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

Greetings from the Big Apple!!

Oh, it is so great to be back in THE city of cities. I had an awesome day yesterday. I met my friend from Minnesota yesterday in Times Square. He graduated in May of this year and moved to NYC a few weeks ago. He lives in Brooklyn and is trying to find a job. We had so much fun. He took me all over lower Manhattan. We spent a lot of time in Chelsea, SoHo, Hells Kitchen, The Flat-Iron District. We walked down to the Brooklyn Bridge after night fall. Oh, it was awesome! So I've decided that I will live here eventually. It may only be for a couple years, but I want to live here for a bit.

Yesterday was definitely the energy-booster I needed. I'd write more, but I do have a lot of work to do. More updates to come later this week.

-T

Greetings from New Haven, Connecticut!

Well, I've tried to resist it for many days now, but I can't help it anymore. I have to come out and say it..."I'm ready to go home!" I love this traveling business, but after awhile I'm just ready to go home. Today marks day 31 on the road. One week from today I will be making a mad dash back home to Oxford. I'm so excited. If I was able to stay at a Holiday Inn everywhere I go, I would be fine, but I've been sleeping on the most uncomfortable futon the past 5 nights. Last night I could not fall asleeep. There's little worse than sleeping on an uncomfortable futon, but then when you toss and turn on it---god help me!

I was excited to see that I only have 14 travel days in November. So after I get through this week, it is all down hill for the semester. One thing has become very apparent to me in the past few days: This is not a job, it is your life. This job is completely in sync with every facet of your life. If I am sick and not feeling well it I can't escape the work that I do or "get away" and relax. If I want to have a nice day off and do nothing accept lounge around my house--I can't! Because I'm either in Connecticut or Maine or Canada. Instead my days off are spent traveling to the next chapter visit and praying that I can find a laundromat that is still open at 10pm.

Oh well..so is life. I'm having a good day. I'm enjoying Yale's beautiful campus and getting a lot of work done. I hope you are all having a great day!

-T

Greetings from Middletown, Connecticut!

Today is my day off...and what a day it has been. I had a phenomenal weekend at the UConn chapter this weekend and I left there last night. I headed to a hotel outside of Boston because I was scheduled to attend a Boston University class today for a class visit. I stayed about 20 miles from BU. I left an hour and fifteen minutes before the class....giving me plenty of time to make it to BU. However, I got stuck in a traffic jam and missed the start of the class. They will not let visitors go into classes after they have begun--which I completely understand. So my visit to Boston was deemed worthless. I then decided that I would drive down to Middletown and do some work on my essays. I again got stuck in traffic--this time in the middle of Connecticut. That was another two hour debacle. When I got to Middletown, I found out the town has literally no coffee shops or places to get internet, so I traveled 20 miles away...where I am now. Let me note: It is now 5pm. Can I tell you what a waste of a day it has been. And the sad thing is that I'm exhausted.

I'm in town visiting the Wesleyan chapter and it has been over a year since I have been here. The only chapter that has not seen a visit by me in over a year--possibly for good reasons. I stopped by the chapter house and of course no one was home. I'm staying with a University of Connecticut graduate who lives close by. After Wesleyan, I will be visiting Yale on Friday/Saturday. Another bright star in Betas broad domain (insert sarcastic tone here). This will be a challenging week. If I can get to Friday I will be good!

Anyways, I'm going to try and be productive for a few hours to make up for today's lack of productivity.

-Travis

Greetings from South Kingstown, Rhode Island!

The best part about being in the smallest state in the US is that you are literally no more than 20 minutes from everything in the state. I've had a great two days in Rhode Island. The University of Rhode Island chapter was started in 1993 and they are one of those chapters that has so much potential. I feel like they are just now at the point where they can really start to capitalize on the great leadership they have in their chapter. Four years ago this was a 30 man chapter, now they are at nearly 60 men. It is unbelievable how much they have grown. In fraternities it is hard enough to sustain your size, but it is extremely difficult to grow! They are somewhat disorganized and this has been a crucial reason for their lack of success, but I LOVE them to death. They are truly one of my favorite chapter's to visit because they are just great men to hang out with. They have a willingness to learn and grow and they don't have any problem with me being honest with them about areas they can improve.

Not much is going on with me. Tomorrow is my day off and I am heading to Storrs, CT to meet with my brothers at the University of Connecticut. Tomorrow night is the official kickoff of basketball season at the UConn, so I will be heading to the Fanfest for Men's and Women's basketball. I may not be able to get to a game during the season, but I'll at least show up in my blue and white tomorrow in support of the Huskies! As a matter of fact, I am going to get quite a fill of UConn athletics in the next week. Next Friday night is UConn's Homecoming football game and I will be going to that versus West Virginia. UConn will probably get their asses kicked, but I'll enjoy the pre and post tailgating experience with the UConn Greek Advisor and other friends from Greek Life in the Northeast (I will not be boozing with undergrads--big no! no!).

Other than that, things are going good. Will finally finish up my Boston grad school essays tomorrow. Yey!

Hope life is well wherever you are!

-T

Greetings from Cambridge, Massachusetts!

It is a BEAUTIFUL Sunday here in the great city of Boston. The sun is shining, the leaves are changing, and I'm enjoying the euphoria of getting work done and people watching in Central Square.

I had a great day off yesterday. I did absolutely nothing and it felt so good! I went into the weekend all caught up on work and I'm working further ahead right now. Still didn't get to the graduate school essays--but the day is not over yet. My visits to Boston continue to reinforce my desire to come to school here. But lest I get ahead of myself. I wanted to go to Cornell for my undergraduate degree but that didn't work out. So I will just put my faith in the powers above and I know whatever happens, will happen for the best.

So the people in New England refer to watching the fall leaves as "Leaf Peeping". I don't know why but that just sounds weird. Sounds more like something a 50-something year old congressman from Florida does to a 16 year old boy. Hmmm. Speaking of politics-I do not like to talk about politics too much, but lets just say I'm very passionate about politics and social issues. If you're offended by my left view on things--there is a great website called www.blogspot.com where you can create your own blog :)

I'm so excited for election day. I am excited about a possible regime change in Washington. I've been listening to Air America radio a lot lately (I love the station, but I don't believe everything I hear). Now I am not naive enough to think that all our problems are from the right or that its one party that is causing trouble. Its just that I think it would be nice to get a new perspective on issues from the left. The Dems and the Rep. both have their issues. I'm most frustrated right now by they hypocrosy that is being shown by the Republicans. This follows suit of a 6 year period of lies..and to be honest, I'm tired of it. If the right want to get on their moral high horse and preach family values and christianity, go right ahead. But damnit! LIVE-IT. Be who you say you are. I have no room for hypocrisy running my government. If you say you're a "Culture Warrior" (ahem..Mr. O'Reilly) then don't get caught having phone sex with your secretary. If you say that you are fiscally conservative, then don't go on the largest spending sprees in the history of our country. I'm just glad that James Dobson and Pat Roberts can literally talk to God and are funnelling God's wishes to Mr. Bush. Whew! I feel better.

I see so many parallels between the hypocrisy in Washington and the hypocrisy in my own fraternity. My fraternity is based on some awesome values and principles....but what good does it do if you are not living them. If we are going to put Greek Letters on our homes and spout our ideals, then we better well live them..and be who we say we are. When we haven't done that...we've gotten in trouble and have been stereotyped rapists, drunks, and "frat boys". This is whats happening now with the right wing...its what happened to the Dems during Lewinski debacle.

Ok. I'm done. I'll get off my soapbox. Wait....stepping down.....one more step....wow i was up high on that soapbox.........ok! back on the ground.


Well, I'm out!

-T

Greetings from Bangor, Maine!

I had an amazing drive yesterday--through Montreal and down along the White Mountains in Vermont and New Hampshire. The fall leaves were awesome--better than last year! I stopped and got a few pictures. There were photographers all over Hwy-2 with their tripods trying to get the best pictures for their photo collections.

I had a nice stay in Ottawa. The chapter is doing very well! SO after my 10 day trip to Canada I can say I am still very upbeat and energetic! That is a huge win for me. This afternoon I meet with the Maine chapter again--should be a good time. l

One thing I found out while I was in Canada was that my car (Scion Xa) is not sold in Canada so I was constantly getting stared at as I drove by--it was funny. In fact when I was in Toronto, I was at a stop light and a bus was next to me. While I was at the red light the bus driver got out of his bus walked over to my car and motioned for me to roll down my windows (yeah, it was a little weird). So I rolled down the window and he was like, "Nice car....they don't sell those here--I want one so bad". It was quite humorous! Well when its time to sell my car, I know where to go. Speaking of my car--I will officially trip the 40,000 mile mark this week. It only took me 16 months to put 40,000 on my car. I really hope I can stay under 60,000 before the end of the year.

I'm heading down to Boston this weekend so that I can visit the MIT chapter. Then down to UConn. I can defintely tell that too much of my life revolves around my fraternity. I woke up last night haveing a dream about one of my more challenging chapters. But in my dream, I was telling them how crappy they are. Its nice to win arguments in your dreams :)

Well folks, I'm doing very well. My essay deadline for Boston University's MBA application is coming up. This weekend I will sit down and get my essays on paper and completed. I can't wait to get all these applications done!

Have a great weekend! and have a happy Thanksgiving weekend for my friends in Canada!

-T