Representative Profile

I asked myself what would be an interesting topic on which to do my Representative Profile. I even consulted the brilliant mind of my wife to get some ideas. After many ideas where thrown out onto the table I decided the topic of choice would be Adoption. I have had friends and family adopt children and I had also met someone new in my life which became the subject of this topic. I wanted to find out the reasons, route, and steps it took for the adoptions.

It turned out that a very small few actually took the needed steps to adopt children. Two to three percent made these steps of the 30 percent that considered adoption. I found out there are different organizations to which you can go through to adopt children. Public to private organizations that varied in the steps and ways to go through the process, some would allow prospect parents to come and interact and observe children before they decided if they wanted to adopt. Others you would simply see a picture and read information about the child online.  It turned out that more adoptions were made through the program where parents could come and interact with the children first, even though such organizations receive criticism saying future parents are treating children like objects they’re shopping for.

In the end my subjects made the choice to go through a private company and adopted two children in the course of five years. I enjoyed learning more about this subject and meeting the wonderful people that made the decision to adopt. After learning how many people actually go through with adoption I hope the number will increase and more children will find loving homes to which to spend their lives.

Comm 100 Profile

Resume:

Barry Ricks 137 N 3 W Apt 1 Rexburg, Idaho 83440

208.206.1596 bricks2312@hotmail.com

Strengths

Strong communication, interaction and relationship-building skills acquired through experience as a salesman, customer-service positions, volunteer work and coaching/instructor activities.

Technical Skills

Windows 7, MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Publisher; Internet research, basic but expanding knowledge in Adobe programs: InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator.

Education

BYU-I (Current Student), Communications Major                                                          Associates Degree from New Mexico State University

Activities

Qualified instructor for the United Clans Swordsman Association (2000 – current)            Cub Scouts (Current) - I am the Cub Master for troop/pack #0047                             Volunteer Coach for the A.Y.S.O. soccer league                                                                 Actively involved in theater arts

Accomplishments

Received Associates Degree in General Ed from New Mexico State University                Have gained an instructors rank in the UCSA (United Clan Swordsman Association)
Served as a full-time representative for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for two years.

Experience

Supervisor over six other representatives while serving a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

·         Gained skills in leadership and interpersonal communication.

Employee for Pizza Pie Café in Rexburg, Idaho (March 2012 - Current)

·         Established relationships and showed dependability in all responsibilities given me.

Miner for Intrepid Potash in Carlsbad, New Mexico (October 2007 – August 2008) (October 2010 – December 2011)

·         Showed willingness and capability in learning new skills on a daily basis. Worked within a Team to achieve set goals.

Medical Technician for South East New Mexico Podiatry in Carlsbad, New Mexico (August 2008 – October 2010)

·         Demonstrated interpersonal communications while working with patients. Quick to learn various medical terms and skills to personally assist each Doctor.

 

 Websites and Class Summaries:

­­http://personalbranding101.com/qr-codes-personal-branding

1.       Get Noticed

2.       capture their attention

3.       Don’t be scared to print your blog or website in a local paper so anyone can see to hire you.

4.       Create your own QR-code

5.       Optimize your blog for mobile browsing.

http://www.byuicomm.net/

1.       Nice to see how much news they cover

2.       I like all the video options

3.       Cleanly set up

4.       Easy to navigate

5.       Informative

www.ap.org

 

http://www.jobinterviewquestions.org/

1.       What are good questions to ask

2.       What are good questions to avoid

3.       What to expect to asked

4.       Pay attention to what is said right there in the interview so you can ask smart questions.

5.       Proper asking techniques

http://www.byuiphotographics.com

 

www.prssa.org

1.       The PRSA code of ethics

2.       Great competition chances to improve your skills

3.       Internship options

4.       Networking

5.       Experience (haha)

web.byui.edu/gradplan

1.       What classes I need to take

2.       What semester I’m going to take them

3.       Gave me good direction

4.       Helped me understand what needs to be done

5.       Being Organized

www.aaf.org

1.       Ethics code

2.       What is advertizing

3.       Networking

4.       Clubs to join

5.       Education they look for or what you need

www.timeanddate.org

1.       How to keep organized

2.       It’s important to know the times in the other places you do business

3.       Create your own calendar

4.       Apps to help you on the road

5.       It’s good to keep time

 

www.office.microsoft.com

1.       Help you with presentations

2.       Helps with resumes

3.       Cool Apps

4.       It’s important to be familiar with all the Microsoft programs

5.       Keep you organized

 

CLASS Overviews’:

September 13 – I liked how we are going to go over all aspects of the Comm Department. This way it gives me an idea of which area to go towards

September 20 – I-Comm seem like a lot of fun. (Hard work, but fun) I plan on signing up. It was nice to see how professional a group we have here on campus and that they work with real clients.

September 27 – News/journalism – it was interesting to learn about, and I think it’s important to know but it’s not for me. I did enjoy Brother Williams though.

October 4 – Video Production – I have always been interested in video production. I was surprised on the awesome equipment we have. It will be exciting when they get the new widescreen cameras. I was impressed by some of the good work some of the students have done. It makes me feel that I can learn to do that to.

October 11 – Academic Discovery Center – I was happy to see how much they are willing to help us out. Sometimes I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing, so just knowing that they are willing to help to all aspects was nice.

October 18 – Public Relations – I was excited for this class because I want to go into Public relations. After the Summit I was pumped to hear what was said. It was fun to go over the different PR current events to give us an idea what we could do. Ex: Red Bull space jump.

October  25 – Visual Media – I loved Sister Esplin. Knowing all the things she has made and been involved in was awesome. It made me want to take more visual media classes because every aspect of Comm visual media is involved now days. Plus the fact that’s the number one thing that former students wished they had more experience in.

November 1 – Advertizing – I enjoyed the ads that were shown and discussing them and how they are good or bad.

November 8 – Ethics – It was nice to learn what we can and can’t use, though the most memorable thing was the Disney Copyright video.

November 15 – Internships – Made me think that I need to get on the ball a little better to pick and find good internships and multiple ones.

GRAD PLAN:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Event Ad

This is my Event Ad I had to create for my Visual Media class.

Only requirement is that we had to scan a photo and the whole project could only be done in Word.

It was a fun project; I was surprised of all the things you can do just with in Word.

Have a good look, if you have any comments, good or bad I would love to hear them.

 

The Hobbit

I wanted to re-read this epic book before the movie comes out next month. It has been a very long time since I have read it and it was fun to get a blast from my past.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

What can I say more right?

Well I was actually surprised by a couple of things. For one, those Dwarfs where caught and nearly killed or thrown in jail by everyone they came in contact with. I guess you could consider that they played it safe not fighting their way out every time, but come on, every time being captured? Didn't make them seem very tough, more foolish than anything.

Second, they were also the luckiest Dwarfs ever because they got out of every situation as well, with the extreme help of Bilbo of course.

They were a funny bunch though; I enjoyed the friendly banter and look forward to that in the movie.

The book was shorter than I remember; which wasn't a bad thing just more of a surprise.

I look forward to the movie. I hope with all the extra stuff they are adding in that it will be awesome.

I give it 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

It was fun and a classic but I have enjoyed more resent author’s style of writing a little more.

 

Legend

Hello all again. I've had the chance to finish a couple of books since my last post. Our first stop is a book entitled Legend by Marie Lu. I enjoyed the book, it wasn't amazing to me, but it kept my attention enough for me to finish it.

It takes place in the near future of our world, of course with some slight differences. The United States of America no longer exists. It has been split into two parties in this post apocalyptic world, the Colonies and the Republic. Constantly at war these two groups like any other long standing war have misconceptions of each other. Each group of course thinking the other is wrong and evil. Throughout the book you get an idea of who is right and who is wrong.

The book focuses on two main characters, Day and June. Day is a brilliant street rat and June is a well to do military prodigy. They have grown up a few miles from each other but worlds apart.

Day has become the most wanted criminal of the republic by the age of 15. They know nothing of him, not even what he looks like, because he's not on any record the Republic have, which is a thorn in their side. Day becomes accused of killing a Captain of the Republic when he was on a heist. This results in June becoming involved in his life, because the Captain was her brother.

June hunts Day down and eventually gets him arrested. Little does June know that her brother's death is a lot more complicated and steeped in conspiracy than she realizes. Through talking with Day and with some research of her own, illegal research of course, she finds that her beloved Republic has blood on their hands, too much to wash away. Most importantly they have her brother's blood on their hands. June now decides to break Day out and send a message to her once loved Republic.

The book ends as if there is a sequel but can also be a standalone book if needed. I for one am not going to put it at the top of my reading list if there are more.

I give it two out of five stars. Not amazing but not a complete waist.

 

Legion

Today I'm going review the Novella "Legion" by Brandon Sanderson. My only beef with this book is that it was too short. Of course it is going to be since it's a Novella. At the end of it I was craving more and more. According to Peter Ahlstrom who is Brandon Sanderson's personal editorial assistant there is nothing officially stated about sequels, but if Sanderson decided to write them they would be around 30 thousand words. Also Lions gate has shown interest about making Legion into a TV series. This would be a super cool show after reading it. This was all stated on Sanderson's Facebook page.

Stephen Leeds AKA "Legion" takes the spot light in this novella. He is called Legion by others because Leeds has his own personal set of hallucinations that he talks with openly around others, so everyone naturally thinks he's a little loopy. Interesting thing about these people he sees and speaks with, they all have their own personal set of skills and talents that Leeds draws upon when he needs help with off end jobs he takes from people, he is kind of a private eye detective but not in the official sense. Some of his hallucinations a historian, ex-navy seal, therapist, linguist, master forger are just a few of the many talent "Aspects" that follow him around Aspects is what Leeds likes to call them.

(Spoiler Alert Highlight text if you want to read it)

In the story Leeds is approached by a company wanting him to find a stolen camera that can take pictures of the past. For instance they showed Leeds a picture of George Washington shaving, which is crazy because cameras hadn't been invented yet. The camera was stolen by the inventor. You latter find out that the inventor, a scientist who is a devout Catholic and has received so much grief and persecution for being both at the same time wanted to take a picture of the resurrected Jesus Christ to prove once and for all that it is all real. So Leeds with his Aspects hunt down the inventor to find out he has been taken by an extremist group that wants the camera for their own plans. Since it is a novella everything gets tired up pretty quick. They find the inventor who ends up dying and the camera gets destroyed, but the film was preserved enough to print one picture. It was of Jesus Christ, but at the wrong time, it was before he died. The cool thing was that Jesus was looking straight at the camera, like he knew it was there 2000 years later. Leeds returns home and a new aspect shows up who is a scientist to help him rebuild the camera. Maybe.

So I really hope more books are written because this could simple become an awesome book series.

 

My first Flyer

I've begun my journey into the Communication world and now I would like to share it with you. My fellow students and I have been asked to start a blog to present our work, ideas, and thoughts. So I hope my ideas and thoughts can be entertaining for you all to see and read.

So here is my final project for the very first flyer I have ever made. We were ask to only use the InDesign program and nothing else for this project. We were given all the text and pictures, so  I didn't write this just designed it.

Any Comments are most welcome. Thank you for looking at my blog.

 

Ender's Game Book Review

I've be told I should write about something I love.

I love to read.

Fantasy and Sci Fi are my favorite works to read.

The latest book I finished was Ender's Games by Orson Scott Card, an oldie but goodie.

I once read this book in Jr. High because it was required reading and at that time I didn't enjoy reading at all.

With the Movie adapted from the book coming out soon I decided I wanted to give this book a second chance.

I loved it! It was a great read, and easy to get through.

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins came to my mind as I read this book. In the Hunger Games they mess with the children in a more physical aspect. (Obviously) However in Ender's Game it's psychological, they would mess with Ender's head. It was sad and sometimes a little disturbing what would go through his head at times. I'm thought to myself "No little kid should be thinking those thoughts."

Having a young child as the protagonist wasn't a big issue for me, I mean come on, almost every big literary Hero now days is either a teen or pre-teen. What I did enjoy however was Ender actually grew up through the book instead of staying the same age, so it seemed a little more realistic because he gain experience and knowledge, unlike our other heroes thrown into the fray and happen to survive everything.

Children were many of the main antagonists in Ender’s path through the story.

So at times you were thinking to yourself, wow these kids are messed up. Bonzo was to self-involved in his Honor, which ended in his premature death. Sorry spoiler for those who haven't read it.

I won't ruin the end for those who haven't read it.

I know that there are several more books in this series, but you can read this book and be satisfied with the ending with no driving feeling of continuing on and finishing the series of books. It ends and leaves your minds open to a future, but one you can think up yourself if you didn't want to read the other books.

Ender's Game receives four out of five stars.

A pleasure to read, something the whole family could enjoy.