Last night I went to bed with 2. dollars and. Thir. teen. cents (said in the automated voice that has been announcing that sad balance to me for the past 2 weeks via phone banking) in my bank account-I know, yikes- and I woke up this morning with my first paycheck deposited! Perfect timing because there are several instances where I am required to pay for things and just include them on my expense report whenever I choose to turn it in...who honestly thinks I'm going to remember to fill out all of my expense reports? Not this girl. Today was one of those days and so I was happy when I bought 30 dollars worth of beverages for a meeting and the lady said "Girrrl, you done got the best sweet tea on the aisle", instead of "I'm sorry, your card's been declined". Tomorrow night, I'm cooking dinner for Ann and Bobby as a small thank you for letting me stay in their home...what to make, what to make?
Today was the first meeting that we got to coordinate, and it actually went very nicely. The meeting was with the 6 general managers of the Leatherheads. Basically, these guys (and 1 lady...yes, there are lady leather heads. both surprising and encouraging) are the team captains of the six teams we have within the Leatherheads and their job is to keep their guys on track, motivate to sell, and be leaders among the leatherheads. The meeting went really well, and I learned several things. Camille's Sidewalk Cafe does not make a regular large Chef Salad...so it was great that that was my boss's order, but it does have some of the best oatmeal raisin cookies with CARAMEL running through them...yes, I said oatmeal, raisin, caramel all in one cookie. Dad, feel free to wipe the drool from your chin. Also, preparation for a meeting of 13 people, no matter how simple it may be takes a lot of preparation. Whether it be creating agendas getting the right materials together for each person, getting lunch taken care of on time, printing and reprinting from different computers because someone (ehhmmm...we won't say names baha) jammed the copier to the point where the man fixing it wanted names of possible subjects, all of these things require planning in advance which is not one of my strongest suits. However, I'm learning how to plan ahead, and consequently the meeting was executed well. Snaps for Bryson! (someone clearly needs to get me the hell off of the Kappa List Serve...and get me out of the sorority mindset.)
A large portion of today, in and out of meetings was discussing the leatherheads incentives program, which Sarah and I have spent a good time working and reworking, and presenting to people, and changing...and then ultimately realizing that the way we had is worked out best. Anyways, some of the incentives that we are looking at for leatherheads are things like field passes, hospitality access/box access at games, tickets to private events, etc...My thoughts on the leatherheads incentives are that most of these guys can by whatever they want-money is not an obstacle. What they can't by is access to things that are invite only and that's the way you motivate the leatherheads to sell so that is the mindset we are trying to take when considering what Leatherheads would really respond most positively to. Tomorrow we will be meeting with the Leatherheads gifts committee about gifts for Players, Media, and VIP's and so we are hoping to make some progress as far as narrowing down our gift ideas even further. Any athletes have any fabulous ideas as far as what they would want in a Bowl gift or ACC Championship present??? Feel free to let me know before 11 tomorrow!
Will Webb came into our office with a branding iron he is going to use to personalize some gifts for the leatherheads...if nothing else, by the end of this internship I will hopefully be able to use my new found skills in branding on a cattle ranch of some sort. While he was in our office figuring out the iron, one of the Raycom staff came into our office and brought up his daughter who is in high school, and is apparently excelling in social circles, more so than in her academics. The way he described this struggle with his daughter almost made me sick to my stomach because it was literally like going back to 2002-2005 and listening to the bi-weekly talking to I got, eye rolls included, from my parents. I had to laugh and tell the him that I was certain my father described my less than bright academic future the same way to his colleagues when I was a junior in High School. He actually asked if we wouldn't mind taking his daughter to lunch on Friday, which I am actually very excited to do because I think I am far enough away from my own similar experiences that I can give her an objective adult perspective, while still understanding where she's coming from. The sad thing is that he said she probably is not going to want to come to lunch with us, and with that I looked at Sarah and said 'you here that, we are now the old people that young cool people are embarrassed to go to lunch with!'...growing up is overrated.
My final thoughts for the night are: 1. I have got to stop leaving subject lines blank in emails...frankly, it just looks tacky. 2. 'Y'all' is not an acceptable word in professional, written conversation and 3. If you asked me if I was addicted to my blackberry yet, I wouldn't lie to you...I don't think I've gone 10 minutes without at least checking it except for when I was sleeping...and even then I'm pretty sure I woke up a couple of times just to make sure it was still laying beside me (I won't be taking it into meetings with me anymore because it's too much of a temptation...like facebooking in class). Is it too soon to give my communication device a name? I feel like I've developed a relationship with it already.
Showing posts with label meetings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meetings. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Weekend and Monday Shenanigans
WEEKEND:
Weekends are a lot shorter when the weeks are guaranteed to be filled with work Monday-Friday. There have been some adjustments in lifestyle, not just for me but for most of my friends with fulltime jobs. I had to make excuses to not go out this weekend, not only because I do not currently have an income to fund those kinds of outings. At the end of the day, I am typically too tired to participate in any kind of social activity. Carrie and I haven't even spent significant time together and we are living in the same house!
My mom was nice enough to come down on Saturday morning so that we could head to Anderson, SC to pick up the rest of my things from Susan's house. (For those of you who don't know, Susan is the head coach's assistant for men's basketball at Clemson...and acted as office mom for me while at Clemson). She has let me keep my stuff at her house for the past couple of weeks while I was figuring out where the heck I was going to end up. I had some bar stools that Coach Purnell had given me last year and, although I had no idea where I was going to put them, I wanted to keep them...simply for memory's sake. I also had loads of clothes at her house that made picking out an outfit a lot more difficult this morning now that my options are endless. On our way down to Clemson, my mom and I were in the middle of a conversation that did not lend itself to multitasking and I didn't realize that she had turned onto 77 instead of 85 until we reached Chester, SC. What a...town. Eventually we made it to Anderson and got my stuff and I got to say a sort of official goodbye to Susan!
Side Note: Susan told me I needed to stop apologizing for writing long posts...and for that I unapologetically write this extensive account of my weekend and beginning of my work week.
When we got back to Charlotte, my cousin little Bobby was at the house and we got to enjoy an awesome dinner with the Conrads and my mom. When Mom left Uncle Bobby, Aunt Ann and I all three thanked her for visiting "our home"...no one else expected me to thank her for visiting "my home" and Bobby got a kick out of it...I think it's safe to say that I've made myself at home here by now.
On Sunday, I followed Uncle Bobby around for most of the day. In the morning we walked to Mass with him in the morning, where I almost passed out kneeling...who starts seeing spots and feeling nauseous while kneeling?! Anyways, Bobby asked me if I thought it was divine intervention, and I noted that I hoped God would intervene to the point causing embarrassment like throwing up during a service! After the service we got to meet several of his friends and one of his Clerk's family. All the kids at St. Ann's LOVE my uncle which is no surprise. Afterwards went to Belmont Abbey to take Ryan to school. Just when you think you’re done with college move-in day for good...circumstances change. I had no idea how beautiful the Campus is and I was really taken back when we drove up to the main chapel. Ryan has his own huge room, which was great, except for one thing- no air conditioning. But his teammates and coaches were so nice and laid back and Ann and Bobby got me a T shirt so I am ready to go watch Ry play when basketball season kicks up again! By the way, guess who Clemson gets to play in their exhibition game...wonder which T shirt I'll wear that night.
MONDAY:
I got to work this morning completely disoriented for some reason even though I arrived 20 minutes early as usual...I was worried that I had missed the Monday staff meeting. Luckily, it was all paranoia and I was there in plenty of time. On the other hand, I didn't realize that the meeting would be held in the back conference room and that the meeting would end up being meetingS and would last from 9-11:30. Our office is one of the coldest in the building, only second to the back conference room. After my third straight meeting, I was almost numb. I am drinking coffee throughout the day, with the intention of keeping warm...but I think I need to come up with a better strategy because I may be overly wired throughout the day. I have always sided with bathrobes when it comes to the snuggy/bathrobe argument, but I am realizing that a bathrobe would probably be completely inappropriate to bring to work.
All of the meetings were really informative though. In the first two, we got to meet with all of the staff associated with the two games, and here how deals were coming along as far as sponsorships, events, etc...if nothing else, this internship will certainly be a lesson in excellent business tactics. In the third meeting, Sarah and I got to meet with Frank, who heads up the promotions and media relations stuff (a lot of the promotional writing) about the 4 newsletters that we will be working on. We got to brainstorm ideas for each of the newsletters, and I realized that I think I enjoy coming up with ideas for things like that better than writing the actual stories!
During one of the meetings we were discussing the need for ACC gear for our staff and I had an opportunity to bring up to Will our need for items to give away on the ACC Championship pages. Courtney, Abby, Sarah and I got to meet about these items today and will hopefully be ordering several things by the end of the week! Other than that, we finished up several smaller projects like the ticketing one I was working on with Will that ended up being much more small scale than I had originally anticipated, and a spreadsheet of consumers with balances owed. It was a stop and go kind of day.
I FINALLY got to talk to Sallie tonight, after weeks of phone tag, about the most exciting news I’ve heard in a while…she and Caleb are moving to Nashville! Please pray for them as they take this leap of faith. Sallie will be working as a Medical Coordinator for a Presbyterian Medical Center specializing in patients with mental disabilities (Sallie, correct me if I’m wrong). I am so excited that the two of them will be starting their own life in a city that’s new for both of them! After my conversation with Sallie, I got to top the night off with dinner with Ann and Carrie at the Pizza Peel. It is this awesome restaurant in Charlotte that my aunt does artwork for and it has this bruschetta that is unmatched by any other I’ve had. I have been waiting to eat there since before I knew I was moving Charlotte, and tonight was the night when all of my culinary dreams came true.
Weekends are a lot shorter when the weeks are guaranteed to be filled with work Monday-Friday. There have been some adjustments in lifestyle, not just for me but for most of my friends with fulltime jobs. I had to make excuses to not go out this weekend, not only because I do not currently have an income to fund those kinds of outings. At the end of the day, I am typically too tired to participate in any kind of social activity. Carrie and I haven't even spent significant time together and we are living in the same house!
My mom was nice enough to come down on Saturday morning so that we could head to Anderson, SC to pick up the rest of my things from Susan's house. (For those of you who don't know, Susan is the head coach's assistant for men's basketball at Clemson...and acted as office mom for me while at Clemson). She has let me keep my stuff at her house for the past couple of weeks while I was figuring out where the heck I was going to end up. I had some bar stools that Coach Purnell had given me last year and, although I had no idea where I was going to put them, I wanted to keep them...simply for memory's sake. I also had loads of clothes at her house that made picking out an outfit a lot more difficult this morning now that my options are endless. On our way down to Clemson, my mom and I were in the middle of a conversation that did not lend itself to multitasking and I didn't realize that she had turned onto 77 instead of 85 until we reached Chester, SC. What a...town. Eventually we made it to Anderson and got my stuff and I got to say a sort of official goodbye to Susan!
Side Note: Susan told me I needed to stop apologizing for writing long posts...and for that I unapologetically write this extensive account of my weekend and beginning of my work week.
When we got back to Charlotte, my cousin little Bobby was at the house and we got to enjoy an awesome dinner with the Conrads and my mom. When Mom left Uncle Bobby, Aunt Ann and I all three thanked her for visiting "our home"...no one else expected me to thank her for visiting "my home" and Bobby got a kick out of it...I think it's safe to say that I've made myself at home here by now.
On Sunday, I followed Uncle Bobby around for most of the day. In the morning we walked to Mass with him in the morning, where I almost passed out kneeling...who starts seeing spots and feeling nauseous while kneeling?! Anyways, Bobby asked me if I thought it was divine intervention, and I noted that I hoped God would intervene to the point causing embarrassment like throwing up during a service! After the service we got to meet several of his friends and one of his Clerk's family. All the kids at St. Ann's LOVE my uncle which is no surprise. Afterwards went to Belmont Abbey to take Ryan to school. Just when you think you’re done with college move-in day for good...circumstances change. I had no idea how beautiful the Campus is and I was really taken back when we drove up to the main chapel. Ryan has his own huge room, which was great, except for one thing- no air conditioning. But his teammates and coaches were so nice and laid back and Ann and Bobby got me a T shirt so I am ready to go watch Ry play when basketball season kicks up again! By the way, guess who Clemson gets to play in their exhibition game...wonder which T shirt I'll wear that night.
MONDAY:
I got to work this morning completely disoriented for some reason even though I arrived 20 minutes early as usual...I was worried that I had missed the Monday staff meeting. Luckily, it was all paranoia and I was there in plenty of time. On the other hand, I didn't realize that the meeting would be held in the back conference room and that the meeting would end up being meetingS and would last from 9-11:30. Our office is one of the coldest in the building, only second to the back conference room. After my third straight meeting, I was almost numb. I am drinking coffee throughout the day, with the intention of keeping warm...but I think I need to come up with a better strategy because I may be overly wired throughout the day. I have always sided with bathrobes when it comes to the snuggy/bathrobe argument, but I am realizing that a bathrobe would probably be completely inappropriate to bring to work.
All of the meetings were really informative though. In the first two, we got to meet with all of the staff associated with the two games, and here how deals were coming along as far as sponsorships, events, etc...if nothing else, this internship will certainly be a lesson in excellent business tactics. In the third meeting, Sarah and I got to meet with Frank, who heads up the promotions and media relations stuff (a lot of the promotional writing) about the 4 newsletters that we will be working on. We got to brainstorm ideas for each of the newsletters, and I realized that I think I enjoy coming up with ideas for things like that better than writing the actual stories!
During one of the meetings we were discussing the need for ACC gear for our staff and I had an opportunity to bring up to Will our need for items to give away on the ACC Championship pages. Courtney, Abby, Sarah and I got to meet about these items today and will hopefully be ordering several things by the end of the week! Other than that, we finished up several smaller projects like the ticketing one I was working on with Will that ended up being much more small scale than I had originally anticipated, and a spreadsheet of consumers with balances owed. It was a stop and go kind of day.
I FINALLY got to talk to Sallie tonight, after weeks of phone tag, about the most exciting news I’ve heard in a while…she and Caleb are moving to Nashville! Please pray for them as they take this leap of faith. Sallie will be working as a Medical Coordinator for a Presbyterian Medical Center specializing in patients with mental disabilities (Sallie, correct me if I’m wrong). I am so excited that the two of them will be starting their own life in a city that’s new for both of them! After my conversation with Sallie, I got to top the night off with dinner with Ann and Carrie at the Pizza Peel. It is this awesome restaurant in Charlotte that my aunt does artwork for and it has this bruschetta that is unmatched by any other I’ve had. I have been waiting to eat there since before I knew I was moving Charlotte, and tonight was the night when all of my culinary dreams came true.
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