NODA.... N O D A.... NODA

Just returned from the NODA Annual Conference in Salt Lake City.
Thanks to all I met for making my first NODA experience so great!

Special thanks to Kristen Jones from the University of Texas for all the awesome underground Austin info! You've given me new stuff to check out next time I'm in one of my fav cities!

www.marcusengel.com
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Mashed Potato Martini Party

Currently attending the National Orientation Directors Assoc. Conf. in Salt Lake City, UT. Today, the draw of the participants to the exhibit hall was (drum roll, please) mashed potatos. In a martini glass. Will the wonders never cease?

Anyway, thanks to all the folks who stopped by my booth today. This has been an awesome first NODA experience! And, if you're ever in Salt Lake, try Bayou - that's some good eatin'! Even without martini mashed potatos!

www.marcusengel.com

www.myspace.com/marcusengel

It Was One Kick Butt Night!!

So, Mother Nature really took it to me on Wednesday. The Cards World Series game was rained out which meant that Friday(the night of my book release event) there would be a game. The 5th game. When the Cards would win the World Series for the first time in nearly a quarter of a century. And yet???

Over 200 of you – my friends, my family, my colleagues, my "fans" from the Rockwood District this week and lots of people I haven't seen in years – all of you came out to support me and this project I've been working on for years. Thank you, thank you and thank you!

If you missed it, fear not! We got the video done last night, so within a few weeks, this should be converted to digital and put on the site as a podcast!

And... Cards win! Twenty four years in the making, but STL brought home the World Series pennant once again! Go Cards! And only 3.5 months until spring training!

www.marcusengel.com
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Rockwood Summit High, St. Mark's and Marquette High

Thanks to Rockwood Summit High for hosting me for Red Ribbon Week this morning! I can't believe you freshmen were awake at that early of an hour! Thanks to all who asked questions, hung around afterward and dropped me messages to let me know they liked what I did!

St. Mark's Lutheran School
Thanks to the 4th, 7th and 8th graders of St. Mark's in Eureka, MO for such a great morning! You guys were such an inquisitive group and I wish I would have had longer to spend with you!

Marquette High School
To the 550 of you guys who were in my program...you guys rock! Thanks for being such a great audience during the last hour before a three day weekend. Special thanks to Ms. Valerie Kamhi for being such a great host!

And all these events have been arranged and nurtured by Mrs. Peggy Browne. It's been great spending the last three days with you, Peggy, and I can't thank you enough for the opportunity to influence so many Rockwood students!

www.marcusengel.com
www.myspace.com/marcusengel

Thanks to Holy Infant 7th graders who were such a fun group to work with today! Special thanks to Kelsey, Mary and Dena for hanging around afterwards to give Carson some extra lovin'! Also, thanks to all of you for the cool Holy Infant sweatshirt! With as cold as it got today, I wore it tonight!

Thanks to the Rockwood ILC program, too. You guys are a great group of students and thanks for laughing at my jokes! Sorry if I grossed any of you guys out, but it's called reality – and, as you can tell, I'm not really a guy who sugar coats stuff. Thanks again!

Thanks to the 7th and 8th grade at Selvidge Middle School in Ballwin. I think I could have answered your questions until I turned 80 and there would have still been more! I loved it!

And for all students I spoke for in the last few days, you guys have doubled my MySpace friends! Thanks! I feel popular now! And keep watching for more pics coming soon!

www.myspace.com/marcusengel
www.marcusengel.com

Rockwood! Rockwood! Rockwood!

Thanks to Wildwood Middle School for hosting me for Red Ribbon Week this morning!
You guys were so polite and asked some great questions!
Plus, you guys look really cool in your camo!
Please check out my MySpace for photos from your school!

Thanks to Rockwood South Middle School 8th graders for welcoming me for Red Ribbon Week.
You guys have some infectious energy and I had a great time at your school!
And... I like your slippers! We have some cool pics of Carson going after some Cartman slippers that is pretty funny!
Check out my MySpace for those and sign up to be my friend while you're there!

Crestview Middle School
Wow, there were 1200 of you guys in that gymnasium and you were so attentive and polite I thought there were only a few hundred students! Check out the pics on MySpace!

Thanks for your attention, your questions and all of you who've signed up for my MySpace friends so far!
Also, thanks to all who gave Carson some lovin'! He came home a very happy dog!

To all students who heard me on Monday, don't forget the
Book Release Event this Friday night!
All are invited! Details are below!


www.myspace.com/marcusengel

Book Release Event Details

Friday, October 27, 2006, 7:30 p.m.
Edward D. Jones Auditorium

12555 Manchester Road
(please note, this is NOT the Jones Dome downtown where the Rams play!)

Take Hwy. 270 to Manchester Rd. east. Go no more than one-quarter mile to West County Center Drive (there’ll be a stoplight). If you’d turn right, you’ll go into the mall and Macy’s, but do NOT do this. Instead, make a left into the driveway for the Edward D. Jones building. The building that houses the auditorium will be on your left. Park in the parking lot on your right or, if it’s raining, feel free to use the parking garage. The building is grey, sits on Manchester Road and has a lot of glass in the architecture.

We’ll be releasing two books. First, the 2nd version of my autobiography, “After This…An Inspirational Journey For All The Wrong Reasons.” Second, we’ll be releasing a completely new book aimed at health care providers, “The Other End Of The Stethoscope: 33 Insights For Excellent Patient Care.”

I’ll do a 45 minute (or so) lecture mixed with guitar/vocal performance of many of the songs that were influential in my recovery AND the writing of these books.

Please feel free to invite any and all you think may be interested. The more the merrier!

Thanks so much for helping to make this long project a reality… finally!

www.afterthisbook.com

www.marcusengel.com

University of Texas - Pan Am

Just finally got these dig photos off the camera from the Oct. 5 and 6 programs at UTPA. Thanks for making my first trip to the Valley so awesome! And again, special thanks to Miguel Lopez and Christine Carruthers for being such great clients and hosts-and for introing me to some of the best Tex-Mex I've ever had!

www.marcusengel.com

www.myspace.com/marcusengel

Gardner-Webb University

Speaking at GWU for alcohol awareness week

in Boiling Springs, NC was great!

Special thanks to Kat Ayotte for being a great client and carting me around!
Sherry Ingram and Annette for entertaining me at dinner.

A special thanks to all you guys who signed up for friends on MySpace too!

www.myspace.com/marcusengel

Agency Management Resource Group

On Wed., Oct. 18, I was fortunate enough to present for the conference of the Agency Management Resource Group held at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, TN.

This event was sponsored by Securian Financial and was one of the most down-to-earth and excited corporate groups I've spoken for in a long while!

Special thanks to Jean Lang and Tonya Walsh at Securian for this opportunity, as well as to Shannon Kuhlman at Renaissance Financial in St. Louis for recommending my services.

Also, thanks to all the audience members who ordered books afterward!

Sorry no pics are available –

I simply forgot to hand the camera to someone to play photographer!

www.marcusengel.com

www.myspace.com/marcusengel

Florida Gulf Coast University

Thanks to FGCU for having me in to speak for your alcohol awareness week. You guys were one of the most interactive and fun audiences I've had... ever! Did we really go 15 minutes over schedule without anyone wanting to leave? Y'all rock!

Special thanks to Dr. Judi Gibbons for being such a great client, for taking me out to pizza with some wonderful folks from the counseling office. This program was compliments of CAMPUSPEAK and specifically by CAMPUSPEAK's agent, Ray Lutzky.

Thanks to all who made my first Fort Myers experience so great!

www.myspace.com/marcusengel

Eastern Washington University

Okay, these photos are being posted a month late since, well, photos and blind dudes don't always work well together. Nonetheless, here are some shots of me speaking at Eastern Washington University in Spokane, WA for EWU's orientation event. Again, special thanks to Michelle Pingree for being such a wonderful client, as well as to Asuris Health for sponsoring

100 copies of "After This..." for EWU students!

www.marcusengel.com

www.afterthisbook.com

So It Doesn't Continue...

Here we are in October, my busiest month of the year due to the fact we're smack dab in the midst of national drug/alcohol abuse prevention weeks. In hitting three states within the last three days for programs, my only hope is that I, in some way, give my audience members something to think about so things like this don't continue to happen.


Man Convicted in Flower Girl Murder Case
Fatal Drunk-Driving Crash Was Captured on Video
MINEOLA, N.Y. (Oct. 18) - A jury convicted a man on Tuesday of murder for driving drunk the wrong way on a highway, slamming head-on into a wedding limousine and killing the chauffeur and a 7-year-old flower girl.
Prosecutors said Martin Heidgen, 25, drove his pickup truck more than 2 miles on the Long Island highway before ramming head-on into the limousine in July 2005. They contended Heidgen never tried to stop and turned slightly toward the limousine in the seconds before the crash.
Heidgen, of Valley Stream, had at least 14 drinks before getting behind the wheel; his blood-alcohol level, 0.28, was more than three times the 0.08 legal limit in New York state, prosecutors said.
Kate Flynn and limousine driver Stanley Rabinowitz, 59, were killed. Five other members of the Flynn family were injured.
A scream echoed through the courtroom as the murder conviction was read, with several of the jurors in tears as the slain girl's mother collapsed sobbing into her weeping husband's arms. The verdict followed a gut-wrenching, five-week trial that was filled with gruesome images and testimony.
Jennifer Flynn, who testified about holding her daughter's decapitated head immediately after the wreck, praised the jury for its decision.
"It was the right verdict," she said. "I'm happy for that."
Jurors, who deliberated for five days, saw a horrifying video from the limousine's surveillance camera that showed Heidgen's pickup truck barreling toward the car moments before the crash. It ended with the metal-on-metal crunch of the two vehicles colliding.
In closing arguments, Heidgen's defense attorney called the murder charge "extreme" and suggested jurors return a guilty verdict on a lesser count of criminally negligent homicide, which carries a four-year prison term.
Defense attorney Stephen LaMagna complained that prosecutors held Heidgen to the "same standard as a cold-blooded murderer" but insisted, "this is a kid who drank too much and got lost on the way home."
Heidgen faces 25 years to life in prison. The jury, which was sequestered on the fourth day of deliberations, had a choice of convicting him on the lesser charge of second-degree manslaughter, which carries up to 15 years in prison.
"Thank God," said Keith Rabinowitz, son of the dead limo driver. "It's about time. I'm glad that he was prosecuted and the truth came out."
Heidgen also was convicted of assault and driving while intoxicated.

www.marcusengel.com
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Cards Win!!

Apologies for my absentee blogging the last few days. I've spoken about three different times in three different states and have just been running crazy. However, there was a pause inserted to watch the Cardinals beat the Mets 3-1 to capture the National League title! More blogging later about the adventures of late, but, hey, let's face it... this is baseball fever!

Go Cards!

www.marcusengel.com

www.myspace.com/marcusengel

Book Release Event Details!

Friday, Oct. 27, 7:30 p.m.
Edward D. Jones Auditorium

12555 Manchester Road
(Hwy 270 & Manchester in St. Louis)

Take Hwy. 270 to Manchester Road east. Within a quarter mile, you will come to a stop light at West County Mall Drive. The street turns right into West County Mall, but you will turn left into the driveway of the Edward D. Jones complex. The building that houses the auditorium is across from Macy's and will be directly on your left. It is grey and kinda looks like a parking garage. Due to city regulations, there will be no signs advertising the book release event outside of the building. However, once inside, signs will direct you to the auditorium.

This event will be the official book release for the 2nd version of Marcus' autobiography, "After This..." and the release of his newest book, "The Other End of the Stethoscope." The event is free, open to the public and family friendly. There is no obligation to buy books, so come on out for an excellent presentation and entertainment!

visit www.afterthisbook.com for more info!

Calf Ropin' in a Four-Star Hotel!

My Friday the 13th was celebrated by providing the closing keynote for the Safety Council of the Ozarks' conference at Chateau on the Lake in Branson, MO. Thanks to Debora Biggs and Anne Frost for being such great hosts, clients and long-time friends! Y'all know how to throw a party! I've gotta say, I've never before attended a conference where a bale of hay was drug into a conference room, a bull's head placed on that bale and then roped by a bunch of wannabe buckaroos! Good times, good times!

For those in the audience, thank you. For being such a wonderful group to present for, for your responsiveness after the program and for taking such an active interest in your corporate and industrial workplaces to keep your employees out of harm's way. Hope to meet up with y'all again sometime soon! Yee haw!

www.marcusengel.com
www.myspace.com/marcusengel

News All Around

I wanted to let you know about a new e book by a friend and speaking colleague of mine.

It's called 234 things I've learned about creating, delivering and marketing speeches

and it's written by Scott Ginsberg aka The Nametag Guy.

Check out his web site: www.hellomynameisscott.com

and his latest book: www.hellomynameisscott.com/speak234.pdf

this is good stuff!!

www.marcusengel.com

www.myspace.com/marcusengel

Wannabe

This morning, I received an E mail marketing piece from a company that supposedly helps authors succeed. This wasn't especially annoying as spam since I AM an author, but when I started reading some of their points, I was giving the keyboard a "What the ...?" look. As stated in this message, "To be a writer, you never have to sit at a keyboard, never have to put pen to paper, never really need to get your ideas down by yourself." Beg pardon?

I don't claim to know everything about the craft of writing, but I darned sure know that, unless you are massaging the words to say what you want to convey, then you are NOT writing! When someone dictates to a ghost writer, that does not make he/she doing the dictating a writer – it just means they can talk.

To write takes a little more effort. In this oddball world of speaking I'm in, there are literally thousands of folks who have books. But that's just it – they "have a book." It does not mean they "wrote a book." What's the diff? Basically, I'm just not a fan of people taking ownership of a title they didn't work for. If you want to call yourself a writer, then write! This ain't rocket surgery! Yet, the "attraction" that everyone feels to writing cannot be circumvented by someone writing a book for you. That's just cheesy. Do the work, reap the benefits and we'll all be happy.

www.marcusengel.com
www.myspace.com/marcusengel

STIFFS

Just finished reading Mary Roach's, "Stiffs: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers." What's that, you say? What would possess an otherwise sane human being to read about dead bodies? Because it's darned fascinating, that's why.

In "Stiffs", Roach discusses how cadavers have been used to help the living throughout history. Everything from testing the machines of execution to be sure there's a clean cut, to present day when med school students "operate" to be sure they're learning on something that is NOT a dummy. Throw in that cadavers are used to test the restraint systems of vehicles, to donate organs to those who are in need and, well, there's a perfect example of "the gift that keeps on giving."

During the read, every chapter would make me think, "Yeah! That's what I want my body to be used for when I'm dead!" That's everything from testing plastic surgery techniques to bone banks to, believe it or not, human composting. More than anything, it just reinforced in my mind how important organ donation is. This is such an important point that I have it specifically written into my will – take whatever you can use. I won't need it where I'm going.

If you have a strong stomach and are looking for a good read, think about Roach's "Stiffs." And if not, just consider organ donation – it's one of the only ways to give the gift of life.

www.marcusengel.com
www.myspace.com/marcusengel

October 9 - Happy Anniversary?

Why do we know one another? From you hearing me speak? Or reading an article or book I've written? If so, then the whole reason I speak and write is centered around the events that went down thirteen years ago today.

In years past, I'd recognize this date with a piss poor pity party attended by my friends in Pink Floyd and with far too many libations raised to days gone by. This year? I hadn't even thought about it until I got an E mail from my girlfriend this morning. It just really doesn't matter any more. It's not something I celebrate, it's not something I dread, it is just what it is – another day on the calendar.

If you've read my autobiography or heard me present, you may recall the stories about Ron, my buddy in Texas. Strangely, Ron and I met in Jersey while receiving our first Seeing Eye dogs. It was there that we discovered we were both blind due to car wrecks – car wrecks that happened the very same night. Car wrecks that left us both blind. Weird, I know.

Ron calls this his "re-birthday."

A time to celebrate the life he now has.

Check out his thoughts on this day at:

http://1grahamsview.livejournal.com/

For me? This little blog blurb is about the only recognition I think I'll have. And, for me, this is the best way to show that this day no longer has any power – it is what it is: another day on the calendar. Thanks to all who give me support on this day, but honestly? I don't really need anything other than to continue to live the way I do every day – with passion, with commitment and love. Happy re-birthday to you, Ron, and happy Monday to me...

and all of us, for that matter.

www.marcusengel.com
www.myspace.com/marcusengel

SAVE THE DATE! SAVE THE DATE!

You, yes you, are invited!

Friday, October 27th, 7:30 p.m.

Edward D. Jones Auditorium

12555 Manchester
(270 and Manchester)

here in St. Louis

The long-awaited book release event for the second edition of my autobiography,

"After This...An Inspirational Journey for All the Wrong Reasons."

But, since your old buddy Marcus is an overachiever, this will not only be the book release event for "After This..." but the book release event for my second work,

"The Other End of the Stethoscope: 33 Insights for Excellent Patient Care!"

On this night, yours truly will do a 45 minute lecture and guitar/vocals performance where I'll play many of the songs and musical influences that helped form these books.

I would love it if you (yes, you!) can be there!

www.afterthisbook.com

www.marcusengel.com

www.myspace.com/marcusengel

University of Texas - Pan American

Thanks to all Pan Am students who came out to hear me the last couple of days! I had a blast with you guys and I hope you also got something out of it! A very special thanks goes to Christine Caruthers and the BACCHUS and GAMMA club for "purchasing" my services at the Bacchus Network General Assembly last fall.

Miguel Lopez and Christine and crew treated me to not only an excellent showing of the best south Texas has to offer, but introduced me to the most authentic Mexican food I've ever put in my mouth! Yummy... and the leftovers at the hotel weren't half bad, either!

www.marcusengel.com
www.myspace.com/marcusengel

This Saturday... Merlot and Marcus!

Saturday evening, I'll be playing a set or two at

D'Vine Wines

in downtown Kirkwood, MO at 119 N. Kirkwood Road.

If you're of age, stop on in,

try some vino and hang around to hear some tunes!

www.marcusengel.com

www.myspace.com/marcusengel

What A Waste

Today is the 36th anniversary of the overdose death of Janis Joplin. One of the greatest female blues singers of all time had to throw it all away on booze and smack. I wrestle with this a bit – on one hand, I'm in favor of people living their lives the way they want. On the other hand, it really, really irritates me when intelligent and talented people succumb to the pressures of substances.

Can you imagine the hundreds of songs Janis could have put out had she not decided to load up on heroin one fateful day? Maybe then the world would know more than "Piece Of My Heart" and "Me and Bobby McGee"; great songs in their own right, but only a smidge of what her capabilities were.

Belushi, Hendrix, Cobain, Morrison, Marilyn – I just shake my head at all the talent that has been tossed down the crapper due to drugs.

www.marcusengel.com
www.myspace.com/marcusengel

Again?

After the Columbine-ish incident in Colorado last week, we start this week with another two school situations involving guns; one in Vegas and the other in Pennsylvania. The shooting at the Amish one-room schoolhouse in Lancaster County, PA is just a disgusting, tragic event. The Vegas school gun incident isn't quite as tragic, but it does leave the country asking, "What's going on lately?" Is it a strange phase of the moon? Or is this just the world in which we live? Either way, let's just keep our fingers crossed that these do not spark copycat incidents involving guns-enough kids are dead, let's all be vigilant and keep an eye out so no more tragedies occur.

www.marcusengel.com

www.myspace.com/marcusengel

Maryville University

Thanks to all who turned out for the
Maryville University Health Sciences Department Humor Program yesterday.
Thanks for welcoming me in, being such an interactive audience and for laughing at my jokes!

Har dee har har!

Special thanks to Mary Garvey for coordinating the event and for
Chuck for being such a great host!

www.marcusengel.com
www.myspace.com/marcusengel