Twitter

What is Twitter? If you click on this link: http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/ you will be able to learn everything you ever wanted to know about Twitter and more. From my experience, Twitter is a place where you can post or "Tweet" about anything you happen to be doing at that time. It is also an easy way to keep up to date on what the people you follow are doing. If I were to keep my new Twitter account, it would be so that I could say I'm following Taylor Swift and a def jam poet that I enjoy watching named Rafael Casal. I think that part of Twitter is cool, that you can be connected to a celebrity that you are a fan of.

Personally, I dislike Twitter for various reasons. The first thing I dislike on Twitter is the fact that anyone can follow your profile and you have no veto power. This means that creepy people that you don't know are getting information about who you are, what you do and where you are any time you make a post. Some people say that they "Facebook stalk" their friends, but Twitter takes stalking someone to a whole new level. Another thing that I dislike about Twitter is that it is just a collection of statuses. I don't understand why I would "Tweet" about what I'm doing. Honestly, who cares about what is going on in my life? I just don't get it. In addition, since people are tweeting so quickly, it is hard to keep up with what is happening. Even if you did want to stay up to date on what one or maybe two people are doing, you have to search through everyone else's posts to get there. Another thing I don't like about Twitter is that anyone can tag you in their Tweet, and if you don't happen to be on Twitter in that time frame, you don't know what they said about you. That makes me feel very vulnerable that someone has that much power to bring me into their post and I may never know that the post even happened. You might not think this is a big deal but I feel that I am responsible for any and all information posted about myself and if it is something unfavorable toward my name I want the chance to remove myself from being connected to it, I can't do that if I don't know that the post even took place.

If you wanted to check out my Twitter page, here it is http://twitter.com/rmzhorne.

Leveraging Diversity

The diversity event that I went to was called Leveraging Diversity. When I walked into the lecture hall I became very nervous because it was full of academic adults all formally dressed, I was in a sweatshirt. I was also very nervous when he started putting complicated formulas in his power point. I'm a Kinesiology major, not an Engineering major. I was very scared.

But once he started his lecture I became more comfortable. He talked about how having a diverse working population is important because it is the right thing to do, it is the law, and diverse people bring diverse ideas and view points. With those diverse ideas and view points, a company is better able to make predictions. My favorite part of the lecture was when he explained how working with a group of people who all had the same ideas may be easier and more fun, however, it is not as effective as working with a very diverse group of people. I find this very true because when you have a group of people who all think the same, there will be a lot of conformity and very few original ideas but you have a lot of fun because everyone thinks like you. Yet, if you get a large number of diverse people all bringing different perspectives, that is where the ideas come from, there are more debates and a lot more progressive thinking. Although this is usually less fun because of the debates and the possible hurt feelings, it is the best way to come up with the best, most original ideas and the most accurate prediction models.

I really liked the guy I saw for the Diversity even and am very glad it was a requirement (otherwise I would have never attended something like that.)

The Final Season

     A time that I felt at my best is probably my senior year of soccer at Cedar Falls.
After practicing with the team in 8th grade and playing on the varsity team freshman, sophomore, and junior years, I had observed the ways a team became successful and ways they grew apart. I knew that my senior year, I wanted to make sure this last season was as good as possible. And it was.
    I think the best thing about my final season with Cedar Falls Women's soccer team was the fact that there were no cliques; everyone was friends with everyone. For girls, it is easy to fall in to cliques and somehow, someone is always getting left out. Myself and another senior basically took on the leadership roles and made sure from day one to let the girls know that we were all in it together and it wasn't long before every girl was socializing, on and off the field, with everyone else. This was awesome because when we all got along, there was limited drama (solved easily) and made communication through the field during games much easier. Another great advantage to the 'no cliques' team was that everyone, no matter if they were able to play basically the whole game or just a few minutes, felt that they had the same impact on the team's success. We all know that a team can't rely on a single person, a few stars, or even the 11 starting lineup, it takes the twenty girls on the roster to show up at practice and games to encourage, to motivate and to push the rest for a team to be successful. I remember a girl who, although her speed wasn't great, her foot skills weren't up to 'varsity' level, was an incredible addition to the team because she was the most positive and supportive person you could meet! She knew she didn't get as much playing time as everyone else, but that never made her caddy or mean to those who did get the time she was missing.
     Another piece of my senior year playing soccer that I feel put me at my 'best' and definitely made a positive impact on the team was when someone was feeling down, disappointed or upset, I always felt it was my responsibility to help cheer them up, and I loved it. I know the game better than a lot of people and was able to talk to them, encourage them that they did well and if they asked me how to improve, I would usually be able to provide insights. I would even stay after practice to let people take shots, run drills or help them figure out ways to improve on whatever they needed. I have never been the most coordinated when it comes to foot skill, but being a goalkeeper allows me to see the whole field and understand the strategy and best ways to play towards a win.
     At the end of the season, we have an awards ceremony where my coach gives out letters, Mississippi Valley Conference awards, and team awards such as 'Most Valuable Player' 'Most Improved Player' and the 'Fury' award. However, she decided that this year's Most Valuable Player would be up to team vote. I was awarded the MVP award! When they gave it to me, they said it was for my hard work, my constant encouragement, because I always had extra water (carried about 5 water bottles at all time so that the girls didn't get dehydrated), and because I was almost like the team mom to all. I was so surprised and felt very proud of the work I had done to help make that team such a success!
     I miss the girls on my team and keep a team photo on my desk in my dorm! Those girls together probably made the best group of girls I have ever, and will ever meet! I'm so excited to go home and watch them play this year, and can't wait until I have my coaching licence to coach a team of my own!

Beloit College Mindset List; Hixson Post #1

The set of items on Beloit College’s Mindset list for 2010 that I agree with include that: few in the class know how to write in cursive, colorful lapel ribbons have always been worn to indicate support for a cause, and a purple dinosaur has always supplanted Barney Google and Barney Fife. Items from Beloit College’s Mindset list for 2010 that I disagree with include that: they (students) never twisted the coiled handset wire aimlessly around their wrists while chatting on the phone, unless they found one in their grandparents’ closet, they have never seen a carousel of Kodachrome slides, and Czechoslovakia has never existed.

I love the first statement that few people actually know how to write in cursive. Elementary school teachers forced us to write in cursive so often that we started to hate it. They said we would have to use cursive for all writing assignments in Junior High and High School. False. I don’t remember any assignment where the teacher requiring us to turn in a paper written in cursive. Next, the colorful lapel ribbons remind me of an annual elementary event. During Red Ribbon Week, (a drug free campaign,) teachers would create a large ribbon outline in the grass for students dressed in red to stand in for our school picture. Red ribbons are for drug free lifestyles, pink ribbons for breast cancer awareness and yellow ribbons for all cancers. It is amazing how a specifically colored ribbon can demonstrate support for a cause. Finally, I agree that “Barney” alludes to the big purple dinosaur that loves me! Barney, I must admit, was my absolute favorite. I had a Barney hat, blanket and stuffed animal and would crawl up next to the TV to watch him (and would cry any time my older sister would say he wasn’t real). When reading this list I had to Google searched who Barney Google and Barney Fife because I had never heard of them.

I think that it is funny that the people who created this list don’t think students our age would remember corded phones. My house had corded phones for years. I remember talking to friends on the phone while constantly playing with the cord’s coil. I have actually disconnected the cord from the wall because I walked too far away from the wall. Also, Kodachrome slides have been a part of family gatherings for years. My mother grew up with seven brothers and sisters and they occasionally break out the slides and reminisce about whatever forgotten memory is displayed. Finally, Czechoslovakia did SOOOO exist! I’m Czech and was so upset when I learned that it had split into Czech Republic and Slovakia. Such a disappointment. Czech Republic and Slovakia just don’t have the same ring as Czechoslovakia.

This list was very entertaining and I enjoyed thinking about which ones that I don’t remember and which ones that brought back memories of growing up.