Thursday, April 14, 2011

Hello Again

Wow, it struck me that I haven't written anything in since the end of November. For those of you who are desperately interested in my life, here's a quick recap of what I've been up to:

December
- Drove the 11.5 hours from Fayetteville to Oxford, OH
- Spent a day in the office
- Went back to MI for the holidays
- Spent Christmas in Cleveland and NYE in Ann Arbor


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Who doesn't love awkward family photos?


January
- Returned to the office on Jan 3rd
- Worked conferences in St. Louis, MO
- Drove back to Oxford
- The next day I flew to Los Angeles for a week to work at UCLA - got stuck in the snow in Minn for 5 hours on the way there. I was able to meet up with my Big Brother Kellyn Parker and the legendary Jon Buck and learn about "The Colonial".


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Myself and a couple of the UCLA (CA-G) guys before we played musical chairs at half time of a WBB game in front of all 34 people that were there. Photo courtesy of Tyler Wong (CA-G)



- Flew back to the office
- The next day I drove the 11.5 hours from Oxford to AR.
- 20+ inches of snow cancelled life down here. School was canceled 7 out of 10 days.
- Flew out to Austin, TX for the General Officers Conference to learn about the roll out of Phi Delt 2020. Got a chance to meet a good number of our volunteers as well as see the LBJ Presidential Library and 6th Street. A Special Thank-You to Province President Joe Kohout for his guidance and leadership in the face of adversity.

February
- The beautiful Christie Low flew in for a weekend and I got a chance to show her the sights.

- Arkansas Alpha was installed. We enjoyed hosting Executive Vice President Bob Biggs (GA-E) as well as President of the General Council Scott Meitchen (UT-A). I also got a chance to talk to John Tyson of Tyson Chicken. Incredible guy - very down to earth. It was also great to have Steve Curtright and his friend Ben Wankum here for the weekend. I couldn't have survived the weekend without them. Photos courtesy of AR-A Sweet Heart Tori Pohlner.
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The remaining Fall '09 guys who waited 542 days for this.
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The entire group post-Installation
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President of the General Council Scott Meitchen presenting the charter to Arkansas Alpha President Tyler McKimmey
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Steve Curtright, Ben Wankum and I

March
- Started and completed a full "Colony to Chapter Transition Manual" which is the first resource of its kind in the Greek world.

- During Spring break I drove from: Fayetteville to Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor to Oxford, Oxford to Ann Arbor and finally Ann Arbor to Fayetteville (2,300+ miles). It was great to be in the office for a couple days to catch up on things and recharge the batteries. Sometimes I think people at GHQ forget what I look like. I also got a chance to participate in the Bi-Prov conference at the University of Michigan. Shout out to Sigma North for our future win in the Iron Phi Challenge. Four chapters set a goal to raise over $25K for ALS and the PDT Foundation. It was also great to have General Council Member-At-Large Chris Brussalis (PA-D) and Past President of the General Council Mike Scarletelli (MI-D) in attendance. It was also great to be re-united with "The Team", even though it was only for a short while.

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Christie and I watching the Pistons beat up on the Knicks

April
- Started the month off right with the greatest (read: worst) April Fool's Day prank that has ever been played on me. Thank you Steve Curtright.

- Took a trek up to Springfield, MO to visit the men of Missouri State University (MO-E) for a three day visit. It was great to work with them and together I think we came up with some great ideas for improvement. I look forward to seeing their progress in the future. I was also fortunate enough to stay at the humble abode of Mu South Province President Joe Passanise (MO-E) and for that I am grateful.

- This past weekend was ROW Week, which is a large end of the year music festival where each fraternity hosts a musical act in their front yard. We brought in Big Gigantic, which is a mix of techno and saxophone. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and we had zero issues, which made my life easier.

- At the end of the month, I'll be traveling to Southwest Oklahoma State University (OK-G) to assist with their Installation.

These last couple months have flown by. I feel like the next time I blink I'll be back in Oxford. I also want to give a public congratulations to our new group of consultants that will be joining the Dream Team in June: Andrew "Wally" Cole (IN-E), Alex Stefanic (SC-G) and Mike "Rogo" Rogowski (OH-A).