Christmas Spirit

To end this blogging adventure (for class at least), I thought I'd share a video that combines two of my favorite things: Christmas and Penguins.

Time to Fly

In just a few hours I will be headed to the airport. I get to go spend a week in California; partying it up with Shamu and Mickey Mouse. It's the perfect stress reliever before finals begin.

I saw this video awhile ago, but since I am about to get on an airplane, I figured it was appropriate for today's blog post.

 Next time I fly, I wish it could be on this airplane heading to New Zealand.

Thanksgiving

I cannot believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I feel like it just creeped its way here this year. I am grateful for so many things. I am truly blessed to be where I am today. There is a lot of Christmas music for the season, but not a whole lot for Thanksgiving. 

So enjoy this wonderful song from Josh Groban: 

Riverwoods Christmas Lights

Okay, so I know there are a lot of people who wait for anything Christmas related until after Thanksgiving. But I am not one of those people. To help bring in the spirit of Christmas my friend and I went to the Riverwoods shopping center this weekend where they did a show and then turned on all the Christmas lights for the first time. Santa even made an appearance. There were a couple of groups and bands that put on a concert to help kick of the holiday season.

The musicians did a wonderful job. Especially The Str!ke (who just happens to be one of my personal favorites). It was great to see music bring so many people together to have fun and begin the celebrations of the upcoming month.

General Conference views on media

I mentioned in a previous post how I like to review the conference talks when they are printed in the Ensign. As I have been re-reading some of the talks today, I noticed that quite a few of them mentioned the importance media has played in helping spread the word of the Gospel.

President Thomas S. Monson said "We acknowledge the blessings of modern media in allowing millions of members of the Church to watch or listen to general conference. The sessions of this weekend are being broadcast via television, radio, cable, satellite transmission, and the Internet, including on mobile devices."

Wahoo! Media and the Church for the win!

Facebook

The slogan Facebook used when it was created was that you could connect with friends around the country/world. When I first got an account, this was not really the case, since practically everyone I knew lived within 20 minutes from me and went to the same High School. As I've gotten older it has slowly become a way to keep me informed of my friend's lives who have moved to other states or countries. Although a lot of people post random crap that has no purpose or they abuse the whole idea of Facebook, it's nice that it is there so I can see pictures and updates from those I don't see very often but don't want to completely forget about.

And then, at work this morning, my boss called me into her office because she wanted help with her Facebook account. She got one awhile ago, but she needed help with all the notification settings. Once we got her squared away, she became very excited showing us all these posts from people she grew up with. She expressed true gratitude for the invention of Facebook and being able to stay connected with people from her childhood. And the fact that she's in her sixties, makes it a big deal.

Snapchat

I wasn't sure quite how I felt about snapchat when it first came out. Wasn't it just the same thing as sending a picture through a text message. But then I learned the joy of being able to make silly faces that could disappear. Unless someone took a screenshot, then that was just rude. Depending on my mood I still have mixed feelings about whether I'm a supporter of it or not.

However, there has been a big positive about snapchat in my life, and I was reminded of it after today's lecture in class. We talked about how media can either bring your family together or create conflict that could create a wedge. In my family, snapchat has brought us together. I've never been extremely close to my brothers, but with the joys of snapchat we have found a form of communicating that works for us. They are not always hilarious selfies, but of other things going on with our days. Whether it be work, play, or pictures of their children, it has seemed to work as a good style of communication between us. So for that, I am thankful for snapchat.