Motivational Music Mix

Need motivational music? I certainly did while studying for comps. I decided to share my list and solicit for any other songs people listened to when they needed to get motivated. The motivation could be for anything...working out, studying, cleaning, etc.

Runaway – Love & Theft (how I really feel about the whole process)
Lose Yourself – Eminem (a old standby)
Tubthumbing – Chumbawamba (@KarenRussell suggestion)
Consider Me Gone – Reba McEntire
Everything’s Right – Matt Wertz
Save Me – Remy Zero (makes me think of Smallville & Superman)
Pretty the World – Matt Nathanson
Enter Sandman – Metallica (Hokie entrance song – get jumping!) - I'm in the stands jumping in front of the scoreboard...I rushed the field at the end of the game!
The Climb – Miley Cyrus (yes, I love this song)
All at Once – The Fray
Brighter Days – Jimmy Wayne (looking forward)
Sounds Like Life to Me – Darryl Worley (reality check)
I Wanna Do it All – Terri Clark (damn right!)
Barefoot & Crazy – Jack Ingram
Hold On – Jack Ingram
Songs About Rain – Gary Allan
Cowgirls Don’t Cry – Brooks & Dunn (not really a cowgirl, so I guess I’m ok)
Long Gone – Lady Antebellum
I Run to You – Lady Antebellum
Need You Now – Lady Antebellum
Red Light – David Nail
Laughed Until We Cried – Jason Aldean
Here Comes Goodbye – Rascal Flatts
It Happens – Sugarland
Joey – Sugarland
Come On Get Higher – Sugarland (live version…awesome)
Don’t Think I Don’t Think About it – Darius Rucker
Alright – Darius Rucker
Come On Get Higher – Matt Nathanson
Boom Boom Pow – Black Eyed Peas
I Gotta Feeling – Black Eyed Peas (after comps...)

The Week in Technology

Here are some fun links from my RSS feeds as well as other items I've found over the past week or so that I thought were interesting.

Highlights from the SCNR:
Courtesy of Dr. Mihaela Vorvoreanu:
New Media, New Influencers and Implications for the PR Profession
SNCR Closing keynote: The transformational power of blogging

For Students:
Skills for Young PR Pros (From Voce Communications)

General:
Email - The New Interface
Twitter for Journalists

In Politics:
PoliticsOnline.com Covers the 2008 Election
Search Engine Use in the 08 Election
Web on Candidates

Interesting Blogs of the Week:
Philip Young - Mediations
Fun - Athens Door Guy

Just for Fun:
Student "Tweets" His Way Out of Prison

Upcoming Events: Wish I could participate in this

In other technology news, my laptop is very close to biting the dust and I've been on a search for one over the past few months. Here's my dilemma...I have a Dell Inspiron 8600 and it's served me very well and so has Dell. I have had a couple major service issues including a soda management problem and they've taken care of it through their 'Accidental Damage' coverage. Basically, I need a system that travels well, is affordable and if a PC, has XP (I don't want to deal with Vista).

Note: KS - Yes, I know...get a Mac.

Spring Break Recap - New Friends, New Experiences, Great Paddling

Back from South Carolina...

First of all, this trip was definitely one of the best I've ever taken. That's not an exaggeration...it was perfect. We had great weather, great paddling, funny stories, lots of new memories, and most importantly, a clearer mind.

The first day we met at the UGA's Ramsey Center to load up the kayaks and van to set off. It was snowing...yes in Georgia, as we left for Spring Break. We all thought this was quite amusing. We got on the road and headed to Charleston. The first night we stayed at the KOA campground. We learned how to pack the kayaks and found that it was not as difficult as we had imagined.

The next day we got set for our first launch at Gadsdenville. While we waited for the car switch, we learned basic paddling strokes and various other important pieces of information about the trip. After I stopped fighting my kayak, we all got on our way. It was about 2.5 miles to Capers Island where we set up camp for two nights. After getting camp set up and eating, Sue and I decided to explore the island a little and walked up the beach for a few miles.

The next day we were allowed to sleep in...which felt awesome. I kept waking up thinking, "oh I should get up" and then I realized I had no real reason...so I rolled over and fell asleep again. Finally, we all rolled out and get ourselves together to explore the island's marshes in the boats. We went through until we ran out of water. Then, we headed towards the open ocean, where some people decided to go surfing...Sue and I stayed back and just floated around a bit, enjoying the scenery and watching everyone else. After we came in from that, we went for another hike. This time into the island where we discovered the alligators. That night we ended our stay at Capers with a nice bonfire.

Tuesday was by far the toughest day of kayaking. We went over 7 miles the whole day through a lot of territory. We did take a couple of breaks, but I was a little cranky by the end. Sue can attest to my cranky mood. The only injury for me occurred as we got out of our boats after the 7 mile journey. I didn't balance myself well getting out on the boat dock and proceeded to slip and smack my rear and back on the dock. It didn't hurt right away but let me tell you the next morning I thought a Sumo wrestler had slept on me. There was also quite a bruise.

After we loaded the boats, we headed back to the KOA to get a shower...which felt awesome after 3 days without one. That night we tasted real food (as compared to the freeze dried, ramen noodles & power bars we had been eating). We went to a restaurant called The Wreck. Now, it doesn't look like a place you should be eating from the outside...or really from the inside either, but they had great seafood, friendly waitstaff, and quite honestly nothing beats a plate full of perfectly friend seafood and a cold beer after a long day. After our feast at The Wreck, we headed into downtown Charleston, where we proceed to take a driving tour (looking for a parking spot) and then get rained on. So, what did we do...went for Starbucks. Seriously...everyone was going their separate ways, but we all ended up there. After the rain let up, Sue and I walked around a bit. I would really like to visit Charleston again, it looks like a great city.

Our final day was another early one, but we had IHOP for breakfast. Let me tell you...there's nothing like having green eggs and ham with Whoo cakes to get your day started. We then put in at Remie Point, cruised around the Harbor, under the Cooper River Bridge, past a aircraft carrier and Coast Guard ship. We also stopped on a little island that served as a bird sanctuary, passing by some shrimp boats (I could not resist acting out the scene from Forrest Gump...boiled shrimp, broiled shrimp, fried shrimp...hehe), before getting out at Shem Creek. We then grabbed some lunch at the marina before heading back to Georgia.

During the journey home, we played a rousing game of mobile Who Wants to be a Millionaire that ended in some disappointment. Needless to say, we could only get to the $500,000 level. When we got back, we unloaded the boats into the Ramsey Center and headed home exhausted. I slept very soundly the next few nights.

The experience taught me a lot about myself and my abilities as well as allowed me to completely let myself relax and enjoy the world around me. These times truly give me the perspective I need to keep doing what I'm doing. I felt a lot of clarity and gained a new sense of myself out there on the water. I can only hope that I can hold onto that for awhile. At least until the end of this semester.

Some pictures:

Setting up camp the first night









Our Capers Island campsite








Preparing to launch








Awesome shot of me edging








How you doin?








Good Morning Kayaks!







"Googly Eyes"










More pictures:
My Flickr
Dr. Cramer - one of our guides
Sue's blog

Making it to Spring Break

Well, I've been quite neglectful with the blog this week trying to get through this last week before a much-needed Spring Break. I've been quite busy since the weekend's crazy pace of technology. In addition to the normal hundreds of pages of reading, writing my weekly paper, etc...I started my first experiment on YouTube this week. I was thrilled today to get into the study groups and start seeing what the young people are going to say about the videos, their political views, etc. Research can definitely be a rush...yes, I am a geek.

Over Spring Break, in addition to getting a start on my final projects and various other work, I'm going to take 5 days to go kayaking in South Carolina. Tonight starts that process when I go to the campus pool and learn how to roll, self-rescue and generally not panic in crazy conditions that we may encounter on our trip. Though I've been kayaking several times, this is really the first several day trip and only the second time I've done sea kayaking (the first time did not go well). So, Sue and I will be heading out Saturday morning and getting back on Wednesday night of next week. We have to have 3 days worth of food and water with us and we will be taking all of our gear with us as we cruise around the waters off of South Carolina. We have dubbed it "Survivor South Carolina." Here's the schedule:

So wish me luck on my little adventure and I will be sure to let everyone know how it was when I return...if I do (just kidding).

Some interesting links from my weekly reading of blogs, websites and various other web surfing:

Edelman Videos on YouTube

IABC taking the lead on the Social Media Release

Hillary makes a funny

5 New Web Apps

Links

It's been a rough week. So, I wanted to post, but I'm being a bit lazy. I'm just posting some links.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37713095@N00/
- I updated my Flickr photos

Seriously?

The Tudors is an awesome show...the Showtime network has really stepped it up in the past few years

Google Health - no ads

Overheard in Athens

Oye

Anyway, I'm very excited about the Edelman Digital Bootcamp (#edb) this weekend! Looks for updates from me on Saturday.