The Next BIG Thing

      Social networking sites are an ingenious tool—people are staying connected and sharing ideas, stories, and memories.  Before my Ust11 seminar about social networking sits, I did not realize that so many existed and just how useful they are.   Using Twitter for the last week has been a different experience.  Although I find myself scrolling through people’s Facebook pages on a daily basis, Twitter may now be a more frequent way of staying connected.

      Twitter is a great tool to use to keep up with not only people, but with other organizations, business, programs, and groups.  Unlike Facebook, MySpace, and other friend based networking sites, Twitter allows you to follow any entity that has an account.  Twitter is not about who you know, but connects you with people or organizations that you want to know more about; for example following celebrities, newspapers, or clubs.  I really liked twitter because I could log on and all of the news that I need for the day is right there.  I started following a lot of different news sites, and it has helped me to keep up with the world.  Since I moved to Ames, I haven’t watched much television and Twitter has taken over the role of informing me of the world affairs. 

      Learning to use Twitter was not difficult at all.  The informational websites on using Twitter made it super easy to absorb all of the techniques the networking site has.  The website, http://www.commcognition.com/blog/college-students-guide-twitter-101/, is very educational with ways to make your profile the best and how to use tweets, retweets and replies.  Another site that was interesting was http://www.balkhis.com/twitter/25-reasons-why-someone-should-join-twitter/.  This site lists 25 detailed reasons for people to join Twitter.

      After using this social networking site for a while, I am now convinced to continue to use my account.  Twitter is going to help me to share my knowledge, keep up with the rest of the world, stay connected, and even vent a little.  View my full profile at http://twitter.com/#!/dlbohner and create your own profile today—after all Twitter is the next BIG thing.  

A Business Case of Diversity

Just how boring would life be if we were all the same?  If we all had the same skin color, haircuts and styles, clothes, eyes, voice, thoughts, skills, and qualities, what would set us apart from the rest of society?  The diversity that we experience in our everyday lives is what makes life exciting.  Fact is, we are all different; we have our own opinions, traditions, and distinctive characteristics.  Thank God that we are all, in some way, unique in the world around us.

When I attended the event, A Business Case of Diversity, I took was able to see an entire new side of diversity.  Aside from diversity giving us a variety in the people in our lives, diversity creates progress.  The speaker talked a lot about the success of problem solving in a diverse group of people versus a group of non-diverse people.  He noted that studies prove that the diverse groups have better results, make more progress, and come up with better – more thought out solutions.

I found these studies rather interesting; a group of all high IQ people working to solve a problem does not perform as high as a group of people with diverse IQ’s.  I guess this situation does make sense.  The group of diverse people are all thinking a lot differently, and not proposing the same solutions.  Diversity in problem solving is important because the members will think of different ways to go about things and have a wider selection of solutions.  The speaker also talked about the ways that the two groups would get along.  The diverse group will absolutely hate each other because they are all so different. The diverse group will contradict each other and may have trouble agreeing on solutions.  The group people more alike will get along better, and more easily agree on solutions.

Overall, diversity is essential in all aspects in life.  Although the Business case of Diversity was mainly focusing on the effectiveness of diversity in the work place, you should realize that it is important to connect with a variety of people through friendships, relationships, and other learning experiences – after all, Diversity is the one thing we all have in common.    

A Time at my Best

I would like to say that I try my best in everything that I do, but that would be a lie.  One thing that I really took pride in during high school was soccer.  I enjoyed all of the activities that I participated in, but soccer was definitely my favorite.  Whenever the team had practice or games, I was always putting forth my best effort.

Unlike a lot of people, I did not play soccer my whole life.  Outside of just kicking a ball around, I had never really played until my freshman year.  When I joined the team, I was absolutely in love.  The first week of practice was tiring, but all worth it.  I started off playing on the Junior Varsity team; later on in the season coach promoted me to the competitive game.   All though practices were harder, I wanted to try even harder.  I was so proud of making the varsity team as a freshman having never played before.

 As a center-mid, I did a lot of running.  I felt that I always had to work hard to keep such a good position on the team.  Although I always thought I was working at my best, the time that I was at my best was during my first tournament.  We had already played 2 games that day, so I was very tired. I was so ecstatic when I scored my very first goal! All of my hard work from practice and other games finally paid off. 

            When you know that you are trying your best, it is a good feeling.  It is important to work hard until all of your efforts pay off.  If I try my best in all of my classes during this first semester, I know that my hard work will pay off with a good GPA

The Importance of Timeliness

Well... growing up my parents always told me it was important to be on time to things.  It is away to show accountability and that you are responsible.  However, some people cannot seem to be ontime to anything, no matter how important the event is.  I hate to admit it, but I am one of those people; although I have gotten better at it since school started.  I am always running out of the door in a hurry.

So this blog is supposed to be about why it is important to be in class ON TIME; so here are a few reasons being on time is essential:
1) It shows that you care about the things you are involved in
2) It gives you a sense of accountability
3) It tells people that you are organized
4) You don't have to deal with the awkward stare the whole class gives you when you walk in after the teacher begins the lesson
5) You don't have to think of an excuse of why you are late (because you are too embarrassed to give the real reason)
6) You (most likely) won't be completely lost the whole class
7) You won't have to blog about the importance of being on time...

The Beloit College Mindset List

            The Beloit College Mindset list for the class of 2014 is accurate in some aspects, but quite ridiculous in others.  If a student thought all of these items were true, I would say they are quite foolish.  I can identify with some of them, and some of them I have not heard of.

               

Some of the items that I think are accurate are:

·         email is too slow

·         Fergie is a pop-singer, not a princess

·         “Viewer Discretion” has always been an available warning on TV shows.

·         They have never worried about a Russian missile strike on the U.S.

Email is way too slow.  When I need an answer to something, I would much rather use the speedy text message option.  When has Fergie ever been a princess?  Meet me halfway here; she is glamorous, but not royal.  Ever since I can remember watching television, Mom and Dad have been there to say, “This is not for you.”  If it was violent, fine.  But come on, everyone needs a laugh now and then.  Finally, the Russians are after us?   I know of the complications with them in 1940’s, but I thought that was ancient. 

                Some of the items that are way off base are:

·         The U.S, Canada, and Mexico have always agreed to trade freely.

·         Toothpaste tubes have always stood up on their caps.

·         They’ve never recognized that pointing to their wrists was a request for the time of day.

Hello, have we not ever studied economics?  I thought everyone new about tariffs and quotas.  The North American Free Trade Agreement didn’t launch until the early 1990’s.  As for toothpaste, I remember the screw on caps; I was always too lazy to put it back on.  As a final point, pointing at the wrist means nothing else in my book.  If you want to know the time, give the sign. 

                A few of these items are rather funny, but it is the way that some of us think.  Most of us should know that some of the items are inaccurate.  It is interesting to see how the rest of the world views our mindset.