Twitter: A Developing Addiction

There is a world of social networking on the internet.  Sites like Facebook, Myspace, and LinkedIn have millions of users.  However, there is one social networking site that stands out in my mind.  That site is Twitter.  Take out all of the fun of Facebook and Myspace and insert constant status updates and the result will be Twitter.  I was reluctant at first to use Twitter because I thought it was pointless.  After this week, my mind has changed.
Our assignment for the last week was to tweet for an entire week.  So I used my existing twitter account which was http://twitter.com/sebbyniles.  Immediately, I started tweeting random things just to fufill my quota. Also, I started following awesome people like Debra Sanborn, Silas Pippit, Allison Severson, and the wacky Taylor Burgin.  I didn't think anything of following these fine people; I only did it because I had to. But as the week went on, I found that following these people proved useful.  I learned some new things about my instructors, found awesome links, and had some great twitter conversations. 
As the week wore on, I became less skeptical of twitter. I still hated logging on, but I knew I had to if I was to complete the assignment and not lose $14,000.  My favorite part of this assignment was reading the funny comments from my friends and instructors.  It was also convient that I could talk to others on Twitter. It wasn't as direct as facebook or other social media, but it worked. I think the worst part of this assignment was that I believe that I am now addicted to Twitter.
So as you can see, Twitter may not be perfect, but it has its uses. It lets you keep in contact with friends, employers, and teachers.  http://www.balkhis.com/twitter/25-reasons-why-someone-should-join-twitter/ is an excellent read on what Twitter can do for you.  I believe that I will continue using Twitter in the future for social reasons. However, I will also use it for other reasons. As I learn about possible employers and interesting groups and causes.  So, my final understanding on Twitter is that it is a necessary evil.  It's crazy, but it can do so much at the same time.  I look forward to seeing what Twitter does for me in the future

Oh Joy! Senior Year

If I had to choose just one part of my life where I was at my best, I would have a hard time picking.  This is because I am ALWAYS at my best.  But since my college education depends on an answer, I am going to pick out senior year as the time I feel I was at my (best) best. 

Now I'm not saying all of senior year was great.  Specifically, I feel I was my best at the academiuc and extracurrical part of senior year.  I do not feel that I prepared for college at my best, but that is another story for another day. Anywho, I feel I was at my best academically because I kicked booty when it came to grades.  Senior year was one of those rare years where I achieved my goals of all A's.  I worked my butt off to achieve maximum awesomeness in all my classes.  I even worked until midnight for some classes to get work done.  Finally, I feel that I made senior year my best in academics by going through a whole bunch of college classes to earn college credit.  I took Composition 1 & 2, Intermediate Spanish 1 & 2, and AP U.S. History.  These classes are the reasons I am done with foreign languages and english. I also mastered the AP exam, but I never received college credit for it, but I am still happy with the results.

I feel that I was best at extracurricals as well because I took part in a great deal of them.  For instance, I became President of our school's quiz bowl team during my senior year.  I also became Vice-President of Family Career and Community Leaders of America during this time.  In addition, I helped bring home a 2nd place trophy for the quiz bowl team when we traveled to Bishop Garrigan High School.  My best just couldn't be stopped.  I was that awesome. 

It is my hope that I can bring the "best" that I gave to my senior year and apply it to college.  I want to hit the ground running at college and bring home some great grades.  So far, college has been awesome (because I am here) and I hope that it will continue this way for the next four years.

Teenager at Alcatraz Diversity Event

So a couple of weeks ago, I went to the diversity event Teenager at Alcatraz. Megan Snyder was there too. She's a great person  The event was held by Tim Tingle.  Tim Tingle is an amazing native american storyteller.  He kept my attention throughout the whole presentation and almost brought me to tears at one point with how emotional he got.  In a nut shell, Tingle told us the story of Clarence Carnes, Alcatraz Prison's youngest inmate.  Tingle told us that he learned about Carnes from a friend (I don't remember his name) who lived in Oklahoma and accompanied Carnes on a crime spree.  This man went to prison himself and now lives in the town that he commited some crimes in.  The man's grandson doesn't even know that he commited some of the crimes.  Anywho, Tingle told us some really interesting facts about Carnes including that Carnes took place in a prison riot. The interesting thing about this is that all of the men in the riot had to kill a guard to avoid one of them selling the others out.  Carnes did not kill a guard and this allowed him to get a lessened sentence.  This story really spoke to me, and it was interesting because Tingle is a great storyteller.  I look forward to listening to more lectures in the future if they are as interesting as Teenager at Alcatraz.