09.17.2008 Wednesday: Layover At My Own House

Picture of: pile of things I leave behind for staff to do while I am gone over the next few days.

Today I: spoke with two clients about upcoming storytelling events- probably will be able to do one and not the other; researched new story; prepped handouts for event on Friday in Tennessee; reviewed CD-audio for a coaching client; went to lunch with wife; banged my head against my virtual virtual-server wall for the unbelievable amount of spam I am getting right now-wow; went banking and post officing; finished, finally, a huge stack of audio files that needed to be posted; went to Kinko's and Target with family; ate dinner; back to Kinko's and Best Buy for printer ink; washed clothes; finished packing; left pile of work for others to do; going now to watch "The Daily Show."

::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

09.14.2008 Sunday: Packing Up Rewrites

Picture of: new handout for the "Ancient Secret of Public Speaking Workshop." You can download a copy at this link.

Today I: took daughter #1 to work at 5am; stayed up and then rewrote and tweaked the website for the "Ancient Secret" workshop; produced a working copy of the handout pictured left; picked up printing at Kinko's...yes it was wrong. That is rare for them as normally I have nothing but good experiences; went to store to replace my worn out shoes; got upgrade notice for my return trip on Tuesday- woo hoo!; read the pig's blog; took family to inlaws' BBQ and hung out a bit; drove me and daughter referenced above home- me to work and her to take nap; washed clothes for my trip; sorted through and prepared bags and suitcase for my corporate storytelling trip as I have not travelled for at least a month;

::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

08.14.2008 Thursday: Gettin' Ready For Boot Camp

Picture: the schedule page of the new workbook for the "Outside In Storytelling Marketing Boot Camp."

Today I: put together all the parts and pieces for the OISBCamp; reorganized the handout pages into one workbook; cell phone is broken; office phones broken; assembled bags for OISBC guests;
went to Kinko's to get new workbook printed and bound there. Kinko's wants you to believe they are a great support for the small business person....and I completely agree. Me love Kinko's; spoke with a potential client on the east coast (U.S.) about coming out to them for a corporate workshop-talked with different potential customer yesterday also across the country on east coast. Busy.

::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

04.27.2008 Sunday: Packing It In

Picture of: my suitcase staging area, clothes and Kinko's box.

Today I: put the finishing touches on the handouts for my corporate storytelling event next week in Miami; ran to Kinko's to copy said paperwork; went to Walmart (on a weekend-ugg) to pick up a few things for the trip; sent invoice to storytelling sponsor; sent letter of agreement to another sponsor; verified flight schedules; answered the emails of those who seek my time; put up a new blogpost at seanblogs.com; ran to another store to replace dead batteries- seven hours on planes with no Ipod makes me very crabby; ate dinner out with my wife- a little coffee house break; washed a lot of clothes; packed the suitcase and bags; lost and found two really important pieces of travel equipment; updated Ipod with all the podcasts I want to catch up on while trapped on tube speeding through the air; spent time on the phone late night with another professional storyteller who was also packing and prepping for her travel week; am wrestling with CEO decisions in a world full of owners; calling it a night so I can soon call it a morning
::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

04.14.2008 Monday: Guest Storyteller Speaker

Picture of: the campus at Glendale Community College, AZ where I was filling in as a guest speaker for a Storytelling 101 class.

Today I: made copies of workshop materials; had a staff meeting; picked up the rental car (I am at the highest super-duper First preferred service with Avis); ran said copies to Kinko's for more copying; worked with wife #1 to make handout packages; travelled to and did a guest speaker/sub teacher visit for a community college storytelling (read that "humanities credit") class; read with great interest the postings on the wall of elementary school teachers-to-be- I hope you aren't burned out of your enthusiasm in less than a year, my friends; dealt with a temperamental Internet connection at home; did the post office run; decided to take an extension on my 1040; researched for reminding some Greek myths; worked with my wife to pick up 8 brooms for the storytelling classes this week; missed the Arizona Storytelling Guild meeting; printed out maps and GPS for the school(s) I am working with this week; Twittered; picked up meds from the drugstore. Glad they are open at 10PM.

:C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

04.06.2008 Sunday: Breathing

Picture of: stack of mail bundled and banded for mailing.

Today I: took a deep breath as I have been to busy to blog and Twitter; finished up the mailing for local events; had lunch with daughters #1 and #3; printed flyers at Kinkos; packed up said flyers in box for shipping; packaged up Storytellingproducts.com orders; ate dinner with my wife; began research on stories I will need for a couple of big events next week.

::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

03.26.2008 Wednesday: Loaded Up

Picture of: my van loaded with equipment for the school show today.

Today I: ran banking errands; purchased postage at the post office; went over contracts with a sponsor; returned Emails and phone calls; traced down a missing invoice with a sponsor- storyteller shows are easy, getting paid..not so easy; did a storytelling school show for elementary school children; little kid in the back: you're in the blog tomorrow; had lunch with my kids; ran flyers at Kinko's and packed them up for the Austin event; sent out products orders from Storytellingproducts.com

::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

03.22.2008 Saturday: It's Times Like These

Picture of: Steve Ferreira's work on the drum today during the workshop I attended.

Today I: worked on flyers for copies; went to breakfast with the whole family to celebrate my daughter #1's 18th birthday; made copies at Kinko's- found typo as I was printing. That is pretty darn rare; made a run to the post office- found check in the mail- yay; went to a great workshop on spoken word and storytelling with Steve and Resa who spoke at SMCC's Storytelling Institute today; prepped envelopes for mailing; sent orders to storytellers who sold CD's today from storytellingproducts.com; continued to watch the interactions of enabling behaviors in the storytelling world. Sigh.

Today's Bonus Picture of: the end of the breakfast meal where many hands were moving so fast over the plates.

"It's times like these you learn to live again

It's times like these you give and give again

It's times like these you learn to love again

It's times like these, time and time again

I, am a new day risin'

I'm the brand new sky

To hang stars upon tonight."
-Foo Fighters

Happy Birthday, Katie.

::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

02.26.2008 Tuesday: The Marketing Camp Eve.

Picture of: the final, filled, and stacked bags for the marketing camp participants. My wife and children put in hours of work tonight pulling this feat off. Thank you, thank you.

Today I: spent, as the last several days, putting together the manual for the Outside In Storytelling Marketing Boot Camp and I believe now that Kinko's is building a shrine for me; sent a storytelling invoice to a regular client; sent more Storytellingproducts.com orders out; Happy Birthday, Dad.

::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

02.22.2008 Friday: Cut to Bleed.

Picture of: the pre "cut to bleed" printout of a new storyteller poster I had done for my storytelling work.

Today I: spent almost every moment working on some type of paperwork, PowerPoint, order form or other information piece for the Outside In Storytelling Marketing Boot Camp. Launching a new multi-day event is an enormous undertaking. I do know (from experience) that it gets easier the second and third time you present the same event; I also spent too long trying to track down contacts for hotel space. What a crazy industry that hotel-space industry is. At one hotel, when I finally got a working relationship going with one salesperson, they tell me that he's gone on to other things now. Nuts.

::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

02.19.2008 Tuesday: Manuals

Picture of: the copy machine at my local Kinko's store. I know I am there a lot when the clerk behind the counter says, "Just self-serve? Nothing for me to run tonight?" They are good people there and way overworked. Too much Fedexing, not enough time for printing.

Today I: made huge headway in getting the manuals finished for next week's marketing camp-- there is still space if you want to squeeze in there--you gotta contact me now; talked on the phone with the contact for Wednesday's school show starring a local storyteller named me; talked to the hotel contact for the May 10, 2008 Austin, Texas gig-- she was not sure what vegetarians eat, i.e, what would a vegetarian put on a sandwich. She was fun (really) to talk with.
::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::