The part entitled "Expanding a PLan into a Proposal" caught my attention in this chapter. It talked about preparing proposals for their clients and how it contained all of these different things... an executive summary, a situation analysis, a statement of purpose, a list of publics, other things, blah, blah, blah... and I compared it to people in life. Life is a proposal. When you meet people, you are your own proposal. You may be a shitty person, but you also may be really attractive and dress nicely, so you're gonna get more dates and stuff. On the other hand, you may be a kick ass person, but if you dress like a slob, nobody is gonna take a second look at you unless it's maybe to laugh. It's kind of like the movie "Shallow Hal" or "The Truth About Cats and Dogs." So in PR, you want to be the good looking person. You want to get the dates. You want to maximize your positive attributes, and minimize your shortcomings (granted you even have any.) You are your own product, and you want people to invest in you: you want their trust, their friendship, their time.

The chapter explains how tactics are the smallest building block of enacting a plan. BUT, even though they may be small things, not doing them correctly screws everything else up. This is what I love about the little things in life: without doing them right, the big things go all to hell. You want an 'A' in a class, but you can't get the grade unless you turn in your homework. You want to lose weight, but you can't do that unless you lay off the double cheeseburger for dinner. Doing the little things in life correctly can snowball into making you successful in reaching your goals. And that makes reaching those goals a little easier. It's all about baby steps. It's all about taking those little things in life, a favor from a friend, a smile from a stranger on the street, a pair of new socks, and not taking them all for granted. Every little thing is important, and everything adds on itself.

I like writing. I want to be a better writer, and I am ready and willing to learn. I think that it is sad how many people cannot even write a complete sentence correctly. Nobody knows how to spell anymore. Nobody knows the difference between "your" and "you're." I think that sharpening my writing skills will put me ahead of the game. And the more pathetic thing is, I probably have made mistakes in this blog that I am not even aware of. Depsite this, I know I can write better than a majority of people. For guys, it is a turn-off to me if he cannot write well or if he doesn't have proper grammar. What happened to everybody? Why does nobody know how to speak english anymore? It's because we were not taught correctly, or we were too lazy to pay attention. It's stupid.
One thing I have come to understand about writing is that it is a process. A good piece of writing requires editing, editing, and more editing. It requires research. It requires TIME. I'm the type of person that has to get in a certain zone in order to sacrifice that time, and that is part of my downfall in assignments I do not succeed in, but overall, I am willing to buy into the system because I believe in it.

The Digital Age really just blows my mind. Think about how connected we are to our personal computers, our cell phones, our television sets. My cell phone is practically my child. I lose my car keys probably weekly, but I always know where my cell phone is. Myspace and Facebook rule my life and hinder my educational work. It is a disease. In many ways, such as improving the speed and quality of communication and the creation of virutal public relations agencies, the Digital Age is awesome. But in other ways, like the ones I have listed above, I think it is a devilish thing. How different would we be as people if we didn't have internet? How different would our day-to-day lives be if we couldn't call somebody when we were bored walking back to our cars after class? Despite all of the opportunities technology has opened for us, it has consumed our lives so much and I think that too many people take advantage of the negative aspects of technology.

Thinking about how many businesses DON'T have business continuity plans just reminds me of my procrastination problem and how my priorities are not always in order. In the book, they said half of all companies don't have a plan, and an even a larger percentage has not practiced theirs. It reminds me of how I put off some things that matter until the last minute (coughbloggingcough). And I don't think that businesses don't have plans because of this same thing exactly, but then again in some way, they both relate. From all of the hype about business crisis communication plans' importance, all companies in some light know of its importance, but maybe a lot of them refuse to face it because they have too many other things going on. Companies that don't have a plan entact have put it off because it is not a priority to them, when in fact, if something were to happen and they did not have a plan, their chances of surviving are slim to none. I think the issue of businesses not having these plans in order is like the old saying "you don't know what you have until it's gone."

The Public Relations and Marketing chapter was a lot of information. I think that part I like least about PR will be the marketing aspect of it all... and I know that doesn't make much sense, because Public Relations is largely that, but all I can think of when I hear the word "marketing" is my Money and Marketing class that almost drove me to suicide. I know that there is more to marketing though that what it has to do with money, so I'm probably totally wrong. I so badly want to love whatever my job ends up being. I think waking up and wanting to do the things you are obligated to do makes you such a healthier person, and that's what life is all about.
After working on the media kit, I'm anticipating doing my next one. Moreso, I'm more looking forward to actually knowing more information on the background of my topic in a media kit to see what my real potential is. With the pandemic media kit we made up, I feel like I b.s.'d a ton of it, and I didn't like that about the project. I guess it was my fault for not putting more time into the research part of it, but it was hard for me to get into it without feeling some personal attachment to the company.

I can identify with Chapter 14. My mother was born in Japan and grew up in Canada, and my dad was born in Germany and worked in England, Switzerland, Canada, and is currently working in China. Because of my parents' pasts and heritage, I have had the opportunity to visit almost all of these places. I have had first-hand experience with different ways of life from many cultures of the world. Two summers ago, I went to Beijing for a month. EVERYTHING was different: how people greeted each other, how someone accepted a present, the way people drove, the fact that everybody hauked loogies in the middle of the street, the way they ate. It was a completely different set of rules. Being aware of all of these changes and tweeking my habits helped me feel more accepted there. I think it is important to not seem so "American" when we visit other places. I think it is important to take into consideration other peoples cultures and when appropriate to cater to their differences and adapt. So many Americans have this belief of ethical imperialism i think, and it annoys me. It embarrases me, too. When we were at DFW airport coming back from somewhere overseas one time, I remember being in the baggage claim and someone coming over the loudspeaker and absolutely BUTCHERING someone's last name. I thought to myself, "Only in America..."

I think about people like Ivy Lee, the supposed "Father of Public Relations" to some, and it makes me think about the founders of other things and how they came up with them. For some reason I immediately thought of how penicillin was founded by mistake ... I don't know. Random. It makes me think of how a little idea or whatever can turn in to something so huge... something that changes how things in life are. Just thinking of how Ivy sent out a bulletin stating what had happened after the train wreck in Pennsylvania in whatever year has snowballed into a way of life for thousands of people makes me think of the power the little things in life have.