Conclusion of Thought-ception

As the semester wraps up here at Ohio Northern University, so does all my various assignments and projects. One of those concluding assignments involves this blog directly. From Thought-ception's creation, this blog has been used to meet the blogging requirements for our social media classes throughout multiple semesters. I know, who would have guessed? The publication of this blog marks my 15th and final weekly blog requirement for my current social media class, Social Media Strategy and Campaigns.

Following the end of this semester, I am only one semester away from graduating. Wow, that is one scary thought. Although I began my college career in the preprofessional program with the intent of becoming a physician’s assistant, I realized my true calling of marketing and communication studies early enough that I could catch up on the coursework. Heading into this final semester, I do not have to take any solely social media courses. The closest course I must take is Multimedia Writing, which I doubt will require me to continuously blog.

Since I most likely will no longer need to blog, I am now in a situation of do I wish to continue blogging or not. I wish I could say I would post every now and again, but with my attention span, I cannot make that promise. I must thank all of those who have read one of my many blogs, graded and hopefully improved my blogging abilities, and anyone else who inspired or contributed to my blogs. I know before I started this blog, I had almost no knowledge how what a blog is or how to even use one. I guess you can teach old dogs new tricks. 

 

Sadly, with my unforeseeable continuation of this blog following my following signature, I cannot in good faith conclude this blog with "until next time" since there might not be a next time. With that being said, I thank again all who have been involved with this blog since its creation on Aug. 27, 2015.

Signing off one last time,

Matt

Food for Thought

I had a question pop into my head this morning when I was getting dressed that I could not figure out the answer to. That question is if dressing in "sweats" (sweatpants, sweatshirts, etc.) to go to class create judgement by those around you? I understand there is always some form of judgement no matter what one wears. The judgement that I am thinking about is more related to attractiveness of the individual. 

I can only justify a judgment being made about the individual's willingness to put forth effort based on how he or she is dressed. I wonder do those around you take that effort level shown from one’s attire and apply that to their judgment of you beyond what he or she's of you in class? For example, I sit next to Bob. He notices that I wear sweats to class and makes a judgment of me being lazy. He then justifies me as being lazy in other aspects of my life outside of what he sees from our class together. 

I also wonder if someone judges another based on dressing up compared to his or her attire. I cannot lie, I sometimes do this. I see someone wearing something that is reflective of effort given attire (for me that is jeans and a flannel shirt) and judges that individual accordingly. The reason for this question though it has anyone ever judged someone who put worth effort in his or her attire in a negative way. So, by putting forth effort in what the individual is wearing, he or she gets judged negatively based on there being no need or warrant for going that extra mile, or putting forth unneeded effort.  

I know some of what I am talking about is "random" but these are some of the many thoughts that shoot through my mind on any given day. 

Until Next Time,

Matt 

Home Sweet Home

Remember back in the day when you and your parents joked around about doing something to your "old room" after you moved out? Well that is exactly what I came back to when I came home for Thanksgiving break. I am not mad or anything, but it is just strange sleeping in my older sister's old room because my room turned into a room for my mom to do bead jewelry in. 

Anyways, I am home from Ohio Northern University for our Thanksgiving break for a full week. It is nice having technical down time, but there is never actual down time for me to enjoy. I do catch up on some well needed hours of sleep. On the other side, my daily schedule when I am home is much more filled than what it is when I am at school. I still have just as much homework as I did when I was at school. The only difference now is that I have even less motivation to do it because my body just wants to relax while I am home. 

On the lighter side of it all, we have a new house guest. Well, kind of. Our neighbor's outside cat, Salem, has taken up spending his free time and bedtime in our sunroom. The room has a dog door so that if the weather is bad or whatever, our animals can relax in the room before we can let them inside. So, it is in this nice, comfortable room that Salem now rides out the finer things in his life. He will occasionally stand and meow at our sliding doors until we go outside and pet him. He is just living the roughest of life’s, right? 

To wrap it all up, we are having a gathering of all my best friends for our fourth annual "Bros-Giving." Over the years, we have all faded away from each other, which is to be expected. Originally, I was the only one that when to a different college because they all either remanded in our hometown or went to Central Michigan University. As the years gone on, some have dropped out or transferred and the ability to get us all together for one night is becoming relatively impossible. I am sure Bros-giving will be the topic of my next blog, so be ready for all the stupid boy stories and hypermasculinity in that post. 

Until Next Time,

Matt

Fun Times of Senior Year

Hell week has arrived ladies and gentlemen. No, I am not talking about the traditional hell week that athletes of most sports undergo. My hell week revolves around the completion of many major class projects. 

The first of my major projects to be due is an internal analysis of Deloitte's tax compliance sector. Typically, this project would be a breeze for any of my other business classes, but this time it is different. Let me first start by saying the only good part about this situation is that I am in a group with five others who share the work equally. Anyways, instead of having the material and information that we need available to complete the assignment, that is not the case this time. Deloitte is not willing to share almost any information that we need to make appropriate assessments and conclusions on its internal goals and strategies. How are we supposed to understand the company if all we have available to us is the vague information it shares on its homepage? 

The second major project I must do is for my communication capstone. We must turn in a rough draft of our capstone project by Friday. Granted this is not the full paper, only the literature review, method, and timeline for next semester, it is still a lot of work. The rough drafts average around twelve pages of research. I am not the fastest writer, so this assignment is going to be rough for me. 

I know I have a few other projects I could talk about but I figured I could go on a tangent and talk about the results of the flea bombs. So, we ended up pushing back the day we were going to set the bombs off until this past Saturday. It took forever since nobody would help get the house ready. After the bombs went off, we got back to our house and it seemed as if all bugs and fleas were killed. With that in mind, we brought the dog back and washed her. And washed her. And washed her. Yet the fleas still reminded on her. Then one of the housemates brought his cat home while he was "under the influence" to say the least. He put the cat under the faucet and thought that was "good enough." Following that, our other housemates brought their cats home but let them run around for a couple hours before washing them. After all the cat’s bathes, the fleas remained. So much for everything I did because apparently, I am the only one who cares about the animals in our house. Fun stuff. 

Until Next Time,

Matt

Fleas at Every Turn

Fleas. We have fleas everywhere in our house.

I wish the fleas we had were comparable to the one is Disney's "A Bug's Life," but they are nowhere close to being similar. As I have mentioned many times before, we have a fair amount of animals in our college house. Naturally our dog is the prime suspect for which one of the animals brought the fleas in first, but the cats are not so innocent. All three of our cats love trying to go outside any chance they get. There has been well over a dozen times now that we have caught our cats roaming around outside without us knowing, so they very well could have brought in the fleas too. 

We had an issue with the fleas a few weeks back but our house vetoed my idea to flea-bomb the house to make sure all the eggs are killed. They thought that simply washing the animals would kill all remains of the fleas, but that clearly is not the case since they are back.

It has got so bad that the fleas are constantly biting me in my own bed because the animals generally sleep all the time in my room. My legs can not take much more abuse from the flea bites so I went out and bought heavy duty flea-bombs for our house. 

The only issue with this solution is that there is a lot of things to be done before the foggers can be opened, such as cleaning or putting away open food, but nobody in the house wants to actually clean. So not only is there a barrier to follow the cleaning instructions, but we also have to find a place for the animals while the foggers are do their jobs. It is always a fun time in our household and hopefully I can blog next week about how successful the flea-bombs were, but let's not jump the gun.  

Until Next Time,

Matt  

Friday Night Frights

It is a strange feeling to think all the fun I have had over the last few years is coming to end. My last undergraduate Halloween weekend is in the books. I think this year I had some of the most fun I have had on a Halloween weekend compared to all other Halloween weekends I have had here at Ohio Northern University. 

I do love getting dressed up in costumes every year because it gives a chance for me to show my truly weird self. I told myself that I would not wait until the last minute to get my costume together, but that did not happen. Come Friday around 5 p.m. I still had no costume picked out yet. So I got online and searched around and ran across a costume I could recreate with minimal effort and costs. As a fan of 1990s movies and Jim Carrey, I naturally was drawn to one of my favorite movies, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. I decided on recreating the rehab scene within the movie.  

In order to pull off this costume, I only needed two things: the shirt and the tutu. The funny part about the shirt I used is it is actually part of a scrubs uniform from a good girl friend of mine whom is a nursing major. The shirt fit so tight that I could move my arms above shoulder level. The tutu was the easiest part to find because my housemate picked it up for me at a Halloween store when he went out costume shopping. 

 

Even though this movie was produce in 1994 and was fairly popular, a lot of people had no idea whom I was. I kept getting asked if I was a fairy or something along those lines. On the other hand, the people who did recognize me from the movie absolutely loved and adored my costume. 

Until Next Time,

Matt

Puppies, Puppies, and More Puppies

For the past few minutes I have been trying to figure out what to blog about. I ended up getting distracted and heading to Facebook as most procrastinators do. It was there that I saw one of the cutest puppy videos I have ever seen. The post originated from the Facebook page called The Pet Collective. The video is a collection of 15 puppy videos that highlights the cuteness of various dog breeds. I would highly suggest clicking and watching the link at the bottom of this post to get your daily dosage of puppies. 

From the first few seconds to the last few seconds of the video, the video tugs on the heart strings. I am not a great fan of the American Pit Bull Terrier puppies, but there is a few videos that highlight Australian Shepard puppies which I adore. Ohh by the way, I forget to mention there are Pembroke Welsh Corgi puppies in this video. 

This video has well over 807,000 views, 12,370 shares, more than 29,000 likes or reactions, and over 3,800 comments. I think this page has an incredibly loyal fan base on top of sharing relevant information that many users of Facebook would be willing to like or share. I honestly do not think there is a video the page has posted that I have not liked or shared since I started following it.

As promised, the following link will forward you to the video. 

Until Next Time,

Matt

House Adventures

I swear there is never a dull moment at our off-campus house. You would think that since we have been in the house since June that we would have our systems all figured out. Well that is nowhere even close to being true. Within our house we have one guy in a fraternity, two ex-wrestlers, one pharmacy major, one track runner (me), a 1 year old husky, and three cats ranging in ages from 3 months to almost 1 year old. 

With that being said, our dishes situation is a constant battle. It really is not hard to clean or even wash off one's dishes after he or she uses them, but in our house that concept is harder than you would think. Only the pharmacy major and myself do our own dishes in terms of cleaning after we are done. The other housemates basically do not understand that dishes do not clean themselves.

Another issue that is an ongoing battle relates to our cats. Since the guys that own the cats rarely ever clean the litter box, the cats decide to do their business in our downstairs bathroom tub, which happens to be where I shower. I would love to walk into my bathroom and not have to plug my nose in order to my teeth. 

The last rant of the day goes to the issue of general hygiene. Similar to not doing dishes, most of the housemates do not clean up after themselves in almost everything they do. I could not even tell you the amount of times I have walked into a room and a plate or bowl is growing mold because of how long it has been sitting out. I am not a clean freak but that is simply not acceptable. 

Until Next Time,

Matt 

Coca-Cola Social Media Policy

Social media is changing every day. With that being said, how could it be possible to create a policy on something that never is staying the same? Does a company go vague with its policies and rarely have to update? Or does it go super specific and update all the time?

The Coca-Cola Company seems to have its "ducks in a row" in terms of its social media policy. The company openly accepts social media as an environment that deserves critical attention since the company operates in more than 200 countries. Beyond sharing a bare bones list of its policy, it elaborates on the importance of social media and lists its policies on company commitments, personal usage, and company spokespeople expectations.

One aspect that I like about its policy is it makes its intentions absolutely clear via the use of bold formatting. Some of these bold words are transparent, protect, respect, responsible, and monitor. This allows for a viewer to skim the page and immedatly jump to a section that he or she may have been looking for that relates to one of those keywords.

Another area of its policies is that it makes it explicit to disclose the employees affiliation with the company. Whether it is directly promoting the company to answering questions, the need to disclose the individual's affiliation and transparency seems to be at the top of its importance.

The last area that I got a kick out of is its fourth principle under the company spokespeople section, "When in doubt, do not post." It is such a simple sentence be might be one of the more valuable principles on the list. I think that this principle should be common sense but actually is something that many do not understand.

If you would like to get a look at the company's social media principles, click on this link.

Until Next Time,
Matt

Adventures of Fall Break

A couple more days.

A couple more days is all that separates me from going home to my family for some well-needed rest and recuperation. I have not seen my family since I had left for college a few months back, so it is safe to say I am missing them a little bit. My mom has been working on this new project for her work and is having some struggles on developing an excel spreadsheet to level of complexity she wants it to have. I weirdly love working on excel because it comes easy and natural to me. The least I can do is help her out since I owe her everything. I am sure my dad will be happy to have me home so that he can have an excuse, like he even needs one, to go outside and have a cigar and beer with his son.

It is going to be slightly strange though going home due to recently putting down our Australian Shepard, Stella. If you know me or even have read anything I post on any of my social channels, my love for dogs came from my love for her. It is going to be difficult for me in the first few minutes when I come home because she used to always run up and greet me like she did when she was a puppy. It also will be hard later in the night because whether it is me coming home from the bars late or going to get a glass a water, she was always right there by my door, making sure I was okay. As much as I keep thinking I want a dog, I do not know if taking care of one right now is in my and his or her best interests. I live a busy lifestyle with having two capstones, work for a promotional product retailer, on the executive board for our university's chapter of the American Marketing Association, and lastly be a captain on the university's varsity track and field team. I worry that I might not be able to care for her as best as I should and do not want to treat or train her wrong because of such.

Anyways, it will nice seeing my sister as well. She recently has been making some "big girl decisions" in her life. By this I mean she bought a relatively new camping trailer and fishing boat. We are best friends so everything going on in our lives are extremely important to us. I am sure we are going to talk about my recent job offer of district sales manager with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

Regardless, I think this weekend will be a well-needed time for not only myself, but friends and family as well.

Until Next Time,
Matt

The Start of the Puppy Search

As you may have guessed from the blog title, I am on the search for a new K-9 companion. 

I am in no rush to go out and adopt a dog as soon as I can because I want to make sure that my choice is perfect for not only me but for him or her. Although I live in a house with five other males, I think having the addition of another animal to our house might be a good thing. We currently have a 1 year old Husky who really could use a playmate to tire her out. On top of that, if I am not able to take her out to go to the bathroom or feed her dinner for some strange reason, I have the rest of the house I can count on to help out in those rare occasions. 

In terms of what I am looking for, I am starting to narrow down the different factors. As of right now I believe I would prefer a female dog. I love the idea of having a sweetheart or baby girl to come home to. I am not opposed to a male dog, but having a female dog seems like the path I am going to initially pursue. I think that I also am not opposed to a specific hair length. I have had dogs in the past that have had both long and short hair and do not think I favor either one more. Age wise, I am fairly open. I would like to have a puppy so I can raise him or her from the start but I would not mind adopting an older dog. I think the idea of rescuing a dog might be an option because that is how we adopted our previous dogs. 

The hardest part for me is determining what breed of dog I want. Not only am I indecisive, but I love most dog breeds. I know am not leaning towards a super small dog like Chihuahua unless it is a Pomeranian or Corgi. The max size is a dog who would get up to around 70 or 80 pounds. I like the idea of having a dog that is trainable, but as long as he or she follows the typical commands, I am perfect with. I still have a lot to figure out but you best believe once I figure it all out another blog will be coming your way. 

Until Next Time,

Matt

Application of Coursework

The other day I came to a realization that what I have learned thus far in my college career at Ohio Northern University is actually being applied in my everyday life. I am not saying I am using everything that I have learned over my three years, but I have noticed my though process has changed. I have started to catch myself analyzing some things in a greater depth than what I have done in the past. 

Looking at the business part of my education, I have started thinking about both small and big picture ideas behind subjects. I almost immediately associate whatever the topic is to something that is business related, whether it is motive, profits, strategy, etc. An additional example is when I am in a meeting with a few colleges and we attempt to plan a fundraiser or event. Instead of shooting for the stars on some factors like attendance, I analyze the situation in a more realistic way. It makes me sound like the negative Nancy, but sometimes it is needed. I look at the situation and bring up the discussions that most overlook like what other events are going on during the same time frame as us, what is a realistic participation goal that we should expect, or is anything extra truly needed. 

My communications side of my degree pulls more facts and theories into my discussions. If the conversation deems an opportunity, I will bring up a communication theory or fact that I have learned to further bring depth into our conversation. One topic that never fails is the do's and don’ts of presenting. I can understand some people have a fear of presenting in front of others, which is perfectly fine, but what I am a referring to is the nonverbal communication that he or she presents. I had to discuss with a guy once that looking around when he is not presenting but a teammate is presenting is unprofessional and communicates that he does not care about the topic, thus causing our credibility to go down. It just blows my mind that it took a couple years for most of what I have learned to start being used in my daily life.  

Instead of blogging about one subject, I wanted to change the pace and blog about a few topics that have been on my mind for a while now.

Topic number one relates to water intake each day. As every doctor or coach has ever told you, it is suggested that you drink something like a gallon of water a day. I am not educated in the biology world, but it does something with your body that is good other than just "staying hydrated." What blows my mind, is why is it so hard to drink a gallon a day but it is so easy to drink almost anything else in that amount. Before I started to actively try and drink water constantly through my day, I maybe had three or four cups of soda a day at most. On a good day, I would drink maybe a half of a gallon because of me working out prior. It just blows my mind that it takes so much effort to drink a gallon of water verse a gallon of water that has some kind of flavor or additives to it.

Sticking with the water theme, how did the world come to putting things in drinks? I mean think about. Someone way back when decided to put something that is untested and against societal norms into his or her drink and was like "wow, I like this." The part that blows my mind is the amount of failed trials of people who put something into his or her drink and either made him or her sick or even die, I think we may take what we drink for granted because we no longer have to go through that trial and error process.  

Until Next Time,
Matt

The End of a Friendship

After over fifteen years of friendship, my Australian Shepard, Stella, had to be put down. It was not like it was unexpected because of her age and heath issues, but no matter how well one prepares for it, it still hurts. At the beginning of the summer, she was having some health issues that started worrying us. Once I got home, it was like magic and she was back to being her normal, healthy self. I told her to make it threw the summer until I leave for college. It was like she understood me because over these last few months, she acted like the puppy I knew over a decade ago. I got to see her at her best before I left for college and I think she knew that.

The strange part of all of this though is she has a twin sister, Roxy, who was the beta of the two. Stella protected her and always made sure she was safe. Roxy used to freak out when we would take Stella in to our bathroom and wash her. So I can not image what she is like right now without her sister.

Regardless, Stella has forever changed my life for the better. She was there for me for some of the best times and even worst times of life. I know I will always remember her.

Until Next Time,
Matt

The Return of Another Annoying Blogger

Ladies and gentlemen, Thought-ception is back! 

I know, as if there was enough blogs out there that rant about random things, I am back at it so let there be one more. With that being said, let us jump right into it then. Since the last time I posted, a lot has occurred in my life. 

Within my first week of being out of school for the summer, I immediately started working for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in its Fleet department. I was a sales intern from May 9 to Aug. 5. So in those 13 weeks, I dealt primary with pricing and strategic analyses that typically would fall into one of three generalized categories: marketplace, year over year, and competitive. 

Outside of the many things I learned and gained during the internship, I believe I matured much more than what I thought I would. By this, I mean after getting up at 6 a.m., working until 5 p.m., working out for track until 8 p.m., and finally getting home around 9 p.m. every day the week really opens one's eyes to the importance of time and how to manage such. I feel so bad for my parents who would work all day and come home to me complaining about what is for dinner or if they could take me somewhere. I would have beat my own butt if I knew how exhausted they truly were. 

Anyways, after my internship ended, I relaxed for what little time I had before coming back to Ohio Northern University to begin my final year of schooling. Thus, going full circle to why I am back blogging because of current class requirements.

Until next time,

Matt