Experimenting with social networking

I was required to keep this blog as well as a twitter for my online journalism class. Honestly, if it weren't for the class, I probably wouldn't have even tried either. Why? Because it's something extra to do, it's change, it's more work... all things I don't like. But I'll tell you what, I actually enjoyed doing this. It was fun to come up with things to write about and nice to see people's responses, whether they were agreeing or disagreeing with me. I appreciate all of you who read and responded to my blogs this semester.

Why am I not continuing it? Because I have way too much going on to keep up with it right now. School, work, holidays, birthdays, family, friends, internships, it's all just too much, especially at this time of year. But maybe some day I'll do it again.

Blogs and other social networking sites can be used for other things other than requirements in classes though. A friend of mine was called and interviewed my Good Morning America because of something she had posted on her twitter. MotionBox offered me free things for posting about them. And if nothing else, it's good to learn how to do something new while building communication skills.

Some people are so into blogging, they actually make a living off of it, crazy huh? It's certainly not as easy as it sounds... you don't write and then earn a certain amount for each word or post. Earnings depend on how much traffic you get on your site, which of course depends on the subject you're writing about, your writing style, and how well known you are.

I encourage all of you to try it sometime, whether for fun, or professional reasons.

Thanks again.

Gel. :)

I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas

While I enjoy Christmas as much as the next person, as the holiday gets closer and closer and the excitement grows, I can't help but think of what heaping piles of waste associated with the joyous holiday does to the earth.

Wrapping paper is sent to landfills and trash because they can't be recycled with metallic dyes and designs, Christmas trees are cut down for the sole purpose of short term decoration, excessive amount of energy used with all the Christmas lights decorating homes, and greeting cards, which will be thrown out after delivering the simple "Merry Christmas" message to a loved one are examples. Thinking this way provoked the desire to be knowledgeable of how to recycle at Christmas time and be able to inform others of my findings to have a green Christmas.

After asking around, it seems the most common ways of recycling during the holiday season is to wrap presents in recyclable material including boxes, newspaper, or brown bags, all items that one should be able to find at a cheap or even no cost. The downside to this of course, is that the gifts don't look as nice. Solution: decorate the boxes, bags, and newspaper with markers and crayons, creating a truly original and fun craft. Recipients of the gift may even be happier this kind of gift wrap knowing they are helping the earth and the giver devoted time and effort into wrapping their present.

If you are stuck on the idea of using wrapping paper, buy the paper made from recycled content from charity groups. Open the paper slowly and carefully, insuring it's ability to be recycled.

For loved ones who are hard to shop for, eliminate wrapping paper completely. Purchase a gift certificate, place it in an envelope, punch a hole in the envelope, add colorful ribbon, and use the gift as an alternative to Christmas ornaments, insuring your tree is creative and beautiful and the recipient of the gift will find it useful.

Another alternative to wrapping paper is decorating and filling a basket with fun things, such as fruit. Wrapping paper isn't the only material that can be recycled at the holidays:

1. Lights- Holiday Leds and Christmas-light-source.com both participate in a Christmas light recycling program. Consumers are asked to send in their old and/or broken Christmas lights in a recyclable box in exchange for an emailed coupon towards any purchase made on their websites.

Putting Christmas lights up later in the year and taking them down sooner, as well as keeping them on a timer, prevents overuse and lowers energy use. LED lights use less electricity and are less of a fire hazard.

2. Christmas Trees- Real Christmas trees are renewable, recyclable resources. For every Christmas tree harvested, three seedlings are planted in it's place the following spring.

According to Earth911, There are about 500,000 acres used for Christmas tree production. Each acre provides the daily oxygen required for 18 people. Discovering where your local Christmas tree recycling center is makes oxygen more available.

3. Christmas cards- Christmas cards can be used in a variety of ways:

As gift tags, cut out the picture from the card, punch a hole, tie a ribbon, write to/from, and attach to gift.

-As bookmarks, by cutting the card into strips.

-As art, by cutting the photograph on the card and framing it to display as a decoration in your home.

For scrap booking, cut out decorative words, lettering, and photos and use them on holiday pages of your scrap book.

As coasters, cut the photos from the card in a circle and place them under drinks.

As note cards or scrap piece of paper, if the back is blank.

All of these and plenty more are wonderful alternatives to heaping piles of waste. Hopefully after sharing this information with others, we will start to see a green Christmas.

Live your life.

Yesterday a friend messaged me on aim and said, "omgg. i'm soo boredd." (no, i'm not making fun of the way she types. i type that way too.) Meanwhile, I have six days until the semester comes to an end (thank god, or uh, whoever an atheist is supposed to thank) and in those six days I have 3 blogs to write (2 after this one), three finals, a business card/letterhead/envelope Victoria's Secret ad, a print plus article complete with video, audio, and other extras, 3 seven page papers, a creative film response in the form of a song or dance, classes, and the bear minimum of a so called, social life. I told my friend I'd give her half my life, even if it was the fun stuff, like going out to lunch with the girls, making plans with friends for my visit home over the holidays, or even keeping my friends and family up to date with my life. She politely denied my request, yet she is bored. **Don't think I'm writing this as a way of venting behind her back, I definitely expressed myself to her as well.**

No, I'm not going to sit here and complain about how much work I have to do instead of doing it. In fact, writing this blog is part of my work, and complaining about my workload is not my purpose for this post. I'm well aware that going to a private school, taking six classes a semester with an internship on top, a seasonal job and friends and family keep you busy and can be stressful. But all of those are my choice. I put myself in these situations and I don't regret any of it. In fact I enjoy being busy and I know some day my hard work will pay off. So let me actually get to the point...

Live. Your. Life. :: sounds simple, yeah? But I'm not saying put in 8 hrs a day/40 hrs a week at your job, come home, make dinner, go to bed and get up and do the same thing the next day. Sure you're alive, but that's not what I mean by living. What I mean is make your life worthwhile. Don't be a waste of space and oxygen.

Find something that makes you happy and do it as often as possible. For me, being around people that I connect with makes me happier than anything else. When I'm out here I spend Monday and Wednesday afternoons with the girls at our favorite lunch spot. Their company and hilarious statements hurt so good. What I mean by that is, I don't mind my sides aching from laughing with good friends. When I'm home my friends and family give me the same kind of release. These people are my escape from reality. Even an hr a day, a funny text message, etc makes my day and makes me appreciate life.

For you, it may not be the same. Maybe it's physical exercise, if so, make it a point to get outside and run your heart out. There are many other examples I could use to illustrate my point, but I think you get it.

Perhaps this was more of a rant than a blog post, but since it's my blog, I can write whatever I want to. Really, I just don't understand how people can sit around watching their lives go by. The world is a big place waiting to be explored, get out there and life your life!

And thank you friends and family who make my life special. :)

do you REALLY know where your money's going? you may be surprised.

A friend and I were talking the other day and she told me that RJ Reynolds owns Starbucks and also tobacco companies. My friend is a big fan of Starbucks (and coffee in general) and was disappointed to learn that by buying a cup of coffee she is giving money to the same man who promotes tobacco. I thought it may be interesting to look into what all of us as American consumers are actually spending our money on.

From RenyoldsAmerican (R.J. Reynolds' website):
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company is the second-largest U.S. tobacco company. The company's brands include five of the nation's 10 best-selling cigarettes.

R.J. Reynolds owns: Nabisco, Starbucks, Camel, Century, Doral, Magna, Monarch, More, Now, Salem, Vantage, and Winston.

While I am not a smoker and don't particularly want to fund Reynolds' tobacco company, I also understand that he is not the only one who owns and promotes things I don't agree with. For example: I am a very loyal fan to Coca-Cola and while I have negative thoughts towards energy drinks, (coca-cola makes many energy drinks) it doesn't keep me from drinking other Coca-cola products even though I know my money is funding the same energy drinks I don't care for.

And then there's the whole concern of American products being made in China and other countries where they don't have child labor laws like we do. There's a good possibility that the clothes we own are being sewn by seven year old (or younger) children. Do I like it? NO! But... honestly, I can't (and don't want to) boycott everything.

So let me ask you, does this change anyone's opinion on drinking Starbucks and eating Nabisco cookies?

Spend some time with my face

Tonight I went to an event called "Blogfest" that featured numerous successful bloggers sharing their experiences with blogging (what they do with it, how to get into it, advice for college students, etc)

The fact that technology makes everything so quick and easy with social networks such as twitter, email, instant messaging programs, and the addiction to texting was brought up. I've heard and read many people's (mostly older) opinions on this and a lot of them seem to believe that someday my generation and generations to follow aren't going to participate in "face time", seeing and talking to someone face-to-face, because there isn't a need to do so with all the ways to connect with a person through technology. They seem to think we're going to become robots and not remember how to carry on a conversation or behave in public.

I think this idea is ridiculous. As much as I'm addicted to texting (8,000+ a month) and like using social networking sites, I value a good heart-to-heart conversation in person. There is no technology that can compare to physically being with another where you can see their body language, experience things with them, and appreciate the time spent together. I keep in touch with friends and family back home through technology when I'm in Pittsburgh and keep in touch with friends here through technology when I'm home, however, if given the choice I would much rather see the person!

I think the older people are a bit intimidated by the fact that younger generations can do something that they can't. Especially because it's not just like, they're old and can't do things as well as they once were able to, but a whole new world that they don't understand that is becoming the future more and more every day.

The spotlight:: a celebrity's life

Since Tiger Woods is getting so much attention right now and his most recent events of a car accident, affair, and wife fight are being examined and reported on by everyone and their brother, I think it's safe to say everyone is aware of these things. However, I also don't like to post something without giving the facts. So... according to the news, Tiger Woods is having an affair with a 24-year-old cocktail waitress (with sexting messages and voice mails soon to be released), was in a car accident where he struck both a tree and a fire hydrant(the car accident occurred at 2:25am, just where was Mr. Woods going?) , which some believe were caused by the influence of alcohol, and is a battle with his wife because of all this. Follow this link to read an interesting article on this whole thing. Or just type in Tiger Woods' name in google.

While it's certainly bad that this happened, the problem I have with this is Tiger's reaction. Many places site him as whining about his personal life being putting out in the open. Hellooooo Tiger, you're a celebrity! You don't have a personal life. Not a private one anyway. Did you forget you make more money in a day than most of us will probably ever see in our lifetime, so we can have our nose wedged in your butt?! On top of money and fame, Tiger has a model wife and 2 adorable young children. Why on earth would anyone in his situation do what he's doing?

Seems to me that he didn't go to great lengths to keep his affair a secret either. Apparently he was spotted with the waitress at some well-known hotel. Not exactly the best way to keep something a secret.

I have mixed feelings on this issue. Yes, I believe everyone should have the right to privacy so long as it is not affecting their career. For example, when Bill Clinton's affair was announced I didn't honestly see that much of a problem with it. Sure he's the president and it's probably not the best idea, but he did a fine job in his presidency. However, as president of the United States, he should be a positive role model. Tiger's in the same situation. He's still the world's best golfer no matter who he sleeps with, what he hits, or what ever future issues may arise, however, he too is under the public eye and therefore should set a good example.

He issued an apology, although not until the day of the National Enquirer publishing the story, which I appreciate, but I still don't feel sorry that he got busted.

Anyone else.. thoughts/opinions?