August 9, 2009 - Happy Birthday to Jenny!

Hey there, hi there and hello there all. I know it's been a couple weeks, but last Sunday I did not return until 2am and so many fun nightly activities kept me off the computer this week, so here we go. First, I must tell you that my girlfriend Jenny's birthday was this past week and I'm pretty sure she had a blast:) Also, I have to say congrats to Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Votroubek on their wedding yesterday as well as my buddy Rabbit (Bryan Jones') engagement, look at everyone growing up!

It is that time of year at Aflac, 2010 business planning and strategery time (or strategy as some people call it). Since I head up the future state team, it only seems fitting that a lot of the planning comes from our team. It's great to have the opportunity at this age to come up with and propose ideas on how to improve the department in the years to come. At times it does feel like I am back in school writing 10-15 page papers, turning in reports and putting together presentations ... but I wouldn't have it any other way! I also get to work with some consultants that came in to help us improve our business, pretty interesting viewpoints I must say. Our social forum initiative is continuing and our team just found out that we're taking on more responsibilities for the company. Since we're in charge of online services for our accounts, it only makes sense that we should be the hub for policyholder web services as well ... bring it on;)

The sports front has been pretty fun over the last couple of weeks with soccer and kickball about coming to a close. Our soccer team has put together a string of wins as I am getting my touch back and putting the ball in the back of the ol' onion bag (or scoring goals as people from America would say:) But the most exciting game was when Jenny scored her first goal ever, granted she kicked it off someone before it went in, but it still counted! Our kickball team is still at the top of the 10 team league at 4-0-1. This last week was theme week, so it got a little crazy as we all dressed as our opposites, but we had a blast.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to help facilitate Monster.com's Diversity Leadership Program down in Orlando, Florida. Sophomore through Junior aged top college students from throughout the region were brought together for a program where they learned about diversity inclusion, leadership styles and even had the opportunity to work with numerous sponsors to improve their resume and interviewing skills. I was in charge of team 2 and basically my job was to ensure all of the team members worked together, help them to interact with the sponsors and get them jazzed up for a weekend of wondermousness! There was a challenge posed at the beginning of camp to all of the 8 groups to see which team would have the most hype and energy, of course ... I couldn't let the Trump Award slip through. My group came up with a team chant and we waltzed our way to the award stage on Sunday, it was an amazing experience.

I think I even scored some brownie points last week for Jenny's birthday when I rocked the 'happy birthday' song in the morning with warm (not store made:) blueberry muffins. Our pooch Caden was Jenny's big gift, but she also got some great things from family and friends back in Iowa which she greatly appreciated.

Friday night was the celebration evening out on the the town with a big group of friends. After a fantacular dinner, it was down to the Loft to hang out with Peggy Jenkins and the Biznass ... yes, that's the name of their group. She's about 350 pounds of soul and entertainment, we had an absolute blast and Jenny joined me on the dance floor for the white hurricane dance. Saturday a few of the guys headed over to Abalama to golf the Robert Trent Jones course, way out of my league, but I ended up playing quite well for myself. Then today was the six mile run, holy schnikes that was long!

Jenny and I are pretty excited for the upcoming week with so much going on. Her sisters Kim and Boo are coming into town tomorrow evening and Jenny also starts work at St. Francis tomorrow morning. Then, next Saturday I have orientation for my MBA at Emory ... o how time flies when you're having fun:)

Well, I hope you are all well back home in Iowa. I'm looking forward to coming home in a couple months. I wish you all a wonderful week.

Alwayz,

Nate

PS, some of you have asked when we could get some pictures of the house since it's finished, so I put together a little video for your viewing pleasure; hope you enjoy! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_jrgo4k2k8)