"I am not your typical road warrior. I'm young, I'm female, and I'm
as single as they come. I don't even have a house of my own that I
come home to. I rent. And I have roommates (though they rarely see
me). What I'm getting at is this: no spouse, no kids, and no fluffy
or furry friend to greet me with kisses at the front door when I
return from a long business trip. And [it should come as] no
surprise that my most intimate relationship is with my travel
agent. I mean, really - he completely gets me. He knows my travel
preferences, my favorite locations, and my tolerance for red-eye
flights. So think of me as the new and improved, slightly smarter
Bridget Jones. While I'm completely perplexed by the male species,
and I'll always have a few extra pounds to lose, I have a master's
degree, a job I love, and I've vowed never to belt out tunes like
'All by Myself' while chugging bottles of white Zin in my living
room - alone. Like Bridget, however, I do have a handful of
wonderful friends who I count on for fun when I'm in town - and a
host of community activities that immediately thrust me back into
the swing of city-based things."
The Final 15
In addition to our five winners, these people advanced to the
second round, the phone interviews. As with narrowing down the
initial entries, they didn't make the decisions easy on us. As you
can see, we had a very diverse group of entrants this year, and
they all have fun and interesting jobs.
Congratulations to the finalists for a job well done.
Darren Collins
Variety Entertainer/Teacher/Speaker, Puppet Productions,
Waxahachie, Texas
Scott Dahl
Director, Clinical Performance, VHA,
Dallas, Texas
Stephen DeRose
Global Messaging Architect, General Contracting,
Richmond, Virginia
Jenna Dran
Nurse, Northwestern Hospital,