LinkedIn anniversary

Apparently, my 30^th anniversary of employment just passed. I’m getting congratulatory texts and emails about this. I guess I should explain, especially regarding the “apparently” part. Back in the late 2000s, when I was still employed at Dutchess County’s Finest Daily Newspaper, I was told by the Important People In Charge There that we all needed to have a “social media presence.” This is about the time I started blogging (sheesh, blogs are so 2000s!) and I was forced to create a LinkedIn account. Spoiler alert. I don’t even know my LinkedIn password (so much for that “social media presence”). Around about the time I became full-time at Marist (for those keeping score at home, that was summer of 2009), I figured I should update the LinkedIn to eliminate my eliminated journalism career and pivot to all-Marist track. That is when I randomly selected whatever random date in March of 1991 as my start date. The truth of the matter is I actually don’t remember when I “started” or started getting paid to coach. To me, the late summer/fall of 1991, first XC season as coach, is when it all began. I was “hired” sometime during the winter of 1991 (I was the only applicant for the vacancy of men’s coach, and fortunately I was accepted as acceptable!). That spring of 1991, we were still a club team and I was working with the smattering of runners who would occasionally show up to practice; yes, it was quite informal. We (Phil Kelly and I) even went to a few outdoor track meets – fun fact, my coaching “debut” was at a meet in Mansfield, PA, which is close to the middle of nowhere. I should look up the date of that meet, probably some time in April of 1991. Maybe THAT should be my LinkedIn anniversary. Clearly, as you can tell, I didn’t put much thought into it.

Bottom line: This is the conclusion of my 30^th school year as coach of the Marist track/XC teams. God willing and if I am permitted to, we’ll start up our 31^st seasons of competition in August/September 2021. That’s how my clock works. I guess next year at this time, well-meaning folks will wish me a happy 31^st year of employment at Marist, if indeed I am still doing this. For now, thank you for all the well-wishes on my LinkedIn anniversary. It’s nice to be noticed, even if the accolades are based on some random date I pulled out of nowhere. Neat!