Emergency Alert Notification System

In light of the NIU tragedy on February 14th, I wanted to give coverage to UIS’ Emergency Alert Notification System. Andrew Careaga posted a link to the CNN news story on his blog yesterday just after we both posted it on Twitter virtually at the same time. What’s crazy is that I heard from a student that something had happened at NIU, but it wasn’t until an hour later that I read anything about it anywhere, and Andrew was one of the first. Just goes to show you the power of blogs.

I was just talking about our emergency alert notification system with our Director of Marketing the other day. We both thought it was interesting how a Springfield news station aired a report about our larger sister campus unveiling their new emergency alert notification system the other night. Funny thing is that they unveiled that system around last September…funnier yet, my campus, the one located in Springfield has never been mentioned for implementing our own notification system. Anywho…just a little rant with a lack of coverage from our own hometown news station.

My main point is to express to people to sign up for our alerts. UIS is a very safe campus and I have never felt as if I was in any harm or danger. I have been in contact with our Web Team and they assured me that an extensive plan is in place.  Here is what the NIU homepage looked like.

Regardless of how safe any campus feels, they should have a Notification system in place. Details of the UIS policy can be found here. Do yourselves a favor and sign up. The tornado season is coming, and that is covered under the policy as well.

 

A little bit about me

Per Matt’s request, I thought I would give you guys a little background into who I am. I will tell you that I have probably been working in higher ed for the least amount of time (7 months) out of all the people involved in BlogHighEd, but I am extremely passionate about what I do and therefore always wanting and willing to learn about the ever changing field of Higher Education.

I am officially the Marketing/Recruitment Specialist for the Office of Enrollment Management for the University of Illinois at Springfield. I work for the smallest of the three U of I campuses, but still get all the benefits. This position was created last year for UIS graduate and co-creator of BlogHighEd, Brad J Ward, but he moved on to a position at Butler University in Indianapolis, IN. I spend my time researching trends in the current and potential student market for recruitment and retention. I also implement ideas that I present to the directors on our websites. I also have some web experience, but desperately want to learn more! I also do campus and event photography.

I look forward to learning with and from everyone who contributes here and I am very thankful that I was chosen for bhe. And here’s a better photo of me and my wonderful girlfriend.

 

Weekend Re-Cap

Superbowl Weekend! Not gonna lie, I was really getting sick and tired of all the “perfect” talk accompanying the Patriots. I am a hardcore Patriots (and Jets) hater! And that can only mean one thing: I am a Dolphin’s fan. Flame me for their horrible season last year, but the Tuna’s in charge and has revamped practically the entire coaching staff. Anyway, something else the superbowl brings is usually awesome and memorable advertisements. While I have always enjoyed watching the commercials, I found myself not only viewing them, but really looking for the next big idea in any one of them. But more on that later! I’ve got to tell you about the events that led up to Sunday first.

Thursday night, we were predicted to get a TON of snow. I really don’t like snow that much. Sure it’s pretty, but it makes such a mess of things. Classes got canceled for the evening in preparation for the worst. Come 5:30 a.m. friday morning, word came down that the campus was closed! Woohoo, three day weekend! I look outside and this is what I saw.

That’s right…A TON of SNOW! 10 inches to be exact…19+ from drifting…

And here’s my poor car…Look at the snow on the mirror. I had to dig out the bottom of my door so that I could get it open.

My buddy T and I spent some time digging our own cars out as well as a couple of our friends, and even some people we didn’t even know. We even pushed one girl out of a snow pile she drove into, later admitting that she’d never seen snow like this before…crazy.

The next day, I came down with something awful…I mean, I have been out of commission for the last three days…I don’t usually get sick, but when I do, it’s bad news…I’m feeling better today, but I wouldn’t have minded another day off to relax.

On Superbowl Sunday, my friend Chad held a get together at his place so we could watch the game on his 52″ plasma (thanks to me and SD). Let me just revisit what I said earlier about me really not liking the Patriots. I just wanted to make sure that was fresh in your mind. The game was full of a bunch of great plays on both sides, but one play stands out above all…This scramble by Manning and ensuing catch by Tyree…INCREDIBLE!

I am sorry for jumping around so much, my mind is still recovering from the medicine…back to business. So of the commercials that were played, there were a couple that stuck out in my mind. Some in a good way, and others in a bad way. First: Winner for the night…The Tide talking stain commercial. Congrats to their marketing team for that video. They did it all right…entertaining, made me remember their product, and drew me back in with an interactive website at the end mytalkingstain.com

Other winners for the night included Budwiser/Bud Light, Bridgestone (maybe a surprise?), Coca-Cola, Diet Pepsi Max, and Sobe. You can view them all on MySpace’s Superbowl ad site.  Line of the year:  “Suck One.”  Wait for the T-Shirts!

 

I am getting the bug back!

So as I sit here, bitterly enjoying my Subway sub and looking at lenses for my camera, I am thinking to myself: “I really miss taking photos.” Over the course of the past week or so, I have been able to take a lot of photos of a variety of different things. I’ve been able to hang out with some friends and shoot photos with them, and more importantly, some of my girlfriend! As I thought about it over lunch, I realized the reason I quit enjoying photography was because I was shooting too many things that I wasn’t passionate about. Not only that, but it was usually on a last minute notice thing and more often than not, after hours. And while I enjoy attending events, I wish I had something to show for it. I talked with our creative director the other day, and ever since I started here I’ve been trying to get some new camera equipment. I’ve been begging for a good telephoto to replace the 28-200 G lens that I have now. Performance wise, the lens takes nice photos outdoors. Inside shots with low light, and autofocusing though are awful. I don’t think I’ve ever used a lens that focuses as slow as this one does, and is also not that accurate. Also, the zoom is not very tight (and is backwards from every other Nikon lens I’ve ever used…) and slides out while moving around. Aside from all that, it does take nice photos when the lighting is right. Unfortunately for me, I take a lot of photos in very poorly lit places and in places you’re not supposed to use a flash. In these situations I resort to my trusty 50mm f1.8. Like these photos here, the left one being pretty much my trademark shot:

Now, my friend Joe, of FJ Gaylor told me yesterday that he had a lens he might be able to sell me which would be amazing! Hook me up! Another reason I have been excited about photography is because the FJ Gaylor was updated to include all their fall 07 shots. Let me just say that they have their act together! If you need photographs of your college, I would highly recommend them! And I’m not the only one.

 

Moving on, last night at the library (I briefly mentioned this earlier) I was helping Jordan find some things. I came across a book titled “Memoirs of Mary and Martha Washington.”

 

Then I looked at the copyright date in the center on the bottom of the page….1852.

Isn’t that amazing?!?  It’s crazy to think that book is actually in my universities library.

It’s hard to read, but this book was given as a gift on Christmas in 1853.  These photos were taken with my iPhone.  It does a decent job for a camera phone in low lighting.  But so anyway, I was really amazed and I think the artistic aspect of that book really made me enjoy photographing them (even just with my phone).

 

Alright…last thing…I mentioned bitterly enjoying my sandwich.  Last time I got a tuna sub from Subway I got a six inch.  They put three scoops of tuna on my six inches.  Today I was starving and decided to get a foot long.  I watch as he applies the tuna and see him put only four scoops on my sandwich.  Now…it’s been a while since I’ve taken a math course, but if there are three scoops on a six inch, shouldn’t there be six scoops on a twelve inch sub?  The tuna was spread so thin on my sandwich, I would have gotten all bread and veggies.  So I asked him to put another scoop on my sandwich and he said it would be .50 a scoop.  Then I started thinking, I’m paying more for a 12 inch sub with an extra scoop of tuna than I would for two individual six inch subs.  $7.10 later, I leave with my sub and drink (drink was free for being a student!) and return to my office.  I usually spend $3.27 for lunch on a six inch sub.  It probably wouldn’t bother me so much except for the fact that 4 out of the last 5 times and 7 out of 10 times I have gotten “fast food” whether it be from Subway, Taco Bell, or Wendy’s, they have gotten my order incorrect.  I guess they think that when I ask for a hamburger I really want a cheeseburger instead.  Customer service has really gone down hill…

 

What would we do?

While starting my day by reading my blog feeds and news feeds, I came across this article from the Middle East. And then I started thinking…If something as simple as a “cut phone line” essentially could destroy our internet connection, this is a very real deal. That is certainly one way to stop the economy in a major way. I know I use the internet A TON throughout the day. In fact, I helped my girlfriend work on a project where she had to find stuff in the library (more on that later) last night. It was 10 questions and we had to find answers to them using the library for at least 7 of them. It took us two hours to answer 5 or 6 (she completed a couple earlier). And what’s crazy is that I am a pretty good “searcher” most of the time. We definitely take the internet for granted a lot of the time. Try working without it for a little bit and you’ll begin to see how helpful it really is.

 

*UPDATE* I am convinced that Springfield, IL has the craziest weather!

*FINAL UPDATE*

At 9:15 p.m., it looks like this…what it doesn’t tell you is the 30-40 mph wind.

*UPDATE*

Just further proof that Springfield, IL has the craziest weather!

After lunch I had a few meetings to go to…I had to cross buildings, but I could instantly tell that it was colder; probably around 45 or so and this was around 3 or so.

It’s 4:45 now and the temperature has dropped substantially!

And outside it now looks like this…

Yeah thats about a half inch of ice…it’s been crazy…Post photos or videos of your weather! I want to see what it’s like where you are at.

 

I am convinced that Springfield, IL has the craziest weather!

So this is officially my first blog from my iphone and it is coming to you from my car. I am currently stuck outside in my car due to a torrential downpour…I’m making a break for it. update later.

Ok, so I wrote that about 20 minutes ago…I’m back in my office now, so I’ll show you what I mean.

I left for lunch about an hour and a half ago, and I took a photo of the Accuweather on my Mac…High of 62, low of 9?!?

On my ride home listening to the radio, the announcer says it’s 65. I’m diggin’ this weather for January. Unfortunately, I know it’s not gonna last.

I could see that there was rain on the horizon as I left my house, but no rain yet. As soon as I got to campus though (4 minutes) this is what I’m encountered with.

And here’s me blogging and sitting in the parking lot…

Now, the weather looks like this…all within one hour.

That’s my justification for crazy weather in Springfield, IL! Prove to me that your city is crazier than mine!

 

New Blog Unveiling!

Hey everyone! I’ve moved my blog over to WordPress. Leave your feedback and let me know what you think.

For the time being, I’ll still be double-posting to my blogger blog, but after a month or so, that one will be archived. Update your RSS feeds to stay up to date!

 

Admissions Event

Tonight, ONE NIGHT ONLY, we will remain open until 7 p.m. for those people, who like me, work until 5 p.m. or after. Stop by the office and get signed up for classes if you haven’t already! Speak with a REAL person IN person! For more details check out the Enrollment Event Page!

 

Electronic Viewbook

Here it is folks! The project that took me away from you for so long.

We looked at some companies that provide this service, but due to budget cuts were unable to go with them. In light of that situation, I did some searching and came up with my own version.

Check it out here!

We will be converting a lot of our print materials to electronic to save some cost and make our materials more accessible for people. They will also be interactive with videos, clickable photos, etc. This is just the first of many projects that I will be working on in the next year in an ambitious schedule I have set for myself.

Please leave your feedback and let me know what you think! Thanks!