Austin

Tout Va Bien!

/ Susan / Leave a comment

I last posted on this personal blog at the beginning of 2022. It’s been almost a year, and boy-o-boy have I learned a lot this year. Interestingly, one of the most meaningful insights after a year of introspection is included in my previous post.

  • I want to be ENTERTAINED.

We are living in turbulent times. I remember my mother telling me how important “the movies” were to her generation while they were living through WWII. I feel it’s the same today. I’ve written so many times over the past few years to my Facebook friends, “Writers will save us all.”

There’s nothing more powerful than a good story told really well. Over the course of my life, I can name films that had a profound effect on life choices I made. Films can educate us, enlighten us, delight us, shock us, and lift us up. I’m devoted to helping good films become the best version of their awesome selves they can be.

After my journey out here on the high plains, I am healthy, happy, and whole. I did the work to heal and soul search to determine what’s really important in my life. I arrived at a place where I want to return to work– renewed and refreshed.

I’m heading back to the two areas of “work” that I love: storytelling and technology. I’ve always stayed true to the belief that technology can improve our world for the better. Combining that belief with the intrinsic understanding of the power of film, and it appears the good ole’ Universe has gifted me the perfect opportunity. Merci beaucoup!

I start my new job on Monday.

Tout Va Bien!

I tore this bill off a wall in Paris. It’s a reminder to me that everything works out in the end.

The Long Game

/ Susan / Leave a comment

It’s the day after Christmas. I was going through my old photos of Europe. I found this old unretouched one. It not only brought back a fond memory; it reminded me of why I took the photo in the first place. I wanted to preserve the moment to inform my future self.

This photo was taken on the lawn in back of the Eiffel Tower. You can see my teenage son napping on the lawn in a fetal position in the background.

It was the spring of 2012. I was living in Austin at the time with my son who was a Sophomore in high school. My daughter was studying in Paris enrolled in NYU’s prestigious semester abroad program. Every spring, the second week of March turned the city of Austin into a carnival. One of the country’s best festivals took place downtown: SXSW. Pre-pandemic, SXSW brought hundreds of thousands of festival goers to the Texas Capital. But, if you were an Austin resident, it was chaos and the traffic was more-than-usual insufferable.

I knew someone, okay a rich guy, who had a flat in Paris that he allowed his friends to use when he was not in town. I figured I had nothing to lose by asking if he would allow me to stay there, so I could have a nice Paris holiday with my kids, and avoid the SXSW madness. To my surprise, he did.

I remember exactly when I took this photo. My son was predictably acting like a moody teenager and expressing his indifference to our Parisian excursion. My daughter was happy to see us, and loved staying in the million dollar flat off of the Champs-Élysées. For about a week, we could pretend we lived a different life.

But the fact that we were all together in Paris, my son was well on his way to his own college journey, and my daughter was going to graduate with honors from NYU was a remarkable achievement.

I took this selfie to remind me… IT GETS BETTER.

I had come so far in my life, and I wanted to remind myself that even in times where it looks like there is no hope and no way out, you never know what the future holds. In nearly every circumstance when I’ve hit a low, the successive highs have been demonstrably better.

Life is a long game. Hold out for the upside. Even if you only see it sometimes in the rear-view mirror.

Amazing car-buying experience at Roger Beasley Saab this weekend.

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So many times we’re tempted to write rants about lousy customer experience.  This weekend, I had an unusually great experience at a car dealer, Roger Beasley Saab, that I thought I would publish my thoughts on it.  I should probably preface my glee with admitting I have ALWAYS had horrible experiences at car dealerships.  Always got a bad deal, never even understood the deal because the financing contracts were incomprehensible, and typically was pressured into buying something I didn’t really want.

I wanted to trade my car in for another used car because, well, I was bored with it.  I didn’t want to spend a lot of money and I wanted to reduce my car payment.  I had done a lot of research on the value of my car, and a few different models I was interested in at the Saab dealer.  I also brought my iPad into the dealer because I wanted to verify everything independently.  My salesguy (Scott) was amazing. Extremely low-key, but really helpful and knowledgable.  Not only did he not have a problem with my iPad, he shared his computer screen with me to go out onto the Internet to verify pricing on public web sites that I myself had used.  He was great about considering all my concerns, as well as making sure he was honest about what I’d probably get for my trade.  

When we finally settled on a car that would work within my parameters, he took me to his “Business Manager.”  The financing is usually where everything gets really weird, pressured, and uncomfortable.  I couldn’t believe how much this did NOT happen.  I only met with one guy (Ed) who was an incredibly nice and really helped me get to a financing deal that made sense.  He didn’t balk when I told him I wouldn’t accept his first offer.  He continued to keep looking around and making tweaks until the deal fit my criteria.  I couldn’t believe it.

I left with a nice car the same day.  I understood the deal completely and not only did I think I got a fair deal; I felt I good a good deal.  It just does not get better than that. 

If you’re considering buying a Saab, here are Scott and Ed’s cards.  

Saab

Voila, new car (new old car, that is).  I actually have a longer story about why Saab, but that’s a post for another day. 

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