My Turn: Showcasing Matt's Work

Since Matt recently used the blog to share some of my recent news, I'm now going to return the favor two times over.

Please vote for Matt in the Mobbie awards!

As some of you may or may not know, Matt is the author of an Orioles blog called "Roar from 34". I'm proud to say that Roar from 34 has been nominated for a Mobbie award, an honor to select Maryland's best blogs. Voting will take place during the next two weeks (until Oct. 9th). The awards will be determined by popular vote, so I need your help!

Here's what you can do to help:
1. Go to http://data.baltimoresun.com/mobbies/
2. Scroll down to the "Orioles" category. It's below "Sports", so don't stop there.
3. Find "Roar from 34" and click on the "Vote" link.
4. If you're not registered with the Baltimore Sun, you'll need to create an account using an e-mail address and password.
5. Once you're registered, repeat the voting process until you're sent to the confirmation screen.
6. Vote once each day between now and October 9th.
7. Share this information with others and ask them to vote as well.

Here's my viewpoint on Matt's blog: There are several Orioles blogs out there, but Matt's is unique in that he writes original, substantive content that often brings in a historical angle. Some of the more notable features he's included on his blog are "Flashback Fridays", postings that connect present Orioles news with past Orioles history, and "The Eutaw Street Chronicles", stories that provide context for each of the home run balls that are hit on Camden Yards' famous right field pathway that separates the outfield seats from the ballpark's famous warehouse. Given that information, I hope you'll feel comfortable voting for him daily.

Great story, great writing
Every once in a while, Matt writes a story that really stands out to him. A few weeks ago, that "once in a while" happened, as Matt wrote an alumni profile about a remarkable law grad, Leslie Nordin.

You see, Leslie ran the Boston Marathon blindfolded as a means to inspire her son--Sawyer, who was born blind--and raise more than $30,000 for Perkins School for the Blind where Sawyer attends.

Matt really put his writing skills to work and churned out a great tribute to Leslie's efforts that resulted in a hearty thank you from Leslie as well as a letter to the editor from a reader that was touched by the great job he did. You can read Leslie's amazing story by clicking here.

Weekend Updates

The last several weekends have been busy for Matt and me, but they've been lots of fun. Labor Day weekend, we headed to Chicago to visit the Carters (my friends from college and their two adorable kiddos).

The following weekend, we headed to our hometowns to celebrate birthdays (Matt: Catonsville for Emily's birthday, Me: Nashville for dad's birthday).

This past weekend, we stayed put in Durham and participated in lots of local activities, from Friday's trip to the UNC/Duke soccer game to Saturday's trip to Chapel Hill and the Raleigh Greek Festival to Sunday's NFL watch party with friends.

It's wonderful to have great weekend experiences, but it makes enduring the work week all the more difficult. : )

Promoting Those Who Have Been Promoted

I recently bragged on my wife when she was invited to join the Durham Literacy Center's Board of Directors. This time I'll let the managing director of Ogilvy's Washington, D.C. office do the bragging for me.

Here's the email the managing director sent out this week about promotions at Ogilvy including Erica's well-deserved (and frankly, overdue) appointment to the position of account director.

It is with great happiness and no small amount of pride that I announce the promotions of 14 Ogilvy people who have demonstrated - proven - their ability to step up to the next level of responsibility and leadership within our office and agency. Promotions are serious and demonstrate a serious commitment on behalf of both the promotee and the organization. These folks have earned their ascension and our congratulations. Please take a moment to give it to them.

...

Erica Taylor - Promotion to Account Director

Erica works on three major accounts (NHLBI, NCI, and CDC Hepatitis) in Social Marketing and has distinguished herself in all three. She is an extremely hard worker and also an efficient one. She is able to synthesize some of the most complex issues and ideas to their core and then reflect back just the essentials that need to be addressed. This is particularly evident when she researches a topic and then writes about it - whether for colleagues, a client memo or a white paper. She has a great relationship with all of her clients and is respected, counted on and appreciated by even the most demanding among them. Erica has also shown a commitment to new business and recently was part of the team that worked around the clock to complete the rebid for CDC Hepatitis.

Erica has dealt with some unfair circumstances since she started working from home, and she's handled those frustrations with patience and great professionalism. I'm thrilled and very proud that she's now receiving the recognition she deserves.

In other Taylor job news, my brother Pete has been promoted to supervisor of secondary language arts for Baltimore County Public Schools. It became official on Wednesday.

Pete taught English in Japan for two years after graduating from Loyola College and has been teaching in Baltimore County ever since returning home. During that time Pete passed up a very attractive job opportunity in New York City with the Japanese television network NHK.

He was waiting patiently (okay, he's been mostly patient with occasional bouts of impatience) for an opportunity to work as an assistant principal when the language arts opportunity came his way. He had not known about the position until he was contacted and strongly encouraged to apply.

Congratulations, Erica and Pete!

More on the Mouse

As Erica previously reported, we recently had a mouse take up residence in our home. This is one of those events that goes on my list of "Things that truly make me feel like a home owner," especially since we were successful in eliminating the problem.

It's amazing how quickly one can move from reticence about killing a living creature to what - let's face it - pretty much amounts to blood lust. All it takes is a healthy portion of mouse droppings in the pantry and regular holes in the wrappers of your favorite foods to get those internal fires burning.

Still, it's easier to talk about this event in kinder, gentler terms like those chosen by my lovely wife, who noted "We paid our respects to the mouse that had been enjoying the fruits of our pantry."

"Paid our respects" is code for "looked at the dead mouse after we dropped it in the trash can."

(You don't want to look, but you have to. At least I had to. Erica just asked me to take out the trash.)

Continuing the kindler, gentler theme surrounding our efforts to evict the uninvited house guest, I composed the following limerick:

There once was a mouse in our home,
Who through the pantry would roam,
We set out a trap,
Soon it went snap,
And now that old mouse is gone.