Isaqueena Falls

I went hiking this weekend about 8 miles from my home in Walhalla, SC, and I just thought you might enjoy this picture:

That's the view of the waterfall after hiking down to the bottom of it. After we hiked at Isaqueena Falls, we visited Stumphouse Tunnel. I'm ashamed to say that after living in Walhalla for 21 years, this was the first time I had ever been to Isaqueena Falls and the Stumphouse Tunnel.

"Rivers are magnets for the imagination, for conscious pondering and subconscious dreams, thrills and fears. People stare into the moving water, captivated, as they are when gazing into a fire. What is it that draws and holds us? The rivers' reflections of our lives and experiences are endless. The water calls up our own ambitions of flowing with ease, of navigating the unknown. Streams represent constant rebirth. The waters flow in, forever new, yet forever the same; they complete a journey from beginning to end, and then they embark on the journey again." (Tim Palmer)

The End is Near

As Phase 2 comes to an end, I know that the end of the year is almost here. It's hard to believe that our class will only meet seven more times(counting tomorrow). Only seven more times?!?!Where did the semester go? Next week, the class will not be meetings like normal; we will be meeting with our groups individually while our professor is out of town. During those meetings, we will work on our part for the final project and help each other finish up our web porfolios that are due next Friday.


For this week, we were asked to blog about what our individual contribution will be as we finish the final project for the Anderson Sunshine House. Since Tiger Web Design's homepage design was picked (yay!--I'm really glad that I changed the picture and logo at the last minute because that is what they really liked about it. If you're confused about what I'm talking about, go here: Anderson Sunshine House.) I will be working on most of the design of the "template" pages. I will also be involved in the organization of the links. We have decided to change the navigation of the site, so I have been doing some research on the different kinds of ways to organize the links. So that's what I'll be doing for the next three weeks!!

Oh, I almost forgot...Happy Easter!

Dual Coding Theory

Dual Coding Theory is basically a “cognitive memory model.” To put that into words you can understand: It is how our mind processes everything we see. It helps explain the importance of visuals. Even though this is a psychology topic, it is very important in business to realize how people react to visual information.

According to the theory, there are three systems that work together. The first processes the language, the second processes the visuals, and the third puts them together. For our blog this week, we were asked to discuss dual coding theory and talk about some examples in the media.

Until we learned this in class, it never occurred to me how much CNN and other news stations use dual coding theory. When you watch a news report, not only is the reporter talking about the story, but a blurb and ticker appear at the bottom of the screen telling you about the story. Your brain processes the verbal information and the visual information at the same time. Another example of dual coding theory is when a PowerPoint presentation is being made. The brain must process the speaker and the slides at the same time.

Why does dual coding theory work? We discussed in class how the yellow Anderson Sunshine House Logo and a picture of clouds work well together in presenting the information for the proposal. Not only does your mind read the text, but it associates those visuals with that text. This is why a resume with color or an unusual design gets an interview and why the template resume gets overlooked. The employer remembers the resume being associated with the nice visual images.

Isn’t it amazing what your brain does and that you never even know it’s doing anything!

Fired for Blogging?

Even though I posted on the team blog this week, I still wanted to make a few short comments on the discussion that we had in class about the woman who was fired for putting a picture of herself in her work uniform on her blog. In the blog, she also talked about her job. When the company discovered the blog, she was fired. After hearing about this, I did some research and found even more stories about people being fired for their "online diaries."

I was completely shocked at the amount of stories about people being fired from this. Do I think this is right? Absolutely not! I mean, whatever happened to free speech? I think we all should have the right to say what we think and how we feel. Whether we are talking to our friends in a local restaurant or talking to a million people online, isn't it the same thing? Cicero once said, "Freedom is a possession of inestimable value." You can't put a price on being able to say what you think.

Even though I think being fired for blogging is wrong, I can understand the employers point of view. The employer is thinking about their own reputation. Negative comments by employees can cause the company harm. The ironic thing is that most companies have their employees sign contracts about this kind a of stuff, but the majority of contracts say nothing about blogging. I think that companies need to address this problem BEFORE hiring someone. If you can be fired for blogging about your difficult day at work, then you need to be informed from the beginning about it!!

Team Blog

I posted on the team blog this week. Click here to view my team blog!

What a busy week…as Phase 1 comes to an end

Last week, the representative from the Anderson Sunshine House finally came to talk with our class. It was perfect timing as far as where we currently are in the project. I think it was a very informative and helpful meeting/discussion. She was able to answer questions and give us feedback on our ideas. Another group also gave an informal presentation about PayPal, and the client seemed very excited about it.

After the client spoke to the class on Wednesday, our group had a meeting later that day to talk about the proposal that’s due this upcoming week. For the meeting, I had prepared a very rough layout of the website for the group to review. I think it was helpful to finally see our ideas coming together, but it’s nowhere near being done. We still need to decide where everything will go and what exactly to include.

In addition to the website, the main focus of our group meeting was the proposal that is due Wednesday, March 14. Since we only had a very long sample to look at, we were confused to what exactly we were supposed to be putting in our proposal. We were hoping that after class on Friday we would be able to divide up some of the work. Right now, our current plan is to write most of the proposal in class on Monday. What we don’t get finished then, we will finish Monday evening. The website layout/rough draft is going to be done this weekend by Jocelyn and me on Sunday. If all goes as planned, this proposal will be done by Monday night. (yikes!!!) Due to time constraints, the proposal is definitely not going to be what it could be. With more time, I feel like we could put the time and effort into this that it deserves. I guess we will just have to see how it all goes!

Reflecting on the whole project so far, I think the most important thing has been planning ahead. Agendas definitely help the group meetings be more productive. They not only remind you of what you need to get done, but they make getting that done a faster process. Our group as a whole works really well together, so it has been easier to get the group work done.

Mock Interview Reflection

A few weeks ago, we were assigned to pick a job description for a mock interview for class. After searching the Internet, I finally found a local job listing with Clemson University. Over the past week, my professor, Angie, has been meeting individually with each of us to do the mock interviews. This past Wednesday, I finally had my mock interview with her. Of course, I was very nervous. I think I was more nervous about the questions I would be asked than any other aspect of the interview. Until this interview, I had only been professionally interviewed one other time, and the thought of an interview scared me.

After the interview started, it was not so bad. It was a lot easier once I relaxed and realized that I could answer the questions. I did have trouble with a few questions though. At one point, I actually had to ask Angela to repeat a question and then I rambled on about something not related to the question. The fact that I lost my train of thought was very embarrassing, but I was able to get back on track after that.

I learned a lot from this mock interview experience. It definitely made me think about what I would say if I had to interview for a job today. I discovered while I was sitting in Angela’s office that my heart is not really with accounting. Even though I’m good at it, it just seems like a job to me, not necessarily a passion. Every time she asked me a question, I wanted to talk about my experience as a draftswoman, but instead I had to come up with situations and experiences related to accounting. I found myself tripping over the questions, and I was really unsure of how to answer some of them. I think the interview really opened my eyes to how I really feel about my career.

I think that the mock interview assignment is a great preparation tool. I will definitely use what I learned from it as I start interviewing for real jobs. Ed Macauley, a basketball player, once said, “When you are not practicing, remember, someone somewhere is practicing, and when you meet him, he will win.” Whether it is for a basketball game or for your professional career, practice is the best way to prepare yourself for the competition. In a lot of ways, interviewing is a competition, and the winner gets the job!