La Notte Italiana 2010

I had the pleasure this year of getting all the food and wine donations... Everyone come there will be music, food and silent auction to fund all of our local campaigns this year and help send us to nationals in Washington DC.
Here is our facebook link to RSVP----La Notte Italiana
Tickets are 20 in advance or 25 at the door
or if a student 12 in advance and 15 at the door

To social media or... to not...?

Although sometimes we feel like we should trust our lives with twitter and facebook we might just be focusing on the wrong aspect of promotion and marketing.
According to the article "If Social Media Is Just Another To-Do List Item, Don't Bother Doing It," by David Warschawski, Social media is just a tool to for the taking and not necessarily a main use of marketing or promotion. In this article he explains tips about using social media and what is important about it.

Most people do not even know enough about twitter to say anything or use it properly. Although, there is a stretch to use the tool because of the new technologically savy audience to use it the tool is not validated through all audiences. So what should you know?... your audience. Most people are more likely to use traditional media. For example, "Traditional media, including TV, radio and newspapers, are the first news source for 72% of Americans, according to a 2009 survey from the First Amendment Center. While only 15% of consumers said they turn to the Internet as their first source of news, 1% reported Twitter, 1% reported social networking sites and 1% said e-mail," (2010,Warschawski).

With the use of audience in mind the other key advice that Warschawski makes is to use it only as a tool to market that certain audience in part of a bigger strategy. Companies that are successful with using social media do well because they incorporate it as a tactic in an overarching integrated campaign and view it as one of the many powerful weapons in their arsenal. They understand that social media should not become a stand-alone strategy or campaign, but part of a holistic approach meant to strategically address your business goals," (2010,Warschawski).

Although, personally I use social media tactics for all campaigns I do in Maverick Solutions our University of Nebraska at Omaha's firm connected to prssa's MaverickPR, it is merely one tactic to help promote or market the campaign/event. A combination of traditional media and social media is important for an overall marketing strategy in today's growing technological market.
picture found at: google image site

Look for upcoming events such as Omaha 10-10-10 with Rick Murray, president of Edelman in Chicago to talk about social media in the decade past and the decade to come on Oct. 10. Keep up with University of Nebraska at Omaha's facebook pages for more information. MaverickPR and Maverick Solutions.

Best Friends and Odd Couple

I was visiting with a friend last week and she pointed out this video.

elephant and dog

I had to blog about it because I do agree that this pair is a pure example of my life and my love for animals. If these two distinctly different creatures could spend hours upon end with each other why can't we all have that with whoever or whatever creature we want? I feel that feature stories are more fun because they tell of weird touching moments that do in fact impact one another. I love doing profiles on people that have been touched by something that is going on in the world. I realize most people would refer to this as fluff but I think this moment was more important that what happened in the stock market today.

I have to be honest the last line intrigues me what if we all could make friends far different from ourselves?

Maybe Omaha isn't so cold afterall...

As I sit in my living room with the windows open I think about how fast winter will come. Will it be like last year? Winter in Omaha last year was reason enough to get me to move. However, on my daily quest to find interesting under water creatures I find that maybe it isn't so frigid here after all.

On a CBC story on December 1, 2008 called, "Narwhal cull approaches 600 near Pond Inlet," fishermen in the Baffin Islands area are finding that narwhals are being trapped in the ice. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans find that over 500 narwhals were trapped in the ice. Hunters then kill the narwhals that are trapped for themselves. In fact media is often unable to fly into the area because the hunters are refusing media to enter the area (from: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2008/12/01/narwhal.html)

Narwhals are called the unicorns of the sea. They have a giant 8ft tooth (or often called tusk) that reaches straight out of their head. They use this tusk to fight for a female mate. The way they feed is from the ice making fish more vulnerable. They are pod animals and have been seen in large numbers (from: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/narwhal/)

In an article on August 25, 2008 by Fox News called, "Narwhals more at risk to Arctic warming than polar bears," talks about how polar bears were the animals most vulnerable to global warming but now scientists are saying that this creature might be even more vulnerable because of their constant need for ice (from:http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Apr25/0,4670,ClimateArcticAnimals,00.html) Regardless of their story, it makes me appreciate the fall for a little longer. These creatures roam the cold their whole lives dodging polar bears, sea lions, Inuit hunters and now large patches of ice as they try to grab a cold trapped fish through the Arctic seas.


picture from: (http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/narwhal/)

Is it bad that this story touched me?

Friday night and I don't feel like being pushed around a crowded bar or staying at my apartment alone so I ask my dad, who is also solo, if he would like to have a movie night after I get off work. He agrees and I meet him after work. When I get to the house I see that he has not arrived home yet so I call to find that he has cleaned out the movie store with many possible intriguing flicks. The first I see that he has gotten especially for me is the National Geographic special, "Great White."

I have always loved animals, especially working at a vet with domestic dogs and cats but one animal intrigues me more than any other--the great white shark. Although, I believe I should have become a vet or a marine biologist I picked something else to concentrate my school on--Public Relations. I am trying to figure out how I could possibly fit this into my dream job. Any sharks need representation?...

Well at least they have a bad reputation. However, with that reputation I found that this story was actually touching. It made me sympathize with a great white and with the name Nicole and the distance she traveled it was pretty easy to find this animal amazing.


The journey begins off the Coast of Holbaai, South Africa in 2003 by a team supported by The Wildlife Conservation Society in association with Marine and Coastal Management, the White Shark Trust, the Universities of Cape Town and Pretoria and the South African Museum. They tagged a shark that the team tracked for 99 days where the 12.5 foot great white Nicole made a journey of 11,000 kms from her original site to the western coast of Australia.
The film illustrates the difficulties a migratory shark has to go through. The depths that the shark faced which were about 300ft were cold and caused the shark's warm-blooded body to suffer. Killer Whales also kill sharks in the cold waters on Nicole's path. Nicole even went through Australian hurricane season but soared so low beneath the surface that she surpassed the elements. Nicole even passed the deadly fishermen who leave deadly nets and hunger for the ancient shark fin soup. The film talked about the way sharks used electromagnetism to find their way on their long 99 day journey.
This story is fascinating to me and I believe is one way for us to really think about sharks. They aren't just killing machines they are animals with purpose. They are survivors and one of the most ancient creatures on planet Earth. Plus... I love them.

To learn more about Nicole and National Geographic's shark endeavors check out:
http://www.whitesharktrust.com/migration.html

Getting a Job...

So, I do have a new computer now so I can finally blog. This is my senior semester. I am working on an internship with the American Red Cross, chairing the Italian Night fundraiser food Committee, recruiting more young eager students (being the PRSSA recruitment director and all) and working two jobs... I am trying to figure out how to get a job in Kansas City where I very much would like to end up with all this going on! I know that monster.com is good to post information and a source told me that it was a good idea to start now but what is more appropriate for a job? I would take a reasonably paid internship as well but it is hard to find jobs when you are from another state. Does anyone else have ideas?

*La Notte Italiana is one of our greatest fundraisers of the year. It is a night devoted to an atmosphere of Italian food from local restaurants around the Omaha area, a silent auction with prizes from businesses around the area and entertainment. The date to save is:
September 26 at 7:00pm at All Saints Episcopal Church
if anyone is interested contact Jennifer Lane at jllane@unomaha.edu.

Word.

So with all the new technology is it weird that I just want email? Try not having a computer for a while. Today is a way of change. Trying to fix resumes. Are there any ideas? 1 or 2 pages? What if you have a lot of experiences? What is you have results? Should you put jobs that you use to make money or experience? Help a blog girl out!