Since we are nearing the end of the semester, we need to keep in mind a few things.

1. Do not procrastinate on your projects, homework or studying!  It is not worth the stress or anxiety to worry about the tiny things.  You definitely do not want to pull a ton of all-night no-sleep sessions.  The are commonly known as “all-nighters.”
2. When it comes to sleep, make sure you get enough of it.  Sleep is very important to having a clear mind when heading into a final exam.  If your mind is clear and not clouded from lack of sleep, you will most likely do much better on an exam.
3. I cannot express how much studying is important.  It is a really good idea to study at least three or four days before an exam.  You do not have to cram in as much time as possible.  It is just a good idea to pick up your notes for about an hour or two.
4. In addition to sleep, make sure you eat.  If you do not have the nutrition in your body,  you will not be able to function well at all.

Overall, I hope everyone does well on their final exams and projects.  It is all almost over!

If you have a great deal of leftover turkey, you can obviously use the turkey on a sandwich or by itself.  However, if you would like to get creative, you can substitute it for chicken in a pot pie recipe.  Another option that you could use is using the turkey on the salad.  This is a creative way to jazz-up your boring salad with your mother’s turkey recipe.

If you have left over cranberries, I would probably add those to a salad as well.  It would be a good idea to use them soon in order for them not to go bad.  Another use for them would be just to eat them by themselves. 

Now if you have any leftover pumpkin filling, I would use it to make a new version of cheesecake.  I had something similar during the break and it was a new twist to the old classic.  Also, it was really yummy! 

There are several websites that can help you in reusing leftovers.  I have listed several useful ones below:

http://southernfood.about.com/cs/turkeyinformation/a/leftover_turkey.htm

http://www.pillsbury.com/products/crescents

On the other hand, what about the promotion aspect of it?  I think that it is a big part of the selling season.  I can easily understand that as well.  Its like the big kick off of the shopping season.  What advertisers wouldn’t want to get in on that?

My main concern with the whole Black Friday is the amount of people who are hurt every single year because of this event.  Between the trampling and accidents, it’s more dangerous than the actual Christmas Day.  Every year you hear about people getting into fights over the last “hot new game” and end up going to jail over it.

I wonder if the companies promoting during this holiday season every consider the welfare of the people who are buying their product.  Before you know it, there will not be any customers to buy the product because they are all being trampled!  I just think from a public relations standpoint, the companies should not put as much emphasis on that particular day.  It might save some injuries.

As the holidays are growing closer and the semester is coming to an end, we tend to participate in procrastination.  It is a common occurrence, especially on college campuses around the world.  Unfortunately, we cannot keep up this act when we get into the real world of public relations.  For most of us in the PR world, we generally stay on track with our various projects.  It can be a very hectic thing to do.  In the end, however, it will be all worth it when you are not cramming.

Timing in public relations is everything.  People going into this profession need to realized that you need excellent time management skills to provide the best service possible.  This means that you have to live by your Blackberry, iPhone, or some other electronic device to keep your life organized.
If you start being organized and practicing proper time management in college, it will be very helpful when you actually get into your career.  In my opinion, you don’t have to have a clean bedroom in your apartment, but keep everything else in your life organized.  This way you can keep your sanity and provide good work for your client.  You might be able to sneak some extra sleep in too.

This show made me wonder if Undercover Boss is actually scripted or not.  There is the infamous rumor that all reality shows are scripted.  One show in particular is MTV’s The Hills.  It made me think however that this may be a somewhat truthful show.

The show itself makes the head boss of a company spend a day in the life of his or her employees.  They perform all the same tasks and generally find out about their personal lives as well.  It is very heartfelt when you hear some individual’s stories.  It shows why they are working and who they are providing for.  In the end, the boss reveals himself and rewards the employees who are doing a good job for the company.

The amount of press that the company did for the show was impressive as well.  On their Facebook page, Chiquita has it advertised all over the place that the Chairman and CEO Fernando Aguirre would be featured on the show.  In addition to this, an advertisement would pop-up every time an individual would access the company’s website.  I suppose overall this is a good public relations move for the company.  Despite the realism that most reality shows put forth, this show still puts the name of the company out there.  Some people assume that all press is good press.  I guess that may be true when the results turn out the way they want.

http://www.chiquita.com/#/Home/

Some seniors have begun the search for the perfect six-figure job that they will love for the rest of their lives.  Sadly, the real world doesn’t work that way.  Most college graduates must use the typical career websites.  There are other options such as a career center at their university.  However, most like the easy access of online.

I think that there is a huge drawback to using these online sites.  The drawback can commonly be known as similarity.  How will an employer tell the difference between one candidate over another?  I am sure that they may glance at your application; then again, they may not.  It is kind of unsettling when you think about it that way.

In the past few years, it seems that all these career sites have been popping up left and right.  The amount of advertising they perform is outstanding.  Especially now in the current state of the economy.  It seems that you see these websites everywhere.  But is one better than another?  I am not sure.  To me, they pretty much are all the same.  On the other hand, you do find out about a great deal of really great jobs.

I just wonder if people actually read over your resume on these websites and if they are really worth your time.  At the same time, you want to find the perfect job.  Therefore, you continue with unwavering effort trying to find the perfect job on the countless career websites.

Here are some websites to help:

• www.careerbuilder.com
• www.monster.com
• www.indeed.com

Attention all football fans!  In case you haven’t noticed, football season has started.  As the football games enter into week 6, it is quite apparent that the promotion that goes into this sport is all around us.   The pre-planning that goes into this National Football League (NFL) requires thousands of hours of blood, sweat, and tears of hundreds of individuals.  It can be seen in the amount of coverage by any type of media you can think of.  It could be anything such as television talk shows, online blogs, websites, and so forth.  The main thing to take away from it is that there is a ton of promotion. 

I would say the NFL does a superb job when it comes to promotion.  When I was watching the Rams vs. Chargers game today, you can see the NFL logo on everything.  The name NFL is mentioned well over 100 times throughout the broadcast.  I suppose it was a little much, but then again most people do not even notice it.  It is amazing to see how many messages that people receive during a regular season football game.  According to an article on About.com, 58% of people pay attention to the Super Bowl ads.  There is about 16% of people who pay more attention to the ads than the game itself.  To me personally, I watch the Super Bowl for the ads whether or not my favorite team is playing.  It is always interesting to see what certain companies are going to produce.  In addition to competing for the top ad spot, companies are paying a great deal of money to put their ads during that particular game. 

So, as you can see, promotion and advertising in the football world is a big deal.  It’s definitely not something that can only be done with 50% effort.  Currently, the NFL is doing a pretty decent job in terms of getting the message and image out.  I am afraid however that a one point it will become a bit overloaded.

For more Super Bowl  statistics and to find where I found my information, just click or copy the link below:

http://advertising.about.com/od/superbowlcoverage/a/xxxvfunfacts.htm

Most of people look in the mirror and they generally look like the general population.  The media makes society believe that all individuals should have a normal face (eyes, nose, mouth, etc.).   But what if you were born with something that made you look just a bit different? 

I watched a documentary on TLC this weekend that truely opened my eyes to a whole other world.  The show, My Brand New Face, showed a man named Maurice who had Neurofibromatosis.  This disease, according to the National Insitute of Nuerological Disorders and Stroke (MINDS),  is a genetic disorder of the nervous system that primarily affect the development and growth of neural (nerve) cell tissues. These disorders cause tumors to grow on nerves and produce other abnormalities such as skin changes and bone deformities.  In the midst of this medical jargon, basically a person develops tumors, most non-cancerous.  Some can become cancerous.

This disease has affected Maurice for the majority of his life.  He showed throughout the show that anyone can prevail with NF.  He does a great job promoting the disease in a positive light. I think the fact that TLC showed the rarity and severity of this disease helped raise vital awareness for this disease.  Currently, there is no treatment that can be used to treat this aweful disease.  By taking a huge leap by being a part of the documentary, Maurice opened a great deal of minds, including mine.  I think by doing this sort of awareness act will raise society’s awareness and hopefully raise funds for finding a cure. 

For more information on the disease, I have attached a link on information about it below:

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/neurofibromatosis/neurofibromatosis.htm

As of January 1st of this year,  texting and driving was outlawed in the state of Illinois.  It seemed like a good a idea and that the roads would be just a bit safer.  However, the state seemed to run into trouble when it came to cracking down on drivers who are texting and driving.  How can a person tell if someone is actually performing the act?

Some common excuses that individuals provide is that they can look at the road and text without looking at their phone.  In reality, it is still distracting their mind.  The driver is not focused on the task at hand. 

There are serveral penalties if a person is caught.  If a person is pulled over and is caught, they will received a $1,000 fine.  If a driver causes an accident because of texting and driving, it is a $2,500 fine and jail time.

I suppose with my knowledge of the subject from doing so many projects on the issue, I am very passionate about it and hate to see that it is still going on.

A few months ago, I witnessed an accident as the result of a person texting and driving.  About a 1/2 mile before the accident occured, the driver was swerving on the shoulder and definitely not paying attention.  As she headed up the road, she crossed the center line, narrowly missing one SUV because it drove out of the way, and striking another head on.  Her car spun around and the second SUV  went into the grass.  The SUV almost struck a telephone pole in the process.  I was so stunned that I didn’t know what to do or say.  When I approached the girl in my car, she was obviously freaking out.  She even asked me what happened.  The next part, which to me is the icing on the cake, is where she then picked up her phone and continued texting!  I think that shocked me as much as the accident itself. 

I suppose this whole issue makes me wonder what the state is doing to reach this message to students, especially young drivers.  Drivers assume that something like this will never happen to them.  A large majority of the ads people see today are tame to what they should be.  The campaign to get drivers to stop texting is to do something that will really open their eyes.  Some companies such as AT&T and Verizon have attempted to make some sort of effort to stop people from texting while driving

The video I have posted is the type of ads that need to be shown to successfully get the message out there.  I do warn that it is graphic.  It is from the UK and I feel adequately shows the consequences of people texting and driving.

After you view the video, my question I ask you is: Can one text wait?

My answer: Yes it really can.