Of Mice and de Blog

Well, talk about your busy week. I dunno if I've ever had so many assignments from one class due at once. Course', the TAs, writing lab, and the trusty ol' book helped me out. After all my drafts and hard work, I forgot to sign my cover letter. Bah humbug.

Today, I found myself running in a suit and tie with a fake mustache in the rain. The things I do for school. Okay, the mustache was my idea. Anyway, we had our practice interviews today. It went swell, I reckon. Although, I think sometimes I'm not the best at putting myself in the best light. I gotta' focus on my good attributes and forget about the bad. Eye contact and hand gestures can also improve. But my resume was lookin' as sharp as a katana. I found the illegal interview questions to be interesting. Like, if you're interviewing a pregnant lady, no comment about the pregnancy can be made. So weird.

We talked a lot about writing persuasive and bad news letters today. The indirect approach can make all of the difference. Gotta be sly as a fox. Professor Middleton showed these two examples of a bad news letter, one direct and one indirect, but they conveyed the exact same information. I found myself more bitter reading the direct one.

Makes me wonder if I ought to more indirect sometimes. You know, when supermodels try to hook up with me, I gotta' let em' down easy.

But an indirect approach is not the same thing as saying nothing. The "no response" response can be the worst response of all.

Anyway, my take aways from the day are be careful how you communicate, criticize and take criticism with courtesy, and don't call pregnant ladies "pregnant." Next time someone criticizes me, I'll ask them to criticize my ability to take criticism. Criticism makes perfect.

Keep it reAL,

AL

De Blog Knight

"Didn't you get the memo?" That's just a line from Batman Begins that I like. Sorta related.

Just beat Gonzaga! But that's not really related at all.

This week featured a proposal (not for getting married) for our future Business Articles. Mine was all about Nintendo's marketing strategy. Should be interesting. In class, we learned some rules of interviews, resumes, letters of recommendations, memos, networking, etc. Who'da thunk that folk in college get business cards? All the info bout' the interview would seemed a bit more pertinent for me a week, when I was interviewed for my Resident Assistant position. But, got it anyway, so, woohoo! I learned a little more about how to emphasize your strengths on your resume. Put what's most impressive first. If someone in an interview asks me about my greatness weakness, I prolly tell them that sometimes I'm a perfectionist, stressin' about every detail. They'll like that.

This blog post seems very unorganized. This paragraph is just to make some space. Yep.

I thought it was really funny that Professor Middleton once had "rocking out in the car" in her resume. Chill. I wonder if I could get away with something like that. Just depends on the employer, I reckon. Gotta' know your audience and tailor your resume accordingly.

I sure hope this class gets me a job somehow.

I think the biggest take away for me was to just do a bit more planning and preparation for interviews. Know your answers for questions before they ask them. They might say, "What's your story?" or "What would you bring to our company" and you gotta' have a good answer in a jiffy. Gotta' be quick on the draw. Like a sheriff. Share if you agree! Ha, just kidding.

Also, I'll start doin' cover letters. Maybe a style cramper but professional it is. If I wanna' be a pro, I gotta' look like a pro.

Be a pro, not a Joe.
A champ, not a chump.
A winner, not a beginner.
The best, not the rest.

Okay, I'll give it a rest.

Good knight,

Alex Jay NielsonosleiN yaJ xelA

The Princess and de Blog

Wazzup? Another exciting week in the world of MCOM. Oh, here's my agenda for this post: (1) I'll tell you about preparation for class, (2) I'll tell you about class, and (3) try to come up with something funny, but if it doesn't come to mind, I won't dwell on it and instead just call it good.

So the KAKI alliance made a pretty Valentine's Dance ad. Props to the team there. Prolly a good thing we didn't include Power Puff Girls like I kinda wanted to (well, really just the heart background at the end of all the episodes). Class liked the final product the way we had it. Nice, simple, red. Yep.

Lotso reading. Tres capitulos. Get outta' your mind! I reckon there were lotso acronyms; e.g., CLOUD, HATS. Course', there were some I made up too. Like COW'D. Everything gets verbified, why not cows?

But, enough about pre-class, let's talk real class. There was totally a quiz. I had to make like Christian and bail before we graded em, but word on the street is I skooled it. Schweet.

Other than that, we learned about memorization. Memorizing organized things is way easier than random stuff. True for your writing too. The professor was sayin that the beginning and end stick with the reader the most. True for oral conversation as well. It was actually recommended that we implement more agendas in our daily conversations. Like maybe on my next date I should say something like, "Tonight, I hope to do the following: (A) get to know you better, (B) enjoy the scenery, and (C) learn to dance." Suppose I could try it.

Oh, yeah, and the presentations were nifty. I thought there was some real effort put into those. And the brownies were just icing on the cake...or a cherry on top, or something. (Note: the brownies were actually there; the icing, cake, and cherry were not but rather are being used for figurative speech)

Yep.

So, instead of some joke, I'll you what I plan to do with this wealth of knowledge I've gained. I'll practice (hopefully, with my team) presenting. I'll pay more attention to my organization. I'll try to determine the kind of writing something is. I guess you could call this blog informative if you so choose.

Anyway, I'm gonna hit the hay. Have a good one, world. If I can persuade you, I hope you'll think and not smoke.


Alex "The Jay" Nielson

How de Blog Stole Christmas

He probably stole it with his hands.

Two songs popped into my head during class today.

1. One was Jewel's "Hands." The chorus repeats, "My hands are small, I know. But they're not yours, they are my own."
2. 
   

1. The other was Alanis Morissette's "Hand in My Pocket." She sings, "I've got one hand in my pocket and the other one is giving a high five." The other hand not only gives high fives, but does a variety of other things through out the song.

Both seemed relevant. We talked a lot about our body language during presentations. Our hands send messages whether we notice or not.

Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I was just having too much fun making this post really ugly. See, we learned about is the layout (not as in "laying someone out," but the technical meaning) and design of  power points and handouts. I thought it was funny to go ahead and try to break all of those rules, but wow, ugly presentations can sure be annoying. The light on light just made me feel bad...and dark. I don't want to put you through anymore of that. Gotta' watch my carbs.

There are so many small things that make a big different in presentations. If you're not careful, all of your hard work could be all for naught because of something silly like your hands being clenched in a fist, having shifty mobster eyes, or excessive "likes" (and I don't mean on Facebook).

My take away from class is that I really ought to practice presenting and record myself or ask my friends if I do anything weird. I'm sure I have my own habits that distract from my message. I should have taken Ursula seriously when said not to underestimate the importance of body language. Anyway, this week, I'll try to be paranoid about my hands and feet and eyes and...let me try that again. I'll try to be paranoid about my hands, feet, and eyes this week. Better. Oh hey, that reminds, I schooled my grammar test. Ah-sum.

Anyway, that's what I got for now.

• Alex Nielson