Twitterrrr....

Well, my week of Twitter is over. And I'm honestly kind of happy about it. I never have been a huge fan of Twitter, so having to partake in it for a week was a bit of a challenge for me. I have a few reasons I don't like Twitter, so it was hard having to put those aside, even if just for a week. But, I managed!

 First off, the reasons I don't like Twitter. I really don't like the reason most people use it. Updating people on everything happening in your life is unnecessary. It's like people updating their Facebook status every 2 minutes - it just gets old, and nobody really cares. Also, I didn't like not being able to set our privacy settings. I don't like the idea that people anywhere in the world that I don't even know can be following. That just creeps me out a bit. I feel like Twitter is really limited on what you can do with it as well. You can't share as many pictures or as much information about yourself for your friends, like Facebook. I feel like this limits the ways you can use it to, again, telling people what you're doing every second of the day.

With my hatred for Twitter aside, I did see it in a new light once I actually used it. I found that when people used it in the right way - sharing information, links to articles, etc. - that it could actually be useful. Unfortunately, though, most people do not use it the right way. The people that do, I thank you. I enjoyed some of the information I got out of it. I just never really got excited about Twitter. I checked it because I had to. I also found it kind of hard to come up with things to say, especially since I don't feel it necessary to share every moment of my day with the world. Maybe I'm just not enough of a creeper for Twitter, who knows.

I can see how Twitter can be used in beneficial ways, like to find jobs and things like that now. I was extremely skeptical of that idea at first, especially since I didn't really understand Twitter. I still think, though, that employers should focus more on a resume and look in the wanted ads and post things there, find people through word of mouth, etc. Call me old fashioned, but I think you can tell more about a person sitting down in an interview than through Twitter. And if you really want to get to know a possible future employee, you can have a more informal interview before or after the formal to get to know them on a personal level. Again, call me old fashioned. I just feel like technology is unnecessarily taking over the world.

So, my week on Twitter was kind of a battle. I learned a lot, but I don't see myself using it much in the future. Maybe a couple years down the road when I need a job (because as much as I don't like it, that is what the world will come to). But for now, I'm going Twitter free. My dislike for it has unfortunately outweighed the benefits for now.

A Business Case for Diversity

Tonight I attended the diversity lecture A Business Case for Diversity. I know, I know, good job procrastinating to the last one. I found the lecture to be pretty interesting though.It was all about how in society a group of smart diverse people will always be more accurate than a group of smart people that isn't diverse.

It was all a little confusing I thought. There were a lot of mathematical equations that apparently somehow proved what Scott Jones was lecturing about. I didn't really see how it all tied together, but I guess there's a reason I'm not a math major either! It was interesting to see though how it is possible to tie math into societal issues and how diversity can actually be incorporated into how accurate people can be.

The lecture wasn't really what I expected. He didn't talk about how we should be accepting of people and that companies should hire a diverse group of employees. Though he did say that we should have a diverse work force, he said it should be because it's a more dynamic business setting than having just one ethnic/racial/gender/etc. groups. Though it was a bit confusing, it was a very interesting lecture to listen to.

My Best

I've had many times in my life where I have succeeded. Many of those came from participating in my high school color guard. I was the captain both my junior and senior years, but my best moment didn't come until our very last performance.

We got color guard at my school my sophomore year. It started out with just six of us, and our band only traveled to parade competitions. The next year when I was named captain, we were up to twelve girls, a new coach, and the band actually did real field shows and traveled to competitions. We were successful after winning best guard at Urbandale Marching Invitational in the fall and earning 3rd at the winter guard competition. All of this was great, but never matched up to senior year.

The captain position was never easy, but I loved every minute of it. I loved being able to serve the other girls on the "team". We made it through the fall competitions, not quite as successful, but still better than would be expected of a guard in their third year of competition. We started off our winter competition a little rough. One girl was taken off the team, and I was sick for our 8 hour rehearsal where they learned a big chunk of the show. It led to the morale of the team being a little lower, so I had to ensure the girls kept their heads up and stayed dedicated.

Things finally started to fall together. Two weeks before the competition, we didn't think we would be near ready, but the week of we busted out some tough rehearsals and pulled it together. The morning of competition, we headed to Des Moines in high spirits, ready to take what was ours. We knew that morning we were as prepared as we would ever be. The performance we gave that morning was the best it had ever been. As we walked off the floor in Vets Auditorium, we all broke down crying because we were just so proud of what we had accomplished. At that moment, it didn't matter what place or trophy we would take home that night, all that mattered was that we were a family and did our best. I've never been so proud to be a part of a group. And though we took third home that night, we knew we gave a first place performance.

To me, places and the size of a trophy isn't what matters. It's doing your best and working hard to come together as a family. The color guard did that the night of state, and no third place finish will take the first place feeling we had walking off that floor.

Mindset List Reaction

            Beloit College’s Mindset List was very interesting. It definitely got me thinking about society as we, the class of 2014, know it, and how those before and after us might see the world. It was very thought-provoking some of the things they said about our generation. Some things were accurate, and others not so much.

            I found it interesting that the first thing on the list was that most of us don’t know how to write in cursive. I remember very well learning to use cursive in third grade and having to use it throughout middle school. They claimed that we would have to know how to use it in high school, though most of us didn’t use it much past the seventh grade. I also thought that the claim that email is too slow was slightly false. I use email on pretty much a daily basis because it’s just faster than snail mail. The idea that it’s too slow I think is crazy, considering there isn’t much faster than a simple email! And again, the claim about the coiled cord around the wrist I found funny. I remember when I was a kid doing that with our old phone; up until about sixth grade we had a cord phone!

            There were many things on the list that were incredibly true though. The two about helping those with disabilities and hospices and assisted living were very true. We’ve never lived in a world where it was very hard to get help when disabled or needing a place to stay when sick. We’re very fortunate as a generation to have opportunities like this. The one about beanie babies was also very true and comical. I don’t think I knew anyone that didn’t have at least one beanie baby! And having adhesive bandages of varying skin tones has always been an advantage that our generation has had, along with the chances to do community service to earn money for college, and the North American countries trading freely. The list was very accurate in stating things that we’ve never experienced, such as Wal-Mart selling handguns over the counter, a carousel of Kodachrome slides, and Fergie being a princess before a pop singer, because these are all things I was unaware of!

            The list definitely made me think about where our generation fits in to our society as a whole. It’s amazing the things we take for granted, and we should take the time to appreciate those things. As the list points out, we are the generation of the new technological world, but we need to remember the generations and people that got us here as well.