banned commercial: skyy vodka

Slight change of plans and fun new applications!

Plans have changed, but only slightly. Instead of leaving at the end of August for Istanbul, I will instead be leaving at the end of October for a November TEFL course. I am going to be working in marketing/promotions for my Aunt's new business venture that includes a book tour in September. More information to follow in later postings and hopefully some of you will be able to attend one of the events!

In my search for some interesting applications to assist in promotions and event planning I ran across:



This seems to be a pretty good site for adding and finding events nearby even in international locations. I will be posting some dates and locations for the book tour route over the next couple of months.


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Other applications that continue to hold my attention:

1.

There is fantastic art displayed here and also it's pretty easy to work with the drawing tools. Needless to say, I wasn't constructing anything even half as good as some of the displayed work, but fun and time consuming nonetheless.

2.
As a friend stated when I mentioned this new application, "the names of these applications are getting to be more and more ridiculous." Though I kinda agree I still really like this new application quite a lot. Xoopit finds and shares pictures, videos and files buried in your inbox. I discovered some old JROTC pictures that I totally forgot about. The video I posted of the banned Skyy video was shared quite a bit via Xoopit.

3.

Facebook...totally sucks me in. I login and then it's, "oh, Stacey changed her profile pic." Next thing you know I am browsing through wedding pictures of some girl who lives in Texas that I have never met. I find myself thinking "nice flowers." Caption reads "Aren't they cute together?" and I find myself slowly shaking my head, "yes they are." Ridiculous.

4.

Though not a social media tool, I have been using the URL compressor quite a bit this week...pretty handy. Take a look at these "before" and "after" celebrity TMZ images that held my attention for way too long via the "compressed URL:" http://ur.lc/2b

Washington State Lottery Commercial

Every bird should get to fly...what a great message.

Bad News and Turning it All Around

Bad news was received in the form of an email. The Lehigh professor helping me with the Fulbright decided, after looking over everything that I would have a difficult time being able to win the scholarship. My pursuit of a business degree and work experience in advertising didn't exactly hail me as the most likely of candidates, but I feel so passionate about working and "giving back" to the world right now I figured it would be enough. Apparently not. I will find another way or the European Union may just be ruled out for a while at least.

In other news - I have continued my soziety.com interactions. There are a limited number of Americans who speak English on the site so I usually am bombarded with people wanting to chat via Skype. Currently I am chatting with Miguel from Seville, Spain the most often. He works as a financial controller, is 36, likes long walks on the beach...just kidding.

I am starting to consistently talk/IM via Skype with the same people and my only fear is that I may run out of things to say. They want to hear the English words for familiarity and I can't just spit out random sentences because that's not really helpful. Yet, there is only so much of "how are you," "what is your favorite color," "it's Friday night in (European/Asian country insert here) so why are you on Skype learning English and not out having fun?"

I may be delaying my move to Turkey because of an opportunity (to be discussed later as it develops) that may take place during the month of September.

I am continuing to read my grammar books and need to crack open my "Younger Learners" book just in case little ones are in my teaching future. Also, I fully intend to practice my guitar more often than I have been. No more excuses. (I say this more to push myself than as an interesting sentence for the readers).

The Turkey soccer game is coming up soon for the Eurocup and I fully intend to watch! Hopefully some of you will as well.

Some funny items listed below:

One very funny comment I saw on the Facebook SpeedDate application that I had mentioned on Twitter and Plurk - Please read the the 4th comment:
http://ur.lc/1r



more cat pictures



more cat pictures

Be sure to watch the Penguin flying video that I posted from YouTube! Totally the best commercial ever. :)

Learning Spanish: old-school style with new application!

I just found out about this fun site: http://www.soziety.com where you can practice a variety of different languages via Skype. I just registered and plan to try it out when I gain the courage to practice my Spanish. Go ahead and click on the logo and check it out!

After browsing around for a little bit I ended up chatting with someone from Argentina named Diego. He was really friendly and spoke English pretty well. i think he thought I was lying to him, but truly he did a pretty good job. There was just one point where I think he was displeased that I was asking too much about the "command form" of a verb. "No need to worry about stupid things like these" were his exact words. Yet, it was followed by "don't worry about making mistakes or anything, you are doing really well." So, the sting of being called-out for an obsession with verbs diminished and my pride has remained unscathed. We are chatting again tomorrow early evening and I am actually excited!

I found out about this great site via another super informative site that I must give credit to: Spainexpat.com.

Also, I am getting really into the need to up my karma points in Plurk. There is a regular "chat" type demeanor within this application that I am really quite fond of. Though some would say it is a twin of "Twitter," I feel like I use the two applications very differently. Twitter is much more about stalking and reading up on interesting news and random stories. Plurk seems to be about responses and philosophical queries. I heart them both!

Though my Fulbright essay revisions are complete and I feel good about that, I still feel pangs of guilt at any one time for not doing one of many other things. Practicing Spanish, practicing Turkish, practicing English grammar, organizing my mementos, reading up on teaching English, blog writing, ebaying, emailing, plurking, twittering, etc. There is always something I can be doing in preparation for my move and I am not very good about just relaxing and letting go.

Also, with the influx of emails from prospective companies (that normally I would be super interested in) emailing me, I have a constant state of "is changing my current career path the best choice?" I absolutely think it is only because I think I will come back stronger and better than I was before. I feel really good about the impending move and know that though it will be a challenge and very tiring and frustrating at times, that it will forever change me in the best of ways.

TWITTER Whore Part 1

I am not to this level yet...wondering when "Plurking whore" will be be available...

eCards, laptops and all things wonderful...

First of all - following someecards on Twitter has revolutionized my life. I know I will laugh everytime I look at their tweets even though I may be swirling in a daze of pessimism.

Will I ever get married, am I making a mistake doing A, B, and C? Click to Twitter and the post reads " I'm torn between Burger King's desire for me to see Indiana Jones and Burger King's desire for me to see Iron Man," "It's time we all accepted the Gay Pride Parade isn't much gayer than any other parade" or " My agonizingly trivial Twitter updates only confirm the bone-chilling hollowness of my existence," and I cannot help but laugh aloud, even if someecards doubts me. (http://www.someecards.com)
In other news - my laptop was out of commission for less than 48 hours because of Dell's awesome service. Thankfully Dimitri and I were smart in our purchase and got the 3-yr warranty that just hooked me up with quick parts delivery and at-home service. Having to chat with the serviceman about foreclosures, cicadas, and the weather was just an added bonus. I felt naked and alone with my laptop displaying grid-like marks and black lines, and I am starting to think I just might be a tad too addicted to the Internet. I say oh well and keep browsing.


My laptop not working deflated my motivation for revising my Fulbright essays. The feedback I received requires quite a bit of work. Whereas I had written about concrete examples of implementing social media into TEFL, it has been requested that I express more passion and interest in Spain as a country. I do have the passion, I just haven't written an essay in a few years and it's more obvious than I would like it to be.

I am in the midst of planning going away get-togethers for the end of summer in preparation for the big move in August. In the meantime there are essays to write, grammar to learn, Spanish to study, cats to cuddle-with....you get the gist.

Plurking, Twittering, Pouncing all up'n hurr.

It's been a few days since my last post - but I have been busy so stop nagging peeps. Also, my laptop is "sick" right now. I instant messaged with SLCg_Robert_168499 and he informed me that within 2-5 days the parts should be available and then the service guy will arrive and solve all of my laptop issues.

Exciting news is that I am testing a new part-time role as an online English tutor. I figure it will help provide a basis of what I can expect on "the next big move" as I now calling it. I have literally moved at least every two years since my first year of high school. I am intrigued to see where I end up living for 3 years. It may just never happen. I never really saw myself as restless - but maybe I just refuse to acknowledge it.

As stated in my Twitter posts; I am practicing Spanish on a daily basis with a little Turkey mixed in to break it up. Oh, and Ebay and application writing for the Fulbright. My life is so "living-on-the-edge-like" isn't it? Yet, with all of my Nintendo DS Spanish game, Rosetta Stone and Audiobook Spanish on my iTouch, I still feel like I am lacking at proficiency. Sometimes in my dreamland (or after a few glasses of wine) I envision that I am proficient. I believe I will get better, it's just taking a while and I feel the time constraint of my language assessment closing in on me.

I had some interesting news stories and such to post, but they will have to wait till I get my laptop back in working condition!