Mission Accomplished

For those of you that were not already aware, I have just accepted a position with PGE Park in Portland, Oregon. I will be serving as the Media Relations Coordinator, working as the primary media contact for the Portland Timbers USL team and as a secondary contact for the Portland Beavers, the Triple-A baseball affiliate of the San Diego Padres. I will have a large and diverse workload to keep me busy every day, but I'm very excited to be undertaking this.

For those of you in the Toledo area, I will be leaving very shortly so give me a call! I'm departing on February 2nd for the weekend to find an apartment, return on Sunday, and then I leave for good the following Tuesday. I'm currently scheduled to start work in Portland on Monday, February 13.

Thanks to everyone for their support during the application process, and I, for one, am glad it started and concluded so quickly. I hope to see some visitors at the Park this summer! And Steve, that means getting you on a plane!

Up and Coming...

It's been a little bit since I've posted last, but it's sorta been calm here in Perrysburg the last few weeks. I'm all settled again since my move back from England, and it has been great to see the familiar faces around town, both family and friends.

In job news, the hunt has kicked into high gear, with the total now standing at 26 applications sent. I believe I have been rejected from 6 so far so that leaves me with plenty of possibilities. The most promising though was that I conducted a phone interview last Wednesday with the Portland Beavers, the Triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. I would also double in that position as the primary media contact for the Portland Timbers, a soccer team in the league below MLS. Obviously the position is located in Portland, Oregon, which I am fine with, and I have had several volunteers for visitors already! I should be hearing back from the person I interviewed with this week.

Last night, Steve, Jen, Justin and I drove up to Detroit to a little club to catch my favorite British band Hard-Fi live. If you don't remember hearing about them, scroll down this blog two or three entries (they're the ones with the security camera logo). The show was absolutely excellent, and all four of us thoroughly enjoyed it. We had no trouble getting up or back, although Steve was asked by a bum what the greatest nation in the world is. (Answer? Donation. Steve agreed to the tune of $2).

Finally, I'd like to proudly announce the kick-off of my latest creative project, a serial story called "A Midsummer's Night Mare". I'm going to ATTEMPT to write a murder mystery in the old serial format, aka a new chapter every so often. It's going to be in blog format, though, so be looking for new bits of the story every few days or weeks, depending on how busy I am. You can read the story at http://midsummernightmare.blogspot.com. You will be welcome to post comments on the blog all along, including who you think 'dunnit', but I've got the plot pretty much ready to go already so I shouldn't need any assistance in that department.

Well, that's about all for now, hope everyone has a great week!

Reflections

Well, wow, it's hard to believe I'm back home again in freezing Perrysburg, Ohio. The last two weeks in the UK were magnificent, but all good things must come to an end.

It was a bit hard to leave the club on my last day, and had nothing but well wishes from the first minute to the last. I was surprised at 1pm when I was called into the main reception area, only to find that everyone on the staff had gathered there waiting for me to walk in and when I did, I received a round of applause. The club's Chief Executive gave a short speech about my contributions to the club, and then I thanked everyone for their warmth and generosity. It was too hard to put into words though how amazing it was for me to be able to report to an English football club for work every day. They then presented me with a replica jersey autographed by the entire team, all of whom I had gotten to know very well. I was also told that if I ever wanted to come back and work in English football again, to give them a call. I tell you what, I think I might.

Michelle arriving though was fantastic, and it was a bit surreal to finally see in person after so many conversations on the webcam! We shot off for Scotland the following morning, and I'm just now getting my head around the fact that I was finally in 'the homeland.' I got to see the Palace and the Castle and the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, and I bought myself a massive Claymore sword, which should be arriving in the mail any day. Hopefully I'll be able to post some photos when it arrives.

My parents arrived into London Gatwick on Christmas morning to kick off the tourism in style. On the day after Christmas, I took them to the Southend match where all five of us were treated to a three course meal in the luxury lounge courtesy of the club for all of my hard work. My parents moved to London on the 27th while Michelle and I commuted from Southend every morning, which all told would take about 1hr and 45min. We got to see all the big stuff in London: Tower of London and Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, the girls saw Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, Buckingham Palace, Harrod's, the British Museum, the Hard Rock Cafe, Portobello Road market, and Michelle and I saw two plays (the musical "The Producers" and the Agatha Christie mystery "The Mousetrap"). Michelle and I were also treated to two tickets to see Arsenal play Portsmouth at Highbury, and, much to my chagrin, Michelle is now a hard-core Arsenal supporter.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip and one I don't regret making at all, as difficult as it may have been at times to fit in. Some of the people I've seen since I've returned to the US say that I do sound a bit different; I don't have an accent but I pronounce things differently and my intonation is different. I think I sound the same but, who knows?

I am now back at home in Perrysburg, and have nothing to do but look for a job. I will be getting a new cell phone and a new number next week so maybe I'll post it on here when I get it. I'll also be trying to set up a Yahoo! photo album or something to display some of my photo highlights from the last few weeks. Oh, and Long Live the Queen!