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.

 

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.

 

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!

 

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!

 

Back to Blogging!

Hello all you faithful readers out there! Sorry for such a long hiatus. Life gets busy you know. But I am back in full force and will be blogging a lot more!

So a weekend update:

On Saturday, Jordan, Liz, and I went up to Bloomington for a little gathering at our friends Dan and Melissa Collin’s house. It’s kinda funny because it was somewhat like a house warming party, but they will be moving in two weeks so they can be closer to Melissa’s job in Champaign. Her commute is an hour, while Dan’s is about three minutes. They’re going to split the distance and each have about 25 - 30 minute commutes.

I am definitely thankful for my four minute commute to and from work. I’ll get a taste of a longer commute on November 6th because they are doing some much needed work on the Toronto Road railroad crossing. I have to slow down to like 30 mph or else my car bounces all over the place. Sports car + big rims, small tires + RR crossing = not fun! The construction will last for like four days?!?! Lucky for me, I only have to do it once because I’ll be leaving for San Diego the next morning and will be gone for a week! Thank you Stamats!

Anyway, back on topic. After we got back from Bloomington, HRC sponsored the Monster Bash! Here are some photos from the event:

Jordan and I as the Mobster couple.

Chad and Kaley as Spartan Warriors!
(Yeah, that’s a real metal spartan helmet and shield)

Priyanka as a racer with her agent Pavan

The Crew
Left to Right: Kaley, Chad, Me, Jordan, Rich, Rachel, Erin, Chase

Sunday was a nice relaxing day mixed with a little homework. I will be ordering a new computer today which is pretty exciting! I cannot wait for it to get here! It will make me so much more productive! That’s a good thing because I have a lot of ambitious projects I want to do this winter in preparation for next year! I’ll definitely keep you updated as they progress!

Today is also the celebration party for UIS getting Higher Learning Commission re-accreditation approval! I’m gonna sneak over to that and grab some grub.

Have a great day!