Business School
In the Summer of 2005 I decided to finish what I had started 20 years earlier and re-enrolled at the University of Southern Maine School of Business. Although my concentration is in marketing, I am taking a number of upper level finance, accounting, and data management courses and will graduate with over 150 credits. I'll be done with my BS in Spring of 2007 and plan to pursue an executive MBA the following Fall.
In the Spring 2006 semester I led a group of upper-classmen in a Marketing practicum working with JWT, and New England Ford dealers to develop a marketing campaign for the new Ford Fusion. We started by building and branding an agency we called XLR8 Marketing. Over the course of the semester we conducted exhaustive market research, held three promotional events, and pitched a national advertising campaign to the client.
Jadeen
On February of 2002 I somehow convinced the lovely Jadeen Soo to marry me. A couple of days later - during her lunch break - we went to city hall and tied the knot. I was able to get her back to work on time even after splurging for a wedding feast at Taco Bell. (... no really!)
In October we got away for ten days in London and Mecca (Dublin). In London we were guided and entertained by my exceedingly able 72 year old godmother, Maggie. Our visit included a tour of the Tate Modern, a walk past the Millenium Wheel, St Paul's Cathedral, the mandatory stroll through Hyde Park (at the same time as a MASSIVE anti-war protest! - great to be an American in London) past Buckingham Palace, and on to Parliament Square. We managed a couple of day trips; one, a visit to my Aunt Jo in Sevenoaks, where we had lunch at a proper pub and a walk in the countryside. The other day trip was to Oxford where we had a guided tour of Maggie's alma mater (where she and my mother roomed together on a houseboat). We toured Christ Church Cathedral, ate lunch (fish-n-chips of course) at a very old and haunted pub called The Bear (about the size of my living room ... which is very small), punted the River Cherwell, walked through the ruins of a monastery, and had a pint or two at a place called the Trout.
In Dublin our personal tour guide was my friend, mentor, former landlord, and Dubliner, Jack Sullivan (he's Irish). Jack was able to get my mind off Guinness long enough to show us Trinity College whose library contains 4.25 million volumes, thirty thousand current serials, significant holdings of maps and music and an extensive collection of manuscripts, the most famous being The Book of Kells. We saw two plays including the travelling Steppenwolf Theatre Company's rendition of Glengarry Glen Ross - the irony of it all - we travel from Chicago to Dublin to see a Chicago company doing a play set in Chicago. The second play on the following night was in Japanese which gave us all an opportunity to catch up on our sleep.
The next day though, we took a fantastic drive through the country to meet seven of Jacks twelve kids. We stopped along the way in Glandalough to grab a bite to eat and pay tribute at the Church of Saint Kevin.
Of course a trip to Dublin would not be complete without a tour of the Guinness Brewery. The tour ended with a free sample atop the brewery in a round room lined with only windows - a fantastic way to see the city!
Click here for more pics of Simon and Jadeen's 2002 European tour.