Just got back from attending Orientation for the TD position with Smithsonian Student Travel. First day in class I look across the room and see Julie. We will both be working the Inauguration, but not as TDs. They already had enough people on board as TDs, but we went through training to prepare us in case any of them fail to show. We will still be escorting smaller groups on the metro and to different destinations around the capital city. We should be getting tours later in the spring, but that remains to be seen. Penny went through the Orientation back in October and she is slated to lead a tour. Emily will be in town taking photos, and of course Mike will be there. Missed seeing him this time as he was on vacation in Mexico. The largest inauguration crowd to date was Lyndon Johnson's and they had 1.7 million....they are expecting 4 million for Obama. Did I ever mention I get a bit claustrophobic at times, or that my patience is somewhat limited ?! What have I gotten myself into??? We should have a lot of stories to share at Symposium.

One of New York City's newest licensees, plus the Super Bowl

Two tidbits from my end.

First, as of last Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, I passed the exam and became New York City's newest licensee. That having been said, maybe there should be more than just a written exam. The very next day, I suggested to my date, who also lives in Florida, that we take the subway from 61st and Lex to Washington Square, rather than a cab. Within minutes, changing trains at 51st and Lex, at about 2 PM, she was attacked (a street musician spat in her face), begging the question as to whether someone who leads another into being the victim of a subway attack within a day of obtaining his license should really have one, even though the station is normally safe. Anyway, don't tell the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs - I still don't have my actual license, just a piece of paper!

For any of you planning to take the exam, I recommend studying more than I did. I was told most people fail the first time, and while I did pass, I did not make a score high enough to have an asterisk next to my name on the web site, even though I grew up in the New York area, have lived in the city, and visit several times a year. There were a lot of obscure historical questions, a lot of questions about obscure points of interest in Queens and Staten Island hardly any out of town tourist would ever visit that I had never even heard of, and a few questions about New York City traffic laws. I'm not even sure I got the only baseball question right, and I used to co-produce and write the questions for a sports quiz show in cable television. The question pertained to why the Brooklyn Dodgers were originally the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers - mind you, the Dodgers (not the Trolley Dodgers) haven't even played in Brooklyn since 1955.

I also finally got certified in CPR this week.

Also, Tim and I will be working the Super Bowl in Tampa, providing meet and greets and other hospitality to CBS employees as I understand it, for a company called Sportsmark who recruited me out of ITMI since I live around here. They just wanted local people, which is why I didn't spread the news, except to Tim who mentioned that he frequents these climes in the winter. Anyway, its not exactly going to be big money, either, but I am very much looking forward to it.

I haven't landed anything else firm. Flamingo Educational, the company Clara has some tours with, told me they would use me but nothing has been set up, but I've been very bad about sending out resumes - probably not even a dozen. To give you an idea of how bad I've been about sending out resumes, I haven't even sent a resume yet to Tauck, even though I spent parts of four days a few weeks ago fam touring one of their long-time employees. The good news from her front is that, even though she was selling tours for the first time, people were still signing up tours, so not everyone is scared away by the economy.

Looking forward to seeing some of you in Texas.

Inauguration Here I Come!!

Just got back from my last Fam Trip of Chicago with Travel Adventures for all there TDs! I really like how they make sure you're well trained and their trip notes is incredible! It could spoil me...but it's a good source for what info should be in a typical trip notes.

Good News...Bad News!!
We'll I and 2 other co-workers received layoff notice and have 60 days to find another job in the company or move on. I've joined the other 600,000+ unemployed people in Michigan. But on the same day, I was assigned a Inauguration tour! I and Jane, senior TD will have 216 8th graders/chaperon on a 4 coach move! My partner is cool and we get along great! She was my roomy during the Chicago Fam trip. With the exception of the Big Event, I found out that TA usually send their newbees to Chicago during their rookie year.

Hope our fellow Einsteins who are going to the Big One will be sharing strategic info for the event.