Palin Drama

Seriously, can we please stop talking about the personal lives of candidates that have absolutely nothing to do with the election?  I get that it is juicy news and gossip to discuss Palin’s daughter and her teen pregnancy, but really what does this have to do with anything?  Aside from reiterating her stand on abortion, it really is not helpful.  Why don’t we take some time and actually learn about the candidates?  What does Obama’s voting record look like?  What does Palin stand for?  How will McCain help the economy?  Do you know the answers to any of these questions?

McCain and Palin

Wowee!!!  So, McCain announced today that Alaskan Governon Sarah Palin will be his running mate.  This is a very bold and strategic choice for the McCain campaign.  Honestly, it will decide the election for many female voters even if they do not know a thing about her.  It scares me that McCain has focused on Obama’s inexperience, and chose to include a very inexperienced candidate on his ticket.  It will be very interesting to watch the vice presidential debate between Palin and Biden.  I found an interesting blog that has supported the Palin choice all along.  Check it out!  What do you think about McCain’s choice?

Olympics

I have become completely and totally obsessed with the olympics.  If you know me, you know that there are very few things in life I chose over sleep, well guess what?  The olympics are seriously interrupting my sleeping patterns.  Thank goodness for my DVR and online options. 

Seriously though, this whole Micheal Phelps craziness is pretty fun.  I’m a fan of watching history in the making…that is for sure!

What events have caught your eye?

Paris for President

This is hysterical.  I’m not on the Paris Hilton boat, but she deserves an award for this.  I’m for the White House being painted pink!

The World According to Sleep Deprivation

Yes, that is the world I now find myself hazily stumbling my way through each day.  It is amazing how much the human body can handle before it presumably falls apart.  I have not reached the point of collapse, but I find myself doing some interesting things.  For instance, I walked out of my house this morning with no shoes on my feet.  Um ok.  I have no words.  Such is the life a worker/student/friend/daughter etc. 

I am excited to report that I will be getting my own office next week.  After two years of office bunking with my boss, I will be alone.  I have mixed feelings about this occurrence.  I’m not sure I can imagine a day of silence.  I am not a huge fan of silence myself, so it should be interesting.  Either way, you must stop into room 516 one day to say hi. 

Only two more weeks of class and then two weeks of freedom.  Thank the Lord!  I’ll probably sleep for two straight days after I finish up on the 14^th.

Oh, one more thing…I will be speaking at The Special Event 2009 in San Diego, and they do not provide any sort of stipend as the speaking opportunity itself is an amazing marketing opportunity.  Any ideas on how I can save up around $1500 by January?  I’m considering a YouTube plea.

Millenials

Ok, so in class the other night we talked about millenials.  No idea?  Well, me either.

A 2007 episode of 60 minutes called The Age of the Millenials discussed the idea that millenials are a tech-savvy generation that realize their value in the workforce and have no loyalties to anyone but themselves.

They are the late teens and twenty somethings born roughly between 1980 – 1995.  The gist of the conversation was that bosses in the 2000’s will have to adjust to keep millenials happy, healthy and more importantly employed at their company.  Yea, yea we all get it.  They want what they want, they want it now and they want it at a very inflated salary.  Here is the thing…I am a millennial and frankly, I was not impressed with some of the ideas surrounding this generation.  I get that people do not want to pay their dues anymore and they want to be rewarded constantly, even for mediocrity.  However, I am not one of the people that want kudos unless I deserve them.  I do agree that praise goes a lot farther then reprimand, but did you ever stop to think that if everyone is special…no one is special. 

Nowadays, the show stated that all the kids on the sports team get a trophy just for participating.  Great!  What happens when they get into the real world and think they are amazing just because they exist?  It is not realistic.  On the flip side, how do we every really know if we deserve the praise we are getting from someone or if it is some sort of obligatory response to our generation.

The video we watched mentioned how these young 20 something guys make a ton of money consulting with millenials.  It is pretty simple.  Do your job and do not expect to be the boss after a week.  Mary Crane mentioned in her consultation that you should cover your tattoos for an interview.  I mean really?  Are we giving these people jobs?  I guess in the end it all seems like common sense to me. 

What do you think?

If you manage a millenial or two, you might find this article helpful…

Eye Opening

Ok, so those of you who know me fairly well know that I completely changed my career goals a few years ago.  I went from the full-time pursuit of an opera career to a career in events and PR.  Well, mom and I met for dinner last night and she pointed something out to me.  She said that never once did she see me put as much effort and ambition into my music career as I have into my new career path.  I guess it is true what they say, you put the time and effort into the things you really want.

Have you seen this type of thing in your own life?

Summer is flying by…

Over the last few weeks, I have been reading Message Matters.  It is a pretty interesting book that offers relevant training in the world of strategic messaging.  Wow, I sound like such a nerd these days.  Anyway, I discovered in class last night that many of the ideas expressed in the book are very conceptual and that it may just be that you are good at messaging or not so good at messaging.  For instance, we did an exercise in class that took a crack at writing a strategic message.  Other members of the class wrote excellent messages that covered the topic well.  I had trouble getting through the brainstorming part of things.  Maybe my brain is just a little too detail oriented…  I wanted to include every little thing surrounding the topic when really I could have just focused on one aspect and made that my jumping off point.  What do you think?  Do you think organizations have messages that capture your attention and encourage you to change or alter your actions?

On a lighter note, my stomach has recently revolted against the rest of my body.  It has been eye opening to say the least.  Regardless of how hungry I feel, my stomach has little interest in food.  Weird huh?  Oh well, I will be giving food another try this evening after thesis orientation with my gang from Italy.  Yippee.  I feel like we developed a small family over there.  Steve is still in Alaska and Carolina is in Spain, so we will have to reunite a few more times to get the whole group together.  AND, the option of a Spritz (aperol and Prosecco on ice) is not available in the states.  Maybe I will just have to have a house party J   

Narrative

Yesterday in my class, Adam Conner of Facebook came and spoke to us about the power of narrative.  His early 2006 article concerning Hilary Clinton’s lack of narrative is very eye opening and as my professor, Scott Talan mentioned, possibly prophetic.  This idea raises many interesting questions.  Did Clinton shy away from developing a narrative because she felt her target audiences already knew her story?  Or, did she want to focus strictly on policy issues and not herself?  Either way, as Conner pointed out, her missing narrative may have been her campaign downfall. 

Really?

I ran across this post this morning, and I ended up pretty offended.  I understand the idea that highways and such are named after people like Martin Luther King Jr., but why can’t we have a road named after Tim Russet?  Are there road naming rules I missed somewhere?  I think it is a kind gesture and other governmental officials obviously agree.  And, how does naming a road after a media personality make the mainstream media a government puppet?  You will have to connect those two a little better for me to agree.