Another eventful week

The start of "Halloweek" (a term describing Halloween week in a college atmosphere) has been ultra-busy and eventful! It started off with sleeping in after an exhausting Homecoming weekend, and if anything, has been a week of a lot of journalism, business and ethics realizations.

Wednesday afternoon, I received a text message to go to the New Student Center. A coke vending machine was crowded with probably 50 students, and I couldn't tell what they were staring at. Coke was doing a promotional event for happiness at this one machine where there was a man in the vending machine. You inserted $1, chose which Coke-brand soda you wanted, and it fell out of the machine per usual. But then, a surprise came after. Some of these surprises were cookies, candy, free t-shirts and Mizzou and Coke merchandise, a two-liter bottle of a Coke product, a Polaroid image of your face as you received the second gift, and Kansas State football game tickets!

I obviously was incredibly excited and went to the machine twice. I got Sprite both times, with candy as my first surprise gift and a two-liter Sprite as my second. But as happens with State Farm Insurance promotions earlier this semester and more, why is Coke spending their money branding us when they already have business? What was their goal while instigating happiness? As much as I hate to say it, no business just wants to throw away a ton of money getting some University of Missouri students who were in the right place at the right time to favor their brand. It bugs me that I could not discover their intent. It would have been cool if the dollars (since mine was given back the first time) were donated to a cause to promote happiness, or if the gifts were donated, but I realized by asking and that was not the case. So if you happen to be a business owner or large company reading this or campaigning on a college campus, inform students of your mission so it actually comes across!

I sat in the Student Center for a few more hours studying and chatting with Kate and Sherman, when I got a call (which ended up being a rumor, but) four people were shot in Mizzou's Virginia Avenue Parking Structure. The University Hospital was on lockdown, which is on campus, and people began to freak out. There was no alert sent by the university but MU Alert and the Columbia Daily Tribune, as well as KOMU News (our NBC affiliate TV station) began to post live updates by the minute. No other campus buildings went on lockdown, but this was the first news event where I followed the entire story on Twitter. The term "University Hospital" became a popular trend on Twitter, with Mizzou and its plethora of news outlets and journalism students on Twitter taking over the world with both this and Mizzou College Gameday becoming a trend last week. That's pretty cool that we have so many people informing the world that we're being trended!

It was a great way to follow the updates and it was discovered that what really happened was a gunman shot four people in Callaway County, who were sent to University Hospital in mid-Missouri. The gunman was on the loose and since only three of the four had died, rumor had it he was around to "finish off the job." The parking garage came nowhere into this besides its proximity to the hospital, but KOMU and some other news outlets refuted this by serving their duty to the news and driving through the garage and around the locked down hospital to discover and share the truth. That evening, my journalism news class had our tour of the KOMU news station where we watch the live 6 p.m. broadcast and see all the equipment, and it was a great night to attend because of all the breaking news. It was an awesome experience to see the studio and part of me made me wish I worked there, although I am glad with my choice of going the strategic communication sequence.

The next morning, for the same journalism class, I had to attend one of Missouri's Master Honor Medal speakers. This is an award given to exemplary publications, editors and more, each of whom gave a presentation about their career of publication. I attended ZETA Weekly News Magazine's presentation, which is a magazine published in Tijuana, where Adela Navarro, one of its directors, discussed drug-trafficking. ZETA is known for giving in-depth coverage and does not have many competitors due to fear of covering such topics in Baja California, Mexico, but has a strong presence both there and in southern California.

Her presentation was actually given in Spanish, so I understood most of it, but a translator was present with a thick British accent, making it almost equally difficult to understand him. She discussed the ramifications of covering the truth in such a dangerous area, and said that 44 journalists have been killed on the job in the past four years. Wow. Imagine following your passion so much that murder is a prevalent daily consequence. I was interested in working for ZETA while I was at Project Mexico (this was the ideal life situation for summer 2011), but feel that my parents would never let me pursue this risk even if I could. I interviewed Adela after her presentation and asked her a few questions in Spanish. Since I feel I'm invincible, I asked if they offered internships, but that would only be possible if I enrolled at one of Mexico's universities. Their passion and in-depth reporting still amazes me, and with a vote on the legalization of marijuana next Tuesday in California, the future of drug trafficking has a lot to hold. After attending this event, I will be following the story and interested in its outcome!

With two exams in marketing and accounting this week, time to go study!

Perfection

Here's an interesting and applicable article I found in Glamour magazine's health section (Credit: Sarah Jio)!

It is inspirational because although I wouldn't label myself a perfectionist, I feel that some of these qualities fit me and a lot of my friends. And here comes the news telling us we have a 51 percent increased risk of death. Read it and tell me what you think!

The Best Health News We've Heard All Year:

Are you a perfectionist?

Many women are, but we might want to rethink our demanding ways. Researchers recently found that self-described perfectionists--those who placed the highest expectations on themselves--had a 51 percent increased risk of premature death compared with their more chill peers. "People who are motivated by perfectionism carry around more anxiety as a result of being too hard on themselves," says the study's lead researcher, Prem S. Fry, Ph.D., Western University in Langley, British Columbia. "That anxiety makes the body more susceptible to physiological stress and even physical ailments, and the result can be a health disaster." How can you silence your inner perfectionist?

FIND YOUR FOCUS.

"Instead of trying to do everything exactly right, prioritize the areas of your life where you really want to excel," suggests Fry. That might mean accepting that you'll never be a tech wiz--or even giving up some activities altogether.

LEARN TO MOVE ON.

Case in point: Many artists, architects and Olympic champions strive to be flawless, but they can do it in a Zen-like way--working to perfect their art or craft, yet having the critically important ability to move on after a bad race or an uninspired painting. "The key isn't whether or not you're perfect, but whether you berate yourself internally about it, says Tina B. Tessina, Ph.D., a psychotherapist and author of It Ends With You: Grow Up and Out of Dysfunction.

DO SOMETHING THAT SCARES YOU.

Ever tried salsa dancing? Public speaking? If it freaks you out, do it, says Elizabeth Lombardo, Ph.D., a psychologist in Wexford, Pennsylvania and author of A Happy You: our Ultimate Prescription for Happiness. "Perfectionists tend not to try new endeavors for fear of failure," she says. But here's the thing: "Doing something out of your comfort zone lets you give yourself permission not to be perfect, and you'll be healthier for doing it," she says. "Getting out of a rut can boost your physical health, research shows, not to mention your happiness."

The 99th Annual Mizzou Homecoming

Last week definitely falls under one of the most eventful and exciting weeks of my college career. Not only can one appreciate the time and effort put into Homecoming, but living in a Greek chapter while doing so allows for constant energy. Like last entry's explanation breakdown, here is a photo breakdown of the week so you can see how much fun Mizzou Homecoming is and attend the Centennial Homecoming Celebration next year from Oct. 13-15, 2011!

Here are a group of Phi Mu girls before announcements. We were nominated for multiple superlative categories and had the best actress as a chess pawn, and won third place in skit!

Me, Kathryn and Sherman at "Fling Finals," or the final skit presentations held in Jesse Hall.
Shelley and I with Truman after the Midnight Breakfast on Thursday evening, where we spend all night putting up the House Decorations to show on Friday!
The House Decorations scene being completed!

The skit in front of the house decs and them all lit up in the evening

BEAT T-SHIRTS

As a member of True Tiger, students have many networking opportunities as well as freebie giveaways. One of the most popular ones is "Beat t-shirts," where free shirts are distributed to the first x amount of people in line. Some of us (a-hem) bring homework to the line and chill there for a few hours picking up these shirts. Oh, what college students will do for free shirts. I used my arm strength to carry over 200 40-page-Maneater newspapers to the line and distribute them! Here's a picture of the line--2,000 free shirts worth of people.

Amy and I by the ESPN bus picking up some free lanyards Friday afternoon!

Andrew's mom was nice and sent a cake for 48 people for his birthday! But if it was sent to a fraternity, it would be gone before he even saw it. So we had a surprise birthday cake break in the middle of our house-decs roaming.
Beetle Bailey, a comic strip created by a Mizzou alum, is a mascot now and here we are at the New Student Center Dedication!
ESPN College Gameday

ESPN College Gameday came to our campus after our success against Texas A&M! Basically, they do a pre-game show and predict who will win, along with getting a ton of fans and signs in the background of the sports reporters. I got there around 8:30 a.m. for the 8 to 11 a.m. show, the perfect time to watch the reporters, scout out the funniest signs and pick up some free things from ESPN-U. Here's the aerial view of the quad!

Photo credit- Columbia Missourian

Laura, Amy and I!

I got this 'tramp stamp' in exchange for a free t-shirt and koozie! Washable and Mizzou-spirited...what can I say?!

What the show looks like on live television/the big screen where we could watch it from! Kind of cool to see US in the background.

Shelley and I with the banners outside the house!
Parade

My ability to group together a massive group of people in less than three seconds since my position as PR has improved! Us by the float the parade!
All the people Laura love- Mrs. Davison, Kathryn, Amy, Maria, Clara, me and Alex at the Davison family tailgate.

My view on tailgating has definitely been altered since last year. Freshman year, I felt like tailgating was a huge waste of time. Why would you sit outside before a game, nonetheless...five hours before it starts, and eat to get more fat when you could be sleeping? Great question. The answer is...for fun and fellowship. Once your good friends are the one hosting the tailgates...you just have to go! Who cares how little sleep you have gotten or how much you have already eaten, you have to go see everyone!

"You" meaning that is my philosophy. I tried taking a 20 minute power nap and hopped out of bed because four hours was not enough to start tailgating. I hit up five tailgates before the game and socialized with everyone I wanted to. Success.

After Mizzou killed Oklahoma 36-27, Passini and I kissed the 50-yard line (a Mizzou tradition) while rushing the field!
Final scoreboard
What the field rush looked like from the student section
Andrew, Sherman and I after the game in our matching Beat Oklahoma t-shirts

M-I-Z-Z-O-U!!

It's a great weekend to be a Tiger

When I explain the upcoming events of this weekend, I myself am overwhelmed. It's the 99th Anniversary of Mizzou Homecoming, and living in Greektown, it's been quite the celebration!!

Below is a list of some my Homecoming weekend's highlights (before they even happen!) so you can understand why it is so exciting to be at the University of Missouri for Homecoming!

• Homecoming is a campus-wide competition, for residence halls, student organizations, and especially the Greek system. Each sorority is paired with one or two fraternities, so 14 pairings compete in multiple categories by earning participation points and more points for basically...being the best at something. Some of these include the Blood drive, purchasing merchandise (Homecoming t-shirts), service events, Decorate the District (like GBN's Paint-the-Town, decorating a certain restaurant downtown *Phi Mu has Bambino's*), a talent competition (a skit and dance performed at Jesse Hall), and lastly, house decorations. House decorations is where each pairing creates a scene incorporating their theme (ours is chess) and other attributes. So first and foremost, all of this is going on this week! Click here for more official information!
• ESPN College Game Day has been on campus all week in preparation for Saturday's football game against Oklahoma! They filmed on the quad this morning and are filming live from 8 to 11 a.m. tomorrow. The doors open at 3:30 am, I wish I had the motivation to camp out but just need the sleep this week. Look for me on tv on the later part of the show though! I got my free Beat Oklahoma shirt after waiting on the quad for three hours (yes, what college students do for free t-shirts...) but passed out the Maneater's Homecoming issue while doing so!
• Phi Mu made skit finals for the talent portion of the Homecoming competition for the first time in four years! We were nominated for superlatives in six of eight categories, which was more nominations than any other of the 14 greek chapters! Our house decorations looked really good (photos to come later) and it's just been fun to be really involved in our pairing with Lambda Chi Alpha and Phi Kappa Psi!
• The MU Student Center was being constructed and remodeled last year after being torn down, and planned to be completed summer of 2011. Somehow, construction in Missouri goes quickly (?) and the student center is basically almost complete...NOW. The dedication ceremony outside was at 3 p.m. today, Friday afternoon, in the midst of Homecoming, ESPN and everything. I was invited through Mizzou Student Foundation and got to hear the chancellor and vice chancellors speak, as well as seeing Andrew dressed up as Beetle Bailey on his birthday!
• Homecoming is sort of like a mini-Christmas. When you walk around to see the house decorations, it's like you're seeing the most intense Christmas decorations you've ever seen, plus a skit on top of that in front of the boards, and like you're at an amusement park with hot dogs, popcorn and funnel cakes sold on the streets of Greektown.

So this is why I've been so busy this week (month) and what I've actually been doing and preparing for! Look forward to all the photos from this weekend :)

Distracted in class

Laptops really can be distracting in class. I'm writing this from my TAM class right now, so I'm feeding into the statement, but that's okay. It's a risk I'm willing to take.

But where I truly learned this lesson was Monday in my marketing class. The boy in front of me in class was playing a popular game on MiniClip called "Red Beard," which I would compare to watching a Super Mario Bros. type game. The kid playing had to be on the same level where he jumped up numerous logs and would finally be at the top of the hill, and would just fall back down. I was dying. Thankfully, his computer battery died in the middle of class. And he didn't pass the level. Darn! Then, if the distracting game was not enough, he didn't have anything to take notes on so he took photos of the Powerpoint slides on the screen with his iPhone. Wow...the world we live in. Sherman and I approached him at the end and made sarcastic comments about how much it took off of our focus, better than saying nothing.

Then I wondered, should I have felt weird approaching him and saying something? During J1100 last year, a girl sitting behind me asked if I was a member of Phi Mu. When I replied yes, she said, "Yeah...I've seen you updating its website during class! It's so cool!" Did I take this as a compliment or as creepy? A little of both. But what I learned to realize is that when you're doing something in public, it becomes other people's business. If you're Facebook stalking someone....people see it. If you're checking My Greek Gossip, people see it, and if you're reading e-mails...people see them.

Is that fair? No. My J2000 class has come to the conclusion that nothing is fair. So we must get over it and realize that people are nosy. Because I am usually with my friends who are journalism majors, we feed into this stereotype. Journalists are nosy, but on the other hand, it's natural to observe your surroundings.

So the lesson learned here? Observe surroundings....and if they seem distracting, then move yourself to avoid it. It's not fair, but it must be done. And if it's not...I might be googling Red Beard and furthermore, wasting my time. Thanks curiosity.

Marathon Weekend

Mar*a*thon week*end

[mar-uh-thon week-end]

--noun

1. A weekend in Mizzou's Greek system devoted entirely to completing house decorations for the Friday night before Homecoming.

2. Includes a float, scaffolding for the decorations themselves, finishing the skit and dance and most of all, pomping about 10-16 wooden boards.

3. Typically requires sorority women to spend the entire weekend with their partner fraternity finishing up the work, and a fraternity's pledges not even being able to leave the vicinity until all pomping is done.

4. The assumption that you have no social life because every Greek chapter is finishing up Homecoming 'pomp boards'

Miz*zou Home*com*ing

--noun

1. The craziest and most time consuming series of events a University of Missouri college student, especially one involved in a Greek chapter, will experience.

2. A wide series of traditions, events and more celebrated by Mizzou students

3. Founded in 1911

4. Events include the blood drive, Fling skit performances, various service events, barbecues, Decorate the District, late-night breakfast, house decorations Friday evening, the parade....oh, and the football game itself.

5. SO big of a deal that the Fling skits are being broadcasted LIVE here each night, Monday through Thursday. Check it out! I'm absolutely fascinated that each evening, over 700 people are watching from their computers. Technology is amazing.

Pom*ping

--noun

1. Wrapping squares of tissue paper around a pencil or a marker to create a cylindrical shape, dipping the tissue paper in glue or a flour/water mixture and sticking it down to a wooden board.

2. Usually, each Greek chapter requires more than five hours per week of it six weeks before Homecoming

3. A huge waste of time, energy and spit.

Mar*riage par*ty

--noun

1. Where the partner Homecoming chapters of the pairing join to 'get married' and have a party together with a theme

2. This year, our marriage party was at Galactic Fun zone. With lazer tag, dancing and more!

Well...there was a quick introduction to Mizzou Homecoming! It's been an insane week and weekend, but probably up there for one of the most fun weekends of college. Everyone in the pairing starts to feel a sense of unity working together to reach the common goal of winning for house decorations.

Although I had an absolutely empty schedule on my planner Friday and Saturday (this is a big deal), I WANTED to be pomping and helping out at Lambda Chi the entire time...so I pomped for over 17 hours! It's a fun atmosphere to hang around, watch whichever game is on and get to know the people around you. And be somewhat productive while doing so.

Saturday night mid-pomping, I went over to Gregg’s apartment for an Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) Movie night! We watched a Russian movie pronounced “Ostrov,” about a Russian monastery and monk that serves people who approach him for help on an island. For someone who doesn’t watch movies very often, I was very attentive and it was interesting to follow through the subtitles, understand some subtle humor and watch miracles happen through the power of God.

Here is a photo of some of us at the end of the movie night that was taken for the OCF blog! It was a great night to begin Christian fellowship-type evenings and I look forward to more in the future!

Sunday, I unfortunately could not go pomp all day because I had meetings for essentially...every organization I'm involved in. I spent between 3 p.m. and 11 p.m. in group and project meetings, and now feel the spirit of the start of Homecoming Week!

It was great to receive the news that ESPN College GameDay will be coming to Mizzou for the first time EVER on Saturday for Homecoming!!! We are ranked #11 and Oklahoma is #1 for football, so it will be a very good game! ESPN will be recording Friday afternoon from 12-2 and Saturday morning from 8-12 on the quad, so keep an eye out for me! The parade was moved to Saturday at noon to accommodate for oh...just this national coverage, because we'll be on ABC too!

M-I-Z-Z-O-U!

If this isn't enough spirit for Homecoming Week, the New Student Center will be dedicated this Friday afternoon and I was invited to attend through Mizzou Student Foundation (MSF)! It will be a very exciting week!

Saints Peter & Paul's 50th Anniversary

On Oct. 10, 2010 (10-10-2010...conveniently adding up to 50), Sts. Peter & Paul Greek Orthodox Church in Glenview, Ill., my home parish since 2001, celebrates its 50th Anniversary!

Obviously, I drove home for the gala that has been planned for almost as long as I've been attending church there. The committee planned a wonderful dinner dance celebration with live music from the Chris Sarlas orchestra, Greek dancing, filet mignon, fellowship and more!

One of the unique aspects of the evening and celebration in itself is that the church planned the event so all speakers and other recognitions were done before, so the actual dance was focused on celebration. This was an exciting attribute and a great way to plan a successful event. Commemorative speakers presented the week before, and an event was held each season in honor of SSPP's 50th year--such as bowling at Pinstripes and more. DVDs of each era of the church along with a photo slideshow were distributed as favors and my family had a great time watching it together!

For me, SSPP's 50th Anniversary was a combination of prom and what Maria, Eleni and I's weddings could only hope to be. About one thousand people were in attendance (!!) at the Westin Hotel's main ballroom in Wheeling, which was beautifully decorated. Not only were we spoiled with updos in our hair, but the hotel gave us a suite upstairs on the 16th floor! You could even see the Chicago skyline and the unappreciated beauty of Wheeling, Ill.!

Maria, Eleni and I started off the night by roaming during appetizers and taking photos with our favorite parishioners. It was nice to see everyone all dressed up and in a setting outside of church! There were some quick speakers, where I realized it really was fascinating for families to get together to create our church. People do this with organizations all the time, but to start a Greek Orthodox church....wow. It's already been a challenge to start organizations at school, but to start a part of a jurisdiction that is joining a diocese, finding people to worship, and following through for fifty years...it must have been awesome for the founders to see the success. SSPP basically has 1000 families are stewards, I'd say it was a success! And not all churches in the Chicago area can say that! Thus, it was great to be home to spend time with family, and not just go to this awesome celebration....but realize its significance.

Essentially all of my friends were in attendance, and at the same table or close enough. So after some ushering, catching up and a wonderful meal....we headed to Greek dance! My legs were sore for five days; I even fell down a couple of stairs at school because my ankles were so weak from the hours of dancing. It is truly a blessing to have such a great network of Greek Orthodox friends, especially coming home to them, and knowing that they all care just as much to come home for the event as well. The entire church could see how unified we were even watching us on the dance floor, and if the 50th was like this...what will our weddings be like?!?

Below is a photo recap of the evening but for now, Happy 50th Anniversary Sts. Peter & Paul! Thank you for all you have given me!

Maria, Eleni and I with our updos

Family photoshoot- we're funny!
Loving Yiayia Sophie
Taking photos with some of our favorite parishioners...the Gouletas'!

Arriving at the beautiful banquet hall, this is only half of it! I want my wedding here!

We all came home from college for this!
With all of the grandparents

Our table :)- Joy, Danielle, Marina, Pam, Amy, Maria, Alexander, Nick, Dean, Anastasia, Christina and I
Let the Greek dancing begin!
The group on the dance floor
We got Angelo and Patricia on the dance floor too!! Family photo to Don't Stop Believin'

The lovely suite the hotel gave us, hanging out with the Poteres clan after the event

Where have I been?!

Well...so much for my goal of daily blogging. If only time permitted.

The month of October will always fly by at Mizzou because you start preparing for Homecoming, Homecoming arrives and flies by, Halloween week approaches...and what do you know it's November. Then...what do you know it's Thanksgiving break. Less than three weeks of classes and it's finals, then you are gone for a month for winter break. Then second semester begins. Well isn't that a depressing way to look at things!!?

This week has flown by and I haven't even posted my photo updates from last weekend. And photos can be the most interesting part of a blog...especially when you take as many as me that my computer hard drive ran out of memory on a MacBook Pro with extra RAM.

Technology can't keep up with me....how many times will I get to say that and not the opposite?

Last week, before the new member class got initiated, we took family photos. Danielle is my Phi Mu 'little' and her, Amy and Marah joined our ph-amily! Look how cute we are in our scarves and black!

Danielle and I! Not only are we both journalism majors...but Twainers too!

Mark Twain is the residence hall I lived in last year, she lives in the room that was right next to mine. What a hilarious coincidence!

Thursday, Oct. 7th, B.O.B. came to Mizzou for a concert-series performance! Kathryn and I got tickets and enjoyed watching him live in Jesse Hall. His new hit 'Magic' was epic and I highly recommend you purchase it or download it :)

Upon arrival to Chicago Thursday evening, I had some fun adventures outlined in a previous post. Other highlights of the weekend included visiting Glenbrook North and attending the parade I once planned for its Homecoming, and getting to take Eleni's Homecoming pictures! I even got to see Vicki at GBN! Enjoy these photos! SSPP's 50th deserves its own post!

Vicki and I running into each other at the GBN Torch room!

Eleni's Homecoming, Maria and I with her!
Some of my favorite GBN juniors
But Maria and I love each other too! Scenic photos by the forest preserve.

Incentive to friendship

One thing that has come up a lot lately and been on my mind are the concepts, small things, incentives, benefits, give-and-take atmosphere and the idea of friendship. As I continue to keep in touch with friends from home, see my friends from freshman year of college that I might not live with anymore and meet new people and become acquainted with them, I wonder why we develop friendships.

What is the incentive to friendships, and applying it further, relationships in general? What does an individual get out of being a loyal friend? Should they deserve to get anything? Is it intrinsic feeling or actions that pay off in the future? Does the feeling of mutual understanding or having similar interests with someone pay off for being a good friend to them?

I don't know. I know that society reinforces the idea that you "do unto others as you would like them to do to you," but I personally believe that selfishness has skewed some perspectives on this. People have begun to think with more of a mindset that "no one would do this for me....so why should I do it for them?" That's not a reasonable way to flip the question. I could and have gathered Biblical evidence, inspirational quotes and more that note completing actions out of your own humility and more, but you can realize those on your own; it will affect you more if you find it yourself.

So in my personal experience, if I had to define the main reason I maintain friendships, it would be because I like to know that the people I love are safe, healthy and happy. Is it nice to have people you are connected with to discuss issues with? Yes. Does social interaction make people excited and give them things to look forward to? Yes.

Friendship by definition encompasses relations or intimacy, feelings and dispositions and association. Let not the idea of association make you happy, but the fact that you chose and intrinsically care about the people you associate yourselves with provide the fulfillment friendship should give us all.

Live from Northbrook

I am happy to say that this post is being published from Northbrook rather than Columbia, since I am home in Chicago!

It's the perfect point in the semester to take a little break, feel caught up on life and spend time with family. Why am I home, you ask? As much as I travel, I'm not the type of person who takes off just to take off. Sunday is Sts. Peter & Paul Greek Orthodox Church's 50th Anniversary, with a lovely banquet that has been planned for years by now. There will be about 950 in attendance and probably be the fanciest event I attend until my wedding. Excitement is in the air. I'm also thankful to be sitting at an entire table of college students who are also home or taking time out of their schedules for this dance!

But until Sunday awaits, what do I do to fill the beginning of the weekend? Well, to start, it's Glenbrook North's Homecoming. I visited Torch today (my high school newspaper) to notice that not only has the room been redone, but Mr. Halpern had left....sad day. The paraprofessional at the door gave me an incredibly tough time to let me into the building, and the dean/other nearby teachers let me in gladly and we had some great conversation. I had the pleasure of running into Vicki (fellow-Torchie) who did the same thing I did--going to visit Torch and not being allowed into the building--and Mr. Pryma (GBN's principal) greeted us happily. He pointed out, "Katie, remember two years ago today you were going crazy about the parade?"

Memories galore! Two years ago, the beginning of my senior year, I was in charge along with one other person to plan the Homecoming parade in downtown Northbrook. It was a success, and I even stopped by today to watch the seniors in my position go crazy over every little detail. It made me appreciate my high school involvement and personal relationship with every staff member or student that said hi as they walked by me in the parade :).

So far, it's been a pretty productive trip home. Family and friends time is what I need, and since it's not a fall break or anything, I'm not going absolutely insane with seeing people at various restaurants. My productivity so far has been pretty good for the off-weekend-ness...

• Becca and I ate at Flattop in Evanston and then saw her room in DG!
• Elena, Elizabeth and I met up at Walker Bros. Pancake House for a delicious breakfast for Elena's birthday. Who would've known that we would all be home at the same time/find time to meet up? No Friday classes=awesome.
• Mom, Yiayia and I went to Egg Harbor (breakfast #2)
• Manicure and pedicure...because why not. Right before the pre-Homecoming girls crowd came in, and got to read some Glamour.
• Watched the Sts. Peter and Paul (SSPP) event DVD documentary and learned more about our history/laughed at the beautiful photo slideshow! The more I see such things, the more I want to play with iMovie and start making my own movies. If only I had time...

Inspirational Message of the Day

The Lord said, “And as you wish that men would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from who you hope to receive, what credit is that to use? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expect nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”

--Luke 6:31-36

Marketing in the everyday world

I now have great respect for State Farm Insurance. In the past week on Mizzou's campus, this company has provided me with a new pair of headphones, a free 15 minute massage, a car wash and an oxygen mood booster.

State Farm had a tent set up on Carnahan Quad/Tiger Plaza, which is the front part of our quad, all week. Earlier in the week, they were giving students rides to class on bicycle carriages for free (no tips accepted) as part of their Random Acts of Kindness campaign.

Quick pause: imagine being an insurance company and having the funding to give away two laptop computers, free massages all day, carriage rides, car washes, oxygen liquid and supplies, and people to staff this event for an entire week....all for your company's name. This was a PR campaign. They were not advertising anything new, they weren't retrieving student e-mail addresses (which if I were them, I would regret)..they were just spreading their name around through these random acts of kindness. And can pay the cost of 'getting your name out' by doing not one, but all of the above featured things. That's semi-ridiculous.

As a journalism (strategic communication) major, business minor and current marketing student, I was very interested in this campaign, and two core questions.

• Why all of these random acts of kindness?
• And why US? Why the University of Missouri in Columbia?

So I asked. The representatives that I asked wouldn't really get into detail and said "we're just doing random acts of kindness!"

My response- I see that. I'm wondering WHY. Are you trying to get your name out? Where else are you doing this? What's the deal? Why the big promotion?

Someone of more authority walked over and could finally hold a mature conversation. She said that it was a one-week plan to complete random acts of kindness (with State Farm paraphernalia everywhere, of course) at University of Missouri for one week and Oklahoma State University for another, as a branding event. As if I was dumb, she explained that they were branding the name so when our students think of a large company or brand, they'll think of State Farm Insurance. And maybe get insurance from there in the future.

Now hold on State Farm woman...I agree with you that we as students will think of your name and probably even forever remember this...but that doesn't mean I'm going to use your insurance or even talk the actual spending part up. From advertising and PR, that's a pretty big jump to make that causation will occur. Might there be a correlation? Possibly. But thinking that State Farm is good and reputable for being kind on campus one day won't make me choose them over other insurance firms. Maybe for some people, it will....but if I was your strategist wasting a ton of money trying to appease college students, I wouldn't assume that this will CAUSE them to provide you business.

What are advertisers thinking sometimes? With coupons, e-mail listservs and more, there's more of an inference that you can track if and how more business was received. But here, you can't. I'd love to see what percentage of University of Missouri and Oklahoma State students insure with State Farm in the next couple of years and see if this causation effect worked.

As an advertising representative whose job it is to convince local businesses to purchase advertisements on a daily basis, I am guilty of these tactics. I tell managers and owners the circulation and distribution information and whatever else they want to know, but I wonder if business owners acknowledge the balance one must find between buying customers over (State Farm) and giving yourself a positive name in more money-savvy/philanthropic ways to earn business. Which would you choose?

Well, thanks State Farm for not only the variety of free goods, but the marketing thoughts and ideas for the future. If you didn't learn from my last post...they're not copyrighted, so we'll see what type of ideas spawn in the future :).

Irrelevant memo of the day:

I love how efficient my friends are. After getting home from apple picking, I got a text message inviting me to dinner. A few calls and five minutes later, all of us and Shaina enjoyed a lovely dinner at Plaza 900 (Mizzou's most grand dining hall, for those of you who don't know). I had to make us take a picture, because I love how even with our busy schedules, we can still round each other up that quickly. *Happiness!*

Social Network

After seeing the new hit movie Social Network which provides a fictional story (combined with some truths) about how Facebook was created, I really started to realize how Facebook and social networking have changed our world in just a couple of years.

Aside from the obvious, of course social media has implemented huge societal changes. But the movie did an excellent job of portraying all the simple things that you check on Facebook or social media on a daily basis that you would not have utilized even in the past couple of years. One scene portrays a friend of Mark Zuckerberg asking him if he knows one of the girls in his classes or if she seemed single. Nowadays, the typical protocol is to check on Facebook...and if it's not visible, you text a mutual friend. Simple features taken advantage of everyday that did not exist even a few years ago.

I would love to do research or just generally look into how internet and communication have evolved since 2000. So many changes, so quickly...I don't know what I would do without them. YouTube is only five years old, what did people do without YouTube? Google is now fast enough as to when you type something into the search bar, it live-updates what the results and order will be. There are millions of people on Twitter who update their statuses on an hourly basis- because why share your thoughts with real people when you can share them with your entire internet network? I can post a Facebook status and yield 50 comments in less than 8 hours. Why send engagement announcements when Facebook told everyone already?

Just some interesting thoughts that occur in my head as I ponder the effects of social media from this movie. We place so much stress in America on being #1 and doing "what's cool" and being "on top" that Mark would not let Eduardo, his business partner, monetize Facebook with advertisements for so long. Heck, now Facebook is worth $25 million....but if at any point, he would have failed, both of them would have been completely jeopardized monetarily and occupation-wise.

Another point the movie proposed was copyrighting ideas. Oddly enough, in J2100 (News), last week's lesson was media law and I was clearly taught that ideas cannot be copyrighted, pieces of work can, so I had a pretty strong viewpoint on this when two groups were suing Mark Zuckerberg for funds- one for the idea (the Winklevoss crew), and Eduardo for his lack of ownership. It taught me that honestly, if I ever have a huge media idea, to pursue it myself and maybe with someone you love and trust. Eduardo and Mark lost their friendship over this, had dumb revenge games, and while they were college students...they should be mature adults. When I think of how to dominate the world via internet, I am avoiding the ridiculousness of lawsuits by doing it alone and hiring people of lower positions later....I do not have the patience for ownership rights arguments and more. This also teaches us to define things in the beginning and let it out there so people are not disappointed, confused or excessively angry later.

Thus, Social Network was a great movie in my opinion. The anti-climactic ending was disappointing considering it was fiction, but it definitely spurred a couple of laughs within the media law and creation controversy. Watching it with two members of Alpha Epsilon Pi...the Jewish fraternity, made the movie's references to that even more amusing for our entire aisle, who burst into laughter. I would recommend you see it and then realize for yourself all the ways you take advantage of social media and Facebook without noticing it!

October begins

Fall activities galore!

Last night, we saw Social Network after a nice dinner at Jina Yoo's (new favorite restaurant in Columbia). Sherman, Kathryn, Andrew and I actually function normally for one photo.

I fulfilled one of my fall goals and had an amazing day apple picking in Mexico, Missouri! Google maps thought that you could make a turn from the highway onto the overpass so it took a little detour on gravel roads to find the apple orchard, but it was a success.

This stuffed animal is made completely out of alpaca fur...and costs $70! It was so comfy!!
Amy and I eating apples while picking them
Me at my best...kidding. Falling over while trying to grab the tree branch and some small apples.

Jen and I!

Jen, Amy and I
Past the gardens, there's a beautiful lake! As much as I thought it would stink to live in a small town in the middle of nowhere, I guess if you provide yourself with everything you could ever need and want, then why not?! The owner of Binder's had this beautiful lake, home, land, garden and farm, so she is probably kept busy with all this.

The alpacas roaming!

What an interesting animal.

Fun weekend!