Week 7-10 @ GA: Better Late than Never

Well, it was bound to happen... I only made it 7 weeks blogging consistently. So here is the past 4 weeks in warp speed.

Week 7 @ GA, my mom came to visit and provided a nice break from 100% GA life and we got to do a lot of stuff that I hadn't been able to since being here. Probably the best part was our day trip to San Diego. We were only there for about 6 hours, but we were able to hit the highlights and have a great time. We walked around Old Town, the Gaslamp Quarter, Seaport Village, and got to see the USS Midway.

My mom's last night in LA we drove up the PCH to Malibu and had a nice dinner with an ocean view. The drive up the PCH was incredible - you don't get views like that many other places in the country.

Week 8-10 @ GA: We had just completed our online portfolios and started working on our client projects. I was put in a group to work on a company based out of San Francisco called GeriJoy. It's is a software that provides companionship for seniors via a virtual pet. It's a really unique product that has generated a lot of buzz in the medical/tech world so it was a really interesting to work on. The ask was to redesign the website to increase conversion and I believe what we delivered was pretty solid and the client seemed pretty happy during the presentation this past Thursday.


Week 9 @ GA: Last week started with my 26th birthday and looking back at my 25th birthday I would've never guessed that I would be living in California for it. I enjoyed a nice, relaxing day at the beach and in class the next day we celebrated with donuts (yum :)) and they were all super sweet enough to get me a StubHub gift card to see an LA Galaxy game :) Overall, pretty great birthday. 

Week 10 @ GA: This past week was really great. We finished up our client project and had our presentation on Thursday followed by a class dinner and arcade games at Santa Monica Pier. And yesterday was our last day, which was of course celebrated with champagne, speeches, gifts, and some pretty awesome dance moves. 






I absolutely can't believe that these 10 weeks went by so quickly, but somehow I feel like I have grown so much. This experience was incredible and I'm so happy to have taken the opportunity to change my path. And now it's officially time to buckle down and find a job. I had a phone interview with a digital agency in St. Louis last week and I have an interview in San Diego next week. I have no idea where I'll end up in few short weeks, but it's sure to be another adventure.

For anyone that's interested, my online portfolio can be found at uxshannon.com. (Note: It still needs some polishing.)

Week 6 @ GA: Living Amongst the Spiders

Now that I am safely freed from the hells of a spider-infested hole, I can recount my story.

As you may recall, I arrived in LA with food-poisoning and I was really just seeking the solace of the bed that I was going to be paying an exorbitant amount of money for. I was greeted by the girl I was renting from (let's call her Mary) and given a quick tour of the place and she left me to the room to take a nap. And I was immediately overcome with the horror that surrounded me... SPIDERS. Everywhere. 

During the quick tour, she had found a spider in my closet and proceeded to trap it in a cup and take it outside. She said, "The house seems to have a few spiders. I hope this doesn't freak you out!" In my food-poisoned delirium, I brushed this statement off. I later realized that this should've been my cue to run for the hills.

While uncomfortably laying on my new bed (I hadn't put my own sheets on it yet so it felt yucky), I began to sweat. For those of you that know me well, you know that I don't sweat unless I am exercising or it's over 90 degrees. I looked around for vents in my room and then meandered out into the hall to find the thermostat, but my search proved fruitless and I began to panic. I wanted to blame my hot flashes on the food poisoning, but Nala was panting like I had walked her straight into hell so I knew it wasn't just me.

My panic turned into salty beads of water rushing over my face in a full-on "ugly cry" sort of way. I hadn't handed over my check yet, but I felt robbed. It had taken me weeks to finally find an "affordable" place to stay that would take Nala and it was a hell hole.

Once I composed myself, I addressed a few things with Mary she agreed to buy a window AC unit so that Nala didn't have a heat stroke and I felt a lot better. However, over the next few weeks I began to fully realize Mary's crazy.

I am the kind of roommate that likes to keep to myself, come and go as I please, and keep the common areas clean. Mary is the opposite kind of roommate. She is hyper, slovenly, and barely strings together 3 jobs to pay her bills. This sort of personality only makes me retreat even more, but apparently this was unacceptable. I received an email one morning stating that I was making her uncomfortable and that the house would not be a good option for me for the duration of my LA stay. Once I stopped laughing at the ridiculousness, I was truly relieved that I wouldn't have a hard time breaking the news to her that I was looking for other places. 

During the 5 weeks that I spent there, the number of issues that arose was unfathomable. there wasn't a time that I couldn't count at least 4 giant daddy long legs repelling from the ceiling of my room. The toilet started rushing a river of water out the bottom of it and Mary tried to blame the 3rd roommate and I of flushing a tampon down it and wanted us to pay for the repair. (The plumber found tree roots in the pipes...) The dryer burnt one of my shirts. The dishwasher started overflowing bubbles. And a week after I left, there was an attempted burglar.

I am so grateful to finally be comfortable in my new apartment. Nala is too :)

Week 4 @ GA: Driving in LA F*&$ing Sucks

I have officially been in LA for 1 month! And what have I learned you ask? 

Driving in LA really really sucks. Here are some letters that I would like to write... (Warning: This post may sound like complaining, but it's just fact-stating.)


Dear LA Drivers, 
The bar on the left side of your steering wheel moves up and down. Some flip it up to signal that they are turning right. Some flip it down to signal that they are turning left. Others, do both just to make their fellow drivers aware of their next move. This is called common courtesy. DO it.

Dear California Dept. of Transportation,
What is the speed limit of the road I am driving on? Pick a road. Any road. What is the speed limit??

Dear Santa Monica Parking Police,
Is it not bad enough that you don't allow the girl with out-of-town plates to have a beach parking lot pass to park within walking distance of her course? But then when said girl finds a free residential street to park on 2 miles from her destination, forcing her to bike the rest of the journey, is giving her a parking ticket because it was a street cleaning day really necessary? Also, should said parking ticket be $64?? No. Have a heart. Clean around her tiny Prius.

Dear Inventor of Tandem Parking Spaces,
How is this ever a good idea? No, seriously. What is this? How many marital fights do you cause on a daily basis because a husband or wife has blocked their significant other in and they have to get to work? Dumb.

Dear LA Parking Sign Creators,

Wtf? For real? I'll read your signs. I'll even try to decipher them, but I will never feel comfortable parking near your signs until the day that the curb turns green next to my car to tell me I'm approved to park there. I require system feedback. In the meantime, I'll be running out to my car every hour making sure that I don't have a ticket.

Dear Dual Exit Creator for Carpool Lanes and Regular Lanes,

Let me tell you a story. A girl is driving on a highway she is unfamiliar with and it's nighttime. Her map is telling her to exit in 1 mile and she sees a sign for a left exit so she gets in the left lane. (Not the carpool lane, but the far left lane for single drivers. Oh and thank you LA Highway department for reminding me of my singleness even while I'm driving...) A quarter of a mile later she sees a sign for a right exit and she proceeds to confusingly cross all lanes to get to the right lane. And then one last time she sees a left exit sign and has to zoom all the way across the highway screaming expletives to make it to the left exit. Suddenly, she realizes that she is in the carpool only lane and that this carpool lane exit lasts a good mile or so. Her heart is pumping, but thankfully it was dark outside and that no cop would be able to tell if she had a passenger in her car or not. Even though she may have survived this tale unscathed, ticketless, and all-the-wiser for her next journey the idea of dual exits is crazy confusing. Be normal and stick to 1 exit lane. K thanks.

Ok, so this may have been complaining...

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!! This is what I'll be doing :)

Week 3 @ GA: Painting You a Picture

I had a decent amount of pictures from this past week so I thought I'd share my week through them. I left off last Thursday night so let's start from last Friday...

Friday was spent in class learning how a Design Studio (rapid sketching and prototyping) works and then we had our "recess" where we played soccer and football in the park for our lunchtime Friday treat. I was incredibly out of breath by the end, but it was really fun. And we ended the day with a happy hour across the street where one of the instructors schooled us in Ms. Pac Man.








Saturday, Nala and I worked in Ocean Park on some wireframing in the morning (obviously, she worked really hard). And then I went to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery to watch Addams Family with Chris and some of his friends. That was a really fun LA experience and I hadn't seen that movie in forever so it was a good time.

Sunday was pretty chill. I ventured out and walked to the grocery store which became a nice workout since I bought pasta sauce (in a glass jar) and ice cream, but it was nice to know that walking is an option. And then Nala felt left out, so we took a long walk to a really good froyo place where they had a couple outside tables under a shaded overhang so Nala could lay on the cool tile in between begging for froyo and drinking her water.

Monday was spent gearing up for our collaboration with the Web Development immersive class. We had to walk them through our project 2 wireframes and site maps and then they would tell us if it was understandable for them and how easy/difficult it would be to build. It was really interesting to hear both sides of the process and very reassuring that I made a good choice with UX over WD.

Tuesday was more wireframing.

Wednesday we had a lunch presentation from Skot Carruth who actually helped build the curriculum for UXDI globally. He walked us through the very short history of the course and it was pretty incredible how quickly such an amazing class came to be. The first classes in NYC and San Francisco were just last Summer and this is only the 2nd UXDI in LA.

Thursday was more wireframing.



On Friday, we had our project 2 presentations all day. I still can't get over the fact that you can tell 22 people the exact same thing and we all created different eCommerce sites. And then of course we celebrated our awesomeness with a champagne cocktail hour afterwards.

Yesterday, I spent the day in Newport Beach with Angie and we had so much fun laying out at the pool, walking around the beach, and eating sushi and cupcakes. Definitely worth the hour drive to get there :)

This morning we had brunch at a classmate's in Koreatown and his rooftop views were pretty spectacular. The mimosas, crepes, quiche, baked brie, and fruit were also pretty great.










I hope everyone else had a good week and weekend!

Week 2 @ GA: This is so LA

Pacific Ocean sand has finally touched my toes :) It only took almost 26 years to make that happen, but it was worth the wait. I was invited by a classmate to play beach volleyball with her, her family, and some of their friends and we were joined by a random group on the beach and had a really fun time. I was awful, per usual, but I stand by the fact that the ocean breeze was really intense at times (aka every time I touched the ball). At one point, I managed to do a form of pike into the sand and minorly bruised my tail bone... that was special. After I had fallen for about the fifth time, everyone was staring at me with bewildered expressions and I realized that I had forgotten to inform them that I fall an unreal amount during most activities. 

The view was pretty incredible with the boardwalk on one side, the ocean on another, and the Santa Monica Pier in the background. It doesn't get much better than that.

We then moved our Sunday Funday back to my classmate's house for dinner which is probably when I officially realized that I was living in LA. My classmate's family and friends all practice transcendental meditation so for 20 minutes before dinner there were 10 people in the living room meditating. It was a really interesting experience, especially since meditation seems so fully integrated into their lifestyle. I felt like they were all robots and I had unplugged them to come up with an evil plan so it was actually a really entertaining 20 minutes for me. Also, the entire delicious meal was vegan and gluten free. If this isn't LA, I'm not sure what is.

Continuing with the vegan theme, today, 2 classmates were bound and determined to take me to Veggie Grill (an all vegan fast-casual restaurant) so we made the trek for lunch. After being assured that the "Chickin'" actually tasted like chicken, I ordered and then of course asked for a soda... at a vegan restaurant. The cashier was slightly confused, but quickly informed me that they had lemonades and iced teas. Whew! I can only drink so much water. I am happy to report that the "chickin'" was surprisingly good! Veggie Grill is doing some good work on making vegan a sustainable lifestyle here in Cali.

I want to wrap up this post with an introduction to the second project that we have been assigned which I'm really excited about. Our goal is make an interactive prototype for an eCommerce website for a school uniform company. Did I wear a school uniform for almost 17 years? Yes. Did I manage company uniform programs and their eCommerce sites for 3 years? Yes, I did. I am so grateful for this past experience because I am plenty overwhelmed with the project even though I have a really good understanding of the task. So, this is a shout out to my parents and PCi - thank you for making this past week and the week to come a lot easier for me!

Some doodles of my project thus far...

Side Note: Last Saturday night, I received an amazing car package from my friends. Check it out - Graesser cookies AND a Cardinals collar for Nala. I think they know me well...

Alright, that's all I have for you. Have a good weekend everyone!!

Week 1 @ GA: Putting the "Awe" in "Awesome"

I have officially survived my first week at General Assembly and if I could only use 1 word to summarize the experience it would be "awesome". I use "awesome" because I am actually in awe of my experience. First, looking at General Assembly as a company that only started in 2011 and now has campuses around the globe is amazing in and of itself. And then you add the fact that this program has only been offered for 1 year and it's already producing amazing results with past UX Design immersive students and your mind is completely blown from a business perspective. The kind of people that GA attracts, both staff and students, are amazingly inventive people that are truly going to change the world.

Our first project this week was to assess a problem that our partner has been having and create an app to solve it for them. So we created prototypes in class and I decided to create a paper prototype instead of a digital one which meant that I got to use scissors, an x-acto knife, and my cork-backed ruler which made me really happy. Functionality of using a paper prototype might not be great, but it's a little bit more fun than a digital one and provides a good physical piece for a portfolio.

The app ideas that my classmates have come up with are genius. Seeing everyone's individual talents and thought processes really upgraded my "awe" of the experience thus far.

Also, I wanted to share how quickly I can walk to an ocean view from GA because it makes me super happy. Don't be mad at me, Midwesterners :/

Sidenote: I survived my first road biking experience! I was really nervous, but I made it to GA in one piece. However, I didn't really realize I had been going downhill to get there so the ride back to my car went something like this...

Poor girl... I feel your pain!

Week 1 @ GA: My Brain Hurts

I think the main way that I know this was the right step for me is that my brain hurts. Like really hurts. I haven't truly thought this much everyday since... no I've never thought this much everyday in my life. In college, you only had 3 or 4 classes a day and they were broken up and you only had to halfway pay attention because you were focused on just passing the test. High school was all day everyday, but you were also only focused on passing the test. General Assembly immersives are all day, everyday, and you're learning information to help you with your actual profession. I quit my job, sold my shit, packed up my car, drove 30 hours, and paid $10K to be in this class to be successful in this field that I'm rapidly becoming passionate about. You bet your ass I'm paying attention and using my brain. So it hurts and I'm really excited about that.

The first exercise we did was a task analysis of the parking situation in Santa Monica. Most people came up with app solutions for parking, but none of us truly got to the bottom of the real problem of parking. After the exercise, we were (re-)taught a "back to basics" approach that needs to start with "why?" Why is there a parking problem in Santa Monica? Because there are a lot of people and cars in Santa Monica. Why are there so many cars in Santa Monica? Because people from all over the world want to come here. Why? Because it's beautiful and there are a lot of shops and restaurants and things to do. So the real question becomes "How can you get a lot of people to Santa Monica, have them stay for awhile, and have them leave?" It's not an issue we solved, but it became an interesting way of thinking about how to get to the root of a problem.

The instructors here at GA have such an insightful way of thinking about not only UX, but society and the world. I have so much to learn from them in the next 9 weeks so hopefully I can turn my brain into a sponge. One of the best questions asked in class so far has been, "When people ask you what you do, what do you say since no one knows what UX is?" Ashley (one of the instructors) responded with "I'm an engineer." This immediately resonated with me because my brain is naturally a "how do things work?" kind of brain that is well-suited for engineering, but the math and science classes were too boring and over my head in school. UX is going to be a great bridge over the gap of my skill set.

Best piece of advice so far: When in doubt, take a breath and go to the ocean.

Week 1: Bikes, Batteries, Bushes, and B@#f (2 of 2)

Wednesday night, I had the wonderful idea of eating pasta that was in my cooler bag since St. Louis. I had refreshed its ice every morning and it smelled and tasted ok, but it was SO not ok.  I woke up at 3am on Thursday morning sicker than a dog and wasn't able to pull myself together until 8am to begin my journey through the desert to LA. The gas station attendants probably thought I was incredibly hungover as I purchased 2 bottles of water, grunted, and looked like hell. The 4 hour drive seemed to take forever, but I made it through the LA traffic and FINALLY made it my destination after 30 hours in the car. Even Nala had looked at me on the third day of travel like, "What the hell, Mom? Again?" 

(Clearly, she was really upset...)

I arrived at the house, took a picture of the view, but only had my sights set on a bed.

I didn't have orientation until later that night so I took the essentials inside from the car and tried to nap for a bit, but I spent most of the day filling in friends and family about the house and the drive. Later, I decided to bring in everything from the car so that it wasn't sitting outside, but it proved to be too much for me and fell asleep face first on my bed without setting an alarm. Thankfully, I woke up at 6:15pm and orientation wasn't until 7 so I scrambled around nauseously trying to pull myself together and just as I was walking out the door I had to turn around and run to bathroom. I really didn't want to miss orientation though so for the 4th time that day I pulled myself together and made it to General Assembly in Santa Monica. 

Orientation was really informative and reminded me of why I had just driven 30 hours and moved my entire life across the country. Everyone was very welcoming and comforting which was a nice end to a pretty awful day. And they took pity upon me and let me leave a little early.

36 hours later and about 5lbs lighter, I finally emerged on Saturday morning to go to the mothership - Target :) And Sunday, I finally got to see the ocean and read my UX book in Palisades Park. It was pretty great.

More to come on my first week at GA! 

For those of you who have no idea what I'm studying, this video should help: What the heck is UX Design?

Week 1: Bikes, Batteries, Bushes, and B@#f (1 of 2)

Hi Everyone!

I thought this would be the best way to keep everyone up to speed with what's going on with me and my new adventure in LA. So let's get up to speed on what's happened so far...

Day 1 (5/27): I left beautiful Ballwin bright and early in the morning with my sights set on Denver for the first leg of the trip. Nala was all snug in the passenger seat and I was ready to roll.

My bike was on the back of my car and I haven't driven very often with my bike rack so I kept a watchful eye on it on the highway. I knew where the wheel was in relation to my side mirror and suddenly it was no longer in the same spot... so I pulled over on the side of I-70 about an hour into my drive. Let the adventure begin. 

The bike had gotten loose so I reattached it (dumbly, the exact same way I had attached it before). I got back in the car and drove about 2 miles and felt the bike come out of its saddle. I pulled back over and this time I just attached it enough to get to the next exit and really strap the stupid thing down then. After that, I was officially paranoid about the bike for the next 29 hours of the drive.

Besides the bike adventure and missing the Salina exit for food and gas and having to turn around, Day 1's 13 hour drive went pretty smoothly. I arrived in Denver and got to enjoy pizza and a beer with my Aunt before complete exhaustion set in and I realized I had to do it all over again the next day.

Day 2 (5/28): Somehow the thought of googling how well Prius' do in the mountains had escaped me until my hybrid battery went into the purple (super low) on the first steep hill. However, after a stop for gas and water and a quick google check, I learned that it would be just fine. So a few deep breaths later, I continued through the beautiful Rocky Mountains. The engineering behind the Eisenhower Tower was incredibly fascinating even though I was ducking and hoping that the whole mountain didn't come crashing down on top of me. As I'm sure you assumed, it did not :) 

Whoever says that Kansas is the most boring state to drive through hasn't driven through the first 180 miles of wasteland that is Utah. That was awful. I eventually made it to some cool canyons and then the mountains, but it didn't last long.

The drive through Arizona may have been brief, but driving through the bottom of the canyons was incredible. I've never been to the Grand Canyon, but I can guarantee that that drive is way more fun than staring at a big hole. And then after 12 hours on the road, I finally made it to my hotel in Vegas.

Then the next issue arose... there isn't any grass in Vegas. How do you teach a 13 year old dog that it's ok to pee on rock when she has only ever gone on grass?!? I had too many bags in my hands to let her figure it out so we went inside to check in and I jokingly asked the front desk if they had any tricks on how to get a Midwestern dog to pee on rock, but they didn't seem to understand. So we set our stuff down in our suite (thanks Dad!) and went back outside to try again. She would sniff the bushes like crazy and kind of walk around them, but couldn't find a good spot until she found a really short bush. She took 2 steps, stood right on top of it, and pooped on the bush. By the time we got back to the room, I was still laughing. Gotta love that dog. Unfortunately for me, that was the end of my laughter for a few days. 

To be continued...