X Marks The Spot

For those of you who enjoy the occasional online FREE game (my personal favorite kind), here is a cool site to check out, courtesy of my resourceful buddy Jared. (Thanks, J - you always find the most clever game Web sites!)

Animax Tic-Tac-Toe

Enjoy, everybody...and good luck!

Arriving Friday at a Circuit City Near You (If You Live In Tampa)

Look for me, look for me, look for me!

Available at Circuit City Verizon Wireless dealers in the Tampa Bay area as of today for free... and help keep Cankuhn employed.

Your faithful servant---and copywriter,

C. Kuhn

P.S. Will write for food.

Ready to Gobble Gobble?

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.
I've been watching the Macy's Parade all morning, as is tradition for me, but it just doesn't feel like Thanksgiving right now. There are no nice smells winding through the house. I have just two side dishes to make and won't begin working on them for another 15 minutes or so. We're headed to our son and daughter-in-law's place for the holidays later this afternoon.

I have to go to work tomorrow, so even though I'm off work today, I still haven't gotten out of my mind what I absolutely have to get done tomorrow. So this holiday doesn't really feel like a holiday. Instead, more like I'm playing hooky. Oh well...

I do hope all of my buds and family in various corners of the country are having an awesome day. Load up on the sides - turkey's highly overrated!

Seriously, I am thankful for all of you. Thanks for being a friend to me and may you and your family have a peaceful holiday and enjoy spending the day together.

Take care.

One Final Buc Chat

Look who I got to meet today? Okay, well, it was by phone, but still it was a great experience.

Tampa Bay Bucs guard Davin Joseph.

What a nice guy! And you've just gotta love the hair. (No, I didn't ask him about that. Too predictable...)

He was officially my final Bucs interview for the season. Sigh. It sure was a blast. His Fanatical Access issue with Barrett Ruud on the cover will come out Friday, Dec. 14.

This job sure has been fun. I can only hope for more cool writing opportunities in 2008. And a job, of course.

New Horizons?

I made a big decision earlier this month but haven't talked about it here yet.

About six years ago, I launched my own business - a freelance marketing communications business. You know, 'come to me, folks, for your brochures, business cards, Web site content, etc.' It was a good idea, but it was not the kind of thing I could really launch successfully without investing more time and money than I could. I'm not prepared or willing to give up a full-time gig (and its benefits) to go freelance 24/7. If I'm forced to due to unemployment, that's a whole other story. But for right now, nope. Not going to do it.

The problem with marketing communications jobs is that they involve a lot of back and forth communications with customers and far too many steps to complete a project. A person working a full-time job in addition to this work either has no personal life whatsoever or can't really do as good a job as necessary for either.

So, I made an effort - did a few jobs - had a few steady clients but then, effective last year, I closed up shop.

I'm exploring a different avenue now.

My work at the Tribune has shifted into producing more editorial content than I ever have done. It's been wonderful, and really allowed me to get my feet wet in new waters. It's also helped me to build up that portfolio. So now I have a mission.

I'm launching a part-time freelance writing gig. Nothing formal, no clever names. I am busy at work setting up some good pages to demonstrate my writing skills and variety of work I've done. I'm going to bid primarily on jobs involving interviews, research and general copy writing, more so than marketing communications.

I've found a few sources for these job listings online and I think once I can establish some good connections and show what I can do, I'll probably get some repeat customers.

It's exciting and a little scary, putting myself out there like that. I don't really know how the freelance writing biz works and definitely have my homework ahead of me. But I've discovered what I enjoy doing more than anything else, and that is interviewing people, hearing their story and telling it. If I can find a way to do that for a living (or even part-time basis), I may have found my calling. At least I hope so.

Only took 37 years.

Not bad.

Time To Catch Up

Okay, I'll take the blame. I sorta - gulp - forget about you.

No, not about you personally but let's just say I've had a lot going on in the Kuhn household to catch up on since the big anniversary adventure earlier this month. And with many holidays on the way, I'm in full throttle mode preparing for all of those, too. Sigh. What a tiring time of year.

We're less than a week away from holiday numero uno, Thanksgiving - so what's been happening? Well, let's recap.

1. Locally, crazy parents stood in the cold, dirty downtown Tampa streets to win Hannah Montana concert tickets for their kids. (Yeah, clearly the unemployment rate has grown considerably for people to have the time to spend days and days hanging out by a big gaudy statue.)
   
   
2. Katie Couric did a no-no. Yeah, she's as vain as the next national news anchor, even as much as her predecessor. (Are we supposed to be shocked by this?)
   
   
   
3. The Bucs won. The Bulls won. The Bolts continue to win. Heck, even the Noles won. It's a happy day in the Kuhn house.
   
   
4. The writers are on strike. Well, not me or my buds but the TV scribers who actually make a bountiful living from their craft yet that's still not enough. More, more, more...they must have more, and my wonderful late-night TV hosts, favorite soaps and Jack Bauer are the victims! Damn those writers!
   
   
5. My Bucs interviews continued and I got to talk with tackling phenom Barrett Ruud (linebacker). I still have a story to write and this cover boy won't hit Circuit City dealers until the final issue run date - December 14 - but it was a real treat to talk to him. The best way I can describe him is as an old soul in a young dude.

I guess I have no choice but to keep up with the world, even if I'm often spinning in circles these days. And buy lots of Dramamine.

Waterworld on Parker Street

Today the oldest building at the Tampa Tribune entered the 21st century.

Behold the water fountain of the future.

Oooh, aaahhh.

I especially like the big cords hanging out in the back and the way it stands out from the wall about a foot so we can't help but notice it (and trip over it).

Aah, progress.

What A Weekend!

I would have kept up with my blogging this weekend if I could but it was a pretty busy time. Starting with Larry and I celebrating our 10th anniversary aboard the very ship we got married on ten years earlier.

Mom and Dad and the kids and their ladies treated us to dinner, loud music (VERY loud sometimes...) and a chance to think back to our very special day in our lives.

Friday, we began our little weekend jaunt over to Kissimmee where we started off the celebration with some very muddy and HORRIBLE golf at Kissimmee Oaks Golf Club. In spite of the bad scores and mud-covered calves, shoes and everything else, it was just nice to be together. And we were after all, not working.

That night, we hit the gift stores to shop for some wonderfully tacky and pointless souvenirs and when we returned to the hotel, cracked open the time capsule sealed up back in 1998, at the end of our first year of marriage. Going through old magazines, movie stubs and letters and cards from the past was a hoot.

By Saturday, it was off to Disney and the Magic Kingdom. I will never grow up and I will never grow tired of this place. Can you tell?

And in the evening, we checked out nearby Old Town jam-packed with entertainment that we would never seek out on our own time (cruiser competitions, bullriding, lots of smokers and drinkers, oh boy) but we were on a vacation and that's all that really mattered.

On Sunday, it was time to check out and head home but not before sneaking in a little putt-putt. Yeah, I sucked at that, too, but at least I didn't get muddy and wasn't over 100 this time!

The drive home felt fairly short and when we arrived home to be greeted by our loving little buddy, we also found a thoughtful message waiting for us from our son and girlfriend on the lanai.

What a fabulous weekend. Now why on earth do I have to go to work?

Happy Anniversary, Baby!

Ten big years with my honey.
Hard to believe it’s been that long yet I feel like I’ve always known him.

Happy anniversary, Larry. You’re the best!

P.S. Hope you like the new driver...let's test it out tomorrow!