GrouPawn

**Draft version, I'll add some pictures later :)

You can all blame Groupon for my sudden return to the blogging world. Oh, and also my Grandmother, but we'll address that in a later post. I am a fan of Groupon, a wonderful business that provides discounted fun things to do around Boston, which this college student greatly appreciates! They have a simple business model: offer vouchers for discounted products/services for local retailers in a daily email, if enough people buy it we all win with a sweet deal! Example: my first Groupon purchase was unlimited fitness classes for a month at a swanky gym Healthworks for $20. If 150* people bought in, we all got the deal. If not, none of us paid a cent. They do deals like this for restaurants, spas, gyms, hotels, you name it.

So why the hell am I waxing poetic about Groupon (besides the fact that if they are in a city near you it would make your life a million times better to sign up)? Because they put together this absurd contest called Live Off Groupon and it is pretty much perfect for me. No, seriously. So this is the story of my application:

First of all, I found out about it on the eve of midterm exams and with about 5 days left to make my application. I purchased for $10 a Groupon good for $20 worth of food at the delectable Crazy Dough's Pizza, a gourmet pizza joint with delish daft beer to boot. I recruited my BFF since freshman year, Hillary, to come eat free pizza, drink free beer, and tape my application video. I made an offhand remark about needing a video camera and an acquaintance who I stumbled across at the NU Basketball game on Saturday mentioned that you can rent them from the Library. How did I go 5 years and not know this?! So I request the video camera for Monday (the first day my Groupon is good) and try to get my schoolwork under control.

Now, fitting this video making sesh into my schedule was a challenge to begin with. On top of midterms, I had on Monday alone: volunteer @ Mission Hill School, lead campus tour, class, workstudy, and meeting my hero, Christian Siriano. So I fit in a leisurely dinner at C.Dough's with the BFF which you can watch here. Along the way we ran into a fellow contestant who I bring up solely because he watched over literally thousands of dollars worth of electronics while I ran around the store and interviewed people. I just thought about how much all of that is worth to me and got a little nauseous thinking about what would have happened had he run away with it all. Thanks again, Paul! We eat our pizza, upload movies to my computer, and flit off to our next obligation.

Before I would return the video camera with my precious footage I wanted to be sure the video files were working, which fulfilling my worst fears would not play on my computer. My computer, for those not in the know, is a somewhat elderly PowerBook G4 circa Aug 2005. It gets Youtube about as well and my Grandmother does, so I was afraid that this might happen. Before I would relinquish the video camera to the Library Media Services people, I made them swear up & down that these precious files would work (and not to erase the contents of the video camera. And are you sure I have to give it back today?!) The nice man told me that Apple's "freak me out" and to use (some spammy program) to convert the files. My preface is that while I am not a tech goddess, I am not computer illiterate and the fact that I could not (neither could my certifiably techy father) through Google and poking around make these video files work. I decided to study for another exam and just do the smart thing: make an appointment at the Apple store and hope they don't ream me out for wasting their "genius" on something not completely debilitating my computer. (I'm actually somewhat afraid of these people, they are all very smart and mildly condescending and do not make small talk, which compels me to make even more awkward attempts to engage them in small talk. Needless to say, unless my hard drive crashes, I don't really like seeing these people.)

Tuesday rolls around and I go visit the Apple store after class (midterm one- aced!) and it was a surprisingly pleasant experience. This probably had a lot to do with the fact that they were completely deserted so I had 2 geniuses who thought my non-readable video files were a fun challenge, not a PITA**. They decided that I didn't need to shell out money for QuicktimePro or any other software, downloaded some freeware, and sat there during the hour it took to convert one file and import it into iMovie to ensure that the conversion had worked. Apple, we're cool again. I forgive you for the iPad and exclusive at&t contract crap.

So file conversions & imports take a loooooong time. I let it run while I took care of all my social and educational obligations then came home and started to edit finally! One thing I noticed is that I have a lot of strange ticks and verbal crutches I use when I don't know what to say/don't remember I'm on camera and need to act somewhat presentably. I tried to edit as much of this out (as well as all of the negative nancies about other companies/people- some people really need to do the anti-negativity thing with me!) but some sections have awkward breaks in them as a result.

Wednesday was Judgment Day, as the application was due at midnight (eastern? standard? we'll never know). I carted my laptop around all day and snuck in editing where I could (including while working at the NU Visitors Center, my workstudy in the RSA office, during a group project meeting...). The final product was shaping up, with the longest video on Youtube and the other exporting to .mpeg4 while I scrambled to write 2 essays as to why I am The Best Ever (thank you, college, for honing my ability to produce not crap writing in a rush). I upload video 2 with a tear in my eye, so proud of my babies that I have devoted countless hours that I should have been studying to. I go to watch video 2 and... it stops at 0:28. @#$%^&* its 11:45 pm and video uploads to Youtube take a solid 10 minutes. I try to export a lower quality video from iMovie, thinking that perhaps the video was too large for Youtube, but no, it was some unexplained technical glitch. I re-upload successfully and.... video rejected?! Upload a 3rd time and REJECTED AGAIN? YOUTUBE WHY ARE YOU RUINING MY LIFE?!?! Youtube decides that my videos are all identical (which is technically true, except that they chopped a solid minute off the back end of the first video, the only one working at about 11:50pm) and is rejecting them. I quickly delete all of the offending duplicates and try to re-upload, praying to any and all gods who would listen that Youtube clears its cache quickly, as they warned me that "Significant changes need to be made in order to make the video distinct, a simple file name change will not do" (sidenote: then how do 1800 people all manage to upload the same terrible Kei$ha music video?!). At 11:56 pm EST It crosses my mind that since Groupon is based out of Chicago, I might have another hour before this is due. Not wanting to tempt fate, at 11:58 I put a link to my Youtube profile in place of the introduction video link and submit. At 12:02am my introduction video is APPROVED by Youtube and goes live, bearing a Wednesday upload time stamp (there is a God!). I proceed to watch my videos 500 times each just to be sure that they were real. After showing a few people I work with in Admissions/RSA/Life they have all concluded that (a) I'm insane and (b) this would be the perfect job for me.

My Application:
90 Second Introduction to Kate
Short Video Review of a Groupon Business, Talking to Customers and/or Employees
Top 10 Reasons From My Essay Why I Should Be the GrouPawn:
10. I actually have an impressive resume/work experience
9. I'm used to being broke/not having money/begging for money/free sutff
8. I would do pretty much anything for $100,000***
7. I'll be unemployed come May 9th
6. I'll use it to feed the homeless
5. I traveled across Asia for 5-6 weeks living out of only a carry on sized duffel bag
4. I'm adventurous
3. I'm somewhat funny, even if it is just because I do/say embarrassing things a lot****
2. I already document my life for the public
1. Wouldn't it be really funny to see a girl try to survive without makeup/hair products/shopping sprees for a whole year?

Still confused as to what this thing is all about? Read the contest FAQ


* I don't actually remember how many people had to buy it, I just know enough people did.
** Pain In The Ass, in case you were confused.
*** In case I forgot to mention, if I pull this stunt off I win $100,000 for my troubles, not a bad entry level salary
**** I just discovered this past January that Narwhals are real animals. Thought apparently I'm not the only one in the dark about this absurd mammal.

Back in the saddle...

Oh, hey there. Yes, it has been a while. I decided to start updating my little blog again for a few reasons. I've still been doing interesting things, but I don't really keep my family informed in great detail of my adventures so I think this is a nice way for them to be able to see what I do if they are so inclined without doing the spammy mass emails thing. Second, I gave up being negative for Lent (a decision based less on religion and more on just to be a better person) and it is really difficult, so as my penance I will update my little old blog whenever a day passes that I fail to uphold my Lenten sacrifice. I owe you lots of posts, my friends! Finally, I guess it is probably quite entertaining to live vicariously through a 22 year old who is going to be unemployed come May 8th, 2010 and doesn't want to grow up so she is trying to find any type of creative endeavor (they can be in offices, just not many of the offices I have found myself in ever) to become her lifelong occupation. At the very least, hopefully the blog will pop up in future employer's Google search and they can see that I am more than my Facebook (and Linked In, Twitter, LastFM, Google Buzz) profile. So enjoy!