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[ladybirdword]

HOOTSUITE UNIVERSITY

“HootSuite University is an online certification program that delivers best in class education about social media and HootSuite for industry leading professionals.” –LinkedIn

            HootSuite University certified me as a social media professional in April of 2014. Going through this program was not as easy as I had hoped it would be. It doesn’t take up a lot of your time, I just had no idea about social media. I mean, I knew what social media was, I just had no idea how to manage it.

In my social media class I started a twitter account and started blogging. This was a challenge for me because I was brand new to the world of the internet. Growing up my brother hoged the computer but I was an outdoor girl anyway. Blogging was a shaky start and my tweets had no personality. HootSuite University helped me change all of that.

HootSuite University has many sections broken up into roughly 5 minute videos. That made me very happy that I could go at my own pace, watch the videos over and over if I had to, and without having to skip around. It was nice to be able to go back to that section at a later time and not have to root too much to find what I was looking for.

One thing that I thought would benefit my learning that HootSuite did not have was interactive tutorials. I feel like my experience overall would have been that much more awesome if I could watch a video and then execute the task during or after the session. This would have helped me to implement the lesson into my own social media tasks in a more efficient way.

My favorite lesson on HootSuite University was from Ranjun Chauhan who is a social sales professional. You can follow him @Ranjun_Chauhan on Twitter. Chauhan says that we need to remember that social media is a sociological phenomenon not just a technological one. He goes on to tell us why.

Chauhan says that customers, competitors, partners, and co-workers are all using social media and they are using it to talk about brands, likes and dislikes, and overall opinion of products and services. That also means your products and services. One social selling point he made is that you have to be involved with your customers etc. You have to know what’s going on and what people are talking about so that you can engage in a knowledgeable and timely manner. Becoming an expert and advisor in your field builds trust and growth in your company.

I really enjoyed most of the lessons that I could relate to. I would like to go back through them after finals so that I can use them on my own profiles. I had a few ‘ah-ha’ moments of understanding something after learning about it. That is the great part of having this program, you can go back and learn or get encouragement.

One thing that threw me off about this program was the often changing of categories. I would study a section and after a week I would go back to take my quiz. The issue was that they had changed the material and the material no longer existed. Well, some of the information transferred over and new material was added. This made me confused and scared that all that paper I just printed was going to waste. I would recommend any person to just print two at a time so that this does not happen to them. I also understand that they are doing these changes so that they are up to date with the freshest technologies and information.

What I plan on using the most when I finish my social media class has definitely got to be the etiquette section. This is a very important part of using social media that I feel many people miss. There have been many occasions where I have been embarrassed for other brands and companies for their lack of.

What I need to work on more is being on social media everyday. There have been times where I have gone 2+ days without checking my profiles. This can be dangerous if I were affiliated with a brand etc. I say this because I need to be timely in all my responses and be prepared for a crisis. If it takes me two days to respond to an inquiry, the person who was inquiring will have already gone to another source for their information, I would have lost that customer, gained negative outlook on my brand/company that that person would share on their social media, and I would lose any trust or advising status.

My overall idea of HootSuite University is that I would like to reach through my computer and give that owl a hug. I was lost online and just simply shyed away. After completing HootSuite University I feel confident in having an online presence. I would recommend this program to everyone, even if you are not going into the social media field. It is jam packed with useful information and tools.

I am going to use this information in my daily life as I start interning with social media professionals. I will use this in my daily life as I try to build an advisor status in social media. I had a lot of fun with this program and I hope you find that it is beneficial to you as well! 

[ladybirdword]

Social Media W Dr Freberg

My social media class this semester has been one of the most informative classes of my college education. This has been the only class that has shown me how to use these new skills in my future endeavors, whatever they might be. This course has been difficult at times because I shyed away from social media platforms (mainly twitter) because I didn’t understand it, and I was unsure if I would ever need it. Now I know better! I am aware now the importance of having a presence online. I am aware now of the importance of my image, reputation, voice, and two-way communication online, not to mention crisis management ready! Going through the HootSuite University was challenging too. I am going to have to continue using it and referring back to it because it is so informative and useful! I feel a great accomplishment in getting certified.

We had a Google Glass assignment that was nerve wrecking because it forced me to use the skills I just started to really understand. After reviewing the app proposal I created I felt a little less nervous about it and a lot more confident in my abilities. Courage and knowledge combined landed me a pretty decent grade! I was unsure where I was going to start looking for a career this year when I graduate. This class allowed me to have multiple intern opportunities in various areas of social media.

Overall I am more than ecstatic about having the opportunity to be apart of this class. Especially because it is a new area to college courses, I am thrilled to have been apart of the first. I would recommend this course to all persons in any business affiliated jobs. I had a blast and I feel more confident about my skills and what I can offer. Thank You Dr. Freberg!!

[ladybirdword]

Mark Murdock for PResident

Mark Murdock is a Content & Community Manager at Bandy Carroll Hellige. Mark grew up in Tennessee and was inspired by music. At the age of 14 he became a disc jockey and by sophomore year in college he was with WUTK radio and dead set on pursuing his dream job in radio. Today Mark has found his passion with social media and is crazy about his job at Bandy Carroll Hellige (BCH). His clients range from McDonalds of numerous areas, Big O Tires (local), Renaissance Academy (local new high school), TARC (Louisville’s local bus Transportation system), and Four Roses Bourbon.

Mark Murdock’s bullet points on ‘what he does’ are as follows:

Analyze landscape

Competitive analysis

Determine voice

Content curation (w/photos and videos)

Reports/Presentations

Coordinate Social Spending

Engage Fans/Followers/Customers

Educate. Hold Hands

Find the elusive ROI

Billable hours.

Mark had a great  voice in delivering his message. He made sure to throw in jokes and was very playful. He stressed serious things to note and followed with a light hearted comment to lighten the mood. He was professional and personable in a way that made the class feel like we already had a friend in him. Mark is an admirable professional and I hope to intern with him this summer. Follow him on twitter at @ohexcuseme and you will not regret it!

[ladybirdword]

Crisis Communications

Social Media has potential for crisis at any turn. A post gone wrong has happened numerous times as well as instant exposure to brands internal affairs. One major incident that has been an example of a crisis in social media has been Dominos Pizza. Melissa Agnes is a communication crisis professional and her  website agnesday.com touches on the importance of responding to such crisis in the best way possible and the least damaging to your brand. She is amazed, however, at the time it took for Dominos to respond to this crisis. Dominos allowed for this to become bigger than it would have if they responded faster to the growing comments and questions. This went viral very fast and brands need to be quick and informative in their responses.

Crisis communication can be broken down into 10 steps. At bernsteincrisismanagement.com I found a great breakdown of these ten steps that every brand should be aware of and implement into their stratagies. I’ll give you a brief intro but I highly recommend checking out what Melissa Agnes has to say. The first step is to be prepared for a crisis, it can happen to anyone at any time. Second, figure out who your crisis team is and their positions. Third, identify who will be the spokesperson of the team. Usually a CEO etc. Fourth, training for that spokesperson. Fifth, make notification and monitoring systems to always be on top of your brand and it’s interactions with social media. This will also keep you aware of what people are saying about your brand online and gives you a chance to respond quicker to avoid a potential crisis.

This is just the first half of the ten steps. The other half is as important as the first. There are many ways to get your brand ready for such an event and I have been told time and time again that these ten steps are a sure way to reduce harm. A crisis doesn’t have to mean a ruined reputation. Apply the 10 steps and work them seriously as a part of your brand function and you will see positive brand results immediately and you will reduce negative brand reputation when a crisis appears.

[ladybirdword]

March Madness and Social Media

This basketball season has been a blast for basketball fanatics! Being from Ky, I have friends who love Louisville Cardinals and Kentucky Wildcats. Soon they will be playing each other in the regional semis March 27th-28th for the championship. With all this buzz and hype there have been some hyper activity on social media and especially on twitter.

NCAA March Madness on facebook is exploding with posts right now. Louisville Cardinals have made the Final Four three years in a row now and were champions last year in 2013. Kentucky Wildcats have attended numerous final four games and were champs in 2012. My favorite way to keep up with all this excitement is through facebook. My friends are crazy awesome fanatics and they definitely bleed red and blue for both Kentucky school teams. I personally go to the University of Louisville and have classes with members of our sports team. I feel like our athletes put in hard work and dedication into their game. I am hoping that we win this #MarchMadness tournament and bring home the trophy! Some other places you can visit to check out all the hype and see what people are saying are ESPN, HuffingtonPost.com, and NCAA.com to name a few. One of the coolest things that I have found are that celebrities wear college gear just as those who went to the college. Maybe some celebrities who are not from the city have some affiliation, or maybe the teams rocks so much they feel the love! Anyway, I leave you with some pretty cool pics of celebs wearing my school and showing support!

I forgot to mention the rise of selfies led Bill Clinton to take this great pic with Louisville basketball team!

[ladybirdword]

Social Entertainment

“Social entertainment is the blending of entertainment content with social media functionality such as forums, reviews, ratings, and sharing and location options. It is the foundation for a more enriching and engaging content consumption experience”, says tech-insider. Social entertainment has taken the ability to connect with others on a personal level to a new playing field. We can play games with people across the world, we can Skype instead of travel, we can share our tutorials of how we do things, we can do all of these things without leaving our houses. Social entertainment, in a more simpler fashion, allows me to check updates with the people and businesses I follow. What on earth could be be leading towards? Technology advances as we advance, or we can have a more McLuhan approach, and I am watching all of this unfold before my eyes in a very short time. I almost feel as though it has grown up with me  (born 1985) and we are best friends. This blog is even social entertainment. (Oh please, tell me I’m at least a little entertaining!). I feel like we have just begun to tap into social media and social entertainment, and I am so excited to see our future selves. What are some of your favorite social entertainments? Mine would have to be YouTube, Facebook, Imgur, The Onion, Huffington Post, Google, and now Tumblr! I would like to start my own one day when I get enough gardening experience and study professionally about plant and animal mutuality. I want to make and sell products, plants, crafts, recipes, treatments, clothing, etc. I’m hoping to affiliate myself with charities and school programs. I would love to also have a similar, but not the same, website where those who decide to be apart of my community could stay connected. Here’s to the future! CHEERS!

[ladybirdword]

Social Media Monitoring Yet?!

Social media is becoming a very useful tool that is being used by many and almost all businesses. How do we know how effectively we are using these platforms, and how do we go about monitoring presence day to day? In my social media class with Dr. Karen Freberg we discussed some good places to begin monitoring. There are free tools to choose from but paying a little for the better analytics, the better your results and efficiency. Some free services she mentioned were Facebook Insights and Youtube Insights. Facebook Page Insights allows you to measure your page’s performance after 30 likes. You can find out how people came to your page and respond to your content. YouTube analytics has a fun video you can watch explaining how to use infographics to record how people watch your videos, or when they stop watching, skip ahead, etc. This allows you to become more efficient with your posts, especially handy for businesses.

Other sites to keep in mind are Radian 6 and Flurry. Radian 6 is pretty serious, it’s home page says that the future of marketing is here in bold font, but I have to give them too much information to continue on this link so I gave up. Instead I’ve found something called The Social Media Examiner, that doesn’t really look like that great of a source, that had a better look into what this can do for you. Freberg briefs, “¤Radian6 pulls in conversations from the different social media sites, such as blogs, comments, any public Facebook comments and status updates and all of Twitter.¤So by entering in keywords relating to your brand, Radian6 will present with comments and updates that are most relevant to you.¤You can also integrate it with other accounts like WebTrends and Google Analytics to give you a more comprehensive overview.” Pretty cool. Oh, and I think it’s owned or affiliated with Twitter. Flurry analytics is a mobile app that allows you to do all that cool monitoring as well, for free! There is so much to choose from. I think I am going to need a few of these! The best presentation of their analytic was YouTube, so thats the one I am definitely downloading first! Check out my Google image below. Good luck, hope this helps you start your own social media monitoring!

[ladybirdword]

Google Glass

My social media class has a Google Glass assignment coming up and I really did not know anything about it. I had my professor, Dr. Karen Freberg, last semester for another class and she introduced her pair to us and discussed briefly about it. I was still a little in the dark about what the Glass Explorers were experiencing. The link has various tabs to check out how it feels, what it does, how it looks, and how to get one. On the ‘what it does’ tab it goes through images of typical uses for everyday life, from the view of someone wearing the Glass. I like this approach because it gives you a personal image of what the experience might be like. The product is still under it’s exploration period and is not yet released to the public, but you can sign up to become an explorer. The Glass is very light weight and made from titanium.

NBC News discussed the one downside to the glass, privacy and Glass etiquette. The message saying not to be ‘creepy or rude’ and don’t be a ‘glasshole’. On this site you can read about some feedback of these Explorers. I read of a man who wore his Glass into a movie theatre because his Google Glass set had prescription lenses. The FBI pulled him out of the theatre to greet many other agents and interview him about piracy. I could not imagine the embarrassment they went through. After going through the content of his Glass set, they confirmed that his recorder was not on and he broke no laws. I would not have thought to record the movie either nor would I want to. But, this does bring up many other laws and etiquettes that could jeopardize the Glass image. This topic is a sensitive one. I see many great and terrible things happening with the release of Google Glass, yet, this is the future and it is coming whether we like it or not. I personally am excited to embrace new technologies and would like to be in the middle of such exciting revelations. I hope that I can experience Google Glass for my upcoming assignment and get first hand experience with it.

[ladybirdword]

NickStover.org

This week our social media class had Nick Stover guest speak about being in charge of the social media for UofL athletics. He made his job seem fun and exciting with his behind the scenes work. Stover also is HootSuite certified, familiar with google analytics, blogging academics, People Customer Relationship (CRM), and has many other credentials. He has spent 8 years attending UofL and has attained his BS MS MBA & PhD. He shared with us a few tips to keeping up with social media. One thing he said was to always listen to the radio or related content to what your focus is, always try to stay updated, organize and schedule your posts, and always look for new ideas to drive people to your website. He simply asked the class what we thought he could do with his team to entice people, and give them what they want. I felt like this inclusion and approach was a great idea, he simply just asked. There was no showing off or beating around the bush. Stover was personal and receptive, as is his ‘voice’ online in connection with his social media platforms.

Nick Stover @ULFlyingCard keeps you informed about UofL sports affiliations and is always up to date on what’s going on. His main page at cardinalathleticfund.com focuses on UofL’s athletics, has direct links to their social media profiles, and touches on the Google Glass Experience. You can read his blogs at nickstover.org. where he touches on more personal opinions and experiences within his career.

One thing that Stover recommended is to become familiar with Adobe Illustrator Final Cut and Adobe Premier. He told us that when he takes on interns that he spends several weeks to get them up to speed to actually become productive, that having some knowledge in graphic design is a must for resumes in this field. I think somebody needs to get in gear and get moving (points to self)! His blog is pretty insightful and fun to read, I would definitely recommend  taking a look at it.

[ladybirdword]

Social Media Restrictions by the IOC

I am new to Twitter and I must say that it is pretty entertaining once you figure out the lingo and how to navigate a bit. One follow I’ve been keeping up with is @SochiProblems. This is one way to keep up with behind the scenes at the olympics and laugh about how ridiculously unfinished it was. Johnny Quinn of the American bobsledding team got stuck in the bathroom and had to get HIMSELF out. The buttons for the elevator both pointed up. The urinals had no water source. The list of @SochiProblems continues and you can see it all on Twitter. One reason,, however, you will NOT see audio or video posts on Instagram or Vine is because it is prohibited by the International Olympic Committee. It is incredible how much social media influences people and their reputations. This is another reason to be sure to always be aware of your social media presence. “There are also a few odd restrictions for media. For example, media organizations are not allowed to create Olympic-related websites or social media accounts, but they can create “sub-folders” dedicated to the Olympics” says Taylor Soper on GeekWire. Justin Ray has a great collection on NBC Bay Area and is worth a look. I like this a lot because it has a fun outlook to all the mishaps. Some of my favorite posts he has from different social media sites are looking on the ‘brighter side’, like the bee in the honey cup, the stray dogs sunbathing while the woman who posts wrote for them to ‘run’ because of the supposed euthanizations to happen, Harrie Reekie (@HarryCNN) who’s hotel curtain fell, and my favorite ‘cakes in ass’ menu item. The funny thing is, it seems as though social media is the platform for communication over televised reporting or newspapers in the US for the Olympics. That can only mean that this is the beginning of a social media empire that will one day be the main medium for knowledge. I am definitely sure to keep up with the Olympics on my favorite social media sites, if not for sport then for entertainment!

[ladybirdword]

HOOTSUITE UNIVERSITY OR BUST

I am currently in the middle of getting HootSuite University certification. This is a training program and prepares you to use social media in a professional way. HootSuite has coursework that you can download or print to take notes and follow along the short informative videos. These videos are a couple minutes long and pretty easy to follow along. The one downside to this program is that they do not have a section where I can  practice each task. I am a hands on learner and I want to try to accomplish the task not just watch and try to remember later down the road how to do said task. I got an 86% on an exam and was surprised to find I had failed! HootSuite University students need a full 100% to pass an exam. Good thing I was able to print out the exams. What I’ve found helpful is to designate a binder for this and print out everything you can into levels. This organization binder has been a life saver for me. I am able to review the videos in relation to what level I am on and review the test questions before taking it online. There are a bunch sections to go through and all do not take up much of your time, but I would recommend doing a bit at a time. The sections start with HootSuite Certification Courseware, Hootsuite Enterprise Training courseware, Social Media courseware, and then leads you to the Lecture Series where professionals from all social media backgrounds and professions. This is the most interesting part for me, being able to hear and see this knowledge being put into action and seeing how our businesses are taking social media very seriously and using them to their potential. I am really excited to get my certification because once I receive it I am put up on the HootSuite Certified Professionals Directory which I can display on my social media sites (LinkedIN!). I would recommend anyone and everyone who has to get along in todays world to try out HootSuite University, it will make your understanding of social media, and businesses involvement with this media , much more relevant and useful.

[ladybirdword]

MilkWood

Food is beyond a necessity for me. It is a way of life, as corny as that sounds. I  have worked in the restaurant business for ten years, my last job being a bartender at a fine dining restaurant that is a local staple here in Louisville, KY. Great food comes from all types of places. My favorite places locally are Holy Mole taco truck, Harvest, Jack Fry’s, Dragon King’s Daughter, Stevens and Stevens, Rivue, and Nancy’s Bagels to name a few. These places are all across the board in prices and sophistication. The reason I keep coming back for more is not just because they have great food, it is because of their customer service.

I recently went to MilkWood which is owned by chef Edward Lee. Chef also owns 610 Magnolia and has been featured in magazines, cooking shows, and has starred on Iron Chef. Every time I have visited MilkWood I sat at a table and had a server wait on me. This last time, however, I sat at the bar. The bar anywhere is where I am most comfortable with a few friends unless it is a planned evening. I usually have a casual drink and food combo and still get the best in service, yet I was a little disappointed this trip. I am personal friends with the manager Stacey, of whom I had to get up twice to ask about menu items. My bartender did not give me any water until I asked (everyone else had water) and when I asked her of a particular gin I was unfamiliar with, she gave me an opposite description of how it was. The gin was floral and had minimum juniper berries, she told me it was bitter and not floral? When deciding on an appetizer, I asked her about the cheese board. Instead of telling me that she wasn’t updated on tonight’s featured cheeses and that she would go check, she said, “I don’t know I haven’t looked” and walked away.

I could go on about other things but I think I started nit picking after that sort of start to my experience. The issue here is that because of my last experience, despite the delicious food, I have a ‘bad taste in my mouth’. I sometimes go to the dining area on UofL’s campus and I get better service from people I do not tip. It is so upsetting that one raisin makes the grapes seem less sweet. Should I tell them of my experience? Should I let them know to feel better about it and to help them improve? Do I just go back and try again? What do you think? What would you do? Either way I love chef Edward Lee I am sure to support his ventures.

[ladybirdword]

I see Olympic success not mess

The Olympics 2014 are being held In Sochi, Russia. There are many feelings toward the country hosting and there are legit reasons why. Irina Rodrina, former Russian 3 time gold medal winner ice skater, lit the torch during the ceremonies for this years games. She also posted a picture on twitter of the US president, who is of African-American descent, with a banana in front of him and his wife with their mouth full of food. Let me also mention that she is know to be apart of Putin’s political party. There have been suicide bombings and videos from the bombers who told Russia that Sochi and the Olympics are in for a surprise. ‘Black Widows’, women suicide bombers, are already expected to be in Sochi. The water is beer colored when the faucets actually work. A woman tweeted that her hotel did not have any water. She went on to say that if the water were to be restored the attendant said not to put it on her face because it was dangerous. “American snowboarder Shaun White pulled out of the slopestyle snowboard competition amid concerns that the course was unsafe. (Norwegian snowboarder Torstein Horgmo broke his collarbone during a practice run on Monday”. Let’s not forget that they played Tchaikovsky, a gay Russian composer, and then Tatu, a fake lesbian act, when they are opposed to gay rights. Some discussed their stray dog abundance, and others their cameras in the shower heads. Despite the 5th ring staying a snowflake and the close to third world experience some are having, let us not forget the athletes. These athletes should be at the top of our headlines and the mishaps in the content below. What categories are your favorite? Mine are the water sports, running, ice skating, gymnastics and lady snowboarding. These are just a few of the vast world they live for and in. We should be giving them a voice and show them how proud we are that they made it to the Olympics. Hard work and dedication pays off and we should not let Russia take the stage. We should let the athletes, wherever they are from, take the stage and shine. I also love the Ralph Lauren designed costumes this year, GO USA!

[ladybirdword]

Bloggers are in a league of their own

When it comes to these two, I had no idea what the difference was. It sounded like one was just so tiny in size. I had to look up the meaning, and when I did I smacked my forehead. Microblog, it is what it sounds like. It turns out I have been microblogging more than I knew and not blogging myself just yet, but read at least one blog a day.

Blogging has been a life saver for me. Recipes are probably the most fun thing about blogging that I refer to the most. That and I love watching Tutorials on youtube, there is so much out there! When it comes to myself actually putting my thoughts and ideas in? Well, this is it! The beginning of something great, I can feel it! I can only hope that people seek out my recipes or tips in the future. I plan to focus more of my blogs on food and more domestic tips once I get the hang of it. Slow and steady wins the race.

Microblogging I think is the easiest of the two. It’s usually short and sweet with a directed point and usually can be in many places at once. My friend Jessy can link all of her apps to the same message, so when she posts in instagram she also posts on facebook, twitter, and wherever else she wants. It’s pretty cool! I am currently going through the Hootsuite University and they are teaching me how to assign messages at particular times for which ever site I choose. I’ll tell you more about The Hootsuite University next week. It is definitely going to help me in my blogs and microblogging skills as well. The way I have been involved in microblogging is mainly through facebook. I do not get the privilege to see all my friends and family on a regular basis but I can keep up with them through posts on social media. I am not one to post very often and I do not comment a lot, but I do ‘like’ a lot of things and like comments others have posted on a post. Dipping my toe into the water is the start, I’m hoping to find myself in deep blogging waters soon! 

[ladybirdword]

When I set up a social media profile I am aware that I have a choice to block out the public from viewing my photos, posts, and personal information. One thing that I haven’t taken into consideration is that when someone or corporation wants to see my content, they can do so one way or another. I thought to myself a long time ago, why not ‘save face’ and only allow content on and around my page that is for ‘god and everybody to see’, at least that is what my grandmother says. “Privacy is dead, and social media holds the smoking gun” is how Pete Cashmore (co-founder of Mashable, super handsome!) explained exactly how privacy is over. It is over because we are more than willing to post content about ourselves, mostly because we think that only our friends can see it, and we love to share!

It does not take a rocket scientist to understand what content should not be business associated and what content should stay between friends, yet it is not up to us which content goes where. Seems unfair! To better understand about data and how it is stored I looked up this video to help me. So it turns out that the pictures and messages, tweets and status updates, likes and upvotes are all documented. There are ways to figure out how to erase content and also start over. My recommendation is to just not participate in anything that you wouldn’t want blasted all over the media about yourself.

My professor Dr. Karen Freberg shared with us some ways to use search engines other than google (I google everything) and suggested we search for oursleves and see what content is out there about us. There are even searches to find out what has been tweeted since the very first tweet based on your search words. It is a little nerve wrecking to think that when we were younger and more immature (have I matured?, I still love slap braceletes) that the content we posted is still out there to be dug up. The only thing I can do from here is move forward and not backward. I am aware moreso now than ever that I need to filter my responses and posts and try to see my private online life as a business focused media platform.

[ladybirdword]

BREAST CANCER CAN EAT IT!

When my cousin was diagnosed with breast cancer around christmas 2013, I remembered a book I read that a couple years ago that changed my eating habits forever. The book by Dr. Campbell is called The China Study. This book goes into great detail about the animal protein casein. Casein is found in cows milk, yes this means skim milk, ice cream, cheese, and whatever else is delicious and savory it seems. What this doc did was prove that this special protein, and the protein we get from consuming animals, actually turns on our cancer cells. He also proved that by eating a mainly vegetarian diet we, meaning mice and humans alike, were able to reverse those cancer cells to healthy ones. Let me repeat that, WE ARE ABLE TO REVERSE CANCER CELLS. Now I’m not saying I always pass on cows milk (CHEESE!), or the occasional filet, but it has moved me so, that I am constantly aware and keep my intake to a minimum.

So if one were to accept this challenge and reduce the usual american animal protein intake at 25-50% to 5%, what would be the best way to get all the nutrients one needs and feel satisfied with fullness and flavor? Okay, the first thing I would do is research this to make sure I am not full of BS, or in our case CS (cows, get it?). I linked a few things so far, check them out, but I also recommend taking google or your favorite search engine for a spin.

The next thing I would do is search for dairy alternatives. When I was 19 I became roommates with a person intolerant of dairy. She drank vanilla soy milk, so I drank vanilla soy milk. It was a little strange at first, thick, sweet like the leftover milk from a bowl of fruit loops, but I got so used to it that when I tried a glass of milk at my family dinner, it tasted sour like it had turned. There are many other alternatives like my now favorite almond milk (unsweetened), rice milk, etc. One thing to be aware of as well is GMO products, cause then what’s the point right?

I think the most fun part of this experiment is trying new recipes. If you are not a seasoned chef, get on the ball! Start small and easy by searching for things like ‘easy vegetarian lasagne’ and ‘simple vegetarian recipes for dinners’, you get the point. Breakfast and lunch can be easier to get away with. Maybe cut your meat portions by only eating a third of the animal products than you’re used to. You can also choose to eat organic. I have cut out the animal intake profusely simply by buying organic meats. It is more expensive to eat an animal that has not been pumped full of antibiotics or fed GMO foods than it is to eat those with terrible living conditions and fed things you don’t want me to name.

Another factor about eating organic (mostly) is not just with your animal products but mainly your fruits and veggies. GMOs are horrible for your body and think of all the pesticides you are consuming. I, for one, have an iron stomach, yet it is not an issue of being able to digest but an issue of your cells reaction to these things. I will not live forever, and who is to say i will survive the week, but I want to make sure that however long my future is I am happy and healthy. I want to make sure that my existence isn’t harmful for those who will live after me, animals and the earth. The choices we make can and do affect the way things are produced and made. If everyone only ate humane animal products then there would be no more mass production of such. I think we would see a rise in organic farming and even fast food would be considered healthy. Maybe it’s a stretch but stretching everyday is recommended by all physicians right? You make the call, because you make it every time you make any decision. Personally I live by the motto ‘you are what you eat’ and I think you can eat your way out of early cancer cells. What you eat, your cells eat. I want breast cancer to ‘eat it’.

[ladybirdword]

Ms. SM

So what exactly is this social media thing? Why is it soo hot right now?

Social media includes the internet and the internet includes infinite information that doesn’t quit. When I was asked to define what social media was like, I said that I thought it was like being within seven degrees of separation, from everyone. Like I know someone who knows someone, whose cousin is friends with Kevin Bacon in 1993. This is a wild beast tamed beneath our fingertips and we have the power to delete friends and share our families triumphs with the world. We can be up to date with the elephants in Africa or Fukushima both of which deserve more than a day of concentration but a constant struggle to save ourselves from ourselves. Social media can save lives, who would have thought? How many times have you seen the facebook post thats states, “ If i get so many likes then……”? Too often I am sure. But think of that, think of how many likes that person got, and think about how many times the content was passed and just how far it spread. It is truly amazing to me the power social media holds. It can ruin reputations and create awareness in just a few moments. EPIC. That is the word I am singling out to define this beast. I cant wait to explore what’s out there! I just signed up with Twitter, so that should let you know I’ve been under a rock for far too long. Social Media platforms are going to be how a lot of businesses decide to grow. There are going to be more and more jobs opening up for this media type and less of other ‘old school’ positions.

I’ve learned how to hyperlink things and I feel like some of these are completely necessary if not all of them:) I am going to have a fun time hyperlinking my blogs, with a little sass. I’ll do my best to limit them, unless you beg for more of course! This is a huge deal! Here is a banana for scale…. Next blog I will discuss Privacy, Legal Implications, Ethics in social media and I hope I can give you some funny or interesting links to check out that can serve as our visual representations of such.