Brain vs Heart

Do our minds control our hearts, or is it our hearts controlling our minds?

Sometimes you just sit around and ponder the most ridiculous things, and now is one of those times.

It seems that now that I am becoming more of an adult, this debate is controlling a majority of my decisions and I'm really not sure how i feel about it.

I can't decide whether I should make sensible decisions, or if I should decide to do what makes me happy. Don't get me wrong, I'm not unhappy and lost at this point, but there are some things that could be easier to come to a conclusion on if I wasn't so responsibly logical.

Stay in Oregon and get a job, or move to Chicago and try to figure it out there? Cut back on spending and stay home more often, or go out and have a good time and worry about blowing money later?

(I realize these aren't exactly life's great paradoxes, but they are consistently on the top of my dome)

What makes it so difficult is that being fresh out of college is a great time to establish yourself as an adult and make focused, calculated decisions toward future success. But maybe it isn't really difficult at all.

Past examples would establish that I've always managed to have a ton of fun, while still being responsible enough to make good decisions that keep my life balanced and moving forward.

I think instead of stressing over it, I'll just follow my heart and let my mind catch up. Or decide in my mind to follow my heart. See how this is so confusing?

Making up new words/revolutions

Ok, maybe I got a little carried away with putting the word ‘revolution’ in my title but I got excited!

As a new blogger I’m learning more and more every day. Learning that blogging isn’t just the best way to learn about your favorite sports team, hear the latest music, and read about your preferred drunken celebrity.

Apparently it is also a great way to vent your frustrations.

To me there is nothing wrong with venting frustrations, unless it becomes what I am now coining a “MobBlog”. You read it here first (Actually, chances are nobody is reading it here but if it ever gets big in the mainstream I called ‘DIBBS!’).

It seems that Spirit Airlines thinks it is above responding to blogs. Now, this is obviously a large mistake and now they are paying for it in the blogosphere. But I don’t really like how this whole situation is going down.

They are getting MobBlogged!

MobBlogging, it seems, is becoming a common practice where multiple bloggers get together and bash a company, product, or pundit until all credibility is lost for the aforementioned entity.

Personally, I think it is wrong that bloggers are ganging up in a negative fashion. Your experience might have been horrible, but can we give a company/blogger/product the benefit of the doubt? Maybe there were circumstances behind such issues and there aren’t future problems.

Perhaps I just have a problem or fear of bloggers gaining such control? I’m not really sure but either way it seems that the blogosphere could remain a positive place to exchange information and stories, not a place to gang up on somebody and pound them into the ground.

What do you think?

Please don’t MobBlog me now…

'O' so good

You've got to feel sorry for Oprah...

Wait, I know what you are thinking: that sentence makes no sense, and why is a 22-yr-old male blogging about Oprah? Just hold steady for second and enjoy the ride of this post.

The one reason to feel sorry for Oprah is that she made the large mistake of titling her magazine 'O'. The reason that is such a mistake is that The University of Oregon, with the help of Nike and Wieden+Kennedy, did such an amazing job branding the 'O' for Oregon Athletics that soon it will be synonymous with cutting edge sports around the country.

After spending Saturday tailgating in Seattle and watching the Ducks obliterate the hated Huskies from the University of Washington, I realized the power of the Oregon O that is slapped on nearly every piece of apparel our school sells.

Instead of discussing game schemes and tough defenses with Husky fans, I spent a large portion of the festivities talking about our uniforms and ridiculous marketing schemes. It seems that most opposing fans aren't big fans of our flashy gear. Too bad we aren't recruiting them, or are we?

I've done a fair share of traveling around the country and I've also lived abroad in Spain, always discussing The University of Oregon with people I meet. It has been my experience that people usually know our beloved Ducks quite well and their familiarity with our jerseys is quite impressive too.

Love it or hate it, Oregon is a Nike school. We have more ridiculous outfits than Kanye West and it won't be slowing down anytime soon. We have been lucky enough to be branded by one of the best marketing/ad agencies in the world.

So go ahead and complain all you want about how ugly that lightning yellow is. OR just get over it and go buy a shirt for yourself. You might look pretty smart and stylish if/WHEN the Ducks win a BCS bowl game!

The theme of our generation

Just Do It, Built Ford Tough, The Freshmaker...does it really even matter anymore?

Well, according to Laura Ries and her blog The Origin of Brands, it does. Apparently the unpopular slogan for the city of Atlanta, 'Every day is an opening day', is finally getting pulled and she is happy about. The meaningless slogan seemed to under-sell Atlanta to those who were listening.

But the reality of the situation might be that there aren't that many people listening. I have no knowledge of the Atlanta slogan fiasco and I'm not coming down on Laura Ries' argument, but it seems to me that these days many slogans are falling on deaf ears.

As a 'Millenial' or 'Gen-Yer', I have to admit that I feel numbed by the amount of slogans and branding campaigns that have blown by my face, and flown in one ear and out the other. I really don't know if slogans are as relevant as some people think they are.

I have never purchased a product for the catchy slogan and I don't really know how the Built Ford Tough and Like a Rock slogans affect car-buyer decisions, but what would really make me look into a company and their new product would be something so quiet that it was loud.

So maybe next time a company wants to make a big bang in the lives of my generation, they should do something as simple as paying for a silent commercial. Music to my ears.

PRty On!

Well it looks like I finally made it to the party that everybody has been talking about: Blogging. Although not an actual party, I am excited to finally be included and to hang with the 'cool kids' in the Blogosphere!

This new blog will grow with me as I find my way in the working world of Public Relations and all that comes with the new experiences. From time to time I'll be blogging about a wide range of topics that can all be related back to PR, and maybe I'll post a personal blog every once in a while too.

So come along, get excited and have your party hats ready for the PRty! Don't forget to RSVP!