eDesign Creativity

Here's a glimpse at some of the great project work cooking in eDesign this semester. Check out some of the individual blogs listed below to see more.

bankedsgn
xfallenangelscrybloodx
roryedesign
edesignsbykatem
cpearce13
built2win
jnunnikhoven
e-connor
omaeder
david-edesign
carolin-barden                                       
chickenwingkids
vermont802
2000circles
e-designcjishu
nfrench-jiberish
awesomestuff3
skitheeast23

SocialNet Guest Speaker Series: Mr. Pete Nicholson - The English Teacher Tale

Our second guest speaker, Mr. Pete, 'Mr. Nic,' Nicholson.


Topic: The transition from high school to today.


Here are our cliff notes from the day.


__


Communications major 'by default.' Unsure of what he wanted to do.


Internship on 10 o’clock News in Philly. Found the career to be cynical. Looking for tragedy all the time.

Interviewed for sales postion. Door-to-door type thing. Couldn't really see himself doing it. He didn't want to be the most annoying man in the world. 

Sister got him a gig at Nickelodeon in the copy room.
Worked up to being a production Assistant: “first real job.”
MTV show ‘Unlimited.'
‘Show went too high brow to be successful. Should have been more trashy.’
Overall, the PD job was a 3-yr gig.
Constantly praised for work ethic... and made him wonder just how bad other employees were who had his job previously.
Had a philosophy... get there before your boss and leave after.

One day he had his existential moment where he asked himself, "is this it?" Decided that the current career path he was on wasn't working for him. So he saved up his money and decided to buy a used car and he followed Horace Greeley's advice and he went West. Started hoarding money. Packed up shop.

Traveled 8 months alone from Missoula, down the West coast, through New Mexico, and all the way back to his brother in Vermont.

Read ‘The Alchemist.' Book had a large impact on his thinking.

Started asking himself ‘what am I going to do when I get back?’
Started daydreaming of teaching.

Took some classes in Albany to get English credits and then moved to Bristol and went to UVM to get his Masters in English.  

He and his then girlfriend, now wife, decided to move back to Manchester and it was after he moved back, he then interviewed for the teaching position at BBA which he obviously got and the rest, as they say, is history.

As career went on... stopped thinking about perfection and more process.

Life is not without battles. Self doubt and the like.

SocialNet Guest Speaker Series: Financial Do's Dont's and How. With Mrs. Lisa Souls

Many thanks to our first guest speaker in the Social Net class, Mrs. Lisa Souls.

Topic: Financial Do's and Don'ts. How to get started.

Here are our cliff notes from the day.

___


What should you look for when your borrowing money?

• Interest rates and the cost of funds.
• Looking at interest rates, you need to look at late fees and the interest rates.
• Everything you spend money on goes to a credit report over time and it will follow you for seven to ten years.
• The biggest form of debt is due to credit cards.

Unsecured: Buying a t-shirt on credit, the bank won’t take it back
Secured: Mostly real estate, if you don’t pay, they will take it.

Credit

There are three major credit card bureaus. 300-850 worst to best credit.
You get three free credit reports a year.
Make sure, even if it seems like you're too young, get a credit report. myannualcreditreport.com is a free credit report.

Make sure you can pay off your monthly bill. The interest is sky high so don't use a credit card as a loan.
Get a credit card and pay it off each month. Don't spend what you can't afford. Credit cards themselves aren't bad... how we use them can be. Don't treat it as a loan. The interest is far too high. Don't feel 'entitled' to money you don't have.
Small purchases equal small payments and will help you to establish a credit rating.


Find a credit card that offers benefits that have value to you: money off at the pump, travel benefits, etc. They change all the time. keep up on it. There's no magic formula.

Federal vs. Private loans:
FHA (federal housing administration) is a conventional loan which guarantees the money. Since you don't have the money to put down on the loan they will put down more but they charge more as well. It is not the best program but it helps some people.

Investing

“Save money for a rainy day.” Set a budget. Save at least 10% or 5% if you can out of your income every check. Too many people who could save money don't. Most of them in that scenario end up paying for it later. Life throws obstacles at you.

401k. Take a certain percentage of your salary out of your check directly, tax free, and employers will match it. Usually ranges from 3% on through 5%. This is only applicable if you work for a certain company. If you don't contribute, they wont pay. If they offer it, take it. It's free money!


* Summarized by the class in collaborative editing and published by students.

RIP, Steve. We'll miss you here.

A few minutes ago I saw the announcement that Steve Jobs had passed away. 

I stopped my work and headed to the Apple web site and found this.

Apple's tribute on their web site...

Simple, elegant, to the point, and it didn't take very long.

Just the way Steve would have liked it.

RIP, Steve. We'll miss you here.

#ripstevejobs
#stevejobs

Good one ; P

My friend Claudia posted this earlier today.