Twitter

Getting a Twitter account was a very interesting thing to me. I'm big into sports, and on Sports Center they always show the various things that star athletes say on Twitter. Because of that, I have always found Twitter very intriguing. I have been meaning to get my own account for some time now and experiment with it. Well, this assignment turned out to be the perfect thing for me.

After setting up my Twitter account, I learned many things about a lot of different people. I was able to do this through reading the tweets of the people that I am following. It is a great way to really get to know someone without really having a back and forth conversation at all. I thought that Twitter was just about people tweeting what they are currently doing. For example, "I'm feeling hungry so I'm gonna eat," or "I'm gonna take a shower." I was completely wrong. A lot of people actually say very heart felt, meaningful things that someone else could use as 'fuel' for many different aspects of their life. I feel like too many people have the wrong idea about Twitter and that it actually is a really good thing for our society.

I believe I'm going to extent my usage of Twitter beyond this assignment and class because I feel like there is a lot of value in using it. It is a great way for me to see what my family members back home are up to. Like I said earlier, you don't need a back and forth conversation with them to know what they are up to. Also its a good thing to use between friends. I actually have been tweeting back and forth with a few friends, some that go to school here and others that don't. It's a great way to interact with your closest friends when neither of you have much time to talk on the phone or chat on facebook.

http://about.me/austinweitl
http://www.commcognition.com/blog/college-students-guide-twitter-101/

Diversity Event

I went to the business diversity event that occurred on Thursday, October 21 in Howe Hall. At this diversity event, a man talked about the importance of diversity in the work field, especially in business. The speaker knew what he was talking about and was very passionate about the specific subject. I actually felt way out of place at this diversity event because there were a lot of men dressed in suits and women in dresses. It was a very formal event, and I think it dramatically helped emphasis the importance of diversity.

I learned many valuable things about diversity from the man's speech at this event. Hiring by diversity is required by law. Usually this is a good thing, but at times it can actually be a bad thing too. Usually in a company with diversity, there are better employees because of the larger 'pool' of people. Diversity makes organizations way more productive. The thing about diversity is that a diverse group isn't as fun because the people aren't all like each other. However, a diverse group is very challenging, but it's a lot more effective.

The speaker gave several outstanding examples in his speech that really enabled the audience to completely understand what he was talking about. There was a specific example that stood out more then the others, to me. In this example, there were two groups with different kinds of people. One group had people that were all the same race and all had very high IQ's. The other group had a wide variety of races and IQ's in their group. The group with the variety of people is always going to be more successful because they have many different perspectives and opinions about certain issues.

I learned a lot of valuable tools about diversity that I didn't know before the event took place. Diversity is very important in the the work field, yet alone the entire world, and its importance needs to continuously be stressed.

Being at my "Best"

Everyone, at some point in their life, has different times when they are at their “best.” There are many different meanings by saying someone is at their “best.” It could be when a person is at the peak of their academics, when they have reached the point of success in sports, or just when they are showing absolute respect to everyone they meet. For me, I have had many different circumstances where I have felt at my “best.” By evaluating these different circumstances, it becomes evident the amount of success I have had in my life thus far.

When I think of being at my absolute “best,” I think of football my senior year in high school. I have always played football and have always worked as hard as I could leading up to my senior year, because I knew we would have something special. I was a defensive player, so all the years’ prior to my senior year I spent working on my form in tackling and coverage. Everything came together for me my senior year, I felt like. I was seeing the field better, and everything seemed to dramatically slow down for me. I had a great deal of success by getting a hand full of interceptions and leading my team in tackles. I was able to be an impact player on defense because of all the hard work I had put into it years before, and I definitely felt like I was at my “best.” It was really rewarding to be at my “best” and for people to acknowledge it. I felt on top of the world, and that’s what happens when someone is at his or her “best.” They feel a great sense of pride, regardless of what it is they reached greatness in.

More importantly then my performance on the field, I felt like I was at my “best” as a leader. I had always been a vocal player and a good leader, but things changed when I became a senior, as they do for every senior. Every kid in the entire football program, from juniors to 6^th graders, now looks up to you and your leadership. They strive to mirror you in the actions you take. I feel like I stepped into the role perfectly and was at my “best” as a leader. Being at my “best” here was very important to me because it taught me how to be a good leader in everyday life.

As you can see, there are many different ways to be at your “best.” It all just depends on your opinion and what’s important to you. Football is very important to me, so I strived to reach the point of being at my “best.”  I can use and translate this into my first college semester in different ways. I know that college and getting a degree is very important to me, so I have to strive to be at my “best” by the time its all over and done with, just like I had done in high school football.

Importance of Being On Time

       The importance of being on time to class is under-stressed, especially in college. When you are late to a class, there are different effects that hurt you and your class as a whole. From the class's perspective, when you are late, you disrupt the class. Everyone loses their train of thought because they stop to watch you walk in. We all do it. It is human nature to look at something that is out of sorts. Being late makes the teacher hesitate in what they were teaching the class. Usually, they will stop the class and tell you what you had missed, dampening the learning of the rest of the class. When you are late, it takes you that much more time to get settled in. Typically when someone is late, they didnt intend on being late. Thus, they are quite rattled for some time. It is really hard to get focused and actually learn something that day in class when you were late.
       Being late to class can lead to things more dramatic in life. If you get in the habit of being late for classes, you may develop an attitude that its not a big deal to be late. With this wrong attitude you could be late for various things that are very important in life. It could just start of by being late for a doctor appointment, then lead to being late for a first date, then eventually leading to being late for a big, important job interview. So as you can see, it is very important to be on time to class. First off, it is very important to the learning of the class as well as yourself. Also it can lead to getting the wrong attitude about being late in life. Being late to class can ultimately lead to further struggles in your life.

Blog 1

             Every generation is drastically different from one another. Things come and go, and times change. People in their respected generation view the world differently then others of different generations. My generation, or class, is drastically different from people like my parents. After evaluating the Beloit College Mindset List, it becomes evident how times can change dramatically over just a few years.

            There are several numbers on the Beloit College Mindset List that I can refer to and agree with. Number 27, computers have never lacked a CD-ROM disk drive, is a good example. I totally agree with this one from my generation’s perspective. To us, it seems like computers have been around forever. It has become such a habit to see a computer with a CD-ROM disk drive. We forget that there actually was a day where computers didn’t have a CD-ROM disc drive. Another number I agree with is number 58. This one states that Beethoven has always been a good name for a dog. People in my generation really don’t know a lot about the musician/composer, Beethoven. We pretend like we do and would like to think that, but in reality we don’t know very much at all. However, the real Beethoven we know about is the dog in Beethoven, the movie. It is a classic movie in our time period and when we hear Beethoven, we think of the dog, not the musician. I agree with number 70, the artist formerly known as Snoop Doggy Dogg has always been rapping, as well. Our whole lives, we have seen Snoop Dogg all over MTV rapping. Therefore, when we think of him, we think of rap music. Number 62, having hundreds of cable channels but nothing to watch has always been routine, pertains to my generation, or class, also. I know that I am definitely this way. We have DirectTv at my house and more often then not I find myself flipping through channels wondering why nothing good is on. Our generation doesn’t really know what it is like to only have a couple channels or not even have T.V. at all.

            Although there are many numbers from the list that I agree with, there are some that I don’t really agree with at all. One that I especially don’t agree with is number 1, few in the class know how to write in cursive. I feel like there is no truth to this at all. I clearly learned how to write cursive in second grade and was forced to practice it throughout grade school. I don’t write in cursive anymore, but I sure as hell know what it is. I know that my fellow classmates are the same way. Another one that I don’t agree with is number 50, toothpaste tubes have always stood up on their caps. Personally, I remember the old school toothpaste tubes that didn’t stand up on the cap. I actually still use the toothpaste that is in a big tube that doesn’t stand up.  I know that not all of my classmates or ones from my generation use the old school toothpaste tubes like I do, but I know they know what it is.

            The Beloit College Mindset List explains the current lifestyles of people from my generation though a list format. Some of them are very true about what we have come to be; however, some of it is pretty ridiculous.  There are several numbers from the list that don’t really pertain to us at all.