About 13 hours from now...

...I will be boarding a plane! WOW...time sure does fly!!

I had an awesome day yesterday, as I traveled to the PAC-12 offices and PAC-12 Network. I had the chance to meet/visit with Dustin Rocke, and I concluded my day with a "going away" dinner courtesy of Olson.

I cleaned out the townhouse, turned in my keys, and departed Treasure Island!

I am now in Redwood City with all of my luggage, etc. I will travel to SFO from here. I will go out for one more scrumptious meal tonight with my brother and cousins in Half Moon Bay, before heading to the airport. It has been a wonderful experience here, and I look forward to seeing you all soon!

Thanks for reading!!

Dan

The descent begins...

 It is all winding down!

I have completed my last big project for one of the clients, I have said my goodbyes to the Embarcadero YMCA, I have worn out the path to FedEx, and I am starting to get repeated nightmares of how I will fit everything I brought (and bought) into my suitcase.

My final physical work day at the office is today (Wednesday) as the office will be empty for a conference the next two days. I will having some meetings of my own during that two-day span. I am having lunch with Pac-12 folks on Thursday, followed by a "going away dinner" that night with an Olson group, and then a dinner on Friday night before I board the plane at 10:45 p.m. (at least I think that is the departure time...better check that one out).

This mentorship has been fantastic and it has taught me a lot. I have many, many stories to share when I return home. I look forward to seeing all of you, and my wallet is looking forward to seeing Illinois prices!! :)

Short post to catch you up on my adventure. Hope everyone is staying cool back there, it sounds like out state has become an inferno.

Thanks for reading!!

Dan

Great Weekend

My last weekend in California (wow...) was great!

I met up with a gentlemen named Matthew Ridenour on Friday night. Matt is a gentleman I met via Katie Rowen. Katie's mentor from her first mentorship at the Reagan Library is friends with Matt, so I became connected with him through a chain of emails! We visited and ate Fish tacos on Polk Street (cool area).

I then traveled to Redwood City on Saturday. I took a nice run through the mountains and had the opportunity to have dinner with one of my brother's friends from Stanford. It was very nice to meet this individual, and the meal was fantastic! On Sunday, I relaxed and ate dinner at the Fish Market (which is a San Francisco treat).

I am now down to a mere five days (counting today) in San Francisco. Holy smokes, folks! Time sure does fly. I hope all is well with each of you, and I will back to the sweltering heat of Central IL soon enough!! (Pray for rain!)

As always, thanks for reading!!

Dan

Short Post

Not too much to report from today. Came straight home after work and took a nap. All this hustle and bustle has given me a bit of a head cold. Thank goodness for Zycam...great stuff!! Feeling better already. Except for the fact that I woke up from my nap and looked at the score of the NBA Finals game. LeBron finally got his ring...

In more important news, work was fine today. One of my last projects is producing an on-going media coverage list for one of the firm's clients, so I started creating the list today. It will take a couple days to finish the project, but it is a good way to stay busy.

My last weekend in California is here...wow. Hard to believe. But, it has been an awesome time! I look forward to seeing family and friends at home soon. That is all for tonight.

Thanks for reading!!

Dan

Meetings Confirmed

Yesterday at the office was much more relaxed than any day had been for the previous week. I worked on finishing a couple projects that have been getting pieced-together over time, and I finished all my work by early afternoon.

My normal afternoon routine concluded with me getting back to the townhouse around dinner time. After fixing up a gourmet turkey and cheese sandwich, I went to bed early! The sleep felt great!

The big news from yesterday, though, was confirming meeting times with some contacts outside of the Olson office. I will have lunch with Dustin Rocke from the PAC-12 Network next Thursday, and he has offered to show me around/introduce me to people at the PAC-12 offices. For those of you wondering, Dustin is a cousin to current Eureka professor Holly Rocke. On top of that, I will either be having dinner tonight or next Wednesday night with Praag Marathe, who was the General Manager of the San Francisco 49ers but has now been promoted (he's only about 31 or 32) to Chief Operating Officer of the 49ers. This is a huge connection to make, as Praag has done extremely well as an NFL Executive, especially at his young age.

My lunch with the Director of Communications for the 49ers, Dan Beckler, fell through. He was wanting to meet up at some point this month, but mini-camp followed by an unexpected trip to Wichita, Kansas, has prevented us from getting together. However, he is eager to stay in touch and even went as far as to offer a possible year-long internship with the communications staff after graduation...I will definitely keep in touch with him.

My "going away" dinner will take place next Thursday night with my mentor. No place has been selected yet, but there are a few possibilities in this tiny village!! :)

It is hard to believe that I have 8 days left in California. The weather here is unreal. The sites are beautiful. Did I mention it is 75 and sunny EVERY DAY? And, the sites are beautiful. But, the best part is the 75 degree weather and SUNSHINE EVERY DAY!!!!

That is all for now. I hope all is well with each of you, and I will be in touch soon.

Thanks for reading!!

Dan

I'm Alive!!

Hi, everybody!! I'm still alive, no worries!! I'm just having too much fun to type!! Wow do I have a lot to catch you up on!! Here we go...

Last week at the office was absolutely wild. With the two full-timers out of the office for a day, I was completely alone while pumping out "briefing documents" for clients who had interviews, etc. coming up. It was lonely in there...and eerily quiet...Dr. T, I have a new appreciation for the type of work that is done in PR!! I also worked on many minor projects, and made my daily treks to FedEx to ship client packages. It was plenty to keep my plate full.

Outside of the office, I never sat down. Between working out and sleeping, I smashed as many possible things into a week as you possibly can.

In this past week, I have:

-Eaten dinner with my brother at  5-star steakhouse.
-Attended Beach Blanket Babylon, which is a long-standing San Francisco show. The musical director is my cousin (on my mom's side), Bill Keck. Bill got me and my brother Producer's seats for the performance, and it was spectacular! A must-see if you are in San Francisco!!
-Been to Redwood City for a cookout where my brother lives with some of our relatives.
-Been to Napa Valley for a second time with my brother and another friend of his from college.
-Drove down Route 1 (which is stunningly beautiful!) to Monterey and had a fantastic dinner!!
-Laid on a beach in a cove next to the ocean.
-Gotten slightly sunburnt.
-Been to Fisherman's Wharf/Pier 39.
-Took a Ferry to Sosalito and ate lunch.
-Watched an NBA Finals game while having dinner at the Royal Exchange (Excellent place! Good prices!)
-Toured areas of San Francisco that I have not yet seen (Mission District, SOMA, etc.)

From the above, you can see that I have hardly sat down. As I lay my head down on this pillow, I am thinking about all the fun I have had. This trip has been a blast, and it is really hard to believe that I am only in town until next Friday.

However, I wouldn't want to miss out on anything. So, I am close to locking a time down with Dustin Rocke to connect with the Pac-12 offices, and I have a dinner scheduled for next Wednesday night with the Chief Operating Officer of the San Francisco 49ers. Plus, I am working out a time next week to meet with the head of the 49ers Communication Staff.

Throw in a dinner with two very close friends of my brothers on Monday night, a "going away" dinner with my mentor next week, plus somehow repacking my suitcase, and I will continue on my wild ride in California!!

Did I mention that thousands of people are coming to town this weekend and next for the Pride march? The public transit will be insane!!

I hope this catches all of you up on my adventure. Thanks for reading, and I look forward to sharing more in-depth stories upon my return home.

Dan

Busy Bee

I knew this was going to be a busy week, but I highly underestimated just how busy it was actually going to be. Monday I spent finishing up a project from last week, doing more "pitching" for an Old Navy promotion this weekend, and preparing for what I thought was a dinner engagement on Tuesday night. That meant I needed to do laundry and get things done on Monday at the townhouse, cause I was too lazy/too busy to wash my clothes this past weekend.

So, I left work in a hurry, but my dinner engagement on Tuesday with a 49ers executive got postponed, so I now have tonight open and am doing all the tidying up of the townhouse. Instead of completing these tasks yesterday, a cousin on my mom's side of the family was in town from San Diego so I met her for dinner. That eliminated any productivity on having clean clothes, but it was great to catch up with her!

Today at the office was insane. But, I successfully cranked out most of the material I was supposed to, and I don't think I did a real bad job doing it. I am definitely learning the ropes of PR and the wild type of work that go along with certain accounts.

All in all, it has been a crazy busy past two days. The rest of week will only continue that way. If the blog posts are slow coming this week, you now know why. The alarm on my dryer just sounded, so I have to go take some clothes out! I hope you all are having a good week, and I will post again soon!

Thanks for reading!!

Dan

P.S.- All is well with the world!! THE THUNDER BEAT THE HEAT IN GAME ONE!!!! HALLELUJAH!!!!

Weekend #2

Saturday, I did not do much of anything. I relaxed around the townhouse, caught up on sleep, and I read up on some Graduate School exam tips. I did, however, make a trip to California Pizza Kitchen that night.  I have not been recommended to the establishment by any locals in the city, but I discovered the heavenly joint via a phone conversation with my girlfriend. I spent a couple hours at the restaurant, because my table was directly in front of a big screen television showing Game 7 of the Celtics/Heat series. Unfortunately, Lebron's team won...

On Sunday, I got up early and cleaned up. My brother, three of his friends, and I headed to Napa Valley for the day. We stopped in Sausalito, which is the first town north of the Golden Gate Bridge, for lunch! Then, we made our way into the valley. The place is magnificent! Amazing views and amazing wine! We then concluded our adventure with dinner in San Francisco. It was a great trip, and I really enjoyed spending time with my brother and his friends.

This is going to be a very busy week ahead. I will post later on to update you on today's happenings, and I look forward to continued sharing of my experiences!

Thanks for reading!!

Dan

Clutch Performance

For the second time this trip, StubHub has been absolutely CLUTCH!! I am headed to the 7:15 p.m. (California time) game between the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants. For those of you keeping track, this is my third Giants game so far. However, the best part is I have spent a whopping $38 on three tickets...yea, $19 for the Memorial Day game, $11 for the game last Friday, and $8 for tonight. AND, the Houston Astros (yes, I know they are worse than the Cubs) will be in town in a week and half...StubHub tickets currently going for $1.50...uhhhh...that's awesome.

At work today, I got assigned a project that was extremely time consuming,  but made me finally feel like I could successfully do something without a lot of direction. I researched a BIG list of reporters and media outlets for a conference coming up in New York. Our firm wants to meet and talk with the people who are most likely to publicize one of our clients (Dropcam), therefore my job was to help "weed-through" the mass list of media members and find ones that are appropriate for Dropcam. I should have the project finished by Monday. It is a big project, but I am enjoying it!

After work, I ventured to the YMCA for another nice workout, and I am now back at the island getting ready to go eat/go to the game.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for reading!!

Dan

P.S.- For all you Eureka readers, Kaurie Lindenmeyer (Class of '10) has just recently been hired as the Arcola High School volleyball coach! Congrats to Kaurie! That is where she grew up, and the school is in my home conference (Little Okaw). I don't know if that news had traveled to Eureka yet, but I wanted to share it. On a side note, I am super-bummed that "I'll Have Another" is a scratch for tomorrow's Belmont Stakes. Horse racing REALLY needs a Triple Crown winner!! Anyway, welcome to the weekend!!

Writing to Reading

Yesterday I wrote a true blog post. Today, I read a boatload of them. My task for the day was to read up on potential bloggers/media outlets where one of the firm's clients could be marketed. The information I found was submitted in a Google Document, and it will be used for increased promotion of the client's products.

Aside from my mass researching project, I made a FedEx run and completed some minor projects that were emailed to me from other Olson offices.

After work, I stuck to my regime of walk to YMCA, run, bike, sit in the sauna, sit in the hot tub, swim, shower, and walk to the bus stop.

I came back to the island, ate a little food, and now I am headed to bed.

Tomorrow is FRIDAY!!!! I am excited for my second weekend in the city, and I have yet to decide what I will do. I am thinking maybe a movie theater trip tomorrow, followed by Pier 39 on Saturday. I do know that on Sunday I will be meeting up with my brother and a few of his friends for a trip to good ole Napa Valley! I heard they have a splendid selection of grapes there.

Enjoy your final day of the work week, have a great start to your weekend, and thanks for reading!!

Dan

Read This One

If you normally skim my posts, I would suggest taking some time to read this one.

First, I will update you on my day. I worked closely with Brittany from the office today to help "pitch" a promotion for one of the firm's clients. This was first experience with "pitching", so I definitely learned a lot there. And, I will learn a lot more as the process continues. While that project took up a majority of my day, I also helped my mentor learn and understand an application I downloaded onto the iPad for use with one of our clients. The day flew by, but it was very productive!

After work, I headed over to the YMCA and ran 1.5 miles, biked 4.0 miles, lifted, sat in the steam room for 10 minutes, sat in the hot tub for 10 minutes, and swam for 20 minutes. My body feels great!!

I am now back at the island, and I am pretty tired. I will be heading to bed early tonight!

Now, here is the part of this post that is completely opinionated, uncensored, "juicy", and straight from Dan's mouth. Rather than re-type a rant I wrote on my lunch break today, let me share with you contents from a Facebook post I sent while devouring a Subway sandwich. I copied and pasted these words directly from my page:

Probably my LAST POST for a long time:

I have become increasingly disgusted with the news lately. I am finally to the point where I have boiled over. One former Facebook executive just recently gave up his citizenship in order to avoid taxation. Another current Facebook executive is being sued for insider trading on the Facebook stock that just recently went public and has been nothing short of a disaster. Also, Facebook has become wildly commercialized. Remember when only college kids were allowed to join this site?

Moving on, I have a story to share. Sitting on a bus the other day listening to a woman talking very loudly on the phone, I heard her tell the caller:

"So, Sarah talked to me this morning. That baby she just had, yea, she told me it was my husband's. Yea, can you believe that? So, I'm going to have to go home and talk to him. I'm thinking maybe we should do a DNA test or something...but yea, don't worry I de-friended her on Facebook this afternoon."

That example right there about made me fall off my bus seat. What has our society come to? Does Facebook control our everyday conversations and our lives?

It is time for a break. At least for this guy. Nothing against anyone reading this. Or against social media in general. I study and work with media everyday. I love how effective social media can really be, but WE have created a monster with Facebook. However, I doubt anything will truly change. This monster wasn't created overnight, and I doubt it will be fixed for a long time (maybe ever).

If you need to reach me: Email me, Tweet me, Text me, or (I know this is crazy) CALL me.

At the end of this week, I am shutting Facebook down for a while. If you are still reading, I thank you for your time. I may come back to Facebook down the road. Otherwise, I'll stick with Twitter, Linked In, and other social media outlets that I feel are better.

It is true, I am shutting down my Facebook. Quite frankly, I am excited to be doing that. I do not intend for this post to offend anyone or upset anyone, I am merely expressing my opinion. I disagree with things that are going on, and I have made the decision to personally change something.

I would love to hear YOUR thoughts on the subject! Please feel free to leave a comment below, or you can email me at dbolsen@gmail.com...or tweet me @Dan_Bolsen44...or find me on LinkedIn.

Today's post was a TRUE blogger entry. I hope you enjoyed it.


Thanks for reading!!

Dan

Another Day at the Office!

Not to much to report today! I worked on gathering media information and writing website reviews at the office, while also spending a majority of my day getting a newly-shipped iPad set-up with presentations for one of the clients. After work, I headed over to my second home (the YMCA) and worked out.

I then came back to the island, made a few phone calls, and now I am going to catch some quality shut-eye.

A regular day with not too much newsworthiness in terms of craziness. Nothing as comparable as my monumental discovery yesterday!

Thanks for reading!!

Dan

It Was Beautiful...

I'm going to start this post with a story from lunch. I mean, is lunch not one of the most important aspects of a work day? Anyway, I was sent on an errand for some Staples printer paper and a FedEx dropoff. I have dropped packages off at FedEx before, but I have never ventured another couple blocks down California Street to the Staples location. It was nearing lunchtime, so I figured I would grab some food if I got the chance or I would just go for lunch when I got back to the office.

After dropping off the FedEx package, I headed towards Staples. As I approached one of the intersections, I looked to the left and saw nothing approaching (probably because it is a one-way street from right to left...), and then I looked to the right. That is when it happened. What to my wondering eyes did appear? But, two golden arches very, very near!

That's right, folks. No more two-hour weekend excursions for this guy. I found a McDonald's in the heart of the city!! Yea, buddy. I devoured a gourmet meal from the land of the golden arches, and I loved every moment of it.

As for what I did that was actually important today, I compiled a Google Doc of "closing dates" for upcoming magazine deadlines that some clients of the firm will be needing. It requires a lot of searching on a lot of websites, but the work is generally pretty easy (unless a magazine forces you to email them to get their media kit). I also sat in on a conference call with the office in Chicago.

After work, I headed to the YMCA. I got a great workout in, but I also ended up being there for four and a half hours...

You see, in the city, there are a lot of people who like to play basketball. Well, I have just recently started playing in the pick-up games, but I got on a "stacked" team today. We didn't lose for an hour and a half, but the five of us were about to faint. So, we lost (almost on purpose) and went home!

That is all for today. I hope you are enjoying my blog. Shoutout to Matt in Chicago Olson office if you are still reading. :) Your viewership of this blog is truly inspiring.

Thanks for reading, everyone!!

Dan

Weekend #1

With Wes being gone to Dallas for a wedding, I took advantage of this first weekend to RELAX! After attending the baseball game on Friday night, I spent most of Saturday at the townhouse before heading to the YMCA to workout/play basketball. I came back to the island to eat at the house, then I layed down for a "power-nap" before trying to figure out what I was going to do for the evening.

Getting up two hours later meant that no major events were going to occur last night. I was extremely hungry, and I was craving some McDonald's Chicken Nuggets. There are only a few McDonald's that are relatively close in the city, so I set out on a two-hour journey that was extremely eye-opening (interesting people out at night time in a big city). I successfully found an amazing, 24-hour McDonald's. That concluded a perfect Saturday night.

Today has been the height of laziness. I have done laundry, cleaned, washed dishes, and watched sports highlights online (I do not have a TV). But, I have also caught up on some much-needed sleep. The time change is finally starting to adjust with me, but there is not a single day that I am not awake by 6:30.

 This next week at the office ought to be very busy. There are several important releases and events with clients, and I am looking forward to getting a first-hand look at how the firm deals with the hectic schedule.

I am also in the process of locking down dates and times for meetings/dinners with the Pac-12 Conference and the San Francisco 49ers. I will definitely share more of those details as they roll in! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!

Thanks for reading!!

Dan

Wake up, wake up, it's the first of the month!!

Friday at the office was pretty busy. I wrote some summaries of client articles that have appeared in various publications, ran some FedEx errands, sat in a conference call, and got prepped on a project that I will be working on next week.

A lot of exciting things are going on at the firm, and I definitely here at a busy time! But, I am enjoying every minute of it.

After work, I headed over to the YMCA and got a great workout in. I came back to the island, changed clothes, and I went back into the city for the evening.

I ate a restaurant across from AT&T Park, then I attended the Cubs/Giants game at 7:15 local time.

The Cubs made it very interesting in the ninth inning, but the Cubs lost.

I then headed back to the island for some much needed shut-eye.

Saturday, I  am  going to relax and clean a little bit, do some laundry, and then I will probably go work out at the YMCA.

Thanks for reading!!  If you have any questions, please feel free to post a comment below or  email me!!

Dan