6-19-06

Before I forget, if anyone can tell me how to change the formatting of the Description of my blog (the text above that talks about a 35 year old teacher moving to the corporate world), please let me know. I tried using HTML last Friday and it didn't work. Also, is it possible to insert a link in a current post that would take people back to previous posts?

This morning, I nearly forgot my badge and my insulated mug. I actually had to make a special trip by my house (more about this later) to pick them up.

Father's Day went well. It was my first one, and now that I have experienced Father's Day as a father, I have moved the day from just above Columbus Day or Arbor Day (remember the Arbor Day episode of The Little Rascals?) to the same tier as Christmas and my birthday. Selfish, I know. But that should be no surprise to you if you follow my blog.

For Father's Day, I received from my wife and daughter a golf shirt, a book, and a mug with my daughter's picture on it which will replace one of the two insulated mugs presented to me on the first day of my internship a couple or few days each week.

I am now reading the following books:
This Book May Save Your Life, by AM Homes
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon
Positioning, by Al Reis and Jack Trout
Riding for the Brand, by Jim Whitt

The Homes piece was the book I received for Father's Day. I saw a review of it on the Today show recently and mentioned it to my wife. So far, it is interesting and contains good writing. I began the Chabon piece at the beginning of the summer, but put it down for 2 weeks while some people repaired our flooded house (more on that later). Several years ago, I decided that I needed to be reading Pulitzer Prize winners, so I went to Barnes and Noble with the same, fleeting inspiration I had last Friday when I began this blog, and I snatched up about 5 winners. I proceeded to slosh through Empire Falls right away. The others have sat on my shelf since. (Let's just say, Empire Falls emasculated my aforementioned inspiration). It was in a moment of guitar-lesson-taking, blogging-style inspiration, I picked up the Chabon piece, dusted it off, and began reading it. After 300 pages, it's just about to kill me-and I still have not reached that half-way point yet. Of course, the writing is incredible. But the plot-that aspect of literature that intellectuals are not supposed to care about but secretly do-is sucking my will to live out right through my eyeballs. The Reis/Trout piece is great. It is a marketing classic (and if you don't believe me, the cover will attest to this fact). These guys are great, and although the book is a tad repetitious, it is very practical and full of valuable information, especially for a newbie like me. I just started the Whitt piece. It was written by a local author and was given to me by my manager. (Man, I love this internship!) I have not been able to draw a conclusion about it yet. It is also book about marketing.

I will now close-I need to meet with my manager to find out what I will be doing today. I realize I did not mention what prompted the change from education to the corporate world. Maybe at lunch.


Regards,

Chris Posey
Intern