The Summer of Travel

A Week in Italy

Savannah & Tybee Island, GA

Giving thanks
This probably isn’t the most exciting of all my posts, but hey, it’s Thanksgiving. I am most thankful this year for the people in my life. Family, friends, former teachers and professors, co-workers and others who have influenced my life for the better. To those who kept encouraging me through the tough times in school and in the tougher times once school was over, I am truly grateful. I am thankful for good health and safety. I traveled a lot this year, more than I ever have consecutively, and each trip brought me home in the same condition I left in, if not better. I am thankful to have a job – any job – in today’s economy,

Old Navy, new job
Today was my second day of training at the Old Navy in Clearwater. We learned all about being a cashier, how to use the register & make the sure the beepy device doesn’t go off after people buy their clothes. Interesting stuff, really. It’s funny how similar the system is to the one I used at Home Shopping Network. It’s been a year since that job but it’s all coming back to me, only in this job I get to do more customer service oriented stuff, too. We had a four hour session yesterday of filling out paperwork and watching training videos about different parts of the company and all that good stuff. The welcome video featured Michael Ja

Naples and other November news
November has been pretty interesting for me so far. For starters, I got a job. Not a journalism-related job yet, but at least it’s something. Right now my priority in that department is money, and I start working at Old Navy next Wednesday. Just in time for Black Friday. I think it’s safe to assume I’ll be working crazy hours all week and pounding out a heartfelt, exhausted blog after that one. I think I was most surprised by how bad the economy really must be. I sent out dozens of applications to department stores, restaurants, seasonal positions, you name it. I heard back f

Do as the Gators do
Last weekend, my friend Joe and I drove up to visit friends at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL. Particularly, we were there to spend time with my sister, April, who I still cannot believe is a sophomore in college already. She was gracious enough to let me crash at her dorm and I can easily say this was one of the busiest weekends I’ve had in a while. April’s roommates were excited about Swing Dance lessons that were happening Friday night, so a group of us went to go check it out. After spending an hour learning to dance The Lindy, the instructors announced it was time for “open dance floor” and claimed “The best way

Updates on life
It just occured to me I haven’t been keeping you properly updated on my job search and future travel plans. For starters, I went on a very successful interview with the Editor of the Barrier Islands Gazette back in August and had a part time reporter job all lined up to start in October. A few days after my return from New York, I had a hunch that I should take a look at the paper’s website. (If you click on the link above, you’ll get the same message I did) Apparently the paper is being discontinued. I sent an email to the editor expressing my co