Happy 11th Birthday, Mahlon!
It was 11 years ago today that we welcomed Mahlon Maximillian Morton into the world. Hard to believe he is 11 already.

We had a party with his Louisville friends a couple of weeks ago before the move to Columbus. Tonight, we will celebrate here with some brownies (he prefers those to cake) and some Go-Karts and Laser Tag.

Happy Birthday, Mahlon!

Fantasy Football '08 has begun
It's that time of year again. The time when you watch teams that you don't even care about just to find out how many yards your backup tight end got. It's also the time when you trash talk your friends and colleagues about their lousy coaching decisions every time you talk to them.

Our league, which enters its 9th season, welcomes a couple of newcomers this year: Todd Earwood, who pays tribute to my FFL legacy with his "Earwood71" team name, and Brendan Jackson, coach of RTC. It's great to have them in the league... since they have no chance of winning more than 2 or 3 games this season... and they are in my division, so I get to play them each twice.

We also have the return of Eric Brinley, coach of the Hillbilly Hairybacks, who missed last season due to vacation. He was out of the office when the invite went out and the league filled up before he got back.

We had our automated draft this past Saturday and I am pretty happy with my team. It's not great, but it isn't as bad as last year's post-draft lineup. My starters are:

Derek Anderson (QB)
Rudi Johnson (RB)
Willis McGahee (RB)
Anquan Boldin (WR)
Kevin Curtis (WR)
Torry Holt (WR)
Heath Miller (TE)
Adam Vinatieri (K)
Bears (D)

As always, I will post weekly updates on my team's progress... unless I lose a lot.

Still getting settled in Columbus
I just realized that it had been more than two weeks since my last post. Things have been very hectic with starting a new job, moving into the new house and trying to get the old house sold.

We spent this past weekend back in Louisville touching up paint, cleaning carpets and getting the last few odds and ends out of the old house.

Now, our focus is on getting everything unpacked in Columbus. We've made some progress; however, there is still a lot to do.

I'll post some photos of the new house once we get everything finished.

We found another house in Columbus
After the first house in Columbus didn't work out, Amy, the kids and I went househunting again on Sunday. After seeing about 10 houses in the morning and early afternoon, we found the one below.



It is a really great house. It's brand new, has over 4,000 square feet of finished space (with a big unfinished section of the basement), is at the end of a cul-de-sac and has over a half acre lot.

Because it is new construction, we can close on it quickly. We will close and take possession of the house on Monday, July 28th.

We are relieved to have found another house so quickly, especially since my new job at Nationwide started this week and I am staying in a hotel.

You can see more photos on Flickr. Expect a bunch more as we get moved in.

The "Shawn Morton Sendoff" recap
Tonight, Todd Earwood, Tom Osborne and Beth Blakely organized a going-away get-together for Amy and me at the Fox and Hound Pub.

I was really blown away by the turn out. In addition to Amy and myself, we had Todd, Tom, Beth, Jay Garmon, Pat Glancy, Dan Knoy, Mark Kaelin, Nikki Key, Jason Hiner, Chris Hamm, Brian Herbert, Paula Osborne, Eric Roland, Kevin Brown, Greg Gorman, Matt Winn, Ben Thomas, Dan Shaw, Joe Wheeler, Amy Wheeler, Jeremy Lwanga, Terra Santos, James Santos, Hannah Santos, Rob May and Ted Smith. I'm hoping I didn't leave anyone out.



We got a cake from Todd and Ted also gave me a "Kentucky for Obama" hat to wear in Ohio.



We also got two "Top 10 reasons Shawn is moving to Columbus" lists:

10. Received Professor Emeritus status from Ohio State to start teaching a course in Rock Band
9. Shawn is going to open a chapter of ATO at Ohio State a la "Old School"
8. Shawn found out you can get the Victoria's Secret catalog much quicker in Columbus
7. Got stranded in Columbus when his promoter pulled the funds on his Guitar Hero World Tour
6. Well, it's approximately 15 miles closer to IKEA and, with gas at $4 a gallon, he will save about $4 dollars on every trip. SHAWN'S GOING GREEN!
5. It became increasingly embarrassing when people kept overhearing Shawn, Tom and Eric talk about "condoms" during meetings at Panera and Starbucks
4. He finally convinced someone that this "social media" blah-tee-blah is going somewhere... WHATEVER!
3. His attempts to lobby the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for a category for Guitar Hero had failed. Moving to the state capital to start lobbying the politicians is the next step
2. ***EDITED TO KEEP THIS PG****
1. Shawn realized that he has more hair than Brutus Buckeye

Here's the other list:
10. It's the birthplace of his personal hero, Randy "Macho Man" Savage
9. He's going to be a contestant on Survivor: Franklin County
8. Wants to snag coveted position as curator of Lil Bow Wow's childhood home and museum
7. Just likes to say the word "buckeye"
6. One word: Somaliwood
5. ***EDITED TO REMOVE A REFERENCE TO A FORMER BOSS***
4. Bat-shit crazy TR forum members found out where he lived
3. Wants to impress OSU coeds with his Guitar Hero expertise
2. Little chance of being homesick for KY since, counting his wife and kids, he's taking 28% of the state's population with him
1. You go where the Witness Relocation Program takes you

Amy and I had a really great time. We appreciate everyone taking the time to be there.

SMC Louisville July '08 event recap
Last night, the Social Media Club of Louisville held their July event at the Louisville Visual Art Association. Jake McKee, LEGO's former community manager, was the featured speaker. He gave a great presentation on how LEGO adopted the ideals of the "Cluetrain Manifesto" to become a leader in consumer engagement.




This photo by Aaron Marshall. See more of Aaron's photos.

I had previously seen Jake participate in a community panel at SXSW Interactive back in March.


Jason Falls, in the right foreground, listens to Jake McKee during the "Building Online Communities That Work" panel at SXSWi 2008

There was a good crowd at the event with around 30 people in attendance. Some of the attendees included Jason Falls, Tom Osborne, Michelle Jones, Aaron Marshall, Ashley Cecil, Nick Huhn, Jay Garmon, Chris Parrish, Todd Earwood, Nikki Key, Veronica Combs, Brendan Jackson, Steve Magruder, George Parker, Chris Hamm, Dawn Yankeelov, Kat French, Todd Smith, Melanie Rosenthal and Joe and Amy Wheeler.

The event was sponsored by Doe-Anderson who brought Jake in town to speak and The Basement who provided the hors d'ouvres.

This will, unfortunately, be the last SMC Louisville event I'll be attending for a while; however, it was definitely the best yet.

BTW, Aaron Marshall took a lot of great photos of the event.

Social Media Club July event tonight
Jason Falls and his employer Doe-Anderson have brought community guru Jake McKee to Louisville. He is going to be the speaker at tonight's Social Media Club event at the Louisville Visual Art Association.

Jason and I had dinner with Jake last night. It will be great to have someone with Jake's insights and experience speaking here in Louisville.

I will post plenty of photos and, hopefully, a QIK video of Jake's remarks.

Going-away party is Thursday night
My friends Todd, Tom and Beth have organized a going-away get-together this Thursday at 6PM at the Fox and Hound Pub & Grille. Here is the official description from the Facebook page:

"We're all happy (ok supportive) of Shawn's great new gig with Natiowide in Columbus, OH. Sadly, he'll be leaving town next week, so let's gather back at Fox & Hound Pub for a fun night to give him, Amy and all the kids our best wishes in person.

Note: If more than 71 people show up, Shawn promises to shave his head... oh wait!"

You can RSVP here.

I am Tracy Flick
I recently threw my hat in the ring for the 42nd board position for the Social Media Club. According to a new post from Chris Heuer, 38 other people had the same idea as me.



In order to determine the final board member, they have opened it up to a popular vote.

So, dear reader, I am here to do some good ol' fashioned vote grubbing. If you want a Social Media Club board member who can crush the other 41 in Guitar Hero and/or Rock Band and can quote Alec Baldwin's "Glengarry Glen Ross" scene verbatim, then I'm your guy. Oh, I also know a little bit about online communities and social media if that helps.

You can cast your vote here (no registration required).