"Fresh From the Kitchen": Where have you been Frank?

Where in the United States is Frank Kitchen?

I’m back to Blogging! I was out of town 11out of the last 14 days. Life on the road! Here’s how my traveling has gone in the last two weeks.
Phoenix to Denver/ Denver to Billings, Montana/ Billings, Montana to Powell, Wyoming (3 Day Leadership Conference/Speaking)/Powell to Billings/ Billings to Denver/ Denver to Phoenix (Home for 3 days)/ Phoenix to Chicago/ Chicago to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania/ Harrisburg to Lancaster, Pennsylvania (3 Day College entertainment conference/Speaking)/ Lancaster to Cleveland, Ohio (Employee training workshop)/ Cleveland to Dallas/ Dallas to Phoenix (home for 12 hours)/ Phoenix to Kansas City, Missouri/ Kansas City to Emporia, Kansas/ Emporia to Kansas City/ Kansas City to Phoenix! Wow! So, blogging has been a little difficult! =0 )

Life on the road! I think I will have to start rating airports in my blog. I've been in eight different airports in the last two weeks and at least 20+ so far this year. The new terminal in Dallas (Terminal D) is by far the nicest I've been in so far this year. Harrisburg International was the cleanest ( I love the rocking chairs). Kansas City, Harrisburg, Tampa and Phoenix have free internet!

I’ve had a lot of fun over the last two weeks. Last week I was in Lancaster, PA to give three workshops at the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) Mid-Atlantic Conference. Over 900 students where in attendance. The purpose of the conference is to give colleges the opportunity to see/meet performers live before that book them. Rodger and I were scheduled to give three workshops. By the time Saturday rolled around for our last workshops, students were showing up at 9AM cheering that “Yeah Rodger and Frank are presenting!” That is great for the ego….errr confidence! We checked out the evaluations and all were Super Positive. We have several strong possibilities for work in 2008.

After the conference Rodger and I jumped in his car and drove to Cleveland. It was great to return to my former home. I was in town to work at a staff training retreat with Rodger. “Work” allowed me time to see lots of friends. I got to meet my best friend’s new girlfriend. I got to go back and visit my former job at Lakeland Community College. I got a chance also to enjoy some great weather. 94 degrees in Ohio in October was crazy!

As Rodger says, “They shoot, they score!” The training retreat went great! Everyone attending loved what we did. After that I got a chance to stay with my friend Brian. He and his wife are expecting twins in 2 weeks. I got to help him a little bit with the baby room he is painting. Earlier during the week I went to the hospital to visit his wife Teresa. She’s on bed rest until the babies are born. Brian and Teresa, thank you for letting me borrow your car to visit everyone in Cleveland.

I was preparing to return home after being on the road for a week, when my agent Brooke called and asked if I could “fill in” for one of the agency’s speakers. It was no ordinary speaker. It was the speaker the company is named after…..Dave Coleman….”The Dating Doctor” himself. 10 time National Speaker of the year. The guy the movie “Hitch” was based on. I was being called to “fill in” for him in Kansas the very next day because he was stuck in New York City! Wow! So I flew home and prepped for the show on the plane.

Wednesday night I get back to Phoenix. Kelly picks me up and we go to her friend’s 30th Birthday dinner. It was at a local Greek Restaurant. The food was great, but the entertainment stole the night. There was a belly dancer who I’m guessing was somewhere in her 50’s. She put quarters on her stomach and rolled them up and down her stomach in unison, one at a time, every other coin, etc.! It was crazy!

Thursday morning, I was at the airport again and on my way to Emporia State University. While I was driving to the show I got a call from a local radio station to interview me about “Dave’s/My show.” When I got to the hotel, the staff said they read about me in the local paper. No pressure at all! I arrived to the college to perform in front of over 200 people. Things went GREAT! The people in charge were happy. The audience cheered, laughed and clapped the entire time and my voice that I was losing came back before the show!

I finally got back on Friday afternoon. Kelly’s smiling face was waiting for me at the airport. It was great to finally get home. Kelly and I have been dating for a year, so we went to a great local restaurant for dinner. We sat out on the patio, enjoyed some good food, some wine from Germany and some great fall weather!

We finished off the crazy 2 plus weeks on Sunday! Kelly asked me to run the Phoenix Race for the Cure 5K. It was reported that over 40,000 people were signed up to particpate in the several runs and walk to raise money for Cancer Research. There were A LOT of people. Kelly and I ran the entire race together and crossed the finish line holding hands! That was a great way to finish a crazy 2 1/2 weeks! =0 )