Jayme Dee

         This past weekend, I was visiting my cousin Mollie in Michigan.  She attends Biola University in California.  Sometimes I hate her for being warm and on the beach when we still have to wear winter coats. For example: two days ago, April 28, 2011, I was wearing my winter jacket and almost blew away because the wind was so strong. 
          Anyways, my cousin has a new musical obsession, and I have now adopted the same obsession.  The singer's name is Jaymee Dee, she has a crisp, fresh sound and it is addicting (not to mention...she looks identical to my cousin, Mollie).  I had to share Jaymee's music with you all. So far, she is a mildly popular YouTube sensation, but my cousin seems to think she will be famous shortly.  What do you think? 

           Her original single: Love Whiplash
                An impressive cover: ET

Just so you can see the resemblance, here is a picture of my gorgeous cousin, Mollie :

Mollie is on the left!

Unbelievable

Last week my three roommates and I were huddled together in our bathroom with blankets.  For the first time in my four years at Ohio Northern University (ONU), a tornado alarm sounded.  The alarm is horrific, and went off from just after midnight until about 1in the morning.  Thankfully, our night ended peacefully back in our beds. A tornado did not rip through our Ohio campus...the same cannot be said for the states of Alabama or Mississippi. Both states suffered severe tornadoes, killing hundreds of innocent residents. 

     Below are pictures of the ruins, they are hard to believe.  The damage is both disturbing and sad.  Many lost loved ones, and even more lost their homes, possessions and sense of security.  My heart goes out to those affected. I know how I felt when I was huddled in my bathroom.  This had to be an absolute nightmare.

   

Source: National Georgraphic

Souce: TIME Magazine

Source: Yahoo! News

Source: Yahoo! News

   Click here to donate to Alabama Disaster Relief.  Storms are unpredictable, you never know when and where they will hit next.  On another note, I do not feel ONU adequately responded to tornado warnings last week.  Many apartment buildings do not have basements, and those on the second and third floors do not have anywhere to go. Students did not even receive an emergency text message. ONU protocol needs to change, and fast.

Should Employees be Trusted?

    This week in Social Media class we are reading portions of The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott. Scott presents an interesting debate in Chapter 5.  He discusses whether or not employers should allow their employees to blog.  Interestingly enough the same debate happened with email, this was before my years.  I do however agree with the strong comparisons  between these two mediums.  I have a feeling that just as not allowing employees to send emails seems silly now, not allowing employees to blog will seem silly later.  Scott brings up a great point that we have to look at the people communicating and not the technology.


 Building on this idea, if industry leaders in the fields of Marketing and PR are not allowed to blog, how are they expected to be an expert on the matter? What if these same executives were still not able to use email.  Imagine how far they would need to come to catch up with the rest of the world.  Until I began writing this blog, it was difficult for me to fully understand blogging ( I still have a lot to learn). Also, blogging is a way of sparking debate, and spreading knowledge.  Why would companies want to stifle this creative ground? Those participating in blogging communities can easily monitor what is being said.

   While I think employees should be allowed to blog. I also understand the possible repercussions corporations. So, as much as it is a right to be able to blog, it is a company's right to monitor employee posts and comments.  Blogs could definitely be abused and grounds for firing.  This should be made clear in orientations and employee handbooks.  Those that want to keep their job and are respectful should not have any issues.  Besides, it is much more difficult to convince people to stop doing something entirely than enact lose guidelines.

 These are a few of my opinions...What do you think?

• Should employees be allowed to Blog? 
• If so does it need to be in their free time, or can it take place at work
• Should their be guidelines? How strict?
• Does it depend on the type of company (public, private, non-profit)?

Happy Easter!

       Today is Easter Sunday. I spent the last two days in Michigan, which is one of my absolute favorite ways to spend breaks. Why? My entire family lives in Michigan excluding my mom, dad, brother, sister and I. I feel fortunate we are all so close, although we do not see each other nearly as much as we did when we were younger. This makes me appreciate the time we have together. Today and yesterday consisted of goofing around, catching up, and lots of card games and great food. I am still stuffed from the turkey dinner my aunt prepared, and sleepy from the ride home. Overall I had a great weekend and it is bittersweet to head back to Ada tomorrow. Especially since it is the start of my last month at ONU...hard to believe.

Job Search Continued...

This past week, our Social Media class was told to complete an online resume. Since searching for a job has seemed like a full time job lately, I was open to new avenues. My attempt at an online resume is here. I found the website we used, Visual VC, to be relatively user-friendly. My only complaint is that unless you have a lot of work to link, Visual VC is very similar to Linkedin.