Dogs in Clogs Blog

I'm becoming a Parks & Recreation fan. Aziz Ansari is ridiculously funny. I saw this and wanted to share it!

What I'm Listening To

I looooove this song! It's so positive. The video is creative and funky too. If I made a music video, I'd definitely use this as my muse!

Professional Envelope Stuffer

Look at these envelope stuffers!
Doesn't it look like they're having fun?!
Photo borrowed from http://www.coralsprings.org/
baldrige/Photos/VolunteersEnvelopeStuffing-lg.jpg

Yesterday, as I was stuffing envelopes and making spreadsheets, I realized how much I hated my internship. "Hate" is such a strong word, so let's say that I STRONGLY DISLIKE IT. Yes, it's a resume builder, but I feel like I have so much more to offer. I'm not using the skills I've learned in my public relations classes. Instead, I'm using skills I learned as my dad's secretary two summers ago.

A long time ago, my dad once told me, "If you're a floor mopper, be the best floor mopper you can be." Yesterday, my mentor told me, after a long venting/complaining session, "Build your own opportunity."

Last night, a lady from Edelman in Orlando spoke at the FPRA steting. She gave some suggestions about the job market, internships, and post-graduation. She had some good talking points, and touched upon some important subjects. One thing she mentioned was internships. (How coincidental.) She said some of the things my dad and Dr. White said.

These words of wisdom sound good, but how do I do it?

I'm not going to say WHO I'm interning with, because that would look really bad, but the company is old. They've been doing things the same way for years. I can respect that. If something has worked for you, and it has proven itself effective...stick with it. But this point is exactly what makes it hard for my "creative juices" to flow. The projects I've been assigned to have been going on for years. There are templates for look at and task sheets for me to follow and check off. As a new-comer, I don't know how to change it or improve the projects.

How can I, an intern who won't be there much longer, try to change or suggest new ways to operate? How can I "build my own experience" like Dr. White suggested? I don't know how to stand out from the other four interns in my department.



Photo borrowed from:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yFTewYHRa4U/TAUZq0D_83I/
AAAAAAAAG6c/9Ydx5CIM2dg/s1600/131626_2413.jpg



A year ago, I wasn’t as confident in my skills. I hadn’t taken any PR writing classes, and I didn’t think that I could be a valuable intern. People often tell me that I’m modest and that I don’t give myself enough credit because I’m a humble person. I doubt my abilities at times. But one thing I cannot deny is that I’m a talented person; I’m a stand-out individual. God’s given me so many skills, and I don’t think this internship is helping me cultivate them.

(I will admit that I have a tendency to be melodramatic, so I’ll try to wrap this post up with something a bit more optimistic.)

Maybe this internship is teaching me something…I just don’t know exactly what that “something” is. Maybe, at the end of the semester, I’ll see the growth.

It’s similar to a growth chart. When I was a kid, I didn’t think I was growing like the other kids in my class. I always saw how they grew from year-to-year and how they were getting tall. I used to get REALLY upset. I wanted to be tall too! One summer, I went to my secret height chart where I kept up with my growth. I looked at the pencil marks on the wall, and looked at the dates written by them. To my surprise, I had grown. While I was in the moment, comparing myself to others, I failed to notice my own progression. (I may be getting off onto another topic, but stay with me.) In April, when I look back over my tenure, I pray that I get something more than paper cuts from this internship.

I Whip My Hair (If I Had Enough to Whip!)

I was cruising the 'net, and came across two adorable videos dedicated to girls and their hair!

Tweetly Tweet

The other day I chronicled my baking experience on Twitter. I made the best brownies in the world, and I posted pictures for each step. I thought it would be kind of cool if I opened up my kitchen to my cookie fans (that’s what I call my customers).

I love Twitter. A lot of people who are not on Twitter complain about it because they think that it invades their privacy. But one crucial point that these people seem to overlook is that Twitter let’s you choose who follows you.

I use Twitter for two reasons.

Ultimately, it’s a part of my “hustle.” I tell my cookie fans what’s going on in my world. Even though they love my funny thoughts and jokes, they follow me to find out what’s in my oven. Not only do I share with them what I’m baking, but I also provide incentives for following me on Twitter. Everyone loves free cookie contests!

Chart borrowed from www.eMarketer.com

I may regret saying this later, but I also use Twitter because older members of my family are on Facebook. According to eMarketer.com, in 2009, 57 percent of American Internet users maintained a social networking site. For baby boomers, like my dad, their social network of choice is Facebook.

About a year ago, my aunts, uncles and dad, joined Facebook. I thought it would be cool to accept their friend requests because they’d get an inside look at my life in college. I’m proud to say I have nothing to hide, so I didn’t see any harm in letting them into my world. For a while it was nice to post a greeting or two on their Facebook walls or to tag them in Christmas pictures. But after a few months, it got old and annoying. I stopped posting statuses on a constant basis because I got phone calls from my concerned family members, and I untagged pictures of myself because my parents constantly questioned my whereabouts.

Illustration borrowed http://www.time.com/time/
magazine/article/0,9171,1879169,00.html.
Drawn by John Cueno for Time.

“Why Facebook Is for Old Fogies,” an article that ran on Time.com, suggested older people flock to Facebook for 10 major reasons. The top reason? To find people they’ve lost track of. Why drive hundreds of miles to a class reunion when Facebook is free? And on top of that, they can pry into an old classmates’ business in a matter of clicks.

The author of the article, Lev Grossman, lists a plethora of great reasons “old fogies” jump on Facebook. But, in the case of my father, I don’t agree with Grossman's list. If you scroll to the bottom of Grossman’s list, you’ll see why my dad joined Facebook. Ladies and gentlemen, my dad joined Facebook because of me. I’m not sure whether to be fearful or to feel flattered.

So now I’m on Twitter, and life is sweet (literally). I check my Facebook page every once in awhile, but my main medium is Twitter. I know that I can’t keep running from my family online. I’ll have to deal with this issue eventually. I often ask myself what I’ll do when my parents get tired of Facebook and join Twitter.

I’ll deal with that when it happens. 

Ewwww! Wash your hands!

At my university, I’m known as The Cookie Girl. I love to bake goodies from scratch, and I sell them to classmates and teachers. I started baking when I was knee-high to a grasshopper. I can remember going into the kitchen, specifically during holidays, to bake with my Auntie Bertha.


I learned a lot of things from my Auntie Bert in the kitchen. I learned that the most important part of mixing up cakes is the creaming process (mixing the butter and the sugar). A good creaming makes a good cake! I also learned to be patient while the oven preheated. The oven must at the right temperature when you put the delectables in. But one of the most important lessons that I learned was to have clean hands. I could go into gruesome details about what could happen if one’s hands aren’t clean, but I will not.



Photo borrowed from http://www.dkimages.com/discover/Home/
Health-and-Beauty/Personal-Hygiene/Soap/Soap-46.html



I read a book called “Do the Right Thing: PR Tips for a Skeptical Public” by James Hoggan. I read an interesting passage about hand washing and manipulation. Hoggan told a story about an anthropologist who worked in Burkina Faso, a country in West Africa. The anthropologist, Dr. Val Curtis, set out on a mission to get the residents to wash their hands. Curtis thought the simple act would help knock out diseases caused by dirty hands, thus saving thousands of lives. Hoggan says her years of public education campaigns flopped, so she turned to companies like Procter & Gamble, Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive. The three companies are master manipulators. They convince us that we need disinfecting wipes, air fresheners, fabric softeners and teeth whiteners on a daily basis. They were the perfect companies to help Curtis.

Through research, the team (comprised of the three companies) found out that the people of Burkina Faso didn’t think going to the bathroom was dirty. The team decided to convince them that it was. The new public health commercials showed moms and their kids walking out of bathrooms with “glowing purple pigment” (p. 33) on their hands. Everything they touched glowed purple, too (to show the act of contamination).

Smart idea, huh?

The point of Hoggan’s story is highlighted on page 33 of his book: “Is it wrong to use manipulative tactics in a good cause?”

I think it’s wrong, but I’ve done it before. Once, when I was helping out at children’s church, a little girl walked out of the bathroom without washing her hands. I prompted her to go back to wash her hands, and told her that her hands were dirty. She looked at them, and insisted that they were not. I bent down, grabbed her hands and held them out. I told her, “You can’t see it, but little buggies are crawling on your hands. The only way to get rid of them is to wash your hands with soap and water. If you don’t the buggies could make you sick.” I had to instill a little bit of fear to get her to “Do the Right Thing.” Is that wrong?

“Nothing’s Better Than Friends!”

(Image borrowed from http://www.webring.org/
t/The-Baby-Sitters-Club-Webring)

I’m a jack-of-all-trades and a master of some. I’m working on mastering the art of skillfully entertaining kids.

Growing up, I always watched “The Babysitters Club” on the Disney Channel. In elementary school I wanted to do two things:

1. Start a club, like the one created by girls from "The Babysitters Club."
2. Babysit!

So, when I was in middle school, my parents let me take a whack at it. Ever since then, that’s what I’ve done. When I moved to Tallahassee, I picked the job back up. I babysit two silly little 4-year-olds named Quentin and Vivian. They’re on a journey through life and are exiting the world of toddlerhood. I’m confident about this because they will boldly look into your eyes and tell you: “I’m not a baby. I’m a big kid.”

I recently read a surprisingly good book for my PR Research and Strategies class. The book is called “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference,” and it’s by Malcolm Gladwell. I’m not a fan of assigned reading, but I must give this book six thumbs up (my thumbs, Quentin’s thumbs and Vivian’s thumbs, too).

Even though this book isn’t about babysitting, I can apply some things that I read about to my second college “hustle.” So, here is.

Brittney’s List of Babysitting Tips 

Based upon children’s TV research from “The Tipping Point”

Me and Vivian on the see-saw!

1. Kid’s like variety. Follow the "Sesame Street" model. Instead of doing long, drawn-out activities with them, do a handful of short-and-sweet activities. Just the other day, I was hanging out with Q and Viv (we don’t call it babysitting, we call it hanging out). They get antsy if we only watch TV or if we only play outside. So, we watched TV for a little while, then we jumped on the trampoline, then we baked cookies, etc. I think you catch my drift.

2. If you run out of things to do, it’s OK. Kids don’t mind playing the same games that you played last time. On Sunday, I was running out of things to do with Quenten and Vivian. I got a bit nervous because I wanted to be on my toes ... I was far from it. Not knowing what to do, I thought back to the last time that I babysat them and suggested that we build a tent. Their eyes lit up! They ran to grab sheets and blankets in order to build something that we’ve built thousands of times before. It never gets old.  

3. Keep it simple. Gladwell explained in his book that the show “Sesame Street” is full of puns. The "Sesame Street" crew did it because they wanted to entertain parents who would be watching with their kids.  The creators of the show “Blue’s Clues” saw that kids don’t catch on to puns. Simplicity is the key!

Read up on “The Tipping Point.” Buy it if you’re looking for something good to read! http://www.amazon.com/Tipping-Point-Little-Things-Difference/dp/0316346624