Things do flourish in November

Aloha.

This post is probably about as overdue as my average library book. Nevertheless, here I am. This is what's happened in the past two and a half weeks, and this is what's going to happen in the next two.

The date today is actually December 4, which means there is less than a month left in the year of 2005. Scary thought no doubt.

I got a job. I work with the Events Sales and Services Department in UT Athletics. It's a pretty sweet job although it isn't officially fulltime. My job, as I see it, is to see that the arena is as filled as possible on game days for both women's and men's basketball.

So far the job has been really interesting. It has been pretty crazy because I've learned about the chaos that exists in within the body known as a university athletics department. There is so much money, so many people, and so much red tape that it's absolutely amazing. There is also so much "tradition" which is an incredible hurdle for newcomers and youth such as myself.

The job demands a creative approach as well as persistence and a thick skin. I think that I'm doing a decent job thus far, but I know that I haven't performing as well as I would have liked. Attendance at men's games have averaged about 7,000 people, which is about half of what it should be.

Women's games area whole different story but are equally as puzzling and arguably a bigger problem to solve. Today's women's game versus Duke was probably the most exciting women's athletic event that I will ever attend.

My boss is Jen Ohlson. She is an ex-sportscaster for KXAN in Austin. She's a pretty unique individual, and I enjoy getting to know and understand her. She is incredibly dedicated and a very gifted human. She seems to know what she needs to do but doesn't always know how to get there. My analysis of her usually leads me to believe that I've just been watching too much and not been participating enough.

I fault myself for being swept up in the drama that exists in the job environment. There are about ten students who do what I do as well, but their roles are much more niche roles. I see my opportunity as a great one, but I have yet to swing at the ball that has been approaching my strike zone.

Perhaps I need to take a more statistical and quasi-logical approach, which is what I plan to do in the next couple days. I can't lose sight of the fact that I was hired to get people into the stands, and therefore, that is what I need to do.

I'm going to call it an entry, but please expect more tomorrow for I have been extremely lazy since starting this job. Not lazy in the work sense but more the extracurricular sense. For this, I demand a better job from myself.

One, two. One two.