Hello Kylie.

Recently I found out that Kylie Borgen stalks my blog posts. It's flattering, really.


   Today in Media Programming we talked to Sandy Ordinez via Skype conference call. Sandy works for OurBlook.com which is a philanthropic site that takes a topic, has experts blog on it, then combines all the blogs into one online book. Blook. 

    I was the first in the class to ask Sandy a question in which she told me that I asked a great question! Thanks Sandy, I love confidence boosters! After a few more questions were asked, I realized that Kylie, Ashley, Kelsey and everyone else also had a "great question!" Darn. So maybe mine wasn't so great after all, but here is what I asked:


What would you say OurBlook.com's key mission is?


Answer: To provide the journalism world with authoritative information and to give journalism and communication students access to tools and skills they need because STUDENTS ARE THE FUTURE; therefore, the more educated the student, the better the industry.  


I am the future. My classmates are the future. Isn't that scary? 
Anyway, our class is creating a PR campaign for OurBlook.com to implement at the end of the semester. We are doing everything from press releases to social media to competitions. This is a big project, but I am excited to see what our group can come up with. Watch out Sandy, you're going to get blown away!

The Capstone Course

   This semester I am taking Media Programming. This is the final class in my major requirements and it combines all the skills I have learned in my past classes and requires multiple projects to implement everything I have learned. My teacher kept referring to it as a "capstone" course. "Since this is a capstone course..." and so on. I kept wondering what I had agreed to. It reminded me of "Princeton Review course" or some kind of extra effort honors course that I accidently got myself into. I felt ignorant that I didn't know what the word meant. I guess my not-so-hot verbal GRE score was an accurate reflection of my vocabulary. The last time she referred to the course as "capstone," I looked at Ashley Dunn next to me and whispered "what in the world is capstone?" She just smiled and shrugged. We were both clueless. Finally, I raised my hand and asked. Dr. Moody just laughed and said it only means that it's a class that combines all the classes you have already taken. I already knew that, just not the term. 

A capstone is actually the stone placed on top of the pyramid. Makes sense, right? This is taken from the dollar. The "eye of the capstone."

When I left the class I was walking to Social Dance (my next class- don't be jealous) and right outside the building there was this truck...

I am not sure what capstone means in their case, but it looks like the word will be with me for a while.

   One of my assignments in this class is to keep up this blog! Cool, right? I also have to "tweet" on my Twitter four times a week. I have to create a Twitter Party. I have to work on a Facebook crisis. I have to be social media savvy. Life is awesome. There's a catch. I have to blog and tweet about public relations trends. This will help me get familiar with what is going on in my career world. I am aware this is a personal blog, so I am going to mix my personal life with the public relations trends I discover. It will be real. It will be fun. It will be real fun. 

   In other news, I got a great internship at Hillcrest Baptist Hospital! I will be working in their marketing/communications department. The department covers everything from marketing to media to public relations. I will be able to get my hands on a little of everything. I have a meeting in the morning with the department to go over my semester assignments. I am very excited and will keep everyone updated on what I get to do! I know you are all dying to hear it.

   Back to business- In class we discussed terms that we might not know. For those of you who don't know what Twitter is, (shout out to Grammie) it is a social networking site where you basically post something that is 140 characters or less. You can say anything from "I am taking the dog on a walk" to "Today President Obama played basketball with each of his delegates and won by a huge margin. Go get em' Pres!" It's your thought. Say whatever you want. It's a "status update" for those who are on Facebook. I also learned Twitter lingo. A hash tag (#) is just a tool for tracking topics. My tweet could say "At the beach, soaking up the sun, watching surfers and drinking a lemonade #lovelife." The "#lovelife" will go to a separate site where other people have tagged one of their posts to "#lovelife."  (Grammie, are you confused yet? Letters are easier, I know.) I also learned about Twitter Parties. I create a Party and invite people then we all get online at the same time and talk to each other. Sounds like a party to me! I don't know how this is a great tool for the career world- but feel free to let me know if you think it is.

For those who aren't sure what public pelations is and only know that I am majoring in it (shout out to Mom)... Public Relations is the art of creating an understanding for , or goodwill on behalf of someone or something. Public relations basically creates an image. It places importance on people, cooperative problem-solving and building strong relationships. It leaves room for challenges, creativity and has a high level of importance in society. Most people don't realize public relations when they see it, but watch out, it's surrounding you!

Are You Smart Enough For Graduate School?

I have had the GRE scheduled for August 6 since May. Since May, I have not studied for this precious graduate school entrance exam. I have been planning on pushing it back until the end of September. When I went to reschedule it online at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, I found out that I was an hour and a half too late to reschedule. It had to be done Monday by midnight. So, surprise! I am taking the GRE on Friday. That's right, 2 study days away. Except I am babysitting on Thursday, so correction: 1 study day away. I just did a set of 10 verbal questions. Here is my first one:




Choose one entry for each blank from the corresponding column of choices.


1. The Objectivist mantra, "A is A," is of course a (i)________ with which no logical person could disagree. The problem is that those who cite this axiom invariably proceed to substitute in different concepts for the first A and the second, in a feat of verbal (ii)________ worthy of a stage magician, and then proceed as if the interchangeability of these concepts is indisputable.


    (i)                   
filigree
tautology
quandary


    (ii)
peregrination
prestidigitation
peroration




Am I an idiot or does this sound like hog wash to you too? Looks like my 4 hour test on Friday is going to be a BLAST!
((disclaimer: I actually got this question right. A pure genius guess.))

Too Early for Fall? Oh Well.

Oh, I have so much to catch up on! Are you ready for this quick 2 week recap? Let's go!


Last weekend we had a girls weekend in Dallas. The ultimate mission was to take Mary Katherine, Kristen and Hannah to Sprinkles Cupcakes since they had never been. We met up with Courtney Novak who lives in Dallas and she was our tour guide for the day. Mrs. Novak welcomed us into her home for dinner after a long day and we had such a delightful trip! LOVED it.

Courtney, Kristen, Me, Hannah and MK @ the Novak residence

                                      

@ Sprinkles Cupcakes

The rest of the week had a few highlights also. Hannah and I had a tendency to spend late nights on the couch watching movies and The Kardashians while working on scrapbook projects. We just laugh at how pathetic we are. One night we watched Revolutionary Road...BIG MISTAKE. I really hope marriage isn't like it is portrayed in the movie. We just started laughing afterward. I am not sure if we were laughing because we were so nervous about our future, shocked, or depressed. Either way, we quickly turned on an episode of Sex and the City for relief. I also watched The Other Boleyn Girl and Where The Heart Is this week. Of course, the Boyeln girl gets beheaded so that was pretty depressing and did you realize that the end of Where The Heart Is is filmed in the quad on Baylor's campus?! Go check it out, it's awesome. Oh, and did I mention I should have been studying for the GRE? oops.

In other news this week, I ran out of kitchen trash bags. Because I couldn't seem to remember to get a new box of them, I became very environmentally friendly. I would only make food and do things that would cause minimal trash. For instance, if you make a sandwich you typically have no trash! The bread loaf still had a lot left, and I just used some peanut butter and honey. You can't drink anything out of a bottle either, that causes trash, so you can only use glasses. A real problem came when I made spaghetti for Hannah and I one night. We ended up using the tiny HEB bag that the meat came in for our trash bag. I even dreamed that my neighbor came over and offered me trash bags. Too bad that didn't happen. Come on neighbs!  

HIGHLIGHT-- After having a brand new washer and dryer dropped in my living room by my landlords for a week and a half... I finally got it installed!! The guy hooked it up backward though, so my cold is really hot, and hot is really cold...but that's ok. No complaining here!

So this weekend my little sister and Mom came up to Waco. We drove to Canton, TX on Saturday morning to have our first Trade Days experience. We woke up at 7 a.m. and didn't go to bed until we were finished decorating at 2 a.m. the next morning. I was so proud of my mom, she worked so hard WAY past her bed time! I ended up bringing home a dining room hutch, a shelf for my room and an antique fireplace mantle for my room. To get this all home we had to lay down all the back seats and Hannah, my little sister, sat on the console in the front seat for the two hour trip back. What a great sport! We also decorated the house for fall already. A little early, but I won't have time or mom here to help me during school. Want to see pictures? I bet you do!

fireplace fall decor

My new hutch-- the back is made out of an old wooden teal door!

close up in the hutch cabinet 

the dining room is ready for fall too

the new shelf in my room

new mantle in my room

didn't you want another view?

That's all for now.

OH DID I MENTION KYLE COMES HOME NEXT WEEK? VICTORY!