For the Love of Outback

Debbie and I after we met for the first time

Well, last night it finally happened.  Yes, that's right...Debbie Gibson and I finally met in real life.  For those of you who are new to the blog, you might be wondering what the big deal is.  However, there is quite the back story that you need to catch up on.  :)

See, I've been a fan of Debbie's since her teen pop sensation days of the late 1980's.  Her hit "Lost in Your Eyes" was my junior prom theme in 1989.  I've got several of her cassettes.  Yes, I may have even had a slight celebrity crush on her like a lot of my 17-year-old friends.

Fast forward to a year and a half ago.  My friends at Outback Steakhouse, who I had gotten to know through the power of Twitter, sent me 40 presents to give away in conjunction with my 40th birthday.  After giving a bunch away to friends and family and then branching out to people in the community, members of the news media, our town's mayor, and even Jungle Jack Hanna of the Columbus Zoo, I saved the best for last.  I was determined to try to get the final present to Debbie Gibson.  Yes, it took lots of tweets and nearly five months after my birthday to do it, but Debbie got the final present and was even nice enough to send a fun video that she filmed from the dressing room of the Tonight Show to mark the occasion.

A little over a year has passed since then.  Debbie and her publicist, Elizabeth Neff, have both been nice enough to correspond with me from time to time via Twitter.  When I noticed on Debbie's website that she would be in Ohio for a concert at the end of June, I started to think that maybe I would finally get the opportunity to meet her.  As the day of the event drew closer, I sent her a couple of messages.  Before I knew it, her production manager, Rob, was calling me on the phone and telling me what I needed to do to meet her at the concert.

I was stoked!  Despite being a big fan, I had never even seen her in concert.  And now, I was going to get to go backstage and meet her!  Was this really happening?!?

Saturday came and I made the drive to Cincinnati through lots of rain.  I was worried that maybe the concert, which was outdoors, would get canceled.  However, the rain stopped about the time that I arrived and before I knew it the time had come to meet Rob and go see her.

I don't know about you, but too often we put celebrities on pedestals as better than everyone else.  However, whatever expectations I had for meeting Debbie quickly vanished the moment I walked in her dressing room with Rob.

As soon as she saw me, she gave me a big hug and immediately acted like I was a long lost friend she had known forever.  We talked and laughed.  Next thing I knew, I realized that it was just Debbie and I hanging out and chatting as Rob had disappeared to take care of some things.  Seriously, could it have been a cooler experience.  What could have been intimidating was not because of how kind she was by going out of her way to make me feel special.  She is a very genuine person and it was really easy to talk to her.

I left the dressing room and waited outside while she made last-minute preparations for her show.  I was able to stand on stage and watch the whole performance.  It was great!  She sang lots of her old songs ("Shake Your Love", "Lost in Your Eyes", "Only in My Dreams", "Electric Youth", and "Foolish Beat",  and even a tribute medley of songs by other artists that she enjoyed back in the day.  Debbie is definitely a performer and did a great job vocally as well as interacting and connecting with the crowd.  And she has endless energy, too.  She even rolled with the punches when a stray dog got loose on stage and she led the crowd in "Who Let the Dogs Out".  She also didn't miss a beat during her rendition of "Lost in Your Eyes" when she had to whack a mosquito who had landed on her arm mid-song.

Debbie heading out to the stage to get the concert started

I had so much fun throughout the concert as she would came on and off stage walking right past me.  Before the first song, I gave her a fist bump.  I had no idea what the protocol was or what I should do.  Guess that came from working with student-athletes every day.  LOL  I also had fun chatting with Rob and her two dancers, Eddie and Buddy.  Everyone was just incredibly cordial and fun.

When the concert ended, I had the chance to talk to Debbie for a couple more minutes before she headed off to meet her fans and sign autographs at the merchandise tent.  She even paused long enough to record a quick message with me for our mutual friends at Outback.  Probably the most impressive thing for me all night was being about 45 minutes into my three-hour drive home and getting a message from her saying that she enjoyed meeting me finally.  Seriously, Debbie, you are the best!


Well, it's been a little over 24 hours now since the fun night and I'm still buzzing over how much fun it was.  We may never cross paths again (although I'm really going to push Outback to let us both be in a commercial 'cause Debbie may be a bigger fan of theirs than I am and that's saying something), but for one night she was kind enough to take the time to get to know me a little better while allowing me a glimpse into what life is like for her.  What a cool thing to do!

Thanks, Debbie, for a fun-filled evening.  Thanks, Outback, for helping to connect me with someone I know can call a friend.  And thanks, Twitter, for once again showing me that anything is possible if you work at being yourself to establish a relationship with someone else.  I can't wait to see what will happen next.

Debbie and I after the concert

Anything is Possible...Just Ask Debbie Gibson

OK, by now, those of you who follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or this blog are hopefully figuring out how much fun you can have connecting with just about anyone these days thanks to social media. From my first days on Twitter when I had a close encounter with Conan O'Brien to the amazing birthday surprise that Outback Steakhouse threw me virtually for my 40th birthday, I have experienced firsthand that anything really is possible.

Two weeks ago while traveling to Florida with the Mount Vernon Nazarene University baseball team to cover their annual spring trip, I had the opportunity one night to meet up with Dan Holm and Becky Maree, the two people who manage the Twitter and Facebook accounts for Outback. We met up fittingly at the Outback by the hotel I was staying at in Lakeland and spent the next couple hours chatting about all things Outback. It was fun to finally meet them in person, to hear what all is involved in their jobs, to find out what went on behind the scenes when they did my birthday surprise, and to even get to visit the kitchen of the Outback we were at and watch Bloomin' Onions be made. They are great people and they have been so kind to me.

As part of our conversation that night, I told them that the only thing missing from the whole 40th birthday surprise celebration was the fact that I had not been able to connect with Debbie Gibson, the 80's pop singer and then Broadway star who is now on this season's Celebrity Apprentice, to get her involved. I really felt like if she read the story that she would jump on board, but with over 56,000 followers on Twitter and a busy schedule I knew that she could easily miss my tweet about it. I did say that if Outback sent a tweet that maybe that would help her notice it.

Well, little did I know that Becky took that comment and ran with it as she tweeted Debbie from the Outback account. By the time I got back to my hotel room less than half an hour later, I started seeing messages that got me excited as I realized that Debbie was now paying attention. In fact, before I knew it, she was following me on Twitter and now I knew that I had a chance to pull this off!

Debbie and I exchanged a few direct messages as I worked out the details of getting a mailing address to send her Outback Surprise to her. She had me mail it to her PR firm in Beverly Hills, so that she could pick it up the day that she filmed the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. I decided to make a brief video for her to give her instructions just as Outback had done for me when this started. I also included five extra Bloomin' Onion gift cards with the package so she could enjoy giving things away just like I had. I mailed the package off and waited to see what would happen.

Well, fast forward one week. I'm checking my e-mail this morning and a message pops up from her PR person. Inside is the link to this video:


OK, needless to say, I was speechless! I mean...I've been a fan of Debbie's for over 20 years and to have her collaborate with me on a project like this is just beyond cool. To top it all off, it probably comes during one of her busiest weeks as she's on a whirlwind PR tour that has included the Tonight Show, the Today Show, and various other shows.

Thanks Debbie and Outback for making all of this possible! You guys sure know how to help a guy celebrate his birthday!

Outback Surprise Comes Full Circle

Those of you who know me very well know that eating good food is one of my passions and that Outback Steakhouse ranks at the top of my list of places to eat. Most of you who are familiar with this blog probably also remember how Outback shocked me with a package full of "Outback Surprises" for me and 40 of my friends on my 40th birthday back in November. As you can see in that recap, I had fun distributing the prizes to various people and even making some new friends like Mount Vernon mayor Richard Mavis and Jack Hanna of the Columbus Zoo along the way.

Well, it took a little bit of detective work and then some patience, but I was able to get the Outback Surprise concept to go full circle much to the surprise and delight of the social media folks at Outback. When they sent me the box, the only directions they provided were to watch the video on the flash drive that was enclosed. It was highlights from Lucas Jatoba's 30th birthday in Australia when he wrapped up 30 presents and gave them to random people. It's basically what inspired Outback's birthday idea for me. Outback didn't ask me to do anything else...they left it up to me as to what I would do with all the wrapped presents.

That's where I feel like Outback made a great choice in choosing me. I saw this as an opportunity to once again prove the power of social media and especially Twitter to others. I tracked down Lucas and got him to follow me on Twitter. He was kind enough to give me his mailing address after reading my initial blog, and I shipped him one of the surprises with the only requirement that he film himself opening it so I could include him among my videos. The biggest catch was that once the package got to Australia he was out of the country until the beginning of February. However, once he returned home, he was quick to hold up his end of the bargain and you can see the video below:


Once again, I have to say a huge thanks to the folks at Outback who have made me feel like part of their immediate family. If you aren't following them on Twitter (@Outback), you need to because they interact with everyone in a very personable way. Just tell them that @MVNUSID sent you and they'll take good care of you.

Oh, and one final note...If you have been counting the Outback Surprise giveaways (and I know that some of you were), you'll probably point out to me that I only gave out 39 of them. That is correct. While the hope was that Lucas was going to get the 40th one, I still have one that has yet to be delivered. And, with my wife rolling her eyes as I type this, it's got Debbie Gibson's name on it. :) Yes, being a fan of 80's music, I'm a big Debbie Gibson fan and I thought she would be a fun person to try to get involved with this 40th birthday fun.

So, Debbie, help me finish off this project and take a quick break from your Celebrity Apprentice duties to be a part of what has been a pretty entertaining adventure for me. Everyone around me tells me that I won't get you to do it AND I've also had to explain to a lot of people 25 and younger who you are. However, I have a feeling that you'll come through for one of your fans 'cause that's just the kind of person you are. I know this request is "Out of the Blue", but help me show people that "Anything is Possible". Thanks in advance, Debbie! :)