Field Trips

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been at my job now for nearly six months. Wow. I’ve learned a lot and I continue to learn about the publishing and tourism industries, about what it means to be a state employee and work for the greater good, about how to effectively squeeze every last penny out of the 43rd largest state tourism budget in the country, and about my adopted state of Indiana.

One perk to being a state employee, specifically one working for the tourism office, is that I get to go on “field trips”. Well, they’re actually FAM (familiarization) trips, but Lindsay likes to call them “field trips”. Then she reminds me that she’s a teacher and she hasn’t even been on a field trip yet. So, anyway, field trips. Today I went down to Southern Indiana–Santa Claus, Indiana, in fact–for a regional marketing meeting at Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari, the world’s first theme park. It was a very cool place.

Growing up in Cincinnati, I went to King’s Island all the time, and KI definitely has more rides, but there was something special about Holiday World. For one, it’s a family-run business and it has been since it was started. The Koch’s have done such a great job of creating a family-oriented and fun theme park. And, since it’s just three hours from Indy, it’s not that much further than KI. It felt much more manageable and way more clean than KI and it just made me want to come back. It was quite a trip but I really enjoyed it, even though I left at 6:30 AM and spent about 6 1/2 hours in the car today.

In addition to today’s trip to Holiday World, our office has also done two other FAMs. One to Wayne and Henry counties (in East Central Indiana, right along I-70) and to Fair Oaks Farms (off I-65 about half-way between Indy and Chicago) and each of those have been really great too. It makes all the difference in the world when you can promote a product you’ve experienced. I could tell people how great a place Holiday World was, but since I had never been there (until today), I wouldn’t really have that true experience that I could relate to them. I wouldn’t be able to tell them a story…and that’s what people want now. They want a story. They want to emotionally connect with what you’re selling them.

I’m sure I’ve blogged about Lovemarks before, but I need to reiterate what a great book it is. Kevin Roberts really hits the new wave of marketing spot on. It’s truly about telling the consumer a story that engages them and creates a love in them for your product. In my case, this is the State of Indiana.

This is true for any state/city/region, but it impacts me when talking about Indiana. How many times have you heard someone say “There’s nothing to do in XXX”? It happens all the time in Indiana and it’s frustrating. There really is so much out there to do, wherever you live. You just need to know where to find it. That’s where I come in…

Not bad for my first post in a while. I’ll try to be back more frequently.

Let the games end and the work begin…

Monday is my first day back into the full-time work world in more than 7 months. Back in college, I couldn’t handle the idea of working 40-hour weeks for 50+ weeks a year. The thought of no summer vacation just didn’t sit well with me. For the 16 years of formal education I received, there was always a summer…I mean, yeah, I worked during the summers, but it was something quite different from school, so it was still a break. But I never thought I’d be so excited to start working again.

About a month or two into my adventure into the life as an unemployed member of society, I started to miss working…I was getting bored not being at work. One really good thing about starting the Monday before Thanksgiving is that I get to work at 3-day week and then have a 4-day weekend. I figure it’s a really good way for me to ease back into work. Well, I’m off to meet Phil and Sam for lunch one last time. More updates to come.

I’ve got a new job…

I am officially the newest member of the Indiana Office of Tourism Development.

Fall Break – Denver

Enjoy the pics!

Fall Break – 2006

Where Will You Find Him?

So I was perusing the ever-entertaining Drudge Report and I came across this entertaining link. I’m so proud of the Churches Advertising Network (CAN) for creating this campaign.

The CAN is a UK-basted group that runs ad campaigns for churches, and their main goal with this campaign is to get people talking about where they see Jesus. Too many people say that you can only find Jesus by reading the Bible, in a church, by doing all of the “right things”.

Who’s to say that you can’t find Jesus in a glass of beer. I’ve had some of the deepest conversations of my life while smoking a cigar. I guess the biggest issue I have is the legalism infection so much of Christianity these days. I think the whole point is looking at the spirit of the law…

But there is a movement rising throughout Christianity that says that you can find Jesus in many places. Places that aren’t often talked about in many churches. Writers like Brian McLaren, the brilliant Donald Miller, Mars Hill (Grand Rapids) Church’s Rob Bell and websites/groups like The Burnside Writers Collective, The Ankeny Briefcase and The Emergent Village as well as a host of others are leaders in the movement.

If you have any interest in anything “emergent”, I’d love to talk to you, or you can go pick up one of these EXCELLENT books:

• Blue Like Jazz – Donald Miller
• A New Kind of Christian – Brian McLaren
• The Irresistable Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical – Shane Claiborne
• Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith – Rob Bell

Those are some great places to start. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Auburn Football

The college football pre-season rankings came out recently and I’m getting pretty excited about the coming year. Auburn is pre-ranked at #6 (although I’ve seen them listed as high as #3 in some publications) and I think they legitimately have a shot at the title this year. Their last 4-5 years have really been good ones (with the obvious undefeated season in ‘04 (the entire reason that I hate pre-season ranking)). In addition to Auburn being listed at #6, there are quite a few other SEC teams in the Top 25, here are the USA Today Rankings:

• #6 – AUBURN
• #8 – Florida
• #9 – LSU
• #14 – Georgia
• #23 – Tennessee
• #24 – Alabama

So there are more SEC teams in the top 25 than any other conference and Auburn’s schedule this year has us playing quite a few tough games, playing LSU, Florida, Georgia and Alabama, 4 of the 5 ranked SEC teams. I do have to be honest though, the rest of the schedule isn’t too tough, but it should make for a good year either way.

Here are the AP Rankings:

• #4 – AUBURN
• #7 – Florida
• #8 – LSU
• #15 – Georgia
• #23 – Tennessee

So, they’re a little different, but I feel that the AP poll is a little more accurate (not just because Auburn is higher) mainly because Texas and USC dropped a bit…there’s no reason for them to be ranked as high as they are in the USA Today poll

2 weeks till AUBURN FOOTBALL SEASON!!!

WAR EAGLE!

The Brickyard

Today is the day that I truly became a Hoosier. Earlier in the week we got our Indiana driver’s licences and licence plates (and they weren’t cheap either!), but today was the day I truly became a resident of Indiana. Today was the Brickyard 400. For those of you who do not live in Indianapolis or don’t watch NASCAR, the Brickyard 400 is the second largest sporting event in the entire world (Second only to the Indy 500).

In Speedway, Indiana (just west of downtown) lies the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in which 250,000 NASCAR fans converge to watch some good ol’ racing. Since we had nothing to do this afternoon, we flipped on the TV and lo-and-behold, the Brickyard was on, so we actually sat there for 3.5 hours and watched it.

Now I’m not the kind of person who would ever watch NASCAR, but today I feel like I participated in something that is as “Indiana” as watching Hoosier Basketball or watching corn grow.

New Beginnings

Linds and I have been at my parent’s place in Cincinnati since mid-April and we’ve decided that it’s time to move on…it’ll be much easier for us to search for jobs once we’re in Indianapolis, not to mention that we’ll be much more motivated to search for jobs when we’re there. On Monday, we’ll be moving to Barrington Estates, right at the corner of 86th and Ditch and we’re so excited!

It’ll just be so nice to have our own place again and to be in the city we really want to live in. I love my family, but it’s amazing how much different it is living at home when you’ve already established your own family. Over the past 7 months, Lindsay and I have really started figuring out how we do things and how our family will work, and for the year or so before that, we were on our own, living in Indy and Decatur and figuring out life as we went.

We’re still looking for jobs and we’re definately excited about the possibilities in a new city, and we’re excited about being closer to friends that we’ve missed since we graduated a couple years ago. We each have friends that were attendants in our wedding who live just down the road from us in Indy and we can’t wait to hang out again.

Even with all that we’ve been through; living apart for a year, living in 3 different places in a year in Georgia, getting a dog, getting married, moving back in with my parents, each and every thing we’ve done has been a teaching moment for us. We’re growing up and each new phase of our life is teaching us something we didn’t already know (about ourselves, each other or any number of crazy things). We’re learning new things every day and the best part is that we get to do it together. We’re ready for this new adventure…

Carole King…Other Random Thoughts

Ok, so as a guy who has loved music for his entire life and a guy who used to work for a Music Magazine (where every day he learned more and more about things he should have already known) I just found out the other day that Carole King’s Tapestry is such an amazing album! I had no idea that she sang (not only, but including):
1. I Feel the Earth Move
2. It’s Too Late
3. You’ve Got A Friend (I always thought it was a James Taylor song)
4. Where You Lead (My mom would be singing the lyrics…she’s a big Gilmore Girls fan)
5. (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman

I mean, come on! When we were at Lindsay’s parent’s house a couple weeks ago, they gave us their old vinyls and there are some gems in there: Barry Manilow – Greatest Hits, Neil Diamond – Johnathan Livingston Seagull (Soundtrack), The 5th Dimension – The Age of Aquarius. As well as some that really are good: The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, John Denver – Rocky Mountain High, Simon & Garfunkle – Greatest Hits, and, to my great surprise, Carole King – Tapestry.

It’s humbling when you think you know a lot about something, then something comes and just knocks you off your feat like that…

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So, Linds and I have been here at my parent’s house for about a month now, and to be honest, it’s been a nice break. With all the drama that has been our past year (well, really ever since we graduated, but I digress) what with work, the wedding, a new puppy, etc. it’s been really nice to just spend some time without having to worry about bills, work, and everything else that is adult-hood.

That’s not to say that we haven’t been busy. I’ve been doing part-time work for the Magazine still, so that’s kept me busy for at least several hours a week. I’ve been scouring the internet for a job and have just recently begun hitting up more and more friends in Indy for contacts and people I can start to network with.

Linds has been looking into jobs in Indy and even working on some stuff here in Cincinnati. She’s even found a new hobby. My mom started making purses out of placemats (When I first heard that, I was picturing those vinyl, waterproof placemats you had as a kid, but no, these are fabric ones…so it’s not as weird as it sounds) and she taught Lindsay, and now she loves it!

More to come….there’s a job fair in Indy tomorrow and I’m headed there.

Moving Day…Almost

Lindsay’s parents got into town on Sunday and we’ve been frantically packing, cleaning and organizing (including quite a bit of donating, throwing away and recycling). Things are going well, but as I was bringing Rosie (our puppy) outside to the bathroom a few mintues ago, I realized that we have a lot of stuff…and I really hope it all fits in the truck…I guess we’ll see tomorrow.

Speaking of a lot of stuff, Lindsay and I have been reading The Irresistible Revolution : Living as an Ordinary Radical, by Shane Claiborne. The guy really reminds me of Donald Miller, one of my favorite new writers. Anyway, in one chapter, Shane talks about simplifying and Lindsay and I have decided to start that by really looking at the stuff we have as we move. We’re really just trying to make sure that we are able to give what we can do those who can’t afford things, and to make sure that we don’t just start to accumulate “stuff”. It’s not an easy thing, because it always feels good to get that new CD or eat out at a great restaurant, but we’re just trying to be more careful about it.

Shane also talks (in his book) about not just giving money to the church or to the American Red Cross, but to really befriend those who are in need…don’t just help out at a soup kitchen, get to know those in need. Shane went to college in Philadelphia (home of the wonderful Denison Witmer) and in his time there, he and some friends actually spent a lot of their time downtown, hanging out with the homeless and really becoming FRIENDS with them. He even organized a group of students to live in an abandoned church downtown to prevent the city from kicking out the homeless who were staying there during the harsh Philly winter. It’s just really inspirational to hear about someone who is really living out their faith…and in such a different way. He wasn’t out there “preaching the gospel” or “converting people on the streets”, he became friends with them, just like Jesus became friends with the “lowest of the low”.

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My last day of work was on Friday, so I’m now unemployed. It’s something that hasn’r t really sunk in yet, but I went back to the office to help Nate out with some stuff that he’s taken over for me and it just felt like I wasn’t suppossed to be there. No one was rude or treated me like I should leave, but it just felt weird. As I was coming back from the office today, I was thinking of the hundreds of times I’ve made that trip and then it hit me that this is the first time that I’m moving and I know that I’m not coming back. I mean, I’m sure Lindsay and I will come visit at some point, but when I left Taylor, I knew I’d be back; for homecoming, Nathalie’s graduation, etc. When I left Cincinnati, I knew I’d be back, I mean my parents still live there, and even though I’ve lived in 5 different places in the last year and a half, here in Decatur, I was just moving down the street (literally, a couple times), and I could always go to the same old places; the Target down at Edgewood, Ghetto Kroger in downtown Decatur, Chipotle at Toco Hill, and Decatur CD. But this move is different.

In fact, Lindsay and I have used that excuse (except I didn’t realize that it actually was the excuse until now) to go do all the things that we’d miss when we leave Decatur, and Atlanta in general. In the past month (since we’ve made the decision to move) we’ve gone to the Martin Luther King Jr. Center and we saw the house he grew up in, we’ve visited the Kennesaw Mountaing Battlefield in northwestern Atlanta, and we’ve brought Doug and Leslie to the Georgia Aquarium (the world’s largest aquarium), The Brick Store (An AWESOME pub with amazing beer and the world’s best Fish & Chips), Atlantic Station, Taqueria Del Sol and Maddy’s BBQ, just to name a few. Needless to say, it’s been a fun month (and a rather tasty one), and there will be a lot to miss about Decatur, not even to mention our friends, but it will be nice to be back in the midwest.