Greetings from East Lansing. It’s been in the upper 30s the last couple of days and actually feels a little like that pre-Spring tease we always get this time of year. The weather guys say 6-10 inches of new snow may fall on us before the end of the day Monday, but as of right now, what’s on the ground is GREAT snowman making snow.
Lots of activity in the Spartan Nation, both here and around our world. Exams are just about concluded and Spring Break looms. I’m seeing Facebook lamentations about those papers the kids should have written earlier (all nighters abound this weekend), and how moods swing from one extreme to the other based on what test you might have taken. Bring back memories?
Colleen and I emptied the New Mexico house, our stuff in storage until we find a permanent home here. We are house sitting in Mason and it’s truly wonderful to have her and our Yorkie, Tanna with me again. You folks who travel a lot for work will know exactly what I mean.
We learned that our puppy can fly. Tanna did great in her little under-the-seat carrier and despite some serious sedation, she bounded around the Midway terminal during our layover on the way to DTW.
The EatAtState.com folks continue to provide delightful surprises. I took the Queen for her first meal at SnyPhi this weekend and she found hummus and tabouli among the delicacies there. I, of course had a chicken sandwich and good old soft serve.
I’m finding that one of the most requested tour items for returning alums is a trip to their old dorm. Jim Alexander, a Spartan grad who lives and works in Atlanta, was in this week and we went to his old Holmes Hall haunts. He had me take a picture of him beside the Hobart dish washing machine that he used to feed when he worked in the kitchen there.
Jim was in town for the College of Comm Arts Alumni Board meeting. Merri Jo Bales and Andrea Kovac did a terrific job presenting a new board strategy to the team. If you are involved on a board and are looking to reinvigorate your gang, ping me and I’ll share their process.
MSU Alum Jamie Schram is our personal MSUAA reporter in Vancouver. This is Jamie’s fourth Olympics working as a guide for NBC and he blogs about his experiences at the Games over at our www.spartanation.net site.
You’ll also discover a plethora of Spartan video on our MSUAA YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/MichiganStateAlumni. We have Spartan Inspirations from a half dozen grads who share how MSU influenced their lives along with wisdom for new grads. There’s also several campus clips, including video from our last big snow storm and a two minute pastoral look at the Red Cedar River.
You’ve probably heard of speed dating, but did you know about speed networking? Our YouTube channel also features a fascinating look inside MSU’s annual Speed Networking event. Kids get five minutes to share their elevator speech, before the bell rings and they change seats, interviewing with sea of executives from companies who hire Spartans. Great fun and something you can clone wherever you may be.
We’re also in beta with a new MSUAA Twitter service. When we’re fully up and running, @MSUScores will provide live updates from every single Spartan sporting event, both big and small. You can take a test drive right now at www.twitter.com/MSUScores.
Have you given us your input on the forthcoming MSUAA iPhone app yet? Leigh Graves Wolf is moderating a Facebook group on that very subject. We’re not limiting our thinking to just the iPhone, so feel free to visit and give us your thoughts on functionality for the Andriod, Blackberry, etc.
Wherever you may be, if you’re doing something in Spartan garb, send us a picture. If you’re a Gmail Picasa user or have a Flickr account, put the MSUAA tag on your photo and send us a link. You can see my slowly growing collection here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/msuscottw/MichiganStateUniversityAlumniAssociation#
I’ve been getting a ton of valuable feedback on how we can improve your MSU Alumni Association. If you want to add some to the discussion, email me at scott@spartanology.com.
Tell me what’s happening in your world! I’ll be sharing Spartan snippets in future “This Week in the Spartan Nation” emails. What’s your club doing? New gigs for anybody in your flock? Got a question? Send em my way!
It’s an honor to serve you!
We hit the ground running again in the morning at the best job I ever had.
