Good Morning from the Southern Tier of New York!
As I woke up this morning I realized that I'm definitely back in the Northeast. Of the 5 days I've been out on the road this is the 2nd day of rain I have experienced. I can count on one hand the number of rainy days we had in Oxford this summer. While all my peeps back in Missouri are getting thunderstorms, I am remided that I forgot my umbrella when I went on the road.

This morning I'm sitting at one of my favorite places--Panera Cafe & Bakery. For those who are not business travelers, I will fill you in on a little secret. Finding a Panera, to me, is probably what finding the "new world" was to Christopher Columbus. Great food, great coffee, and FREE WIRELESS internet. I'm in heaven right now.

Today is the one year anniversary of Hurrican Katrina. I was reminded of it as I was watching the Weather Channel this morning (I think the years of my dad sitting and staring at The Weather Channel rubbed off on me--seriously!). Anyways, its funny because I remember exactly one year ago sitting in my hotel room up in Canton, NY watching the weather channel as Hurrican Katrina hit New Orleans. I am thinking of my brothers down in Florida right now as Hurricane Ernesto gets closer to FLorida. For some reason, Beta loves doing expansions in Hurricane ridden areas. Last year, we had our entire expansion team down in Miami working at Florida International University as Hurrican Wilma hit the state. This year, our team is down there prepping for our expansion at the University of Miami. As if expansions aren't hard enough--we just seem to like the challenge of adding a hurricane to the mix. Good luck, bros!

Today, is day two for my visit to Cornell. The chapter is in much better spirits than it was last year. Last April, the chapter was so down and drained that even I was depressed when I left the chapter. Yesterday was VERY busy. I had back-to-back meetings from 10am until about 8pm. I was able to go and visit the Graduate Admissions office for the Industial & Labor Relations program. It is a beautiful building with its very own library. Its no wonder that it is the top HR program in the country. Now if I can just get in! Ithaca is beautiful. It is nestled in the rolling hills and flowing gorges of the Southern Tier of NY. Today, I'm meeting with the Greek Advisor at Cornell and I have one more officer meeting with the chapter. Tonight I'm heading to Syracuse to meet with a District Chief.

This afternoon I'm going to clock-in for several hours and try and get my reports written for my Bethany and Cornell Visit. Each one will probably take me 2-3 hours. One thing about being on the road is that there is never enough time in the day to get what you want to get done. When you are in the office, you can leave and go home and somewhat enjoy your evening--but when you're on the road you are always doing something. Either follow-up reports from the past visits you just completed, doing officer meetings and presentations for the current visit you are at, or you are prepping for the visits you are about to make. Thank goodness I'm organized! Some people don't get what I do and I think they often times perceive my job as a cop out or "escape from the real world". This is by far the best job I could have gotten out of college. My challenge is to now be able to communicate what I have learned to future employers.

Well, I need to get some emails written and head out to Ithaca. Hope you are doing well wherever you are!

-T