Last time from Ohio

Hello once again, and for the last time, from Cincinnati!

I have fallen behind on keeping in touch with you. The month of June has come and gone, and Stacy and I have accomplished a lot in preparations for our move back to Chattanooga.
We spent several weekends in Chattanooga looking for a house, knowing the mortgage rates were low and we thought of no better time than the present. We have indeed found a home that fits our wants and needs. The house is on Ozark Circle in North Chattanooga. We are very excited and plan to close on August 3.

Stacy left for Chattanooga on Tuesday and will start her job at Unum Provident Wednesday. She has been working for UnumProvident from here for a month now. Her birthday was Monday, and we had a great day.

As for me, I will be in Cincinnati through July, finishing up my internship and class work at Xavier.

My internship is at Don Schumacher & Associates. DSA conducts event management, sponsorship sales and event marketing through work on events such as the 1996 NCAA Division I Hockey Championships, 1997 NCAA Women's Final Four, 1998 Conference USA Men's Basketball Championship, the Kroger Senior Classic, and the company's signature event, the annual Skyline Chili Crosstown Showdown, the nation's largest high school football event - five games in one day at the University of Cincinnati's football stadium.

Don started the Greater Cincinnati Sports & Events Commission in 1989 and resigned from that commission in 1998 to focus more on DSA, Inc. He is currently the Executive Director of the National Association of Sports Commissions, an organization Don helped create in 1992 with 15 original members and a current membership of 266 organizations across the United States.
So as you can read, I am getting a lot of experience and knowledge from this internship. It is quite exciting to learn from a man like Don and from his staff members.

I hope you had a good 4th of July. I went on a three-hour, self-guided canoe trip on the Little Miami River with a bunch of my classmates. It rained all morning on the trip, which made for more of an adventure. But as we made our way for the afternoon cookout, the sun was shining, the skies were blue and we had a great day.

I am traveling north this weekend to Youngstown, Ohio to see one of Y. State's most famous employees and go to a Pittsburgh Pirates game at the new PNC Park. I have made it quite a summer with my ballpark visits. Of course I have seen the dismal Reds several times here at Cinergy Field. I have been to Wrigley Field to see the Cubs and Brewers and was lucky enough to see the Reds and Indians at Cleveland's Jacob's Field. I really, really enjoyed Wrigley Field there is nothing like it, but I am ready to visit Turner Field and see the Braves.

I have really enjoyed keeping in touch with you during the past year as Stacy and I spent our "year-long vacation" in Cincinnati! Thank goodness for the power of e-mail. I can tell you we are excited about Chattanooga, but we will sincerely miss Cincinnati and the friends we have made here. I encourage you to take a trip here and enjoy all it has to offer.

I hope you will be thinking of us as we make our move back to Chattanooga. Yet more exciting times ahead!

Talk to you next time from Chattanooga . . .