January 11, 2009 - Cheerio!

Hey there, hi there and hello there to everyone here in the US ... and England now! Cheerio Steph, I am glad to hear that your flight was not too much of an adventure and that your sweet potatoes turned out alright. I'm also happy to see you've joined the blogging community, so check out my sister over the pond at stephanieaklein@blogspot.com. A special happy birthday goes out today for Grandma Park and Uncle Pat, I hope the fish are jumping for you today under the ice:)

After a slow week to begin 2009, the stars have realigned and we are busy yet again ... just how I like it. We are in the process of strategic planning over the next couple of months which has been quite the learning experience I must say. We've got a presentation this week to our VP to go over our 3-5 year ideas, so I guess next week I'll let you know how it went:) I also did a recap with the team on what they thought worked in 2008, what didn't and what they'd like to accomplish in the coming year. I had some great one-on-ones with all of them and I think we're on track to have a wondermously productive year!

This week was also a fabulous week for all of the volunteer action. I had a double meeting day for the Literacy Alliance and Young Professionals group. I've been asked to be the Treasurer and Program Chair for the Literacy Alliance, and that whole New Year's resolution to learn to say no more often ... didn't work, so it should be an exciting year of Literacy for me:) I suppose I could find worse things to take up my time. We also learned Friday that the local TV station, WRBL, is on to help out with our 2nd Annual Favorite Word Gala next year ... yippee.

Then, we had the best YP FUNdraising we've had since I took over last July. Everyone has taken stake and chosen a business to contact for sponsorship, and hopefully by the end of tomorrow we'll have 3 of our events fully sponsored:) Also, we were able to tour the new National Infantry Museum to see if it'll be able to hold our YP Gala later this year. It is going to be an amazing facility with a brand-spankin-new IMAX theatre ... sweeeeeeet!

It should be a pretty exciting week of work and then 8 of us Aflac'rs are heading down to New Orleans for a service trip over MLK Jr. weekend. I'm pretty excited to see the progress that's been made since the last time I was there in January of 2007 (pictured here at Emma & Joe's place). Plus, we're going to meet up with the Mount Mercy group that will be there the same time ... what a cowinkidink;) Seeing as though we'll be there through next Monday eve, my next post will be a little delayed, but wondermous nonetheless.

In honor of Dr. King, take it upon yourself to make MLK Jr. day a day on vs. a day off. Help someone in need or serve the greater good and remember what he said, "Anyone can be great, because anyone can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love."

Alwayz,

Nate