This one's for you Glavin

I am straying from the norm with this week's post. On Monday, I received some sad news from one of my mentors at Syracuse University. A dear professor of mine was just diagnosed with late stage lung cancer. I want to dedicate this post to Professor Bill Glavin and let him know that we are all thinking of him during this difficult time.

Syracuse is a relatively big school with lecture classes of upwards of 100 students at a time. I never imagined making bonds with my professors as I had in high school. When I finally started taking classes at Newhouse, I realized how intimidating of a school it was. There, everyone was editor of their high school yearbook and scored a near perfect score on their SAT's. Well, not me. I was one of those transfer students who was never quite smart enough to be accepted right out of high school.

Then I took critical writing with Glavin. I distinctly remember thinking, "how hard can it be to write a review?" Then, he put my first assignment on the projector for all to see. I remember sinking into my seat with my head down trying hard not to make it known that it was my debacle on the screen.

Aside from showing me how much I could improve my writing, he re-invigorated my love for the craft. I wanted to go to Newhouse because since I was 12, I wanted to write. When I was there, writing turned into work for me and I slowly lost that passion. Thanks to people like Glavin and Melissa Chessher, I am back to writing and loving every word of it. They showed me that writing doesn't have to be about perfect grammer and you don't have to publish a 2,000-word essay in the New Yorker to be a success. I thank them for inspiring me to pull together this little ditty I call a blog. It may be wrought with the verb to be and I never do a full spell check but that's what my day job is for...copywriting go figure!

To Professor Glavin - your experience and knowledge within the communications industry is vast but it was the heart you poured into your teaching that made the world of difference. To all the students, professionals, and colleagues you touched with your spirit, we will keep you in our thoughts, prayers, and most importantly our hearts.

The outpour of support for Glavin is beyond belief. Please read the comments on his fan page. We can all only hope to inspire others as he has: http://glavin.syr.edu.

Back by Popular Demand?

I don't know whether or not to thank Ms. Pavement Chaser for the shoutout or for totally calling me out but either way you can thank her for this reincarnation. Not sure how long it will last but I will try my best. If only Blogspot was not firewalled on my office computer then this would be a lot easier albeit much less productive way to spend my "working" hours.

I started this bad boy mainly because I had to and heck I wanted to win gold at Schwartz Olympics. Since then, it's turned into a place where I can keep my family and friends updated on my whereabouts but more importantly, it's where I go to write about crap I think people might find humorous and slightly inappropriate. Who I am kidding, clearly Britt and my mom are the only one's reading this and since the last thing I remember my saying to me was, "a stiffy, is that the west coast version of a woody?" I think it's fair to say that I am giving my audience what they want.

Here is a drastically summarized look at what my life has consisted of over the past six months since I packed up my little Nissan Sentra and drove 3,000 miles away from home. I'm feeling a bulleted list for this.

• I found someone to hire me and all it took was crafting a politically incorrect product brief on the "Tissue Turban." I clearly had too much unemployment time on my hands but it all paid off in the end as I have made my way back to cube land.
• I learned that I have no clue how to operate a hot tub and that the boys from the Jersey Shore are correct when they say it does take a while to heat up and seeing as we almost lost a visitor to a hot tub drowning, yes they do get slippery.
  
• Do it yourself frozen yogurt is perhaps the greatest thing to ever exist In fact, YogurtLand and Yogurt on the Rocks may actually top a Montrose Ice Cream flurry.
  
• Never watch a video of yourself skydiving if you are at all self conscious about the size of your cheeks. I mean come on, who wants to see those things flapping in the wind at 120 miles per hour, not I. Probably should have considered that when I paid the extra 30 bucks for the handheld video.
• Riding a bike was much easier as a child. This may also be because I was not trying to ride one intoxicated. Important fact, BUI's do exist.
• A winter storm in San Diego is the equivalent of announcing that it's raining outside. That being said, I will take a San Diego winter over the Northeast any day. Take that Mr. Summer Street Church man who always shoveled our cars in and complained when we parked in the spot he cleared for funeral parking.
  
• It's not always sunny in san diego....but it's pretty darn close.

I am going to give a shoutout to my favorite Pavement Chaser for convincing me to have at this again. Unlike me, she writes about real things that people should care about. Also, check out Foodies@work for some fun recipes and restaurant ideas in the New York City and Boston areas.

As for me, I will continue to fill up space with my witty banter and shenanigans. I'll be in Phoenix visiting family next weekend. At first, I didn't think I would have much blog fodder for it but after talking to my 74-year-old grandma who admitted to loving the Kings of Leon, the weekend just might be one for the books. The goal is to have her drink enough wine (for her, one glass tops) that she will sing the lyrics to Sex on Fire and this line in particular, "head while I'm driving." Please refer to the comment about my mother above to learn why I am the person I am today. Thanks Mom!