Things I Didn’t Do in 2009

…but plan on doing in 2010!

Note: these are not resolutions, these are just things I didn’t do, or didn’t do enough of, in 2009

In no particular order…

  1. Write more interesting and engaging blog posts – come up with an editorial calendar and stick to it!
  2. Run more contests on my blog
  3. Go horseback riding
  4. Let go of petty things that cause me stress
  5. Do more yoga
  6. Learn to love laundry (I doubt this will ever happen)
  7. Rearrange my furniture
  8. Be more proactive at work
  9. Ask more questions
  10. Be more engaging
  11. Go to an all expenses paid resort for at least a week during my birthday – or go to Japan and visit my best friend and experience Japan during golden week
  12. Pay more attention to my friends
  13. Arrange more family get togethers
  14. Attempt to follow the I Will Teach You To Be Rich: No Guilt. No Excuses. No B.S. Just a 6-Week Program that Works program… And succeed
  15. Be a happier person overall

What are some of your things on your list to do in 2010?

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Tis The Season…

As a special treat to Starving College Girl blog readers, I’ve devised this exceptionally elaborate all purpose card… in Excel!

This card, I must admit, is not 100% my own design. I was originally inspired by these wonderfully huge checklists that had everything under the sky on them and thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have something that could be given out at any time, for any reason, and have as many as you needed?”

Well, after thinking about it (and also being a victim of never having a birthday card around), I came up with this: The All Purpose Greeting Card.

General Purpose Card

General Purpose Card

It’s a bit long, it’s black and white, and it lacks any major (or real) artwork, but it met my needs: cheap & easy to produce, a conversation starter, and something you wouldn’t find in the greeting card aisle. And I’m sharing it (in PDF format) with you. Free of charge!

Spread the cheer and happy holidays!

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Kirk LaPointe at Kwantlen Polytechnic University

I attended a talk given by The Vancouver Sun’s managing editor, Kirk Lapointe at school the other day. He spoke about the future of journalism and public relations. One of the most compelling things he said that stayed with me was that the era of making a career out of journalism for 30, 40 years were pretty much gone.

He conceded that journalism and PR were more or less a “young person’s game”, but that the game was changing so rapidly that people are burning out faster than before. In this day and age of electronic communications, it’s pretty easy to imagine a twenty something year old working well over 12 hours a day in their first, or second year in a communications position.

Throughout Kirk’s presentation, he emphasized that writing was the best skill to hone, the best skill to have, and the only skill that sets the good communicators apart. If you cannot write well, you cannot communicate well. He also mentioned that if you were a good writer, you had the potential to be a good editor.

He gave us PR students a few great tips on the future of Public Relations:

  1. The Press Release is Dead
    Now, this isn’t to say that the press release is dead and done, but Kirk pointed out that the time spent on writing press releases could be better spent talking to your target audience instead of an audience of journalists. Not that journalists aren’t important… but
  2. The Press is no longer the only gatekeeper
    This is very true. Anyone can pick up your product or service and write a blog post about it, make a youtube video about it, or tweet about it. Journalists don’t have to pick up your story and publish them – you can do that yourself.
  3. You’re ALWAYS on
    Let’s face it. This profession isn’t a 9 to 5 job. We’ll always have the next deadline (oh it was yesterday?), the next newsletter, the next article, the next bio, the next story we have to write, the next story we have to chase, or the next meeting we have to go to. And in this day and age, it’s nearly impossible to not be somehow connected to the internet at all times. It’s because of this connectivity that allows us to be as good as we can be, and it also has the potential to run us into the ground.
  4. Trust
    This goes hand in hand with the first point. The press release is dead, but journalism isn’t. A good relationship with a journalist will help ensure that your story gets if not published, then at least heard.
    Trust doesn’t just pertain to journalists. It also extends to your audience as well. Kirk was quick to point out that you’ll always have someone in your audience ready than ever to call bullshit, and that they have a wide platform to do it on: the internet. If your product/message/service/corporation/etc isn’t trustworthy, or credible, then someone will call bs on it.
  5. Clarity and access matters
    This goes back to points two and four. It’s pretty amazing what the internet’s done. It has given them a voice – a strong one at that. It’s empowered them to make decisions for themselves. It’s given them power to attack corporations for their misconduct. It’s allowed them to call BS on others. It’s also allowing the conversation to go both ways. It’s also changing the way people communicate.
    Kirk’s point here was that corporations need to become more transparent. Create clarity where there wasn’t any. Allow people to say what they want and actually listen to them. Make the dialogue a two way street and turn it into a conversation.

Special thanks to Ashley Letts, a second year PR student at Kwantlen for taking notes during Kirk’s talk!

Kirk’s talk was extremely invigorating and gave me hope that there would be a place for us first and second year students when we graduated. Social media has certainly come a long way in the last year, but nothing beats listening to the pros talk about it.

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Eating Healthy on a Student Budget

About a week ago, @AndreaWoo contacted me about a piece she was doing for the Metro Newspaper. Her piece was about eating healthy while on a student budget, and since I run the Starving College Girl website, my twitter friend @hosea24hours thought I would be a good fit for her to interview.

The piece came out on Tuesday November 10th. You can read it here.

I originally shared a recipe with her to publish along with the article, but due to limited space, it got left out. Buuut, since I run my own blog, I’ll share it here!

Clam Spaghetti!

Courtesy of my good friend Kelly McClintock’s aunt
You will need:
3 cans of chopped clams (one drained)
3/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
2 Tbs basil
1/2 grated romano or parmesan cheese
1 lb spaghetti (500g)

First, start boiling spaghetti. That’ll take about 15 min.

Simmer oil, garilc and basil together for about 3-5 min. Then add clams (and juice from 2 cans). Bring to just about boiling, then lower heat to simmering. You can probably turn off the heat (unless you’re using gas, then keep it on low) til the spaghetti’s done.

Drain pasta when it’s done. Add clam/oil mix. Serve and top with grated cheese.

…I think I’m going to go and make myself a pot of that now! Enjoy!

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Magazine Spreads

For one of my courses, PR 1140 – Computer Skills, we’re learning how to use Adobe InDesign. One of the assignments was to do a 10 page magazine spread.

Since one of the requirements was to use high resolution (read: 300+dpi) pictures and I was feeling a little lazy, I used widescreen desktop wallpapers.

ChangLesleyEx09_Page_1
ChangLesleyEx09_Page_2
ChangLesleyEx09_Page_3
ChangLesleyEx09_Page_4
ChangLesleyEx09_Page_5

Want the set? I’ll upload it later today!

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  • Hi! I'm Lesley, and I'm a 27 year old college student, studying Public Relations at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. This site is dedicated to frugal living and how not to go completely insane while living on a shoestring budget. If you feel so inclined, you may also donate to the "Send Lesley to School" fund! Trust me, you won't regret it!