I Have Moved

PLEASE visit http://truckey.wordpress.com/ for a more thorough visual of Sarah C. Truckey.

"On a Scale of A- to S-..." OR "A Professor Rates My Writing"

These are some comments compiled from various writing assignments assigned by a college professor who would give me one of my lowest grades ever in my college career.

These were taken from feature stories written throughout the semester.

The good thing is the grades got progressively better; the better thing is, I began writing for St. Louis Magazine the next semester.

And no one EVER AGAIN told me I had to write in AP Style.


A-
"Good story--a lot of fun while still being interesting. You NEED to stay with journalism. You HAVE to enroll in newspaper production and see if you develop a taste for deadlines and headlines. It's the only way you'll ever end up with a summer house in the French Alps."

B
"Needs to be longer with more details."

B-
"Your best lead is burned out at the bottom. This story has good information, but it could definitely be arranged better. Also, you've got to pay more attention to editing--taking care of grammar and AP style problems."

C+
"Good lead or intro explaining the problem. We need more quotes. Attribution, please, a lot of assertions seem to come from you."

S-
"Satisfactory--even good at times--but you have to change the format to current newspaper style for your future stories."

I'm a Collector, goshdangit

Just a few of my favorite new items found in antique shops around the country.

I'm Working On It

In the process, I found this:

She has ridden

her bike

to the locksmith

because the bolt

in her door

is broken.

Now tell me:

Who is she?

Riding here,

near the river,

to repair

her door—

Is she someone

who is in love

with someone?

Has the sky

so hemmed

itself into her

garments,

the midday sun

so infused her

hazel eyes

with dull sparkle

that she really is

in love with

someone? is it

true this time?

Why Can't a Girl Get Some Shoes Up in Hurr?!

From: Sarah Truckey [mailto:sctruckey@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2010 12:07 PM
To: SperryTopSider.com Customer Service
Subject: Bring back my shoes!

Please pass on to the designers! Just a simple question/comment.

If you view the attached photo you will find a very very old (6 years, maybe) pair of women size 8.5 lime green boat shoes with white soles. I've been searching for a pair for EVER and it doesn't seem you make women's white soles anymore. I mean, of course there are these NURSING SHOES and there are the SHINY shoes but both of those are, er, well, not my style, and THESE are on the right track, but the laces aren't white.
Why can't you bring back the 2004 style of Sperry for women with awesome colors, white soles and laces?

Thanks!

-sarah

Dear Sarah,

Thank you for contacting us.

We appreciate your taking the time to share your comments and photo with us. The decision regarding what styles, sizes, and colors our shoes are manufactured in is based on consumer and retailer feedback. We will gladly forward your comments on to our product team for future consideration.

Please visit our website www.sperrytopsider.com to view our most current styles. We still manufacture several women's authentic originals with white soles. such as stock numbers 9195017, 9195041, and the Patent collection numbers 9294653, 9294620, 9294646 just to name a few.

We appreciate your loyalty to our Sperry Top-Sider brand!

Sincerely,

Angie

Consumer Relations

Leave Me Be With Flannery

She did not smoke or dip, drink whiskey, use bad--
"Are you here because your air conditioning is broken?"
He is tall, handsome. The niceness of his smile is suspicious--off-putting to the point that I am comfortable ignoring him and clutching my bag tighter. His jeans are long, rather tight, and worn at the ends that covered up boots too warm for the weather.
"No, I am not," I reply. She did not smoke or--
"Oh," he says and smiles nervously.
His nice white shirt is tucked in around his thin waist, the V-neck showing the perfect amount of chest hair. His skin is tan and tight. And his hair is slicked back, nicely showing off his cheeks, whose stubble is on purpose.
She did not smoke or dip, drink--
"It's so hot out. I'm sure a lot of people are here because of their air conditioning."
"I'm just here reading...and waiting for someone."
She did--
"Well, ha, it looks like you're almost done with that book!"
"Yeah..." She did not smoke or dip, drink whiskey, use bad language or paint her face, and God knew some--
I pray to see a video camera or some gypsy kid go for my bag or a friend peering from around the corner, hoping I'll take the bait.
"Oh look at that dog!"
"Yup. He's cute." --and God knew some paint would have improved it--
He shifts awkwardly and begins to step backward.
"Alright, well, have a good night, hehe."
She did not smoke or dip, drink whiskey, use bad language or paint her face, and God knew some paint would have improved it, Parker thought. Parker understood why he had married her--he couldn't have had it any other way--but he couldn't understand why he stayed with her now.

Published.

So...yeah. I told some woman who contacted me through Flickr that she could use a photo of mine for her book, Undateable. They couldn't give me credit personally, they did send me a copy of their book...which is, er, an interesting one.

Pictured here is my photo and the book's cover.

The moral of the story: don't date anyone who wears a Canadian Tuxedo.

The Undertaking

A book of essays I just finished, The Undertaking, discussed the author's love/love relationship with his occupation as a funeral director. The main theme: funerals aren't for the dead--they're for the living.
I scanned this page from this particular copy of the book, checked out from Missouri's inter-collegiate loan library system, MOBIUS, because someone vehemently agreed with what Thomas Lynch was saying about how to behave at a funeral. I found it endearing and amusing.

I Suppose There's Some Sort of Irony Here...

Accomplishment #1

Work Order 28852 is now complete for:

Location: Webster University Home Campus
Area: Ground Floor
Area number: women's restroom

WO Description: Could we get some coat hooks installed on the doors in the women's restroom just west of the main entrance of Sverdrup please? I'd prefer to not put my coat, books and purse on the floor when I pee pee.
Thank you!--sarah truckey

Action Taken: completed 01-27-10

My Photos of Schlafly Brewery are For Sale!

7
Originally uploaded by truckey

Prices range from $10 to $200, sizes range from 5x7 to 24x36.
Check out the rest of the photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/truckey/sets/72157607607857627/

Please contact me with any questions/requests/orders.

Thanks!

-truckey

sctruckey@yahoo.com
@truckey

My Questions for Metro...were answered!

Truckey: Why are the ticket machines not on the platforms at many stations???
Debaliviere, the loop, etc. And many validation machines are on the other ends of platforms. At sunnen for example: when entering via the north end you have to go alllllll the way to the south end to validate. I've missed a few trains because of this. And why can't you post bus timetables at the stops on the signs? People without access to phone or Internet need access to the times. And I'd be much more prone to hop on a bus if times were posted.
Thanks.

Ray Friem: Hello Truckey,

I wish we could have ticket vending and validation machines at all of the entrances to our platforms, however the cost of installing this equipment, and in some cases the design of the stations and platforms, make this difficult. In the future, what you will see is an entirely new fare payment system for MetroBus, MetroLink, and Metro Call-A-Ride called "smart cards". This program, which will be implemented within the next couple of years, will involve having a magnetic stripe card that stores value. You can load money on your card at a ticket vending machine, a farebox, or even remotely using cash or your credit/debit card. When you board the bus, you will swipe the card and it will deduct your fare. When you board the train, you will pass by a validator (different that what's out there now), and touch your card to the validator. Fare inspectors on the train will use a similar, mobile device to verify valid fares. We don't know yet exactly where the new validators will be located on the platform, however we will consider comments like yours when selecting the design and layout.

As a MetroBus rider, I too wish we had schedules posted at all of the bus stops. The reason we do not today is that the schedules are subject to change on a quarterly basis. We serve over 8,000 bus stops in Missouri and Illinois, so deploying staff to update those schedules at each stop would be a very time consuming and expensive proposition. What we do have in place today is MetroLink and connecting bus times posted at MetroLink stations and transit centers, and we offer trip planning assistance in our Customer Service Transit Information call center Monday-Friday 7:30am-4:30pm (they can be reached at 314-231-2345). You might also check out our two online trip planning tools including TripFinder (available at www.metrostlouis.org) or Google Transit (www.google.com). The Google feature is new to the Metro System, and you might find it's pretty easy to use.

Moving forward, we'd like to find more ways to provide information to our customers so that riding the bus or train is easier and more attractive. One thing we could do is post schedule informaton at major stops and interchange points. This is something we are considering today, but I don't have a definte delivery date to share with you yet.