04/21/2017

· A hockey puck is one inch thick, three inches in diameter and weighs between 5.5 and 6.0 ounces. Big deal, right? Trust me, if you’ve been in Nashville the last 10 days, hockey has been front and center because of the Predators sending the historically best team in hockey, the Blackhawks, all the way back to Chicago after sweeping the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. That’s a really big deal! Wasn’t supposed to happen. Now that there’s a 10 day break before the next round starts, maybe I can catch up on some sleep instead of staying up past midnight watching hockey games.

· Folks, Wednesday, April 26 ^th is a really important day…a day we slow down a bit to say a huge “thank you” to the administrative staff that works so hard to support all of us in MTAS…but it’s only one day out of the year. I don’t want to think of what it would be not to have their support. Thank you all for what you do. You’re appreciated and we can’t say thank you enough!

· On Monday, Dr. DiPietro, Dr. Millhorn and Dr. Byrd will be in Memphis seeing first hand some of the IPS work going on in West Tennessee and visiting with some IPS Customers. Next Thursday, they’ll make a similar stop in Sumner County (Gallatin) and then will visit an East Tennessee location sometime in June. It’s always interesting to be around Dr. DiPietro after he’s made these visits because he likes to tell everybody who’s listening what he’s seen and heard. Pretty strong when the university president is out telling our story.

· Brad Harris joined MTAS on April 30, 2102. Thanks, Brad for your good work.

· Ronnie Neill came on board May 11, 1993. Ronnie, we and you customers appreciate all that you’ve done. Thank you.

· Honna will celebrate her 39 ^th birthday on May 8 ^th . Happy Day, Honna!

· There won’t be a “Friday Stuff” the next two Fridays. I know you’re crushed.

· Lastly, remember a few things…
o What each of you do every day for our customers and each other is recognized and appreciated. Really! It is!
o “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
o The PGA is playing this week in San Antonio, Texas on a course that actually has “Beware of Rattlesnakes” signs on it. That adds another whole new dimension to an already difficult game.

· A comfortable weekend for all! Let’s go Preds!

Jim Thomas, Executive Director


(O) 615. 532.4950 (C) 615.972.9219

jim.thomas@tennessee.edu

www.mtas.tennessee.edu