Three years later…

Hmm…I haven’t used my blog in three years! That’s incredible. I guess I really got swept away by grad school. To be honest, I probably wouldn’t have started looking at my blog or twitter if I wasn’t teaching intro to strategic communication this semester. But since I am teaching this class, I’ve been trying to slowly re-immerse myself into my online life. Wonder if it will be sustainable beyond the semester this time. We’ll see!

Me, You and Our Online Endevours

Thus far in my experience as a graduate student I have taken three (yes, three) seminars dealing with the Internet and various activities that one can engage in online. For sometime I have complained about how overly – knowledgeable I have become about the Internet and all things groundswell. While I have made strides this semester especially dealing with my standing on the technographics ladder – moving toward “creator” status, I still have a lot of work to do. 

One of the topics that has always interested me the most is the job hunt. Being of the Millennial generation there are special factors that me and my entire generation needs to consider. The most important of these being the advent of the Internet. Unlike generations before us, we now have to consider the Internet and employer’s ability to find us, and if we are not careful they can find out quite a bit about us. That means be careful what you post, I would suggest taking down the photos from spring break where you doing a bong and similar ones, you get the idea… The point here is that before when I studied this topic it was my conclusion that one must be careful to hide themselves. But I have changed my mind, now I believe that one should proudly display themselves, in all of their online applications Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs etc.

A few of my suggestions: 

1. Create a cohesive brand, if you are using several web applications make sure they are consistent. Like an advertising campaign where the messages in print, radio, television all work together, make sure that all of your web applications work together as an advertising campaign for yourself.

2. Choose your message carefully. Make sure that you are only publishing what you want the general public to see (remember those spring break photos) a good question to ask yourself is would I show/say this to my mom? If the answer is no then LEAVE IT OFF!

3. Remember that you are one person, while it might be your first instinct to have separate business and personal profile – you are one person and your online presence should show a complete person. Plus it’s good for developing personal and business relationships.

Spring Has Sprung! (For Now)

Feeling better today, most likely because the sun is shining AND there is minimal wind. With both of those things going my way it was a perfect day for a roll (yes I mean rollerblading) and it was amazing. I haven’t been able to go out for more than two weeks due to freak blizzards and ridiculous wind. This week is looking up! But back to work now.

That Time of the Semester = Frustration

For as long as I can remember I have always pulled one all-nighter, once a semester. This usually happens right about the climax of the semester, you know when all of the largest projects are about due. I think the worst thing about my all-nighters is that I am never nearly as productive as one should be after staying up all night. Usually all I ever have in the morning is a sore ass, and one poorly constructed section of a paper. If only I could be one of those people that chugs coffee all night and by the time the sun is shining they have written five paper, put together a power point presentation, and has finished their poster presentation. Ugh. This is a habit that I could definitely live without.

Listening to Bon Iver now, hopefully it will soothe me to sleep and I can put down the computer.

Happy April Fools Day

My anecdote for the day…before moving to Kansas my family only had a cat, Troy, well once we moved to Kansas we decided to get a dog, Tukee. The addition of Tukee to our family did not make Troy happy, and he eventually became an outdoor cat, while the dog lives it up inside. To make matters  worse we got our dog on April Fools day 2000, so to the cat – the dog is the April Fools joke that never went away.  

April Fools day has never been especially exciting for me, I much prefer May Day (of course because of the flowers). I just don’t find pranks that amusing. Sorry. But I do appreciate  Google’s attempts at April Foolery, this year and last year. Last year was definitely better though. What do you think?

What Will Wii Do?

For the most part I have figured out all of my arrangements for living on my own and I am looking forward to it. However there is one area of my life that will be lacking after the great move of ’09, that is I will no longer have a Wii – this is something that I am not looking forward to. You see the Wii is actually not mine, it is technically my little sister’s / parents, which gives me no custodial rights (even though I use it most, just saying) to the Wii. This makes me sad. And to make matters worse my copy of Mario Kart will be rendered useless without the Wii. So what will Wii do without a Wii? It has been suggested to me that I should buy one, but the cost seems unjustified to me. Of course having my own Wii would be pretty great, but there are many more important things that I could be spending that money on. But if someone would like to give one to me, well that would alright!

Update on the House

We are getting new carpet! And it looks great. The carpet was much needed and it really makes the house look so much better. I can’t wait until we can put this house on the market so someone else can enjoy all of the great new improvements. Once the carpet is finished it is time to move on to the garage sale (cancelled this weekend because of a freak ice storm) and then cleaning and staging. I cannot wait until this is all over. This house is slowly driving me insane.

I Heart DG

I confess, I am a lifetime member of sorority, and I couldn’t love it more! Since joining in 2004, I have been in love with my sorority. It has brought me so many new and life enriching experience that I could not have experienced anywhere else. The friendships that I built there are unlike any others, the bonds that we have will last for the rest of our lives, and I couldn’t be more thankful. I find on days like this when I am feeling a little down, tired, or overwhelmed I get a big smile on my face reminiscing about my collegiate days or getting a few minutes to chat with one of my sisters. So I dedicate this post to my sisters, best friends, and especially all the ladies of PC04.

Duh..du..du…du….duuuuuu Law and Order

So one of my great loves is Law and Order: SVU and I absolutely love when USA has their mini marathons during the week. Olivia Benson is a bad ass.

Waiting to Make my Move

The first half of this year has been hectic for me, and most of that chaos has derived from the dismantling of my life in Wichita… my parents (whom I still live with, I’ll explain the very legitimate reasons a little later) are planning to move to Arizona this summer. In the meantime we have been preparing to sell our house which means a total overhaul of the inside, fresh paint on all the walls, new tile, fixtures, countertops the works, and eventually we will put in new carpet. But as you can imagine all of this remodeling going on in my home has not made home a relaxing place to be, every time I enter the house some new project is going on, or some repairman traipsing through the house with another thing to install. Everywhere I look all I see is a mess and it can be quite irritating at times. When I am home all I can think about is I can’t wait for everything to be done, but that also means that my parents are closer to heading out of Wichita for good, leaving me here to finish my masters.

I have lived with my parents for a long time, probably longer than any normal adult should, but it has been the perfect set up. I don’t have to pay rent, I have a good sized room, and I get to see my sister (and best friend) every day, plus every time I have thought about leaving it has never made sense. This time is different, now that they are all moving out of town it is time for me to get an apartment… I’m not worried about taking care of myself, I know how to be an adult and pay bills. I more fear being lonely, and desperately missing my family. It makes me really sad to think that in just a few months I’ll be living alone and they’ll be living half way across the country. I know that I need to cherish the time I have with them now, and I have been. So even when my house is a mess and I want to scream I remember how drastically different my currently chaotic life will be in five months. It makes me sad, but also makes be thankful to have such an awesome family, that I will miss and that I’ve wanted to live with for this long. 

On another note, I think that living on my own will help me develop as a person, and I AM looking forward to that.