Tag Archives: Jeff Stone

Titanic Thursday Rundown

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It is the final Thursday Rundown of October which means Halloween is right around the corner. Hope the costume is picked out, the pumpkins are carved, and the trick-or-treat candy is purchased! Let’s get to tonight’s five topics…

Jack-O-Lantern Pizza – I am always in the mood for a good holiday-themed pizza which is why I am a sucker for the Papa Murphy’s pumpkin and heart-shaped pies that come out during October and February, respectively. We picked up our jack-o-lantern pizza this past Sunday and instead of opting for the $10 large-sized pizza we went with the $13 family-sized pizza. As per usual it was delicious but I wish they would use something besides olives for the eyes…perhaps sausage or pineapple?

This was the Papa Murphy’s family-sized pizza we got on Sunday night.

Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe – Back in my Coastal Carolina University days, I worked with a guy who was so revered for his food management and food preparation skills that he was called The Foodman. Jeff Stone, CCU’s Director of Food Services at the time, knew (and still does) everything about food. From time to time I will ask him for tips when it comes to preparing dishes. The other day I asked him for his best chocolate chip cookie recipe. You know what he told me? He said to pick up a bag of Nestle chocolate chips and follow the directions on the back of the package. I was expecting something elaborate but I thought it was a credit to Jeff that sometimes the most simple and tried-and-true recipe can be the best.

That’s me (in the Santa costume) hanging out with Jeff Stone (aka THE FOODMAN) in Dec. 2014.

The Evolution of Arthur – On Tuesday night, we read “Arthur’s Halloween.” After we finished the book, Sidney and I started talking about the changes in Arthur’s appearance over the years. We both remembered reading those “early” books where he just didn’t look very modern or kid friendly. I looked up the transformation of Arthur on Google and I found that his evolution was even more complex than originally thought.

Arthur sure has changed a lot over the years.

Titanic Book – I am trying to introduce more non-fiction books into our nightly reading as Sloan seems to take a great interest in it. Last week we read a book on the Titanic. I did question whether it was appropriate for her but I remembered how much the story of the Titanic intrigued me as a kid so I moved forward with reading it to Sloan. She also found it very interesting and talked a lot about it the next day. The book broke down a time period of four days that included initial boarding, life on the ship, its sinking, and the arrival of survivors in New York. “Four Days on the Titanic” is a good option for introducing this historical event to children.

This book on the Titanic was very interesting.

Time With The Blessed Mother – This past Sunday, we had another one of our Spokane Valley Young Adult Catholic meetings. While the adults met, I kept an eye on the kids. We were roaming around the St. Paschal campus when Sloan spotted this small statue of our Blessed Mother. Without skipping a beat she sat down on the bench and started to pray. Aria, the adorable daughter of our friends Ryan and Allyson, joined her. Sloan’s/Aria’s acts of reverence, the beautiful statue, and the gorgeous fall colors made this photo a special one. Let us all pray for peace to our Blessed Mother during these very contentious times we are living in.

Aria and Sloan sit down for a moment of prayer on the grounds of St. Paschal Catholic Church in the Spokane Valley.

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Thanks for joining me for another rundown. I will be back tomorrow with a rare Friday blog post. Have a good one, friends. Don’t Blink.

An Upbeat Thursday Rundown

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Sometimes I downplay my Thursday Rundowns. I would be lying if I said that my weekly blog post counting down five random topics always drums up a lot of excitement and relevance. However, I like tonight’s subjects. With that said, let’s get going.

The Best Recognition – Last Thursday I shared with you an article that was written about me for the faculty/staff newsletter here at Coastal Carolina University. That was awesome and made me feel good but a different piece that came out yesterday really made me smile. I have a job primarily because of students so when that demographic is celebrating what I am doing it is the ultimate compliment. The student newspaper here, The Chanticleer, did a feature on me that made the front page. The fact that I was spotlighted in the student paper meant enough but the way the article was written just added even more icing on the cake. I think Kara Thomas did a fantastic job pretty much explaining me. To read the article, click here.

I really enjoyed this article by Kara Thomas of The Chanticleer.

I really enjoyed this article by Kara Thomas of The Chanticleer.

Back to Mentoring – I had the opportunity to participate in a brand new program last year called CINO Legacy. What this program did was pair a student at Coastal with a staff member at Coastal. The student served as the mentee and the staff member served as the mentor. When I was asked to participate again this year I jumped right at the chance. This afternoon I had my first meeting with my mentee. Please meet Chelsea, a senior from Columbia, S.C., studying sport management. We sat down for the first time today on the outdoor porch at our campus Einstein Bros. As the time goes on we will discuss topics such as resume building, interview skills, and professional development. What a great program!

I met with my mentee, Chelsea, for the first time today.

I met with my mentee, Chelsea, for the first time today.

Spot-A-Chant – Today I revisited my high school days and wore a football jersey to school…ummm…I mean work. In a way to promote and build excitement for the first home #CCU football game, certain staff members were asked to wear old jerseys for the day. The wardrobe push also coincided with the main event of Spot-A-Chant. From 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., students could come to the front of our main dining hall and take selfies with the football players. Designed to allow our students to get to know our student-athletes better, the second annual Spot-A-Chant had a lot of our football athletes perfecting their selfie skills with members of our student body. Despite the lighthearted jabs that came my way because of the jersey on my back, I enjoyed wearing it!

The photo in the upper right is an image of staff and football players. Can you spot me? The bottom photo is of our Vice President for Student Affairs Debbie Conner, myself, and our Food Service Director Jeff Stone.

The photo in the upper right is an image of staff and football players. Can you spot me? The bottom photo is of our Vice President for Student Affairs Debbie Conner, myself, and our Food Service Director Jeff Stone.

New Snapchat Filters – Those new Snapchat filters though. Man, Snapchat rolled out quite the update this week with brand new filters. They are colorful, scary, crazy, and kind of cool. They make for some pretty neat still images but the capabilities of utilizing them with video is the really rad part. I think Snapchat is doing what they can to get away from the reputation of offering grainy, low quality images. This new rollout is a step in the right direction.

These are some of the new Snapchat filters.

These are some of the new Snapchat filters.

The Second Republican Debate – I thought “Big Brother” last night was entertaining…then I started to watch the Republican debate. I never knew debates could make me laugh and drop my jaw so much. CNN did all they could to sling all the mud they could across that stage. They definitely “outfoxed” Fox News when it came to pitting candidates against each other and starting drama. Not that I am complaining. Sidney and I sat on the couch just eating up the whole thing. If you tuned in to watch a traditional debate filled with policy, strategy, and civility you would have been very disappointed.

A tweet from Sidney regarding us watching the debate.

A tweet from Sidney regarding us watching the debate.

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That will wrap it up. I am excited to watch the Chanticleer football team take the teal turf on Saturday to open up the 2015 home season. It will be a great ending for what has been a crazy week for me. Don’t Blink.

#CCU Yik Yak Takeover

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One month ago I questioned aloud on this blog how I could utilize Yik Yak effectively in our Coastal Carolina University social media strategy. At the time I didn’t have a concrete game plan. Well, after thinking about it a lot and reading about how other universities are handling this hot social media app, I realized two things: 1. I wanted to do something about Yik Yak. 2. I didn’t want to do what the other universities were doing.

This Thursday, October 30, #CCUSocialMedia will host a #CCU Yik Yak Takeover. From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., the whole campus community within the 1.5 mile set radius is encouraged to send out positive yaks throughout the day. While many universities are attempting to block it, Coastal Carolina University is taking a big step to embrace it. This is a completely original idea, one that will catapult Coastal Carolina into the discussion of universities who came up with a plan to maximize the possibilities of Yik Yak as opposed to those who wanted nothing to do with it.

The #CCU Yik Yak Takeover will take place this Thursday, October 30.

The #CCU Yik Yak Takeover will take place this Thursday, October 30.

The #CCU Yik Tak Takeover is the brainchild of our “Social Media Dream Team” on campus. I have the privilege of working with a group of six other fellow staff members* who in addition to their university jobs are also social media leaders on campus. We have meetings and we talk often. At last week’s meeting we all committed to taking this on. Come Thursday, we will do what we can to generate positive yaks. Students will have the opportunity to find us on Prince Lawn (our campus gathering place) and send out an inspirational yak in our presence. If they do, they will receive a Coastal prize.

But make no mistake about it, the #CCU Yik Yak Takeover is not about, nor dependent on, the seven of us staffers. It is entirely a deal that will be driven and executed by our students. We could “Yak” until our thumbs turn blue but we would still be outnumbered 10,000 to 7. If our students buy-in, this will be one of the most successful social media feats seen on a college campus. So will they?

The #CCU Yik Yak Takeover caused a lot of buzz on Yik Yak today. As you can see, some of it was positive and some of it was in a mocking nature. The portions of text that are blocked out contained bad language.

The #CCU Yik Yak Takeover caused a lot of buzz on Yik Yak today. As you can see, some of it was positive and some of it was in a mocking nature. The portions of text that are blocked out contained bad language.

I bet they will.

When we announced our Takeover at 4 p.m. today, we had a lot of excited students. Many voiced on social media how much they love their school for doing something like this. Don’t get me wrong though, we also have some students who are going to oppose it as well. Just minutes after the announcement, the Coastal Yik Yak stream was buzzing about October 30. Lots of users voiced support, while other completely mocked the idea. Going in we knew that we would have people who would fight what we are trying to do. However, our plan come Thursday is simple…overwhelm the negative with the positive.

Some of the positive response we received on our #CCU Yik Yak Takeover.

Some of the positive response we received on our #CCU Yik Yak Takeover.

Wait one second though and throw strategy out the window. Sure we plan to outnumber bad yaks with good yaks. However, one thing is forever on our side: Pride. The students here at Coastal Carolina University are passionate and protective of their school. They know a big opportunity exists on Thursday to let that passion shine through for the social media world to see. The majority of students that make this campus great will show up on the day before Halloween and make the #CCU Yik Yak Takeover an epic success. Trust me, those of you outside of the CCU radius will want to “peak” on our community beacause we are about to do something pretty cool. Don’t Blink.

 

* Thanks to the Social Media Dream Team of April Betsch, Erika Pomerantz, Jeff Stone, Jennifer Sellers, Kevin Olivett, and Travis Overton for making the #CCU Yik Yak Takeover possible. Thanks to the #CCU student body in advance for making it successful.