#best09

This post is part of the Best of 2009 Blog Challenge. Thanks to Gwen Bell I will be looking back at 2009 for the next month and highlighting the best experiences from the past 12 months.

This doesn’t qualify as ‘best’ but it’s definitely the one that sticks out the most in my head. After getting laid off back in July, Maggie was nice enough to meet me for a drink on her lunch break. She had to return to work (which at the time, I was like “bitch,” haha) I suddenly had an entire afternoon with nothing to do. I stuck around downtown for a little  bit, but then I decided to head back towards my apartment in Wrigleyville. Not being in the mood to face the dog and girlfriend, I headed towards the beach.

It was here at the beach that I did some soul searching and had to calm myself down. Basically, I needed to reassure myself that it was a stupid move on their part and that I’d surely find another job in the middle of the worst recession that Gen Y had ever seen. Luckily, it was July, so it was pretty nice just hanging out on the concrete steps, pondering what to do with the impending free time I’d have. It’s pretty damn cliche, but there’s something calming about sitting and looking out on a lake. My mind was racing from ‘why me’ to ‘what now’ to ‘now I can do more things I’ve been wanting to do.’ I was out there for about an hour or so before finally heading home.

Amazing what some time alone can do.

image credit andyj682

This post is part of the Best of 2009 Blog Challenge. Thanks to Gwen Bell I will be looking back at 2009 for the next month and highlighting the best experiences from the past 12 months.

I must have taken this picture...

While Liz Strauss’ SOBCon was pretty awesome, there’s just no beating a trip to Austin for SXSW.

This was my first excursion to South By, as it’s known amongst regulars. My parter in crime for the trip, Caitlin Rosberg, was also a South By rookie, but we made the most of our time. Our company sent us for the interactive portion of the conference, but didn’t even let us stay for the entire length of the interactive show. LAME. Anyways, the trip was a nice blend of business, learning, networking and partying. I like to think we did a pretty great job spreading the word about our company with a very limited plan and budget.

Anyways, this trip was awesome on so many levels. I met Tim Jahn for the first time, and we had quite the epic night. We were hanging with Mary and Amy, two cool girls from Career Builder. After the SMC pool competition, we decided to do some bar hopping. We go to this kinda trendy place, and decided to just have one drink there as it wasn’t really our style. I forget exactly how it happened, (I think Amy and Mary started talking to these guys, ha) but we ended up chatting with two guys from Ireland. They were in Austin for the interactive and film portions of South By, and were just as interested as we were in having a good time. So the six of us make our way through Austin, moving from bar to bar, enjoying each others company and the overall experience. Somehow, we ended up back at the Irish guys’ hotel room and ordered some cheesecake from room service. Don’t ask.

Check out my pics from SXSW 2009.