Greetings from Oxford, Ohio!

Well, I am not dead. It has been a long time, too long in fact, since I have posted a comment. I got to my last visit on the road up in Ottawa, Ontario and decided I was done writing. My apologies.

It has been an exciting past few weeks. After returning home to Oxford on the 19th, I had a few days in the office and then I flew home to Kansas City to see the family for Thanksgiving. A very good time indeed! After flying into Kansas City, I flew down to New Orleans for the Association of Fraternity Advisors annual meeting.

I have never been down to New Orleans before and it was an eye opening experience. We arrived a day early and went down to the Upper 9th Ward to help build a house for Habitat for Humanity. It felt so good to help down there, but the areas hardest hit have such a long way from recovery. I think the biggest issue facing New Orleans isn't the lack of resources, but more so the lack of PEOPLE there. I read the morning newspaper while we were there and the front page story was about the population finally reaching 200,000 in the city of New Orleans. This used to be a city of 500,000 before Katrina. The Upper 9th Ward is full of empty homes....block, after block, after block. Occassionally you would see a home here and there that was fixed up and somebody was living in it, but in general it was empty. After we were done working for the day, our bus driver drove us down to the Lower 9th Ward. This was the area hardest hit by Katrina. There is nothing there. No rebuilding. No demolition. I imagine it will look the same way it does today 10 years from now.

It was good to experience Bourbon Street. They call Las Vegas "Sin City"....I'm pretty sure that Bourbon Street makes Las Vegas look like a monastery. It was definitely an experience--to say the least. But a very good time. I would tell you more, but in an effort to boost the local economy and support New Orleans Tourism, I'll just say--"Go find out for yourself!"

After New Orleans, I flew back home to Oxford where I have been the past week. It is nice to be back home and I am enjoying my time in the office. We had our annual Kai Bowl football game this weekend. I was finally on the winning team! But I think I only played 3 or 4 plays...which was fine by me because I was having too good of a time watching the game on the sideline and chatting with the spectators. But It was a great time and we ended the day with a fine evening at The A-List in Oxford.

Thanks for reading. A brief overview of the past 3 weeks. I probably won't have another post until the beginning of the year. But trust me I'm still ticking! Happy Holiday!

-T

Greetings from London, Ontario!

Well, it is just a lovely, rainy cold day here in the great Providence of Ontario. I am finally feeling better after getting sick earlier this week. I got sick on Monday when I was at Bethany. I was supposed to stay in Bethany on their lovely couch on Monday night, but I wrapped up my meetings early and headed to a hotel room just North of Pittsburgh. Tuesday was great as I had an 8 hour drive. The drive to London was bad enough on its own, but then add a fever, coughing, and sore throat on top of it and you've got the ingredients for misery.

Although, I was still sick yesterday I had a full plate of meetings yesterday with my boys at Western Ontario. I have to say it was a great day. There are a few key officers that really "excite" me. The chapter may not be doing all that well, but they keep me hopeful that change is on the way.

I have a meeting this afternoon with Mandy D'Arcy. She is the Pledge Education Advisor for Western Ontario. Once I am done meeting with her, I will drive 8 hours NE to the great city of Ottawa. It will probably be a late night for me. I will be attending the Carleton chapter's 15th Anniversary banquet on Saturday. After that is over, I will be heading back down to Oxford. I have opted to depart on Sunday morning...because it is a 16 hour drive home. Ahhh...that mileage reimbursement check is going to be so great in a week!

Well I fly home to Kansas City next Wednesday! My flight leaves bright and early at 7:15am from Indianapolis. That's the price you pay for cheap flights! Then I will head down to New Orleans from Kansas City for the annual AFA (Association of Fraternity Advisor) Convention. I am so pumped to be going down the the Big Easy. This will be my first time in New Orleans.

No snow in Canada yet, but I have a feeling I will be running into it up in Ottawa....I'll keep you posted!

-T

Greetings from Washington, PA!

Well, I made the 8 hour track down from Syracuse. What a great way to spend your day off, huh? :) I finished with the Colgate chapter at about 10pm last night and headed to Syracuse where I had a hotel room. Before I headed to Syracuse I had to make a pit stop at Turning Stone Casino. I stopped there last year and wanted to play some video poker. Once I got my players card I sat down at one of the video poker games. I decided that I would allow an expenditure of $40 on my part. After I lost that I would leave. Well wouldn't you know it...ten minutes after starting I was down to $4. I figured I would try and stretch my time at the casino by switching to the "1" credit bet versus the "Max Credit" bets I had been doing. I hit a few good hands and was up to $7. So I decided to switch back over to the "Max Credit" bets again, just for the hell of it. Before long I was back down to $4 again. SO I hit the deal button again and all of a sudden I looked at my screen. I hit A A A 2 A. In poker terms that meant 2000 credits which equated to $500. Woo hoo! So I quickly grabbed my player card...did my "victory" dance over to the cashier, and felt the "oh-so" sweet feeling of having 5 crisp $100 bills in my pocket. It was hard to walk out of there..but I knew that it was a wise choice. So in 20 minutes I gained $500--I wish I got paid that well at work.

It rained all day today. I am starting to dread the long drives. I drove 8 hours today. I will drive another 8 hours on Monday.......another 8 hours on Thursday.....and then 15 hours next weekend. In 7 days I am going to put 2,000 miles on my car! Well I know exactly where my poker winnings are going to--new tires!

All right peeps......I need to head out. Just wanted to share with you my gambling success story! I'll touch base in Canada next week.

-T

Greetings from Ithaca, NY!

Happy Veterans Day!

Well this week just flew by. I was up in Hamilton on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then I drove down to Ithaca yesterday. I will be leaving Ithaca this afternoon and heading back up to Hamilton to help them with the chapter's initiation ceremony. Tonight I am staying in Syracuse and then I will be driving 8 hours tomorrow down to good 'ol West Virginia.

The weather has been awesome lately, but I saw that Canada is getting snow--so I may have my first interaction with snow next week when I head up there.

No big news here...just trying to make it through my last week of travel for the semester, which I know I will do :).

I hope all is going well for everyone in your neck of the woods!

-T

Greetings from Hamilton, NY!

Wow! Has it really been over a week since I posted a message on here? ...sorry. Well, let me do an update.

I had a great week back home in Oxford. I celebrated my 24th birthday with my fraternity family in Oxford. It was a very refreshing week. I also had my interview with Boston University. I felt it went well and I should find out within the next week on my application status.

I had a 13 hour drive on Monday and drove up to my currentl location in Hamilton, NY. Good 'ol Colgate University. It is really the iconic small- New York town that you think. It is nestled in the rolling hills of the finger lakes region. It is decked with historic buildings and of course the white church house in the center of the town. There are about 2000 students that go to this school and an additional 2000 residents of the town. Its very small, but that's part of the charm.

I was up until 2am last night watching the election results come in. Once I saw the results from Missouri roll in I headed to bed. One thing I can say about the state of Missouri is that it is one of those states that you can pretty much always look to to decide which way the country will lean. If the Republicans win Missouri....the country will go red, and vice versa for the democrats. We are living in exciting times! I'm looking forward to seeing what happens during the first 100 days.

Well, I am off to Ithaca tonight to the Cornell chapter. I have to say that a lot of stress has been lifted since getting my Boston application in. I just have the Cornell application left and that is not due until January 1..so I have some time. OOps...I forgot to mention that I got accepted to the University of Minnesota! That was huge for me because now I know that I am going to grad school somewhere!

I am off to Bethany this weekend and then I will spend next week in Canada. Thanks for reading!

-Travis

Greetings from Oxford, Ohio!

Well I am finally back home. I left lower Manhattan on Thursday evening at about 8:30pm and I arrived in Oxford on Friday morning at about 9:30am. Yes, I drove straight through and it was a long 13 hour drive. But I was so glad to be home. I was tired, but never "drowsy tired".

I have had a great weekend home, with my fellow consultants. It has been SO great! I got all of my laundry done, car cleaned, and grocery shopping done. I feel like a new man.

I submitted my Boston University application last week and I have my interview down in Cincinnati with them tomorrow. I am hoping all goes well. We will see!

The anxiety of not knowing what I am doing next year is starting to creep up more and more. I found out yesterday that the Area Coordinator position for the east coast chapters has opened up for next year. This is the position of my direct supervisor. I already had a director approach me and tell me that I should apply. I am very apprehensive about it because I've been so in the "graduate school" mindset. The official announcement is going to be made tomorrow--again we will see. I am also sad to hear that my supervisor will be leaving--more sad because he is a chapter brother from Minnesota and a really good friend. But I guess we must part ways eventually.

Well I only have 14 days left of travel for the semester and I will be all over the place. West Virginia, Central New York, and Canada. It will undoubtedly go fast. I was talking with other consultants and we were saying that after you've been on the road for about 2 weeks is when you start really missing home, so I will stay within the two week time frame and hopefully it will be an easy two weeks.

Love you all. Sorry I haven't been more consistent with the entries. I'll do my best in the future.

-T

Greetings from New Jersey!

I'm back in the Garden State. I had a great visit in Manhattan as you will see from my previous blog. I met two former consultants that live in NYC. I met one for brunch down in Chelsea and another one for coffee close to NYU. Matt Grennan is the former consultant I met at NYU. He is currently in the Economics PhD program there. He went to Iowa State for undergrad and then to Minnesota for his Master's degree. He was my Recruitment Advisor when I was the Recruitment Chair at Minnesota. Its so funny how life turns out. I would have never guess 3 years ago that I would one day meet him for coffee in lower Manhattan! I got to see the apartment (closet) that he and his wife live in. GET THIS!...the place is very small...its like a cubby hole and he and his wife pay $2500 a month. I was shocked. But my friend shares a 3 bedroom apt in Brooklyn and only pays $550. Price definitely depends on where you are located. He also lives about a block down from Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick. And about 3 blocks from the Hudson River. It is a beautiful area.

I have my first meeting with the Stevens chapter in an hour. Only 2 days until I get to drive home to Oxford. Yey! Everything is going great. It is a busy week--so it is going by fast.

-T