diversity is key.

i've always considered myself a diverse person based on a few things including the range of activities i enjoy from making mud pies and kayaking to fashion shows and sipping champagne. well apparently miami ad school has the same theory considering i have flash this quarter as a copywriter. i'd love to see the look on every other copywriters face who spent the last quarter kicking and screaming through illustrator when they now see they have to take flash. but hey, maybe i just got lucky in being scheduled to take it.

either way. i think it's good and bad. miami ad school has two main selling points, at least to myself. number one obviously the quarter away experience and number two the ever-evolving curriculum to stay up to date and ahead of the industry in terms of ideas and techniques. most people tend to overlook this and just think, 'well no copywriters i know have ever taken flash.' exactly. so while my first instinct was to drop the class instantly, while those other copywriters and i have our books laying on a CD's desk, when the work is good across the board, theyre going to look at my resume and see that i have a knowledge of flash and that is something that will definitely stand out, or at least make them stop and think, 'why does a copywriter know flash?' so while i may never actually use it, although i have big plans for some fun side projects to kill many valuable hours of my time, it's definitely on thing that would give any copywriter an edge up. because that's what this business is all about. and i think this is a good example of how the school is trying to stay up to date and ahead of the game. because flash is the next big thing according to most of the professionals at the recent portfolio reviews.

so while i'm still undecided about switching out, i'll probably keep it. because i believe if you are really good in one thing, then dabble in a few others it's better than 100% focusing on one thing, but then only being good for one thing.

and to keep up with my new diverse theory of life, my morning television viewing was as follows:
curious george. [the cartoon.]
veggie tales. [in spanish.]
then cnn.

because you have to keep life interesting.

i'm going soft in my old age.

it's sad but true. i've gone soft. and i'm officially in love with a dog. recently beef, my 450lb trucker of a father, got a 2lb dog and named her snuggles. my first thought, why in the hell is a 450lb trucker naming anything snuggles? and second, great i have to deal with this little shit when i go home for easter.

i was in for a huge surprise. it was love at first sight. meet snuggles. [she is in fact quite snuggly.]
although sab and i made many valiant attempts to change her name, beef wasn't having it. and snuggles wasn't having the foot of snow we woke up to on saturday morning.
i attempted to convince him to let me bring her back to south beach so i could join to army of fembots with their miniature dogs. i even pulled the 'my apartment has a doggie day spa.' but no dice.

now don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean i've begun liking animals or dogs, just this dog. and i am in fact quite in love.

so meet beef and snuggles. because a pictures worth a thousand words.

top o' the morning to ya.

ohh st.patricks day. one of the greatest holidays that has cinco de mayo syndrome [celebrated more in the US than the country of origination]

what a great day to be irish. everyone's irish on st.patricks day. and for those who are actually irish and have proof, like oh say an apostrophe and two capital letters in their last name [ahem O'Keefe] have you ever noticed they are extremely arrogant about it? [i'm self-admittedly one of those assholes.] i've never noticed a holiday where people are so arrogant about actually being of that heritage. this may however, have something to do with the mass amounts of killians red, guiness, irish carbombs, and green beer that we as americans use to celebrate the holiday.

i miss the days at home with my irish family and our massive st. patricks day party. complete with lamb stew, corned beef and cabbage of course, scones, and other traditional irish food. then we all sit around and get hammered. oh the good ole days.

but once again this year i can not celebrate my favorite holiday. [a favorite among many who like to drink way too much and dress extremely ridiculous. those who just like green everything. or slutty girls who like to abuse the phrase 'kiss me i'm irish.'] for the first time, i'm not a bartender on st. patricks day and thought, yesss i will finally be able to celebrate. thank you david barton gym for killing those hopes and dreams and making me work from 5pm-midnight tonight. and thank you also andrew speyer for not showing up twice to our one on ones so they are rescheduled for 9am tomorrow morning. so much for luck o' the irish.

so this is for you davidbarton and intro to strategy:
but i just hung my final piece of work on the board for the quarter and i have to say, i definitely had the luck o' the irish on my side this quarter. i can't believe it's over already and i'm excited to see what the next quarter brings, because all and all i'd have to say this was a successful one.

so on that note, happy st. patricks day, enjoy this one for me and kiss me baby, I'M IRISH!

spice things up a bit.

so while i may say some not nice things about south beach, i have to admit there are things i love. one of which is diversity in things to do. this past week was filled with so many different experiences from a daycruise to the bahamas to a picnic and kayaking, well trying to. but the best example is that last night i was chugging carbombs [which you could only do if you have two capital letters in your last name, a new rule ryan and i came up with] to prove my irish heritage with 9 guys and christy, and we were just one of the boys. all the while wearing jeans and a tshirt and screaming our faces off to journey. then tonight i went to the forge [a really nice restaurant/club where youve never seen so many old men with barbies on their arms] with some girls from work and drank free champagne in our little satin dresses and heels. you've got to love the variety. maybe next week i'll go drop three grand on dinner then go to deweys and chill with the homeless people.

thanks southbeach.

little busy.

it's been a while since my last post. i've been really busy because sab and maryjo were here and we had an amazing week. i love visitors because i do tons of touristy stuff and things i normally would never get a chance to do. anyway, i'll post all about it later, but i just uploaded my pictures from the week and i wanted to post my favorite one. it's a sign at jimbo's. a little something most people around here should think about.


thank you jimbo.

rain rain stay and play.

i'm pretty sure i have some of the cheesiest titles ever. but i love it. anyway, its a mad thunderstorm right now and i realized how much i'm loving it. [mostly because i don't have to go outside.] but it also made me think of when sarah was here and it was cloudy and i was all pissy about it and she was like, 'dude, its 75. this is still amazing.' and i was like no, this sucks. and i realized how jaded we become in miami and how much i take for granted the amazing weather day after day. if i were home in pennsylvania i would be so miserable that i was raining. [well first of all, it would be snow not rain.] but because im so used to 80 degree, bright and sunny weather everyday, the dark gloomy storm is refreshing. the same goes for last week when it was only about 65 degrees. now don't get me wrong, i only like it because it only happens once in a while. i just think its funny how things like that change even after only about five months of living. i can't imagine how things would be if i lived here and moved to pennsylvania.

plus this weather is motivation to stay inside and do work. which i need to do since in exactly one week i'll be in the bahamas. so i'm going to go enjoy the weather and revel in work. as long as it stops before i have to go outside.

would you buy me?

it's so surreal that this is the final week of classes of my second quarter. i'm going to have to go and say, although we haven't had review week yet, with fingers crossed, i think it was a successful quarter. if not for the work that i got, definitely for the experience.

but my first one on one assignment, for my intro to strategy class [which i love] i have to give a creative briefing to my teacher. ok, should be slightly challenging but we've been working with briefs all quarter. so here's the kicker. the brief has to be on me. to sell myself. faaaantastic. first i have to come up with an objective. to get laid? to get a job? to get a visa into russia? it could be anything. then i have to convince him on all the reasons why. not only does he want to the brief, but some possible support for inspiration such as music, videos, pictures, quotes, other advertisements.

so basically i have look introspectively and decide my self-worth. awesome. i just thought i'd get to photoshop a few pictures and call it a quarter. anyway, i have no clue what to do. so i'd greatly appreciate any input or ideas. criticism good and bad welcome.