Friendship

Tonight I sit in my apartment I find sleep hard to do. It is about midnight and I am tired but my mind is saying otherwise. Instead of wasting all of my life and time being on Facebook I am going to make a personal goal to fill this time with either reading or writing. My life is too precious to spend it looking at the lives of other people. Don't get me wrong I like Facebook and think it is a great thing especially for those like me who live multiple hours from family and friends but it can overrun a persons life. When I ponder the thought of Facebook it reminds me of friendships. Are Facebook friends really friends? IMO some are friends but most of the others are people that you maybe had class with, played along with on a team, or maybe you just randomly. I hold my friends dear to my heart because after high school I lost of "friends" but gained many more close ones. To be a friend you must commit a part of your life to be part of their life. I try to text my friends as often as I can just to let them know I still care and think about them no matter how far away I might be. A close friend of mine gave me the suggestion of writing about friendship tonight and I was a little reluctant to start with for many reasons but I think looking into friendship is something we all should do throughout this Christmas season. We should shower our friends with love and Christmas joy. Our friends should know that even though physical distance could be hours that in reality we are just a quick phone call or Skype date away. (Yes guys can Skype date other guys) This certain friend of mine who suggested this topic of friendship tonight is one I hold dear to my heart and is sister in Christ. We met a few years back at church camp became really close friends then in a matter of weeks became quite distant. Now a college degree and a few years later we live multiple hours from our hometowns, family's, and friends but close to each other. I look back and never would have thought I would be this far from home but to realize that the girl I became close friends with would be in the same situation and in relatively the same part of the U.S. God's plan for our lives are in much greater detail than we could ever think of. God's greatness continues to amaze me everyday. Thank you to all of my friends for being there when I have needed you the most. I appreciate and love you all. Thank you for the idea to write about friendship. I honestly cherish our friendship and hope we can continue to become closer friends. As I wrap up this post I would like you to look at your friends and give them a shout out this week. Let them know you appreciate their love and kindness and also ask them if they need anything? I would also like you to look back on your life and see how and where God has blessed you. Thank you for reading and God Bless you throughout your week!! Proverbs 23:12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

Today as I sit in class about Sport Marketing I have a lot of things other than what we are talking about on my mind. Just a thought that I have been thinking about has to do with Christmas trees. When you buy a "live" Christmas tree is it really alive? The tree has been cut down and when you buy it it does not include the roots. I know this might be weird to think about are the trees dead or alive? A good think to compare this to is when you get fresh flowers. They are still alive but cut from the roots and can only be maintained with water. On to further thoughts this class is discussing endorsements with professional athletes. This just sparks thoughts about what it would be like to get paid to wear a brand of clothing instead of paying to wear that product. I haven't looked much into the NBA lockout but when I hear of players complaining about money and not getting paid enough it really gets under my skin. There are kids and families in the U.S. who just went through Thanksgiving without a family meal or even food. This is hard to think about and consider but when you see the suffering first hand this instance becomes very real. This past Thanksgiving I was not able to go home and see my parents but I think this was God's way of opening my eyes to the real world. I was privileged enough to spend Thanksgiving with a couple young guys who would not have had a family meal without the graciousness of my sister. It really made the experience of giving thanks even more special than usual. I challenge you for this Christmas season to find a family or a person who will not enjoy this season as you will. Give your time and gifts to others to help make this year the best that person has ever experienced. Proverb of the day: "Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." Proverbs 3:3 NIV Thank you for reading and have a great God filled day!!! -Chris-

Final Class Meeting

This is my final official classroom blog post for this semester. This course has been a good learning experience for my final semester here at UIS. My favorite part of the class was our elluminate sessions. I liked how we were able to meet in class without actually being face to face. My recommendation for next years class is to implement more elluminate sessions with more presentations. Thank you for this class. I had a great time and I am very thankful I decided to drive to Peoria to take a Monday night class like this one. Once again thank you and have a great summer!!

Fighting at work

My final project is on managing conflict at work. I found this video on Youtube last night and have to share with you all. This is NOT the proper way to manage conflict at work. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

LPGA State Farm Classic Logic Model

This is the logic model I presented last night in class. Please feel free to comment and leave suggestions for improvement as well as suggestions for the tournament. Thank you!

Logic Model for the classic

I found it interesting to use the Logic Model in comparison with my internship the LPGA State Farm Classic. I had to do some very hard thinking to fill in the model to fit the tournament. It was also neat that this tournament would fit in each of the categories. I was able to break it down into the different sections. i am looking at the tournament a little differently now because in my mind it is broke down into smaller pieces. The three main parts of this model are inputs, outputs, and outcomes-impact. I will try to post my version of the model tomorrow. Here is the original logic model used in class from the University of Missouri Extension.

Twitter Video

The twitter video suggested for us to watch today was very interesting and informative. I finally learned what it meant when people would put (#) before their tweets. I also really liked it that you can search topics and use twitter as a search engine to see what is being said about popular events around the world. I was always the person who said that twitter is a fad and it will eventually fade out like Myspace did but after this video I think it might be here to stay. Here is a link to the video for your viewing pleasure.

http://bb.uis.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=/webapps/blackboard/execute/launcher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_13088_1%26url%3D