FINALS WEEK. OH BOY!

(Funny story, I had this ready to post on Saturday night, but the snowstorm knocked out our internet, so I couldn’t do much of anything. Here’s hoping it still gets a decent grade. Fingers crossed.)

This semester actually hasn’t been too bad for finals week. I have a PowerPoint due in my Introduction to Technical Writing class about the data I collected for my Final Report, which wasn’t really that hard. I did procrastinate on that one, eventually finishing it about two hours after the class where it was due. I presented it to the teacher for revision in class, though, so the late submittal was fine.

I just have a reflection due in Educating Exceptional Students, and we’re going to spend the finals time updating our efolios, so that’ll be fun. I believe the reflection statement needs to be on the pajama drive we did that’s in the newsletter. I think it’s on Effective Citizenship.

I believe that the only thing I have due in Introduction to Education is a revised form of a previous assignment, along with a reflection statement concerning Communication, I think.

For the final in Psych 250, we have a group presentation on the Maori for New Zealand and their cultural rituals from birth to death. It’s boring as balls, but it has to be done. Here’s hoping I don’t screw up too bad on that one.

The one that’s really twerking my buns is the Comm 200 portfolio. I’ve got the notes we took in class on what all is supposed to be included in the portfolio, but I’m still having trouble figuring out what all is due and how it should be organized. I believe that there is a reflection statement due with every one of the seven sections, and I believe that I have everything but those reflection statements done, but it’s wacking my gasket trying to put everything together into a cohesive whole.

Overall, though, I think I’m in a good place for the finals. Here’s hoping I can keep the ship above water.

This Week: SNOW. SO MUCH SNOW.

The assigned topic this week was the recent snowstorm. I don't like snow. I don't like cold. Some would ask: "Why Robert, if you don't like snow or the cold, what are you doing in North Dakota?" To which I would respond: "I ask myself that same question." I awoke the morning it started (Tuesday or Wednesday, I forget) with an omen of bad portents. I showered, thinking that the floor was kinda cold, got something to eat, and got ready for class without once looking in a window. I got in my car in the garage, opened the door, and backed out INTO A GODDAMN WINTER WONDERLAND.








Like this, but with more rage and cursing.

Now, as I've already established, I don't like snow. I don't like winter. I think that the only time that snow is appropriate is from the hours of 4pm to midnight on Christmas Eve. Before or after that, snow is a nuisance. It makes otherwise rational people drive like complete morons. If someone is driving a 2-ton death machine near me, I don't want ANYTHING impairing their limited ability.



Like this, but with more rage and cursing.

I've heard so many people start conversations this week with "isn't that snow great?" and I have to refrain from screaming at the top of my lungs: "NO. NOT AT ALL." This much snow might be the polar opposite (see what I did there?) of great. It is the antithesis of great. If this storm and a similar volume of essence of great were to come into contact, they would both be annihilated in an antimatter reaction. That is how not great this snowstorm was.

In conclusion, f*ck snow. That is all.

Thanksgiving Post

In my family, Thanksgiving is really about food and family, then everything else, in that order. This year, we did get to be a part of the "festivities" of pre-Black Friday in Jamestown, where we bought a TV.

Our Thanksgiving dinner (at 2 pm, so not sure why everyone calls it dinner) (side note, everything was demolished so fast I didn't get pictures of anything, so the images are stock. Though everything looks just like it did for us. Scout's honor.) consisted of:

Turkey



Stuffing



Corn



Yams


Mac and Cheese



Cheddar Bay Biscuits



Cornbread



Cranberry Chutney



And all of it was delicious.

Blog Post for 11/23

As I am currently working my ass off on this advertising campaign, this will have to be short and sweet. I figure that since there's no enforced topic and no word count, I'll just post an update as to where I'm at with my Advertising campaign.

• 10 points: Use of grammar and punctuation overall - Checkity-check.
• 10 points: Audience Analysis/ Survey. I'm using both my information and information that the company has collected about their customers.
• 10 points: Planning Sheet - Checkamundo.
• 10 points: Flier - Finishing up on this, just need the feedback from my business.
• 10 points: Brochure - This one is a pain in the ass, but I'm almost done with it. Just a few more images and such.
• 10 points: 1 print ad - This is pretty much done, but my formatting is all funky.
• 10 points: Radio spot - This one is giving me problems, as I am used to putting my words a certain way, and some might go over the heads of some listeners. It sounds really bad to say, but I kinda need to "dumb down" my writing style.
• 30 points: Video advertisement - This and the jingle are the things that are killing me at this point. I don't have a whole lot of experience with making and editing video, so it's like moving through molasses for me. This is the one part that is going to bite me in the ass.

Field of Study Research

I chose to research a person in my field of study, as I felt I wouldn't have enough time to interview one. I chose to research John Green, a novelist and internet celebrity. He plays a large part in the internet community, especially YouTube. He and his brother Hank run the YouTube channel Vlogbrothers. As an English major, I consider myself a lover of languages and novels, and researching John Green seemed like an excellent fit.

John uses media writing in several key ways. He writes his own scripts for multiple channels on YouTube including Vlogbrothers, Crash Course, and Mental Floss, just to name a few. He also runs his own blog Fishingboatproceeds, and uses media writing to make himself understood in that medium. Finally, along with his brother, he maintains the Nerdfighter community, a sort of non-profit dedicated to "decreasing world suck". In his leadership capacity, he must use media writing to express the goals and ambitions of both himself and the community as a whole.

Links:

http://www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers
http://www.youtube.com/user/MentalFlossVideo
http://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse
http://fishingboatproceeds.tumblr.com/
http://nerdfighteria.org/
http://dftba.net/

Central Avenue Health Mart Fixed Blogpost

Contact: Robert Carter Central Avenue Health Mart Phone (701) 845-5280 Rc.carter@hotmail.com

323 Central Ave North, Suite 101 Valley City, ND 58072

Central Avenue Health Mart Announces RX PAX

New Program to Assist Customers in Organizing Medicine

Valley City, ND, November 1, 2013:  Central Avenue Health Mart is finally releasing pre-packaged versions of customer’s medications. This system, dubbed “RX PAX”, is being released to any customer that is interested. The testing for this product has been going on internally for over a year. “RX PAX” are small packets of the customer’s medication that is labeled and grouped by the time of day required for ingestion to streamline the medication process and reduce accidental ingestion of incorrect medications.

Why RX PAX?

With the pharmacy looking at novel ways to assist their new and returning customers, surveys and other forms of research were done all looking for one goal: “what will help our customers the most?” What their internal research found was that for elderly people or people on the go, they didn’t want to bring tons of bottles with them on vacation, and were looking for a simpler option. Thus, it was decided to release RX PAX and make the option available to customers. The program is currently being offered to all customers, and further advertising is planned.

# # #

·         For more information, contact: Doreen Sayler at doreen@healthmartvc.com, (701) 845-5280, or visit their Facebook page at facebook.com/CentralAvenueHealthmartPharmacy/.

Central Avenue Health Mart Press Release Assignment

I made this in Word, so the graphics aren't translating the best. The following is a link to the actual word document and polished copy.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0OzI9oDBATjRS1valBRdS1vdms/edit?usp=sharing&pli=1

---

The following is a text approximation of the actual document, copy-pasted from the Word document itself.

Contact: Robert Carter Central Avenue Health Mart Phone (701) 845-5280 Rc.carter@hotmail.com

323 Central Ave North, Suite 101 Valley City, ND 58072

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Central Avenue Health Mart Announces RX PAX

New Program to Assist Customers in Organizing Medicine

Valley City, ND, November 1, 2013:  Central Avenue Health Mart is finally releasing pre-packaged versions of customer’s medications. This system, dubbed “RX PAX”, is being released to any customer that is interested. The testing for this product has been going on internally for over a year. “RX PAX” are small packets of the customer’s medication that is labeled and grouped by the time of day required for ingestion to streamline the medication process and reduce accidental ingestion of incorrect medications.

Why RX PAX?

With the pharmacy looking at novel ways to assist their new and returning customers, surveys and other forms of research were done all looking for one goal: “what will help our customers the most?” What their internal research found was that for elderly people or people on the go, they didn’t want to bring tons of bottles with them on vacation, and were looking for a simpler option. Thus, it was decided to release RX PAX and make the option available to customers. The program is currently being offered to all customers, and further advertising is planned.

# # #

·         For more information, contact: Doreen Sayler at doreen@healthmartvc.com, (701) 845-5280, or visit their Facebook page at facebook.com/CentralAvenueHealthmartPharmacy/.

My SEO Terms Post

When you read this student blog post, you might be thinking about what you might have for your next meal, or what you've been reading in the New York Times about Syria and Iran. You might also be thinking about if you could study better or watch that new documentary about eating healthy and exercising. All of these would also be valid when you talk about Search Engine Optimization. Which is what this post is all about. And that's six SEO terms in five sentences. I believe that's all I needed for this assignment.

My Kingdom for a Government!

I decided to do the blog assignment on the recent and ongoing government shutdown by republicans throwing a temper tantrum and stomping their feet. I’ve read a few articles and watched a few videos on why this is happening, and I’d like to try to explain it to the best of my ability. Here we go.

Ok. Let’s start off with the fact that both the House of Representatives and the Senate are terrible at their jobs. The current shutdown crisis came from the fact that the House and the Senate need to pass a continuing resolution; that is, an act that says, basically, “we need money to do things, so we need to pass the budget. However, none of us feel like doing anything right now, so we need this act to say that we need more time to pass the budget. Eventually.” The Senate (controlled by democrats) said “sure, let’s pass this act, because this is probably the least amount of work we can do and still be technically doing something.” So they pass this continuing resolution to the House. The House, which is of course, republican controlled, say “Sure, we’ll pass this thing, so we don’t have to do really anything but sit back and enjoy our millions rolling in. Except that we don’t want Obamacare to go into effect this year. Maybe next year.” So, the Senate says “Well, Obamacare has actually been a law since 2008, it’s been picked through by the Supreme Court, it’s one of the greatest pieces of social policy change in the last fifty years. It’s not going anywhere.” So the House comes back with “Well, if we don’t get to stop the implementation of Obamacare, we’re taking our ball and going home. Phooey.” The continuing resolution doesn’t pass, and due to lack of funds (because no extension of the budget has been made), the government shuts its doors. It “furloughs” (a fancy name for indefinite firing) several hundred thousand employees, and everyone sits on their hands. That’s where we are now. Welcome to the miracle of the American Legislative system.


Sources:

The Lowdown on the Shutdown. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTJubcZFA78 )

No deal yet: Government shutdown, debt limit talks continue. ( http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57607188/no-deal-yet-government-shutdown-debt-limit-talks-continue/ )

United States federal government shutdown of 2013. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_government_shutdown_of_2013 )

No deal to end shutdown but talks continue between Obama, GOP. ( http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-government-shutdown-20131011,0,791104.story )

Obamacare and October 1st: Healthcare Triage #1. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBr3fniyb4w )

Seventeen Magazine Assignment

My assignment was to study Seventeen magazine, get feedback from the intended audience of the magazine, and evaluate if the magazine is reaching their intended audience. My first course of action was to read Seventeen magazine. I have a friend whose sister had a few issues, and I was able to skim through those to get an idea of the target market and reader. From what I read, the main buzzwords for Seventeen magazine are “Sex”, “Clothes”, “Makeup”, and “Boys.” Their established target market seems to be age 15-19 developing young girls, middle to upper class, usually white, with disposable income and on the lookout for a boyfriend. 

I spent some time in Valley City High School for an Education Practicum course I’m taking, so I was able to get some feedback from the intended audience of the magazine. The girls I interviewed about Seventeen Magazine asked to keep their names and identities out of my interview, and I agreed. Overall, the girls believe that Seventeen magazine is trying way too hard to fit a girl that doesn’t exist. None of them, and they were from different walks of life, different sports, different socioeconomic situations, knew a girl like the one that Seventeen was looking for. They called the magazine cool to read, but way over the top in terms of the topics and advertising. They didn’t really take Seventeen seriously, instead looking to magazines that are more grounded to their situation, like Teen Vogue and J-14. 

I found that Seventeen magazine is not reaching their target audience in their current format, in that they're marketing to a girl that is in scarce supply in the current social and economic markets.