to girls) and us nerdy kids who spent our saturday night at the bowling ally calculation the force the ball exercted upon the pins, are the ones who are in control. In the end though, we'll all end up in the same place.

The upcoming 5 year class reunion.

The importance of acting your age, or older.

I am writing this entry overwhelmed with nausea.

I have a coworker who I absolutely love to work with, when he isn't on the phone with his wife. During the span of our work day (7 am to 5 pm) he honestly talks to his wife at least four times. They have been married for some time now, they live together and have children together, so it isn't like they don't see each other, he goes home on his hour lunch break to see her and the kids.

Today the boys, all of whom are under the age of 7, came in to see their dad at work. The second youngest is either at that stage in his life where he is incapable of producing a coherent sentence, or his parents just don't pay any mind to his dictation.

Back to the matter at hand, the never ending phone conversations. One cannot help but overhear these phone conversations, being that we are all in one small office room, and being that the language he uses is not too common to our workplace. Hearing someone say the word 'babe' is a bit off putting on its own, but to hear it every fourth word while you are attempting to concentrate on the task in front of you is down right annoying. It wouldn't be as irritating if they, or he at least, would speak to like adults, and choose another pet name then babe, and maybe not need to talk to her every hour of the day. After all, the longest he does without seeing her during the day is 4 1/2 hours between the beginning of work and lunch. It is just so nauseating because they are similar to needy teenagers in love who can't live without being by each others side every moment of the day. Like two annoying teenagers in puppy love arguing over who hangs up first, no you first, no you, no you, no you first.....




Where has office etiquette gone to?

Please turn down the porn.

There was a contractor fired today, he was listening to porn on his laptop while working, and somehow his headphone jack became loose and the noise flooded out from his speakers, shocking everyone in the office. He was listening to porn, at work.

I realize that 'corporate culture' is slowly fading out, with the workplace becoming more lax in order to accommodate everyone's individuality, but what on earth would possess this man to believe that it is acceptable to listen to porn while at work. Does his productivity somehow skyrocket?

As I write this entry I am still in shock, but it reminds me of a conversation I had a while back. I have, in the past, judged for DECA at the high school level. This is a marketing and business competition, in which the students are required to dress professionally. There was a student last year who excelled beyond belief. I was personally shocked at his proficiency, but he was dressed as if he had just woken up. Some of the other judges and I were discussing the lack of understanding many people have when it comes to how to properly dress for a job or interview. We, as judges, felt as through it were extremely important to instill in these students the importance of dressing professional when necessary; but many of the students showed the level of discontent you would expect from telling a 6 year old boy playing in the mud to clean up for church.

Many students, at both the high school and college level, seem to be opposed to dressing business appropriate because it 'hinders' the way in which they express their individuality. It makes them feel confined and as if they are being forced to become a diferent person. But how you dress at work, when meeting potential clients, coworkers, and future bosses, is a representation of your capabilities and competence.

There should be a class all freshman in college take where they learn this.

The next chapter

I came to the conclusion some time ago that if I am going to put the effort into building a solid portoflio I need to atleast update it each quarter, if not sooner. But in this modern age is the hard copy portfolio outdate?

Last year when I built my portoflio I decided to make it a hard copy one becuase, in my mind, I would always have it accessable and looking nice. The notion of creating an electronic portfolio remained in the back of my mind, but I never paid it much attention untill now.

As I entered hour two of talking to student's at Iowa State University's engineering career fair, I found myself blind to the differences in skills each student possessed. I was simply looking for the bare minumum we required for the internship open, and ranking students who could easily take on a full time position, with those who are barely qualified for an internship. Then I really became aware of the fact that with today's competitive job market, especially for those seeking employment straight out of college, any little way to help employeers remember you is important. Therefore, I have decided to develop an electronic portfolio, in the form of a .pda, and possibly have an online portfolio.

But I am not sure if I can altogether abandon my hard copy.

Who needs balls when you have caffine?

In an attempt to wake myself from the mundane work I've been assigned to do I started talk to my manager. I told him, Wednesday, that I was staying here in Iowa this weekend, "I'm not venturing back to Wisconsin this weekend" were my exact words.

So now I sit here in my cubicle, Friday morning, writing out my list of stuff to take up north with me. Jake and I need to finalize our frame design this weekend, so I can FEA it on Monday, and then Jake can take the .dxf to get made next weekend.

The fact that I have been gone almost every weekend, either up to River Falls to work on the tractor design, or to Madison, forces me to raise the question when have I sacrificed enough?


One of my first day's here at work one of my coworkers gave me some of the best advice I have ever received; don't worry about what other people do.

I find this to be good advice because it has helped me to keep my ethics in place. Other interns may show up an hour late wearing last nights t-shirt and jeans, take extended lunches, and leave early, but not me. I am here ten minutes early, respect the lunch hour, and dress professionally. We have a lax dress code, so I could easily wear jeans and a t-shirt everyday, but I take pride in the fact that most people do not realize that I am an intern, and no one ever believes I am as young as I am.

I do find though, those words are easier said then swallowed. With every group project this mantra of not worrying about others, and getting your own stuff done the best you can, seems to be outweighed by the feeling of inequality when you spend all your free time doing research and working while your 'teammates' are out drinking or spending time with their significant other.

And then you remember that your peers and you are not on the same page, and it is after all your professors who will be aiding you in really reaching your full potential, and it is their praise that is really being sought after, not that of some drunk frat boy. But that joy is sometimes even outweighs when you drive 6 hours every weekend because you have a teammate who lacks the ability to view the bigger picture, and you know you have to go because if not it will not get complete and then, even though it is not your responsibility entirely, you will look bad.

So you give up your free time and social life to drive.

On a douch bag scale, from one to ten, my coworker is the new ten.

Never could I have imagined someone like him existed. Our first few days of working together I simply brushed him off as a ‘one upper’, but as our time together grew painfully longer, I realized he is so much more then that.

The guys here at work joke with me about my ‘thick’ northern accent (I still say I don’t have an accent) and the various stereotypes of Wisconsin, which I happen to fill perfectly. Well this here db will go on for ever on how Iowa State University is so much superior then any education that anyone could possibly receive in Wisconsin. The day that he tied to lecture me on how I cannot compare ISU’s ¼ ASABE tractor design team with ours at UWRF because ISU is so much superior (even though we beat them in almost all of the design catagories, just not overall because we never pulled). This is the moment when he became more then just a one upper, he’s also a pompous asshole.

So how he is now maxing out the douch bag scale? He is sick, and he came to work sick, he has yet to take a day off. So now he has made his cubical mate sick, and therefore his cube mate's wife and kids sick. And me, he has made me sick. And what did he say when I told him everyone was gettign sick including me, he said that he is having alergies. One other guy at work has a weak immune system becuase he had Malaria at one point in time, so he has allergy problems year round. But Mr. Douch Bag is coughing, not sneezing at all, and has a cold

A meeting on meetings.

Yesterday I attended a very exciting workshop on how to facilitate effective meetings. The only thing I didn't like about the meeting was the fact that there were little trinkits on the table, which lead to dicking around when we should have been listening.