Friends: The Ones You Make Earlier in Life May Help You Later

When I attended Florida State University in the early-1990s, I wrote for the FSView school newspaper.  I originally started out as the student government writer, but then worked my way up to features editor.  For my last semester in Fall 1994, I was the sports editor and even had a sports talk radio show five nights a week on WTAL 1450 AM.

I worked with a lot of great people, many who have gone on to do some amazing things. Sports Editor Manny Diaz is now the defensive coordinator with the Mississippi State Bulldogs.  Photo Editor Lance Rothstein worked for many years with the St. Petersburg Times and now resides in Belgium.  Melanie McCullough went to work for Duke University and then the V Foundation before finding happiness as the Director of Communications for a church in Chapel Hill.

However, this blog entry is about one person in particular - then-Sports Writer Mike Avila.

Mike and I hit it off immediately.  We had great sports discussions and wrote a lot of side-by-side pieces where he expressed one opinion and I expressed another.  One particular memory I have is getting Mike a press pass to interview then-WCW World Champion and FSU football legend Ron Simmons before a match at the Leon County Civic Center in Tallahassee.  Simmons totally broke character for the interview and Mike asked him excellent questions, including what it was like to be the first-ever African-American World Heavyweight Wrestling Chamion.

After graduation, Mike and I lost touch; through the years, I looked him up many times.  Unfortunately, Mike Avila is a very common name and I never did locate him.

That all changed with Bobby Bowden's retirement.  On December 2, the day after the retirement, I managed to stage an event on Twitter that included about 50-75 others who changed their avatar for 24 hours to Bobby Bowden.  Gators, Hurricanes, LSU Tigers and Seminoles all participated in #Bobbyfor24. 

One of the people who participated that day was a person on Twitter named @MikeAvila. When I reach out to him, we immediately realized who each of us was - after 15 long years, I had finally found Mike.  It was no surprise to me that Mike has gone on to become a successful writer/producer/contributor for many news organizations in New York.

As 2010 moved along, Mike and I communicated often on Twitter.  Finally, on April 16 (my dad's birthday), Mike friended me on Facebook.  When I confirmed him, it said he had one mutual friend.  I naturally thought it was someone we wrote with at FSView.  However, to my surprise, it was a friend of mine from South Florida that I met through Twitter almost a year ago: @JoseBoza.

Jose and I are both in Public Relations and would often talk to each other at events about PR and other communications-related topics.  Not once did we ever talk about sports, though.

When I noticed Jose was the mutual friend of Mike and me, I was curious.  So on Saturday, April 17, I called Jose up to talk.  I found out that he and Mike went to Coral Park High School together and he was a year or two behind Mike's class.  At that point, I explained to Jose about how I knew Mike and that Mike and I were huge sports fans.

That led Jose to mention he had wanted to talk to me for a while because he could tell from my Facebook and Twitter posts that I was a big sports fan.  He mentioned he had thought about starting a blog/website for a long time that dealt with social media and sports in a way not yet being done.  The second he said it, my ears perked up and I began agreeing with him.  He said he thought I would make a great partner on this venture.

After adding my good friend Jarret Streiner AKA @jarret23 (who I have known since high school and reconnected with a few years ago via a client event) to the team as our web designer, we went through some names until Jarret came up with "Pitch to the Rhino."  It plays off the children's riddle, "What do you do to an elephant with three balls? You walk him and PITCH TO THE RHINO!"

One month to the day of my first conversation with Jose, we launched the site on Monday, May 17.  It has been a fun project so far thanks to the support of so many on Facebook and Twitter, and one that keeps this old sportswriter-at-heart involved in sports

Had I not been such good friends with Mike back in the day and had Mike not friended me on Facebook, none of this may have ever happened.  Thanks, Mike!

Role Model

My father Robert would have turned 79 years old today.  Life has been completely different for me these last 13 months.

This photo is probably my all-time favorite of my dad and I.  On this particular day in March of 2005, me, my brother-in-law Ira and my dad made a journey to Dodgertown in Vero Beach to watch a spring training game.  The tree over my left shoulder gave us shade the entire game, and we liked it so much, my dad had no problem joining us for trips in 2006, 2007 and 2008 (the final year Dodgertown was open before the team abandoned Florida for Arizona).

That's the kind of person my dad was.  If I was interested in something, he became interested in it, too.

He was always a Dunkin' Donuts fan even before I started working with them from a PR standpoint - once I did that, he always made it a point to call me and tell me when he was visiting one for a cup of coffee.

He sat through two heartbreaking FSU losses to Miami in 2000 and 2002 in the upper deck despite being afraid of heights. 

He originally began listening to Meat Loaf and Queen because I liked both groups.

He began using the internet in 2000 while I was still in Tallahassee so he could email me, watch music videos on YouTube and get sports news from ESPN, long past the average age of people who use computers.

He even let me explain Twitter to him, and understood it enough that when I showed him I was quoted in a Sarah Talalay article eight days before he died, he laughed (because the quote was about his short height) and told me he was proud of me.

I miss him the most in the mornings on the way to work - I used to call him religious at 8am to talk about sports, life and whatever else was on his mind or mine.

In short, my dad was my role model and I always try to do everything for my children that he did for me.  I'm happy that my son had a great relationship with him and that he got to spend one year getting to play with my daughter.

Happy Birthday, Daddy. Enjoy the donut!

New Year's Resolutions

Once again, a few weeks go by, and I become entranced in updating what's going on in my life. Since last I wrote:

• I finally met my cousin Kenny's wife in person
• I attended a fun reunion of old high school friends at Howl at the Moon in Ft. Laud
  
• I saw the Seminoles win the Champs Sports Bowl in person in Orlando
• I saw the Seminoles defeat Western Kentucky in Basketball in person in Sunrise, where I grew up
• I saw Virginia Tech defeat Cinncinnati in person at the 2009 Orange Bowl, where I hung out with old friends Drew and Dave
• I saw a couple of great movies
• I had fun with Orange & Blue Donuts (which I never thought was possible)
• I went to a couple of birthday parties with Bailey and Riley
• I have yet to watch a complete NFL playoff game this season
• I have continued working hard at my rehab on my left achilles tendon

With so many things over the last few weeks, I decided to sit down tonight and talk about my 2009 resolutions:

1) I intend to update my blog on a more consistent basis. With so many crazy things going on in my life at different times, I should always take a moment for myself and write.

2) I want to keep my house more clean. It has been a battle for 4 1/2 years now and hopefully one we start winning this year.

3) I want to earn my APR certification in PR. I have belonged to PRSA for over 7 years now, and finally feel like I have time to commit to going for it. This is one of those personal achievements that I will be quite proud of when I can have those letters next to my name.

4) I want to spend more time seeing friends and fraternity brothers in person. Over the last month, I have already seen more people from the old days and current friends than I can ever remember, so my hope here is to keep doing what I'm doing.

5) I want my wife to know how proud I am of her for her dedication to going to the gym, which in turn has made me have to commit to waking up earlier to dress both kids long after she's gone in the morning. So far so good!

6) I want my rehab to be over soon, not because I don't like to go (my PT is a great guy and very funny), but because once I do that, I can start walking again (like I used to in Tallahassee), which will then hopefully spur me to follow my old eating ways rather than getting off course (which is easy to do when you're on your back for 3 weeks and unable to walk long distances for almost 3 months).

7) I want the Seminoles to beat the South Florida Bulls (my wife's alma mater) in September 2009, so she can't go on and on and on about it for three years (when they have their rematch in 2012).

8) I want to keep expanding my horizons with Social Media - A lightbulb went off in my head back in late-August and I have been fiercely active ever since. Twitter is my favorite and I want it to keep taking me to heights I never imagined.

9) I want to hold my emotions in check this August when Bailey starts Kindergarten on his first day of school. Boy, that will be quite a day. At least his mom will be down the hall!

10) Finally, I want to try and read one book a month. I have ALWAYS been a terrible reader. I would like to try to stick to this plan, so if anyone has any books they recommend that they think I would like, I'm all ears.

Happy 2009 to all!

Life is But a Tweet Away

Let me begin by saying I can't believe it's been over seven weeks since I last updated my blog. When I first started it, I fully intended to do it 2-3 times a week. However, between tearing my achilles tendon in mid-October and simply having other interests these days, I haven't found the time.

It's been quite an interesting year on many levels for me. I've had some rough patches but found a way to work through them. I feel more in control of things than ever before. I am not shy to voice my opinion and I've decided life is too short for games and drama.

I've got a beautiful wife who I first wrote to via http://www.jewishsinglesconnection.com/ (the predecessor to J-Date) on December 23, 1998, which means we have been together for 10 years now. She is my rock and my strength and I love her more than words can say. I'm trying hard to help keep the house clean and help more and more with things I used to put off.

We are fortunate to be blessed with two beautiful children - Bailey, our 4 1/2 year old son, and Riley, our daughter who turned one this past Sunday. They are both amazing children, and after so many difficulties trying to have both of the, we feel fortunate to be blessed with such wonderful kids.

My job at Tilson Communications is going well. I've been there for a little over 2 years and am enjoying the versatility of our clients. I am also speaking up a lot more and not shy when it comes to my opinion.

One discovery I made this year that has changed the way I approach everything is a micro-blogging service called Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/). In 140 characters, you tell people what you are doing, answer questions, and basically communicate with people of similar interests. I first discovered the service in late-August through a tele-seminar that I wasn't expecting to learn much from.

Then, a lightbulb went off. I immediately understood how great this service was. I saw it as a tool for personal and professional use. I try to integrate a little humor into my tweets whenever possible.

In almost four months' time, I have tweeted from events such as Dunkin' Donuts grand openings, Alan Snel's Tampa Bay Rays celebration ride, an FSU-Miami Football Game, Dania Jai-Alai, Pompano Park at The Isle Casino, an AC/DC Concert, the launch of @TrulyNolen on twitter, rehab appointments for my left ankle, and much more.

I have also discovered the power of people, as a Chicago-area PR professional named @PRSarahevans created a weekly group discussion at http://www.journchat.info/. Created as a way to bring PR professionals together with journalists to discuss relevant topics to each profession, it has caught on like wildfire and I have met so many great people over the last two weeks. In addition, I'm always taking the principles I learn in the discussions back to the office where I work and sharing with my great colleagues.

The way I have my Facebook account set up, my Twitter updates often reset my FB status. I have had friends make snide comments about the amount of updates I do.

You know what? If it makes ME happy, I'm not going to let others bring me down. If I want to tweet a set list from AC/DC, that's my choice. If my friends don't want to read it on FB, they can skip my page that day. If someone on Twitter doesn't like it, they can unfollow me.

So, fair warning to my Facebook friends - I'll be tweeting from our Nova High Class of 1990 (and other classes) reunion at Howl at the Moon this Friday night. Know why? Because I want to. Period.

Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas to all and too all a good night!

I Voted - You Should, Too!

Voting has always been one of the most important things to me in my life. Despite my torn achilles and despite certain-record crowds for the 2008 Presidential Election, my wife and I braved the long lines on November 1 and went to Parkland Library about 20 minutes north of us to early vote. Thanks to some very nice poll workers and people in line, we were able to vote quicker than expected and everyone in line seemed to be full of pride no matter who they were supporting, and didn't mind waiting for hours at a time to vote.

I have always taken my right to vote very seriously. I remember pre-registering to vote in High School right before I turned 18 and then my first ever large scale election was the governor's race in Florida between Bob Martinez and Lawton Chiles. I voted that election (and all of the elections while I attened college) by absentee ballot.

I always understood how important it was to vote. I think part of that was because I had such a great American Government teacher like Mr. Kenneth Bass in high school. He was by far one of the best teachers I ever had and I gained an appreciation for the fine art of politics back then. Heck, one of my classmates from that very class is now the mayor of Hollywood, Florida, so he apparently gained the same appreciation!

Being off my feet as I will be, I'm looking for newer ways to follow Election Day without feeling out of touch. The Palm Beach Post (which is teaming up with many other Florida newspapers in this respect) is going to have a live, interactive Twitter Map that day, available at http://www.palmbeachpost.com/, often as the main art of on the home page, at least until polls close and maybe longer.

Reporters and observers will be at all the polling places, watching for problems, and a reporter from the Post will be tweeting what they see and hear (such as: broken printer, fainting, count problem, legal challenge, etc.) Each tweet (from a special account called PBP_votes) will appear on the map, with a bubble pointing to where the problem or news report comes from. As I am a tweet-a-holic, I can't wait to see how this all works (along with the other goodies at http://www.twitter.com/ that day as well).

So remember, no matter who you are supporting (whether it's Fred Armisten and Jason Sudekis or Darrell Hammond and Tina Fey), vote on Tuesday, November 4. There may be no right as an American more important than this.

My Wife Doesn't Have to Dress Up on Halloween - She IS Wonder Woman!

I can't believe it's been five weeks since I last had some thoughts to type here. Half of that was because I was busy and the other half is because, for those who don't know, I tore my left achilles tendon on Friday October 17 and have been on bedrest ever since. My surgery to repair it was on Wednesday October 22 and I have a doctor's appointment later today to get fitted for a cast so I can hopefully start getting back into the swing of things. My boss was kind enough to lend me a laptop this week so I could start getting back into the swing of things little by little.

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My thanks to all of my friends from Twitter, Facebook, work life and real life (lol) who have continually checked in on me, who are praying for me, and who want to know if there's anything they can do to help. I appreciate all the sentiments and am so glad I have such great friends and so many people who care about me and my well-being.

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That being said, I don't need anything. Want to know why? Because MY WIFE IS WONDER WOMAN:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SOtH1MNXtQ&feature=related

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She has somehow managed to A) Get both kids ready for school (something I usually do), B) Leave me lunch by the side of our bed so I don't starve, C) Drop off the kids in the morning (something I usually do), D) Go to school to teach her 4th grade Rugrats, E) Check on me during the day, F) Pick up Both kids, G) Come home and work on the house (something I help out with) while I spend time watching tv with the kids, H) Make dinner for all of us, I) Bathe the kids (something I normally do), J) Dress them for bed (something i normally do), and K) Tuck the kids in for bed (something I normally do).

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How she is doing all of this with a chipper outlook and no complaints, I'll never know. I truly married a special woman. I always knew that. I just didn't know that I married Wonder Woman.

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So honey, in case I haven't said it enough...I love you more than words can say. You mean the world to me. Just tell me WHY you've kept this secret identity hidden for so many years!