Happy Independence Day and welcome to a holiday version of my Thursday Rundown. I don’t got much time to mess around so let’s get started…

Fourth of July Guests – In about an hour or so, I will be headed to the airport to pick up my brother and fiancée. They have traveled all night to spend the Fourth of July weekend with us. This will be Carrie’s first time visiting Myrtle Beach and Glen has not been here in over two years. They have not seen Sloan in over six months so they are looking forward to playing with their niece again. It is going to be a fun next few days!

We are excited to welcome Glen and Carrie to Myrtle Beach!

Career Highlight – Late last month, my boss and I found out that we have been selected to present at the 2019 American Marketing Association (AMA) Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Ed! This is a major conference for top marketing executives in higher education. This year’s edition will take place in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace. Lindsi and I will be presenting on what we are doing at CCU to reach Generation Z on social media. Things got real this week when the association’s website was updated with our names and synopsis of what we will be presenting. The symposium will take place in November so we have plenty of time to perfect.

Lindsi Glass and I will present at the 2019 AMA Symposium for Marketing of Higher Education.

Fourth of July Fun – I love everything about the Fourth of July from the fireworks to the hot dogs to the patriotic displays. I also really enjoy dressing up for it! In conjunction with my now defunct holiday text messages I would send out, here are some of my wardrobes from past Independence Days.

When it comes to July 4, I dress accordingly.

Nature – Over the past week, I have encountered a couple cool animals. Last Friday, I came across this red-tailed hawk on the CCU campus. If it wasn’t for the dead squirrel it was standing over, I would have used it for social content on our #CCUSocialMedia accounts. Then, on Saturday, Sidney noticed something in our backyard. As she looked out our kitchen window she turned to me and said, “What is that creature?!” I went out and investigated. I almost thought I was back in the Florida Keys as I was once again face-to-face with a large reptile. But this guy was different from the iguanas of our vacation. I posted a photo of our backyard visitor on Twitter and my followers told me it was a bearded dragon. Not native to South Carolina, it was probably an escaped/released pet.

Last week, I encountered a bearded dragon and a red-tailed hawk.

Creative Photographers – Our photographers at CCU are dedicated and creative. This week, they showed up to work in the early morning when it was still dark out. They trotted out to the Chauncey statue and placed sparklers in his hands and took several incredible shots. The images made for perfect Fourth of July Eve content on our social media channels.

Kudos to our CCU photographers for doing cool and creative things.

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Celebrate our country today, folks. We are extremely blessed and I am damn proud to be an American. Don’t Blink.