Ball State

» promotional items

By China at 8:46 AM

I tripped over a couple shoes, some empty shopping bags, and a bag filled with junk as I stepped through the apartment door the other day. Rolling my eyes, I kicked some of the debris off the floor and neatly placed my shoes on the rack along the wall just the way that I wish my other roommates would do instead of nearly killing me with the stuff they scatter in front of the door. But I dont want to talk about pet peeves with roommates. I appreciate them very much, and Im sure they put up with a lot more with me than I do with them.

Anyways, after placing my shoes on the rack, I started to move the bag of junk aside when I peeked inside and noticed it was full of some interesting stuff bags, visors, mugs, bottles, key chains, and all the pens you could imagine. It was full of promotional items. My roommate must have gotten it from the latest career fair he attended at the local convention center. This bag of junk may have been more valuable than I thought!

I love promotional items. First, theyre items, and usually very useful ones at that. Second, theyre promotional (i.e. free), so that makes the useful items even more desirable. Ironically, I tend to use the promotional items even more than I do some items that Ive bought from the store. Sure, the promotional items have logos and messages on them, some less discrete than others, but the item is still useful.

From an advertising point of view, I would say that promotional items are way more effective than your standard 30-second commercial or freeway billboard. Promotional items literally stay with your target consumer inside their home day in and day out in the form of a handy item that usually brings good feelings to the person who uses it. Who knows how many promotional items I have in my apartment mugs, flash drives, hats, t-shirts (which, by the way, make really great nighttime shirts), and key chains. And as I wrote earlier, apparently my roommate really likes promotional items as well.

Now I wonder what kind of promotional items would be the best. Traditionally they were stuff like key chains and pens and mugs, but some even do cool things like mints or stuffed animals or even bottled water. I guess only time will tell which would be the best.

» luau party

By China at 9:07 AM

Last year my roommate and I had our very first apartment (we lived in the dorms our freshman year) so we were obviously really excited to have people over and be free from the rules of the dorm and the school. So we decided that we would throw themed parties (always a hit in college). For our friends birthday they threw a luau party and we went with them to get the party supplies. It was so fun going around store to store looking for stuff to go with our theme. We ended up getting a kiddie pools and filling them in the basement. A few of the pools had water in them that people went in, but others were for drinks, which everyone thought was really cool. We had every dress up in their swimsuits and people wore grass skirts, it was hilarious. I've also been to parties that were like a glow in the dark theme and people had glow necklaces (which I remember were so cool when we were little and everyone had to have them at their birthday party) and there were glow sticks all over the basement.

Themed parties are always a lot of fun because people act out of character and in my opinion often have a better time. The key is finding the right theme for your party. I remember going to a few parties that just stunk because people thought that the theme was lame. It's funny to do things from the past, like I love the 90's or one time my sorority had a 80's workout video party and we all dressed up in workout clothes with leggings and our ponytails to the side, it was so funny.

Having themes for philanthropy events is also popular. For my sorority I planned the ‘get leid for a cause' function which was a mixer for college students at our university for breast cancer. It was a Hawaiian theme, but also had a little sexual connotation in it which made it more appealing I think to college students. Everyone seems to have a great time though at the charity events and they are also doing it for a great cause. Having parties with themes or with an appeal to students for charities is a really great idea now. Now more than ever students are getting involved and making a difference.

» free antivirus software

By China at 8:21 AM

This is my first entry since I have gotten my new computer. That is why you may have been wondering about the delay between entries that I have had lately. It wasn't because of some terminal illness or a flesh eating virus, no it was something much worse. I got a horrible computer virus that destroyed everything I had on my computer. I got it because I had opened one of these chain emails that when you open them it takes you to a different site. When I got to the site it said that I was being checked for computer viruses and I tried to hit back. A window popped up and said that I couldn't do that until it was done and then another window popped up that said the downloading was finished. I immediately went back to my email but I was worried. I looked around and didn't find anything odd that day. The next day though when I went on the computer I did notice that one of the folders in my documents had changed its name to something else. I looked inside and there was nothing there. I deleted it and went about my day. The next day I went on al three more folders had done the same. This went on for about a week until most of my programs had been lost and replaced with thousands of these empty folders.

Now I have my new computer and since I got it I have been super vigilant with everything on it. I tried the free antivirus software on the old computer and the virus seemed to be a bit too strong for that. I went on and just got some free virus removal software for the new one and it has been fine since. I have also been eager to watch free virus removal how-to videos just in case anything happens to the new computer, god forbid, and I have to try and salvage this one. If it ever happens again though I will know to act as quickly as possible because now my old computer is working but it has nothing on it anymore since everything was eaten. I guess it's a lesson hard learned.

» payday loans

By China at 12:49 PM

I just got a call from my big brother who is a Marine stationed in South Carolina at the moment. He only calls me when he has big news or when dad goes to the hospital again. Dad really likes his woodworking now that he has retired and has nothing to do with his time. Unfortunately for dad his coordination and reflexes were much quicker when he was a much younger man. So anyway, my brother called and he was not calling about any news on Dad. HE was actually giving me some bad news about what his plans are for the next few months.

The conversation began a little more upbeat than it would eventually go. HE told me about all of the crazy parties and interesting new experiences he was having down there. He is currently getting more training all the time because he is an infantry soldier. This means he has to constantly train and that he also constantly parties with his platoon buddies. I was not surprised at all when he told me that he was the one who was usually throwing the parties because in high school it was the same way. That was where I learned how to throw the best parties ever. He also told me about how a couple of buddies in his unit got in to some big trouble with payday loans. He explained to me what the free payday loans were and that he had used them when he had an emergency, but some guys took it too far. These two guys took out the no fax payday loans and used them to gamble with in the hopes that they would win more than the pay back value. Their plan didn't work and they are in big trouble now.

His conversation eventually did turn a little grim though when he told me the news. He is going over seas to be stationed in the middle east. He is not going in to a combat post but he is still going to be gone for a long part of next year. We'd been planning on going camping a bunch next summer so I am a little bit bummed about the news.

» health questions

By China at 9:24 AM

When you get to college and you are on your own there are so many health questions that students have and they aren't sure where to turn. I know at the university that I go to; there are a number of places that a student can turn if they have a question about their health or anything for that matter. Although I have never gone (yet) I have heard in the seminars that we had to attend freshman year that we have a great counseling department. And the first like 3 or 5 sessions you attend are free and covered under your tuition. It is completely anonymous and you are allowed to talk about anything. There are also hotlines that you can call for specific or certain health questions you may have as well as going to or calling the health center (I've been there numerous times to ask questions about prescriptions). It is so great to know you have a place to go to or people to turn to if you have questions, especially at college age, because you are discovering new things and you are on your own without your parents or for some freshman, you still don't have any close friends yet. It is nice to know that there are people out there that know what you are going through and can help you.

Getting involved on campus is also a great way to make friends and get closer to people. The closer friends that you have, the more you feel confident in confiding in them or going to them for help you may need whether it is about a boy, a health problem or question or even about class work. Getting involved on your campus is so positive in every aspect of your life. Not only are you helping yourself, but you are helping others as well. If you are making friends that you feel you can confide in, that friend is also doing the same. By belonging to a group or an organization, you are not only giving to the school or the community, you are giving to yourself and your friends (people you may not have even met before joining). That is why it is so important to network and build friendships while you are young. You will have people to turn to and depend on now, and in the future.

» eating disorder treatment

By China at 8:26 AM

My mother has had so many problems throughout her life, it is amazing that she has come as far as she has. She started out being raised primarily by and alcoholic mother who used to hit her and take her to bars when she was just a little girl. She struggled growing up with her mother until when she was about 14 her mother was sent to a rehab for women, which was court ordered by the state and then she was put into foster care as her father was no where to be found. By this point, I really think that she was already damaged beyond repair and within a few short years, she was living with a nice family but she was always in and out of trouble. She hung out with a rough crowd and with a lot of really bad people. She had always been slightly overweight but really had not worried about it until a guy she was dating said that she was fat, and this seems to have triggered a response in her that was over the top. She began starving herself. Anorexia nervosa is what they call this disorder. She began to loose weight and honestly I have seen some pictures of my mother during this time in her life, and she looks more like a skeleton than a human being. She got her weight down to 97 lbs and then she had to be hospitalized for eating disorder treatment. During her stay in the hospital, apparently she learned how to purge because she was forced to eat and didn't want to gain any weight. Only later did she really learn about her disorder and actually found out that being a child of an alcoholic made her more predisposed to this illness than other people. Since anorexia was more about control than actually about weight, she learned that not eating was actually her way of taking some sort of control in her life. For the first time, she actually felt empowered, and although it was a long road to recovery she made it. She got herself up to a healthy weight and has continued her counseling for all these years. After she got out of treatment, she went back and got her GED and went to college, where she met my father. My mother has always been very open about her anorexia and knows that she needs to be really careful for the rest of her life.

Thank goodness, she got the help she needed. The foster family that she lived with still keeps in touch with her. If it had not been for them getting her the help she needed, I know she would not be here today, and for that fact neither would I.

» internet access

By China at 12:34 PM

Internet access is vital when you are a college student. When I moved into my apartment last year it was such a hassle to set up the cable and the internet. Every few days the TV or the internet would stop working and we would have to call the cable company and have them come out and fix it. It is something I dread for this coming school year, because if the internet stops working, you can't check your grades online or if your teacher cancels class and sends out an email you won't get it, or even checking my bank statement. The worst part is that if your internet doesn't work it takes so long to get it fixed. We would call the second it stopped working (of course always when we were in the middle of an important homework assignment that required research online or an aim conversation ha) and then we would be on the phone for 30 minutes to an hour just being transferred from one person to another and every single time they transfer you, you have to explain your problem again to that person. Then they will send someone out ‘as soon as possible', which really means between 3 days and a week before someone will come to your house. Then usually what happened to us, was that it was a problem that needed equipment that the person didn't have with them so they would have to order it and it was just such a mess because we would have to reschedule the appointment and have them come out a few days later to actually fix it and by the time it is really done, two weeks have passed and then 2 days later it stops working again.

You don't realize how much you depend on internet access until it doesn't work or you don't have it. I spend so much time during the school year on the internet that when it goes out it is a serious inconvenience. From checking my balance on my bank account to keeping in touch through email with my friends and family to doing homework and class assignments, you need the internet now a days. It is crucial for you to be able to sign online and check all of those things and so much more. If you don't have internet access you are out of the loop completely.

» diamonds

By China at 2:00 PM

In one of my classes there is this girl Maggie and she just really thinks who she is. She comes to class in designer clothes, suits and stuff, while most of roll in half asleep in our sweats. She always looks picture perfect and I know it sounds caddy of me, but on my best day I am not sure I look as good as she does at 7 am. She is just one of those people that you imagine came out of the womb looking like she belonged on the cover of a magazine. I guess maybe I wouldn't mind it so much if she didn't walk around all the time acting as if she were better than any other student on campus. I think she must come from money or something because she always comes to class covered in diamonds and then she says things to us like do you like my Diamanten? Well, needless to say I wasn't going to ask her what this meant, but I did look it up and found out that this is the word for Diamonds in German. What a joke, she comes to class and says words that she knows we aren't going to understand!

Maggie is the type of girl that all the guys look at, and I can understand it, after all she is well polished and very pretty. I guess I just don't understand why she doesn't improve her attitude any. I really think that she would be a lot prettier if she had a lovely attitude in addition to her good looks. I know on the first day of class, she walked in late, and I could see all the guys looking. The next time the class met, a few of the guys tried to sit by her and this one guy Brendan sat right next to her. I didn't really hear or see any exchange between the two of them, but I would guess that her attitude must have scared the guys away because the next class all the guys sat somewhere else, and that left Maggie sitting all alone, after all none of the girls want to sit by her either.

It just seems that a good rule is inner beauty is much more important that outward physical beauty. A bad attitude can make even the most beautiful person ugly.

» web security

By China at 1:19 PM

As a business major I feel that some of the most important classes I have taken so far have been my computer literacy courses. As we all know, the world of business, and many other things, is moving in the direction of becoming a totally digital practice. In that same light, our generation of business people need to be computer proficient. It is my understanding that the better you are with computers right now, the better you will handle the demands of the modern business world. The knowledge of how to properly navigate and utilize internet systems can turn anything from an efficiency plan or a huge lofty dream, in to reality at lightning speed. As always goes with knowledge of any subject or skill, there are always those things which counteract what we intend to do.

In the digital world of business, one of the biggest problems that exists, and probably always will, is web security. Web application vulnerability is something that can turn even a multinational corporation's website in to something that may be totally worthless and even detrimental to the customers. On the smaller scale websites these types of things are much more difficult to foresee and prevent, but it is possible. As your company grows and your website actions increase, the attempts by professional PHP hack artists will also become more numerous. Login areas and checkouts will become an area of constant concern as was once the door of the store or the back shelves when no one was looking.

No matter if we are talking about business from the perspective of someone starting out fresh or someone jumping in to the mix at a huge firm, the internet will be the biggest tool and the biggest security issue we may face. In the digital world we will trade more than we ever could through face to face transaction, but we will still face the same types of people. There will always be those of us who want to play by the rules, and then there will be those who want to prey on us. As the younger generation, we must all understand how to use the internet properly and not become the victim as a result of simple errors.

» wrinkle prevention

By China at 1:46 PM

It seems like skin conditions seem to run rampant in our society, and yet it seems that the medical profession often dismisses these issues as merely cosmetic in nature and doesn't pay enough attention to the damaging effects that having problem skin can cause a person.

Maybe it shouldn't matter to people, but in our society how you look is everything. It is a sad statement, but so much focus is put on the exterior of a person that they can feel extremely inferior if they have problem skin, acne or even a wrinkle. It doesn't even help that all the people in show business get plastic surgery all the time which leads us to believe that even when you are 90 you should look like you are 30 with perfect skin, perfect breasts, perfect muscle tone, and definitely without grey hair. This is one of the reasons why kids get low self esteem from looking less than perfect because of acne or because of weight issues. To a teen suffering from mild to severe acne, acne treatment is so much more than clearing their skin, it is giving them their life back. With clearer skin they will feel better about themselves, which will effect who they will become, how many friends they have, what type of grades they make in school, and what type of college they will attend. The teenage years are an emotional roller coaster for most, who spend all their time worried about what everybody is thinking about them. It is hard to feel self confident when your face is covered in zits.

I know that the medical profession doesn't mean to dismiss this problem and I know that they have a lot of big diseases to deal with, but to a teenager the way they look is who they are, and not only that but the scaring of acne can be a permanent part of their faces. I just think that more should be done to reach teens about this problem. Maybe more commercials for products available, making them affordable, and talking about things like acne and its treatments at school could help these teens and also help other teens to maybe be more understanding of this horrible skin condition.