Free beer!

One and a half hours volunteering led to a free case of beer for each of us! Can you say free tailgating?

"$96 of beer in the car..."

The damage

Some leftovers at quitting time...

Words for graduates

As finals time begins, continues and, eventually, ends, I realize that some of my closest friends will be graduating and leaving. I have no idea if I'll see a lot of them again, and I probably won't get the chance to say any "last words," because I'm not very good at it and I usually avoid it. I hate good-byes. I draw them out awkwardly, in that I've-already-hugged-you-shrugged-my-shoulders-sighed-heavily-and-hugged-you-again sort of way. You know what I'm talking about. So since I'm terrible at "last words," I figured I'd share someone else's last words with you in my place.

Here is the transcript to Garrett Gravesen's 2003 commencement address. His picture is that crazy one up there. At the top of the page is this presumptuous title:

In what many have called the greatest speech ever given at the University of Georgia, Garrett Gravesen delivers the commencement Speech to the Graduating Class of 2003 encouraging everyone to be a HERO.

I was understandably skeptical at first glance, but do yourself a favor and read through it. You'll laugh out loud, struggle to not tear up and get that warm-fuzzy feeling inside. For those who don't know, Garrett -- along with Ryan Gembala -- founded HERO for Children, the UGA chapter of which is now a huge philanthropy. Check out their story here. And here are some choice words that I jealously wish I had come up with on my own...but I didn't.

"Regardless, there is one thing that connects us all. Within each and every one of us is a Voice. I am not sure where it comes from. Maybe it's the natural or the supernatural, maybe its from within or a land far away I don't know. This voice speaks to us when we are younger and we think we can conquer the world. As we get older, however, other people tell us everything we are un-able to do in life and sooner or later most people start believing this until one day that voice is gone and never comes back again."

These words about Voice harken back to an earlier post that I made regarding childhood dreams (refresher). It's incredible that a graduating college senior already has such words like this. Imagine being in the class of '03, sitting in Sanford Stadium, sweating beyond belief, hearing these words and wondering how your college career could have been different if you'd heard them freshman year. How did one of your peers find such an incredible passion? How did he give up everything the world thought important for a risk and a whim? And how in the world did that whim turn into such a life-changer, city-changer and nation-changer?

About that time you might realize that, no matter what you did or didn't do here at UGA, you've left your mark. It may not be as big or obvious as Garrett's, but you realize that you couldn't avoid impacting others' lives. It's why you were all accepted here and ultimately, it's why you chose to attend here. Because you knew -- somehow deep inside -- that UGA would give you that opportunity to change lives.

Then you snap back to the speech and Garrett comes at you with this:

"All I can say is that love is a work in progress. Never let yourself get so angry that you stop loving because one day you will wake up from that anger and the person you love will be gone. Remember that marriage is indeed a commitment, the wedding ring is a circle of trust and the time you spend with your significant other and those treasured moments you spend with the children you bring into the world are more important that any job you will ever get or money you may make."

Love is a work in progress.

Holy crap! So true! You give a little amen in your head, you nod approval, you maybe even clench your fist in confirmation. But you know. This man -- young adult, really -- is speaking about things much bigger than he is...and much bigger than any of us are. LOVE...a work in progress. Wow.

And you realize that it is true. Love is always something you're working toward. Not that you can never achieve it or that you can never find it or that you can never experience it. But that there's always more to it. There's always more love to experience. Whether it's in the realm of friendship, intimacy, spirituality, family or whatever, there's always more love than you can imagine. More than you can fathom. And more than you can wrap your head around. And you're comforted that again, no matter what you did or didn't do during college, you found love. True, lasting, deep love. From roommates, from your parents, from your professors, from your boyfriend or girlfriend. There's someone who'll be there for you. No matter what. And you ponder that for a second with a smile. And you again snap back to the present day.

And you see this amazing man leave the stage, the last few words you hear being these:

"As we go out and descend upon the world...Always leave more than anyone expects. Our lives are not all the same, but the voice inside of us is. Where it leads you-may all of you follow...There were friendships built and relationships lost, there were laughs that have brought us together and tears that have driven us apart, but it is all of this that has made college worthwhile."

And as you look around, at the crowd, at the faculty, at your classmates and at yourself you realize one last thing. This is what you've been working for. It's been (at least) 4 years probably, and you've been preparing for this moment. It's your time. And your childhood hero Dr. Seuss comes back to mind:

"Today is your day! your mountain is waiting. So...get on your way."

So now, class of 2008, you're all incredible. We've all been blessed beyond belief by your presence on this campus, and you'll be sorely missed. And, personally, I can't wait to see how much of the world you conquer by the time I graduate. We've got big shoes to fill.







And if you want to see another great UGA commencement speech, check out Kevin Scott's address from this past fall of '07 (in two installments):



Part 2:

Studying at Chick-Fil-A on Saturday morn

I decided last night that I would wake up early this morning and yet put Chick-Fil-A's wireless for studying. So I set my alarm for 6:30, actually woke up after 7 and got here by 8. The wireless is fast and reliable, the atmosphere (and aroma) is great, the people are friendly. But I wish I'd worn pants because the Beechwood branch is unnervingly cold right now.

So if you're looking for an alternative to the SLC and don't need absolute peace and quiet (I have my headphones in so it's not bad at all), check out your local Chick-Fil-A. And since it's coming on 10:00 in Athens, I can't wait to see people I recognize and/or actual friends wander in here with stories from last night.

PS: This way I only have to make one total trip for breakfast AND lunch...genius!

--------------------
Update (10:06): Saw John Taliaferro and Brad Harris already. Good start.

Hell just froze over

And pigs grew wings.

And the Hawks forced a game seven.

WHAT?!!?!!11!1!!!!

Looking back

All right, I've just finished my first night of sleep back in my own bed in Athens, and I've gotta say, I'm not nearly as refreshed and/or rejuvenated as I'd hoped I'd be. Oh well, there's always time for a nap this afternoon I guess.

I wanted to share a little about what we did at the conference since the last real update, so hold onto your hats, here we go:



Back on Tuesday we went to Aon's reception at the House of Blues. It was packed! The opening act was a U2 cover band, so I went absolutely nuts. And Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, the headliner, was great too. Their lead singer looks like a shorter version of Will Ferrell, no joke. The slideshow above has all the pictures I took from it.



Then after we went to a morning session or two on Wednesday, a bunch of us skipped the afternoon sessions and headed to the San Diego Zoo. Now, I'm not usually a huge fan of zoos, but this one is pretty cool. It's got lions, tigers, bears (insert witty comment here), pandas, polar bears, koalas, elephants, giraffes, and yada yada yada. The list goes on and on. This slideshow ^ first has a photo shoot with our coordinators Peggy and Fran. Without them, none of this opportunity would have been possible, so a huge shout-out to them!

After ordering some awesome pizza from Ciro's Pizzeria on 6th and Market, Then we headed to the Conference Center for something called "Cirque Dreams." For the record, I have no idea how anyone has the ability to do the tricks these people were doing. I can't even really describe them all either, so just use your imagination. I couldn't get any good pictures because of the lighting, however, so only a few pics in the slideshow are from there.


Instead of heading back to the hotel to pack like common sense would have said, we wrangled our way into an invite-only party hosted by Sedgwick CMS. It was at the Sweetwater Saloon in the Hard Rock Hotel and Lounge. More to come on that later. Jamie called just as we were walking in, so I had to enter after our whole party had already gotten in. Jonathan, a student at St. John's, had the invite, and he had already gone inside. Here's a transcript of how my conversation with the door guy went:

[guy in front of me gets rejected because he doesn't have an invite; acts incredulous; pulls out multiple business cards stating he is some VP of some large corporation; door guy turns him around and directs him out of line]
Door Guy: Who are you here with?
Me: I was with that group of kids who just got in here. I had to take a phone call so I couldn't go in with them.
Door Guy: So you don't have an invite. [statement, not question]
Me: No, but one of the guys who just got in does.
Door Guy: Let me see your ID.
[checks it over; finds it satisfactory]
Door Guy: You'll have to talk to him. [points at Sedgwick executive taking up invites]
Exec: Who are you and what are you doing here?
Me: I'm one of the college students attending the conf-
Exec: You said "college"?
[I nod hesitantly]
Exec: [smiling] Then get your ass inside!

I felt so cool. And once inside, we realized that the whole bar was open. Not just beers, not just bottom-of-the-barrel well drinks, but Crown, Grey Goose, Belvedere and Chopin. I have no other words to say about that. When last call came (at 11:20, no less!!!), we headed outside to figure out what to do. We never did figure that out though. So we climbed palm trees and ran up stairs like Rocky. Check them out down here.



Then it was lights out. Until breakfast the next morning, where only a select few students actually made it. And that was that...

What an incredible, words-can't-begin-to-describe weekend and week. I hate reality where you have to pay for drinks and food. I guess we were pretty spoiled and lucky...

And we're off

Back to the land of paying for drinks and food...

Jungle risk management

Risk management lessons from the African bush. Lesson: If you don't dynamically and effectively manage your risk..."you become lunch." Ways NOT to do this: head-in-the-sand, camouflage, agility reliance, etc.

PS: Cheetahs are sweet!

The last free meal for a while...

The final remnants of our glorious student crew. The last memories from an awesome experience. There's so much else to say and write, but I'll hold off until I can sit down with my computer. Be waiting, and I'll see you all - you Athens folk at least - very soon!

Some breakfast table wisdom and another day's wrap-up

But first, your daily slideshow. Near the end I went San Diego scenery crazy, so enjoy!

We had our sponsoring professor breakfast this morning, and there were a few nuggets of wisdom passed around our table that I wanted to share with everyone.














First of all here's my sponsoring professor; he was really busy and could only be here for two days. Such is life.

Our table consisted of myself, several other students, a guy named Rick who is currently in the industry and Dr. Charles Bennett from St. John's University's College of Risk Management (check out all his designations here). Here are the things we talked about.

• Lead with questions. A direct offshoot of From Good to Great that I keep mentioning. Rick said, "Don't be afraid to say you don't have all the answers. Just tell them you'll find out the answers or let them know how to find the answers for themselves."
• Differentiate yourself as a leader. The Chairman of insurance broker Willis, Joe Plumeri, differentiates himself by his wardbrobe and his personality. He rocks a short, pink tie like nobody's business, and he is one of the most boisterous, engaging, piercingly sharp people in any room. This picture doesn't have a pink tie, but believe me, he was working it last night. And his tie knot was HUGE. Ridiculous. But the takeaway here is that, to establish yourself as a leader, you have to find ways to differentiate yourself from the rest of your employees. Not in an arrogant way, but in an identifiable way that is at the same time endearing and empowering. Like wearing one of these to work like I plan on doing.

• Talk shop: Don't just focus on talking business all the time. Talk college alma mater football, talk golf, talk politics (with a splash of humor to keep from stirring the pot too much), talk current events, talk music, talk anything. Be personable and persistent. Not annoying.

And since I've delayed posting this, I'll recap the day so far also.

• The aforementioned sponsor breakfast.
• Morning session on speaking risk management. It was all about how to communicate the urgency, the effectiveness and the relevancy of risk management to your boss, to your colleagues, to your employees and to your friends. It's a dynamic profession, and it's exciting. Don't believe me? Just ask!
• THE MOST BORING KEYNOTE PRESENTATION EVER (!!!) for lunch. It started with a terrible spinach salad and ended with a dry, monotonous keynote presentation. Proof positive that, even if you have a Presentation Zen-style PowerPoint that is engaging, funny and informative, you are the one who makes or breaks the presentation. Ouch...nails on a chalkboard. I don't want to talk about it anymore.
• Had an "educational roundtable" discussion which basically involved a hypothetical ("based-in-fact") case study of a junk foods company. Successfully cemented the fact that I will never be an employee benefits office because I can't deal with workers comp cases. Booooring.
• Wine and cheese reception in the exhibit hall where we had our choice of chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon or (gasp!) merlot. I hadn't seen anything but the former two all trip, so it was a decent change. I also got a hole-in-one on the virtual Tiger Woods golf game, but the video was of me following that up with a splashdown right of the same hole. Oh well.
• Reception sponsored by the nation of Bermuda (yes, that's right) and their "capital of risk" financial campaign. Sushi, quesadillas, "Dark 'n' Stormy"s, prime beef cuts and all...great stuff.
• We're heading to the House of Blues to check out Aon's reception with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy as the headliners. I'll let y'all know!

For now, here's Garr Reynolds' take on a handy career advice book:

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