While I don’t have much to say today, I feel like writing an entry in my web log, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.

Being an 8 to 5 zombie in Hotlanta has given me the chance to really stretch my travel legs. Today marks the start of week seven of my new life with Atandt (pronounced like it’s spelled), but I’ve only spent three weekends in this pretty awesome city. Two weeks in, I flew up to Pittsburgh, the weekend after that marked a trip to Tybee Island off the coast of Savannah, a couple of weeks after that, I drove to Nashville (Nashvegas?), and this last weekend took me to Gainesville (Gainesvegas?) to spend time at the University of Florida. It’s been fun, to say the least.

Why do I spend so much time out of the city? For one, I’m trying not to fall too hard for Atlanta. A bunch of the other participants come here hoping to stay, and I don’t want to compete with someone who really wants to get placed here. There are plenty of things I want to hit before I move out, places like Six Flags, World of Coke (I think Lindsay Lohan frequents there OOOOOOOOOOOH BURNNNNNED), the Aquarium, maybe a Braves game, etc., but I really don’t feel like I’ve been in a better position to travel as much as I have recently, which brings me to point number 2.

It’s conveniently located the perfect distance from a ton of great weekend spots. A few weekends from now I hope to go to Epcot (about 8 hours), where my friends tell me there’s an awesome new ride called “Drinking Around the World.” Apparently it costs a good deal of money, but there’s not much of a line. Disney World aside, I’ll be going back to east historic Georgia in June to chill in Savannah and pick me up a Southern Belle, and there’s even a chance to buy some cheap tickets to hit up Costa Rica later on. I didn’t have a car in State College, so weekend trips were a little out of the question.

And lastly, I won’t be here for much longer. 13 weeks from now, I do the whole graduation walk thing again. While that might seem like it should be a reason to make the most of my time in the city limits, it also means I might not be in the Southeast United States for much longer. Seeing as I currently live in Atlanta, there’s no reason not to drive my car into the ground checking out as many of the nearby attractions as I can.

When I do leave, though, there’s one thing I know I’ll miss. 95.5, hip hop capital of the world.

I contemplated posting from my cubicle earlier today, but then I decided I didn’t want to get fired. No social media-ing from work.

First of all, I’m not going to apologize for not keeping up with a regular blogging schedule. There’s way too much going on down here, and quite frankly most of you have my phone number if you really needed to know the ins and outs of my day to day.

Second of all, I am really digging hard on my job. It’s truly quite awesome. We picked up the phones yesterday to start making cold calls, sitting in our office cubicles and generally reaching disgruntled “gatekeepers” who would hang up on us before we could even compliment them on their wonderfully honed, business professional “John and Jacob’s Health Care, who am I speaking with?” introduction.

But today, lucky little ‘ol me made a sale. I celebrated by ringing a cowbell, and then I spent five hours trying to figure out how our ordering system works. See, I didn’t plan on making any sales until I had learned what the hell I was doing.

And what’s on the agenda for tomorrow? Printing out some pictures to post on my cubicle walls.

Oh, and a fun fact about my cube - it totally comes with a built in puppy play pen. Nothing’s stopping me from getting my new best friend now.

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s official: I’m working (undercover) for the man. Today marked the first day of my employment with AT&T, and I’m fairly certain I ended up in the right place. I’ll be down in Atlanta for five to six months, and then I’ll be placed in a sales territory somewhere across the nation doing strictly business to business sales.

But that’s not that interesting right now. Only a day has gone by, and as expected it was spent trying to mold me to fit into corporate America. Sure, I got a free laptop. And sure, I’ll be getting a free Blackberry later on this week. And sure, I’m in a class of only guys (which is a first for the program, and I’m class #42). But today, we just went over housekeeping, talked about how I represent AT&T and need to act like an adult, the fundamentals.

The more interesting aspect would probably be the fact I’m living with two random roommates (both from the program) in an awesome three bedroom apartment. Every single one of you should come visit me. It’s only 11 hours-ish.

Tonight’s agenda? Filling out a bracket for the office pool. When did I get so old?

My dear, dear readers, let me tell you a tale. A tale of how I’ve left Pittsburgh and have driven to Beckley, West Virginia to spend the night in a hotel.

- The end -

I’m officially on my way to Atlanta, and I’ve got nothing more to say about that.

This last weekend, though, I spent a weekend leveling up my breakfast strength and grinding long and hard to get some Yuffie. By that, I mean I visited this fine nation’s capital and partied hardy at George Washington University (a fantastic establishment with some of the nicest strangers and pretty looking-est ladies I’ve seen since I’ve left Penn State). The fine improv and sketch comedy troupe receSs hosted the third annual SLATE comedy festival, and there were laughs to be had by all.

(That’s us having fun)

Perhaps the most important thing, though, is that I was hit on. It only rarely happens, but I was genuinely flattered by this attempt. Furthermore, I was the recipient of an awesome pickup line, and I really think you should try it out next time you’re out at the single’s bar.

See, this incredibly well-dressed party patron came up to me while I was talking to a friend, put an arm around me, and said, “There’re a few people wondering if you’re into guys. Hint: one of them is me, and that’s the other one.”

Yeah, they were both dudes. I was feeling pretty for real when I walked home from that party.

Well, I can’t lie, it’s been awhile. One of my New Year’s resolutions was to write more often, and while I’ve been keeping up with writing, it hasn’t always been on here. I’ve got this little Moleskin book, you see, that my brother Kevin bought me, and I’m slowly filling it up with doodles and love letters to no one. Really, it’s been a ton of fun. But anyway, I’ve decided it’s about time to let the internet know what I’ve been up to.

I was recently offered a job, and I accepted. The job is business to business sales with AT&T. Quite frankly, I’m incredibly excited for this opportunity. It involves a five to six month training program in Atlanta, GA, and then I’ll be placed somewhere across the United States (hopefully in one of my top two choices, Chicago or San Francisco).

It begins on March 15th, 2010, slightly more than two weeks from now. Currently, I’m packing up my college apartment. It’s an incredibly surreal experience. I keep looking at myself in the mirror, convincing myself that I’m ready to take on this next step, and I’m increasingly becoming more convinced that I can. It will be the first time that I step out into nowhere, and I’m not that scared.

Hopefully I can sign up for a pottery throwing or improv class. If I can’t, though, I’ll figure something out. Anyway, I have a feeling I’ll be blogging a lot more once I move down there, and also that my blog will have a lot more of a direction.

Look forward to Eric Reese’s adventures in the Deep South. From new fast food chains to learning a new accent, this will certainly be an adventure worth following.

There is a mustache on my face. And I am keeping it.

Over the last few days, I have been met with a variety of responses to my most recent acquisition. These have ranged from “nice ‘stache” to “what the hell is wrong with you?” Choosing to ignore the second type of compliment (yes, I consider “shave immediately” a positive response), I’ve decided to continue my expedition into life with a hairy upper lip.

While I don’t have many strong reasons (if any) for cultivating it, consider this: Disney Corporation, while asking their employees to be otherwise clean shaven, allows its employees to have well-groomed mustaches. If it’s good enough for Disney, it’s good enough for me.

I’m sitting in the Las Vegas airport, and an announcer lady (announcer-ess?) just told me my flight to Pittsburgh was delayed by thirty minutes. This is to let us to wait for a connecting flight to land. There were some angry mumbles from the elderly yinzers sitting behind me, but the announcer-ess then went on to redeem herself by giving all passengers waiting a special deal: four alcoholic drinks for the price of three. 15 dollars for four cans of Coke and four mini-bottles of Jack Daniel’s? Tempting. In any case, the yinzers are now satisfied.

For those that didn’t know, I spent syllabus week visiting my older brothers in South Lake Tahoe. Yes, my first act of unemployment was to vacation. It was a fantastical time spent snowboarding, hiking, cross-country skiing, playing tower defense, and half-assedly job searching. Sure, I might have missed Rawr, but I had a great trade off.

I’ll give Tahoe some more blog space and a picture or two later, but according to a new voice (an announcer (m) this time), my flight is actually on time. Furthermore, it’s about to board, after they figure out a few “longistics.” I can only assume that he did not mean “logistics,” and instead of figuring out information dealing with the flow of goods, information, and other resources (thanks Wikipedia), “longistics” has to do with the pharmaceutical company of the same name. I have no idea what trucking pills to hospitals has to do with my flight, but I’m ready to go home, so I’ll just let the man behind the counter sort it all out.