January 4, 2009 - Yeah, 2009 ... Happy New Year!

Hey there, hi there and hello there to everyone this brand new year. Time flies when you're having fun and there is no doubt that 2008 was just that, so I am excited for 2009 and a new challenge around every corner. Special birthday wishes to Kayla K this past week:) Also, I want to wish my sister Stephanie the best of luck in her travels as she heads over to England to study abroad for a semester ... have a blast over there Steph and stay away from the pubs;)

Aflac has been fairly slow these last couple of weeks, as I'm sure many businesses have. Not a lot of people have been in the office, which has given me the opportunity to work more on plans for 2009 and beyond. This whole strategic planning thing for Online Services is pretty interesting, but something very new for me to think so pie in the sky about an initiative. Hopefully they like my ideas:)

It was a wonderful weekend full of running outside, kickin' the ol' soccer ball around and rollerblading. You just have to love the winter 60 degree weather ... sorry all of my friends/fam back in Iowa!

I would have to say though, the best part about this last week was most definitely the New Year's celebration (which happened to also be my best friend's birthday as well ... happy birthday Gump:). So, I had a crazy idea ... not far fetched for myself ... that I would like to celebrate the New Year not the normal one time per year, but why not twice this year? Now you may be asking yourself Nate, what are you talking about? And it's at this point that I smile, wink and give you the thumbs up when you realize I really did come up with a very stupid, yet amazing idea:) So here's how it worked: we began the evening at Mr. Ed's house with a few good pals (pictured to the left) to celebrate in the Eastern Standard Time Zone with Dick Clark (whom, by the way, I believe they cryogenically freeze for 364 days a year before they warm him up for New Year's). After some card games, we all counted down together and popped open the sparkling grape juice to bring in the New Year ... it was at that instant, where normal people would either kiss their significant other, drink some more beverages or just hang out ... but I'm not normal. So, my buddy Patrick and myself we run off and jump in the Honda for the great part of the evening, our venture to travel back in time to the Central Time Zone to celebrate New Year's one more time and hour behind us ... yes, I know what you're thinking right now ... genius (or weirdo, either one works). We drive 40 minutes to Auburn and after a few moments, we stroll into the Supper Club. Wow, this place is a dive with an old band called the Zigtones playing. Nevertheless, we had accomplished our mission with ten minutes to spare (pictured to left) and we may not go down in the history books for this feat, but it is a great story and I can now check it off my bucket list! Thanks Pat for a great wing man experience.

Also, thank you everyone at Aflac, in Columbus and back home for a great 2008 ... I wish you the best in 2009. Here is my morsel for the beginning of 2009 from my buddy Dale Carnegie, "You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you. People are interesting ... get to know all you can." Give it a shot, let me know how it goes.

Until next time, I hope you all have a great work week and Steph ... have fun!

Alwayz,

Nate

ps, good luck in the ER Jenny:)