Thank you for the best 21 ever... I miss ya'll!!
Coolest cake, neal ann and bon. I've been bragging about it a little on the boat, not gonna lie.
What's the cheesiest thing I can say... oh. you guys are my heart. 
Coolest cake, neal ann and bon. I've been bragging about it a little on the boat, not gonna lie.
WARNING: POSSIBLITY FOR YAWNS AND SIGNS. SORT OF DRY. STOP IMMEDIATE USE AND CONSULTE PHYSICIAN IF SYMPTOMS WORSEN TO SCRATCHY EYES, SLUMPING, OR DEPARTURE FROM CHAIR TO FLOOR WITH HEAVY THUD. my apologies.
Sept. 1
I love how integrated service is on this voyage. I feel as if they have catered this trip specifically for me. I had decided at the end of last year that I must do something in social responsibility or non-profit or I wasn’t doing marketing. Every class thus far and many lectures outside of class have been focused on service. The wonderful part about it is the level of involvement the students want to have in service. These people aren’t just a bunch of rich kids looking for a booze cruise and another outlet to spend daddy’s money; they truly have a social conscience, are super down to earth, and easy to talk to. Everyone is just as awestruck, grateful, and excited as me. Today in Bus., Govt., and Society, the zany Dr. Strenecky talked with us about his brainchild “The $100 Solution” which began at his home University of Kentucky Western U. It’s a rotary club project (he’s a big Rotarian) that solves a big problem with just $100, despite the project estimate. He solved one problem at an orphanage abroad, where the sister/mother superior told him the children had never had a hot shower. The estimate of a new water system was about $9000. They did some research and were able to cut down distribution prices and bought a hot water heater for $100. The children now have a hot shower every day. That simple thing made a huge difference.
He told a wonderful story about his view of service. It can be daunting and overwhelming when you contemplate the world’s problems; how could you, one person, possibly change the world? You can’t. It’s too big, too many bad people, why waste your time and energy? Here’s the story.
Two brothers were walking along a beach. Suddenly a huge wave crashes upon them, drenching them and almost pulling them out to sea. When it recedes, millions of starfish are left on the sand, suffocating and left for death. The older brother heads back home to dry off, and turns around when he finds his younger brother no longer alongside him. He looked back to find his younger brother tossing starfish into the ocean, one by one. The older brother yells back to him, “What in the world are you doing? Stop! You aren’t going to make a difference. There are a million starfish out here.” The younger looks at his brother, points to the sea, and says, “I may not get all these guys, but I can tell you it made a hell of a difference to that starfish.”
Sept. 2
Got malaria pills this afternoon… apparently everyone’s getting them so didn’t want to miss that boat. Went to a cool seminar tonight, photography 101 by the young ship photographer Steven Cawman. Some tips… rule of thirds. Do off-centered placement; if it’s people, have them to the side instead of smack dab in the middle. Look for geometric shapes or architectural details. Don’t shoot straight on. Check out patterns found in nature. Look for humor. Depth of field.. focus one thing and leave the rest fuzzy (I love this but my camera doesn’t zoom enough to do it). Use black and white or colors to set the mood. The best or “magical” time is right before sunrise or right after sunset. Get cool long shadows. Get CLOSE to details. Take lots of pictures of doors. If taking a horizon shot, put it in either top third or bottom third. Do you want more sky or land/sea in the shot? I am aspiring to my geniuses of photography friends, Mad dog, Seckdaddy, Henry, and Knoxy. If only. I don’t anticipate their touch or eye, but I reference their work with awe and draw inspiration. Thank you, you artsy folksy people you.
He told a wonderful story about his view of service. It can be daunting and overwhelming when you contemplate the world’s problems; how could you, one person, possibly change the world? You can’t. It’s too big, too many bad people, why waste your time and energy? Here’s the story.
Two brothers were walking along a beach. Suddenly a huge wave crashes upon them, drenching them and almost pulling them out to sea. When it recedes, millions of starfish are left on the sand, suffocating and left for death. The older brother heads back home to dry off, and turns around when he finds his younger brother no longer alongside him. He looked back to find his younger brother tossing starfish into the ocean, one by one. The older brother yells back to him, “What in the world are you doing? Stop! You aren’t going to make a difference. There are a million starfish out here.” The younger looks at his brother, points to the sea, and says, “I may not get all these guys, but I can tell you it made a hell of a difference to that starfish.”
Sept. 2
Got malaria pills this afternoon… apparently everyone’s getting them so didn’t want to miss that boat. Went to a cool seminar tonight, photography 101 by the young ship photographer Steven Cawman. Some tips… rule of thirds. Do off-centered placement; if it’s people, have them to the side instead of smack dab in the middle. Look for geometric shapes or architectural details. Don’t shoot straight on. Check out patterns found in nature. Look for humor. Depth of field.. focus one thing and leave the rest fuzzy (I love this but my camera doesn’t zoom enough to do it). Use black and white or colors to set the mood. The best or “magical” time is right before sunrise or right after sunset. Get cool long shadows. Get CLOSE to details. Take lots of pictures of doors. If taking a horizon shot, put it in either top third or bottom third. Do you want more sky or land/sea in the shot? I am aspiring to my geniuses of photography friends, Mad dog, Seckdaddy, Henry, and Knoxy. If only. I don’t anticipate their touch or eye, but I reference their work with awe and draw inspiration. Thank you, you artsy folksy people you.
Sept. 3
CLASSES. This entry you can skip over, I’m having an extreme nerd moment where I have to indulge my inner geek. I am loving the classes. Professors of this boat are incredible. They don’t mess around about giving you work right off, but it’s not tedious work. It’s relevant.
In Operations Management, I just presented a big group project about business and operation in Spain. My part was about ethics and corruption in business, and I found it largely relates to the property market. There are huge margins to be had!! Property management, construction, and town-planning lend themselves to corruption, especially in small towns. The national Spanish government just passed several laws regarding ethical business and land management practices in response to the tons of cases regarding local authority (govt. officials and administration) that were accepting bribes, changing zoning laws, and cashing in on the booming market (2004-2006). The laws right after in 2006 and 2007. Dr. Duran has been in the field for 20 years and is very passionate about the subject. He’s Mexican, talks a million miles an hour, and is nothing but energy and go-go-go. Operations mgmt has the potential to be awful if you had a droning professor, stuck in a classroom learning stats. I’ve always found that I really learn and enjoy it when I consider is relevant, and if there’s a possibility I could use the information later.
The next class I have is Non-profit Leadership, which I love. Professor Vaughn, UVA, lives in Charlottesville, VA. Looks like a typical Southern gentleman. Always wears a polo and striped ribbon belt. Very tan. Nice looking older man. I’m going to meet with him about my thesis for the Honors College that I need to be working on right now. I think I’ve got a great idea!! Today in Non-profit Leadership we talked about the organic makeup of nonprofits and what the most important aspect of them is—service, expressiveness, advocacy, building community, or values. He broke us up into those 6 groups and told us to make the case that ours was the most important. My group argued that expression was the most important because without participating in and experiencing ballets, operas, art, music, sports, churches and religious organizations, and other forms of culture, how would they find and discover their interests, and therein determine what group/non-profit they want to join and give to/serve? Non-profit sports are usually a big part of children’s lives; they learn fair play, sportsmanship, competiveness, and working on a team—skills invaluable to people in the work force. Opera, ballet, and music links people culturally, exchanging tastes of alternate cultures and breeding greater culture understanding and acceptance. Religious organizations usually foster some sort of spirit of service within its members, whether it is he golden rule, inner peace, or a respect for all creatures (incarnation). The underlying pulse of religion is to better yourself, which produces better and more conscientious citizens. It even teaches obedience, which aids the success of Government (to an extent), which prevents humanity from spiraling into chaos. People come to know themselves through expression (verbal, physical, emotional), and others come to know them as well. Preserving the individual and his thoughts contribute to the greater goal of a more diverse, rounded, and successful collaboration of service. Yet we all decided, of course, that all factors work together to produce an effective body of service, but it was fun to debate about which came first. Sort of the chicken or the egg deal. Which it was the chicken. If you believe in evolution, an organism has to be evolved into what it is going to be before it can reproduce another thing like it. Or divine creation, God put the little guys down here, but how much fun would it be to just make an egg? Think He made an embryo sack before Eve? Or fish eggs. That’s not fun. As for me, I believe in both. Still not sure where the dinosaurs fit in yet. How did A and E not get eaten by the big T. Rex? Mystery unsolved. What a load of BS.
CLASSES. This entry you can skip over, I’m having an extreme nerd moment where I have to indulge my inner geek. I am loving the classes. Professors of this boat are incredible. They don’t mess around about giving you work right off, but it’s not tedious work. It’s relevant.
In Operations Management, I just presented a big group project about business and operation in Spain. My part was about ethics and corruption in business, and I found it largely relates to the property market. There are huge margins to be had!! Property management, construction, and town-planning lend themselves to corruption, especially in small towns. The national Spanish government just passed several laws regarding ethical business and land management practices in response to the tons of cases regarding local authority (govt. officials and administration) that were accepting bribes, changing zoning laws, and cashing in on the booming market (2004-2006). The laws right after in 2006 and 2007. Dr. Duran has been in the field for 20 years and is very passionate about the subject. He’s Mexican, talks a million miles an hour, and is nothing but energy and go-go-go. Operations mgmt has the potential to be awful if you had a droning professor, stuck in a classroom learning stats. I’ve always found that I really learn and enjoy it when I consider is relevant, and if there’s a possibility I could use the information later.
The next class I have is Non-profit Leadership, which I love. Professor Vaughn, UVA, lives in Charlottesville, VA. Looks like a typical Southern gentleman. Always wears a polo and striped ribbon belt. Very tan. Nice looking older man. I’m going to meet with him about my thesis for the Honors College that I need to be working on right now. I think I’ve got a great idea!! Today in Non-profit Leadership we talked about the organic makeup of nonprofits and what the most important aspect of them is—service, expressiveness, advocacy, building community, or values. He broke us up into those 6 groups and told us to make the case that ours was the most important. My group argued that expression was the most important because without participating in and experiencing ballets, operas, art, music, sports, churches and religious organizations, and other forms of culture, how would they find and discover their interests, and therein determine what group/non-profit they want to join and give to/serve? Non-profit sports are usually a big part of children’s lives; they learn fair play, sportsmanship, competiveness, and working on a team—skills invaluable to people in the work force. Opera, ballet, and music links people culturally, exchanging tastes of alternate cultures and breeding greater culture understanding and acceptance. Religious organizations usually foster some sort of spirit of service within its members, whether it is he golden rule, inner peace, or a respect for all creatures (incarnation). The underlying pulse of religion is to better yourself, which produces better and more conscientious citizens. It even teaches obedience, which aids the success of Government (to an extent), which prevents humanity from spiraling into chaos. People come to know themselves through expression (verbal, physical, emotional), and others come to know them as well. Preserving the individual and his thoughts contribute to the greater goal of a more diverse, rounded, and successful collaboration of service. Yet we all decided, of course, that all factors work together to produce an effective body of service, but it was fun to debate about which came first. Sort of the chicken or the egg deal. Which it was the chicken. If you believe in evolution, an organism has to be evolved into what it is going to be before it can reproduce another thing like it. Or divine creation, God put the little guys down here, but how much fun would it be to just make an egg? Think He made an embryo sack before Eve? Or fish eggs. That’s not fun. As for me, I believe in both. Still not sure where the dinosaurs fit in yet. How did A and E not get eaten by the big T. Rex? Mystery unsolved. What a load of BS.
Global Studies is very cool, just lots of new factoids and lecturers. Lots of info on countries we visit and general goodness about the world. Sustainability lectures, ecological economics, flat world of technology, etc. General exciting stuff. We're reading The World Is Flat by Friedman, which we read freshman year for Honors, so I'm just hanging out, which is awesome.
Think I've got my thesis idea!!! Deals with a new approach to corporate philanthropy, a more integrated and strategic approach that benefits the genre of business and society. But I'll spare you. Hope noone's asleep.... :)
We land in Cadiz, Spain tom at 8:00!! I’m SO excited. Anticipation nation on the boat. Cabin fever. We’re there Saturday-Tuesday, then we sail one day and we’re in Morocco!! So I might not post for a while, but I’ll try to post after Spain. Hope all’s well! Don’t get swine flu! Thank you for my emails Bonney, Parker, Kate, Margaret, and Knox! Getting email is like getting mail at camp. HUGE deal. It’s cake to a fat kid at fat camp. blvarner@semesteratsea.net, if you feel so inclined.
