Thanksgiving Break

Thanksgiving break was great. I haven't had a real break since school began, so I really appreciated the time to do whatever I wanted. I didn't get to watch A Christmas Story, but it still wasn't bad. I saw This Christmas, which was pretty good. It made me smile. Overall, not a bad break, and definitely much needed. Time to finish the semester, tie some loose ends, and go to San Francisco for Christmas. Oh, and of course live for today. :-)

Response

I understand why they would want a person to be a better "fit" in companies, but I fear that if they make decisions based on whether or not other employees like them, they are going to lose a lot of good people. Diversity will be an issue in companies that choose their employees this way. Would an international canididate have as good of a chance of being a good "fit" with the company, as a native? Honestly, this procedure scares me. If companies do this to weed out the social misfits, they should also be a aware that more applicates might similiarly weed them out, if they are not offering extremely competitive packages.

Dual Coding

I would like to begin by saying that I don't really watch tv any more. I hardly ever see commercials, so I don't really have several new examples to pull from, BUT I did see an amazing commercial the other day. The Vaseline "Sea of Skin" commercial definitely uses dual coding theory, you can look at it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0YRJQlwXws

The images are striking, interesting, and maybe a little shocking. They were very artistic to me. It also has a very calming voice praising skin, and what it does for us. The person speaking appealed to my emotions/used pathos. It was nice. I don't do much tv, but remembered this commercial because of the images...and that voice. They both worked together. His voice fit the images, and neither would have been as effective without the other.

I believe that this commercial uses Dual Coding effectively. I imagine that it would have been less effective if 50 Cent had been the narrator. That would have just been distracting, and I might not have perused the images properly; I might have even started singing "In the Club." The calm voice, soothing music, and stimulating images worked well together, and definitely helped the audience remember that Vaseline is all about the skin.

I enjoyed that commercial. :-)

Group Work

I normally avoid group work. Previously, I always said that I like all of my successes and failures to be mine, but they never are, right? This experience has taught me that I work harder in groups. I try harder because if I don't do well, it not only effects me, it effects the other people in my group.

We try really hard to collaborate, and everyone has a chance to use their ideas. We actually mesh really well. In order for us to be more successful, I am going to work harder, and take more initiative.