Things Done

• Readings for Advertising, as usual / Checklist for Advertising group due Friday - Ohhh, double dipper! Finished the last quiz before break with another 97 :-) Also finished our project, which took 11 hours one day in the Tech Center - AH! But now all that is left is our presentation, this Monday, which will be a cakewalk compared to the rest of this semester.
• Speech homework - prepare Speech of Persuasion - Oh man, I love when I don't go through and update for a while. Not only did I finish the speech of Persuasion, I also did the Proposition of Fact speech before break, and the Policy speech tonight, Tonsillitis and all. Which makes me semi-officially done with speech class for the semester!
• CIS project - dun dun dun dun, dun dun dun DUN! As in, DONE with that portion, now I have to finish my blog entries by next week and then we have a final, including take-home essays.
• Get curtains for my room and downstairs - I think I can officially take this off the "To Do" list now because I have blinds now and already found a subleaser who will be taking over my house in a few weeks anyway. Definitely not worried about curtains at this point.
• Make appointment with dermatologist - Yeah, not going to happen. Skin, heal. It's like I'm talking to a dog.

End of World Revisited

Had to bring this one back. Classic. Click "START" below to watch the most hilarious Flash movie ever made :-D

Tonsilitis

A sore throat that I thought was a result of dry heat in the winter turned out to be tonsilitis. Yuck. Apparently I'm not supposed to go to class for the next two days, but that poses a small problem-o because I have two presentations in the next two days. I suppose I will just do what I usually do and tough it out. I guess my body really does know when I need a little R&R, but it couldn't have come at a worse time: right before finals. These next few weeks are going to be so much fun.

Black Friday

My first Black Friday ever went something like this:

• Wake up at 6:30 am when Sidney calls
• Fall back asleep until about 7 am after staying up until at least 12:30 on Thanksgiving
• Shower and leave house around 9 am after breakfast, directions, and magazine reviewing
• Drive to Fort Lee to meet Sidney, on the way passing through the Express EZ Pass by accident instead of using the cash lane
• Arrive at his house around 10 am
• Drive with Sidney to Verizon store to get him a replacement phone after a toilet-bowl incident
• Wait for Sidney, who emerges from Verizon store frustrated and disgruntled due to a magic monitor in the store which had rearranged the names on the waiting list right before his turn
• Drive halfway to Garden State Plaza before becoming annoyed with traffic and turning around in favor of Palisades Center
• Search for parking for a good 20 minutes
• Debate over eating options and search for food court to get energy back up; indulge
• Begin shopping at Express for Men; help Sid pick out 3 shirts
• Enter Express (for women) and pick out one shirt; not finding the proper shirt to go under it, check out, realizing that the 20% discount for the day would only be applied to merchandise purchased before 11 am - now long past - and that sales tax is applicable in New York
• Leave mall, still not understanding the whole fuss of Black Friday as Sidney and I had each purchased merchandise at full-price anyway
• Return home, meet Sidney's family, see a movie, take a nap, go out to eat, sleep

Overall a great day unrelated to Black Friday. Maybe next year we will plan our adventure earlier than the night of Thanksgiving, wake up early, and buy electronics.

Awkward Voicemail

Memory card reader + Qualcomm's PureVoice converter =

...Freshman Year Relived.

Awareness... in Marketing and Dating

Sometimes you just need to let them know you're out there. In our 7UP campaign for advertising class this semester, one of our main objectives is awareness. We are targeting male consumers and using a variety of sports-themed appeals to generate awareness and interest in this market for our "all-natural" 7UP.

How ironic that the same concept can be used in dating. Think about it.

Awareness
Interest
Desire
Action

AIDA: A well-established conceptual framework in the marketing world. Now apply to real life. Ready:

Girl hears motorcycle being revved up - yet again - across the street at neighbor's house, at night, under her window. Grows some balls and finally yells out the window, "Hey, when can I get a ride?" Immediate Awareness. Guy approaches window. Interest verified. See how simple life is? Those marketers have it all figured out. Desire and Action still TBD.

Mobile Blogging Review

So Verizon adds a bunch of annoying text and links at the bottom of messages sent through the PIX/FLIX feature directly to Blogger (or anywhere). I have a VX8100. Thinking of upgrading soon but still trying to squeeze the useful life out of this one by exploring its other features etc. And I am a bit attached.

Mobile Blogging through VX8100's PIX msg feature - Pros:

• 1000 characters.
• Ability to include a picture, video, or sound...
• ...which seems to agree with Blogger as well, saving me a little time not having to use the "upload" feature.
• Only have to pay the PIX/FLIX message fee, no online fees.
• Helps me get my thoughts out when I have them, not hours later. I mean, when don't I have my cell near me? A girl's gotta stay connected!

Mobile Blogging through VX8100's PIX msg feature - Cons:

• Image did not default to centered and seems to be in some other format than regular images uploaded to Blogger.
• Aforementioned annoying text.
• Cannot classify posts through mobile message.

I could actually sign online through my phone but I'd have to pay either $5/month or $1/ 24 hours. Might come in handy when I'm in Italy, have service, and don't have a laptop or computer available. Other than that I don't think I'd be using the internet on my phone when I usually have free computers all around. This method would also require me to pay for "Mobile Web" and who knows how much that is. I wasted about 2 minutes just reading the prices!

The TXT message feature on my phone cannot send subjects, and has a 160-character limit. So unless I want a post that says the same thing as it's title - and very quickly - I will not be using that method.

The good thing about Blogger, though, is that it has the option to edit the posts before posting them on my blog. So I can use that feature in conjunction with my phone to get thoughts out if necessary throughout the day. Obviously my direct-to-blog ideal will have to wait for my next phone purchase.

And you will have to wait for my next update: another fun phone trick / media item. Hint: It's a sound clip. It's relateable, you will like it.

Testing out mobile blogging!

Let's see if the subject line thing works and I don't end up with the same text and title for the post :-) In the meantime, a picture of my fun vase holding peacock feathers I was given this summer. Found the vase at the Salvation Army!

No Marketing

I was at UPenn all day Friday for a conference run by their AMA chapter, called "MUSE" (Marketing Undergraduate Students Establishment). The theme of the conference was "No Rules Marketing" but the flyer made it look like "No Marketing" because "Rules" was crossed out. For effect? We had a chuckle:

© MUSE Used with permission.

Anyway, the keynote speaker was fabulous, very high-profile with a depth of knowledge about emerging media, which she shared with all of us. Read her bio here. I also went to some interesting speaker sessions, and then participated in a case competition.

I had been really excited to go to this conference, not only because of the speaker session descriptions, but because I had a chance to see what Wharton kids are doing and compare notes. The Jon. M. Huntsman Hall resembles our Tech Center with breakout rooms, etc., and I enjoyed walking around the campus. I would love to see more networking opportunities between Philadelphia area schools and AMA collegiate chapters in general. There were even some students from Maryland and Virginia in attendance.

Overall, a very good experience. Any education missed from the 3 classes I skipped was definitely compensated for with the perspective gained. It is now permanently drilled into my brain that mass-media is dead, haha. Would have liked to see a bit more of an international perspective, though. I think that is something Temple does well. Maybe at the next one.

PS - We won second place in the case competition!

Connotations of "Prejudice"

It's interesting that even in a school like Temple, the "Diversity University," there is still so much prejudice, and we don't always recognize it. I'm not saying I don't have my own personal prejudices - anyone who tells you, "I'm not prejudice / racist / etc." is clearly lying. I don't think anyone in this world is 100% free of prejudice. When we first meet someone we already begin to form an opinion about them based on previous experiences with people that look/talk/act like them.

Not all prejudice is a bad thing and it helps us get through our daily lives; however, there is an obvious negative connotation to the word which makes most people deny their own prejudices. It's something I experienced firsthand at Lehigh, and am now beginning to notice at Temple as well.

The other day a fellow student described someone as "North Philly Trash." That someone happened to be a very dear friend of mine. Offended? Yes. Surprised? A little, but I guess I shouldn't have been. Another student described an experience on an airplane when he was placed next to a Middle-Eastern man. "Now I'm not prejudice, but," (of course "but") "this guy smelled bad, was wearing (etc., etc.) ... and he started to look shift through his bag, for a long time. So I'm sitting there like, omg what is this guy doing? ... Eventually he just pulled out an iPod." My classmate should have learned a lesson here. But probably not the right one.

I don't exactly blame my classmate for his reaction on the plane, but there's no denying it was racist. The lesson I wish my classmate would have learned, is that his actions were motivated by racism. His tension on the plane, his fear (again, not necessarily "wrong" responses, actually a fairly normal human instinct to sense danger, which is necessary for survival) were actions motivated by a stereotype, a prejudice, in this case racism.

Failing to recognize when your actions are being motivated by personal prejudices, you may miss out things: an intellectual conversation, a new perspective, a good friend, or a wonderful relationship. It's so unfortunate that we have been trained to say "I'm not prejudice, but" to avoid criticism. I have a lot more respect for people who say, "I know I'm being prejudice, but" than people who don't recognize this in themselves and think that the world won't either.