Free Write Post

I decided I would write about my Thanksgiving break for my blog this week. My family's Thanksgiving was slightly different this year from our traditional thanksgivings we have had in the past. My dad moved to France this summer for work and cannot come back to the states for several months to establish a permanent French work visa. I also have brother living in Mississippi who could not make it either. My mom was also flying out to France the day after Thanksgiving because the flights were so cheap. Therefore, by the end of the holiday, we only had two members of our five at home. This was a little bit different from our traditional holidays; however, our family is simply going through a difficult moving phase this year and Im sure everything will be fine for Christmas and Thanksgivng next year.

Dual Coding Theory

I found the lecture on Dual Coding Theory to be very helpful. It was helpful to learn of this theory for everyone because it can be applied to almost any field. It also reassured me of things I know but never knew scientifically why they happened. For example, studying vocabulary for the GRE, I was able to memorize over 900 words in the span of three weeks and knew everyone of them. Now looking back at them, a few weeks later, I can only really remember about half of them. This is obviously because during those three weeks I was repeatedly using them in my vocabulary and reveiwing them every night via flashcards. Also, in the field of architecture it is very helpful to undersatnd the concept of dual coding theory. The most successful way to sell your idea is have first, powerful written/spoken text and ideas, secondly, powerful visual images to describe and strike interest in the project, and thridly, a peronable presentation that connects all of the over. All the components of a successful presentation parallel the three cognitive systems that work together in dual coding theory.

Group Work So Far...

So far the group work has worked really well. I think we really lucked out with our group memebers, everyone seems to get along really well and we have yet to have any major problems. They only minor problem that we have has so far is that everyone has a different schedule so it gets complicated for everyone to meet at the same time. Im sure this is typical of any group of five college studetns. Maybe, since this seems to be a problem, we might need to meet as soon as possible for Phase 2 because everyone's schedule seems to get really hectic towards the end of the semester.

Mock Interview Reflection

In reveiwing my mock interview, occuring on October 22nd, I think I was in general very successful. I went into the interview prepared. I made triple checked to make sure I had my cover letter and resume prepared and with me before leaving my appartment. I also made sure to get there at least 10 minutes early just to make sure I was not late. During the interview, I feel I was definitley calm and able to respond to the questions in a prompt and eloquent manner. I do think that I need to be cautious of how long I am speakig for while responding to the questions. I sometimes feel I begin to give too much information and it ends up disinteresting the interviewee and taking too much time. I thought the overall experiene was great. It is great to be able to practice interviewing in a non-stressful situation so that you are prepared when you go a real interview. My only critique is that I did not where I tie. I mistakenly took the "no jackets required" as "no jackets or ties required." Hopefully this does not hurt me too bad, as this could happen in a real situaion; you could spill coffee on you tie the morning of or all kinds of things could occur. The key is to control whatever happened or you forgot and enter the interview with confidence, as this will show your character and tenacity more so than a simple tie.

Free Write-Trip to Chicago

The trip to Chicago ended up being a lot of fun. I love the city, its similar to New York; however, not as dense and hard to get around. It is a great city to study architecture; there is such a collage of different styles and periods. While we were there we went to several places including: Oak park, the home of Frank Lloyd Wright and his studio; Millineum Park, design by famous architect Frank Gehry; the Chicago Architecture Foundation's Architeture Boat Tour; the architecture tour of Chicago's Loop, the early 20th c. highrises; the Chicago Art Institute; Chicago's Musuem of Comtemporary Art; and visited the Illinois Institute of Technology, home of Mies Van der Rohe's teachings. All in all this was a great trip and I really enjoyed visiting the city of Chicago.

Presentations Response

The presentation that particularly stuck out to me was Jesssica's on Tiger Town Trivia on Thursday nights. She did a great job explaining how it operated and I think it was nice how she got into the presentation and wore the TTT 21 yr-old shirt. One think I meant to ask her was why they do not have more "academic" trivia, its seems to always be about celebrities and pop culture? Especially since its at a university I think it would be good to acutally have questions incorporated to what we are learning.

Free Write

Since its definitely on my mind, I want to write about my upcoming trip to Chicago, Il. All the 4th year architecture majors at Clemson are going on a field trip to Chicago, to study the modern architecture. The 3rd year students go to New York every fall. I guess there is a belief that as an architect you should have a understanding of the United States' major urban cities. I am pretty excited about going to Chicago too; I have never been. We leave Wednesday morning from Charlotte Airport at 7:40 am, so getting up at 4:30 a.m. in Clemson to drive to Charlotte is going to be a little rough but I think I will survive. While we are their we are set up to go the famous Chicago Riverboat Architecture Tour, go to the top of the Sears Tower, go on a tour of Modern Architecture studying Chicago's skyscrappers, and of course have a good time.

Resume Articles at CareerJournal.com

I particularly found the first article very interested as well. I have always been told it was okay to design your resume and cover letter just slightly from the typical layout; however, doing too much more than that was simply not wise because it distracts the reader from the content. I agree with the article, that it is a great why to make a resume stand out amongst 100's of resumes; yet, I think the examples in the artilce were a little too over the top.
I also was interested in the articles about "fudging" your resume. I really can not believe people actually think they can get away with bold lies about degrees and jobs--thats ridiculous. But if you really think about, where do you cross the line on smaller details, whats the difference between exaggerated participation in an event and being dishonest? I think its interesting to think about.

Interview Articles at Careerjournal.com

I found two of the articles very interesting. First of all, the article, "Ability to Pull an All-Nighter as useful as a B.A.," definitely caught my attention and not simply because it was the first one on the list. As an architecture major that is probably the one single think I have learned to do best. The momemtum of the architectural world depands for many deadlines and these have to be met. School operates much in the same way, the final project deadline operates much in the same fashion if not worse. So, even though the article was directed towards more business, accounting, and law fields, I think its important to be able to recognized many of the skills we have acquired in our time in college that was just do not see.
Secondly, the article titled, "You Can Say Too Much Without Even Speaking," also interested me. Having some experience with interviews as an intern for the past few summers, I know how big of a role your body language can really be. The biggest problem I have and was addressed in the article is the issue of eye contact. I had always known it is important to have eye contact; however, I have always felt like its too much and came up with my own rules not to have eye contact more that a few seconds at a time. It is good to see someone else feels the same way--the "alternation between shoulder, eye, and mouth" seems to be a great solution.

Where I Want to be in 10 years...

I expect a lot to happen within the next 10 years. First of all, I would expect to be working as an Architect in some city, who knows where. I would love to be working overseas, particularly in Paris or London. For that to have happened I will have had to have successfully graduated from graduate school and taken/passed the boards legally required to practice. Grad. school will take 3 years to complete--getting certified, another 3-4 years. Family wise, I hope to be settle with a wife and have at least a couple of children. It is pretty scary, because 10 years doesnt really seem like that long; however, my life will be completely different by then...

Web 2.0 Evolution

This video is pretty intense! I think the video aims to communicate how prevalent and crucial digital media has become to our society and particularly how quickly it has happened. As for people already in or entering the workforce it is essential to learn and master all the techniques/fundamentals of the new digital age in order to be competitive in the workforce. With these new technologies emerging in the past few years, our generation has been fortunate to have been introduced to this new age. In fact, I have seen first hand in the workforce how our graduating class in sought more so then those who graduated simply 2 or 3 years ahead of us because technology has changed so rapidly in these past few years. I completely agree that we will have to "rethink everything" because we most definitely will. Digital Technology effects everyone on every level from access to someone's personal wedding photos to illegal access to government legal documents. An digital anamoly has been created; thus, a new means of thinking is required to grasp these new concepts.

Hey, my name is Mark Gettys. Im a 21-yr-old senior Architecture major, with a minor in Fine Arts. As far as groups go, I love to work at night/late afternoon. Also, being an architecture major I am pretty good with creative design-based tasks, so I would be pretty good at the website graphics, etc. I can also take a role as a leader, I have no problem delegating/organizing tasks, etx. In my free time I enjoy running, painting/drawing, hangin out, lakin it, etc.

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