Now Listen Here

Social Media coming to an end....or is it?

2011-04-28T23:16:00.000-05:00

Zitzsolutions.com

Over the last semester I have learned a lot about the world of "Social Media." When I first got to the class I thought we were just going to talk about Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. You know the three main websites that everyone thinks define "Social Media." Throughout the semester I learned how to make my own Facebook and Twitter pages effective enough, to the point where it is presentable to possible job opportunities.

I also learned how to make a Facebook fan page effective. With the knowledge I gained from hearing and seeing a useful fan page, I think that I am more enlightened about how to make and maintain a successful page if I ever have to make one.

Aside from just learning about social media tools, I now have a much better grasp on how to use them wisely in order to reach the most people. Monitoring Klout scores helps assess the usefulness of a Twitter account. Although my personal score is around 30, it has grown tremendously from where it was a month ago.

I don’t really like LinkedIn or find it to be extremely useful to me, but I do see how it can be useful as a professional networking site. I don’t really check my account very often, unless someone sends me a add request or a question that they ask me. Besides that, I now have the skills to keep a LinkedIn profile and now know the potential it has.

I think one of the most valuable things I learned through Social Media was how to use Twitter. I had no idea what to do when I first started, but now I see what an important tool it truly is. I foresee it gaining popularity and becoming even more influential than it is today.

My advice to my fellow journalism colleagues is that they should definitely take the Social Media class if they can, you will learn a lot about pretty much anything that you will ever want to know about “Social Media,” it is important to have knowledge above and beyond what you thought your knowledge could have ever been. My favorite hashtag would have to be #jmcawesome because it pretty much sums everything that the Creighton University Journalism Department stands for.

To get an iPad or not to get an iPad 2

2011-04-28T22:49:00.000-05:00

Google Search

I have been contemplating over the last couple of weeks on whether or not to get an iPad. I mean they are the coolest thing to come since the iPhone came out. I know so many people who have either the first generation iPad and people who have the iPad 2, and they all love that they got one. There are so many cool things that you can do and get on the iPads.

Here are 10 facts about the iPad:

1. Apple has positioned between the smartphone and the laptop, but the iPad doesn't create its own category, it just improves upon the not-so-successful segment of PCs.

2. The device has a 10-hour battery life.

3. It is powered by a 1 GHz Apple A4 chip and comes with 16GB and 64GB of flash storage.

4. Apple's latest creation features a 9.7-inch IPS display and has a built-in accelerometer that adjusts the orientation automatically.

5. Users can surf the Net, check emails, see images, watch videos, play music and games and read e-books.

6. The iPad doesn't seem to have a camera.

7. The iPad will be able to run apps meant for the iPhone.

8. Apple's tablet also comes with the capabilities for word processing and presentations, but at a price of $9.99 per application.

9. It has Wi-Fi, but there are models with 3G, with prices ranging from $499 to $829.

10. And it's a touch screen, of course.

( http://gadgets.ndtv.com/shownews.aspx?id=GADEN20100127968 )

Those facts right there are enough to get me to buy just the iPad first generation. I think that Apple will eventually make a better, faster and stronger iPad that the iPad 2. I don't think that it is going to happen anytime in the next six months, but I could be wrong. Who knows...

Nikes on My Feet

2011-04-28T22:23:00.001-05:00

Nikeblog.com

I have figured something out in the almost year I have been living in my apartment. I have more than enough pairs of Nike shoes, I mean seriously who needs fourteen of Nike shoes for only living in an apartment for one single year? Apparently I do.

There are some days were I am wearing Nike shoes, socks, shorts and even a Nike shirt. I have so much clothes made by Nike. There are a lot of things that I have that show off to the world that Nike is my brand of choice.

Here are five reasons why Nike shoes are so popular:

Reason Number One

Shox are famous for being the leading designer brand for the skills that is related to making them. Createing this footwear spends a very long time.

Reason Number Two

A large number of work is put into making these pair of shoes. There are lots of jobs involved, like handcrafting. The variety handcrafted has many fans. That is because they have a unique and wonderful design. What's more, it's a fact that they are high quality.

Reason Number Three

You will find that they use fine leather in the classic handcrafted varieties, which has added some spunk to famous shoe brand.

Reason Number Four

Due to the concern for International clientele, the Nike shoe brand has evolved applause all over the world. The creators understand what individuals want and they try to implement the best.

Reason Number Five

The last reason is one of the most important. These shoes are very durable and comfortable, which is one of the main reasons that why they are so popular around the world. Face it, this is a working world where we are constantly on the move. Nike knows this that we do not want to be stuck with a shoe that is going to make our feet hurt. That is why the Nike Shox Shoes are so popular.
(http://www.ubscure.com/Art/107185/211/Why-Are-Nike-Air-Max-Shoes-So-Popular.html)

Pie Day, with a little Peep

2011-04-28T22:10:00.000-05:00

http://coffeeshopjournal.com/2010/04/02/easter-peeps/

On Wednesday we had a "Pie Day" in my Social Media class. Carol brought in at least six or seven pies for everyone in my class. There were also cookies which were pretty awesome as well as Peeps.

Now I started this blog thinking that I was going to write about our "Pie Day" but I thought that I would change it to be about Peeps! The reasoning behind this is, my brother brought home eight paper bags filled with Peeps. There were over fifty boxes of yellow, pink and green marshmallow peeps. I don't know why or what made him think to buy and bring home that many peeps but I am glad that he did. I personally, like peeps, I just can't eat too many of them or they will make me sick.

I found out that there are a lot of mixed feelings toward these marshmallow delights, some people hate them with a passion and others are in love with them. There are Easter, Halloween, Christmas and Valentine's Day peeps, peeps dipped in chocolate and there are even sugar free peeps. Who would have thought there would be so many different kinds of peeps.

There is even a Peeps World! How sweet is that. It has all kinds of stores and attractions and pretty much anything that you could ever ask for in the Wide World of Peeps.

You wouldn't find this in a newspaper...

2011-03-15T22:30:00.000-05:00

res.dallasnews.com/mobile-alerts

The 2011 State of the News Media overview is saying that newspapers are no long the main source of news, but who didn't think that this was going to happen. The increase in online social networking sites should have been everyone's clue that the Internet was going to be the main source for news in today's society. As well as the introduction of any kind of smartphone that the population could ask for.

Online media's audience went up 17.1 percent while all other ways of getting the news went down. I am a news major and even I know that newspapers are going out of style. It is bad for newspapers, even though people will still be picking up newspapers but that number will decrease by a good amount. I personally don't have a problem with the change in news and how people are getting it.

In the special report on mobile it says that local news are going mobile. Nearly half of all American adults report that they get at least some local news and information on their cellphones or tablet computers. I think that it is easier to find information online through phones and tablet computers because it is handy and is easier to get a hold of. It is easier to connect with news from all around the world especially with issues like the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. If we didn't have the tools to get news from an online source the majority of the population would not know about what happened.

The technological future is upon us, it is changing everything hopefully for the better. For all you anti-social media people, you better get over it and join the rest of the world; because time is of the essence and it is about time everyone is on the same level.

Is your page effective?

2011-02-23T22:14:00.000-06:00

(Image via LogoPond.com)

The Invisible Children is a non-profit organization which through hundreds of volunteers and students, aid is brought to Northern Uganda in hopes of ending the longest running war in Africa. Invisible Children fights to end a genocide of people, while also trying to create a better world.

It seems that Invisible Children does use their Facebook page effectively. In the information section, the page has the founded, about, company overview, mission and websites sections filled out and it seems that they did it effectively. There are a lot of pictures on the organization's Facebook page, many of them are the logo but there are also pictures of people around the world who are doing something to support the organization. The wall posts consist of people commenting about how the Invisible Children organization came to their school's to talk about the organization.

To make this page better, I think that the organization should add events to the page. Maybe try showing where they are going to travel to to talk about what they are all about and what they are doing for the world. I think that people spend time on this page because they want to learn more about the organization as well as looking through photos and watching videos to see what people around the world have done with this organization. There are about 340,00 likes on this organization's Facebook page, the wall is updated every couple hours or so.

Is social media affecting the youth of tomorrow?

2011-02-02T16:21:00.000-06:00

Social media is an important part of today's society. It seems that everywhere you look someone is either on F acebook, T witter or even checking/sending emails. Are these social media tools sucking people into them? Trying to keep them on for hours on end? No, I don't think that the tools are keeping people there. The people who obsess over these tools are the ones who are going to be addicted to them. I agree that the girl on Facebook, who committed suicide, with the thousands of "friends" is tragic, but did Facebook cause her to commit suicide? I am pretty sure people have been taunting mentally ill people throughout the the world before Facebook was even thought up.

The majority of my friends and people that I know are on Facebook and Twitter to keep in touch with their friends who don't live close, but I am pretty sure that none of them are constantly on those tools updating their lives one minute at a time. There would be no need for that, and it would mean that they devote all of their time to social media. There is no need for that.

I think that everyone is very connected through social media tools. Are we too connected? That would have to be answered by those who never log out of these tools. There are a lot of people who think that using social media tools is a must for today's society and I agree with that but there is no need to constantly be on them. These tools are very good at distracting people from the real world and living their real lives. I think that it is important for people to be able to disconnect themselves from the social media world. If that is not possible for people, everyone is going to have a problem with getting back to their own lives outside of the internet and will not completely understand why other people don't get what they are talking about.

Who Am I? Who Am I? Let's Find Out.

2011-01-24T09:27:00.000-06:00

In 1962, Clare Boothe Luce, one of the first women to serve in the U.S. Congress, offered some advice to President John F. Kennedy. “A great man,” she told him, “is one sentence.” Abraham Lincoln’s sentence was: “He preserved the union and freed the slaves.” Franklin Roosevelt’s was: “He lifted us out of a great depression and helped us win a world war.” Luce feared that Kennedy’s attention was so splintered among different priorities that his sentence risked becoming a muddled paragraph. (from Daniel Pink's latest book "Drive")

When we were shown Pink's video, I didn't know what to think of it. Could it be possible to have only one sentence to summarize your life? Only one sentence to show what the purpose is in my everyday life.

So…what do you think your sentence would be?

Let's try and think about it like this. What do you want people to say about you when its your time pass on? If they could only do it in just one sentence, what would you want them to say? How about a couple heart warming words thrown together to describe who you were? Would you like that? Probably not, what would YOU want that sentence to say about you?

Would you want it to describe your accomplishments in life? The type of person you were, if people actually took the time to get to know you? How you treated those closest to you as well as those who weren't? What you did to change the world around you for the better? What would you want that one sentence to describe?

It's a tough thing to think about huh? You only get one sentence to explain who you are...

So once again...what’s my sentence?

My Sentence is:

"I am an ambitious person who, when all else fails, knows that I will

succeed at changing the minds of those who doubted me."

Being a better journalist and financial difficulties

2011-01-16T23:44:00.000-06:00

My area of interest is the News part of Journalism. It is something that I am most interested in because I think that everyone needs to to get the news, no matter how they get it. Reading blogs is not only a way for people to share their opinions and thoughts about everything, but it is also a great way to get news about anything related to journalism. It is kind of cool actually.

The two blogs that I read were Ricochet by Chrys Wu and Eat Sleep Publish: thoughts on the future of publishing by Jason Preston. In the first blog by Chrys Wu, I saw a pretty cool time lapse video of snow build up on a picnic table. It became a internet sensation on December 30th, it has received over 2.5 million views so far and that number continues to grow. This time lapse video was important in this post because it shows that even though putting a video like this on your blog is cool and all it isn't a solid way to get views for your own personal blog. Photographer Chase Jarvis is credited with saying, "the best camera is the one that you have with you." There is also a a tutorial for how to not let weather ruin a time lapse video that you can make. Another blog post that I read about was one about how to become a better journalist. An important part of being a journalist is leaving room for yourself to improve your craft. The approach that was used was pretty good, the posts that I read through started by the author talking about his personal life and a story of some sort to lead into the topic of the post. I really liked the picture that came with the post, it shows that you are never too young or old to learn something new.

The other blog that I read was Eat Sleep Publish: thoughts on the future of publishing by Jason Preston. This blog talked a lot about how autocorrect can change the entire meaning of something as it did for the American Airlines tweet, saying that it was going to send doctors to haiti but actually didn't mean that at all. But the post that caught my eye more than the rest was one about newspaper circulation. The chart in the post showed how The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Daily News, The New York Post, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal newspaper circulation has decreased drastically over the last 20 years of their existence. Though all of the newspapers have stayed above 400,000 it still looks like they are going to decline in the years to come. There were some other posts talking about what the author thought about publishing in previous years and then again what they did in today's society.

None of the blog posts that I read had any labels which was kind of weird to me, because you would think that there would need to be at least a couple labels so people know what they author is talking about. But to me, I think that both authors did a good job at getting to the point in each post so that they wouldn't need labels to help the reader.

Time to Wrap it Up

2010-12-08T20:27:00.000-06:00

After being in Feature Writing I would like to think of myself as somewhat of a good writer. I know that I am not as good as the others in my class, because believe me, some of them know what people want to read about and how to get their attention. I have learned a lot of the last couple of months, we learned how to use blogs in different ways, how to make videos and different ways that we can use our journalistic abilities, as well as the Madagascar Penguin Silly Bandz (by far my favorite part).

Throughout this semester, I really have enjoyed growing as a writer. I think that my writing has improved and it has become a lot less hard to write articles. I have learned a lot of things about certain questions to ask during an interview and how to react to interviewee’s answers. I have come to understand what is needed to catch the readers attention and how to keep it for articles that I write.

I know that what I have learned over the past semester will be taken with me wherever I go in life. Even though we were in a class that was serious about learning new ways to write for articles, we also laughed a lot and had a good time. I feel like those couple hours that we were with each other on Tuesdays and Thursday were good for everyone. Laughing is good for the soul and we did plenty of that for everyone in that building. I really enjoyed being in that class, and especially all the great people I met in the process.

Is Craigslist Safe?

2010-12-08T19:57:00.000-06:00

Everyone thought that Craigslist was going to the new way to buy, sell and even trade people's stuff. I even thought that it was going to be a great way to do all of that stuff. I mean you can find people in your city who may be close to you and you can contact them to go pick up something from their house. That is about the only problem I have had with Craigslist, you have to go to some random person's house to get something that you want, and you don't know if the something you are going to get is what the description says on the website.

There are people trying to find jobs, housing, friendship, or products and services will find Craigslist to be a very useful community. On top of that you could also meet other people to network or talk about issues that you think are important. You have to keep in mind that Craigslist is an online community so the risk of predators or scam artist are ready to take advantage of you as soon as you get on the site. It is important to only go to someones hose if you trust them and trust that they aren't going to try to screw you over.

According to the Craigslist about page on the website:

The overwhelming majority of craigslist users are trustworthy and well-intentioned.

With billions of human interactions facilitated through craigslist, the incidence of violent crime has been extremely low.

Nevertheless, it's very important to take the same common sense precautions online as you would offline.

When meeting someone for the first time, please remember to:

Insist on a public meeting place like a cafe
Do not meet in a secluded place, or invite strangers into your home
Be especially careful when buying/selling high value items
Tell a friend or family member where you're going
Take your cell phone along if you have one
Consider having a friend accompany you
Trust your instincts

Taking these simple precautions helps make craigslist safer for everyone.

The College(Web)Life

2010-12-08T19:19:00.000-06:00

http://www.facebook-stunt.com/

Throughout the United States the majority of college students spend their time on one website. Not their school website, not youtube, not myspace, but Facebook. Facebook is keeping students from writing papers, doing homework and reading textbooks. This social network has replaced every other social network out there and is still growing. People think that they need facebook, because "everyone else is doing it."
College students are becoming addicted to facebook, it is the new drug that is taking over the lives of everyone around me. It destroys your real social life. Why not go outside and hang out with your friends rather than feeding your pet in pet society or taking care of your restaurant in restaurant city? Seriously. It's pointless to play those games, it will just make you wierd and anti-social. Facebook will waste your time and I really do mean WASTE it. Nothing good will happen to you even if you get the highest scores in the games or posted the most posts, why is that important in college students lives? None of your real friends care if you get the highest scores, what people cares about is having the best time of their lives in their real physical life, by that I mean hanging out wityh your friends, spending time with your family and helping others. You'd even be wasting your parents money with facebook with the electricity bills so why not do your parents a favor and do also yourself a favor by going out or at least read a book, come on now.

According to the Why Facebook is Bad for Your Health "person" on Facebook:

1. When you sit at a computer on Facebook for any length of time, you kill vital brain cells.

2. It is unhealthy to stalk both yourself and others.
3. Stop looking at your own photos- you are so vain!
4. Facebook makes you worry about what other people think- why do you think they like to comment?
5. You do not have 1000 friends-stop kidding yourself.
6. It makes you wonder why nobody is talking to you on facebook chat- they’re only looking at their own profiles, just like you!
7. “Why has no one left me a notification in the last three minutes!?!?!?!?”- Get a life!
8. He’s not going to fall in love with you because you have facebook stalked every photo and comment left by all his friends!!
9. Facebook makes you chuckle with glee at others misfortunes, Yes that slut from school is working in McDonalds!
10. No one needs to know every aspect of your life through your status- if they want to know that you’re tired at 11pm they will ASK!
11. Facebook hating of pretty friends wont make you happier OR prettier.
12. Just because facebook suggests that there are people you may know, it doesn’t mean you know them!
13. Invite your friends to join Facebook? Why would you want to invite your friends into a stalking routine? They will only stalk you back!
14. Stalking wall to walls is not cool. Although it is their own fault for publicly publishing their conversations.
15. Parents have become Facebook savvy- is this cool? Or just Stalkerish?
16. In reference to no. 15, will you do this to your children??
17. Facebook can make you lonelier.
18. No-one sensors their photo uploads. – do we want to see you on the bog?
19. Everyone including your manager, mother and mangy haired stalker can see EVERYTHING you do on their “News Feed.”
20. We cant publish this list anonymously on Facebook!
21. Facebook- its free and anyone can join!

Secrets are like Masks....

2010-12-08T18:06:00.000-06:00

Secrets are like masks, they hide the real person underneath. Have you ever had a secret that you wanted to get out but didn't know where you could share it? PostSecret is the way to do it. You write down your secret that you want to share on a piece of paper, a post card, old receipts, literally anything and then send it to Frank Warren at 13345 Copper Ridge Road, Germantown, MD 20874. Warren is the man who founded PostSecret.

Many people in the nation check his website to browse the latest reader-submitted postcards expressing people's deepest secrets, those including feelings, fears and/or desires. Warren also has compiled five books with what he thinks are the most memorable postcards. The first book was published on December 1, 2005 and the most recent book was published October 6, 2009. I think something that would be cool for people to do with their postcards is to hide them in random books throughout the world. It would be a surprise for whoever picked up the book to read it.

PostSecret is a form of personal therapy for people throughout the world. It allows people to say whatever they want and not have any repercussions for doing it. It also shows people that are posting their secrets that there are other people out there in the world who have some of the same problems that they do. It is a good way for people to share their feelings and not have to worry about being judged. I have read a couple of the books that Warren has published and I think that it is a great thing that he is doing. He is giving people the chance to do something that a lot of them have thought about doing.

You Woke the Bears! Why did you do that?

2010-12-08T02:36:00.000-06:00

Earlier tonight I watched the movie Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, the main actor being Will Ferrell. The movie is about a guy named Ron Burgundy who is the top-rated anchorman in San Diego in the 1970s. Then when feminism marches into the newsroom in the form of ambitious newswoman Veronica Corningstone. Ron is willing to play along at first-as long as Veronica stays in her place, covering cat fashion shows, cooking, and other "female" interests. But that is not what she wants, she refuses to settle for only being eye candy for the men at the station, she steps behind the news desk and fights for her right to be a news anchor.

In Ron's eyes, Veronica Coringstone is not so much the studio's most welcome addition. Ron and Veronica become passoinate with each other early in the movie but Veronica doesn't want their relationship to jeoprodize her chances of becoming a news anchor. After Veronica pays her dues covering the female-oriented fluffy pieces, the ambitious Veronica sets her eyes on the news desk; more specifically, on Ron's seat behind it. Ron doesn't take the threat lightly, and not long before the rival newscasters are engaged in a very personal battle of the sexes.

Even though this movie is supposed to be a comedy, I think that it has a very important message behind the comedy. The message is that even though there are things that are changing throughout the world, you need to learn how to accept them and not try to fight them. If you try to fight them, it will more than likely end up in the favor of what you are trying to fight. If you just step back and embrace it, everything will work out for you as well as everyone else.

Once Upon a...I mean StumbleUpon a...

2010-12-08T02:07:00.003-06:00

A website that I have found very important in my procrastination is StumbleUpon, it is a website that has you pick things that are interesting to you and then generates random websites that match up with the things that are of interest to you. I really enjoy this website; I have been able to fnd a lot of cool things while procrastinating my homework and writing papers. I have found some pretty cool games while stumbling, along with really good quotes and things that I could also blog about.

There is a Thumbs Up bottom that you can click on if you like the page that you are on. It is true, I think, that the traffic that comes from most social media sites is basically all or nothing. The popular pages may receive thousands of visitors. There’s really no middle ground in the number of visitors that a page receives. Even if only a few people give the page a thumbs up and maybe a review or something, it will cause a significant amount of traffic for that page.

I think that StumbleUpon is a great site for networking, it builds on social media sites. It is easy to add friends and keep them, join and be active in groups and even send email to other people directly from StumbleUpon. Even though i don't used the StumbleUpon message system to communicate with people I am friends with, I hear that it is a good way to keep in touch with the friends that you make on StumbleUpon. The networking that I’ve been able to do on StumbleUpon has been very valuable, it has helped me meet some very interesting people and understand what they are trying to do with themselves. StumbleUpon is a close second behind Facebook for networking, but that is more because I am in college and the majority of the people I know and try to keep in touch with are on there.

Those Never Left Behind

2010-12-07T21:10:00.000-06:00

The article "Final Salute" is a story in the Rocky Mountain News. It is a story that is pretty hard to get through. I can't think about having to go to the doors of fallen Marines and telling their families of their child's death, it has to be so hard to do something like that. When I think about the U.S. Marines, I think about yelling, guns, ships in the water, and the phrase "Oorah," but after reading through the "Final Salute" my mind has definitely changed. This article is about the men whose job it is to give the grave news to the families of their fallen soldier(s). Not only does this article show what these select few do almost everyday, it also helps the reader to experience what is going on in the hearts of the men and the families.

I don't think I would be able to know that going into work everyday is going to tell families how their children have died. I think that this article was interesting as well as emoional, these men had to share the worst news any military news family could ever recieve. I think that is is an amazing thing for the men to stay with the families and be there for them when they needed it, no matter how long they needed it. Time is not a problem for these military men. There was a part in the article that was tough for me to get through, it was the part about the twenty three year old widow, who spent her last night at the resting grounds of her husband’s body before he was buried. She talk about how she had one of the best night’s sleep, but had felt bad because she had taken that night's sleep for granted. I know that it is hard to let someone close to you go, I have done it with four of my close friends. I never got to say good bye or even tell them how I felt about them, they were there and then they were gone. It hurts. I think that it would hurt so much more if my spouse had died, knowing that I never got to tell them how much I loved them before they died. It would haunt me for the rest of my life.

I think that this was a interesting article to read, it is good for non-military people to understand what the men and the families had to deal with. It is easy to not care about everything else that is going on in the world and just care about your life. People tend to not think about those who are serving overseas for our country trying to keep us safe from terrorists. Those who are dying for our country for the betterment of other generation is a really high honor. Even though it is a high honor, it seems like it would be hard for the families of the soldiers to have to deal with all of pain and suffering that comes with a military soldier. Like Beck said, it is not up to him, but it is up to the families and the loved ones to decide.

The True Meaning of Beauty in This World

2010-12-07T14:36:00.000-06:00

This article is about an awesome violinist named Joshua Bell. Even though i am not into violin music, I looked him up on youtube and found out that his is both a big influence in the world of music as well as the world in general. It surprised me a lot to hear that for few people stopped to listen to him play during the Washington Post experiment describe in the article "Pearls Before Breakfast." The article talks about how Bell was standing on a busy metro platform, in front of thousands of people during the morning rush hour. He ended up only getting a couple people to look at him and not even enough change to buy a small coffee.

Gene Wiengarten did a pretty legitimate job at showing me everything that was going on at the metro scene. He went into detail about what Bell was wearing along with some other details for the experiment. The descriptions throughout the article were broken up by conversations, but it was done very well. Then Wiengarten goes into detail about Bell's background and why he chose music and whatnot.

When I started to read the part about L’Enfant Plaza it showed me that it was a performance that didn't live up to anything like Bell's normal ones. Wiengarten talks about the satire of the lottery ticket patrons. The ones who were getting the show of their lives and didn't seem to care. Even though no one gave him the time of day Bell still played beautiful music. He was taken out of the music world and put into the general world and it seems like no one cared what he had to share with them.

I really enjoyed reading this article, I didn't know what to think about it because of the title. The next time I see someone playing on a busy street corner I think I might stop and listen for awhile before I assume that they are either not good at what they are doing or just another homeless person looking for some change.

'Cause the plane's already paid for.

2010-10-27T18:01:00.002-05:00

The weasel, twelve monkeys and the shrub. I honestly did not think that this was going to be politics especially with the title of the article. And John McCain of all people? Really? In my opinion that guy isn't all that great. I do understand why not many people voted for him though, it is because he is older looking. Even though he may have more knowledge and experience, that didn't matter. But back to the article about McCain. I don't really enjoy reading about politics because I don't really enjoy politics in general. The author David Foster Wallace or DFW wrote this article for Rolling Stones Magazine. Rolling Stones sent out DFW to cover the John McCain against George W. Bush not because he is an awesome journalist or anything but because he wasn't a great journalist. By "twelve monkeys" DFW means the humorless, immaculately dressed, no talent ass clowns (sorry for the language it seemed to fit), who represent what has become known as the top dogs of media.

I think that DFW did a great job and getting underneath the skin in this article. He captures what it was like for McCain during the Vietnam War, what happened to him and how he became a prisoner. DFW talks about McCain's unbelievable honor and balls that he showed with a prisoner in North Vietnam. McCain was imprisoned in a box by himself while getting tortured and not receiving any food. That is a pretty intense thing for someone to have to go through. The pictures that are shown in this article are gruesome: "got bayoneted in the groin; a soldier broke his shoulder apart with a rifle butt. Plus by this time his right knew was bent 90 degrees to the side with the bone sticking out." Things like that are not something that i want to picture, and I don't think anyone would want to.

Wallace makes it a good story because he seems to know how to use his words in order to make people think. The article showed me that there is more the some of the people in politics than you could ever imagine, it shows you that you should look underneath something to fully understand it. I really liked the glossary that was included especially how the shrub is George W. Bush and how the twelve monkeys McCain's press corps, and the weasel is the gray fuzzy thing sound techs put over their boom mikes at scrums to keep annoying wind-noise off the audio. I didn't know all of those before I read this article. I think one of my favorite parts in this article is when one of the monkeys is talking to Mike Murphy. I like when the monkey asks Murphy to talk about why he is going to fly to Michigan if he wins or loses in South Carolina, the Murphy answers: " 'Cause the plane's already paid for. It makes me think that he doesn't really care what the result is, all he knows is that there is a set schedule to follow. I just think it is funny.

DWF came about writing this article by using an anecdotal type article. He is telling a story of how the life of McCain was like and the conversations with the people that were close to him during the campaign. I think that it was a good way to start the article because it gives you the background information about McCain and also tells you about what happened to him and with his followers and whoever during the campian against George W. Bush and what he had to go through. I came into this article not wanting to read it, but after reading it in full I really like it. It is just a must read.

Media in My World

2010-10-25T04:20:00.001-05:00

Throughout my life media has always been a big part, but I think that Internet media has become a big part of the media world. It started off with Myspace, connecting people from all around the world together to be "friends" so you can talk, look at pictures and make new friends. There were millions of people all around the world that were and still are on Myspace, people were following the social norm for that time period.
Then, YouTube came about, it skyrocketed video sharing throughout the world. It is free to sign up and you can put up any video you want as long as it does not show too much skin. There are probably over a billion videos on YouTube right now, think about it, there are probably more videos online than there are people in the world. That is kind of crazy.
As Myspace seemed to fall from the top spot in the United States Facebook popped up to be the new Internet media sensation and take the spotlight from Myspace. Facebook is the sensation that does what Myspace did but goes above and beyond what Myspace couldn't do. Facebook allows people to keep in touch on a more personal level, and pretty much "creep" on what their friends are doing throughout the day and in their lives. It is pretty much like talking to someone who is a friend or an acquaintance and figure out pretty much anything you every wanted to know about them. It is also a good way to meet and connect with people in the real world and the job world. Another thing that popped up and made talking with friedns so much easier is Texting. It has made it easier to get ahold of someone if you don't have enough time to call them. It is quick and a lot easier than calling someone and everything else. Texting has made a huge impact on people in the world especially on those who are in junior high, high school and college. Kids these days find it a better way to get a hold of their friends especially when they are in class and supposed to be doing homework haha. But seriously, texting is another thing that has changed the media world.
At the same time Flickr, Twitter and Blogs started showing up. Flickr is photo sharing, hundreds of thousands of people put up their pictures that can be accessed by anyone online. I don't use Flickr, so I don't really understand it all that much but I hear it is a good thing to be a part of if you want to get travel photos out on the internet. I think that blogs are a pretty legitimate, they let people speak their mind on pretty much any issue that is at hand or really anything that you can think of (like what I am doing right now). Twitter is something that allows people to "follow" their friends, family members, celebrities, even local newspapers and news stations. You get to put up a "status" of how you are feeling or what you are doing, you can also add links to websites and also pictures. I just recently joined Twitter and I like it so far, I like to see all the stuff that people have to say and what pictures they put up. It's a lot of fun.
The best thing about all of these programs are that you can sign up for FREE. Making all of these free was a really good idea, it gives people the opportunity to do what that want to, not having to pay anything for it. As of right now there are a lot of things that have to do with media but I think that as the media world evolves there will be more and more things that come up and make the media better than it is right now.

Mrs. Kelly's Monster

2010-10-06T16:35:00.000-05:00

Mrs. Kelly’s Monster by Jon Franklin is detailed, heart wrenching, suspenseful and inspiring. The story is about a woman name Mrs. Kelly who is suffering from a tangled knot of abnormal blood vessels in the back of her brain. Over time the knot has caused her to lose part of her eyesight, hemorrhages, lost her sense of smell, taste, she had seizures, and she smelled a strange odor then started strangling. It started affecting her legs, and she was partially paralyzed. She was constantly in pain and didn’t want to deal with it anymore. The story gives me the feeling that I am in the room while they are doing this operation. It shows that it is a deadly operation and that anything could go wrong at any moment.

I think that the author does a wonderful job at describing what is going on during the operation. He seems to know how to catch the reader’s attention and pull them in so that the reader wants to continue with the story until it is done. The conversation between the doctor and the nurse helped to make the story into a dialogue as well, which I think also contributed to it.

The thing that makes this a good story is how the story gives the reader the blow-by-blow scene of what is going on during the operation. I also like how the author uses certain times in every couple paragraphs. I think the “pop, pop, pop” added a lot of action to the story, it let the reader know the pace of the heart beat while the story went on. There were great details to describe to the reader that certain things are as well as what is happening with “the monster.”

Franklin approached the story in the right way, he told the story of Mrs. Kelly from how she got “the monster” all the way through her life with it, what it did to her and then to her operation. I think that this type was perfect for this story because in give the information in such a way that it seems to flow the best when read aloud. This was a wonderful story, it was very dynamic and it made me want to turn the page and continue but at the same time I didn’t want to find out if something bad was going to happen to Mrs. Kelly.

Once Upon A Time

2010-09-22T16:22:00.000-05:00

I have read about Mr. Rogers before I read this article but I didn't really enjoy reading this one at all. Maybe it was the way the author worded it and asked so many questions or set the scene. When I read through it I got mad every time "Once upon a time" would show up, I don't think that it was needed every single time he put it in there, I thought it was stupid. I enjoyed reading about Mr. Rogers' everyday life and it was something new to me to find out that he did the same routine every day and every night. It seemed to me that Mr. Rogers was the type of guy that wasn't routine, he seemed like a guy that was doing things that others would expect him to. I think that this article shows the things that went in the writing of the chapter for the ophthalmologists book.

The thing that makes this a good article is the dialogue between Mr. Rogers and the author as well as the other people that are mentioned in this article. Another thing is that it shows that Mr. Rogers goes to multiple cities seeing different people but it also makes it seem like all of this is coming from the conversation that the author is having with Mr. Rogers in his apartment in New York City, I think this aspect of the article.

I like that the author talks a little about each person and what is going on in their lives and also how Mr. Rogers is involved in each one of their lives. My favorite part of this article was "He looked ver little in the backseat of the car. Then the car stopped on Thirty-fourth Street, in front of the escalators leading down to the station, and when the doors opened--Holy S**t! It's Mister F***ing Rogers!" That right there was by far one of my favorite parts of this article along with the part about the children singing the song that is played at the beginning of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Another aspect that I liked about this was that the author had a gorilla named Koko who learned sign language and did the sign for child when it watched Mr. Rogers on T.V.

The author of this article approached it by using an anecdotal type article. This is the author telling a story of how their conversation went with Mr. Rogers and what happened as a result on this conversation, I think that it was a good way to start the article because it gives the needed information about Mr. Rogers and what he went through to be able to write the chapter for the ophthalmologists' book. I think that the author has a well written article, there are some things that I would change about it but all in all I enjoyed reading and writing about this article.

Reporter

2010-09-20T21:48:00.001-05:00

Hello All,

I have recently watched "The Reporter" in my International Mass Communications class at school. The movie is about Nicholas Kristof, who is a Editorial/Opinion writer for the New York Times. He has traveled all around the world going to countries that have been experiencing genocide, wars between rebel forces and wide spread disease.

This video was intense right from the get go, it started off with Kristof and his crew walking with some African people from a tribe in Africa. The images that I saw were sad. I didn't really know that people actually lived like that. I have seen pictures and scenes from movies but I also thought that they made it seem worse than it actually was. It really is not good in Africa, people have get their water from when it rains, they have no electricity and they only have the bare essentials from what I saw.

I think that the two people that went along with Kristof received a reality check as they were traveling throughout Rwanda and Congo. I don't think that they actually understood what was going on over there until they arrived in Congo and had to live there and deal with everything that those people went through everyday of their lives. Watching Kristof go from village to village to find out about the wars and the sicknesses that were going on, I saw that he actually cares about these people and wants to get their story out to the world about what is going on in their village and to get people in the United States to have a better understanding of what they are going through.

I think that the part in the video that got to me the most was when Kristof and his crew went to talk to the warlord General Nkunda that was ruling the streets and towns in Congo at that time. The two others that went with him didn't know what to expect while they were going to talk to the General Nkunda, they both looked scared while Kristof was speaking to his people. Then when General Nkunda came out, they seemed to be scared for their lives which is totally understandable. I was taken aback when the warlord showed and let Kristof and his crew talk to the Hutu captives that they had. I didn't think that General Nkunda would be alright with Kristof asking questions and having the Hutu captives give their honest answers, it was just weird to me.

This video was a big eye opener to me though, I thoroughly enjoyed watching this video. It brought many emotions that needed to be brought to the people of the United States. I would definitely recommend this video to anyone who wants to learn more about what is going on in Rwanda and Congo.

"The American Male at Age Ten"

2010-08-31T22:25:00.000-05:00

I chose this picture because this is
what I think Colin looks like as a ten
year old, also he said he likes candy
so I thought this image was perfect for him.

The American Male at Age Ten by Susan Orlean is a cute, funny and interesting article about a ten year old boy named Colin Duffy. The story put me into the mind of an average ten year old boy, it brought back memories of my elementary school days and made me laugh. The story also showed that if you can actually get a ten year old to open up and talk to you about his life, there could be things that go on in his head that will surprise you. I really enjoyed reading this story.

I think the thing that makes this story good is that Orlean used so many great details to describe Colin, his friends and what goes on in his daily life that it brought the story to life for me while I was reading it. The quotes that she used also made the story a better read for me because it wasn't just paragraph after paragraph, she added the Q & A affect to the story that she used while talking to Colin.

Something that also makes it a good story is that she goes farther with her details, like the sign on the black board in Colin's classroom and also the conversation between Colin and his friend about Street Fighter II Championship Edition. My favorite quote from the story is, "The best candy is Skittles and Symphony bars and Crybabies and Warheads. Crybabies are great because if you eat a lot at once you feel so sour." After reading this quote I legitimately laughed out loud at it. I think that all the quotes about Colin's world views were the best part of the story.

Orlean approached the story by using an anecdotal type story, which is her telling a story of how her life with Colin would be if they were to get married, I think that it was a good way to start the story because it gives information about Colin before she goes into the rest of the story. I think that Orlean wrote a great story and went about doing it in the right way.

My Writing Process

2010-08-26T23:47:00.000-05:00

My writing process is very important to me. There are things that I enjoy writing about and then things that I don't enjoy writing about. Mainly, I like to write about my life as well as things that are going on at Creighton while I am going to school here. There are a lot of things that go on at campus that are worth writing about, some things better than other. Another thing that I like to write is poetry and I really do like when people give me feedback on what I have written. Sometimes you just have to look at certain things in the world and write about them in a different thought process, like writing about a subject from a different point of view.

There aren't very many things that I don't like to write about. I just like to get the word out about what is important to the people in my community as well as the people that read my blog. I enjoy reading all kinds of publications. My favorite thing to read is books, the best thing about them is that the author has so many opportunities to give descriptions and use any kind of wording that they want to. I want to be able to start reading more blogs written by other people. I don't really know what kind of blogs I want to read but I will figure it out.

I like my writing for the most part, but there is always room for improvement. I think that I need to work on my style of writing as well as working on shortening sentences. I have a tendency to making the majority of my sentences into run-on sentences.

There are a lot of things that I like about the reporting process. My favorite thing is that the reporters get to be in the mix of things. They get to be there when history is made; it would be the greatest feeling in the world. I also like that the reporters get to have their own style of writing while keeping in mind the morals and ethics of reporting.

Saturday

2010-08-14T19:51:00.000-05:00

So my day started off pretty shitty, or I thought it did. My computer was acting up and wouldn't let me do anything that I wanted it to do, I needed to do laundry and it was hot out as usual. I decided that I would take my laundry to my parents house to do it there, and at the same time try to fix my computer.

As of right now I am almost done with my laundry and my brother and my dad have fixed my computer and we got norton antivirus installed on there so hopefully it won't be shitty anymore.

I don't know what I am going to do tonight, any ideas? My last day of work is on monday, I am pretty stoked about that and then I leave to see my gf on thursday so that's pretty exciting too.

Quote:

"Don't wish it were easier, wish you were better. Don't wish for fewer problems, wish for more skills. Don't wish for less challenges, wish for more wisdom."

-Earl Shoaf

Untitled

2010-08-12T04:05:00.000-05:00

I was sleeping for a good hour and a half and then I woke up, so I decided I would write about my day. So today, it was pretty hot out. It was about 102 degrees at like 5:30 pm, while I was at work. I was hanging out at a gate and a pen exploded on me, all over my hands and on my pants. At that point I decided that I would put latex gloves on to take away the ink that was stuck to my skin. For the most part it worked to get the ink off, I attempted to get the ink off of my shorts. Rubbing alcohol worked for awhile but then I took the shorts home well to my parents house to get it off and it worked for the most part. My shorts are still at my parents house, while I was there the ink was coming out which is good and all but I do need those shorts back because I like them a lot and I like to wear them on an everyday basis.

Other than that I had a pretty solid day at work. It was super hot but I could deal with it. I don't like how this week has been so hot. I think that it should go back to being like mid 80s maybe upper 70s that would be legit.

I am super tired, so I am going to go to sleep now.

Goodnight all.

Quote:

"It is delightful to transport one's self into the spirit of the past, to see how a wise man has thought before us."

-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Tuesday

2010-08-10T20:25:00.000-05:00

Work: So I work at a place where I am always outside, its an alright job I mean it could be worse like not having a job. But that is besides the point, I enjoy making money and have a decent amount of hours. The thing that gets to me the most is that it has been super hot outside the last week or so, I do not enjoy sweating constantly for 6 hours at a time. It's just not for me, that's all.

Work Continued: On a lighter note I am almost done with working there, I only have 3 more days of work which is pretty sweet...and then next thursday I fly up to see my gf for the weekend and then I am driving back with here a few days before we start school again. We are going to be staying at her family's cottage on the lake which should be a good experience, I am very excited to stay there for the weekend and to hang out with her and her family.

School: I still need to switch out of a class and pick up a different one, I also need to get my books which shouldn't take that long but I still need to do it. I think I am going to go up to school tomorrow and get my pin number and switch classes so I can get that out of the way before school starts. I am pretty excited for this year and for living in my apartment, that was kind of random but still.

Movies: I really want to see dinner for schmucks, because I think it looks hilarious. Steve Carell is a funny actor and this movie seems to fit well for him. Another movie that I have been wanting to see is inception, a guy I work with was telling me about it and said that it makes you think about life and look at life in a different way which would be pretty sweet.

A Quote That Makes You Think:

"Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional glance towards the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are be observed from each new vantage point."

- Harold B. Melchart

Updated Life

2010-08-09T21:37:00.000-05:00

I know it has been a super long time since I was last on here, but I was talking to a guy a couple weeks ago and he told me that I should get back into writing on my blog....so here I am :)

There has been a lot of stuff that has happened to me over the last year or so, I was doing better in school...my gf and I are almost up to our one year anniversary which is always a plus and I am figuring out what I want to do for the rest of my life. It feels good to be able to be happy with your life and with what you want to do with everything. This summer has taught me a lot about patience and trust and finding out who your real friends are. It was been for the most part a good summer for me.

I am looking forward to this upcoming year which will be my senior year in college. I think about my last three years that I have completed and just think that there are things that I wish I wouldn't have done but then again I think that everyone has that feeling at some point while they are in college. It is a learning experience that I think everyone should go through even if its only for a couple of years. I have met some of the greatest people while in college and I plan to keep in touch with the ones that have been there for me through thick and thin. College is the place where you find those certain people that you want to be in your wedding down the road, they are that important to you. You guys know who you are, and I just want to thank you for being awesome.

My senior year should be a good learning experience, not only with people but also for the things that I plan on being apart of. I feel like recently I have figured out that I need to get more invloved with organizations on campus, I think that its better to have figured this out now and start late than figure it out farther down the road and have it be too late. I also want to be able to take part in an internship the summer after I graduate, my ideal intership to take part in would be in Washington D.C. or any big city. I want to get the feel of what big time journalists do, even if I don't start out as being a writer. I like the big city feel, it seems to fit me the best.

Well that's all for now, I will be back on here tomorrow.

Here's one of my favorite quotes that make you think:

"Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning."

-Mahatma Gandhi

the new year

2010-02-01T18:30:00.000-06:00

its been awhile since i've been on here, about a good month and a half and a lot of happened since then. i got new shoes that i had designed on nike ID, i went to visit my gf in phoenix that was a good time....got back from that and then school started.....it started off pretty well, i go to class and all that jazz but fuck it i quit....i don't deserve it anymore...im done

i am the damaged one...

2009-12-13T17:49:00.000-06:00

so i continue to fuck things up, and i really do not mean to like at all....i continue to blame people for things that i do and i don't know why i do it. i jus want to get past that point where i keep doing it to the people that mean everything to me....i need to quit doing a lot of things in my life, the things that keep on hurting the people that mean everything to me...idk why i keep doing it....i really need to sit down and think about what i have been doing to these people and cut it the fuck out because at some point they are going to cut me out of their lives and then i will have nothing left be my own wretched body, what the fuck is wrong with me? why do i keep doing this to people...idk what im doing anymore...i quit

I'm outty 5
-Peace-

Thanksgiving Break

2009-11-27T12:51:00.000-06:00

so for this thanksgiving i thought that i would change it up, so i did. i came to wisconsin for thanksgiving to spend it with my gf and her family, its a pretty sweet place to be....its a totally different scene than the big O. but other than that i don't really miss it like i don't need to be in omaha anymore. idk its weird i jus feel like i have spend my time there and don't any more of it. i have also been thinking alot about my future over the last couple days or so and i have figured out what i want to do with my life and where i want to live and who i ultimately want to spend the rest of my life with....its been an eye opener and i think that i like it...but for now i gotta go

I'm outty 5
-Peace-

up and coming...

2009-11-17T07:01:00.001-06:00

so im hoping that this week will go by quickly, mainly because i am going to wisconsin for thanksgiving with my girlfriend and her family....it should be a good time, i get to spend time getting to know her parents and her family better so that should be all kinds of fun, but i have a test in spanish next monday so thats kinda shitty and i also get to find out what i got on my philosophy test on thursday so im kinda excited about that too...idk what else to write about.....i declared my major finally. im gonna do photojournalism, i kinda want to become a photographer which would be a sweet job to have but thats just me....idk i have all kinds of energy right now and nothing to do, so maybe ill rearrange things in my room maybe....? idk yet ill figure it out

I'm outty 5

-Peace-

its been awhile....

2009-11-06T06:57:00.000-06:00

Its been awhile since I've been on here, idk why I haven't wrote on this thing cuz I have so much on my mind these days....grades have been shitty, I almost lost the one girl in my life that makes my life and everything so much better but were good now which is good :) and idk what else to put....I'm goin home with her for thanksgiving so that's a big step for us, I get to meet her family and hang out with her and her family, and I'm excited about it....there is jus all kinds of things goin on in my life that I need to get on lock down and I think I figured out what I want to do with my life, I want to become a writer and write poetry and maybe even short stories...I just feel like everything is good in my life when I write...but I gotta go study

I'm outty 5
-Peace-

yeah...

2009-10-12T05:29:00.000-05:00

so i haven't been on here in awhile.....this weekend i was sick with swine flu nation, it sucked but at the same time i didn't really mind it, i got to be isolated which gave me time to think about all kinds of things that are goin on in my life....i listened to all kinds of music got some studying done which was good....this is the week before fall break which will be good for everyone to be able to get away for awhile and whatnot...i have a paper due friday, a rehearsal dinner that night, my brothers wedding on saturday and the reception that night which should be a good time and then sunday is the wedding party breakfast at like 9:30 am which shouldn't be exciting because everyone will be hung over and whatnot hahaha but then the 19th is when our fall break starts and i think i might be going to oklahoma with my roommate which would be sweet especially since i haven't been out of the big O in awhile its a much needed break....idk i think tomorrow im goin to stay with the gf for the night so she doesn't have to stay alone....kinda nice of me huh? haha yeah i know...im hoping that this week goes by quickly because i need it to and this weekend should be fun, i get to see my oldest brother and his wife for the first time since summer so that should be good and i also get to see my relatives who i haven't seen in a long time, and they all get to meet my gf....idk how well she is gonna take all of that....we are very overwhelming people but thats jus how we are, my entire family is really close and i love that we are, i wouldn't have it any other way...idk what else to write about but for now i gotta go study some and get shit ready for this weekend...

I'm outty 5
-Peace-

rainy days and long ass weeks...

2009-10-06T06:21:00.000-05:00

so its rained for like the last 2 or 3 days, and yeah i like the rain jus fine...it actually makes me a happier person idk why but it does...the only thing that i really don't like is when its windy as fuck and raining....that shit bugs the fuck out of me...its only tuesday right now, which sucks...i was hoping that this week would go by a lot faster but it jus hasn't, maybe i gotta wait till wednesday to get here and then it will go by quicker...or maybe its cuz i have a conference with my CW teacher on thursday....idk, like i feel like im ready for the conference and i know what i want to do with my paper and everything but im pretty sure shes gonna bring all kinds of new ideas into the picture that i don't think im ready to accept...when it comes to things that i write i really don't like changing them especially if its using my creative side....i jus don't like doing things by other people's standards....i like doing things my own way and usually they turn out pretty well, i mean i have been published like twenty or so times...so i guess im not good enough for the school? idk....fuck it....i do what i want....

I'm outty 5
-Peace-

my life, my life, my life....

2009-10-05T05:00:00.001-05:00

so im pretty sure that i have decided what i truely want to do with my life...become a writer but at the same time i would like to be one of those people that helps other people deal with their problems, im like a natural consuelor....and im not trying to be cocky about that. its like i know how to talk to people and i like helping people with their probelms, people find something within me that they can connect to and they feel comfortable talking to me. when i first started school here like 2 or so years ago i was definitely considering being a therapist or something along those lines ya know? like someone that can get paid to talk to people all day and jus feel good when you help them with their problems or whatever is going on in their lives at the time. but idk what to do anymore....my actually profession that i wish i could undergo is a comedian, i love to make people laugh, its probly one of the greatest feelings that i could ever feel....but you have to be extremely funny to be about to do that, i want to do something with my life that not only i can benefit from but also everyone else around me....i want to be able to change the world and be the greatest at what i do....i know its asking for a lot but thats what i want....i jus needed to get that out of my head....

I'm outty 5
-Peace-

school...

2009-10-02T01:20:00.000-05:00

so i know creighton is supposed to be a great school and everything and i definitely agree with that, but seriously if they can't even fix the card reader thing to get into the rooms how the hell do they expect us to be happy with them about anything? seriously, they need to get that shit on lock because my door hasn't been working correctly ever since i moved in back in may; legitimately get that shit on lock or we might jus have to start breakin the door to get in everyday.....and its annoying as fuck having to stand outside my door everyday swiping my card at least 30 times waiting for the reader to actually read my fuckin card....im still mad about it, but its time to study.....

I'm outty 5
-Peace-

my hoodie...

2009-09-29T21:52:00.000-05:00

so ever since i got my rubix cube looking hoodie my sophomore year, i have heard of so many people asking who i was, haha its fuckin awesome....i mean seriously i have talked to many of my friends that were like yeah some one asked me who the kid with the rubix cube hoodie is today...haha and they always say Drew "Mother Fuckin" Ryder, haha that shit makes me laugh cuz thats what people call me, its pure bliss.....and now everywhere i go people know that its me by the hoodie and my multi colored shoes its jus how i do things haha....get some....haha i jus thought i would get that out there....i think i might be the only one that actually wears it on a regular basis...but i gotta go get some stuff done

I'm outty 5
-Peace-

125 hours awake

2009-09-25T06:08:00.000-05:00

so i got a total of 12 hours of sleep from when i woke up sunday morning till probly early saturday morning would be my guess the next time i will sleep...so i was awake for about 125 hours this week...haha thats probly the longest i have ever been awake and the surprising thing is that im not really all that tired....i guess i jus used to staying up for long periods of time...i legitimately was awake like 87 % of this entire week...good lord i need to get back on a normal sleep schedule, the good thing about staying up all those hours was that i got all kinds of shit done...there was no one awake to distract me so all i did was read, do homework and write papers and everything turned out pretty fucking well...haha i don't know why i do it but i jus see to perform better early in the morning and late at night...but im gonna go finish a paper haha look at me....

I'm outty 5
-Peace-

college years so far...

2009-09-21T06:12:00.000-05:00

so tonight my roommate and i were talkin about all kinds of stuff that has happened to us over the past like two and a half years....this kid means the world to me and we have been through so much together its fuckin crazy, seriously. we wrote down things that we should have never done since freshmen year and also epic moments that we have taken part in and/or seen happen....the shouldn't have done list is a little over three pages and i'm glad that when we bring them up we can not only laugh about them but remember everything that happened when it was going on...and then with the epic moments portion of our conversation; the list is about two and a half pages and the moments that we have shared with our friends are some of the best moments i have ever had in my entire life....i mean not to sound gay or whatever but him along with some of my other really close friends will always mean the world to me, i plan on have more epic moments along with more shouldn't have done moments haha....its jus the way that we interact with each other makes them seem to me at least like they are the other family that i never knew i had....i will always be there for these people and i know they will be there for me too. i love these people with all of my heart because we understand each others pasts and presents and we don't judge because everyone is different in their own way and we respect them for who they are...i jus needed to get that out of my head before i lost it. I love you guys.

I'm outty 5
-Peace-

life in general

2009-09-19T23:49:00.001-05:00

so life is pretty solid right now....theres multiple things i remain to not understand....first being why people expect me to want to do everything that they want to do....like going out to some random ass dude's house who i have never met in my life ever, thats coo if you have met him but that still doesn't tell me anything; more power to you...that shit doesn't fuckin involve me....you can go places by yourself, i hope you do understand that? probly not though since you always need to go places with other people, but whatev. i hate people in general anyway. also i don't get why people like to start rumors about me or people that are close to me....thats a horrible idea on their part because i WILL find out and then i will find you, and we will have a lil "chat" about it.....haha im done with this shit...for now at least.

I'm outty 5
-Peace-

guess what

2009-09-17T02:17:00.000-05:00

so i haven't been on here in awhile, so from what happened over the last couple days or so.....my buddy turned 21 we went big for that no doubt about it haha....some douche bags decided to fuck with me which was a no go on their part....haha they will know how we deal with people that like to start prank wars with me hahaha we go big or go home, and we will definitely go big for this one....but other than that jus learning about all kinds of shit but the one thing thats stands out to me the most is FGM, and if no one knows what that is look it up or take philosophy with Prof F, cuz he will open up your mind to all kinds of different concepts and what not....that shit is fuckin crazy and at the same time fuckin wrong dude....women deserve the right to decide what happens to them in their lives. thats all i got right now...

I'm outty 5
-Peace-

swine flu

2009-09-11T12:31:00.000-05:00

so the whole thing about the swine flu is pretty much cared about way too much, i mean seriously it is mainly fatal to babies, old people and to the people that aren't in very good health to begin with. what the hell is up with everyone's parents freakin out about it, if your kid is in good health then it will be jus like the normal flu...get them a Z pack and the kid should be good, yeah they get to miss class for a few days which probly would be legit for your kid, all they would have to do is sit around and not have to go to class...the life an incoming freshman dreams of, right? pretty sure thats what they would be thinkin; also living in the freshmen dorms you are more likely to get some kind of sickness because its the first time they have been around new people from all over and it is bound to happen...so fuck everyone that is freaking out about the god damn swine flu, if you get it then you get a vacation for a bit and don't have to go to class, look at you gettin sick and not having to do shit haha

I'm outty 5
-Peace-

Staying Up Real Late...

2009-09-09T06:39:00.000-05:00

So i think that if i jus stay up the whole night its actually better for me than to get sleep...my sleeping cycle is all kinds of messed up...if i get anywhere between 5-10 hours of sleep i won't wake up, but if i get 4 hours or less i can wake up and feel refreshed. its weird how it works out like that...i would just rather stay up and actually get homework/studying done rather than sleep (which is so much better for me).

another thing is that im going to meet the girlfriend's parents/family next friday or saturday, i don't really know what to think yet...usually i have no problems with meetings parents but after she told me that i was her first boyfriend to actually meet them, it might be weird....haha i don't know why im freakin out about it, parents love me. and she wants to meet my parents/family before i meet hers for some reason....i don't know i don't really get it...but im hoping shes ready for a very open group of people cuz thats pretty much what we are....we are like each others best friends, its jus how we do it.....but i gotta go study more...ill be back either later today or tomorrow at some point, but for now.....

I'm outty 5
-Peace-

Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-08T00:40:00.000-05:00

i went to boji with the fam and some of my friends from school...it was a lot of fun boatin' on a boat haha thats pretty much all we did the entire weekend plus some other stuff...i met some coo people also, the bouncer at the gardens was pretty coo until the other bouncers decided to kick us out for not having our IDs on us which was fine i guess, thats their job right? probly jus power thirty SOBs that can't do anything else legit with their lives then kick people out of the gardens for no apparent reason but whatev...barefoot was the shit, we talked to a wooden statue for a good 15 mins. haha solid weekend...but driving back was a bitch...im tired as a mug....thats all i got for now...

I'm outty 5
-Peace-

2:20 AM

2009-09-03T02:21:00.000-05:00

so its currently 2:20 am and i can't sleep....im listening to Boston by Augustana, i like the song. I don't really know why it jus seems like everyone can relate to it. I don't even know why im still up this late, its like when you stay up and you know that you have stuff to do....idk it just seems like i know that i should go to sleep but in all honesty i can't go to sleep when i have all kinds of things on my mind. I need to get out of omaha, i've been here for 20 years now....born and raised here. It sucks but at the same time i love it...everyone i grew up with are here and all the amazing people i met in college still go to school here. I know that if i went to college anywhere else i wouldn't have had the opportunity to meet such awesome people. I mean i met my best friends here, in college is where you meet your true friends because you are always around them, and i know that not everyone likes me but at the same time i know so many people at this school that i don't really get why i have wanted to ever think about going to a different school....i know people think that i'm crazy and thats fine....i'm even good with people saying that I'm Drew "Mother Fuckin" Ryder...hahaha that shit makes me laugh....i think that its awesome that i can have such a badass nickname when its not actually a nickname at all haha it incorportates my name haha idk what i'm talking about. if people would really take the time to get to know me they would see that i'm not just the guy that knows everyone, the guy that likes to have a good time....i am really a nice person even if i don't come off that way....if people knew the real me....they would know that i write poetry, i'm always there for me friends whenever they need me, i really don't care what other people think of me, haha that i cocky about somethings (and yes i will admit to that), i'm actually someone that people can talk to about anything because i will not judge them. that is because i have been judged so much as i was growing up that i know exactly how it feels...idk i don't have anything else right now...maybe another day...haha probs tomorrow or something

I'm outty 5
-Peace-

Life

2009-08-31T19:06:00.000-05:00

life changes but you just have to deal with it, today i went to a funeral for a man that i have known for the past 16 years, no he wasn't related to me but at the same time he felt like he was my grandpa. It was my best friends grandpa that died on August 27th, he meant the world to everyone that went to the funeral today. I tried my hardest not to cry but in all honesty i cried because there are somethings that you need to cry about. He could always make johnny and myself laugh everytime we would talk to him. It sucks that he died but at the same time he lived the last 60 years of his life in pain and now hes in a better place without any pain. His family was like my second family we have so much history together, and i am glad that we could be apart of each others lives. It sucks having to go to funerals of people that have made a difference in your life.

“Spread love everywhere you go: First of all in your own house... let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness.”

Thats a qoute by Mother Teresa of Clacutta

R.I.P. John D. Carlson
August 3rd 1928 to August 27th 2009

I'm outty 5
-Peace-

Your Only Chance

2009-08-28T16:15:00.000-05:00

It's Called Your Only Chance

Theres a sea of black,

tears streaming down your face.

Sirens blaring around you,

blood splotches across the ground.

Hating yourself so much,

for what you did.

Thoughts spinning in your head

flashes of it,

playing over and over,

Imprinting into your mind.

You can never take it back,

this feeling will haunt you

for the rest of your life.

You were given a chance

to take the blue or red pill,

you chose the wrong one,

it was the biggest mistake ever.

Staying up crying

wishing you had another chance,

so none of this was happening

the thing is, you only

get one chance

to make a difference.

Choose wisely.

school begins again

2009-08-28T16:09:00.000-05:00

so the first 3 days of class were pretty exciting, I thought I wasn't going to see any of my friends but turns out I saw "everyone" like 5 times each. It was a good first couple days, and all my teachers are pretty ballin. By far my favorite class thus far would have to be my creative writing class, mainly because I want to get published at a college level to say that I have more to show for myself than just gettting published at a high school level.

seriously though I'm very surprised that i got the classes/teachers that I have right now, it's lookin to be a good semester....haha gotta love Creighton.

but I'm outty 5
-Peace-

2009-08-28T11:27:00.000-05:00

so this is definitely my first time blogging. I don't really enjoy the whole blogging thing, it's just not something I see a point in.

My Favorite Website would probably be spreadshirt.com mainly because I enjoy making shirts that are different from everyone else, I just like to wear clothing that stands out. It's just the way I do it.

My Least Favorite Website is more than likely yahoo.com only because whenever I try to search for anything on the website it never actually gets me to where I am looking for.

That was real exciting.

-Peace-