Life Update, and Stoking the Flames of the Brocation

Hello friends. Time for Tim's life update. I forgot where I left you all last. Anyway, I quit my job at the place named after Mark, and moved to another agency that shares the name of the current host of Late Night on NBC. This place is a step up in every way and I'm very happy with what I'm doing. I'm not using names because I feel weird commenting on my job on the internet, but nonetheless I want you all to know what I'm doing.

The client I am working on is a resurging American luxury car brand that currently produces the fastest (production) sedan in the world. Yes, you bitches will try to tell me that the M3, M5, and E65 AMG are all faster (and I would venture to say the same), but the numbers don't lie. We recently started with this brand, and it's going to be crazy, but really really fun. Advertising agencies are very interesting places. The people are smart, they are convinced they can do ANYTHING creatively, and they love pressure. It's a fun environment to work in. The job I am doing is "account management". I am an "account manager". This means that instead of playing with Excel all day (my old job), I talk to the client on the phone, meet them, find out what they want, tell everyone else at my company, and then work to make sure it all gets done. It's involved a few late nights so far, a few mistakes, but a whole lot of interesting/fun experiences. Account management is also cool because I get to touch everything (not physically). I see production, I see concepting, I see finance, I see the client. Despite the fact that it's the "business side of things", I still get a chance to be creative at time. I'm convinced it's a great job for someone with a liberal arts background.

Work has been much of my life, with the balance being taken up by playing men's league soccer, hanging out with the lady, sleep, eating, etc. Viv has an internship in Minneapolis this summer so we snagged a sweet loft to live in. It's been great - obviously there have been the ups and downs (as expected), but I've really enjoyed it. Living with a girl isn't all that bad, but I hate having to put the toilet seat down. Next weekend, I'm headed to my family's cabin for a week-long respite from work and the city life.

After that, it will be close to the end of August, we will move out of our place. I will then move back to Uptown to live with Joel Winer, Lena Tjosvold, and Laura Myers.

BROCATION: what is the deal? WE MUST DECIDE. The next time we will all see each other is homecoming/alumni weekend. So at worst case, let's make a plan then whilst we drink aplenty.

peace outs, cub scouts.

I've been moved to write.

It's been a while since I last wrote. I wish I could say that I've been extremely busy and unable to find the minutes to do a quick blog post, but in reality that's just not true. I'd be lying to you... and I wouldn't lie to my friends.

Anyway, what's moved me to write this post is the latest story involving Chad Ochocinco, the Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver. Beloved Chad was fined $20,000 by the NFL for jokingly flashing a one dollar bill at a referee when a play that involved Chad himself was being reviewed. Clearly, the idea of the stunt was to pretend to bribe the official. Also, rather clearly, he was kidding.

I recognize the sanctity of sports, and their rules, and all that. I also realize that gambling, betting, bribing, etc should not be tolerated by the NFL or any other professional sports league because of the obvious implications. But let's be honest here, the guy was very clearly joking. The league hates him - he's been fined for plenty of other things before. But he's just a dude that wants to have fun, and all of his previous stunts (and there have been many) are all in an attempt to lighten things up a little bit. I mean really, the man officially changed his last name to "Ochocinco".

In other news, I'm finally up in Minneapolis in my new digs. Through a stroke of luck I got a fully furnished one bedroom apartment in the southern part of Uptown for pretty cheap. I'd put up pics but I can't find the cable for my camera. So anyway, I'm living by myself and trying to find a job. The job search hasn't been the most fruitful but I've been keeping myself entertained. I usually run by Lake Calhoun each afternoon and every time I do I realize that despite being funemployed I really do enjoy this city because that lake is gorgeous.

Beyond running, I've been playing a lot of Bouncing Balls on Facebook, going to a local coffee shop, etc. I've chilled with Liz and Caitlin and Anna some - Liz and her housemates had a party last night from which I now sit here recovering (don't dangle your prepositions). We spent the whole night playing Cornhole/Bags in the basement - pretty good fun.

Since I lack a job, I'm headed home from Nov. 25 until Jan. 5 (yes, I doing winter break and I no longer go to Carleton). This is an attempt to preserve both finances and sanity. While I've been decently entertained and not too bored, sitting in my apartment in December without a job and no real prospects (since nobody hires in December) is not my idea of fun. If any of you east coasters want to find a cheap way to chill during this period, I'd be up for it.

That's all folks.