Introducing… Puck Dog!

Anyone that is my friend on Facebook or has talked to me and had the subject of dogs come up has more than likely heard about my Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Puck. I had to stop by my house today to visit him, because my mom is in Breckenridge, CO, and Puck has a pretty bad case of separation anxiety.

While I was there, I took a little video of him to introduce him to my blog readers. Be on the look-out for a full-length interview with him in the next few days. He’s trying to make some time to pencil me into his schedule. In the mean time, meet Puck.

If you have any questions you would like asked of Puck during my interview, leave them in the comments!

N.B. I am very obviously my mother’s son, so know that talking to the dog is not an uncommon thing for me. I promise I’m not crazy. Puck’s just a great conversationalist.

2010
01/22
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My long overdue 2010 post…

My life has been shaken up quite a bit since the last time you heard from me. Things haven’t necessarily been bad – mostly just different. Different can be a challenge for me, as I sometimes appreciate a routine much more than I let on. My routine is gone. In its place is the beautiful chaos of limitless freedom and opportunity, coupled with the terrifying reality of financial ruin.

My internship at Standing ended on January 15. The goodbyes were hard, as it was such a fantastic team to work with. I’m indebted to them for everything they gave me – career advice, professional experience and life coaching. Great friendships as well. My time there will not be forgotten.

That said, now I am in a place that I haven’t been since the day I got my driver’s license – unemployed. I am not job searching like it’s my job. In the mean time, I am applying for jobs waiting tables or tending bar. I know something great is on the horizon for me, but it’s stressful to not know what it is slash when it’s coming.

My freedom has allowed me the opportunity to work on some of my goals for this year. I will list some of them below, while others are more for me and will stay that way.

The primary goal has been to get myself back in shape – maybe not the kind of shape that I was in during college, because that was a full-time commitment for me at that time, but definitely in better shape than I am in now. I’ve played hockey competitively a couple times in the past week or so for the first time since April, and it’s amazing how far I’ve fallen behind the competition. It’s time to get back on it. To quantify this goal, I want to lose 20 pounds by April 1, which would be 2/3 of the weight that I’ve put on since college. It’s going to be tough, and I know that I’m going to hate it. But I’ll do it.

The other goal that I want to share with you is that I’m working on my communication with people. I have a tendency to be very awkward to talk to in some cases, and so I’ve been working hard in the past weeks to get better at making small talk with people and to stay in touch with my friends a bit better. I am very guilty of “going dark” on some people, and I don’t want to do that out anymore.

Things you can look forward to from me here during 2010:
- Pictures! I got a digital camera for Christmas, so I’ll be starting to chronicle my life in digital images, and I’ll be sure to share some of the best of those with you.
- More posts! I am going to work to make sure that I post here at least once a week, if not more.
- Video! I’m going to build the nerve to use my iSight camera to do some video blogging here, as well as (hopefully) using a Flip camera to show you more of my life, including hockey.
- A very exciting side project! I’m in the process of working with a friend on a great project that you’ll be hearing a lot about very soon. You’ll hopefully be just as excited about it as I am.

I hope the holidays and the beginning of 2010 found you well, and I hope your resolutions are closer to becoming part of your life than they were January 1. Let me know what you think in the comments below!

2010
01/21
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New Year…

I promise that I have a post coming with my resolutions, goals and plans for 2010 coming, as well as some other exciting news. I’m just getting over the flu and the holidays, so my life is slowly settling into some semblance of order. When it does, I look forward to sharing with you, dear nameless reader.

2010
01/07
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Something about a book and a cover

Starting at 12 a.m. this morning, I had convinced myself that today was going to be horrible. I just knew it. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t lay still. I just wasn’t comfortable in my own skin. As I laid there, trying to sleep, all I could think about were the things that I should be doing… the things I’d rather be doing.

Hours and hours started passing. I was watching the clock the whole way. My outlook for today deteriorated each time the clock on my dresser, set 20 minutes ahead of real time, ticked by another minute.

Then, it was this morning. “Great… here we go,” I thought as I crawled out of bed 25 minutes later than usual, having hit the snooze 8 times and resetting my early alarms for times after I should be out of the house. I knew it was cold outside. I knew I had ice on my windshield. I knew today was out to get me.

But everything I spent my night dreading seemed to shrink in magnitude this morning. The ice on my windshield was just snow, which came right off. My drive to work, which started 15 minutes later than usual, was 15 minutes shorter than usual. “Stairway to Heaven” was waiting for me when I started my car this morning, thanks to a Christmas present from my sister.

I was the first one in the office. I have more energy than normal, and though today will probably be powered by caffeine, I’m ready for it.

Maybe, like Ice Cube would say, today is going to be a good day after all.

2009
12/28
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The grandest of ambition…

… is often coupled with a lack of follow-through in my point. Sometimes I have a hard time coming through with the promises that I make – whether they are made to myself or to someone else.

I had grand ambitions at the beginning of last month. I told myself that I was going to get a lot of things done, and most of those things did not happen. I need to make some progress on many of those things.

The biggest thing that needs to happen in my life right now is that I need to find a job. My internship ends on Dec. 31, so as of the first of the year, I will be unemployed. That is terrifying. As someone that worked retail for 6 years (during high school and college), I don’t really feel like I want to subject myself to that again. I feel the same about bartending, but I think that would be the most favorable thing, if I can’t find a good public relations/communications job. It’s really just a matter of getting my resume out there as much as I can and showing all these people how great I am. Right? Right.

The workout thing is the other big thing that I need to address right now. My cousins were talking today about doing a half marathon in April, and I might sign myself up for that, torturing myself through training and preparation, despite the fact that I loathe running. I need something to jump-start my desire again.

Anyway, it’s Saturday night, so I should be doing something other than blogging. I hope everyone has a wonderful evening. I should be posting again tomorrow!

2009
12/13
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The pressure is on…

Thanks to my shameless promotion via Twitter on Monday, I had the most readers Ive had in one day ever! So thanks to those of you who click through this, even if it is just to ridicule me.

One of the other goals that I made for myself was to work this blog more into my life. I’ve started planning to take some time every day or two to write. For the first two entries, it’s been at the bar at Mike Duffy’s in Clayton. Oh well. Wherever it gets done, right?

I have been thinking about my life for the past few days: my past and my future especially, and I am constantly amazed by how much the past 3 years have changed me. A lot of things that I have changed, I like a lot. I’ve made myself more conscious of my friends and the feelings of others around me. I’ve learned to be honest with people, even if it means hurting their feelings (which I still hate doing). I’ve come to recognize habits and choices that I make that portray me as something that I am not. Something that I don’t want to be seen as.

It’s astounding the impact that your past has on you though. My entire life until 3 years ago, I was a serial dater. I was always dating someone (mostly the same person for a long period of time). However, in the time since, I’ve become relient on me and me only for my happiness.

I love this fact about me. I love that I haven found the need, as I did in my past to validate myself through others. It was a big step that I needed to take on the path to becoming an adult.

I set out in this blog initially to be professional. To do what I thought any good social media geek should do and blog. However, being honest with myself and you, dear reader, has brought some reflection to my life that has been lacking.

Sorry for the rambling. I have to finish up though. My food is up.

2009
11/04
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A new start – a big list of big to-dos

So I’ve been really concerned with my ability to complete tasks in a timely manner outside of work. I know that I work well from lists, but often I get caught up in the little tasks or the length of the lists and get away from the goals.

So here’s my attempt to get things on virtual paper: overarching and long range non-work goals. Booyah.

1. Begin work on Marketing plan for hockey team. Draft completed by Nov. 15.
2. Resume updated to include Standing internship.
3. Stop screening phone calls/return missed calls within 2 hours. I know I’m bad about this and so here’s my attempt to get better.
4. Make appointments/dates/time to hang out with friends I haven’t seen in a while. It’s time to catch up.
5. Put together a holiday list of who I am shopping for and ideas of what to get them.
6. Make and stick to a legitimate budget, now that Ill be in the house in the next week.

I think this is a realistic list, and I can accomplish a goof portion of this. What do you think? Things I should include? Remove? Revise? Quantify? I love feedback.

2009
11/02
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A New Beginning

Tomorrow morning begins the next chapter of my life/professional development/job-searching career. I start my second internship in public relations in the morning, and I could not possibly be more excited about it. I know that I am behind the curve in terms of where people are at this point in their life (I’m a full year out of college and still without a job, and only on my second internship).

I have had a lot of people explain that I’m not in a bad situation really, and I guess that is true, but in all reality, my expectations are higher than what I have achieved so far. So tomorrow, I begin to push through and create the future that I feel like I owe to myself.

Watch out for me. Starting tomorrow, I’m on my way.

2009
09/08
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How much is too much?

When does technology move from being an asset for allowing us to live more comfortable lives, do our jobs better and interact in a world not (as) limited by physical boundaries to a hindrance? Perhaps even a danger?

On Friday, I kept track of the events that took place in Mumbai, India with great concern. I watched for updates on the news, on the internet and through one service I follow on Twitter. A coordinated attack of that magnitude is very concerning; especially when it was revealed that they were targeting Americans and Britons. What I found interesting as the event went on and as the dust settled was that many officials blamed technology for the severity of the attack.

Some officials asserted that the terrorists had access to TV and the internet in the hotels they occupied and were thus privy to the updates about the policy/military’s next move.

In this situation, it was quite interesting to see that Twitter, news TV and other internet sources were used not only to share information with those across the globe, but also with those involved in the attack.

Over the past 20 years, we have been bombarded with new methods of receiving information. We now have news channels bringing us the news up to the second. Websites will email you, text you, Twitter you, Facebook you, etc.

So my question is: when does it become too much? Is there anything advantageous to this information? I know that we all have the freedom to choose how we receive our news or information. But how much is too much?

2008
12/02
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The pot calling the kettle…

…out on neglecting their blog. I got after my best friend about her blog and how she hadn’t written since September 5th. I proceeded to realize that I hadn’t blogged since the 12th, and I should probably change that.

One of the things I am really getting tired of talking about is politics. If you know me even in the slightest bit, you know that this is a very rare thing for a couple different reasons. First, I am painfully opinionated and rather well informed, and most of the time I like to flaut this fact. Secondly, I love talking about politics.

But I have found in the wake of this election that everyone has all but made up their mind. They might not have really decided who they are going to vote for, but they know how they feel about the various candidates, the issues involved and the political process in general. People have made up their minds. Nothing will change them.

It really disappoints me that I have felt so stymied by this fact, because other people’s disillusion with the political process has never really bothered me. Hopefully I snap out of it in the coming weeks.

2008
10/14
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