The Launch

I missed posting on February 17, which, given the new significance of "17" in my life, would have been a predictable date for me to show up here. And since everything tends to point to Mom these days, I would have noted that, not only was February 17 the four-month anniversary of her passing, it was also the one-year anniversary of the biopsy that discovered the cancer.

February 17 was also Jubilee weekend, which is why I wasn't posting blog entries that day. (I won't take the time now to come up with excuses for why I didn't post the other 27 days of the month, or the last half of January.) I was hanging out at the Hilton Pittsburgh, listening to challenging and inspiring speakers, reuniting with old friends, and soaking in the last Jubilee conference to be held at the Hilton. Jubilee has been held there since 1978, but after 30 years, we've outgrown the place. Praise God! There were more than 2,100 people registered for this year's conference. In 2008, we'll convene at Pittsburgh's new Convention Center.

Unlike other years, when I've taken students or had administrative responsibilities at the conference, Jubilee isn't what made my February so crazy at work this season. Instead, I've been consumed with the work involved in getting our newly-designed CCO website to launch. We've been working on content development and design for months, but things really ramped up after Christmas, in anticipation of a late January target date to go live.

After many delays, we finally launched the new site on Monday, and it's so cool!

My work has primarily been focused in the Where We Serve section, which includes pages for each of the 82 schools where there is a CCO presence, as well as a page for each CCO campus staff person. I've also been having a lot of fun posting updates to the staff and student alumni section, as well as the Newsroom, where you can find a wrap-up of Jubilee 2007.

Now that the launch has happened, I need to move back into other writing projects, and then there will be other sections of the site (including a newly-configured "CCO staff only" section) coming soon. Busy at work and beyond, as I look forward to a break in the form of a long weekend up in New York City with my dad, uncle and brother, as we cheer Pitt's basketball team to victory in the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden.

As I continue to commemorate 17, I am grateful that life does continue, through joy and through sorrow.