SuzanneBender
01-30-2010, 11:48 PM
Not really, but as Kathi pointed out the salacious headlines really help improve readership! Maybe I should get a job coming up with them for the Enquirer.
I am in DC for the next two weeks. I have been asked to lead a facilitation team that will assist a work group from several government agencies as they develop new policies for the Department of Defense when Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is lifted. My role as a professor has been overtaken by my role as a facilitator and this assignment is a high point of the enjoyable but difficult work my team and I have been doing lately on behalf of our University. The folks that asked for me to facilitate this seminar have no idea about Suzanne. I smile every time I think about that fact and you don’t know how tempting it is to go walking into that seminar room in a nice ladies business suit, but alas I know better.
Very few people at work know about Suzanne, but a few trusted friends do. Among them is a co-worker that is here with me and also a Graduate Assistant that we brought along with us on this trip.
We are in a hotel away from the one that we are holding the seminar in by design. Experience has taught us at the end of the day you want to be able to get away from the people that you are conducting the facilitation with. You need time away to gather your thoughts, prepare to lead the group through the next day’s tasks and also unwind.
For those of you that are not sports fans tonight was a huge night in the annals of Kansas sports history. Number 3 Kansas University (number 1 in next week’s poll) was playing Number 13 Kansas State in Manhattan Kansas tonight. In past years this game has simply been a case of a superior team, Kansas, rolling into town and beating up on one of the weaker basketball teams in the Big 12, Kansas State. That is no longer the case. Tonight a legitimate game not only for bragging rights, but also for the likely Big 12 North championship was played before a national audience on ESPN Game Day. Needless to say the three of us had a mission as soon as we landed in DC this afternoon. The mission was find a sports bar that was showing this game, consume the wings of domesticated birds and drink adult beverages while watching the game.
My cohorts and I checked in and changed. We agreed to meet at my room and head out. When they knocked on the door I answered in Male mode in all of my KU regalia in retaliation to the KSU purple I knew they would be wearing. My coworker immediately asked why I was dressed in guy mode and I told her we were going to a sports bar and this mode of dress was probably the more prudent choice given the fact that I am a very loud and obnoxious Jayhawk fan. She immediately called a technical foul and told me they would be back in 20 minutes and they wanted to go out with Suzanne. It is awful hard not to be bipolar when your friends are bipolar about you.
Luckily, part of my routine, especially on a long trips like this is to unpack everything. My sink top looks like the makeover counter at Ulta. Therefore, dressing quickly is not an issue. I put on some light makeup. Slid on my DKNY skinny jeans, maintained my KU hoodie and went with a shoulder length blonde wig with my KU visor. KU earrings, crimson and blue necklace, KU bangle braclet and my black ankle boots completed my outfit. They arrived back at my room about the time I had slid on my jeans and were patiently waiting for me, but in my book I was ready in record time.
Our hotel is within walking distance of several sports pubs in old town Alexandria. Two purple Wildcats and one Crimson and Blue Jayhawk strolled out of the hotel, through the snowy weather and down the street in search of three barstools beckoning us to sit our tushies down and enjoy the game. Trish our grad assistant is the party animal of the group so we left it up to her to identify our spot for the evening and she did a great job. Using her “BARDAR” she located sportsbar that not only had wonderful drink specials and a tasty menu, but also seemed to attract every misplaced Kansan in Washington DC. They were packing the Kansas and Kansas State faithful in a large side room to watch the game. The place had a huge wall sized TV. We sat, ordered and watched as Dickie V and the game day crew hyped the game.
Now a fact of life and one of the reasons I didn’t want to dress tonight…. Three girls by themselves in a sports bar tend to attract attention from men that have been drinking and have their testosterone levels ratcheted up for the game. I know this because despite my best efforts that damn Y choromosome has made me behave that way on occasion.
The three of us were sitting on one side of our table so we could all watch the game and up stroll two fellow Jayhawks in pickup mode. They immediately start giving my KSU associates a hard time and then I watched the light bulb turn on. Both of them realized there was something special about Jayhawk sitting at this table. All of a sudden tension filled the air. The girls noticed that the boys had noticed and it quickly became a game of wits between two of the three genders at the table. My GG friends were exuding feminine charm and working their spell on these poor men. With only a few lines of conversation the situation was totally defused and the guys were once again focused on their mission of hitting on my GG friends. The guys secured claim to their seats at our table by ordering a round of drinks and appetizers and I soon won them over by wooing them with my knowledge of KU basketball past and present.
The game lived up to its expectation. In fact, it was one of the best College basketball games I have witnessed especially since KU won. During the game the true sports fanatic not only came out in me but it also came out in most everyone there to watch the game. The TVs were surrounded by a sea of people wearing their school colors celebrating as points were scored and the lead shifted back and forth. Everyone in the bar had to know the secret about the tall chick with the deep voice that kept yelling Bill Self for president and comparing Cole Aldrich to the next Wilt the Stilt, but it didn’t matter. The only negative comment I received was from a KSU fan. He exclaimed that he knew KU fans were sissies but I was taking it to a whole new level. I stop dead in my tracks from that comment and stared back at him. He grabed me around the shoulders with one arm and explained he was just kidding and slurred that I was “totally cool”. I told him that I thought he was cool too and then quickly made my way to the other side of the room. After the game our basketball love feast spilled over to the rest of the pub and we announced our pleasure or displeasure with the outcome of the game to those on the street as we left the pub to go back to our abodes. The best part of the celebration came when a younger guy that was a recent transplant to DC from KU tapped me on the shoulder and told me, “I wish all chicks appreciated KU basketball the way you do.” You know, a little confirmation is always a nice thing especially when it is about your basketball knowledge. :heehee:
Being a woman gets easier and easier everytime I take the opportunity to be myself.
I am in DC for the next two weeks. I have been asked to lead a facilitation team that will assist a work group from several government agencies as they develop new policies for the Department of Defense when Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is lifted. My role as a professor has been overtaken by my role as a facilitator and this assignment is a high point of the enjoyable but difficult work my team and I have been doing lately on behalf of our University. The folks that asked for me to facilitate this seminar have no idea about Suzanne. I smile every time I think about that fact and you don’t know how tempting it is to go walking into that seminar room in a nice ladies business suit, but alas I know better.
Very few people at work know about Suzanne, but a few trusted friends do. Among them is a co-worker that is here with me and also a Graduate Assistant that we brought along with us on this trip.
We are in a hotel away from the one that we are holding the seminar in by design. Experience has taught us at the end of the day you want to be able to get away from the people that you are conducting the facilitation with. You need time away to gather your thoughts, prepare to lead the group through the next day’s tasks and also unwind.
For those of you that are not sports fans tonight was a huge night in the annals of Kansas sports history. Number 3 Kansas University (number 1 in next week’s poll) was playing Number 13 Kansas State in Manhattan Kansas tonight. In past years this game has simply been a case of a superior team, Kansas, rolling into town and beating up on one of the weaker basketball teams in the Big 12, Kansas State. That is no longer the case. Tonight a legitimate game not only for bragging rights, but also for the likely Big 12 North championship was played before a national audience on ESPN Game Day. Needless to say the three of us had a mission as soon as we landed in DC this afternoon. The mission was find a sports bar that was showing this game, consume the wings of domesticated birds and drink adult beverages while watching the game.
My cohorts and I checked in and changed. We agreed to meet at my room and head out. When they knocked on the door I answered in Male mode in all of my KU regalia in retaliation to the KSU purple I knew they would be wearing. My coworker immediately asked why I was dressed in guy mode and I told her we were going to a sports bar and this mode of dress was probably the more prudent choice given the fact that I am a very loud and obnoxious Jayhawk fan. She immediately called a technical foul and told me they would be back in 20 minutes and they wanted to go out with Suzanne. It is awful hard not to be bipolar when your friends are bipolar about you.
Luckily, part of my routine, especially on a long trips like this is to unpack everything. My sink top looks like the makeover counter at Ulta. Therefore, dressing quickly is not an issue. I put on some light makeup. Slid on my DKNY skinny jeans, maintained my KU hoodie and went with a shoulder length blonde wig with my KU visor. KU earrings, crimson and blue necklace, KU bangle braclet and my black ankle boots completed my outfit. They arrived back at my room about the time I had slid on my jeans and were patiently waiting for me, but in my book I was ready in record time.
Our hotel is within walking distance of several sports pubs in old town Alexandria. Two purple Wildcats and one Crimson and Blue Jayhawk strolled out of the hotel, through the snowy weather and down the street in search of three barstools beckoning us to sit our tushies down and enjoy the game. Trish our grad assistant is the party animal of the group so we left it up to her to identify our spot for the evening and she did a great job. Using her “BARDAR” she located sportsbar that not only had wonderful drink specials and a tasty menu, but also seemed to attract every misplaced Kansan in Washington DC. They were packing the Kansas and Kansas State faithful in a large side room to watch the game. The place had a huge wall sized TV. We sat, ordered and watched as Dickie V and the game day crew hyped the game.
Now a fact of life and one of the reasons I didn’t want to dress tonight…. Three girls by themselves in a sports bar tend to attract attention from men that have been drinking and have their testosterone levels ratcheted up for the game. I know this because despite my best efforts that damn Y choromosome has made me behave that way on occasion.
The three of us were sitting on one side of our table so we could all watch the game and up stroll two fellow Jayhawks in pickup mode. They immediately start giving my KSU associates a hard time and then I watched the light bulb turn on. Both of them realized there was something special about Jayhawk sitting at this table. All of a sudden tension filled the air. The girls noticed that the boys had noticed and it quickly became a game of wits between two of the three genders at the table. My GG friends were exuding feminine charm and working their spell on these poor men. With only a few lines of conversation the situation was totally defused and the guys were once again focused on their mission of hitting on my GG friends. The guys secured claim to their seats at our table by ordering a round of drinks and appetizers and I soon won them over by wooing them with my knowledge of KU basketball past and present.
The game lived up to its expectation. In fact, it was one of the best College basketball games I have witnessed especially since KU won. During the game the true sports fanatic not only came out in me but it also came out in most everyone there to watch the game. The TVs were surrounded by a sea of people wearing their school colors celebrating as points were scored and the lead shifted back and forth. Everyone in the bar had to know the secret about the tall chick with the deep voice that kept yelling Bill Self for president and comparing Cole Aldrich to the next Wilt the Stilt, but it didn’t matter. The only negative comment I received was from a KSU fan. He exclaimed that he knew KU fans were sissies but I was taking it to a whole new level. I stop dead in my tracks from that comment and stared back at him. He grabed me around the shoulders with one arm and explained he was just kidding and slurred that I was “totally cool”. I told him that I thought he was cool too and then quickly made my way to the other side of the room. After the game our basketball love feast spilled over to the rest of the pub and we announced our pleasure or displeasure with the outcome of the game to those on the street as we left the pub to go back to our abodes. The best part of the celebration came when a younger guy that was a recent transplant to DC from KU tapped me on the shoulder and told me, “I wish all chicks appreciated KU basketball the way you do.” You know, a little confirmation is always a nice thing especially when it is about your basketball knowledge. :heehee:
Being a woman gets easier and easier everytime I take the opportunity to be myself.