:: Personal :: Professional :: Everyday Life ::
Finished my college career on May 7. Moved out of my apartment May 15. Moved to Chicago May 16. Couch surfing until June 1.
In quick summary, this is what has been going on with me. Everything is moving so quickly, I can’t help but try to take it all in.
So, what’s in store now? Goal Setting and planning, per usual. Writing, coffee, updating my music selection. Blogging, increasing my InDesign knowledge, more coffee.
Working towards achieving a wanted balance.
Here’s to new adventures.
Below is a pleasant Email sent out by non other than Biggby Coffee…Each morning I receive coupons and specials for the week for Biggby Coffee. To be honest I normally open the Email when it has an enticing “subject line…” and today was one of those days.
A great example of a company living/working “green.” Thank you Biggby for all that you do! 
The 40th anniversary of Earth Day is this Thursday, April 22nd. There are ways that we can all work on being more “green” in our daily lives. Here are things that we are doing at BIGGBY COFFEE locations to help B more green (varies by location):
B-eing Green (because I am a frog you know!)
Looking to get involved? Live in the Lansing/East Lansing area. Here are some events I’ve collected going on throughout the week:
Goodwill will hold a computer collection in Lansing as part of the state of Michigan’s Earth Day celebration.
Residents of Greater Lansing can recycle old computer equipment April 22 at Constitution Hall in Lansing, 525 W. Allegan St.
Goodwill only will be accepting computers and equipment specifically for computers. All other electronics will not be collected.
Senior vice president of the World Wildlife Foundation Jason Clay will present on food production and maintaining biodiversity and ecosystems in the future at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in Room 147 of the Communication Arts and Sciences Building. The presentation is titled Feeding the People and Maintaining the Planet: Meeting the Challenge by 2050.
The event is free and open to the public.For more information contact Jennifer Patterson, the executive secretary for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, at (517) 355-7494.
Will be visiting the East Lansing Public Library today, April 23 at 6:45 p.m. in celebration of Earth Week.
A number of recording artists from the area, signed to the Earthwork label, are releasing a children’s CD and are currently on a mini tour. As part of that tour, the library is hosting a CD release party and children’s concert in honor of Earth Week. The event is free and open to all ages.
Location: Tours will start by the little building next to the pond.
MSU Main Library, First Floor West
**If you hear of any events being hosted in honor of Earth Week please let me know! The more involvement means the more awareness.**
Perhaps I created too much hype for the ads this year but the ads were simply just not up to Super Bowl expectations – I am disappointed to report the blandness in the selection of ads for 2010.
Many of the commercials were spin-offs of ones that ran in 2009 -For example the Budweiser clydesdale and Teleflora flowers. I find myself asking, “Where is the newness, where is the creativity?”
After talking with some co-workers this morning they seemed to agree that this year’s ads were subpar, but luckily there were some ads that saved the day.
Some of the more noteworthy ads that I thought made the cut are as follows:
Well – here is a new advertiser! Finally breaking TV silence, Google’s Parisian Love commercial was simple , effective and has created some chatter. How many times have you “googled” a term only to spark a new idea and google something else? – For me, ALL THE TIME!
Is Google fearing the newer seach engine, “Bing“? Probably not, but with all of the advertising Bing has been doing, I’m not surprised Google has finally answered back.
My fellow LOST watchers I’m sure noticed the Bud Light commercial where they spoofed the characters on the hit TV series. While I thought this was great I spoke with some individuals who have never seen LOST and really didn’t understand the humor of the commercial. The actors not only resembled the characters on the show – but followed the same plot of one person wanting to get off the island and another person finding a reason to stay, in this case it was the Bud Light.
Denny’s came back with their same offer from last year offering a FREE Grand Slam breakfast this Tuesday. While it was a repeat offer, they decided to do a spin-off of it and give it new humour. An odd commercial in my opinion, but one that definitely stuck out. As a vegetarian I was mildly turned off when they were telling chickens to “run and hide” – even though they were advertising their “egg” specials and not actually eating chicken I thought it was a negative approach to advertising a really cool special.
Motorola
The racy and admired Megan Fox Motorola ad is receiving a lot of hype. If you haven’t seen it yet – check it out. The sex appeal of her as a celebrity and her in this commercial made up for the lack of sex appeal in the overall ad selection this year. Along with Motorola were the GoDaddy ads featuring Danica Patrick. GoDaddy has continued to stick with the high sexual nature in their campaign, and it has continued to keep them ranked high on the best bowl ads list.
All ads can be seen and voted on at Ad Blitz. I suggest deciding for yourself, if you didn’t have a chance to watch them on Sunday
PR Squared is routinely among the top 20 blogs on Ad Age’s Power 150. Built by founder and PR guru Todd Defren, PR Squared is a great example of ways to conduct your company on the internet. The policy includes four items that should be universal to all companies engaging in social media practices:
The policy quotes “these rules might sound strict and contain a bit of legal-sounding jargon, but please keep in mind that our overall goal is simple: to participate online in a respectful manner.”
Clear and simple, even if you don’t read through all of the rules you can see the overall purpose of the guidelines and this will help the organization remain on the same page. Something that this policy is missing that would help supplement it’s seriousness is requiring an accountability signature. This affirms that the employees have read the rules and understand that if they choose to participate in the online social world that they accept that they will be held accountable for their actions. This policy could also state the consequences of not abiding by the policy.
My thoughts on companies using social media coincide with blogger Jennifer Van Grove. She is quoted in her post on social media policies that ”Companies can benefit by using social media by acting as BRAND REPRESENTATIVES, using the social web to help grown the company and engage with customers.” I think it is essential and unavoidable to have employees out their in the social world.
The short clip below is of Todd Defren discussing the importance of having a plan of action when using social media.
Yesterday was a fantastically busy day! Not only did I turn 22 years old, finish up my internship, have a holiday party, but I ALSO attended a seminar hosted by Chris Dack, on how to shoot better photos & video.
He guided us through 10 easy steps to help produce quality photos.
1. Background
Isolate the subject you are working with. Deny your viewers of being distracted. Use a plain background, this is especially important for portrait & product photos. Look at any car or jewelry ad, there is normally never a busy background. Clean colors and isolated, just as the photos below.
2. Exposure
There are three variables of exposure: 1. Sharpness 2. Focus 3. Grain/Noise
The exposure controls the lightness/darkness of the photo. When there is time to think before taking a photo be sure to choose from the settings your camera offers. While the “auto” feature is convenient it may not give you the best shot. When taking those tough photos like someone standing in front of snow where the picture will already be bright, auto may tell you not to use a flash, but that is just going to drown out the face of your subject. By using a selected “outdoor” feature it will give more light to your subject and not white out their face..
3. Use a tripod
When I heard this I was said, “why would I ever just carry one of those around!” There are several tips to steady yourself without a tripod and even ways to make your own:
4. Do’s & Don’ts of lighting
Do: Photograph in shade, photograph in overcast
Don’t: fluorescent lighting, direct sunlight. Do not use these types of lighting especially when shooting a group with various skin tones, try to find that shady area and let the flash find the true tones.
5. Step out of your comfort zone
Most people when they take a photo of someone tend to stand within comfort distance of them, point and shoot. The photo will come out significantly better if you opt to stand 6 ft away and zoom in. Also by backing up, this will help to smooth out the features of your subjects face, by standing to close things tend to look distorted.
6. Slight asymmetry is pleasing
Really, a slight asymmetry is pleasing. When you are looking at the scene or subject your are about to shoot, think of The Rule of 3rds. This will help you to get a more interesting shot.
7. Don’t take just one!
This seems like a gimmie. Think about it though, how many times have you been at a company function and want to take a photo of the keynote speaker or someone receiving an award, but you feel that you are the annoying paparazzi in the crowd? TAKE THE SHOT! Take as many as you can, because the moment will only happen once, and if you don’t take the opportunity you could be missing out on a great photo. One photo is better than no photo and with five you can’t go wrong!
8. Free software
Some great places that were recommended for uploading and editing your pictures were:
Picasa, Photoshop, Corel Paint Shop Pro and Adobe Photo Shop Elements
9. Clean your lens
There is in fact a proper way to clean your lens. Turn your camera so that the lens is facing down so any debris can fall off on its own. Then take a camera or glass cleaning towel and shake it! Make sure there is nothing on the towel or you could have a bigger problem when you try to clean the lens. Slowly work from the centers to the edges. Finally, always store your towel in a plastic bag or somewhere that it can remain clean.
10. Consider buying used
If you’re now ready to jump into photography or thinking of updating your current equipment there are several sites out there that you can get GREAT deals on GREAT cameras. Good luck!
My first experience with social media or blogging took place several years ago on a little site I like to call Livejournal. From Livejournal, Myspace was born. After Myspace, Facebook hatched. From Facebook came Twitter, LinkedIn, Vimeo, Youtube and FriendFeed – You name it and an updated version was/is being created.
The social media market is booming with new sites everyday. As new forms of technology arrive so do new social media sites to cater to them. For example, Cisco comes out with the FlipVideo Cam, and boom the Vimeo video sharing site is created.
What makes a social media site rise or fall though? As we have seen facebook overshadow myspace – we find ourselves wondering where did myspace go wrong?
Will Facebook be on top in five years from now?
My gut reaction to that question is no, for the same reasons I think that Facebook has been an industry leader are the same traits I believe that will be the death of it in years to come.
One of the hardest things for people to accept is change. I think this answers why Myspace is failing – it waited to long to change its style and NOW has tried to change all at once. Facebook on the other hand has gradually added new features, such as fanpages and “like” buttons to keep people intrigued. They have created enough change to stay with current trends, but not enough to scare people off. Where will the changing end though? When will Facebook go too far and lose its market?
“The greatest things in life are free.” This must be why people love social media sites right? Through social media the possibility to start and operate a business at little to no cost is absolutely possible.
For example: Say I’m a photographer. I could take photos of a sports game, post them on Flickr, flood my Flickr link on Twitter, have someone find interest in my photos and look up my credentials on LinkedIn and finally be in contact to sell my photos all at the cost of free. Again – why would anyone not was to take advantage of this? It seems that there is no way social media could fail… Until free suddenly becomes, well, not so free. These social sites will see the benefit in charging their subscribers, capitalizing off of their entrepreneuial skills, until the users move on to something new.
This is the aspect I see as potential failure for current social media sites. As new technologies arise and new social media sites arise, there won’t be room for outdated sites. Facebook will be shown up by a site that integrates more video sharing like youtube and more mini-feeds like twitter and more voice command features from whatever new site we see in the future. My prediction is that social media will continue to be a growing trend, but current social media sites will forever be evolving. A site can only evolve so much before it has lost the excitment it once held.
So my prediciton is that social media will remain strong, but as for the current social sites they will soon sadly lay to rest replaced by something new. What are your thoughts? Will any be able to squeeze through into the new and upcoming social media network wave?
I was inspired after reading Chris Brogan’s blog on “How he writes blog posts everyday”
![3975351743_0303404f83[1]](http://katyhomanick.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/3975351743_0303404f831.jpg?w=490 "3975351743_0303404f83[1]")
One of the points he made was to take photos. For those who know me personally and professionally, my camera is normally glued to my hand, I suppose I get that from my family.
Leafing though my photos I was thinking – “What kind of blog posts would I write…”
The answer is a lot! From concerts, the changing of seasons, and trips across the state, every photo sparks a new topic.![3975353623_ae71567ee0[1]](http://katyhomanick.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/3975353623_ae71567ee011.jpg?w=490 "3975353623_ae71567ee0[1]")
Myblogging style has always been content should drive the photos. Well, I think it’s time to let the photos drive the content.
As a November personal goal (although we’re already 5 days in) I will be taking photos everyday to spark new content for the blog.
![4006657883_3b7cb9b3b6[1]](http://katyhomanick.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/4006657883_3b7cb9b3b61.jpg?w=490 "4006657883_3b7cb9b3b6[1]")
Photos or Bust.
What inspires your content? Events, thoughts, photos, people? How do you develop your best writing?
You walk into work after a long week to find a colorful envelope sitting on your desk with a handful of small candies on top. You think “it’s not my birthday…right?” – hey it’s been a long week, anything’s possible. Upon opening it, the words ” THANK YOU!!!” are spelled out on the cover of the card.
This has happened for me on a number of occasions at my office. This simple but meaningful gesture is a powerful way to express appreciation. Some may think of thank you notes as a thing of the past, like opening car doors or throwing a jacket over a puddle, but I suppose the rarity of those things make them even more special when it happens.
The text inside the card resides as the icing on the cake. When the author can capture just the right words it can really impact the message.
Key points to hit in a thank you note:
” Stay Positive!
Take two minutes out of your day to jot someone a quick note. It doesn’t have to be on a nice card, it could be on a nice sized post-it note! Let your employees know that they are appreciated for the work they are doing!
Ingredients for a successful event planner: Patience, understanding, organization, quick thinking, flexibility, and a good sense of humor. Massive amounts of preparation!
While all of those other qualities are needed too, the most important aspect of event planning is over preparing.
For months our office has been prepping for the Mackinac Bridge Labor Day Run. Over the weekend I was able to experience it first hand and see exactly why we do the things we do.
Our event planning staff of four, including myself, was able to put on our sixth annual Mackinac Bridge Labor Day Run with ease. With around 400 runners, state employees and dignitaries in the event I’d say it went better than I could have imagined.
Prepping the Registration and Check-in tables at Little Bear East Arena in St. Ignace
So how did I prepare myself for the event? Well, first you may have wondered why I have been absent from blogging lately- well I haven’t!
One of my core intern duties was maintaing and creating content for our bridge run blog. I was able to learn and teach myself more functions of blogging than I could have ever wanted to know.
Not only did maintaing the blog benefit those who were reading it, it helped me to prepare for event day. People were able to ask questions, view maps and get a better understanding of what the event would provide and I was able to prepare myself by providing the information multiple times and drilling it into my head.
Of course even with all the preparation that one can do – there are always curve balls thrown on event day, staying calm and understanding are the best way to deal with those.
Any hitches along the way though were definitely evened out by all the cool things I was able to experience. For example watching the Gov. of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm hype all 400 runners up before embarking on their five-mile run!
Governor Jennifer Granholm starting the State Employees
