Friday, July 31, 2009

New Site

My new site will be for a salon my mom owns in Mississippi. It will basically consist of only tanning information. As I have time, I will add in additional information about services offered in the salon.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Wine in the Hills

I would like to create my 2nd website for the wine trails and hidden fun spots in the hill country like Fredericksburg, Tx or Boerne. My primary point would be on good wine and I would talk about it through out the hill country!

Story Idea

Im thinking about a guide to Big Bend.. Preparations before hand and a list of important phone numbers and last minute reminders. Its supposed to be a secondary reference for campers and backpackers. Should be kind of cool, I have an old map of a trail I hiked a while back and photos of the scenery

Web Site #2

By: Courtney Morris

I will be making a web site for the organization Fashion Nation. I am vice president of the group and because last year was its first it does not have any web presence. I want to actually get another browser from Doteasy so it has its own domain and i want to continue posting and updating up throughout the year. Right now it will be simple but with your help i would like to post pictures of last years fashion show and events. Also i would like to make some sort of comment box or contact page where i and other FN officers can view and respond to the comments.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Organization/Hobby web stie

I will be making a web site providing information and promoting studying abroad.  The information in the website will be based on my own personal experience along with additional experiences of others who have studied abroad.

KEWilson.com Project 3 Website Topic

For my new website, I will be making a new Katy ISD Communications site. I hope to be hired as the district Communications Coordinator and hope that building a basic site with good content would help me get hired. On this website I will have an Home, Press Releases, District Goals, and About Us pages. Wish me luck!

Web Site

For my website I am going to do a starter website for my jewelry.  I make and sell jewelry.  So i want to start a website so that people can go there and order and look at the jewelry that I have available.  People will also be a able to see past designs so that they can custom order whatever they might like.

Hobby Web site

My hobby Web site is going to be about "armchair quarterbacking." For those that do not know what this is, an armchair quarterback is a person who watches sports emphatically, usually giving off the impression that they know more about the sport than the players. It's going to be a site dedicated to watching sports from your home. It's going to have pages about the right setup to view the event, what food to bring and how to cook it, and the proper way to maximize your sport viewing pleasure.

Monday, July 27, 2009

For my hobbies or organization project I plan to do a site for the University Star. Yes the newspaper already has a website but not strictly for the news we have on camera. Yet, I also plan to incorporate some of the news from the STAR using Twitter. I plan on having a home, events or specials, news, and videos page. The events or specials button will be too a section where we did news packages, such as on bike lanes in San Marcos, or the grand opening of Rukus Board Shop. Any suggestions on what that button should be called? We will see how this goes!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Saerch Engine Post

In order to find out what the 1987 Academy Award nominees were for best picture i first used Google. Google directed me to a website called Filmsite that had all the Award information. 1987 was the first year that five different movies were nominated they were: "Broadcast News", "Fatal Attraction", "Hope and Glory", "Moonstruck" and the winner was "The Last Emperor."

I also used Bing as well and founfd the same results.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

The Death of Twin Peaks

"Twin Peaks" Ofcourse I started at Google and typed in my keywords "Twin Peaks". There were several options but I went to the Internet Movie Database since I know that site well. It give tons of info on movies and TV shows. I scrolled down to each actor's name and their characters all expired in 1992.To double check I headed to Ask.com. An article there directed me into HighBeam.com which I've never heard of so I closed my window. Bing.com was my next choice. Finally Tv.com provided me with the date 1991.

Wikipedia was my last source which agreed with Tv.com that yes, Twin Peaks did die in 1991.

Quite the process.

Thoughts on the History of the Web

A very interesting point that I saw in the video about the history of the web and the internet is that it is a completely free moving entity. No one person or government controls is and people work in tune with each other to make it better, faster and more interesting. There's a common goal on the web and that is to share information freely. I also thought it was great to hear that Bush had signed off a bill from Congress taking control away from the US government.

Hiking in Austin


I used Google to research a good place to go hiking within 60 miles of Austin. I was able to find well over 30 listings of different places to go hiking. In Google, I keyed in “hiking austin” and browsed through the first page of results. The links that interested me were http://www.austinexplorer.com/hiking/, http://www.trails.com/ and http://www.virtualtourist.com/. These sites listed different parks around the area and also listed user reviews of each park. While browsing virtualtourist.com, I discovered a link to http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/. This site is sponsored by Texas Parks and Wildlife and lists activities one can participate in at the park, price for admission, weather conditions and a downloadable map of the area. I think it is strange that the Texas Parks and Wildlife website did not come up in my first page of search results.

When I performed the same search in Yahoo, most of the same sites came up; however, Yahoo’s first listing was a chart that listed popular hiking events with dates and times for the events. The information comes from http://upcoming.yahoo.com. I haven’t used this feature before because I didn’t know Yahoo had it. I may use it a lot more in the future.

History of the Internet


The Internet makes so many things possible. I found it very interesting that the Internet began as people wanting to transfer files and information back and forth between each other. This is how a lot of us use the Internet today. Much of the world now downloads its music and files from the Internet; much of the downloading is through peer-to-peer sharing.

It was interesting to discover that IMP’s were used to connect the coasts of the U.S. and this allowed data transmission between networks. Also, I was surprised when I heard Tomlinson describe his invention of email. It was out of necessity and convenience that he created a system that would allow users to stay connected at all times. It was ingenious of him to come up with the “@” symbol. It just makes sense though.


Leader of Stolen Bases in 2002

I began my search for the leader of stolen bases in the national league in 2002, using bing because I was curious about how it would compare to other search engines. The keywords i used were "leader of stolen bases 2002". I compared it to the google search.
Bing's results looked more organized in the format, easier to read. Google's format is not as readable when just browsing through the results.
The first two results in Bing were wikipedia pages that are not known for it's credibility and not easy to narrow down when looking at the content. Also, the links on Bing did not lead directly to a page that had my answer, I had to browse further within the individual sites. The first result in google was the official listing of records by year. Made it very easy to find the answer Luis Castello with 48 stolen bases.
To confirm this, I gave Bing one more chance and I searched "luis castello" to find a web page for him. I found wikipedia a wikipedi link (3rd link down) and I found his records. The 2002 leader in stolen bases was one of them.
I would probably not use Bing in the future but I want to give it another chance in hopes that it will change my mind. After all, I am a microsoft (PC) user and would like to see one of it's products work successfully.

The Internet

The history of the internet fascinates me because of the contributors that helped develop what the internet is today. Although the internet started as a government defense project it ended somewhere no one could have expected. Because of the amount and variety of contributors, we have a type of communication that only the web could provide.
The web is used by everyone and everyone has the oppurtunity to change and mold how they want to use it. It was this "open architecture" design of the internet and web that makes it unique to other forms of media. It was not a group or company that decided what it would be, it was just a group of people that thought it would be cool. It spanned to other users that developed their own ideas of how it should be used. Innovative thinkers that were everyday students are responsible for key developments such as Netscape that invented the user friendly browser. This is the architype used for all browsers and searches that we use today.
The future of the internet is in the current user's hands, our hands.
-Kristi Smith

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

History of the internet

The topic of the History of the Internet fascinates me. I think so many of us take for granted the technological advances of our time without even giving a thought as to how it really began, so for me I was pretty excited to hear about how our Internet truly got started.

First off, i had no idea the internet had so many different contributers. From e-mail invented by R. Tomlinson to tim burners-lee, who invented the world wide web.

I will say quite honestly though, the idea of packets being sent and the Interface Message Processors still confuses me. I really dont think Id fully understand exactly how everything works unless I took years of classes about computers, the internet, applications, and the basic way our computer systems work.

-courtney ely

"suggest a book on finding the right pet" question

First off, I went directly to amazon.com and clicked on the books tab. Next, in the tool bar I typed in finding the right pet and the third result I received was a book titled PET PARENTHOOD Adopting the Right Animal Companion For You. Here, I could see exactly how much the book cost and could even look at the first few pages of the book and decide if its what I was looking for.

I also googled books on finding the right pet and had many results. A book from amazon titled
Are You the Pet for Me?: Choosing the Right Pet for Your Family came up as the first search result, yet it wasnt the book I had found from my search on Amazon.

Courtney!!

Hello all. Im Courtney Ely- the other courtney of the class. :)
Im an advertsing major and a fashion merchandising minor, SENIOR (thankfully!) ...yet I still have two more semesters to drag through before I can say Im successfully graduated.
My interests... music, fashion, communication and networking. I love being in the know with social scenes and being informed, and Im hoping to move to NY with my best friend Chelsea within a few months after graduation. Im ready to just throw myself out there and see what I can do and accomplish. I work at the University Bookstore currently (come visit, the receptionist job can get a bit boring!) but Ive had quite a handful of jobs within the past 4 years, from working with a wedding planner to cocktail waitressing. (ughhh hated my life for that short amount of time.) Ive had to grow up pretty quickly, and Ive learned a lot. For that Im thankful, and I feel like it'll really pay off when Im having to face the world head on.

This class is an elective for me, and its something Ive been interested in taking for quite a while. Im hoping the things we learn in this class is something I can add to my resume and help me with really figuring out what I want to do when I graduate.
because, honestly?? Im still trying to figure it out. I know Im passionate about fashion and art and creativity. ...something I think I'd be stoked about doing; being in charge of a magazine's events and/or blogs. More specifically something like NYLON.

...and excited to see where everything in life takes me!

Suggest a good Italian restaurant in the Austin area. What is the price range?

I first used the Search Engine, Google. I typed in Italian Restaurants in Austin, TX. The first site that came up was www.10best.com/Austin,TX/Restaurants/Italian/. I went to this site and found that it rates different restaurants by a show of five stars or less. It also gives details, a map, photos and user reviews. Within the details it gives information on how you should dress, the price range of the meals, what payments they accept and the business hours. I found this website very helpful.

Andiamo is the first restaurant on the list. It is located at 2521 Rutland Dr, Austin, TX 78758. The details showed the average main course price at $20.00. I then wanted to check and make sure that other sites agreed with 10best. I went back to google and typed in best Italian Restaurant in Austin, TX. The first site that grabbed my attention was www.yelp.com/c/austin/italian. It too had Andiamo as the top rated restaurant in Austin. This was enough for me and really made me want to go and try this restaurant. I probably will.

Summer Ratliff

History of the WWW


I have never researched the WWW on how it all began. I have wondered though how and who could come up with such a great invention. It amazes me such young adults were the fuel to get this invention rolling. The video made me think about how some of the inventors and those who contributed were my age at the time. I could not imagine creating anything like a computer.

The video is from 1999 and it is amazing to see how much has changed in the ten years to now. I really liked how the video explained how the WWW works. I also liked the story of the computer failing when AT&T came to visit. I could not imagine how hard it would be to have people amused that my life long work had, for a moment, failed. The last comment made in the video was the internet is always growing and changing. It is changing now. I can’t imagine where the WWW will be in the year 2019.


Summer Ratliff

Search Engine Exercise: Wilco

I searched for the members of Wilco and where they were from. My answer is: Jeff Tweedy (Belleville, Illinois), John Stirratt (New Orleans), Nels Cline (Los Angeles), Pat Sansone (Meridian, Mississippi), Mikael Jorgensen (Chicago, Illinois) and Glenn Kotche (Roselle, Illinois). It is important to note that these are the CURRENT members of Wilco and that only the first two were founding members. The group originated from the group, Uncle Tupelo after it had fallen a part.

To find this information, I chose to search Google. I typed in the words: members of Wilco. After hitting the search key, I clicked on the second result: Yahoo! Music Wilco Biography. This was a great source of information about the start of the group and the music the group has produced, but failed to be clear about the current members, or where they were individually from.

From there I went back to my original search and clicked on: Wilco- Wikipedia. This was a great source for the names of the current members. It then had a link for each of their names that gave a personal biography from which I found out where each member was from. It confirmed the original band they had started from. To reconfirm this information, I took the current member names and typed each name into google and searched for applicable biographies. I confirmed each name and birth location.

Case solved. Maybe not the fastest, but I was rather unsure if I was looking for the starting Wilco members or current ones and if I was searching for their birth towns, or where the band was from. So, my biggest obstacle was deciding what information I needed and getting it from a reliable source.

Search Engines and Directories question

The high temperature in Anchorage, Alaska that is forecasted for this Sunday.

This was pretty simple, I went straight to the source weatherchannel.com. Entred Anchorage, AK in the search box and it took me to today's forecast and I clicked on a tab for the weekend weather. A high of 64 degrees for the Sunday. Pretty chilly for summer weather.

-ash

Video Response


I didn't know much about the beginning of computers and the Internet. I always assumed that the Internet and web were the same thing- completely interchangeable. The most interesting thing that I learned is that Internet has been around much longer than the World Wide Web and that it was only after the invention of the Netscape browser that the Web actually seriously took off.The picture is of an IBM 360/67 mainframe-powered CAD system at Fairchildin 1967. I just find it amusing to look at such old computers. They were almost just glorified calculartors. It really shows you how far technology has progressed.

Only 40 years young!

I never really thought about the web as such a powerful tool but the video really opened my eyes. To think that we have the power of literally millions of resources at our disposal. A couple of interesting facts: internet is not the web, it's a network, AOL is a portal or village not a browser, and facebook is like a little village all on its own that we all love to live in.
I also found it interesting that e-mails were created on someones spare time, wish I could come up something that amazing on my spare time.
I Must say my favorite part of the whole video, Paul Baran is still peeved with AT&T for laughing at him when his computer crashed. That was funny. To think it all started only 40 years ago when a few genius' had an idea and went with it. A bit frightening and exciting all at the same!

Ashley

Search Engines and Directories Exercise

How much does it cost to get high speed internet service in the Austin area?

I first went to Google and typed in "Internet Service Provider in Austin". I went past the offered sites that are on top of the yellowish background and clicked on the first link which was Grande Communications. I then scrolled down to where it asked if you could have service at your house, so I typed in my parent's address (because they live in Austin and I do not). Grande gave me a list to choose from of all the different types of internet service that they provide. I clicked on the one with the least amount of amenities becuase I figured it would be the cheapest. The package was called the "G-Force Basic" which was high speed and it cost $19.95 a month.

I also checked out AT&T, which was also $19.95 a month. Time Warner's cheapest was $34.95.

History of the Web

Many of you have mentioned the remarkably young ages of those responsible for the foundation of the web. I've observed that those responsible for the progression of the web via sites like Google, Twitter, and Facebook were young contributors, too.

Having grown up with the web, I feel it only natural that it advance with us into our future. While some of us are confused by the technicalities, programs like multimedia journalism studies and this very class will help shed light on ideas and the ways in which we can contribute.

The grad student from MIT is proof that patience and perseverance pays off, even when you don't know what to expect of the ending result. And, even when a room of people is laughing at you.


A ridiculous Apple commercial from 1984. Please note the floppy discs!

Video response

What amazes me about the video is that many of the people in charge of "inventing" the internet are no older than I am. I cannot remember their names but both the grad student at MIT and the guy that invented Netscape were both in college. It gives me hope that some of my ideas might actually be good ones. It is also awesome that these guys really didn't have a goal, they really didn't have a purpose of inventing it. As Cindy said in class, they built it just because it seemed cool, just to see if they could do it. Now, as the video said, it is probably the most important invention in the history of man.
On the physical side, one thing I never thought of is how creating a universal language that all computers understand and all the obstacles that would entail. Think about it like this: try getting humans from different parts of the globe to have a conversation. It wouldn't happen. Same thing with the early times of the internet. When you have a bunch of different groups of people all over the world using different brands of different machines, trying to get all of those machines on the same page was obviously a daunting task. So, I love what they did to make it work. We'll create one machine (IMP)that each different computer can plug into that way only the IMPs have to "talk" to eachother. It's the IMPs that broke down and built up the coded bits so each different computer can use the same information. It's is just awesome to see ideas from only 40 years ago that are still changing the world today.

Search for the cheapest hotel

This is sort of cheating because I love finding deals.. its sort of a hobby for me. I am registered with obitz, vayama, kayak, priceline, hotels.com, statravel, besttravel, cheaptickets.com and expedia.com (even more im sure).. I love that stuff.

To find the cheapest ticket I always go to priceline (they let you bid for your hotel/flight/rentalcar) because I've used them before and like the simplicity of finding cheap anything.

On initial search with most of my favorite sites, I got about 180 to 200 for a good 3 to 3 and a half hotel on the island (walking distance near times square) for July 31 to August 21.

BUT! I know that priceline will yield better results when you bid for your own price. They let you specify how low you are willing to go on stars, which area generally you would like the hotel to be and a price.

You have to enter your credit card information before you actually know which hotel youll stay at or even if you got the deal but usually if your not asking for a ridiculously low price, itll go through. Usually I bid a little less than half off the published price.

Generally, you can learn how to get the cheapest flights and hotels by adjusting the days of the week, maybe not going in a peak time of the year and by trying regional airlines.

Web History

I was really humbled by the video we watched in class. I didnt know how complex it all was and I still pretty much don't understand alot of it.

I was surprised with the way alot of the things we see as being normal, happened as sort of coincidence. Email, for example, is a way of life and for someone to just happen upon it baffles me.

I cant imagine having only 6 websites to reference to in the begining! I did notice something that I would have liked to know about. Some of the terminology of the begining of the internet like "surfing the web" is not really used now. That isnt really related but I still wonder.

-Alex

Searching the Web

"How old is Beyonce's sister, Solange Knowles, and when is her birthday?"

Google was the most obvious starting point for my search. I then took the Wikipedia approach and discovered that Solange Knowles was born June 24, 1986, making her 23 this year.

Because Wikipedia isn't always cited as the most reliable source on the web, I rerouted my search to imdb.com where I confirmed my previous findings as correct.

Ta da!

History of the Internet and the WWW

There are quite a few things I learned during the video we watched in class the past two days. I want to share two of the most significant facts that I learned.

Now don't make fun, but I did not know that Tim Berners-Lee was the inventor of the World Wide Web. Nor was I aware that in 1992 there were only 50 web pages on this Web of ours! The advancements that have been made since the Internet and Web were available blows me away.

The 341,000% increase of Web users in 1993, only a year later, was another particular event that I thought was very interesting. The increase was due to the invention of a "user friendly browser" called Netscape that was invented by a 22 year old student named Marc Andreessen.

I would like to thank all of the people who dedicated their time to this Internet world and the Web. And to President Bush Sr. for releasing this technology to the public. We love y'all.

The Bing-diggity!



Today in class we discussed Microsoft's new search engine bing.com so I decided to use it during this exercise to see what it was all about.

At the beginning of the assignment I went to bing.com. At first, I decided to type in the actual question I was assigned, "What is the average price of a home in the Austin area?" but ended up with a lot of useless websites and reviews on houses rather than the actual average price. So I decided to shorten up the words and typed in "average price of a house in Austin area." That did the trick! The first 6 websites that were brought up were exactly linked to average housing prices in Austin. The first website was the most up-to-date and easiest to navigate; the next 5 websites were from various years of 1992-2003 and I didn't find them as useful due to the economic crisis that our country has been undergoing recently. The first website is what I decided was best to answer this question. The average price of a home in the Austin area is from $269K-$329K. The website also provides other ranges of house pricing and lets you see what areas of Austin have the specific prices you're looking for. The funny thing is that the map is provided by Google.

Soooooo - I looked up the same question in Google and the website that was first on bing.com was not even on the first PAGE using Google. Instead various websites such as austinrealestateguy.com and escapesomewhere.com came up. They were much more difficult to navigate through and find what I was looking for.

I suppose I will be trying out this bing.com afterall.

PS - When using Bing if you put your cursor to the right of whatever website you see a preview of the information on the website.



History of the Internet and Web.

When he watched the vido I was AMAZED at how these young adults that are the same age as I am created this booming web world. I would never imagine that anyone that was my age would have the knowledge to create something as great as the browser. The fact that most of the creators were straight out of school and some still in school gives me so much more hope for my future.LOL

I was also really amazed at how fast it all happened. I don't know if it's that I am getting old or what, but the nineties seem like they were just a couple of years ago. The Internet has evolved so much since then, and it has all happened so fast. The video said that as of 1993 the Internet grew 341,000%. That is the most amazing thing I have ever heard. I can only imagine how much it has grown from then to now. There are more people on the Internet today than most thought would ever be. In one of my summer 1 classes we talked about how the number of people between the ages of 60-100 using the Internet is growing very rapidly.

I guess this is hard for me to understand because my family still thinks the Internet will die down. My dad actually retired from his job because they told him he might have to get an e-mail. I am very aware that the Internet isn't going anywhere and we should embrace everything it is giving to us. Hopefully in this class I will become a lot more knowledgeable of the Internet so that I can explain that to them.
Well I was supposed to search for a new digital camera. This is what I found

When I began my search I figured I would go to the most popular stores that sold digital cameras and compare prices and features, and get all of my information that way. Before I did this I decided to do a simple Google search where I searched for "Good deals on digital cameras. " I would have never guessed that I would get more results and better information from that search than the other. I found a site that is called XPBargains.com. It tells all about tech deals and what people that already have the products think of them and how they rank them. It also gives some coupons too.

My conclusion after playing on the website for a while and going with the brand that I think is the best( only because I own one and love it) is that the best digital camera for the price is the Sony Cyber Shot DSC-W220. This camera has 12.1 mega pixels and a 4X zoom. It also comes in the colors silver, black and pink( who wouldn't want a pink camera). I found it for $145.00 with the shipping. You can purchase this camera at the Sony Store for this price if you use the coupon on the website.

Hello!


My name is Emily Bradford, and I'm a (print!) journalism major with a minor in creative writing. Despite my resistance towards a world void of newspapers, I am ready to embrace the web. Ideally, I like to see myself writing a column one day, either for a newspaper, magazine, or blog.

I will be graduating next summer, only weeks after my 20th birthday. Rather than plunge into the workforce, I plan to take a couple of years to explore some personal interests. I am especially interested in craft blogs and female artists. I am excited that this class will provide me with the tools I need to potentially help women in the area sell their work to an online audience. During this time, I would also like to cultivate a freelance writing portfolio and publish what I can.

Otherwise, I am a fan of Grizzly Bear's "Veckatimest", everything Kurt Vonnegut, and West Texas sunsets. I also shop flea markets like nobody's business, leaving no knick-knack unturned!

Good luck to all of you,
Emily

Sorry Cindy!

I didn't read the directions.  My assignment was for UT not Texas State!  So ignore the previous post (or can I delete it?).

I used Safari and went the University of Texas's website.  I found a link in the menu bar to the Colleges and Schools.  From there I scrolled to Academic units and went to the Undergrad Degree Programs.  Under the College of Communications I opened the site for the School of Journalism.
The course requirements for a journalism major are as follows:
Critical Issues in Journalism
News Media Writing and Editing
Photographic Communication
Two Comm courses outside of journalism
After completing these courses, a student must then decide from print journalism, broadcast journalism, photojournalism, or multimedia journalism.

Web Search: Required Courses for Journalism Majors

This was a simple exercise for me, considering I have been looking up how many more classes I have to take before graduating.
I opened up Safari and went to the Texas State Website.  I scrolled down the Current Students menu to the Undergrad Catalog.  From there I found the College of Fine Arts and Communication.  That link let me to the School of Journalism and Mass Comm.  I scrolled to page five where the curriculum is outlined.
Journalism Students are required to take the following:
MC 1301, 1313, 3374, 3320, 3383, 3390, 4336D, 4312/4356B/4356C/4356D/4356F/4356G/4356H, 4330, 4301 and 3355/4302/4310

The roots of technology

I really had never researched the history of the internet.  I think it is just one of those things we take for granted.  I can remember my parents getting a computer when I was really young, but I only played games on it.  By the time I was in middle school I was using Netscape for school projects and chatting on ICQ or AIM.  Using the internet to communicate and do research just made sense. 
I think it is amazing that some of the pioneers of the internet were our age when they started working on it.  The video stated that the telephone and even the telegraph were building blocks for the internet.  The telephone and especially the telegraph seem like such simple ideas compared to the internet.  It makes me wonder if the internet will be a simple building block to something more mind blowing in the future.  It's hard to imagine anything more advanced than the internet and all the options it has opened up.

#1 Song in the UK (Research Question)

My research question was "What is currently the #1 song in the UK now?"

To get the answer, I first went to the Dashboard on my Mac where I have an iTunes widget that tells me the top 10 songs in 21 different countries. The top song for the UK was Beat Again (Radio Edit) by JLS. Because that widget had proved to be inaccurate in the past, I decided to consult another source.

I then went to Google and typed in 'UK music charts.' The top three hits were BBC Radio, the Official UK Charts, and Yahoo Music UK & Ireland. All three sites confirmed that Cascada's Evacuate the Dance Floor is in fact the number one song in the UK right now.

The link to the video is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uDixD4tXXU.

Kristi Smith

Hey there! I am originally from Garland, TX and now my family has relocated to Rockwall. I enjoy reading any kind of book. My favorite author is Jodi Picoult. I also spend my free time with my puppy, Izzy. She is a lab/hound mix. I often take her to townlake in austin so she can play with other dogs and swim in the lake.
I am entering my senior year here at Texas State. I am a Public Relations major and psychology minor. I was originally a psychology major but after an internship at the Austin State Hospital, I quickly changed my mind.I just finished up my last class for my minor in summer I and now all I am working on are my PR classes. I am planning on graduating in May (4 years!!!). I will graduate in may but will be finishing up my last 6 hours in Spain for Spanish next summer.
I currently am interning with the athletic department on the Game Day Crew. I will be helping with any promotional events during most sporting events on campus. I had an Internship with PureVolume for SXSW 2009 where I was a "jack of all trades". That experience led me to what I wanted to do in the future. I was an awesome experience!!!
Ideally after graduation I would move back to the Dallas area. But I will move wherever my future job takes me. I am really into music and event planning. I would really love to get a job coordinating or sponsorships for music festivals like ACL or music events in general.

Young Minds (Video Response)

What I found most interesting about the video, or most inspiring rather, was the fact that the people who started the internet and the world wide web, were our age!

So often we second guess ourselves as students and ask, what do we have to offer at this time in our lives? The answer: is everything.

Our age group is so blessed to have grown up in an age of computers with boundless knowledge and resources. I remember being required to use book references for research projects in high school and I hardly knew how to locate a specific book in the library, much less obtain the information I was seeking. But with the internet it's just a matter of Googling it...or Binging it.

The saying, 'Facebook official' is just one of the many examples of how much the internet has impacted our culture today. I now have both of my grandmothers, parents, two siblings, three aunts, four uncles, and six cousins on Facebook! My dad has been able to re-connect with his high school classmates and my Nana is able to watch each of her grandkids grow through online pictures and videos.

Even the threat of war no longer takes place on a battlefield, but through the Internet.

I bet the inventors of the internet never imagined how instrumental it would become. Thinking about how much of an impact those young inventors had on our world today, makes me wonder what I, and my fellow classmates can be doing to impact tomorrow.

The History of the Internet and Web

By: Courtney Morris

Watching the video over the history of the internet and web, I was fascinated at many of the facts that I was completely oblivious to. Although I use the internet multiple times daily, I had no idea about its history and origin. I was completely shocked to find out that in the beginning, major companies, such as AT&T, not only didn't back the idea but was convinced that it would never work. After creating the first Interface Message Processor, BBM, headed by Frank Hart was the only one to believe and support and IMP. Over the next few years, the concept of email was created and in 1972 there was fewer then 25 web sites and there were 19 different things to do on the web. Again, AT&T was asked to come and view the computer and its functions but as some of the head executives watched, the system failed for the first time in years. As the computer sat there frozen, the men of AT&T laughed with reassurance that the idea for a web connected network was not only a joke, but impossible. I would love to ask each of those men present that day how they feel about the web and internet now.
I have always been taught that the best things in life come unexpected, and the web and internet it concrete proof of that!

The Lowest Airfare

By: Courtney Morris

My task was to search the lowest airfare from Austin, Tx to Singapore.  Flying often, I first went to the site where I do the majority of my airfare booking, Booking Buddy. Booking Buddy is basically a search engine geared towards flights and hotel reservations.  Next I picked a random date to look for a flight.  I chose Tuesday August the 4th through Wednesday August the 19th.  After inputing the information of the flight and dates booking buddy pulled up all of the leading booking sites.  I looked at Expedia, Orbitz, TravelOne, Hotwire, and Cheap-O-Air.  The lowest flight out of the five sites was Cheap-O-Air.  The round trip, including taxes and fees was totaled at $1,295.  It also gave the opportunity to sign up for their sponsored credit card and cut the price down by $200. 
Overall, I have found that booking a flight to be relatively easy and painless, when using the right search engines and sites.  The only down fall to these sites is that the tickets are often non-refundable and non-flexible.  
Hello all!!! I am Ashley.  I am having the craziest summer of my life.  I am taking 21 hours and I am so ready to be done.  I will be done with college at 6:00 p.m on August 14, 2009.  As you can imagine I am extremely excited.  I am very ready to grow up and experience the "grown-up" world on my own.

My true passion in life is the sport of rodeo.  Some think of it as more of an obsession but I am fine with that.  I have competed in rodeos my entire life and plan to do it for as long as I live.  I plan to make it my career.  

When I graduate my goal is to move somewhere in the panhandle and do marketing and public relations or a large feed yard or breed agency.  Lets all keep our fingers crossed!!! I eventually want to work for the Professional Cowboys Association doing on air interviews after the rodeos.  I also plan to be competing at that same time.  

I cant wait to begin this class because I am a little slow when it comes to computers. LOL.  I know I will learn a lot and who doesn't love that.  I love the Internet, sometimes I just find it a little difficult to operate.

I cant wait to meet all of you, and I look forward to an exciting semester.      

Ashley Putman

Hey everyone!  I am finally going to graduate this fall!  I am majoring in Public Relations and minoring in Psychology.  I spent the spring semester in a little town on the beach in Costa Rica.  It was the most amazing, eye-opening experience of my life.  I was really unhappy to return home, and thought I could live on the beach forever.  I spent the summer with my parents and younger sister in Denton.  It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought.  My sister is a massage therapist, and I cooked every day for my family.  Cooking was my first love.  From the time I was five, I was in the kitchen with a mixing bowl and spoon.  As I got older I began wanting to share my tasty treats with others.  This always resulted in my parents inviting over their friends for dinner, and finally I was able to present whatever concoction I had brewed up.  My focus changed from just cooking to hosting.  Let me jump to how I was introduced to PR.
In the spring of my freshman year I went to work for a privately owned extreme sports facility.  I was hired on for Marketing and PR, or at least that is what my name tag said.  Really my job was to travel around to different events and promote the company I worked for.  The summer brought thousands of people to the Texas Ski Ranch.  My boss put a halt on the "travel team," so that we could help out during the busy season.  I organized fashion shows, events, meetings with sales reps, private parties, and so much more that my head was spinning.  It didn't matter to me, because I loved what I did.  I was later moved to the pro shop to work in sales at a higher position.  I will just tell you sales is not my thing, unless I love the product.  There were often times where my boss had to tell me that I couldn't just sell wakeboards from this one specific company.  I quickly figured out that sales weren't for me.  
It came time to declare a major, and I was lost.  I didn't realize that all the work I had done for the two years at TSR could translate into PR.  My boss brought this all to my attention, and it clicked.  So, I have been studying PR ever since and absolutely love and value everything I have learned.  My goal is to go into event coordinating, whether it be corporate or private.  I am really excited about this class, because I feel that it is going to help me bring something more to the table.  It might even become a hobby. 

As much as I can remember


My name is Andrew Waldrup and I am a senior at Texas State. I grew up in the small town of Ellisville, Mississippi. I was attending college in Hattiesburg, Mississippi when I decided to transfer to a school in Austin, Texas in March of 2006. I had intentions of immediately finishing school but a few obstacles stood in the way. I finally started back last year and will graduate in May 2010.

In Mississippi, I attended Jones County Junior College and the University of Southern Mississippi. My major was Philosophy at the time but that has now become my minor and PR is my major. I have a roommate who graduated from USM with a degree in PR and we decided to move here together after Hurricane Katrina and make some money.

I enjoy playing tennis, cooking for friends, listening to live music and anything social. I have worked for T-Mobile for the past four years and enjoy keeping up to date with the newest mobile technologies. They also pay for school so it really is a great place to work.

The sentence I hate hearing the most is “I have a problem with my cell phone.”

Hey guys!!

My name is Summer and I plan to graduate in December. I have three classes left and I am ready to graduate. My major is Electronic Media and my minor is Communication Studies. I am one of the anchors for University Star and will be Larry Carlson’s Teaching Assistant this fall. I am looking forward to that and know it will give me a lot of much needed experience. After I graduate I hope to do entertainment news, such as E News or a sports reporter for FUELtv. I hope to start off at a local news station to get more experience before applying to those jobs. To know me you must know my dad is Native American. I do not look much like him but I definitely take after him. I love being outside and actually can’t stand watching TV. I run everyday and try to swim as much as I can. I love board sports and the outdoors. I just returned from a surf trip in Costa Rica. My brother and I try and take a surf trip every year in a different country. I’m very excited about this class and hope it can help me become computer savvy. I hope this class will help to better me as an anchor for the Star and help to give me an advantage when trying to find my first job.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Hi all!! My name is Kandyce Palamarchuck. My last name is much easier to pronounce than it looks: Paul-mer-chuck. I am 21 years old and a senior here at Texas State. I am majoring in Public Relations and minoring in Sociology and Spanish; but my big dream is to pursue law school. I take my LSAT in February so wish me luck! Like most people that go to Texas State I am a born and raised Texas girl and very proud of it.
I am a sport junkie and used to play basketball at ACU. Unfortunately to all Cowboys fans, I am an Eagles girl - my dad is from Philadelphia so it's in my blood I suppose. My family and my friends are my world - I love to keep the people I love happy =) I am a firm believer that beauty if everywhere. My other hobbies consist of all types of music, cooking/baking, reading, dancing, writing, playing poker and card games, playing different sports, 4wheel riding and enjoying the lake/river. Even though I take pride in being a Texas girl, there is nothing typical about me.
I look forward to having a blast in our class this summer and can't wait to learn more about this World Wide Web of ours. See y'all soon!