Final Blog Entry: Twitter vs. Blogging

Wow! I've made it! This is my final blog entry for MCOM 320... I just thought that I'd end this blog off the same way that it began. When Shayne first gave us the assignment to blog/tweet I thought it was pretty ridiculous as you can see from my first post (http://laura-payne22.blogspot.com/2011/09/welcome-to-my-blog.html) but, I am happy to report that my view has been changed. Blogging/tweeting has shone a whole new light on my life...

I have grown to really love Twitter. At first I was really confused with it so I didn't use it very often but now that I understand it I have been able to get so much out of it! It really has changed my life. It has also added a whole new dimension to my social media creeping. I find out gossip faster, stalk people (Jimmer) easier and learn random facts about people every day. But, not only has it improved my social life, understanding how to work Twitter has given me many more opportunites. As you know, I work for BYU Athletic Marketing and I focus mainly on the men's basketball team. This year we decided to expand our marketing into social media and so my boss put me on the social media team. I now run the BYU men's basketball Twitter and Facebook pages and I have learned so much about how to connect with the online community. I've worked with the head of social media at BYU and also attended a conference with social media experts from ESPN. Our Twitter page grows at an average of 20 followers a day and we are hoping to have 10, 000 followers by the end of the year! So to all you blog stalkers, please get on and follow @byubasketball! So, I really have this class to thank for giving me that opportunity. If not for our twitter assignment I probably wouldn't have ever made a twitter account and therefore wouldn't have been in charge of social media for BYU Basketball.

So, I am a big proponent of Twitter now however I decided that I'm not cut out to be a blogger. Some people are so good at it and write about such interesting/witty things... however, I think I'm gonna stick with tweeting. It's shorter, has more meaning and is more interesting to me. I probably just don't like blogging because I don't get very many stalking benefits out of it (and that's the main reason that I use social media) haha.

In conclusion I just want to say that MCOM 320 has been an amazing class... probably my favourite of the semester. Shayne's an awesome guy. Listen to his advice because he's been in the real world and he knows what's up.

Well, adios blog world. This is probably going to be the last post you'll ever read from me. It's been real though... Talk to you soon (on Twitter of course) @laura_payne22.

Find someone who's more stressed than you are...

This week Shayne gave us an assignment to find someone who is more stressed than us and then do something nice for them... As soon as he gave it I knew exactly who I wanted to do this for! My cousin is the greatest person alive. She always does so many nice things for me and I know that every tuesday she has the busiest day ever! She works at the temple in the morning from 7-11, then has class from 12-5 and then works from 6-11. She has a break though from 2-4 so I decided that I would surprise her and pick her up from class and take her out for lunch. It ended up being such a great experience. We went to Sammy's (my first time!) and got burger and pie shakes =) It was sooo good! We had a great talk and it was just so great to spend time with her. She's amazing and such a good example to me, I'm so glad that I did this assignment!

Black Friday...

Guess what? This was my first American thanksgiving! My friend from Canada came to visit and we decided that if we were going to participate in this holiday we might as well go all out and fully experience American culture by going black friday shopping =) Let me tell you, it was an experience and a half.... American's are crazy. It was so fun though! We went to Target at midnight and there were already 6 000 people in line! But since we were already there we decided to get in line. There ended up being about 1 000 people behind us too! We were standing outside for about an hour in line.. and when the opened the doors it was insane! People ran in screaming... it was a stampede! It was way cool to watch though. And it was fun to shop too. We ended up shopping until 7 pm the next day. I had maxed out mine (and my dad's) credit card, my feet were killing me, but... I have to say that it was a success! I bought so many things I didn't need, but were such a good deal I couldn't say no haha. I feel like I can more fully be accepted in America now that I have experienced the ultimate hoarding of stuff.

D4L

I'm writing this blog right now full of excitement because in 6 days, 1 hour, 46 minutes and 32 seconds (even less now) I get to see my best friend in the whole world! I feel like best friend is an understatement though because it doesn't even begin to describe how close we are. My other half is probably a better way to describe her because we are just so close. Honestly, I don't even think a couple married for 50 years could be as close as we are. No one knows as much about me as she does and we've gotten to the point where we don't even have to use words to communicate anymore because we always know what the other is thinking. But regardless, we still love to talk! Even though we know everything about each other we can still talk for 5 hours and never run out of things to say. It's impossible to describe our relationship until you see us together though... it's like we're each other’s shadows. There's no way you could ever separate us and we do everything in sync. It's just so great, I love her to pieces and I can't wait to see her again! Before college we used to see each other around 12+ hours a day. We would wake up early before school and go skating together so she was always the first person I saw every day. Then we would go to school where we had all of the same classes. After school we would usually go to each other’s houses and do homework together and then go to skating practice again that night. It was great, we never got sick of each other and one was never found without the other. But then it came time to go to university and we ended up each going different ways. It was the saddest/hardest thing I've ever had to do. It was like cutting off half of your limbs and still being expected to function normally. Neither of us knew how we were going to survive but now it's been a year and a half since then and we're just as close - if not closer - than we were before. In the last year we've only seen each other 3 times but we still talk all the time. I seriously cannot wait for her to get here! It will be the best 5 days ever! She is such a big part of my life and I know I've said it already but I just love her so much. We're the exact same person and go together like salt and pepper, a toothbrush and toothpaste, lilo and stitch, chips and salsa, dumb and dumber (I’d probably be dumber) haha... we really are just two peas in a pod. I just wanted to let her know what an amazing friend she is and how excited I am to see her again!

New Car!

So my parents came up this weekend and surprised me by buying me a new car! I love it but in the process I realized how little I know about cars. My future husband better know a lot about cars because I am clueless. It was the most difficult process to pick one out because no one in my family knows anything about cars. Pretty much we picked one because it was "cute" and I liked the colour. How bad is that? I hope it's good to me because we kind of bought it impulsively. It was such an awesome present though, and just in time for winter =) I can't wait to drive it around... I just need to get a license plate. Let’s just hope I don’t get any tickets. Knowing my record though, that might be a struggle lol. Who got 3 tickets in one day? Not me… I promise! ;) 

Family

I love my family! I am so excited right now because on thursday they're coming to Utah to visit!

Dad - Even though you call me 5 times a day, I know that it's just because you love me. You always give good advice, you've taught me so much in life, and I get along with you so well. Probably because we're basically the same person. I see so much of myself in you and I hope that I one day I can be as good of a parent to my children as you are to me.

Mom - My mom is the best. She always goes above and beyond in everything she does. Whether it's with her family, in her calling, or anywhere else.. She always works hard and it shows. She's so loving and kind and I can't wait to see her! (Hopefully she'll cook for me too while she's here.. I miss it.)

T-Payne - You're definitely my best friend. I'm so glad that I can talk to you about anything. You know what's best for me more often than I do. And... you're so stinkin' beautiful, it's not fair.

Kristyn - I'm pretty sure there's never been a more kind-hearted person to walk this earth than my sister Kristyn. She's everything I've always wanted to be and the greatest example in my life of Christ-like love. She never judges, always loves, and has so much confidence. She would do anything for anyone, and I love her to pieces. She's the type of person who shines from the inside out and everyone can see her glowing.

Carson - This kid is a genuis. Watch out world, he's going to take it over. I've honestly never met a smarter kid than him. I love talking to him because he makes me laugh so much.

"Families can be together forever"

Busy week ahead... =/

So... this week is going to be the death of me. I have sooo much to do! I have my resume/cover letter due tomorrow, three accounting quizzes, a floral midterm, a mission prep midterm, two quizzes in MCOM, a three-hour lecture to watch, four chapters of econ to read, a three+ page research paper to do, and an econ midterm that covers 25 chapters and is worth 40% of my grade! Oh and did I mention that I have to do all of that without a laptop? My macbook decided to stop working on friday so I have to figure out a way to do all of that in between the library computers and borrowing my roommate's laptops. And... that's not even everything. I also am in charge of the volleyball games on November 3rd and 5th so I have to put up 300+ flyers all around Provo and organize everything so that they run smoothly cuz it's my efforts that determine the success of the games. Plus, there's a basketball game on friday. The only good thing that happened this week is the fact that there's no football game to worry about....

Shayne, could you help me out a little and extend that paper for me? I would be eternally grateful.