Relay For Life of WCU became a client of CatCom exactly one year ago when I met with the current Co-Chairs of the event. They are amazing and I am very glad I was able to get to know, and work, with them over the past year as the PR and Marketing Chair/CatCom Liaison. This is an experience I will never forget. One that I will carry with me throughout the rest of my life.

After being at the event tonight I realize I want to be more involved in the future. Relay For Life has so many great things to offer, and it is an amazing organization! If you do not know about Relay, learn about it and get involved today. Cancer hits home for many of us, so celebrate the lives of those who have won the fight against cancer, remember the ones who have lost the battle and most importantly: fight back.

I relay for my uncle who lost his battle with cancer when I was 8, my grandma who had a cancer scare this past year and the cancer scare I personally faced two years ago. Who do you Relay for?

One of the many great things about Twitter is the networking it allows you to do. By tweeting to yourself, from yourself, you are not really networking. You already know yourself! Twitter allows you to meet people that live in different cities, states and countries. So narrowing down who you tweet with, and by only tweeting back and forth with yourself, limits your endless opportunities to network. I am not saying that talking to yourself is bad, but when you have the ability to connect with someone that is thousands of miles away, why just tweet to yourself?

So what do you think… is tweeting with yourself pointless when you are running two Twitter accounts? Does it limit your networking opportunities?

The Android version of me!

When I first started looking at smartphones, I took the time to research all of them. I originally wanted a Blackberry Curve, but after speaking with several Verizon Wireless customer service representatives I decided the Droid Incredible was the phone for me, and not because it had just been released, but because it was what would work best for me. I absolutely loved all of the features the phone had and realized it would do everything I needed a smartphone for.

While I have only had my Droid for a little less than a year, I recently started to think about going back to a normal cell phone. Why, you may ask? I feel extremely too connected sometimes. Even when I try to take a break for a day, I feel as if I am constantly checking my phone. If I am not constantly checking my phone, I feel like I may miss something important, or I need to inform everyone I am taking a day off from my computer and phone, which I feel is completely impossible to do most of the time.

My smartphone is a great asset and I will not really get rid of it. However, I have decided I will stop checking my phone past a certain time each day. Yes, it is great to be connected, but there is a fine line between connected and too connected. The past few months I feel as if I have been too connected and I want to make a change so I do not feel like I have to constantly check my phone when I am away from my computer. There may be some exceptions, like if I am waiting for something important from someone and I know they will email, or contact me, late at night. However, like my mentor says, many things can wait until the morning!

What are your thoughts? Are we way too connected with our smartphones? Should we disconnect after a certain time each day? If so, what do you think is a good time to stop checking  your phone?

You can read the article that inspired this post, here.

• Mixing professional and personal. Right off the bat, surgical interns Meredith, Izzie and George move in together because Meredith was looking for roommates. It is great to have roommates, but something I have noticed about these three is when they are having issues at home they tend to bring them to work. In a professional environment it is not acceptable. While people love the drama of the show, drama in the workplace is immature and unprofessional. It is always great to make friends with coworkers, but make sure you keep personal and professional separate. Do not let it impact the work you can do!
• Communication is key! This phrase is said constantly, and for a great reason: it is true! If you want to have success within an organization or company, you need communication. This does not only apply to PR and the communications industry, but everything. The show is about surgeons, and to me it seems like the communication should be constant with them. However, since it is based mainly on the interns they are still learning and the audience sees many times how there is lack of communication between the interns and the resident surgeons. For there to be success, there needs to be communication.
• Being an intern does help! Some universities do not require students to have internships prior to graduating, but some, like mine, do. Like I mentioned before this show is mainly about the interns. Before watching this show and other shows like it, I had no idea that surgeons had to intern for as long as they do. It makes sense though. While I have never had an operation in my life I do not think I would feel comfortable having someone fresh out of school that does not have a lot of experience operate on me. So how does this relate to PR? No we are not going to be making operations on anyone when we graduate, but we will have to deal with many other things that may occur, like a crisis situation for instance. By interning we have the opportunity to learn and be mentored by professionals before jumping into the fire.

While I may be a little late to the Grey’s Anatomy party, noticing these points in the episodes I have seen has shown me that students are all the same. We are constantly learning and growing. So what do you think… are there hidden messages like the ones I have mentioned above in other television shows? Do you think this is on purpose?

Pop culture is all around us. Just like Charlie Sheen’s #tigerblood, entertainment informs the trends and habits that happen on all social media sites. This might be a little obvious to most of you, but what does culture teach us about what we should be doing on those sites? What can a show like American Idol possibly teach us about our online presence?

[View the story "Idol's Lessons on Social Media" on Storify]