Unlike many others this week, I will not be spending spring break on a white sandy beach. I will be spending the week home with my family in St. Louis, which honestly is fine with me. I am extremely close to my family, so sometimes I prefer to spend time with them over friends my own age.
With that being said, for the first day of break my mom decided to take a spontaneous trip to Forest Park and spend the day taking advantage of the beautiful weather and blooming flowers.
Our first stop was the Jewel Box where hundreds of beautiful tulips lines the walkway.
Once we were there and I saw how awesome everything looked I decided this would be a perfect opportunity to practice my skills with the 360 Panorama app. While the app can be very frustrating if you take all the time to make one and then you find white spots that you missed, it can also be a lot of fun. Here is the panorama shot I got in front of The Jewel Box (due to some technical difficulties the panorama is featured at the bottom of the post)
Another Stop we made was at the World Fair Pavillon. Lucky for us it was completely empty inside, allowing us to get some pretty cool shots like this one.
All in all, it was a pretty nice way to spend the first day of break. I suppose I'll close with a picture of of my sidekick and me because I guess she's pretty cool.
This weekend I definitely stepped out of my comfort zone. I created something I never thought I would be able to do; a short interview and B-roll video. As someone who's creativity more comes in the form of marketing and advertising strategies, I never even thought I had the skills to do anything other than take a Snapchat video. This assignment really helped me believe in myself and help me see what I am capable of if I push myself.
With that aside, I had the chance to work with the sweetest duo, Hailee and Kash. Hailee chose a more unconventional adoption route and found her dog on craigslist. He was a farm dog from the Lake of the Ozarks that had 2 other litter-mates, but she fell in love with her soon to be pup named Kash. They were both such a joy to work with, and Hailee had some wonderful insight on the ups and downs of adopting and raising a puppy. I can tell from my time with them that they are a perfect match for each other. I'm sure Kash is ecstatic to know he has found is own forever home.
Here below is the short video to give you an inside look on the relationship between a girl and her dog. Its not all easy, but those cute faes sure make it all worth it. Lastly, I would like to thank not only Hailee, but all those out there that save a life by adopting instead of buying, it truly makes a difference
This week my mind has been just about everywhere, and quite frankly the last thing I want to do right now is focus on school related topics. Therefore, I think it's about time I dedicate a blog post to Baseball.
The start of the season is so close I can almost taste it. My excitement can hardly be contained, while I wait for the calendar to turn to April 3rd. While the start of the season will be as exciting as always, this season there are several uncertainties for the Cardinals.
The what seems like never ending thumb issues with Molina continue to raise concern. Will he be ready for opening day? Will he still be able to perform at the level we are all accustomed too? Will these issues drive him to an early retirement? All of these questions are running through my head on a regular basis. Since Matheney and Mozeliak are releasing limited information on the return of Molina, we can only hope he is improving at the right pace.
As if we didn't have enough thumb issues for one team, Peralta went and injured his thumb too *Insert tear marks on page* With the recency of his injury it is definite he will not be ready for the start of the season. There is also not much on how much of the season the team will be without their consistent shortstop. The higher ups have indicated they will start out by relying on moving up guys from the minors to fill the gap. If that fails they will then turn to a trade deal. That method is being challenged now though as several great shortstop candidates are suddenly finding themselves on the open market. Therefore, another uncertainty arises. Who will fill that spot come April 3rd?
The last issue I want to address that seems like the craziest of them all is Matt Holliday playing first? An outfielder playing first actually isn't that uncommon, as that switch happens sometimes. What seems crazy is that someone in their mid thirties, who's who career has been position in the outfield, is now making the jump to first. I guess I am up for whatever will prolong his career, because who's favorite Holliday isn't Matt? (I couldn't resist the cheesy saying) The question now is what happens to our two other first basemen on the roster?
As you can see there are so many questions, and only a short amount of time until we find out! As surprising as it might sound, sitting down and writing about all of this really helped me destress and not worry so much about the craziness that will be coming as the semester comes to a close.
This week in class we were instructed to practice our new video interviewing skills. I took this opportunity to practice on someone very special to me.
Sunday is the birthday of one of the most important people in my life, my mom. I decided to interview her about past birthday's because last year our family did something very special.
I learned quickly why you never want to interview family. She was constantly telling me what to do, even though I am the one who has learned how to do this stuff. She was also way too comfortable in telling me how she hated the closeness of the camera. Lastly, I got frustrated more easily when she wasn't giving me the responses I wanted. Finally after many, many takes I finally got something I could use.
So, here is my first practice at setting up a video interview.
While in this clip it may look like it was a simple interview process, that was not the case. With that being said, I have taken the time to create a short video of some bloopers my mom and I laughed about quite a bit. Enjoy!
For my third installment to my dog adoption I decided to cover the dog fostering process. People who foster dogs are put to the task of helping dogs make the transition from a poor situation to a loving forever home.
I came across the Unchained Melodies Dog Rescue , an organization that relies a lot on foster parents. They do not currently have a rescue center, so they immediately place dogs in foster homes once they are rescued. I never realized how important foster homes are for rescue dogs. It gives them the chance to see what a good home life looks like so they aren't so culture terrified once they go to their forever home.
For this audio slideshow I talked to volunteer and foster parent Mandy Evers. After speaking with her and hearing more about the process, I have so much respect for all the people who are willing to foster dogs. I could really tell how love Mandy has for all the dogs she fosters.
Photo Captions: Here are the captions, in order of appearance, for all the pictures featured in the slideshow.
Caption 1. Two-year old dog, Birdie, looks out into the big yard at her foster home on Feb. 29, 2016 in Columbia, Mo. She finally has the chance to play outside with other dogs.
Caption 2. Unchained Melodies volunteer, and foster parent, Mandy Evers, relaxes at her house on Feb. 29, 2016 in Columbia, Mo. She spends most of her time at home caring for her two dogs, and one foster dog.
Caption 3. Evers reflects on her experience with a prior foster dog squeaky, on Feb. 29, 2016 in Columbia, Mo. She says squeaky was very insure of almost everything when she was first rescued.
Caption 4. While scrolling through her phone on Feb. 29, 2016 in her home Columbia, Mo. Evers, finds a photo when Squeaky was starting to warm up. She still wasn't too sure about people, but was making progress.
Caption 5. Evers is excited to show a picture of how her relationship with Squeaky finally progressed Feb. 29, 2016 in Columbia, Mo. They eventually both felt comfortable around each other and formed a bond.
Caption 6. Birdie and Evers share a bonding moment together, outside of her home in Columbia, Mo. Feb. 29, 2016. This bonding is important to help bridge the gap between being rescued, and finding a forever home.
Caption 7. Evers shows, with Birdie, how being in a foster home benefits rescue dogs, on Feb. 29, 2016 in Columbia, Mo. She trusts Evers enough to take food from her hand.
Caption 8. A dog lays patiently as he waits to go for a daily walk in Columbia, Mo. on Feb. 29, 2016 Leaning to walk on a leash is just on of the many things Evers tries to teach her foster dogs.
Caption 9. Birdie sits while she works on learning commands from Evers. This is an essential part of her journey in a foster home, on Feb. 29, 2016 in Columbia, Mo.
Caption 10. Evers, prepares to reward Birdie with a treat after she listened to her commands, on Feb. 29, 2016 in Columbia, Mo. She says dogs who are food motivated are the easiest to work with.
Caption 11. Evers holds Birdie close in the back yard of her home in Columbia, Mo. She gives her the love Birdie didn't receive much in her prior situationFeb. 29, 2016 in Columbia, Mo.
Caption 12. Through the process of being a foster parent, Evers discusses how little things such as ice can terrify some of the rescue dogs, on Feb. 29, 2016 in Columbia, Mo. She tries her best to get the dogs used to these household items.
Caption 13. Evers and Birdie work together inside the house on Feb. 29, 2016 in Columbia, Mo. About a moth after being rescued, Birdie has adjusted well to living in a home with a family.
Caption 14. The website for Unchained Melodies is shown on Feb. 29, 2016 in Columbia, Mo. This is where people can come to browse through the list of dogs available for adoption.
Caption 15. Foster applications lay out ready for the next willing volunteer to fill one out, in Columbia, Mo. on Feb. 29, 2016. The applications are put together in a way similar to a job application.
Caption 16. Birdie hangs out with her cat friend on Feb. 29, 2016 while at her foster Columbia, Mo. She hopes her relationship with other animals will make it easier for her to get adopted.
Caption 17. A dog enjoys a full bowl of food on Feb. 29, 2016 in Columbia, Mo. Unchained Melodies helps foster parents by providing them with food for their foster dog.
Caption 18. Unchained Melodies is an organization that focuses on rescuing dogs who have been kept on chains. This sign hangs around in Columbia, Mo. on Feb. 29, 2016.
