Highlights from London

Today was a very good, very long day. I'm going to try to keep it brief tonight because it's late and I'm quite tired. All in all, I learned a lot and got some great exercise. Below are the highlights.

Chris made pancakes for me and Lisa this morning. They were fantastic! Afterward, I went with Lisa to the tube on her way to work. She dropped me off at Notting Hill and then kept going to her stop.

(I certainly got into the deep end of the public transportation pool today.)

I walked around Notting Hill and then decided to have lunch. I found a great pub on Yelp that was about a mile and a half away, so I walked. For lunch, I had a venison pie with mashed potatoes, peas, and a beer. The pub had free wifi, so I used the opportunity to look through my Lonely Planet for London and look up a few things on Google Maps.

I decided to try to get to the furthest away place I selected: the Tate Modern. I only had two hours to get there before closing and decided that just finding it on my own would be enough if I arrived too late. I made it in time and was able to see a number of paintings and sculptures from some of my favorite artists. Below is one of Matisse's paintings.

After the museum, I took the tube back to Lisa's. Eventually, I went for dinner at an Indian place / English pub called Namaste Lounge. It was pretty good. Now, I'm back home for some rest before tomorrow.

All of my photos from the day are below. My blog software is being picky about photos from my iPad or I would mix these into the post. Enjoy!

Space and time

Someone told me once that the time while you're taking your long flight out of the country is the best, most exciting time. It's a space when you no longer have to prepare... When you are disconnected and able to enjoy the peace of having nothing to do (a very rare thing for me). He advised me to enjoy these 8 hours of my old self, because when I return, my life will have changed in some yet to be determined way.

Although it sounds dramatic, I guess it may be true. I mean, I certainly hope to have overcome my fear of solo public transportation at the very least. Other than that, who knows? It's hard to say really.

I'm writing this post just as my plane begins to land in London. London is officially my first stop. I will be visiting my friend Lisa and her husband Chris. I know Lisa from Memphis and originally met her at an event in my condo building. It's surprising how many people I've met that way over the years.

And the good news: I made both flights and all 4 train changes on the tube with relatively few hiccups. Chris met me at the final tube stop and Lisa had shown him my photo in advance (although I suspect my giant backpack may have been a give away too). Tonight, I'm so thankful to find such a welcoming place to stay with such nice friends from home.

This is just a reminder of just how small the world really is.

So kiss me and smile for me

The time to begin my journey is almost here.  I’ve done everything that I can to prepare, from completing my taxes to finding a temporary home for Tom & Jerry.  If I've missed anything, it’s certainly not for a lack of effort.  There have been many long days and nights.  One day recently I worked on my preparations from 7 AM that day to 2 AM the next.  That was a long day to say the least, but the long days are paying off.

Packing was the most complicated part of my preparation.  As you will soon see, my travels include different climates that call for different clothes.  My goal has been to take just one bag – a camping backpack.  A few years ago when I visited India, I managed to pack for 9-days in half of a backpack.  It made the travel much easier, especially in areas that may not be well paved or when there are unusual weather conditions like snow or mud.

The good news is – I did it!  All of my “worldly” possessions are now packed up in one big bag.  I’m also taking a small backpack for day trips.  I hope that between the two, I will have enough space.  And, who knows: maybe I will develop a few extra upper body muscles along the way.  I’m certainly going to miss my regular trips to the gym.    Here’s the final product:

When packing this bag, I was careful to only bring just enough of each item.  In a worst case scenario, I can always buy anything I’ve forgotten.  I was careful not to buy many things for this trip, aside from tiny soaps and various medicines (just in case I get sick).  This was further reinforced by my friend Jane who recently returned from a four month trip to Cambodia.  Her best piece of advice: take clothes that you don’t care about and can leave behind.  That way, you can make space for new things that you find.  At first, Jane’s suggestion seemed out of my world.  I already donate all of the clothes that I don’t wear, so I don’t have many that I would want to part with.  But, after much consideration, I've decided to give it a shot.  I’m taking clothes that I might feel okay donating to the travel black hole.  I’m also keeping the option open to possibly mail items back during the trip.  

Of all the things I packed, there are two items that really stand out.  The first are these Puma shoes.  They are beyond comfortable.  As a bonus, they will (hopefully) allow me to look like a local.  When I visited Norway last year, people assumed I was Norwegian.  Not feeling like an immediate target made traveling more comfortable.

The other important item is an external battery to charge my iPhone and iPad.  I’ve forced myself to only bring these two devices on the trip and my biggest fear is running out of battery above the ocean.  I’ve downloaded books, movies, TV shows, games, music, and my travel documents.  It’s simply amazing how many different things one tiny device can hold.  After filling up my iPad, my next concern was its tiny battery.  The answer?  An external battery made by iSound (check it out here).  It charges up to 5 devices at one time and provides up to 480 hours of power.  You can use it with an iPad, iPhone, Android, or Blackberry.  The best part is that it only weighs 1.4 pounds.  As you can imagine, I’m charging it now!  (Big thanks to Kyle at Nibletz for the recommendation!)

The best news of all – my big adventure starts tomorrow.  I will do my best to blog each day, and my plan is to reveal my route along the way.  In fact, a few pieces are still being decided as I type.  Please check back to follow my progress.

Until next time… Tell me that you'll wait for me… Oh, babe, I hate to go.

Taking Inventory

One of the first parts of my travel planning is always to take inventory of my travel points whether it's hotel, flight, or auto points.  It's helpful in shaping my overall travel plan.

Since Delta has a hub in Memphis, they're usually my first stop.  Unfortunately, due to my traveling streak in 2012 (hello Denver, OKC, and LA), my mileage balance with Delta is pretty low.  I'm at a little over 5 thousand miles which is not even close to enough to get a ticket anywhere.  I started looking for other Delta options and found that if I sign-up for the Delta credit card, I will receive 35K additional miles.  Together, this would probably equal one trip within the US.  Although this is nice, it's not quite the trip I had in mind.

Next, I remembered that two years ago, I signed up for an American Airlines credit card to get some "big" (whatever that means) mileage bonus.  I almost never use the card, so my initial assumption was that I had either very few miles or the miles were lost altogether.  In fact, I didn't set up a frequent flier account when I signed up, so I had no idea where the so-called-miles might be.  After a few phone calls though, I tracked them down.  To my surprise, I had over 84K AA miles!  This was definitely enough to make a little dent.

But, what if I wanted to go farther than these miles would take me?  I had heard about this plane ticket that will allow you to circle the entire globe on one big Euro-Rail-Pass like plane ticket, a Round-the-World ticket.  These tickets are a bit of a mystery, so it took some research on my end to nail down how to get one and how they work.  Here's one of the better blog posts I've found on the topic, How to Buy a Round-the-World Plane Ticket (That Kicks Ass).  This could be a great option.

In the end, I paired up my AA miles with a number of individual tickets.  It turned out to be even cheaper than the super cool round-the-world ticket.  Since I booked the trip a little last minute, I was concerned that my options would be limited, but it has really come together.  I booked quite a few different flights for my upcoming adventure.  I'll post about them along the way to keep you wondering about what's next.  

Stay tuned...

The Adventure Begins

This is the first of what I hope will be many posts in the days ahead.  I have always enjoyed traveling and have dreamed for years of traveling more and possibly taking a "big trip."  It’s a little spurt of the moment, but I think that time has finally arrived. 

I'm going to use this blog to document my travels, and some of the travel planning as it comes along since it’s all a little last minute (and as the planning is frankly more daunting than the travel itself).  My hope is to preserve the memories for myself, and possibly to inspire others to travel a little more too.

Prior to 2012, I had traveled quite extensively (to places like India, Spain, Argentina, and others), but always with a companion.  Last year, I tried traveling to another country alone for the first time.  I went to Norway to visit my friend Greg, who had recently moved to Tromsø.

The hardest part of the trip was getting from my home in downtown Memphis to the Memphis airport.  It was 15 minutes of pure-fear as I worried about what might happen to me while I was traveling in another country and through multiple airports (I had 9 flights in total!) all alone by myself.  I had tears in my eyes all the way to the airport thinking about what I had gotten myself into.  The friend who drove me to the airport chuckled when he thought of the much bigger mountains I had climbed compared to this one that scared me so much more.  I really felt like a five-year old child on their first morning of kindergarten.

Soon after arriving at the Memphis airport, I was upgraded to first class on the flight from Memphis to Amsterdam.  Even more surprising, a British couple I knew from Ballet Memphis was seated in the row directly behind me.  It was then that I knew that things would probably be okay, and that I wasn't really alone after all.

Needless to say, I made it all the way to the hotel in Oslo to meet Greg just fine.  It was an amazing feeling to open the hotel door with my key and have Greg sitting there waiting for me—all the way around the world.  We had a great time in Oslo and then headed on to Tromsø (where it was daylight 24 hours a day!).  After a few days, I embarked on my own to visit Bergen and then back to Oslo before returning home to Memphis. 

My biggest lesson was not only can I travel alone, but that it's actually fun.  Many more people spoke to me when I was alone and offered to help.  I even made a friend that I still stay in touch with today.  And as for being afraid of what crazy things might happen to me as a foreigner - most people thought that I was from Norway.  Nothing happened, except that I was occasionally stopped on the street for directions by tourists.

So here is to a new year, a new perspective, and new travels to new places!  I hope that you will follow my journey on my blog, blog.AngelaCopeland.com. 

© Angela Copeland, Bergen Norway, 2012

 

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Test sending post from iPhone.

Mud Island Public Use Study Meeting Thursday

Downtown Friends,

I'm emailing you today to tell you about a study that's going on downtown that you may have heard of: the Memphis Riverfront project.

In a nutshell, Mud Island River Park will be overhauled soon. Today, I went to the first of 2 meetings to solicit public feedback.

One of the big topics up for discussion is putting a large skate park on Mud Island. I'm very excited to support this concept as it would positively support the city in a number of different ways. On the flip side, some folks are either against the park, or are in favor of putting it underneath I-40. This is bothersome.

I also had one other big concern about the meeting. I was in the minority. The majority of folks were parents and young children. Very few of them actually live downtown.

If you have time on Thursday, I really encourage you to go to the meeting and be heard. Until I attended the meeting tonight, I had no idea of the magnitude of this project.

Literally, they are asking citizens to place mock-ups of attractions on a map of the existing Mud Island river park. The choices include things like a skate park, an aquarium, a walking bridge (yes!!), shopping, dining, green park space, the Zippen Pippen, and a carousel... just to name a few.

For more information, check out www.MemphisRiverFront.com.

You can also check out this blog article to read more about the skate park: http://gatesofmemphis.blogspot.com/2009/05/sk8mud.html.

I encourage you to go Thursday and give the perspective of a young Memphis professional-- someone who LIVES in Memphis. The meeting is this Thursday, May 14th from 5:45 to 7:15 PM at the HIRP Landing at 101 Island Drive.

Thanks for listening!
:~) Angie

Congrats Parvez!

Congrats to Parvez for getting his work in ZGallerie.com!

OMG - Ann Taylor Deal!

Wow... if you have any interest in Ann Taylor, you should absolutely check this out:

I visited AnnTaylor.com tonight to purchase a dress that I've been looking at. I decided to give it a try, as they have shipping on any order for $6! The dress I chose was already on sale for 40% off because they're having a big sale. Just before I checked out, I looked around for online coupons and I found one that's wonderful... It's $50 off any order of $100 or more-- even sale items.

The only catch-- you must be logged into your Ann Taylor online account (not a credit card, just getting a user name to their web site).

What a great deal! Here's the coupon code if you want to try it out too: 91900015.

Just thought I'd share this wonderful find.

From Arts Memphis - Whole Foods Day

For one day only, you can shop at your favorite store and support the arts at the same time. Whole Foods will celebrate its grand re-opening on Tuesday, October 28 and they have chosen to donate 5% of the day’s profits to ArtsMemphis in support of the local arts community!

Join us at the East Memphis Whole Foods for a fabulously fun day of shopping and celebrations all around! Pick up your favorite healthy foods and make your support matter. We will even be there in our ArtsMemphis garb bagging groceries and welcoming customers!

Go Organic for the Arts!

Tuesday, October 28

8 am to 10 pm

Whole Foods at 5022 Poplar Avenue (near Malco’s Paradiso movie theater)

It's Been a While

Wow... it's been a while since I've posted. It always amazes me when I look up and a month has gone by without a post.

One thing I'd like to know how to do is feed Twitter into my blog. Although Twitter only contains one sentence updates, they're frequent and timely.

Anyway, it's time for work, so hopefully I'll have more time later to post an actual update.

Happy Thursday!

Check This Out! Kidney Donation Story on The Early Show

My friend Anthony DeGuilio who gave his kidney to a stranger recently (see previous post) was featured on The Early Show yesterday!

Check out Anthony on The Early Show here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/06/earlyshow/main4324353.shtml

Anthony will be making an appearance on CNN tomorrow between 5 and 6 PM EST during Headline News.

Congrats Anthony! :~)

Scrabulous Game Removed from Facebook

Here's an interesting article from the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/29/AR2008072901393_pf.html

A preview of the article...

It's game over for Scrabulous; the popular Scrabble knockoff game on Facebook is no longer available as of this morning.

Facebook users who logged on to play the word puzzle game this morning instead got a message that it has been "disabled for U.S. and Canadian users until further notice."

The game was one of the most popular applications on the social networking site, but Hasbro filed a lawsuit last week accusing Scrabulous makers of having infringed on copyrights with the Facebook game.

Hasbro and Mattel, which share global ownership of the Scrabble trademark, had asked Facebook to remove the game in January. Hasbro has partnered with game publisher Electronic Arts to develop a new version of the game for Facebook.

According to the Scrabulous page on Facebook, the game developed by a pair of brothers in India had 509,505 daily active users. The application was launched last summer.

Washington PR consultant John Edgell said he logged onto Facebook at 7:30 a.m. to continue a match he was playing with a Facebook acquaintance, only to find that the application was down.

"I was getting creamed, so it's probably a good thing in that respect," he joked. "The country is probably 10 percent more productive today."

One of those users was Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who has said that he is a fan of the game and plays it with his grandparents.

Electronic Arts launched its Scrabble game, for Facebook and cell phones, earlier this month.

In a statement released today, Hasbro steered frustrated Scrabulous fans to the new application.

"In deference to the fans, we waited in pursuing legal action until Electronic Arts had a legitimate alternative available. We invite Scrabble fans in the U.S. and Canada to log onto Facebook and try out the authentic Scrabble application."

But the new Scrabble application was generating mostly hate mail today. Users complained on the application's Facebook page that the game was slow and buggy.

"Scrabulous was great PR for you and you had to ruin it for EVERYONE," wrote one Facebook user. "As the mother of 2, i will be boycotting all hasbro products until you do the right thing."

Job Posting: Business Manager

Below is my second job posting. If you are interested in this position, drop me an e-mail at: JobPostings (at) AngieDawn (dot) net.

Business Manager

Description
This job posting is for a Business Manager position at an Internet based publishing company.

General Summary
Do you know a driven Business Manager who'd like to lead a Email Marketing team of A-level professionals and work from ANYWHERE in the world?

Here's a description - please pass it along!

Email Business Manager

You will lead a TOP-NOTCH team of fun and smart professionals...
AND work from home ANYWHERE in the world

You possess the following skills:

Driver" Personality -- You must be willing to get your hands dirty, take accountability for this exciting area of our business, proactively communicate with the rest of us, be a self-starter and be able to work with the team
Process-Oriented -- You have experience quickly jumping into teams, getting to know your teammates and providing active assistance to optimize process work-flow. You'll learn our current email delivery processes, optimize this process, monitor quality assurance, balance other business needs and enable us to scale
"Bottom Line" emphasis-- You have an analytical understanding of return on investment (ROI) analysis and are comfortable allocating resources
Management & Leadership -- You have a proven track record of getting at least a few people to GET THINGS DONE!

If you know these, it's a plus!

Email marketing campaigns
Analyzing diverse data sets such as SQL and Excel
Effectively communicate the "health" of a business area to key business stakeholders
Managing ISP partner relations to insure quick, cost-effective and scalable resolution of problems
ESP companies: Dartmail, Responsys, Cheetahmail, etc.
ISP companies: MSN-Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, etc.

If you are interested in this position, drop me an e-mail at: JobPostings (at) AngieDawn (dot) net.

Job Posting: Sales Associate

Here's my first official job posting. If you are interested in this position, drop me an e-mail at: JobPostings (at) AngieDawn (dot) net.

Sales Associate

Description
This posting is for a Sales Associate Position at an Internet marketing agency.

General Summary
The Sales Associate will be responsible for generating qualified sales leads. The ideal candidate will be energetic and demonstrate professional phone skills. Your goal will be to perform phone-based qualification by identifying the prospect business drivers and pain and then map those to the contracted software companies based solution. You will articulate a value proposition in a manner that will generate interest. You will rely on your experience and judgment to plan and accomplish goals. This position reports to the managing partner.

Duties and Responsibilities
The Sales Associate will serve as an integral part of the sales & marketing team. Responsibilities will include inbound and outbound lead generation, qualifying potential customers, increasing awareness of the company’s products and services through any means possible, maintaining information in a CRM (Customer Relations Management) database and handling incoming inquires.

The Sales Associate will also be expected to attend networking events such as Chamber of Commerce and the Sales & Marketing Society gatherings in an effort to gain contacts and raise awareness about the organization. Associate should be constantly looking for new opportunities or relationships that will help further the company’s objectives and maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of the company’s sales efforts as a whole.

Additional duties such as organizing presentations for the executive staff to present the company’s services in venues such as seminars or “lunch & learn” events will be required as needed. Other marketing duties, such as finding and posting articles relevant to the company on the website and helping to write or improve marketing collateral and materials, will also be part of the overall job requirement. The Sales Associate will also be expected to perform other duties as assigned by management.

If you are interested in this position, drop me an e-mail at: JobPostings (at) AngieDawn (dot) net.

Kindness of Strangers

Back in January, I wrote about my friend Anthony DeGiulio who was planning on giving one of his kidney's to someone he doesn't know. Well, Anthony finally donated his kidney yesterday and has continued to document his progress on his blog, http://giveakidney.blogspot.com.

It still amazes me that Anthony went to so much trouble to give his kidney to a complete stranger. Apparently, it's pretty hard to do that... there's a lot involved if you're not giving your kidney to a family member or friend who you already know.

I haven't gotten to speak with Anthony yet, but I think he is doing well. I see that he has already posted a blog since his surgery, and today he felt well enough to IM me.

An article will be running in today's Wall Street Journal about him in the Taste column. Here's a preview:

Lots of well-intentioned individuals want to give something of themselves, but few take the project as far as my friend Anthony DeGiulio, a 36-year-old securities trader who yesterday donated a kidney. The really unusual thing is that he gave it to a perfect stranger.

Anthony's been a nice guy for as long as I've known him. We met in the spring of 2006 when he advertised some free mulch on Craigslist. I drove over, and before I knew it he was filling his own trailer, using his own front-end loader and then driving the whole mess over to my place with his own truck. Subsequently, after clearing some land, he gave away thousands of dollars of firewood to all comers. He's also a big supporter of a couple of charitable organizations.

But when he first told me about the kidney, I wondered about his sanity. Anthony has had this response from lots of people, including relatives; after all, only 533 others in this country have ever given a kidney away without a recipient in mind, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network created by Congress in 1984. In other words, Anthony didn't just choose a stranger; he gave a kidney to someone whose identity he didn't even know (although they were scheduled to meet sometime after the surgery).

For the rest of the article, check it out in your Wall Street Journal, or click here.

Job Postings

Alright, a quick note: Fairly often, friends send me emails asking one of two questions:

1. Do you know where I can find a job?
2. Do you know where I can find an employee?

Both of these questions often leave me scratching my head. Who would be interested in this job? Who would be the best fit? Who's looking?

To connect the dots between these two questions, I'm going to start posting job openings that I've been asked to provide recommendations for. Since my blog is fed into Facebook, most of my friends will have the opportunity to see the postings.

I will not put in any identifying information about the company or how to contact them. If you are interested to apply for a particular posting, please e-mail me at JobPostings (at) AngieDawn (dot) net and I will forward your information along if 1. I know you, and 2. you're a good fit.

It's a little odd, but I think it just might work. I've added a link to the right hand side of my blog named "Job Listings." To see all the listings together, click that link.

Happy Hunting!!

Muvico to Close in Peabody Place

Quick Note:

I've heard the news before, but today I've read it in two different places.

Supposedly, the Muvico located in Peabody Place is scheduled to close after this weekend.

The rumor is that Belz is going to reposition the Peabody Place Mall, and possibly to create lodging inside of it.

So, if you're like me and have a movie that you've been dying to see, you need to head over quick before it's gone!

The Midwesterner's Guide to Living in L.A. by Katie Martin

Wow, it's amazing how talented my friends are! :~) I'm feeling very fortunate these days.

Another friend has completed another book. My long-time friend Katie Martin has written a book called The Midwesterner's Guide to Living in L.A.

To give you a little background on this, I grew up with Katie in Oklahoma. We became friends in middle school and have kept in touch over the years. Just by chance, we both happened to be living in L.A. at the same time a few years ago; both struggling.

Living in L.A. can be like living on another planet at times, and Katie's book does a great job at preparing you if you're thinking of taking the plunge. I had the good fortunate of reading The Midwesterner's Guide to Living in L.A. before it was published... that's what makes me so sure you're like it. :~)

One example I always think about when thinking of the differences between L.A. and other cities is finding an apartment. Finding an apartment in L.A. can at times be about as hard as finding a job in other cities. When I moved there, I wanted to live in either Santa Monica or Malibu.

The process turned into a job interview. I was asked to send my resume, credit history, photos of me with my little brothers. I had to fly down to meet the renter to see if they liked me and would choose me. The fact that I could pay the rent had very little impact to whether I would get an apartment. Luckily, after scouring the city, I found a great place where I lived for two years. But never the less, Katie's book would have prepared me. It was definitely a lesson I learned the hard way!

To get a copy of Katie's new book, check out the Tate Publishing website and search for The Midwesterner's Guide to Living in L.A. by Katie Martin.

The Promise of New York, The Raul Productions

A good friend of mine from college, Raul, recently called from NYC to announce that after years of hard work, his feature length film, The Promise of New York, is complete! I have known Raul since 1997, when we were both studying at Rensselaer in upstate NY. We have stayed good friends over the years, and I'm so excited about his film!

The Promise of New York is about a 3 guys who compete against one another and rival incumbent Michael Bloomberg for the position of New York City mayor. As ordinary (and less wealthy) citizens, the movie looks into the meaning of democracy.

This is the perfect time for such a film!

The film can be viewed in June at the Hoboken International Film Festival and at the New Jersey International Film Festival.

Raul has also submitted his film to the Indie Memphis Film Festival that occurs every October in Memphis. I would love to see his film be shown at the Indie Memphis Film Festival. On top of seeing the film, it would be great to see Raul and to meet the rest of the folks he's been working with on it.

Please check out The Promise of New York web site here.

Feel free to link to this post about Raul's new movie, or pass along any information to Indie Memphis. :~)

Thanks for your help!

Angie

Anybody Want to Go to a Cub's Game Saturday?

Do you ever exchange emails with groups of friends? This is an actual group e-mail I received this week:

------------------------------------------------

From: Dave
To: Sasha, me, Todd, phil, dharshan, jason, jenny, Julie, neil, ryanleib
Date: Mon, Jun 9, 2008 at 10:25 AM

Chicago Cubs are in town this weekend. Anybody interested in heading to the game on Friday night?? Let me know. I plan on picking up tickets on Friday at lunch. Just the cheap seats, $9. We can always move around to better seats. I assume we would drink beer at an event like this?? So, it could be a good time.

Come on!

Dave

------------------------------------------------

From: Julie
To: Sasha, me, Todd, phil, dharshan, jason, jenny, Julie, neil, ryanleib
Date: Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 7:35 AM

Paul and I got tics over the weekend, see you there if you go!

------------------------------------------------

From: Vickery
To: Sasha, me, Todd, phil, dharshan, jason, jenny, Julie, neil, ryanleib
Date: Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 10:44 AM

Hey Dave – Brent and I are in. Let us know the meeting time and place.

------------------------------------------------

From: Angie
To: Sasha, me, Todd, phil, dharshan, jason, jenny, Julie, neil, ryanleib
Date: Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 1:28 PM

Hi guys--

I think you may be trying to email someone else... I'm Angela Copeland in Memphis, Tennessee.

Thanks,
Angie

------------------------------------------------

From: Neil
To: Sasha, me, Todd, phil, dharshan, jason, jenny, Julie, neil, ryanleib
Date: Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 1:47 PM

Memphis? Do you want to come to a baseball game in Toronto this weekend? You can stay with Jenny!

Anybody Want to Go to a Cub's Game Saturday?

Do you ever exchange emails with groups of friends? This is an actual group e-mail I received this week:

------------------------------------------------

From: Dave
To: Sasha, me, Todd, phil, dharshan, jason, jenny, Julie, neil, ryanleib
Date: Mon, Jun 9, 2008 at 10:25 AM

Chicago Cubs are in town this weekend. Anybody interested in heading to the game on Friday night?? Let me know. I plan on picking up tickets on Friday at lunch. Just the cheap seats, $9. We can always move around to better seats. I assume we would drink beer at an event like this?? So, it could be a good time.

Come on!

Dave

------------------------------------------------

From: Julie
To: Sasha, me, Todd, phil, dharshan, jason, jenny, Julie, neil, ryanleib
Date: Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 7:35 AM

Paul and I got tics over the weekend, see you there if you go!

------------------------------------------------

From: Vickery
To: Sasha, me, Todd, phil, dharshan, jason, jenny, Julie, neil, ryanleib
Date: Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 10:44 AM

Hey Dave – Brent and I are in. Let us know the meeting time and place.

------------------------------------------------

From: Angie
To: Sasha, me, Todd, phil, dharshan, jason, jenny, Julie, neil, ryanleib
Date: Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 1:28 PM

Hi guys--

I think you may be trying to email someone else... I'm Angela Copeland in Memphis, Tennessee.

Thanks,
Angie

------------------------------------------------

From: Neil
To: Sasha, me, Todd, phil, dharshan, jason, jenny, Julie, neil, ryanleib
Date: Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 1:47 PM

Memphis? Do you want to come to a baseball game in Toronto this weekend? You can stay with Jenny!

Memorial Day Trip to Florida

It's been a while since I've posted much. I guess it's time to start up again...

Last weekend for Memorial Day, a little group of us drove down to Destin, Florida. We rented a little condo that sits right on the beach and basically just either went to the beach or cooked at home.

One day, we went shopping for an hour or so. Another day, we checked out a local restaurant / dance club.

There were four of us; three guys and me. Don't ask how that happened, but it worked out very well. I ended up cooking for most of the weekend which I really enjoyed. One morning though, I stayed in bed for a few additional hours and got up around 10 AM. Right away, I realized something had been burning, and the dishwasher was overflowing with bubbles. Breakfast had been burned and liquid dish soap had found its way into the dishwasher. Too funny.

We had such a great time that we're going to try to go back soon if possible.

Launch Memphis: Beta Testers Needed

Help needed! I've been working on a new business idea this weekend, and we need help.

A group of entrepreneurial Memphians has gathered this weekend to launch a business.... 100 of us from programmers to designers to biz dev types. Amazingly, after vetting 30 ideas last night
we have honed in on the ultimate frisbee community for an initial offering. We have a bunch of ideas to enhance the ability to get games, rank players, etc. Can any of you - or others to whom you might forward this - point us to players who i) be interested in this concept and ii) test the application as we get it done? Our basic idea is to create a means for Ultimate players to find each other, get games together, and rank each other after a game - currently operating under the banner SpynR.... Pronounced "spinner." Those interested in beta testing should email UltimateFrisbeeRocks@gmail.com with your contact info (name, email, and optionally a phone number) to be included in the beta.

Thanks for your help!!
:~) Angie

Angie's Brothers Graduate

My little brothers are graduating from high school. It's amazing how time flies by! Fortunately, I've been old enough to remember every step of the way....

They used to be tiny enough to carry one on each hip, and now they're big enough to carry me!

They have finished up their high school career famously. They end it all as Eagle Scouts, Valedictorians, and as top players in Oklahoma Tennis.

But, they've also had a little fun along the way. Recently, they taught me a new concept that I wish I could go back in time to try out. They say they "post-it-ed" a car. They get approximately 20 packs of 100 sheet post it notes and completely cover a car, top to bottom. It doesn't do any damage to the car, but it does give the owner a huge suprise.

Anyway, I've been traveling around non-stop lately and today is no exception. I'm back in Oklahoma again for their graduation. Last night was the pre-graduation church service and tonight is graduation.

For a few photos, click here.

I'll be back on Wednesday afternoon and will remain in town until Friday afternoon. I may have to hibernate until then to get everything out of it that I can.

Memphis BBQ Fest

My very first real Memphis in May Barbecue Festival experience has been GREAT!

I went down with the Dirty Dozen on Thursday and Friday nights and had lots of fun each time.

Here's a photo of me and Edison on Friday.

Memphis, You Had Me at To-Go-Cup!

This weekend, among other things, a new funny saying was born. It's so perfect in fact that it needed a t-shirt. Thanks Dustin!

Check out the t-shirt below. It's available in my Cafe Press store, and I just ordered mine. :~)

The After Party

Alright, well The After Party went off without a hitch. It was what one might call FABULOUS.

As a matter of fact, I'll tell you a little secret... The South Main Dirty Dozen may just start to make a habit of this whole party thing over the summer... so watch for more... :~)

To fill you in on the details... we rented out the back of Earnestine & Hazel's downtown on Saturday night. Super 5 played and did a great job! Thanks guys! Last but not least, we also had a great open bar. Not bad at all.

Here are a few photos below. Also, feel free to check out other collections of photos:

Edison's: gallery.mac.com/edisonv

Victoria's: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051708&l=0894b&id=8506572
Brian's: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=18428&l=14f50&id=855209169

Robbie's: TBD... check back. :~)