SUMMERTIME!!!

Summertime is finally here, but what does that mean to you?  To the average Cal Poly student, that usually means they will go back to their parents place for a couple months, maybe get a summer job, and have some fun in the sun.  Although this may be the average summer for a college student, think of what could be accomplished in just a few months.  This summer I plan on completing one of my life goals: to explore the entire United States!  I have always dreamed of driving across the United States with a couple of my best friends, adventuring anywhere our hearts desire.  I finally want the opportunity to see the east coast, tour the Grand Canyon, and experience the culture outside of California.  This entire trip is going to be inexpensive and exhilarating.  We plan on being able to sleep in our SUV and bringing as much dry storage food as our vehicle will permit.  This trip may not sound so great to others, but my friends and I are going to cherish every moment while we seize the day!

Dairy Science

For my first two years of college I lived with my friend Jordan, a dairy science major here at Cal Poly.  First coming to college I had no idea what that particular major entailed and I would always make sarcastic comments due to my lack of knowledge.  I later found out that Cal Poly offers quite a few different unconventional majors that many other colleges do have available.  It was shocking to find that “wine and viticulture” could be a degree from a four year school.  In my later years at Cal Poly, I was given the opportunity to take two dairy science classes, and although I only got a small overview as to what the major was all about, I was amazed to see what detail unique categories of information the classes taught.  My friend Jordan is now graduating this year, and he had originally planned on heading back to his family farm to work with his family.  Yesterday he surprisingly received notification from Wells Fargo that he is being offered a position in their agriculture banking department, starting off at $50 an hour.  All this time that I have made light of his major and considered myself better than him, and he is going to be making more than twice as much as me the second we leave Cal Poly.  Life continues to teach me lessons, and I will keep on learning as they fire at me!

FACEBOOK GENERATION

I am one of the very few people in the world that I have met that refuse to use Facebook.  The Facebook trend has entirely taken over my generation and it has shown no serious signs of decline.  I made a Facebook my freshmen year in college, and I hated it.  The idea that anyone could look me up and find me made me very uneasy and I deleted mine immediately.  Over the years I have shocked people when I explain that I despise Facebook.  Usually people agree with me that Facebook is over the top, but they say they have a profile for two reasons:  to keep in touch with old friends and to network, or keep informed of events going on around them.  I have always done a great job at keeping in touch with my old friends, but I cannot argue with the second reason.  Although I have never had the problem of being out of the loop, I can definitely say that many people I meet are lost without being able to add them on Facebook.  Today I could potentially have connections all throughout California if I had kept up with my social networking, and that is my only minor regret.  But the day has come and I am finally going to commit to keeping up with a Facebook.  I realize that not having one is a negative image when building a career.  Companies may become suspicious if they are not able to find you, wonder what I have to hide.  Although I want to remain strong and stay away from this new age trend, I am finally going to cave and conform to society.  I am ready to enter the Facebook generation.

Zero Communication!!!

It is interesting to see the way that society responds when a member blocks themselves from all communication.  A family member might panic when their text or third call are not answered within a day.  A business client may be disgruntled if an email is not replied to in a reasonable amount of time.  A buddy may become alarmed if their best friend not checked their facebook every evening.  I was recently very sick, and I had the experience of blocking out the ability to communicate with anyone for a short period of time.  It is strange to think that it was not too many years ago, one was not expected to even carry a beeper with them, let alone a Smartphone or ipad.  I feel that we have slowly adapted to a society that stays in constant communication, and this is not necessarily a positive or negative tendency.  Regardless whether you are for or against this trend, we are going to continuously move in this direction.

Communications - My thoughts on JOUR 205

Other than my COMS 101 class, JOUR 205 has been my first look at the study of communication.  I was very skeptical when I started this class, nervous that it may be too difficult or that it might be extremely boring.  I found myself to be very mistaken.  I did not realize that the art of communication could go into such depth, and professor Gearhart has done an excellent job at giving us a wide spectrum of what the study of communications really is.  During one of our first lectures, we briefly went over some body language, and the ways to read someone just by the way they are sitting.  I was amazed at what you could learn about someone just by their actions.  During another lecture, we debated a political topic regarding proposition 2.  Although I did not have much information on the subject, the debate was so interesting that I am doing a school project on Prop 2.  I am only a small portion into this communications class, but it has been one of the first classes in some time that I really enjoy attending.  I am currently a 4th year on the verge of graduating, so it is too late for me to consider a major change.  I am taking this class to earn a minor in agriculture communications, and I am elated that I was able to take this class before I graduate.  I am excited for a great quarter, and cant wait to see what is in store!

COACHELLA

Coachella is a three day music and arts festival held once a year at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. The event features a wide variety of unique styles including hip-hop, indie, rock, and electronic music, as well as large sculptural art. The event has several stages and tents set-up throughout the grounds that play music continuously throughout the day and night.  The majority of my friends are attending this epic festival, and I am extremely jealous.  To relate this back to class, the level of communication used to create this festival is astounding!  The festival is supposed to include close to 100,000 people, all packed into a huge park.  On top of that, the festival offers on-site camping for those that want the full Coachella experience.  It is incredible that an organization is able to plan an event of this proportion.  For the event to happen, thousands of security guards and police officers must all stay in contact with each other so they can avoid any problems.  They communicate through walkie talkies, cell phones, and a great deal of preparation for just about any scenario.  And from the festival goers perspective, they must coordinate with their friends and stay in close touch if they want to able to find each other in the huge crowds of fans.  My friends went last year with a group of twenty-seven cars, and they somehow all managed to meet up before the show and go in together.  None of this would be feasible without new communication technology.  We rely so heavily on our tools of communication that we are slowly forgetting how to function without them.  New technology has allowed us to pass boundaries we never would have thought possible, and the ability to communicate with each other will continue to grow as time goes on.