PHOTOS: Thankful For These 5 Things from Last Weekend

My new habit is reflecting back on the weekend and noting five things I was thankful for. I truly feel that if you look closely enough, finding those moments can be relatively easy. With my trip back to Syracuse last weekend, this was a breeze. I returned to my alma mater, Syracuse University, and spoke on a panel comprised of talent for the New York State Broadcasters Association.

– I got to reconnect with a number of friends during the trip. I grabbed a coffee downtown with my old roommate Sam, who is the Chief Information Officer for the city. Afterwards I caught up with another SU alum, Chris, who recently started working for the University in Alumni Engagement. And prior to all of that, I spent some quality time with my old professor, the great Dr. Roosevelt “Rick” Wright II. Doc was the first tenured African-American professor at The Newhouse School and has been a great source of inspiration, education and friendship over the time we’ve known each other. I even got to see Mylinda and their son, Rubin, for a bit.

– I also had the chance to see family. My Aunt Becky still lives in Liverpool. She was working Saturday, but her sons Nick and Andrew met me at Tully’s to watch the Syracuse/Miami game and of course, eat chicken tenders. A rather competitive air hockey tournament followed, with the older brother Nick emerging victorious before he dropped me off at the airport. Oh, and the Orange picked up a big win on the road.


– As I mentioned, my main reason for returning to the ‘Cuse was to speak on a panel. I was joined on it by a number of talented individuals, including the play-by-play voice of my New York Yankees, John Sterling! In addition to being a NYSBA Hall-Of-Famer, Sterling’s daughter actually attends Syracuse. It was an honor to share the stage with him at Newhouse. A small group of us grabbed dinner downtown following the busy day, so I was able to get this photo with John and share a few stories. It was definitely a day I won’t forget anytime soon, and I have to thank Ed Levine along with his daughter Lauren for the invites and for organizing everything.

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– There were zero hiccups in my travels this past weekend; no delays, no missed flights, no hotel problems… I’ll take it!

– I lost my wallet. Why am I thankful for this? For one, it’s a reminder that I need to be more careful with my belongings. Secondly, it’s nice to be jarred from your routine every now and then because you realize certain aspects of your day-to-day that you might take for granted. Third, as I’ll talk about in a separate post, experiencing a negative can sometimes allow you to see the positive in the world – a woman found my wallet and returned it to me the following evening.

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