Remote Meetings are Actually... Really Convenient.

Yes, there's a lot of issues with conference calls. We've all seen the video. There's people coming and going, there's static, there are dogs barking, there are people cleaning the carpet in a circle around you (seriously, that happened to us), but even still, they are really useful.

Our group needed to meet quickly and discuss what needed to get done before we turned in the project. One of our members was at work, another at her home in Orem, and myself and @bridgetbanks in the HBLL. Well technology brought us all together. All I had to do was make a free account on freeconferencecalls.com. It totally worked and it was amazing!

It was another instance of my gratitude for technology. There is so much good that we can accomplish in this world now because of the advances in communication, science, medicine, and other technologies in recent years. What a beautiful time to be alive.

Here's the obligatory link to the conference call youtube video, just in case you missed it last time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYu_bGbZiiQ

-Coleman

Sometimes, when you're a man, you wear... stretchy pants in your room. Just for fun.

The title has something to do with this post. I promise on the honor of the magic eagle egg.

Go ahead and start here (watch the .gifs):

http://imgur.com/gallery/jRrUK

OK. Notice how Nacho goes through a lot of hard work before his big fight. He plans, gathers materials, collaborates with his only-believing-in-science ring-mate, and then works hard to achieve his goal. Yeah, that's what research is all about, as I learned this week; Research leads to solutions. Just like Nacho's amazing uniform gave him credibility, motivation, and ideas, so does our research.

You see, as we were brainstorming ideas for our group project, it occurred to me that you really have to have a reason to create something. You can't just sit down, "be creative", and invent something that will make you tons of moo-lah. Rather, you have to really understand a problem well enough to see the real pain points are that people are going through. Then you figure out how to solve it. Our group did that this week, and we did it well. Look forward to some awesome ideas in our presentation. Ca-chow.

-Coleman

The Do's and Do-Not's of Skype Interviews

In the professional world, it's rare to find the career and opportunity that is best for you in the place you want to live in. When applying for ideal jobs in faraway lands, an employer will often ask to meet with your for an interview on the phone or via Skype. 

I'd like to review a few key points that I've learned while doing these types of interviews.

1. Be yourself. Just because you're on a computer screen doesn't mean your interviewer won't see your personality. If they see that you can be personal online, they'll trust you'll be able to in real life as well.

2. Put yourself somewhere free from distraction. The difference between online interviews and in-person ones is place. You ultimately decide where you are when you make the call. If you're in your house, understand that your family member, friend, or cat could walk in at any time and become a distraction from your conversation. 

3. Make sure you have a good connection. This doesn't just mean a personal connection, but a physical internet connection too. If your wifi cuts out part way through your interview, you might have lost your chance. Some interviewers have so many people to talk to that they cannot afford to reschedule with you if your call is dropped. Find a place with good, reliable service and go there.

4. Look the Part. Dress as if the interview were taking place in real life. Just because you're in your house doesn't mean you can just throw on your PJ's and try to only aim your webcam at your face. If you have to move around, your plan will be soiled and you probably won't get a call back. Protip: if you're a glasses wearer, consider removing your glasses, as computer screens often cause glares that make it impossible to see your eyes. It's very distracting to the other party, and hey, you really don't want to be confused with a robot.

-Coleman

PS the struggle for us glasses people is real:

Glare 1

Glare 2

Glare 3

Stick it to the man! Wobbly tables, With or Without You, and Birthday Parties

So if you were in the same class as I was in this Thursday, you heard the story of all stories. The tale of all tales. The epic of all epics. Professor Middleton's fake engagement adventure. I was blown away by how gutsy she was to pull such a huge prank on her family and friends. It made me want to prank people, have adventures, and be spontaneous because, (1) #YOLO, and (2), stories don't tell themselves. In life, we have to make the stories.

I took that feeling to heart last night when my band played a show for a kid's birthday party. On the way there I was tired, in a funk, and just wasn't very excited for it. When we got there, there was no stage, no sound equipment, and no lights. We were going to have to play on the ground with our own stuff, in a poorly lit warehouse. Boring. Part of me just wanted to just accept it because it was the easiest, laziest path, but then I remembered Valene's story, and I said to the group, "Let's make a stage out of these wobbly tables." That started a beautiful chain reaction.

We moved a few tables, clamped them together, swept some metal shards away, found some extension cords, and made this ghetto little stage. It swayed a little in the wind, but we thought, "This is rock n' roll! We don't need support from 'the man'! In fact, we don't need any support at all!" So we went for it. The drums moved it around a little bit, we were afraid of our equipment being destroyed, but we did it anyway. Well, there was so much energy coming from all of us from our commitment to defiance of the man that we played our best. Our lead singer drew in the crowd and interacted with them in the perfect ways.

Probably the pinnacle moment was when our singer had Mitch, the birthday boy, come to the front of the crowd while we were playing "With or Without You" by the great U2. Our singer had all the girls line up and individually tell him how they felt about him. Each girl had great things to say and a couple even gave him a little kiss (bow chicka wow-wow!) We then had him come up to the stage and sing the  last chorus of the song. He was awesome. It was the birthday gift he'd been wanting.

This spontaneous action came from the excitement that we had built up throughout the night, which came from the decision I made to have a good time and make this experience a good story. I think we all need to remember that what we do now makes up who we are. If we want to be a fun storytelling person, we have to be fun and MAKE stories, because stories don't just happen.

-Coleman

PS here's the footage of the experience itself:

http://youtu.be/eRxDQ8U1LKc

So there I was in Church. Spirit was great, learning was cool. Then it hit me. I should get my old BMX bike from when I was a kid and ride it at the skatepark all the time. Wow.

Turns out this is one of many thoughts that have been a-brewin' in my brain this week since we did our mock interviews. You see, I "interviewed" for a job at a mountain biking company, as I am super into bikes. Once I did that, I started thinking, "what if I got the job??" and, "I could bike all the time!!" My mind has been wandering ever since, thinking of all the perks. Today was no exception.

In the interview, I learned that body language speaks very loudly. I crossed my arms at the beginning, which resulted in me looking closed off. Need to work on that.

I also learned something else on a completely different topic. It is hard to be a woman in the workplace. Women have to juggle responsibilities and dreams in their life in a more delicate way than their male counterparts. You see, men simply need to provide for a family and look after them, not actually birth them. Women on the other hand do. They have to take time out of their life to go through all this pain and difficulty to have a baby. Then they have to like, take care of it all the time. Though that's tough, tougher than that is making the choice to do it and leave work.

I've learned lots, but I have much more to think about.

-Coleman

PS this is the first bike I ever owned, a Specialized Fatboy. Flames and all.