New Resolutions
Generally, I don’t make resolutions for the New Year. It just seems a little silly to wait for a certain day to roll around to start improving oneself, but this year I do have a few in mind.
As some of you may know, I am a graduate assistant at the J-Lab here in Washington. It’s a great organization, doing some really good stuff for citizen media across the country. However, I think they seriously lack a strong presence in popular social media, which is messed up considering the goal of the non-profit. It’s understandable, though. J-Lab has a really small staff and they just don’t have time to stay on top of everything. That’s what grad assistants are for. Ha.
This week we will have a mini-retreat for new ideas, and I’ll be pitching my thoughts on Twitter and Facebook. One of the things J-Lab does is find Cool Stuff and news articles for KCNN. However, I don’t think we do it often enough nor bring enough attention to it. I want to solve that problem this year.
Additionally, if you couldn’t tell, J-Lab is in desperate need of a site redesign. This has actually been a long, challenging process for the people who work there full time. We are hoping to launch everything in January, but along with that will come editing and formatting little things that can sometimes be overlooked when redesigning such a huge site.
On a personal note, I will turn 25 in May. I always told myself I need to have done something awesome by 25… call it a quarter-century goal or some such. Luckily, eight days after my birthday, I will have my MA. That’s a pretty decent accomplishment, I think.
My other personal goals include busting butt during this semester in order to land in a great internship over the summer and an even better job come August. Also, I want to focus a little more on fashion. I know, I know, geeky journalists aren’t expected to dress super well, but I like to think I have a decent eye for what like; I want to incorporate a little more of my eclectic tastes into my daily outfits.
Don’t worry. This won’t turn into a style blog. I couldn’t keep it going.
New Toy
I found a new web toy today… Poladroid. You drag your photos onto the desktop icon and it creates polaroid images of your photos. This could come in handy for Christmas presents.. or wrapping paper. How cool would that be?
For your viewing pleasure, this is Amy and I (gosh.. when was this?… who was I dating at the time that would have taken this photo? No idea) before we went and saw Al Gore speak at the Erwin Center in Austin.
Awesome, huh? Check it out for yourself.
What I Hope
Obama FTW
I may not agree with everything he does, but I hope every day that he survives to Inauguration and beyond.
How sad is it that I keep that hope beating in my heart because of a man’s skin color? Why is there still so much hate in this world that I feel the need to worry about his life? When are we as a country going to sit down and have that conversation about race? The elephant has been in the freakin’ room for a long time now.
Gah.
In other news, I’m still producing Flash for the American Observer. As much as I love going after a good story, figuring out ways to visually represent data and stories is pretty thrilling. How much you wanna bet that’s going to play a part in my post-graduate job?
There is a one credit course being offered next semester, on Fridays. It meets at the Washington Post downtown and we’d get to speak with some of the best journalists out practicing today. But here’s the catch… there are spots for only four graduate students. In order to get a spot, we have to submit a two-page essay on, “why you should be one of the eight AU students chosen to participate, and what you would do if you were in charge of both the newspaper and Web divisions in 2009.” It’s a toughie. I have an idea of what I’ll write, but dang… only four spots?
As Russ said, “Someone’s going to be in tears after this one.”
