Long time, no type.

You may have noticed it’s been a while since my last blog post.  There were a few reasons for this.  First, I took some time away from social media in general.  Facebook, Twitter, all of it.  Making friends here in OKC wasn’t going well, and every time I made plans with someone they would cancel.  After a couple months of that, I just stopped asking, and went back to doing things alone.  So it got to be a bit depressing to get on the social media sites and see how much fun my friends were having back home.  On top of that, when I stopped using social media, I stopped hearing from my friends back in Kzoo as well.  “Out of sight, out of mind” I guess.  It really says a lot about our culture today that if you don’t communicate with social media, you are an outcast.  So unless I initiated contact via phone or text, there was no contact.

The second reason I stopped blogging for a bit was to keep secret my planned surprise visit back to Kalamazoo for my mother’s retirement party.  So much of what I was doing and planning had to do with this trip, and knowing that my parents read my blog (hi mom & dad!) I didn’t want to take a chance on posting something that would spoil the surprise.  [side note: the surprise was a HUGE success, and mom had no idea I was going to be at her party…more on that later]

A third reason for the sabbatical was work.  I’ve been working my butt off trying to get our numbers turned around at the hotel.  For those who may not know, my job as Director of Sales is to get companies, organizations, and individuals to choose my property for their lodging when they visit OKC.  There’s no shortage of competition here, and it’s been a bit of an uphill battle.  But, we’re close to completing a $1.2 million renovation, so with a lot more hard work we should see things improve in the coming months.

So now I’m back to blogging.  In the coming days I will post about my first full vacation since 1999, in which I surprised my mother at her retirement party, reconnected with good friends, and loaded up my car with Bell’s Oberon a la “Smoky & The Bandit.”  I’ll be sharing some photos I’ve taken over the past few months of various nouns. (people, places, & things)  I’ll share photos of before and after the hotel renovation.  And most impressive of all, I will be posting about my love for my new-found hobby: making my own beer.  I’m sipping one now as I type this.  It’s ok to be jealous.

It’s good to be back, and I hope you enjoy the blog…again.  Feel free to subscribe and/or comment on posts.  If you have suggestions or ideas, I am open to those as well. 

Until next time, cheers!