Kelly's Blog

its that time of year again....

2007-11-16T01:24:45Z

well the holidays are rapidly approaching and it makes me wonder where the year has gone?!?! it really has flown by and i cant believe its thanksgiving again next week! thanksgiving really is my favorite holiday, but this year, ill be spending it in the b-lo and not going to texas to visit my mom. its kind of a bummer, but i just dont have the extra time or cash this semester. but they will all be home for christmas!
but before i even prepare for the holidays, lets talk about finishing school! ahhhhhhhhhhh! no really, thats how i feel this semester. so much hw, and projects and presentations!
well, in our campaigns in pr class, Jericho Road Ministries did in fact, "pick" our group! which is pretty exciting, because that makes for an automatic "A" on the project! woohoo! we all worked really hard, and im glad. and now for the second half of our project, its our job to produce some of the materials essential to the campaign plan. ive been busting my tail in philosophy the past few weeks trying to get my grades up. and this week, i am currently reading Pascal's Pensees if your up for some thinking outside of the box, read him or david hume. yikes! it pretty much gives one a whole new perspective on things. in our comm. research class, we have been selling our souls trying to get people to fill out our surveys. currently have a running tally of 203! and think we are going to call it quits. this is totally my least favorite project of the semester! but we are almost done! :)
and i bet you are all wondering about SABAH! the past few weeks there have been pretty crazy! we had our big fundraising auction this past saturday at the statler towers. thats were i spent most of my time/week last week! it was a huge success with over 300 people there! and i know we reached our monetary goals! not sure on the exact numbers, but it was pretty great to see everything fall into place at the event. i was put in charge of volunteers during the auction, and as a result, i lost my voice haha. which is a surprise! on november 7, my boss andrea and i were on channel 2's morning show to promote the auction. it was the little project i was in charge of and it went really well! chesley the weather man is a nice guy! im not going to lie, i was soooo nervous to talk on camera. it really does scare me! and me of all people, who talks to everyone and brings a camera everywhere, hates talking on camera! ironic, i know. but my boss ended up saying all my lines cus he (chesley mcneil) handed the mic to andrea first, and it was a sigh of relief for this red head! if anyone is up for a good laugh, check it out at www.wgrz.com then click on the daybreak link, then spot 2 be! look for us...SABAH! i really do enjoy interning there, the staff truley does appreciate all the work ive done, and ive been able to learn so much as well. currently at 103 hours, only 47 to go!
which brings me to my next countdown.....28 days left of school!!!!!!!!! 31 days until my 22 birthday too! (in case you were wondering) things with the police officer are going great! he will be home last week and will be home for turkey day too! :) i really cant complain about too much, and now i have to go watch grey's anatomy! ahhhh i love thursdays!
happy thanksgiving everyone!!!!

its finally fall!

2007-10-26T01:39:40Z

what a nutty few weeks it has been! i have been averaging about 4 hours of sleep a night the past 2 weeks. no joke. its been pretty busy at SABAH. we are in the final stages of planning our auction. (which is on november 10, in case anyone was wondering.) ive been going to the rinks on the weekend and taking pics of all the athletes and getting quotes from them to put in a brochure that will be on all the tables at the auction. i also have been put in charge of another project. this past week i booked a spot on channel 2's morning show, spot 2 be. we will be at spot coffee on wedsnesday, november 7 promoting our organization and the auction. we will bring some athletes with us and some of our live auction items as well. daybreak does this monday-friday and lets non-profits and other organizations promote their event. i think thats a pretty good way to get community involvement. im just a little nervous about speaking on camera! ah! hopefully there will be free coffee involved, because i am not a morning person! speaking of perks, i got to go to the sabres vs. leafs game! our executive director was given complimentary tickets from the buffalo sabres and everyone in the office got to go! (and not to mention, i got my picture taken with sabretooth!) this week i also was able to go UB on monday and take part in a volunteer fair. my supervisor and i set up a table with all of our info. and got to talk to potential volunteers and people that were interested in SABAH. i liked it because it was a change of pace from sitting in the office. and UB is sooo different from buff state. wow.
so the real reason why i havent been getting much sleep is due to my COM 418 class. the past few weeks my group and i have been putting together our public relations campaign for jericho road ministries. im going to throw it out there that on sunday, we were all in the study quad until 5 AM. if i never do that again i think ill be a happy girl. our presentation to our clients was on tuesday night. this project was a pretty big deal because this is what we have been studying and learning how to do for the past 4 years! kind of like a culmination of things, very relieved that its over. but we really nailed the presentation. if the client picks us, we get an A automatically! woohoo! and what makes me even more excited is that our client was Jericho Road Ministries and i am huge supporter of what they are trying to accomplish. (i also spent an entire semester last year working with them, so they have i have a soft spot for them!) and the strides they have made in just one year are amazing. the rennovations made the office and the new programs they have implemented like financially fit (a program that teaches men and women how to balance their finances) and the west side read and play (which lets volunteers go 2x a week read to toddlers and teach their parents positive child-parent interaction and skills) will really benefit the communities. if you wanna volunteer, check out their website www.jrm-buffalo.org!!!!
i also had the pleasure of attending 2 of the writing workshops the career development center offers. the cover letter and interview workshops today were incredibly helpful. i am in the process of writing my first one now. if you are graduating soon, you should really check them out. its the little bits of information that provide that really make a difference such as how to format a cover letter (which i had no clue) or what to wear and how to act. like small details such as don't drink the water! no literally, if they offer you a drink of water or coffee, always say no. it comes off like you are mooching. and essentially, the person you are interviewing owes you nothing. its your time to shine. but really, if you are smart and ambitious student, like i know all of you are, please go. they are incredibly useful.
in more good news, i met a new guy. we have gone out 4 times, hes just wonderful. and hes a police officer and a perfect gentleman. and its halloween weekend, and i have all kinds of fun things planned! maybe ill see some of you downtown on saturday!

i graduate in one month and 19 days. life is good :)

BUFFA-LOVE!

2007-10-11T01:36:28Z

well, its official. this semester is officially driving me crazy. it seriously feels like every part of my day is planned out, all the time! ughh! slightly frustrating. but this blog will not be a rant session. who wants to read that!? i know i wouldn't want to.
so, let's start with SABAH. today we went to the statler towers to create a floor plan for our auction. so we met with the events coordinator who talked us through our set up, and we get to utilize two of the ballrooms. when the rennovations are done, it is going to be such an amazing peice of architecture. from the pillars to the ceiling there is so much detail in every piece of that building, i just love it! that is one thing our city has. amazing architecture and character. throughout every neighborhood, each is different and brings a different flavor or history. BUFFA-LOVE. don't hate. embrace this place we call home! it has a lot to offer, and sometimes you just have to look for it.
tommorow at the office i will finish up the tri-fold brochure i was working on and will start to design the cover for the auction book.
something else i need to do: i need to write a cover letter this week. the museum of disABILITY history is currently looking for an event planner. so i have to get my butt in gear and write this (we all know that i am a procrastinator!) and even just to interview or come on board part time would be great for the experience. SABAH has really gotten me interested in this topic. people need to know these kinds of things! its ignorant not to! <-----------GO HERE. CHECK IT OUT.
so, fall is my favorite season. i love everything about it. but one things i dont really understand is why girls are wearing spandex as just pants? with a longer shirt? but why spandex? it is not 1989. and i am not a big fan of this fashion trend. i think i would look ridiculous! but spandex...something to think about ladies!
on a more political note, i read something the other day that kind of upset me. the US is going to expand their base in afghanistan out of necesity. it just seems like it is never going to end. and maybe it hits closer to home bc a good freind of mine is going to be deployed there for a year.
monday night football is a topic i dont really want to talk about. i was there, it was heartbreaking. but, like i said before BUFFA-LOVE. i still "billieve." and so should you. until next time.....
--kelly

welcome back, welcome back, welcome back...

2007-09-28T19:01:19Z

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I last had an entry, but it has been one crazy summer, that's for sure! I did not sleep much due to work, and school and well you, know what else comes with summer. I had a about a two week break before my summer classes started. I took 3 in the first session. So that meant going to school Monday-Friday from 8-3. I hadn't gone to school 5 days a week since high school! And 8 am was tough, let me tell you! I played bar leaugue softball a few nights a week, and then there was Thursday is the Square and summer concerts (Roger Waters, I went Canandaigua on a mini-camping adventure to see O.A.R. and the Allman Brothers Band with Bob Weir and Ratdog...) and parties and I was squeezing my homework in there too! I managed to ace all my classes. I decided to take a philosophy class. That was incredibly challening, but I really enjoyed it. And my professor, John Draeger was a great instructor. My summer classes gave me an opportunity to venture out of the communication department. Which wasn't something I had been able to do too much this past year. I took a sociology class, social movements and humanities. We got to read The Tempest, and I love Shakespeare. But my professor really reminded me of one of those "cat ladies" You know what I mean. The crazy woman who lives down the street from who has a ton of stinky cats! And working at Wegmans, where I got another promotion! I am now a Front End Coordinator, which basically means I run around at work like a chicken with my head cut off. No really. The little cashiers just think it looks cool becuase they give you a fancy phone, keys, walkie and pager. But its non-stop all day, everyday. Between running the board (the schedule) you are answering pages, which are mostly customer needs that send you most of the time on the other side of the store to take care of something or a cashier is having trouble with the new software on our registers, monitoring lines, and about 30 employees every shift. Yep. that's right. And then there's upper management delegating more responsibility out to you. As much as it sounds crazy, I kinda like it. So after summer classes which left me exhausted, which was my own fault, my second summer job started. I am a supervisor for the Depew Recreation Department. This job really is living the dream. I got paid to play kickball, plan field trips and arts and crafts for the 9 playgrounds in Depew. And got a ride in a sweet village car. hope you can pick up on my sacrasm when using the word "sweet." However, that was probably my last summer (5 years now!) with that job. Because I am graduating in December. I AM COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS. My summer was incredibly eventful and I spent it with the people who matter most.

So let me get into this semester. I have no time, for anything! Becuase I was so busy this summer I didnt get a chance to find an internship before school started. However, I was incredibly lucky becuase my freinds at the career development center (yes this is a plug for the CDC!) helped me find one. See, this is why you should go there. And I also got some tips on how to tweak my resume. This is important stuff! I am currently interning at SABAH. In case you didnt know, it the ice skating association for the blind and handi-capped. Its now known as "skating athletes bold at heart." Its a therepeutic program that really makes a difference in peoples lives. That is why I really like what I am doing. In preparation for my interview and stuff, I had to buy a suit, which totally freaked me out. I wear jeans and sweats whenever possible. AHHH real world work clothes! But its worth the investment. Ladies, if you are reading this, check out Express. So with SABAH, I am working with their volunteer coordinator, Andrea who is also part of a service learning program! SEE! And Lynn, the Marketing and Development director.
b/c its a not-for-profit, everyone works together as a team. We are currently working on preparing for their Auction on November 11 at the Statler Towers. BC I am interested in event planning and fundraising and community relations, this is a perfect fit! I am learning all the details that go into planning a fundrasing event, and its a lot! I even have my own cubicle and i have huge list of things to do! Such as write press releases, update their web site, design the auction program cover and create a tri-fold brochure for the tables at the auction. And I will get to get on the ice with kids and volunteers, which I am really looking forward to. When you do that, you really get a feel for what we are trying to accomplish.

Whew. Then with my classes and work, I am busy all the time! Anthother thing I am actually pretty excited about is that for the Campaigns in Public Relations class, with Jeff Paterson, I get to work with Jericho Road Ministries again. One of the most fulfilling experiences I have had in college was listening to them present the organization to the class. And while they were talking about the programs they offer the community, they brought up The Priscilla Project! And they kept the name I chose and a lot of the ideas I incorporated into my service-learning project! That pretty much is amazing!

And its also football season! I went to the homeopener.....haha. And besides that, we got tickets for the ice bowl! something to look forward to!!!!!! I have just decided that I am not going to bed on New Years Eve!

This blog was really long. I think its time to shut up now. haha!

--Kelly

"summer time.....and the livins' easy"

2007-05-07T17:33:43Z

well, this is my last entry for the semester. it has been a challenging and exciting one! 4 days left, 25 pages worth of papers, 3 exams, and its all over! HA.I am still in the midst of writing all these papers and studying and its so hard to becuase it is absolutley beautiful out today! 2 exams and my 15 page paper due tommorow, its going to be a long night! and an early morning! i have a quick question for buff state, why, during CEP week would you schedule an exam at 7:40 AM, well knowing that most college kids are up all night studying anyways! just saying! i hope everyone enjoyed cinco de mayo and the sabres big win this weekend! (i know i did!) and to think, i was just going to home after the game on friday...and try and be studious and work on my papers. you only live once! thats what im gonna go with on that one! 8 games to go!!!!!! if we win, im not going to work/ school and im going downtown for the celebration. last week, i was inducted into the Communication Honor Society, Lamda Pi Eta, it was a real honor to be picked and recognized. made my folks real proud, and that made me happy. I have my first desk "ornament" so to speak for when I have a real job! haha. and the pen actually writes! (thats what we got, in case you were wondering!)
I am really looking forward to thursday! its finally over! i just want to say good luck to all my freinds who are graduating next week! i will miss you guys (and gals!)
and thanks to everyone who reads my blog, its how i go to where i am today. and where i am today, is a pretty great place.
last round at buff state in the fall....see you all there! have a fun summer!!
--Kelly

april showers bring may flowers!

2007-04-27T00:43:17Z

funny thing, i was going to title this blog "rain rain go away," but i already did that! well, i thoght it was funny at least. so i came up with another clever rhyme. all (not so much.) this is the second week in a row, that i have left school in utter disgust. so today, i found out this other super cool rule Buffalo State Collge has. Because when I graduated from ECC(as you all know now!) i transferred credits here. There is a limit on those credits and that limit is 66. (throwing that out there!) I have 64. Guess who can't go to ECC this summer? ME :( so i enrolled at summer classes here. but, it is the price i have to pay if i want to graduate in december. so i will suck it up and deal with it. if there is something i have learned, never have a definite plan. have a general idea of things, cus for some reason, nothing ever turns out the way you plan it! and that way, if your plans do get broken, its a little easier to bend.
this blog lets me talk about this semester!!!!!!! and what a semester it has been. lots of ups and downs everywhere! basically now on the up and up. i have my hands full this semester with plenty of papers and projects. The class i find most intrigued to go to everday though, is my COM 450 class. I just enjoy the topics we discuss. It really makes you think, and im kinda big on that these days. i am also enjoying the book we have been reading all semester. the world is flat, by thomas friedman explores globalization, technologies, policies and economies and we are all connected a lot more than we think. this is probably one of the first books i have read cover to cover for a school project. (that sounds terrible, but my fellow students, you know it is true! most of you dont either!!!!) so if your looking for a cool, easy 572 page read, i reccomend this book to you. another class i took this semester was sports PR, now for a brief moment in time, i thought i wanted to get into sports pr, this class only steered me far away from it. i am much more of a spectator of sports. i dont really like to write about them. which by the way, me and my friends signed up to play softball for our favorite place! and if you know me, you where im talking about!!! (tuesdays this summer will be grand!) so, my com 410 class. this is where procrastination has gotten the best of me again. and joe, if you read this, im really sorry! my 15 page oral history final project, well, it is what it is. and ill leave it at that. i also ventured off and took some bussinesses (sp.?) classes this semester. my HR Management teacher is a bundle of energy. she really does a great job. her passion to teach is what keeps me interested, and the fact that she really took the time to get to know us. so, sue mcCartney, thanks for reinforcing why i picked buff state! and my marketing class, well....im really glad i am taking it pass/fail. i really felt that i should boycott buying a used book for 99$. so i didnt buy it. and i find myself tracing my hand in my notes. FYI: do not follow in my footsteps. valore.com all the way to buy my books next semester!!!!!!!!!!! with that being said, its a thursday night, and a new greys anatomy is on. being the female that i am, im going to go watch it now. (and then continue to write more papers...which i feel will never end. but it will!!!!!!!!!)

what a week....

2007-04-20T00:13:43Z

in the recent light of the VT tragedy, i am just shocked really. and the media coverage is ridiculous. the questions they are asking these poor families and students are absurd. HOW DO YOU THINK THEY WERE FEELING?! come on. get the mic out of their face and let them cope and grieve. i really cant beleive how much one person can have to much hate and rage. and that no one picked up on those warning signs. (and the lack of communication!!!!!) my prayers go out for every one involved. it hits close to home too, seeing as i am a college student, those are my peers. i really am just shocked. its crazy.
FYI banner is much better than SABRE. just saying. i got to register and it seemed to go much smoother. but i got a bit of frustrating news when i met with our dept. chair today....apparently i dont have enough general ed. electives to graduate in december. so guess who gets to go back to ECC for summer classes....yes thats right.....ME. back to my alma mater. woopedy-doo. (not so much) but hey, if it gets me out when im supposed to, so be it. ill suck it up for a month. better than an extra semester. plus its ECC, and i miss it. hehe.
so back to the real focus for this blog. how i got to where i am today.
my second semester at buff state proved to be just as challenging. but i got so much out of it. except for my organizational communication class. i wont mention any names. my COM 308W class with Dr. Silverman again was a great learning experience. I got to work with Jericho Road Ministries and help them develop literature for their volunteers. My main focus was their women-mentoring-women program, or as we titled it, The Priscilla Project. This parntered women volunteers with incoming refugees and other women in need to help them manage the health care system, families and get their feet on the ground. This was such a great program to help rejuvenate the west side of Buffalo. I am very proud that I could be a part of it. It was how I was introduced to the Service-Learning program and how i started blogging! ta da! i was even fortunate enough to recieve an award for all my efforts last semester. I am very honored. still. Other classes I took were Group Process communication in which it was all group projects. think about it. how do you feel about group projects? My Desktop Graphics class introduced me to Mac Computers. Im a PC kinda gal, and that took a lot of getting used to, and im such an airhead when it comes to tech stuff anyways. but i did like the creative freedom that i got from that class. But still, the class i liked the most and passionately enjoyed was my PR writing class! and it really got me interested in community relations.....

we're cup crazy!!!!!

2007-04-12T21:12:32Z

well, its been a few weeks to say the least and i thoroughly enjoyed my spring break! my friends and i went to DC to see the sabres game! i have never been there before and i loved it! there is so much to see and i think every one needs to go and see it! we even got a tour of the west wing. i saw the oval office! and was in the rose garden. and lemme tell ya, it smells pretty nice in there! so much history and so much to learn! and its a fun town if you know what i mean! we really let people know how we do things in buffalo! and i am now getting ready to register for classes using banner. one last round at buff state for me! i hope banner is better than sabre.....ill have to let you know!
so. my first semester, academic wise, was kind of challenging. but i learned a lot. in my intro to PR and advertising class, i did an entire PR campaign for a fake "client." i worked with my freind jess, and we did our project on PUSH buffalo. (people united for sustainable housing) great cause, great idea. the whole idea of this group is to make housing affordable for people on the west side and reinvest money and time into the community by using co-ops and clean-up efforts. PUSH will buy foreclosed houses and re-do them. they then want to resell them for a reasonable value so people can stay here, instead of leaving. the entire project was very time consuming, but i enjoyed it. i really found my niche. it got me excited that this is the kind of stuff the PR can do! another class i took that i found extremely challenging but very rewarding was COM 301 with dr. whitaker. he really pushes you to work hard in your papers and presentations, but i learned so much and really started paying attention to what was happening in the world. and i still do now. everyone really just needs to start thinking. ive said that before! now, this is no jab at the english dept. but my shakespeare class left a lot to be desired! and i also felt incredilbly dumb when my classmates would talk. i just wanted to read some plays. they were comparing shakespeare to marx and i really just wasnt making the connection. sorry! either way, the classes i took my first semester really pushed me to strive for success. and it gave the kick in the pants i needed to get motivated!!!!!

and for the record, tonight is the first night of the playoffs. GO SABRES!!!!!! ONLY 16 WINS TO GO!!!

rain, rain go away!

2007-03-22T20:18:53Z

now remember my little rant about how excited i was about all the spring weather last week?! well the next day it snowed! haha and then today i got stuck in the rain with no jacket, and had to walk to the barn parking lot! i was soaked!!!!! anywho, these weeks just keep flying by! i cant believe it! and at the end of next week, spring break starts! woohoo!
now, how i ended up at buffalo state college. well, seeing as i didn't plan on going here, i didnt even know where to start. so i went online and found the communication department's website and contacted ron smith. i told him about my dilema between UB and Buff State and he referred me to Dr. Silverman. She had just come to Buff State from UB and she could answer all of my questions. And she did! She's absolutley wonderful, and seeing as she was new to everything too, it was much less intimidating. I was accepted to Buff State and now I had to register for classes. So both Ron and Dr. Silverman met with me to explain to me how Degree Navigator worked as well as Sabre. They helped me pick my classes and got me started here. It was so nice to meet with faculty who went out of their way like that! I really felt welcome! I knew I had made the right choice by coming to Buff State!
I also moved on campus. Let me tell you, living in Tower 4 was an experience. I really liked living on my own, but some of my suite mates did not have as much of an outgoing personality as myself, if you know what i mean! haha. but none the less, i liked where i stayed! i ate a lot of ramen last year. i am kind of domestically challenged, and the kitchen on the 10th floor was disgusting! none the less, i dont like to eat ramen anymore! haha

happy st. patty's day! (a day early!)

2007-03-16T18:10:42Z

top o' the morning to you! i'm pretty excited for this weekend! i love st. pattys day. contrary to popular belief, i am not irish. i have red hair and freckles and my name is kelly, but i am not irish! haha. weird, huh? but it will be fun, i am going out with all my freinds saturday and we are all going to the parade sunday too! i hope to see you all there!!!!!!
and spring is in the air and i love it! the snow is melting and the trees have buds on them and it smells like spring! ahhh a time for new, fresh beginnings. its refreshing! and this semester is just flying by! i have one more semester left here! i have to start looking for an internship.
FYI: THE CDC WILL HELP YOU FIND ONE. AND PUT TOGETHER YOUR RESUME. YOU SHOULD GO THERE. and then, after you graduate, they will help you find a job.....all becuase you went to buffalo state. imagine that! there are also career builiding workshops that will help you in the "real world" so check them out, and out your resume on ORCA.
back to this journey....
its my final semester at ECC, and i have to start looking for a 4 yr. school. i really did have my heart set on UB. But I had some research to do. John (Harrigan) took my video editing class to UB to see a tour of the facilities there. He genuinley cared about where we were heading in our future. I think that is a great quality to have in a professor. I must say, I loved UB. the campus, the feeling, it was big and had soooo much to offer. so i went to the open house there too, and i met with people from the communication department. Now, like i said, I want to get into PR. they offered a certificate program to get into PR. (where at Buff State, i can earn a DEGREE in PR AND ADVERTISING.) i found at UB there were not a lot of full time faculty in the department, and that hands-on work wasn't what they were in to. (seeing as they are a research university that makes sense.) but i felt i needed hands on work, and full-time faculty with experience that got to know their students. for me, that makes all the difference in my education. so, i had to keep looking.....and guess what i found....BUFF STATE.

TGIF!

2007-03-09T22:49:02Z

ahhh yes i looooooovvvve fridays! another long week is over! and now i can go party to be quite honest! work was super crazy today and i must say i waited on 3 bearded ladies today at wegmans. JUST SAYING! and it is very springlike today and i love it! people are buying all kinds of spring flowers and the snow is melting and its just one step closer to me being able to wear my flip flops again! yay! little things make me happy, cant you tell? next week i have to write a paper about iraq and afghanistan, which is going to lead to some prettttty heated discussions in my communication and society class next week! people just really need to wake and up and start to think about what is going on in the world. i cant stress that enough.

so we are still at ECC in my little diddy (about jack and diane....sorry) One of my required classes was introduction to mass media, and we covered the basics. we touched on every peice of the media. oh yeah, this is with my teacher, Gina Christiano. She used to work for an NBC affiliate in roch-cha-cha. one of our projects included a Public Relations Crisis Communications presentation. When we did the unit on PR, it really sparked my interest. I could deal with people on a regular basis and not one day would be the same. I had proved with my papers that I was a strong writer. so i really felt it was a perfect fit. PR is all about persuasion and an image. and to me, it seems kind of superficial. BUT i think if you are making a difference (and a good one!) then you are doing something pretty great. So that is why I became interested in community relations. persuasion is a very powerful tool that people dont always seem to recognize! i also took a writing for media class with Gina. we had to write scripts for broadcast and tv (which didnt interest me!) but writing press releases and putting together media kits was what i really enjoyed doing. so i felt that public relations would be a step in the right direction for me after i graduated from ECC. and let me tell you, writing for the newspaper and writing for PR are very different. PR writing has a purpose, to persuade and inform. It is objective, where as journalism is not. (unless you are watching FOX news, but whatever) None the less, i think i had finally found my niche!

"the ides of march are upon us....."

2007-03-01T23:33:43Z

i successfully went to all of my classes and turned in all of my homework this week! i would like to consider that an accomplishment because last, well, not so much! on a "positive" note, my car started making this awful, terrible noise when it is idling today. i am very scared to see what is wrong with it! this has to get me through this year....and then i'll buy a new car. until then, this 95' saturn really has to pull through! haha

so back to my ECC days. At the end of my first year of college, I decided that I wanted to switch majors. So I made the treck to ECC South and met with John Harrigan. He was great. I finally had an advisor who knew what he was talking about, and actually cared about what I was interested in. So he gave me the right paperwork and got the ball rolling. Now, John, when I first met him, came off as a bit eccentric. And he was in class too. But, he was, the best professor I have had in college to date. But let me tell you a little bit about ECC South. ALL THE BUILIDINGS ARE CONNECTED. which is amazing. BUFF STATE.....HINT HINT. And I actually felt like I was in a college setting. My core COM classes there taught me so much more than theories. John was my professor for 4 of my classes while I was there. Rhetoric, Rhetoric of Vision and Sound. Communication Theory and Video Post Production. I have to say, that if I took any of those theory classes anywhere else, I would have been bored to death. Every single student that entered the lecture hall was inspired. Truly. To look inside themselves and think about what being said and relate it to their own lives. He used metaphors for each of his classes to relate it to kind of a journey and he incorporated music and lyrics to each class lecture. I really can't describe it, but there are other Buff State students that know exactly what I mean. John inspired each of us to reach for our goals and let nothing stand in our way of them, and really get know ourselves. I saved all my notes just because. While taking his classes, I knew this what exactly where I belonged. It wasn't until I had some classes with GIna Christiano that I got turned onto Public Relations......
(its time for grey's anatomy! yay!)
--Kelly

i am a dancing queen.

2007-02-23T00:38:31Z

well i hope everyone enjoyed their fat tuesday/mardi gras celebrations! i know i did! my feet still hurt! i was on the dance for prolly like 3 hours. just dancing the night away......
anywho, i really have to stop procrastinating. it has become a terrible, terrible habit of mine! i had to wake up at 6:30 this morning to write a paper today. do not feel bad for me. it is my own fault! i should give up procrastinating for lent or something. (i really hope my professor doesnt read this! haha!)
in more exciting news today, britney spears checked herself out of rehab for the second time this week. newsflash:WHO CARES! there are so many more important things going on in the world! ugh.

so back to my little story....
I started school at ECC North. I would just like to add, that on my first day of college ever there was that shooting in the ECC bookstore. I saw the gunman run across the lawn. Just saying! Way to welcome it in with a bang! I went in as a Liberal Arts Major, because I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing with myself. At ECC North, I found little direction from my advisor. And as an incoming freshman, that prolly isnt something I should brag about! I kind of felt like I was still in high school, seeing as half of my graduating class was there! I also took some Phys. Ed classes. No, not like gym class is high school, but Foundations of Physical Education, for people interested in the field! I only took 4 classes a semester too. I did very well, but I really didn't have to try too hard. My first semester, my English professor(who was a little whacky....he wore a traditional Scottish kilt on the first day of school!) really told me to pursue my writing as a career. He even recommended me into the honors program at ECC. But becuase I was a bum, I didnt follow through on it! I actually still see him from time to time at Wegmans. He is quite impressed with how far i've come along! My second semester was a breeze too. I took this really great music class which I loved! It was History of American Popular Music and I had this great teacher and I loved everything we talked about! Plus I am a classic rock junkie and when we got the 60s and 70s...ahh I was in heaven! But as the semester was coming to an end, I still wanted to declare a major. I started to really research the communication field. I had come to the conclusion that Phys. Ed was just not for me. It didn't interest me the way Communication and Journalism did. And I found out they offered those classes at ECC South.
It was time for a change! And I was taking a step in the right direction!
--Kelly

how i really feel about february 14th.

2007-02-15T02:12:32Z

now, I must start off this entry by saying, I am normally a very happy and good natured person. But today, is really just not one of those days. Today is a day to remind you that you are single (if you are.) Maybe I'm a little bitter becuase I found out the guy I was dating, was cheating on me. (this happened about 4 days before christmas. happy holidays kelly!) He shall remain nameless. So this evening when I go out with all of us scorned singles, I am going to wear black. (that is soooo cynical.) Ill be much better tommorow I promise. And I am still convinced that chivalry is not dead. I am allowed to be cranky today. Anywho, I would like to wish everyone a happy valentine's day, because everyone does have love in their life somewhere!! We couldn't survive without it!

So back to my journey. It is Sophomore year at Depew High School. It has taken me quite some time adjust. And I am slowly starting to let some people in again, start to build some real relationships. These are the people that brought me back to being myself. My outgoing, smiling bubbly self. THat went away for a long time. I started to get involved at school, I joined the track team, I was cast in the school musical, I joined clubs. I put myself out there and the results were great! My coach always pushed me and my teammates to never settle, always taking it the next level. My english teachers thought I had a knack for writing, Journalism crossed my mind as a possible career choice. I checked out schools like Bonaventure and didn't see a fit. My social studies teachers inspired me to maybe become a teacher. My phys. ed teacher really inspired me to get into Phys. Ed.
FLASH FORWARD TO MAY OF 2003
I have a month left of school, and still havent been accepted to ANY college. I applied to SUNY Brockport, Cortland and Fredonia. BURN! I must be honest and tell you that Math is not a strong point for me. And it was quite evident on my ACT and SAT scores. (oops) But thats another thing I am not a fan of! Those tests, are just how well you can take THAT test. And its timed. Stuff on the SATs and ACTs is not what college is all about! And on top of not being accepted into college, I also don't have a direction. I am really heading towards Phys Ed. but Journalism is still in the back of mind......
So guess where I end up.....ECC! (and remember how I said I didn't find something that fit me, ECC was that pair of jeans I was looking for)
Talk to you soon....
Kelly

in the beginning....

2007-02-15T02:04:55Z

February 1, 2007

�There�s still time to change the road your on��Led Zeppelin

Welcome back!!!!!! So its now the Spring Semester at Buff State, but it is anything BUT spring-like outside. And for some reason, at Buff State, the wind is ALWAYS blowing in your face, regardless of what direction you are walking in. Just an observation. And UGG boots have taken over. They are EVERYWHERE.

I guess to understand someone, you have to understand what they have done and where they have been. Today, I am currently a senior at Buff State�..counting down the days til graduation. (Which in my case is a lot of days because I graduate in December.) But anyways, that�s what my new blog is all about. How I got here. And whatever happens to be on my mind that day too.

Well I�m not sure where to start, but I�ll give it a shot. I grew up in Buffalo and went to a Catholic School. (R.I.P All Saints no really, it closed.) I moved to the suburbs when I was in 6th or 7th grade. Second big life-changing event for me. The first being my parents split up when I was 6. So I had two homes, two families, two everything. That�s how it been basically my entire life. Looking back on that, it has taught me what I want and how I want to raise my own family. (Which is still years and years away, but I know what I want. Well I think I do at least)

Flash forward to sophomore year at Tonawanda High School. I was just really starting to get settled and making some good friends. Now remember my �two of everything� rant? Well, my Dad tells me he�s getting remarried. Which is cool, but it�s a big change! Next day, My Mom and Step dad tell me that my step dad got a job at Texas Instruments and that we have to move to Dallas, TX at the end of the month. (It�s October.) Talk about having your world flipped upside down?! That was only 24 hours. Being 14 years old, this was a living hell basically. Everything you know is completely changed. And I decided right away I was not going! Everything was here, my family, my friends, and school. This was really tough for everyone. Because my mom and step dad wanted brother and me to go with them, and my Dad wanted us, and I wanted to stay here. What a mess! Well because my Dad lived in Buffalo, and not Tonawanda, I also had to switch schools too. What fun! (Hope you can pick up on my sarcasm.) And because my parents did not want me and my brother going to a City school, he moved in with his fianc�e (Who is now my step-mom) who lives in Depew. Got all that? So my Mom and Step dad and younger sister (we have different dads) moved to Texas, along with my youngest brother who was on the way at the time. And I move to Depew with my brother and my Dad and get a new family (my step mom has a son too!) and life in Depew. And this is just October 2001. Whew. The beginning of sophomore year and what follows just changed me as a person and helped me to become who I am today, which has all led my career choice: PUBLIC RELATIONS. It�s a stretch I know, but I have all semester to explain! I hope to keep you on the edge of your seats!

Talk to you soon�..
Kelly