The New Face of the Digital Drifter

Hey all,

So much has changed since our last meeting! I am now a member of the freelance community! That means that I got laid off and am exploring my many options of what I can do with my life for the last semester that I am considered an Undergrad. I love it! I get to work from home, usually my couch, which has been a dream of mine since I was but a youth. But seriously, I am actually enjoying it and it is panning out which is always a plus. I have two steady clients in my first month and a half of doing this gig and I have two more on the horizon.

Now you may be asking, what exactly do you do? I am a freelance social media and public relations consultant; though I have primarily been working in the social media realm. I create and manage social media accounts for businesses. This means that I am the one putting together Facebook and Twitter accounts, as well as blogs for a company. I actually think I found the job that I was born to do. It gives me plenty of time to manage my life around my work; I get plenty of time for the gym and for my friends and I get to work at my convenience. I love it. Seriously though, have I said it enough yet?

As always, much to come. I have many new ideas that I can actually work on now that I am not taking 19 credits and working in an office. So, let's see if I can make some use of this newly found free time. Thanks for tuning in - I hope you will check back.

Eternally yours Internet,

The Digital Drifter

Musings of a PR student

Summer Vacation - something that I have not truly gotten to enjoy in years. I start summer school in a month, but until then I have absolutely nothing scheduled. I am a recently laid off PR student who graduates in December - and I have no idea what to do with my time. I am starting to look into freelance work and maybe an agency or two that I could apply at, but until then, for the first time in awhile, I am just a normal twenty-something.

The reason that this is such a big deal, as most would not consider it to be so, is that I was really "comfortable" in my lifestyle. I love school (shocking, I know), I loved my job, and I loved where I was heading. I guess it was a necessary reality check going into my final semester at school that you never really have everything figured out. Though I am sad to leave agency life behind me for at least the time being, I realize that it happened and I must move on. Everything happens for a reason, even though it may not always be the reason we want it to be. I recently was given a bit of advice that really struck something in me, and that is that there is only one thing you can be sure about life, and that is that it goes on.

And that is what I am doing at this juncture, I am going on with life in the best way that I know how. So, while I am left at a crossroads, I know only that I will move forward, never back. I have come a long way in my time at Boise State University; I found passion, hope, and a lust for life. I will not lose these things, I will embrace them. Here is once again, to the next step - wherever it may take me.

Another excuse as to why I am a horrible blogger

Once again I find myself trying to explain why it has been so long since I have updated. I keep asking myself why I do not just make the time to update, as I have so many ideas for posts that I would like to share with you.

For the first time in my life, I can legitimately say that I have not a minute of free time, and when I do, I feel like doing nothing except kicking back on the couch and playing some Call of Duty. As the semester draws closer to a close, I can feel myself preparing for a greater change than I am ready for. My long semesters of 19 credits and working are about over. I am 14 credits away from a degree, and the key to move past this time and into the next phase of my life.

Who knows what lies upon the horizon? So many decisions to be made over the next 8 months, and all will be monumental. The only comparison I have was the last semester of High School. Things seemed like they would change so much, and they did, but in the most amazing ways that I could never have imagined. Here is to the next step -- may it bring as much amazing change and positive influence on my life as the previous steps have.

Legitimate updates to follow - until then... enjoy the ride my friends ;)

Sean

Saints, Snowboarding, and a few minor house cleaning issues.

Once again it has been too long my friends. Hello again and welcome to my little corner of the internet. How have you been? We've missed you!

First things first - I would like to say congratulations to the New Orleans Saints! Superbowl 44 Champions! The Saints had me a bit scared going into the second quarter, but by the start of the second half (well after that amazingly executed onside kick), I was content that Brees and the rest of the Saints could put this one away. Anyone else glad to see pro teams take chances like the Saints did last night? Made me think of something Boise State might attempt. Fun fact though, last nights onside kick to start the second half was the first onside kick attempted before the 4th quarter ever in Superbowl history. Big call, big payoff. That is what the game of football is all about!

In an attempt to start doing more during the winter, I went (read: attempted) snowboarding up at Bogus Basin for the first time in years yesterday prior to the Superbowl. For never really knowing how to snowboard (I think I am truly a skier at heart) I think I did OK by the end of the day. I am feeling it today, but there were a few times yesterday that I really started to have fun. This was, of course, in between some of the hardest crashes I have had doing anything in awhile. It was totally worth it though, and I may even attempt to go up again next weekend. A few pictures from snowboarding yesterday are posted in my Flickr feed - check them out!

In the craziness that is 19 credits at Boise State and work three days a week at Drake Cooper, I really haven't been able to blog much lately. I have been learning so much that I want to share with you all, and I feel that I am finally moving towards a point where valuable content will be available readily through this blog. It's coming soon - I promise! I really do enjoy posts like this though, as it gives me a chance to share a bit of Boise life with the rest of the world.

In my last note of the day, I would like to acknowledge some major changes that are coming. My group: the people I live with, I party with, and do pretty much everything else with is coming into a great deal of change. Josh is deploying to Afghanistan, Anthony is moving home, and Mat is in a similar place I am. I have been living with my best friends for the past 4 years now (has it really been that long???). I just want to say thank you to everyone - It's not goodbye by any means. Josh will be back in a year, and I will still see Anthony and Mat. It is just an odd change to note, as this may be one of the most significant events in my life since I moved in with Josh and Mat almost half a decade ago.

I look forward to the turns that life will take, and I hope that the next 5 years will be as absolutely amazing and influential as the past 5 have been.

Cheers! And I will see you all soon.

Sean

Justarant (yes, a rant)

As this blog slowly drifts to a place that actually has meaning and is not just the rants and raves of a student in Boise, I find that the real world seems to change with it. As I find purpose in this grand theater that we call life, so much changes. In the next few months, my whole life is going to be flipped upside down. Currently, I am living with three of my best friends, and have been for years now. As circumstances would have it, this is all coming to a crashing halt in the months to come.

Not only am I completely occupied with school and work, (as I should be, I am getting close to graduation; it's crunch time!) but I am losing one of my best friends for a year as he is deploying to Afghanistan. This is not the entire reason for everything breaking apart either. One of my other roommates is moving in with family, and the other is yet undecided. This leaves me in a peculiar situation, where for the first time in years I am looking for a roommate who is not someone in my very close group of friends.

In any case, this is a time that really snuck up on me. It seems that for so long it has been me and this very tight knit group, and now for some reason everything feels as if it will never be the same again. It is a scary, yet very liberating feeling. This will give me the opportunity to really focus on school and my career, as I need to at this very important section of my life. I expect the next year to be a great one, even though some of the people who I have shared every experience with in the past years will not be present. I look forward to next semester, and I look forward to furthering myself as a student and a professional.

Have a safe and happy holiday season everyone, I'll be back soon - I promise :)

Tumbling back to Tumblr

I discovered Tumblr quite some time ago when it was brand new. It was a site that I created an account for, and set up direct updating from Twitter, FaceBook, and my Blog. I then completely forgot about it! It just didn't offer what I was looking for at the time. This was about the point in my life where I was engulfed with Twitter and this blog didn't exist yet. If my memory serves me correctly, this was also the time I was discovering public relations - but that story is to be saved for another day.

I recently have rediscovered Tumblr and I am very impressed. I had almost completely forgotten about it, but I was linked to a friends Tumblr account through their Twitter. When I when to their Tumblr profile I was in shock at how different it was than I remembered. It has evolved into a very functional, user friendly social media platform. I will be playing around over the next few days, trying to discover what else Tumblr has to offer - If you are on Tumblr, you should add me! My Tumblr URL is - http://seanwinnett.tumblr.com/.

Also, if you have any fun thoughts or cool applications for Tumblr, let me know! I want to hear all your cool uses for this very cool site!

Sean
PS - I LOVE the way that Tags are done for this site :) - Very impressive guys.

Looking Forward

With yet another semester coming to a close, I am extremely looking forward to the one month break that is only days away. I have actually managed to finish up all my projects and papers, and only have one final left, which is not until Thursday. Next semester is looking to be just as busy as this semester was, if not even more. I am set to take 19 credits next semester, including classes such as PR Writing, Reporting and News Writing, Advanced Studies in Media, Mass Communications and Democracy and a few other upper division Comm classes that I have left to take before I graduate.

Another change for next semester is that I am now the Project Manager for the Boise State chapter of PRSSA. I think this will be one of the more fun aspects of next semester, and I am really looking forward to another great semester in PRSSA. We have a really great group of members, and I believe that we will have a lot of fun next semester.


Looking forward to it!

Sean