I am not dead – I’m just too busy driving lately to blog for realz.

I’m not sure why it took me four months of working at the chamber to realize that although I didn’t have any time or energy to blog because I was busy driving and being tired and exhausted, I could easily video blog while driving.

(It takes me a while sometimes.)

So this morning, even though I’m relocating very soon, I decided to do a video blog, and I’m not sure why because I HATE to be on camera. And then I did one on the way home, because I apparently like to be thorough. (OK, well I actually did three, but the first one was long and I wasn’t sure I recorded it, and the third one I’d prefer to use but I’m not sure what happened to it.)

I posed the idea on Twitter, and although I hate seeing myself on camera, the demand was enough either publicly or in direct messages I decided to give it the ol’ “what the hell,” so here ya go, morning and night driving vlogs (DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for any boredom that may ensue.):

The cat’s out of the bag — I’ve got a new gig.

If you’ve noticed I haven’t been quite as prolific here, on Twitter, or elsewhere recently, it’s with good reason. In the beginning of this month, I started a new position as Interactive Marketing Coordinator with the Detroit Regional Chamber, and I’ve been commuting 60+ miles (an hour or more, depending on traffic) every morning and evening, running myself (and my car) ragged.

I’ve explicitly tried to keep the news offline until I got a little more settled into the job and until I told a few certain folks about it in person, but I guess it’s safe to “come out” and break the news to the web as a whole.

In July I mentioned in the post about graduating the FastTrac entrepreneurship program that I realized I’d rather not work for myself, and well — I still am, but now have a “big girl job” too. I’ve had to whittle down my clients and give referrals on projects I otherwise would have loved to tackle, but I need to sleep, too, ya know.

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind, to say the least, and I’m still getting acclimated — I grew up being involved in chambers of commerce but have been catapulted from my small, hometown chamber to the biggest one in the country in the blink of an eye. Needless to say, I’m a little overwhelmed, but I like it.

If you’re wondering how I found the gig, it shouldn’t surprise you that I found it via social media, specifically Twitter. A long time ago, I was followed by (and followed back) a certain Sarah Hubbard, who happens to be the Vice President of Government Relations for the Detroit Chamber. She and I had exchanged tweets periodically; in fact I think my first direct message to her was after she started following me and I said something like, “Hey, cool! I grew up in chambers!”

Fast forward to whenever it was (I don’t remember when, exactly, everything’s a blur) I almost signed off for the night but I saw her tweet that the chamber had a position open, so I followed the link, read the description, and thought, “Wow, I fit that description pretty well!” So I DM’d her and told her I was interested and to tell her people I was going to try to send them my résumé and stuff by the following Monday.

Well, things got in the way and they didn’t get my stuff until the following Thursday, and I thought I was too late. But Sarah told them she already gave them a head’s up and pointed them towards here and my other stuff online. Yada yada yada, long story short, I’m now four weeks into the job and I’m still going through orientation stuff, and I still have a lot to learn about the whole place before I get in turbo-mode, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.

Of course, this is the impetus for me moving back to Metro Detroit (where I belong), but it’s probably going to be a couple months before I make the move. I’ve got a lot on my plate right now with this, plus my own clients, plus things I’m keeping offline, but somehow I’ll find a way to balance it all. I’ve already gotten by with a little help from my friends, and for that I am grateful.

So there ya go. That’s why I’ve been tweeting at insane hours of the morning, about traffic jams and getting gas in the ghetto and sending pictures of Detroit landmarks from my phone, in case you hadn’t figured it out. I’m back in the Motor City, for the most part, and I couldn’t be happier. (Well, I could be happier, and I will be, once I’m officially relocated.)