Aaron checks in

I’m not sure how it’s already been two weeks since our last post, but it’s my turn on our rotation for introductions.

My name is Aaron Babcock and I live in Lincoln, Nebraska where I am the Communications Coordinator for Lincoln Public Schools, a position I’ve held for the past year. My job consists of promoting the staff and students for the school district, which includes six high schools, 10 middle schools, 36 elementary schools and a total of 33,000 students.

This is my first venture in education, but my background has always been public relations and communications. However, prior to joining Lincoln Public Schools, I had always worked in athletics.

I began my career in athletics by working as an assistant in the sports information office at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. After graduation in 1996, I worked as the Sports Information Director until 1998. I then worked as an assistant in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Sports Information Office for the next three years.

Despite being a huge fan of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, I left in 2000 to take a job as the Director Public Relations for the Kansas City Royals baseball team.

One of the great things about working in professional athletics is making road trips all over the country and seeing great cities and stadiums. However, one of the bad things is all that travel keeps you from home. So after spending 160-plus days a year away from home, my wife, Kim, and I decided to return to Lincoln last November.

I stay busy in my free time as the owner of my own marketing company – Barnstorm Creative Marketing. This has allowed me to stay involved in athletics by producing publications for the New York Yankees and the Husker Sports Network. I also work as a statistician for all University of Nebraska basketball home games.

I’m a huge fan of Nebraska football and the Seattle Seahawks. When I’m not working, I can usually be found watching sports (especially football), watching movies or surfing the Internet. In case you’re wondering, some of my favorite movies include the Bourne Identity, Bourne Ultimatum, Italian Job and Moulin Rouge. I’m always up for old black and white movies as well. As if I don’t have enough to keep me busy, I love doing photography and can’t wait to shoot the sights in Australia.

While I’ve made my home in the Midwest, I am actually a native of Auburn, Washington, which is a city 30 miles south of Seattle (and almost 2,000 miles from Lincoln). So I always enjoy trips home to visit the family and see the mountains. While Kim and I don’t have kids, we do have a spoiled rotten dog, Rusty.

I’m counting the days until we arrive in Australia. I know we’re going to have a great experience and make some great friends!

Aaron

P.S. - I’ll be the clown trying to keep this blog on track the next several months, so visit it frequently and say hello by posting comments, so we know you care

Where are we going?

I’ve created a google map that will show some of the places that we are tentatively scheduled to see. Just click on the map and you can zoom in and check out the great cities!

Meet Jen

Okay…since Christine was bold enough to make the first team member entry, I guess I can follow it up. Here’s a little background on me…I’m originally from Nashua, a small town in Iowa and am the youngest of 4 children. Between my two brothers and sister, I have 7 nieces and nephews. I landed in Omaha, Nebraska 14-plus years ago to attend Creighton University and enjoyed Omaha so much that I stayed. I’ve worked at First National Bank of Omaha for almost 13 years (yikes that’s a long time!) in various roles ranging from working the teller line to assisting Commercial Lenders to managing a portfolio of large national merchant clients. I currently work in the credit card processing division, First National Merchant Solutions, where I manage the Value-Added Relationship Channel in our Product Development area. What the heck does that mean? In a nutshell, I work with third-party software vendors who sell point-of-sale products to businesses who wish to accept credit card payments. It is a challenging sales/relationship management role which keeps me very busy.

Outside of work, I have lots of interests. I LOVE going to movies…one can usually find me at the theatre on the weekends…I just saw American Gangster - fantastic flick! I’m addicted to television…shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty, October Road, Women’s Murder Club…and yes, I’ll admit that I’m a huge reality TV junkie…Amazing Race, Survivor, Project Runway, Top Chef, Dancing With The Stars and The Bachelor are some of my favorites (honestly, I could go on). I promise I don’t spend all of my free time watching TV - although my family/friends may beg to differ.

I also love all kinds of sports especially College Football (yes I still have hope for the Huskers next season) and I enjoy outdoor activities such as hiking and biking. I like to read…authors I enjoy include Patricia Cornwell, David Baldacci and James Patterson and the next book on my list is The Kite Runner.

I enjoy traveling just about anywhere…my recent travels have taken me to Canada, Florida and Texas and to visit family in Salt Lake City, Utah. I’m looking forward to a trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in January with my boyfriend, George. I just learned to swim so we’ll see if I actually get in the water! I enjoy a glass of wine, every now and then, and also catching up with friends over dinner. Good grief…I should stop now, otherwise I won’t have anything to write about next time!!! I’m very excited to be a part of this GSE team…I think we’re going to have a fantastic experience together!! I was trying to think of a witty, original sign off…but decided to steal this one from a friend instead…I think it’s appropriate for the GSE concept.

~ Peace, Love & Understanding…

Jen

Mmmmmm, Marmite

Monday was a great night here in Lincoln! Our GSE team got together for an evening of free pizza, drinks, entertainment, and….. oh that’s right, we actually did some work too. Joyce and Bill Schmeeckle hosted us at their beautiful house here in Lincoln. I think everyone will agree that Joyce is the brains behind the scenes of this whole operation. She does all the hard work to get us prepared for the trip, but doesn’t get the reward of making the trip. Thanks Joyce! I know we’ll owe you big time by the time this trip is over. 

The highlight of the night was hanging with three members of the 2007 GSE Sweden team (check out their blog) - Joe Roberts (last year’s team leader), Kristi Nohavec and Eric Drumheller. Their stories of the excellent Swedish hospitality had us ready to hop on the plane.  They also had us in stitches with some of their hilarious stories.  One recurring theme from meetings is that this is going to be one fun group! Our fearless team leader, Judy Peschio (maybe she’s our fearful team leader after spending time with us), is going to be the perfect person to manage this goofy group.   

We capped off the night with a little Aussie flavor - literally. After telling stories of the Vegemite my Australian exchange student brought when I was in high school, the group decided they had to try it.Only thing is, you can’t buy Vegemite in the state. So they got Marmite, instead. It’s basically yeast extract, combined with carrot and onion extract. And yes, it tasted as good as it sounds. We’ll all get together as a group in January, but we’ll keep introducing members of our group in the mean time. 

Aaron   

Introducing Christine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Aaron asked each of us to write a little something to introduce ourselves, I did what any mature, independent, confident woman would do…I waited for one of my teammates to be the first to step up. Well, that obviously didn’t happen, so allow me to throw myself out there. (I’d also like to apologize now for babbling. I can be a Chatty-Cathy, even when typing.)

I work and live in Omaha, Nebraska. I am an academic advisor for University College at Creighton University, a Jesuit Catholic University in Omaha. I work for the adult and continuing education department, so my students are primarily adults and high school students. I am fortunate to have a job with lots of variety (everything from marketing and recruiting to advising and curriculum planning). Bored, I am not.

I live with my husband, Dan, and our 16-year-old daughter, Alexa, whom I credit with leading me to this GSE opportunity. Alexa was applying to the Rotary Youth Exchange program for the 2008-2009 academic year (ironic that Australia will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary when I’m visiting, no?!) when we just happened upon the information about GSE on the Rotary website. Two months ago, my family knew next to nothing about Rotary and now we’re all about Rotary, all the way!

I have lots of interests and hobbies, including reading (everything from Cooks Illustrated to Rumi), yoga (when I manage to squeeze it into my hectic life), food and wine (of all ethnicities and varieties), festivals (music, ethnic and everything in between) and cultural events. I’m equally content dining on linens and Waterford as I am with kicking back a beer with a basket of fries. 

I sometimes laugh too much, talk to loud and think I’m one of the funniest people I know. My day-to-day life is packed with schedules, to-do lists and all sorts of activities (Alexa and I are very busy girls). So, when I travel I tend to be very “go with the flow”. The fact that I’m leaving for Australia at the end of February hasn’t totally sunk in yet.

Next Monday, we’re meeting with the GSE Sweden team. I’m pretty sure that after that meeting, I’ll be super-psyched about this GSE trip to RD9800.

Better end this entry. I’m rambling. So, team…who’s steppin’ up next?

 

Christine Billings