I'm Sorry I Don't Like Melted Cheese

Call me un-American or whatever you wish, but I can't help myself, I don't like melted cheese. You may be thinking, "Oh my gosh, what is wrong with you?" Well there are many things wrong with me but that is not one of them. Don't get me wrong, I wish I liked cheese because it is literally on everything. It's on hamburgers, any sort of pasta dish, on chicken, on anything that you order at a restaurant, I mean everything. Seriously people, what is so great about cheese that you must put it on every dish?

The reason I don't like melted cheese is because of the texture of the food product. It makes me gag horribly, then resulting in puke if I eat more than two bites. I try to stay away from the intestine killer but it certain situations, it would be rude not to eat it. I do like other cheese and dairy products though, so I'm not all evil. Melted cheese though gives me the willies and I wish I could do something about it. I'm sure that everyone has that one thing that is weird about them, unfortunately for me, it's hard to hide it. Continue on, cheese lovers, and try to keep your jokes original because I've heard them all.

How to Run a Philanthropy Event

We were tasked with creating a "How to" video for class this week. Currently I am planning a philanthropy event, the Delt Dinger Derby, so I thought that would be a great idea to focus the video on. Check it out and listen to some tips that I have on making a great philanthropy event for your organization.

Reviews Can Make Or Break Your Business

If you own a local business, you understand that reviews can really help your business or harm it. Whether you provide services or a product, it is very easy to find reviews on companies with the technology that is out today. Websites like Yelp.com, Facebook and basically any site that sells your product can provide reviews for customers to see.

Reviews can be anywhere from very helpful for your business or not helpful. Many times, its mostly unhappy customers that write reviews anyway. If you provide a great service or product, there is really nothing motivating you to write a good review. But, if you give a poor performance they are motivated to get back at you by writing a terrible review. You can counter this by nudging some customers to give a review of your business. If a customer is happy, ask them to review their business and you can swamp out some of those negative comments. Keep up to date on your reviews and you will be your company should ace the review game.

The World Series is Here

Baseball is at its most exciting time of the year, October. October baseball is where the best of the best face each other. The playoffs are almost over with though, except for one final series, the World Series. As an avid baseball fan, I watch the world series every year but this year my favorite team is playing in it. The Cubs and the Indians square off in this year's series and it has been a long time since either team has won. The Cubs have the longest drought in the Major Leagues, since 1908. The Indians haven't one since 1948. I am so excited to watch the game on Tuesday night and through out the rest of the week.

The Cubs are the best team in the Major League, hands down. They are dangerous in their lineup the entire way through and have some of the best starting pitching the league has seen in a while. Under manager Joe Maddon, they have progressed into a great team. Rookie Kyle Schwarber can make a possible appearance in the series as well after suffering what was thought to be a season-ending injury earlier this year. With his power as a hitter added to the already dangerous lineup, the Cubs are not to be taken lightly.

The Indians are really struggling to get over the injuries that have faced them this year. With starting pitchers Carlos Carrasco out for the year and Danny Salazar struggling to return in time from a forearm injury, it has been tough since the playoffs have started to get good innings out of the starters. Luckily, the Indians have had huge contributions from their bullpen and rookie Ryan Merritt, who threw 4.1 innings in game 5. The Cubs may be the best team in the league, but the Indians are the hottest. It will be interesting to see how the series plays out. On the final note, Roll Tribe.

ONU Homecoming Parade

An assignment we had this week was to live tweet an event at this year's ONU Homecoming. I decided to live tweet the parade. It was an awesome parade and I put the tweets together on a Storify page. Look at the page and check it out some of the highlights from the parade this year.

3 Reasons College is Better Than High School

Going to college from high school is a scary transition that thousands of young adults make every August. The anxiousness of going from something you have been comfortable with for four years and then being the oldest ones and running the school to not having a clue what is going on. After finally settling in to your campus, you are still scared and have no idea what is going on and you really hate your 8 o'clock bio class. But, after the first month you are getting used to things and realizing that this isn't so bad. By fall break you are a pro and you completely forget about high school. That's because high school is terrible compared to college. College is the best time of your life and high school doesn't even compare. Don't get me wrong, I loved high school and won't forget it but I would never go back. Here are some reasons why I believe college is better than high school.

1. Freedom

You can make all the stupid decisions you want and nobody can stop you. In college, you schedule your own classes, you can be up until 4 watching Gossip Girl and nobody will say a word. Your parents aren't hovering over your life. College gives you the opportunity to make you responsible for your actions and teach you that nobody is their to hold your hand in the real world, even your parents. You can go out on the weekends and be irresponsible and nobody from your hometown even knows what you are doing.College allows you freedoms that the prison walls of high school never even dreamed of. 

2. Opportunities 

The amount of opportunities that you get from attending college is exponential. Whether it is just the fact that you could possibly get a higher education degree and better job opportunities because of that or the connections you make in college. As a business student, I personally have many opportunities for jobs because of the connections that my professors and staff have. In any department, the faculty and staff have connections in the work force that you are looking to go into and possibly get you a career. 

3. Relationships

College is where most people make the friends that will be beside them on their wedding day. College is where many people find the person that they will marry in 5 years. College gives you an opportunity to make friends with people that have similar interests to you, where high school you are often stuck with your friends just because of your location. On welcome weekend or your junior year, people make friendships that last a lifetime and you would have not met these people if it weren't for college. 

"I Love College" is a very inappropriate song with a very true title. Going to college is one of the best decisions I have ever made and I found my home at Ohio Northern. Just because I like college more doesn't mean I don't cherish my days at Ada High School. I'm still best friends with my buddies from Ada and they will be in my wedding one day but college has opened my eyes to what the world has to offer. If you are in college right now, keep on keeping on and living the life. If you are in high school, fight out those last moments you have and enjoy them, but be ready for the fun stuff. 

Updating Your Apps

If you have a smart phone, which is basically everyone that I know, then you are constantly getting reminders that your applications need updated. I know that most automatically update by themselves, which is great that I don't have to worry about doing it myself, but there are some that don't. It is very important to update your apps because sometimes they stop working if you don't update them. I recently did not update my messaging app for a number of weeks and it finally stopped working this weekend. I thought that I had to go to the Verizon store and ask them to fix my phone and pay a large sum of money, but no, all I had to do was update my app. It saved me a headache and unneeded stress.

Another great part about making sure that all of your apps are updated are the new features you get with the updated apps. Sometimes it is scary when you hear news about an app being updated and different than what you used to operate. But change is not bad, especially in the technology and social media world. There are always new innovations and programs that better your experience. Just recently there was a Snapchat update and I didn't like it to start, but now after a week of getting used to the new version, I can say it is better than the other versions. Change is scary but necessary in a fast moving world. So next time you are bored, look in your app store and see if there are any apps that need to be updated. 

Read This If You're Not Creative

The sixth chapter of Jason McDonald's "Social Media Marketing Workbook" discusses Pinterest. Pinterest is a social media that shares ideas on a multitude of topics like food, crafts and so many more. Honestly, I don't know much about Pinterest and how to use it. McDonald, however describes how to effectively use it. He states that once you understand the idea of idea boards, then you basically have Pinterest figured out.

Pinterest holds people's fantastic ideas and are accessible to anyone. So if you are not very creative and want to do something crafty to your front porch, you can search on Pinterest for helpful ideas to use. You can also search for ideas on Google and it will often link you to Pinterest boards that are useful to your search. Once you find something that you find helpful, you can pin it to your own personal board and save it for late. Pinterest is a very helpful place. If you can't think of great ideas for your social gathering or that new addition to your garage, Pinterest is the place to go.

Youtube Can Actually be Useful

Many people across the world use YouTube everyday, but usually not for helpful purposes. Myself and many other users usually use YouTube to watch videos of cats falling down or of videos that are really not relevant with current events and are just time-wasters when laying down for bed. Jason McDonald writes in his book "Social Media Marketing Workbook" on how to effectively use YouTube as a social media platform either as a consumer or as a administrator for your company.

As a consumer, you can get a lot of information from a company's YouTube. Most companies have informational videos on many of their products and on their company in general. Also, it's easy to use Google to search for information and videos. If you are looking for organic foods or which brand of truck is the best, Google provides you with information on the most viewed videos on YouTube right on the results. As a producer, this attribute from Google can work to your advantage. On YouTube, add keywords to your channel and videos to optimize your traffic. Understanding how your consumers search and what words they are searching for is very important to a business.

McDonald also discusses that the keys to success for a professional YouTube account. As a business you should obviously upload quality videos to start. Without videos on your page, there is really no point to have an account as a business. "How to" videos are one of the most searched throughout YouTube, so if you are a service company, this is a great opportunity to reach customers looking for help. Another reason to reach more customers through advertising on YouTube is to make your video emotional. I know that I am much more likely to share an emotional video that hits closer to home. I could continue to discuss how to properly use YouTube but there are many options that I still haven't touched. Using YouTube can either be a very helpful and insightful experience or a great time-waster. However you use it, just make remember it can be a helpful tool.

NFL is the No Fun League

The National Football League has recently made a new rule for all of their 32 teams. They will not allow for teams to post any unapproved gifs or pictures from their social media accounts. With the growing popularity of Twitter and all social media platforms, many companies have been posting much more frequently, especially on Twitter where there is a high producing content of posts. Many NFL organizations have been trying to keep with today's young teenagers by posting funny videos and pictures. The NFL apparently has a problem with the teams posting.

Roger Goodell and his team of fun ruiners have recently said that teams will be fined up to $500,000 for posting pictures and videos that are unapproved by the NFL. I want to ask why the NFL feels the need to take all of the fun out of the league. Teams are using social media in a great way to relate to a younger audience and correctly use social media platforms and now they are going to be punished if they do. Why, Roger Goodell? Why do you take a good use of PR and marketing for teams and make it a punishment? I don't understand why the NFL would take the fun out of social media for the fans and for the teams. Hopefully this rule changes and teams and fans can interact with fun posts on social media again.

Music is Good for Your Soul

Music can be many things for a person. Music can be an escape to a different world when it times of struggle. Music can be a motivator while working out, lifting or even to do homework. Music can be a time killer while doing laundry and other tasks. There is a song or a genre for every task and every person has their own favorites and preferences. Me personally, I love country music. I could listen to different types of country at all times of day. Even though country music is my favorite, I enjoy most types of music. Whether it be classical like Bach or Mozart to Snoop Dogg and other rap and hip-hop artists, I enjoy listening to the various genres.

Music has been a part of history since the beginning of man. Cavemen used to shake rocks for entertainment and now with today's current pop music, if a star like Justin Bieber did the same thing, the fans would go crazy. Music has evolved over time and we are blessed to be able to listen to current music or music from the 500's if we want. Music can change a person's feelings and mood. Music can change a movie's tone in the blink of an eye. The sounds and songs of any generation have been one of the biggest influences since the beginning of time. Love your favorite and do not let anyone tell you that your favorite sucks because different kinds of music can do different things to different people. Continue to love your music and sit back and appreciate it from time to time and the impact it has had on your life.

Twitter is Odd yet Useful

In "Social Media Marketing Workbook" by Jason McDonald, he discusses how we can effectively use Twitter, for business and for personal use. I have been on Twitter for some time now and I wouldn't consider myself an expert by any means but I do know how to operate the social media platform for myself. Where I run into problems, like I'm sure many of us do, is how to run an account from a professional viewpoint. I honestly wouldn't know where to start and I need to learn because hopefully getting an internship or job after graduation will put me in a position to help a company run their own Twitter.

If you are unfamiliar with Twitter, I'll give you a quick rundown of how it works from McDonald's perspective and from mine. Twitter is just basically this big mess of memes, political advertisements, people's complaining and just overall nonsense. Even though that this may be true from what I see, there are many opportunities for business's to have success. McDonald talks about how Twitter is a fast-paced culture and is a noisy stream of news and gossip. He suggests that some companies may not even be good to be on Twitter. With the noise and the strong relation to pop culture on Twitter, if you sell Life Alerts, it may not be the platform for your business. If your business is right for Twitter though, take advantage of the opportunities it gives to your business. Market by tweeting to celebrities who have lots of followers to get more traffic on your page. Share links to new products and good deals on them. Use a hashtag to get a conversation going with your followers. There are many ways for a business to stay active and fresh.

If you are not on Twitter, I would suggest trying it out and watching the chaos unfold. Whether it be a personal account or a professional one. Get on there to catch up with your favorite celebrity or business or your friends, as well. It is a nice platform to be on and very helpful to you no matter what kind of user you are. Just try not to get addicted.

3 Reasons to Stay Updated in What is Going On in the World and How to Do It

I have said this many times before on this blog but I think it is very relevant information; this world is a wild and crazy place. Laws are changing, people are born, celebrities break up with each other and it is almost impossible to keep up with these events while they are happening. But, we must try because it is very important to know what is going on in the world. Here are 3 reasons to keep up and how to do it.

1. Things are Always Changing 

The world is a very fast-moving place. The stock market changes every second. Hundreds of thousands of babies are born. A political official will say something stupid. Having news applications on your phone like Fox News or CNN will give you a great update and notify you if something important in the world happens. I have Fox News and they send me push notifications, so my phone vibrates every time a major event comes to their attention.

 2. It's a Great Conversation Starter 

If you work in a cubicle and need to escape your section of home for 9 hours out of the day to go to the water cooler, new topics are always a need. Quit gossiping about how Becky hasn't slept at her place all week and talk about the latest Vice Presidential Debate tonight and if you are going to watch it or not. You can find out what the newest programs or key events on television like the debate by watching TV or just getting on Facebook while you are behind your computer screen. The amount of advertisements and sponsored promotions are actually annoying, but they can be helpful on letting you know what is going on. 

3. You Don't Want to Look Stupid 

Whether it be talking to your boss in the office or talking to your spouse in your pajamas in the comfort of your home, there is always the possibility of someone bringing up current events. Especially when you are trying to sweet talk your boss because of that big promotion that could be headed your way. If your boss asks you what you think about that current buyout of Cabela's by Bass Pro Shops and you have no idea what he is talking about, that might make you seem less like the candidate he wants and the position might go to that guy Ted in sales who is always cracking those corny jokes. How does that make you feel? 

In general, it's pretty easy to stay somewhat up to date on current news. Unless your profession is journalism, it's okay to be a little behind. Try to stay current though because it is important to know what is going on. Look at your phone, watch the news and even get on Facebook because with this high-flying society, you never know what you might miss. 

Growing Up in a Small Town

I love Ada with all my heart. Ada has made me who I am. No matter where you have grown up, the town or city will shape your personality, either in a big way or a small way. My small town has affected me in a big way. It has had a huge influence on my life. I love being able to walk into Little Mexico and saying hello to everybody in there. I love working at the grocery store and talking to all the people going through my line. There are so many aspects of growing up in Ada that I am very thankful for.

I had sixty one people in my graduating class at Ada High School and I knew everyone of my classmates names and mostly everybody in the high school. I understand that there are benefits to bigger schools but I think the benefits of going to a smaller school outweigh larger schools. Going to a school where the students are in the same building for thirteen years is a great experience to build friendships that last a lifetime. Sitting at a lunch table with your best friends everyday and sitting in class with teachers that you see at the Harvest and Herb are memories that I'll never forget.

Growing up around here, there is nothing to do, so you have to make your own fun. Having bonfires was the thing to do on a Saturday or Friday night. Going to the football games on Fridays where the whole town was there cheering on the team then heading over to the Wilcox's afterwards to watch the highlights from around the area and eat as much food as possible. Those are some of the memories that I got from growing up in Ada. I would love to live here my whole life and have my kids have the same teachers that I did.