Category Archives: work

Living the Crazy, Good Life

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Life in New York City is crazy.

But in such an amazing, satisfying, beautiful way.

I’ve been so extremely busy at work but I love every second of my day. I work almost nonstop from 9 a.m. to around 5:30 p.m., but I love everything I’m doing. The days just fly by and then I have events to go to at night so I can get my networking on.

Tonight I went to a Microsoft preview event at Stage 37 with my ASME mentor, Lorelei, and my ASME coordinator, Nina. Technically, they were set up with me to help me succeed, but they’ve become so much more than that. They’re my friends, my confidantes, and they’ve got my back in this crazy magazine industry we all love to immerse ourselves in. Believe me, there’s nothing like having a few good people behind you to make sure you succeed in the end. And when you’re friends with those who have already broken into the industry, it’s even better.

So back to the Microsoft event. They had some pretty cool new equipment coming out — my favorite involved a system for the XBox 360 called Kinect. It tracks your movements through camera sensors and allows you to move around without any controllers. My favorite game was Dance Central, which was made in collaboration with MTV Games. It reminded me of Dance Dance Revolution, but it’s a lot less complicated and more fun. You can pull off silly dance moves (such as disco moves and chicken leg) and advance the levels through a wide variety of songs. We were able to test out the game right then and there, and it was a lot of fun. Personally, I rocked Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face.” This game is definitely going to sell.

But my night wasn’t over.

After we left Stage 37, we headed over to West 30th for Robert Verdi’s fashion event. It was held at this really high-end apartment (I wish I could live there) and we enjoyed casual conversation while learning about his new endorsements. I wish I had some pictures of the apartment for you, but here’s some of the stuff from the goodie bag.

There was a lot of other great stuff in the bag, but Lorelei, Nina and I split the bag.

So that was basically my day, once you add in a lot of work for FITNESS, too. Oh, and did I mention I had lunch with the Deputy Editor at The New Yorker today? Yeah, that also happened.

So yes, I love my life. I’ll have some more stories for you soon!

Getting into ASME

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Working at a magazine is everything I’ve imagined it would be.

People keep asking me how great my internship is and whether or not I love what I’m doing, and that’s the only thing I can say in response. Working at FITNESS has been amazing and it’s only been a week. I’ve already learned so much; I’ve floated between departments so that I’m getting a taste of everything to figure out what I like.

I want to explain how I got this amazing internship so that future aspiring journalists can possibly take the same route. Beginning my junior year of college, I started looking for bigger internships because I had already completed my required one last summer at the Utica Observer-Dispatch newspaper (Journalism majors at Oswego State are required to complete at least one).  I always knew I wanted to work in New York City someday, so that was my first location to scour. Seventeen was at the top of my list because that’s one of my dream jobs. Then Professor Loomis forwarded me an e-mail to apply for an internship with the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME), which operates under the Magazine Publishers of America (MPA). It told me that if I were accepted, I would be placed at one of 21 magazines in New York City as a paid intern. I was sold.

After a long application process and an even longer wait, I got the great news that I had been accepted! ASME is an extremely competitive program: only 24 interns are accepted, 21 to N.Y.C. and three to Washington, D.C. Later, I found out I’d be working at FITNESS, my number one choice out of the participating magazines! Life couldn’t get any better.

Now that I’m here, I’ve learned how competitive and how prestigious this program actually is. People in Human Resources look for ASME on resumes when deciding who’s going to get an interview. And the community here is incredibly strong. In the magazine industry, and many others, it’s all about who you know these days. Your contacts get you the interview; your skills get you the job. And once you’re in ASME, the community there has got your back. It’s often being compared to a sorority, and I just finished pledging.

So to anyone looking to break into the magazine industry: apply to be an ASME intern. You must have completed your junior year, heading into your senior year. You need two recommendations, an application, and a bunch of other little things. Download the application and start plugging away. This could be your foot in the door.

Oh, and don’t think that you can’t get in just because you go to a small school. Yes, I’m the first one to get in at Oswego State, but I’m confident I won’t be the last.

Define Chill: The Oswego Palooza of Factors

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Everything about Oswego is relaxed. I always feel safe and I used enough of their resources to get my ducks in a row.

I love having a state police station on campus. I was looking at graduate schools again and most of them list “certified security service”. At Oz standards, I am not impressed. I would do graduate school here, but for my maximum benefit I think I need to go to different school to get a different perspective on business. However, I am not excited about pudgy men on golf carts chasing vandals at my other schools, I would much rather have Robo Cop taking care of business, even though he never has to because no one messes with him anyways. I only wish he could yell at my credit card company too though, they are nutty, I am going to have to call and cancel them like Robo Cop cancels crime!

I was happy though, today I got an award at work! It was the “Most likely to fit 26 hours worth of activities into a 24 hour day”. It totally fits me to the tee.

I also narrowed down the job search to two candidates…..A fortune 500 company or a five star hotel. The fortune 500 company wants to pay me a butt load of money though, it is lucrative (compared to my standard minimum wage).

So much going on, village tours are coming up, I am moving with 5 of my friends into the village in the fall for my senior year, also doing a PR internship then too :)

Doing GMAT prep and working along, going to take it in late May and hope for the best, my job will start in June. The stars are aligning for graduate school, a job and a life. I am excited, career services paid off.

My summer goals include beating my boyfriend at golf, saving money, open a Roth IRA, get a mutual fund, apply for graduate school, talk my dad out of selling his motorcycle and give it to me :) and pass my GMATs. I think I will add more but I think this is a good place to start.

Got a plan and a goal, celebrating my 21st bday on Wednesday, looking forward to Questmas eve tomorrow as well. If you don’t know what Questmas eve is, ask jr or sr, they will know :)

Off to do homework by the ambiance of my electric candle and Kenny G.

Be Ozzy

That is way too scary

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Micro video blogging…OK, it is not scary, just different.

Today again I want to talk about micro video blogging/micro sharing and how I want to feed it into my blog. I have talked about it a while back but once again my technology is not cooperating. That is a really long story though and involves way too much ranting about brands, low quality products and being really broke as most of us are :)

However, micro video blogging is an interesting topic. Would you want to post a short video of yourself once a week? I would, but I am really extroverted. Does that mean that only the extroverted people will get involved for personal micro blogs, or does it mean the introverted people will be more inclined as they could perhaps find it more freeing?

While micro video blogging/sharing is mostly about sharing videos and media of all kinds. I am unsure how Oswego readers would react to my videos as opposed to text. I don’t think I would always do them of myself. I still like the idea of Meg’s Multicultural Minute but the real question is…what do you think and why?

Be Ozzy

“Summer Lovin’” and new apartment :)

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Heyyyyy Oswego people!!!  Hope everyone is enjoying their summer, and if you are an incoming freshman you better be super psyched to be entering the best years of your life!  Atleast that is what it has been for me!  I’m going to be a Senior this year and it’t soo hard to believe :(  One more year with all my friends here, and one more year with the thing that has ruled my life for the past 3 years; SWIMMING.  As most of you know, I’m on the Swimming and Diving team here at Oswego, and I have loved every minute of it.  Sometimes I forget that I’m here for school :-p  To incoming freshmen, or anyone that did a sport in high school but didn’t continue in college:  Get yourself involved in athletics!  It helps you make great friends and believe it or not keep you structured and organized for your classes.  I know my coach is always on us about school, and if someone is falling a bit behind, he wont hesitate to tell them to shape up!  It’s a great thing to be involved in, and if you are serious about sports and fitness check it out!

Right now I’m actually working on getting in my new apartment for next year!  I’m at home now, but  going up to Oswego tomorrow with my sister to start getting stuff in there.  I’m moving in with a couple of my fellow teammates, who are also amazing friends by the wayy…..shout out to Marianne Munson and Kelly Williams!  I’m going to get everything all settled there, and work at the YMCA in Fulton for June before going home for the rest of the summer.

Well, I think that about covers it for my life as of late….. but I’ll be back in to tell how everything is going at a later date :)  Until then, enjoy the sunshine!!!!

So Much Work!

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I still cannot believe the time that a college lifestyle demands of you. I am writing this on a Saturday, and I haven’t experienced anything that could be considered a normal weekend activity yet. I haven’t read for pleasure, no music just for the sole sake of music, no watching TV or movies and very little talking to friends online (I do that during the week as it is). Being a college student is not as easy as it sounds, not unless you’re someone who pushes assignments off and doesn’t worry about them and instead goes out to party. There’s no way that all of these students I see going out don’t have any homework.

Two weeks ago, for example, my History professor encouraged us to begin reading Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle on a Wednesday and expected us to finish it by Monday of the next week, giving a quiz on that Monday. The quiz was taken off Angel on that Wednesday, so in other words, we had less than a week to read a 395 page novel, which is pretty slow and dry, mind you. This is especially ridiculous when you keep in mind that there are other assignments as well, such as reading out of the textbook, not to mention work for other classes. It just frustrates me when professors seem to think that their course is the only one you’re taking.

I’m not going to lie. Although, for the most part, I get all of my work done, there have been times where I have skipped over a minor reading or something like that, because I just don’t find it possible to complete every single assignment and read every single assigned reading that you receive. This Saturday, today, I have done nothing but read and write all day. It’s a bit much sometimes.

However, as strenuous and as stressful as college is sometimes, I have my mind on the winning prize, which is the success and the happiness that college is going to result in. I want to be a high school English teacher one day soon, and all of this work is helping me achieve that. That’s what I’m keeping in mind. So far, keeping that in mind is working. I just wish I had more time to enjoy and less to stress about. I am wondering if this is a relatively common concern of the average college student or if I’m doing something wrong.

New Job & Tornadoes

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Its Christmas time and much of last week I dedicated my time to finding a seasonal job around the Dallas area to save up a few $ before I head back to Oswego.  Last March – May I worked  at the Dick’s down in Clay to save up/pay for all my trips this year so I figured I would try my luck at the new Dick’s that just opened a month ago in Allen (5 minutes away!).  When they first called me I was honest about only being in town for 4 weeks and they weren’t to sure temporary is what they wanted.  However, they did a little background check with the Clay store and I guess I was given a great recommendation because I was offered a job the next day.

I definitely lucked out.  A lot of the other places I looked, both small and large businesses, where not hiring seasonal this year or, at the moment, at all.  If anything, most businesses said they were rehiring the college students that had worked there in the summer.  Maybe it also had to do with the economy?  Either way the job market right now appears to be the pits so I wish the best of luck to anyone looking for a seasonal, or even more permanent, job at the moment.

If all else fails you can always go door to door with a rake and leaf blower…well at least down south.  That was my back-up plan.

…

On a more interesting note.  Last night I woke up to the sound of the Allen tornado sirens.  When I looked out the window I saw large hail and a nicely rotating funnel coming out of a wall cloud…I am not sure whether a tornado completely formed (touched the ground), but the first thought that came to mind was…isn’t it December??

I’ve grown up around extreme weather.  In 1988, an F4 tornado sprouted across from my house in Raleigh, NC.  It was around Thanksgiving time and it did a tremendous amount of damage to the area.  I remember looking out the window and watching the large, dark funnel in the distance which at one point seemed to be headed our way.  Thankfully it changed directions and disappeared over the lake 1/2 a mile down the road.

Hurricane Fran hit Raleigh in September 1996 and my brothers and I missed school for 3 weeks straight.  The main mall at the time, Crabtree Valley, was flooded up to the second level due to the tremendous amount of rainfall.  A friend of my mother’s house had 41 pine trees fall on it that night.  All doors where blocked in by the falling logs and in order to get out of the house they had to climb out a window.

The most memborable part of that night for me was the eye.  I remember listening to the 120+ mph gusts of wind and seeing trees bent over so far that their tips touched the ground.  But nothing was more intriguing than the silence and stillness that characterized the eye; a calm in the midst of chaos.

Today it is 40 degrees out and really windy a severe contrast to the 70 degree stillness we had yesterday…

Christmas! (Or Whatever You Celebrate)

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Who’s excited for the holidays? Can you believe that we have less than three weeks until we go home again? It’s really crazy, and it’s probably just me, but it seems like the second semester is going to be really short. We get back from break near the end of January, and then the school year is over in May.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Christmas seemed so far away to me, and now it seems so close. I can’t wait, because I love Christmas and not just because of the gifts, although, I’m not going to lie, that’s a part of it. I love the spirit. I love the music, the decorations, the lights and, most of all, the tree. Of course, I won’t be home to see it until the last week this year, so I am hoping that the campus provides that for us, but so far, I don’t see that as being a problem. The night before I left for Thanksgiving break, I ate at Lakeside, and they had lights and decorations up. I mean, I know not everyone on campus celebrates Christmas, and I’m not making that assumption, but I think lights and decorations basically put everyone in the mood for the holiday season in general.

The main reason I’m excited gift-wise is because I asked for the third and fourth installments of the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. I’ve read the first book and will soon be reading the second book, and I know that this is going to sound really nerdy, but there’s nothing better than spending break with a good read, especially two. I just really hope that the next few weeks go by quickly, especially since with all of the work I have yet to do and finals to study for, they’re going to be pretty stressful.

Vet’s Day Open House

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So it’s been a busy busy time over at the admissions office as we’re prepping for an Open House this upcoming Tuesday.

Open Houses, although busy busy days, are probably one of the best ways to get a look at the school since there are very few times when you have this many administrative & academic departments all in one space making it so much easier to find answers to all those questions that everyone has, or at least I know I had while I was looking at schools.

Oswego does a fantastic job coordinating the open houses to make as many things available as possible for anyone coming to look at the school.

There will be tours of the campus, residence halls and various campus facilities as well.

Want to see what a class at SUNY Oswego is like?  There are sign ups to sit in on classes going on throughout the day.

Have specific questions for different departments or want to find things to get involved in?  There’s a mix and mingling time for 2 hours with faculty & staff from over 50 student service and academic departments, plus representatives from a number of our completely student driven clubs & organizations.

But don’t take my word for it, there’s gonna be a lot going on this upcoming tuesday you should check it out for yourself

for more info, to see the detailed program and/or to register to come here’s the link!

http://www.oswego.edu/admissions/visit/index.html

Road Tripping for Change ’08

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Today, I am leaving to go to Pennsylvania for Road Tripping for Change. The purpose of the event is to encourage citizens to hit the polls on Tuesday to vote for the democratic candidate, Barack Obama. The trip was basically promoted by SUNY Oswego Students for Barack Obama, which is how I found out about it. Everything, including housing, board and transportation, was paid for by Obama’s campaign and is therefore free for those of us going. Needless to say, I am very excited. This election is very important to me, because not only is it the first that I am participating in, but I am also a very strong supporter of Barack Obama for many reasons. So much is at stake right now, and what is sacrificed and what is gained depends primarily, if not solely, on who becomes America’s next president, so this opportunity, this chance, to help make a difference was an idea that I couldn’t even consider passing on, especially since it is completely free!

When I return, I will be writing a blog entry about my experience. I will also hopefully have some photographs that will help give everyone an idea of what this experience was like. I see it as a “once in a lifetime” opportunity, which, again, is why I couldn’t pass it down, especially since this is my first election in which I can vote. I will be returning either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, depending on whether or not Obama wins Pennsylvania (if he does, we will be holding a celebration Tuesday night), and not to intentionally shove my beliefs down peoples’ throats, but I am going to bluntly say that I am hoping for the nation’s sake that I will be returning Wednesday.