Day 4 - T-Minus-15 Days Until Start Date

The answer to your obvious question is yes, I am that good looking in real life.

The answer to your not so obvious question is that day 1 and 2 were not recorded due to the embarrassingly amounts of alcohol consumed and tears wept, perhaps not in that order.

The answer to the questions you did not ask but should have is:

1. I will begin working for Upshot on January 5, 2009.

2. I will be a Junior Copywriter on the Disney account. 

3. That's private.

4. No I will not be maintaining journalistic integrity in my journal. I like my job, I want to keep my job, if something sucks about my job after I start, I will maintain the party line. 

What I will be doing is collecting my thoughts on what should be an interesting first year in a very strange and wonderful industry: advertising/marketing.

When something awesome happens I will share it (so long as I am not violating my nondisclosure agreement), when something terrible happens I will share it (so long as it won't piss anyone off who can fire me), and when I get something pounded through my thick skull, well I'll share that too.

That being said, here's what's happened so far: nothing.

I was sitting at Bacca's (my favorite cigar shop) smoking a cigar, working on freelance, talking to my friend and talented art director Lindsey Krupicka on g-chat. She asked how the job search was coming along.

I said I had some interest from some pretty cool shops, but no offers yet.

She asked if I had heard back from Upshot.

I replied that I had not and I thought they were politely brushing me off.

Phone rings. I step outside to take it. It's Lisa from Upshot, they'd like to make me an offer.

I play it cool, ask for the weekend to consider it.

Walk back into Bacca's and buy the most expensive cigar in the joint.

Tell Lindsey that I stand corrected Upshot was not blowing me off, but strategically waiting until I was convinced they didn't like me to offer me a job.

I then call my wife, embarrassing conversation happens in a very full cigar shop.

We eat at Red Lobster (sorry Champaign doesn't really have a Morton's or Ruth's Chris or a Shaw's)

I proceed to call anyone I've known in my lifetime and share the news and even a few people that I have spoken to only during wrong number conversations.

I go to bed. 

I wake up and call Upshot and accept their offer.

I proceed to start hunting for apartments and smoke another very expensive cigar.

That brings us to now.

I decide at 6 a.m. on Sunday morning while at my in-laws that I need to start a blog and do so.

I think we're all caught up now.

I can't begin to tell you how excited I am, the length of this post probably does that for me. I just know that this is a dream come true for me. For those of you who know me personally this is no revelation, but to those of you who don't I sacrificed a crap ton of my life to be in this business. And to have those sacrifices pay off, generates a feeling of satisfaction that you can not imagine.

So a quick bunch of thank yous. Scott, Melissa, Blaze, JCS, Carter, Craig, Troy, Tracey, Greg, Gary, Allison, Sarah, Maria, Jeff, Grandpa, Mom, Dad and the rest of the Fam and most importantly Cathy and the PeeJ.

I'm sure there are a ton of others, but I just wanted to make sure I thanked you guys first. 

Now, the description. 

I'm going to make this a public diary. I am going to list my struggles and successes. And I'm going to post stuff I find that I find awesome, and my wife probably fines nerdy.

Okay, I'm getting yelled at to wrap it up, the wife and her sister's want to go to Mass. 

PJL