An interview with a not so hideous man

With the recent loss of one of my favorite authors, David Foster Wallace and my recent reemergence on the blog, I thought I'd give a personal update in the method of one of his most interesting essays, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. As a result, I'm giving the answers. You get to guess the questions.

Q:
A: December 9, 2008 is my last day. Graduation is in January.
Q:
A: PR is interesting and my project is a challenge but is going well.
Q:
A: I'm not sure what is next. Some potential ideas include doing tax preparation work, getting into mediation, working for a nonprofit, financial advising, etc. Needless to say a lot of options are still on the table.
Q:
A: I quit working for Anvil in June. I still get along very well with the team there but personal issues were such that I couldn't be providing quality work for the team. However, the relationship is great and I'm doing my final project on their behalf.
Q:
A: Getting better, thanks for asking.
Q:
A: A mastectomy, a ray resection and a knee replacement with rotator cuff surgery still on the docket. I know Good Sam Hospital quite well.
Q:
A: A new nephew named Dashiell. He's two months old and is as cute as a troll :)
Q:
A: I ran a successful Hood to Coast, with our team finishing just over 26 hours. Now my spare time is spent training for the California International Marathon on December 7th.
Q:
A: Qualify for Boston (3:10 or less). I've got other goals but those are top secret. If I make them, you'll be sure to know.
Q:
A: That's all the news that's fit to print.

Back to Work!

After a job search that has been an adventure, I am proud to say that I'm formally back in the ranks of the fully employed. As of February 4th, I will be an account executive with Anvil Media, Inc. Anvil Media is a search engine marketing company that specializes in search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) management, social media marketing (SMM) and online reputation management (ORM) services. They are a small firm but one that packs a big punch in town.

In short, I'm excited; the opportunity is an excellent chance for me to put my analytical skills to work in a fast moving, constantly changing space. I've got a 90 day qualifying period but I am confident that my work ethic and ability to take on new things will wow them and win the day :-)

That's it. Just wanted to let everyone know I've found a home to land. Now if you'll excuse me I've got to go catch up with the cool kids and get myself on Facebook, MySpace and YouTube.

Brian

More than you ever wanted to know about BD...

I was tagged to write eight habits about myself from my friend Chelle the true blue New Yawker living in Minneapolis. Essentially, this is meant to be a worldwide game of tag and I'm supposed to list eight people at the bottom of this post who are now meant to do the same. However, Homie don't play that so instead I'll let my wife be the one to link up more people (she's more amenable to that sort of thing) to the fun. Now onto all the things you never wanted to know about me...

My Facts and Habits:

1. I am a creature of habit: I run 4 days a week, I have one caffeinated beverage a day, I put on my shoes the same way, I need the Scrabble board a certain direction, etc. Becca says I'm anal retentive. Whatever. I like consistency.
   
2. I am an Eagle Scout. In fact, I got my Eagle Scout badge when I was 15. The most memorable part of the day was falling off an elevated scorers table at my brother's basketball game beforehand, guaranteeing me a day of being hopped up on painkillers.
3. It is a miracle that I didn't have a heart attack in my mid-20's. To say I had an anger problem would likely be a gross understatement. I too often lashed out at things I had little control over. Thankfully over time (with a lot of help and patience from the wonderful wife) I have mellowed. Still doesn't mean I won't get fired up at times but I handle it in a tempered manner and have learned that sometimes... stuff just happens and there's nothing you can do about it.
   
4. My debt collection skills are top notch. Or so said my previous boss at Best Buy. When I was looking for a career job in Minnesota, I did a lot of temp work. One of those jobs was as a corporate debt collector for Best Buy. I found out more about my tenacity and closer skills in that job than I ever care to know. For the record, the biggest culprits were... schools and churches. Evidently God doesn't pay off the big screen TV on Best Buy's terms.
5. My longest relationship prior to Becca was 4 1/2 months. It's not like I was a Lothario making the rounds; instead I was quite happy living the single life and the relationships I did have just organically ended. The same organic process led to me moving across the country 10 months into a relationship that will hit 7 years(!) in September.
   
6. I probably should have been an engineer. My GRE scores showed as much (I scored a 790 on the Analytical section), my best friends from HS and college are both engineers and my brain is just wired that way. Thankfully, I didn't. I consider myself to have far too many social skills to be a proper engineer. Plus I enjoy the big picture and using words to make a point.
   
7. I was my current height in the 6th grade. So I've gone from a center on the middle school basketball team with Kevin McHale-esque low post moves to a shooting guard in college with no jump shot. You wonder why I only run nowadays...
8. Finally... I have a plethora of nicknames. The cool thing is that I've picked them up in different parts of my life and as a result can immediately place who's talking to me by what nickname they use. Here's the rundown: Orson (as in Bean), Beanie (I used to warm up in HS in a beanie stocking cap), BD (fairly obvious; the only one of the list that has been prevalent throughout time, Visa (ultimate; my credit card length jumping ability), Bizo (ultimate; no real reasoning but just given to me by my former teammate Merde), and I have to admit my favorite... Bounce-Bounce (Bounce for short). This was given to me by my first friends in Minnesota, Alex and Matt. Why Bounce-Bounce? Well, they were watching MST3k and the episode was Hobgoblins. Servo uttered the following: Meet the hobgoblins: Frankie, Sniffles, Bounce-Bounce and the Claw. At that point they decided they were going to give out those nicknames to people they knew. Somehow they only got around to sticking me with my moniker but as a new guy in a new town, it kind of made me feel at home.
   

So there you go. You, the loyal blog reader know more about me than you ever cared to know. If you think I missed something, please feel free to add it to the comments. In the meantime, for being a trooper and reading the whole damn thing I've embedded a YouTube reward...



Bounce-Bounce

(the video is a garden tool fight from Hobgoblins)