Jen's Non-Stop Travel Year
The beginning of the year was Jen's second half of her school-year-long fellowship with the Reynolds Journalism Institute. After spending most of 2008 trying to find ways to combine election coverage between newsrooms in Columbia, MO, she spent the second half trying to better understand how to use technology when connecting with your community. She had a chance to visit Washington, DC to attend DrupalCon 2009 (and hang out with Jon, the Bensons and Mizzou alumni!). She spent time in Austin, TX for the South by Southwest Interactive conference (and got to hang out with Elise, Matt and Mizzou alumni!). She got to present to journalists at the RTNDA (now RTDNA) conference in Las Vegas (which meant hanging out with SO many people). She also had a chance to attend the Beyond Broadcast conference in Los Angeles (and enjoyed meeting up with Mizzou alumni and getting a personal tour of KCBS). Later in the summer she had a chance to train Chinese journalists in Foshan, Guandong Province (which meant she got to meet new friends!). Jen also had a chance to present to a number of other organizations throughout the year in Columbia and St. Louis.
While all this was happening, Jen decided to take on a new challenge: running. In January she started running and was urged to train for a 5K (3.1 miles) on Valentine's Day. That challenge was accepted and she ran her first in 32:30. By November, she had run three 5Ks and completed her first 10K (and ran it in 1 hour and 7 minutes)! She's actually considering joining a relay team for the St. Louis Marathon in April 2010. It's an amazing transformation for someone who couldn't even run a mile at the start of the year! (Thanks to her running partner Aurora for the pushing!)
Along with work, Jen had a blast with Randy at Bonnaroo. She loved introducing Chicago to Cameron
Along with work, Jen had a blast with Randy at Bonnaroo. She loved introducing Chicago to Cameron
and watching Jordan enjoy the city on her second trip (and we LOVED hanging out with the Clarks!). She had a great time camping with the family in New Hampshire and always loves the peace that comes with the Maine coast.
The Fall has been very focused on the family, staying healthy and enjoying a long stretch of remaining in the same town. She's looking forward to an exciting adventure with Randy in February and another trip to SXSWi in March. She and Jordan will be in Chicago at some time to build her a new prosthetic, so it will be fun to visit the city again.
You can keep up with Jen on her blog, New Media Mind, follow her on Twitter or Facebook.
The Fall has been very focused on the family, staying healthy and enjoying a long stretch of remaining in the same town. She's looking forward to an exciting adventure with Randy in February and another trip to SXSWi in March. She and Jordan will be in Chicago at some time to build her a new prosthetic, so it will be fun to visit the city again.
You can keep up with Jen on her blog, New Media Mind, follow her on Twitter or Facebook.