Yes, I do own this tie. Yes, I look awesome in it.
My name is Alan Hoffmann. This is my second go-around for college. I graduated from Southern Illinois University (go Salukis) with a journalism and radio-television news degree. The idea was to use said degree to cover sports for a living. The reality was, I got to attend lots of really, really boring meetings. "My job is to go to public meetings and get bored so the public doesn't have to," I joked.
In between my two radio jobs, I lived at home. I even, just to be as cliche as possible, set up my computer in my parents' basement. I did complete National Novel Writing Month that November, but the best thing I did while hunting for my next job was to be a volunteer cross country coach. I called the head coach before the season started and asked if I could help out. He said yes. Simple as that I became a cross country coach. It was about three weeks into this that I noticed that I really enjoyed being out there. Not just the running aspect (which was also fun) but interacting with the kids, teaching them, seeing them develop their running skills, watching them interact. It was at about this time that another friend of mine (who was coaching football while looking for jobs) and I decided that we needed to do this for a living. We had to teach. Even though both of our fathers (maybe because both of our fathers) were teachers, we never considered the idea. Well, career choice #1 didn't work, but here was something exciting.
Well, just as I was about to enroll somewhere and work on an English ed degree, I got my second radio job. So, off to Havre I went. I moved there in the winter and the temperature did not get above freezing for a month. I once called a 19-degree day, "nice". The next winter it got to be 40-below. Lest you think it was all bad, I did meet my wife while living there, so there's that. At any rate, I got tired of covering boring meetings and as soon as I was able to get in-state tuition, I moved to Bozeman and enrolled at Montana State. I'm the fifth family member to go to school here, which is more or less why I chose MSU.
A few other fun facts....
~My wife and I got married this summer in what I called "the longest, shortest day of my life". Seriously, it is exhausting getting married, but it was a blast. Kodi is beautiful, smart and awesome and I couldn't be going to school and work without her.
~I work the night shift at the C'mon Inn. In a related story, caffeine is great.
~I'm a huge Seattle sports fan (well, not UW. They're evil, as I root for Washington State. My sister went to WSU, Go Cougs!) and against better judgement am a diehard Seahawks fan. That team will be the death of me.
~I love to read and write (an English major with those hobbies?). I really like science fiction and fantasy. As for the writing side of things, I do have two unfinished novels (both National Novel Writing Month efforts. I got to 50,000 words but not the end of the story). I have a tentative deadline of "Someday" to finish them.
~I also like to run and I'd like to coach cross country and track when I become a teacher.
~I spent a semester of College Part One in Australia and it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Seriously, if you get a chance to study abroad DO IT. Also, I sometimes slip into Aussie speak and will refer to people as "mate" and say "no worries". I will even refer to things as "dodgey" at times.
~There were some perks to working as a reporter. I've met 4 U.S. Senators and a handful of U.S. Representatives. That was fun. One time, I called Brian Schweitzer's office for a quote from one of his press people and they said they'd just have the governor call me. Considering my last job was in Illinois, having the governor call me back was really cool. (Ironically enough, the most boring part of the job was school board meetings. Those are the worst.)
I think that's about it. Any questions, just leave 'em in the comments. Or talk to me in person, though a warning: I'll talk your ear off if you give me the chance.
I'll be educated well
Learn about delicacy
I'll be wearing pin-striped suits that say
"Renaissance is me"
Alan
(I will occasionally do lyrical sign-offs)
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