Archive: October 2006

I took it upon myself to reorganize the supply closet at work because things had gotten out of hand. I might have simply lost patience in the alley of chaos, but you can read it however you like. Not only were the actual supplies in disarray, but the lack of floor space due to random junk resulted in an uncomfortably cramped situation for any more than one person. Upon closer examination, I realized that in addition to strewn-about office supplies, the closet was storing oddities like broken computer elements, forsaken messenger bags, and wall paint that hadn’t been used in three years. What the heck? Who just threw this stuff in here? It didn’t make any sense.

In a short time, I collected no less than 7 leather computer bags from random companies that had sent us free stuff, and it was clear that no one in the office was using them. I piled them up on a table with the witty couplet, “If you don’t take ’em, RA will donate ’em!” I recycled or shredded outdated supplies and marketing materials and cleared the floor space of should-have-been-trash items like a completely used Post-it easel pad. Why on earth did someone not throw it out?

The closet only had a metal-wire shelving unit, which worked fine for things like folders and envelopes; however, things like pens just slipped through the spaces, which resulted in the most-needed supplies being scattered around the closet. And so, I ordered a remedy from our supplier about which I was unnaturally giddy: stackable storage containers! Plus, an excuse to use the communal label-maker! (I bet JG is glad we don’t have one at home, because I would label everything in sight.) I spent a happy hour to sorting out, containing, and gleefully labeling away.

I readily admit that my love for the label-maker is a bit extreme, but I assure you that this overhaul was needed! In addition to my discovery of a bounty of bags (anyone in need of one?), I also uncovered a surplus of almost useless supplies that we will never need to reorder. Keep in mind that there are only nine people in my office, and five of them only come in once a week…

• 24 bottles of Wite-Out
• 60 old-school, wooden pencils
• 600 push pins
• 9 100-count boxes of paper clips
• 6 5,000-count boxes of staples (that’s 30,000 staples, people)

The result of my labor is a slimmed-down, functional, walk-around-able supply closet, and when someone exclaims, “What happened to this closet?” I’m proud to shout, “I happened!”

We’re knee-deep in it now, so I can finally say it without being smacked upside the head with annoying Indian summer: I love fall. This love was originally fueled by the death of my seasonal allergies and the beginning of school – oh, the joy of brand new school supplies! – but these days, I like to think that my affections have developed some maturity.

Fall is the time of year to wear corduroy and wool without feeling oddly overlayered, and I can bust out my favorite red, fuzzy scarf, after its patient hibernation in the coat closet. The commute that I breezed through only a week ago has become an ever-changing display of leaf fireworks, much to my distracted dismay. Around these parts, leaves fall down as soon as they change color, and I just can’t take it in fast enough. The best sight of all is seeing the leaves all burnished and coppery from the setting sun; I take mental pictures with my eye because I know I can’t photograph it well enough. I’ll start to bring soup for lunch and JG and I will plan to carve pumpkins and toast seeds. Soon, we’ll start stocking up candy for the local superheroes and princesses, and my schemes for fun Halloween costumes can finally take shape, haha! On the weirder side, I observe that the neighboring front yards are cropping up with oversized outdoor decorations that the inventor of the snow globe surely did not intend.

When I came home from work yesterday, I was bouncing around to the tune of “fall is so great”, and I persuaded to JG to take a stroll around the block with me so that I could snap photos of our neighborhood. I think I missed all of this last year because we were in the tumult of moving, but I am going to make a point of savoring it this year. I took my pictures while JG and I caught up on our Fridays, and it was great to be outdoors in the late afternoon. The air had that perfect chill that makes your ears turn pink around the edges, which made returning to our cozy house all the sweeter.

The following is an e-mail I sent out to the Today show this morning in response to a series focusing on the college application process for three high school seniors. At last, a real-world application of my high falutin’ classes on rhetoric.

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To Whom It May Concern:

I’ve just seen the introduction to Today’s series on the college application process, and I agree that this process is very important and can be very stressful. However, as a recent college grad, I believe that there is too much emphasis right now on getting into college and not as much interest in the process of finding a job and a place to live after graduation. This second process has higher stakes and a much lower success rate, and so many students have a vague view of it.

As a high-achieving senior in high school, I was taught that once I was accepted into college, the world would be my oyster. All I had to do was get into The Right School and that was it. When I graduated from college, I had a strong degree under my belt and two internships with contacts who could give glowing references, and I was prepared to have a smooth transition into the so-called real world.

I was a fairly naive job-seeker, but I quickly came to find that I was at the mercy of hiring managers. My lack of real experience was the greatest strike against me, despite my internships. I was very diligent in tracking my resume progress, following up after the requisite ten days, and I know that out of 40 resumes submitted within a period of ten weeks, I received all of two interviews. Ultimately, I found a decent job with great benefits by the time I needed to pay my rent, but it was hardly the smooth transition I had envisioned. Although I had a marketable degree, I wasn’t special - I was one of many, many college graduates vying for a fixed number of positions. I worked very hard to avoid having to move back home, and I was fortunate to find a position. I doubt that the students the show is profiling aspire to live in their parents’ houses for the first year or two out of school, but that is an increasingly popular trend.

I found the process of applying to college much easier and user-friendly than that of finding a job. For me, the college application process was friendly and welcoming; they made me feel as though they wanted me to come join them at their school. Assuming I was accepted to the school, I was in a position of power, and I was able to weigh pros and cons for my future. In the job application process, however, no one other than me was invested in whether I received a job. Hiring managers looked for excuses to eliminate, whereas admissions officers looked for a wide pool of applicants. These days, each resume receives about ten seconds of face time, which is a stark contrast to the hours admissions officers spend to determine the incoming freshman class.

My intent is not to downplay the college application process but to emphasize the lack of education available for the job search. The assumption that a college education is a free pass to a well-paying, prestigious job and the opportunity for select housing is completely unfounded. While the college application process is certainly a turning point in students’ lives, the job search dictates where that person will live and what standard of living is affordable; it is the potential launching pad for the future of the person’s career. College only lasts for four years, but the job search can affect one’s entire working life, which might last for more than forty years.

I think a series on the job search for graduating seniors in college would be a reasonable follow-up to this current series. I would recommend, however, not focusing on only high-achieving students in highly attractive courses of study; rather, a cross-sample of students of all courses of study would be more accurate. After all, I believe the most popular majors are psychology and communications, not engineering and business.

I’m sure that this e-mail address receives a lot of mail everyday, and I hope that my e-mail does not get lost in the shuffle. After living through this process, which was by far the most discouraging and desperate experience I’ve had, I feel very strongly that college students need much more education and perspective on what is waiting for them. To focus major news stories solely on the college search helps to perpetuate this myth that a college degree entitles that graduate to a well-paying, exciting career and comfortable living. I believe that is a disservice to a growing population of Americans.

Thanks for your time,

RA

I can’t remember the last time I was so tired after a weekend. It was fun, don’t get me wrong, but, oh, the tiredness. Saturday was a double whammy of college football consisting of UD’s homecoming game against Hofstra and then driving up to a friend’s house for the much-anticipated Penn State game versus Michigan. UD and Penn State hadn’t won games in the same weekend, so this was the weekend to break the trend. In SportsCenter style, here are the highlights:

• I was surprisingly peppy in the morning, as evidenced by my running up the stairs from our bedroom, punching the air (Rocky-style), and yelling, “IT’S GAME DAY!” at the top of my lungs. JG stared at me blankly, then asked who I was, because his wife sure didn’t run in the mornings, much less glory over game day.
• We had a perfect fall day with a supersaturated blue sky for our tailgate, and I must say that eating bratwurst is nicely complemented by seeing multiple generations of Blue Hens converge upon a practice field for the sake of outdoor grilling, throwing foam footballs, and wearing blue and gold.
• As we were packing up our meal, my phone vibrated unexpectedly in my jeans, and surprise! It was my freshman-year roommate and our whole band of friends from our hall! We headed over to their tailgate, where numerous cases of beer had already met their demise; it was a lot of “HEY, how are you?!” and “I can’t believe you remember that!” I hadn’t seen these guys in about a year, and they’re all moving and getting fabulous jobs and going to grad school – what the heck?
• After at least a half hour of yelling at/catching up with my friends over the sound of someone’s thumping bass system and someone else’s car alarm, I was good and hoarse, which was convenient for the yelling I was about to do during the football game, since our boys can’t seem to tackle anyone. We won in sloppy fashion, but I’ll take it.
• The Penn State game was more of a knitfest for me than anything due to certain promises made, but I do remember two Penn State quarterbacks getting concussions, which left the third-string guy having to try and win the whole thing. I also recall yelling at two football players to stop fighting as if I were someone’s mom – “Hey, you two! Stop that right now!” – when they were actually blocking, or something.
• I committed what I’m sure is Penn State blasphemy when, in response to the claim that it would be poetic for Joe Paterno to die on the football field, I retorted, “How does that poem go? There once was a man named Joe…” Thankfully, one of the other girls chimed in with, “…and it was his time to go…” We were just kidding, and I know it’s morose to limerick-ize someone’s death, but seriously, how is that poetic? I think it would be traumatic. It would have to be after a come-from-behind win over Notre Dame at Beaver Stadium or something. I’m sad to report that Penn State couldn’t pull it out against Michigan, and there was no joy in Mudville.
• I knitted my way through the football game and through the ultimate Frisbee game the next day. (I don’t do Frisbee; it was better for me to sit in a sleeping bag, looking like an amputee from war, than to run around and pretend like I could actually catch something and be useful.) And yes, I did it! I managed to finish all three scarves for JG’s volleyball seniors, even with knotting fringe at the ends and making them presentable with twirly ribbon. I stayed up until 1am, and that’s an hour I haven’t seen in quite a while. Mondays are hard enough, but sleep-deprived Mondays are just wrong.

Needless to say, I am bushed from all of that, but I guess that’s the high price of a really fun weekend. Maybe that’s why those party-hopping celebrities go into the hospital for exhaustion all of the time.