Diversity Event

The diversity event that I went to was called Leveraging Diversity a presentation by Scott Page of the University of Michigan. What I expected when I went to the diversity event was someone that was going to be talking about different races and religions and how diverse the world really is. Although Dr. Page did talk about different races a little bit that was not his main idea of the presentation. His main idea wasn't about diverse races or cultures, it was about diverse people. In that I mean he talked about how anybody, regardless of race or religion, and different from one another. Many people have been raised in different environments and have different skill sets and thought processes. He explained that with diverse groups much more can get done in companies and groups.

Say that you want to build a house, obviously your are going to hire some contractors, but could you build a house with only contractors? More than likely not. You would also need electricians and plumbers. Because of their different skill sets and knowledge, they, can build the entire house. This was Dr. Page was trying to get at. You can get more done when you have a diverse group of people who think different and have different skills. He said that this is not always the most fun although you do get more done because when you have different thoughts throughout the group everybody's ideas are getting challenged by others. Most people do not like when people challenge what they think, so although you may not have a fun time working with these groups in school or at work just always remember it is for the best because you are going to be getting more done.

Twitter

To be honest I did not really like the idea of making a twitter account. In high school I had to make a twitter account also for student council. I did not like using it then, so I figured I still would not like using it now. I was correct in assuming that I would not like it still. When you already have a different social network account it seems pointless to have another one because anything I want to let people know, I put on Facebook first. So I feel like having to sign into another account just to say the same thing is pretty pointless. So in my opinion it is pretty pointless to have both a Facebook and a twitter account.

Although I do not like the idea of having both accounts I feel like it could be useful to some people. Some people might have different groups of people they want to reach and tell different things to them. In my situation right now though, I do not have more than one group of people I want to reach. So, maybe at some point in the future I will make a new twitter account or use the one I created this year. I do not think I will be doing that until probably after my sophomore year when I start looking for internships and summer jobs. Then I could utilize another social network for another reason then I use Facebook for.

So as for now I will not be using twitter anytime soon. I will just keep updating my status on Facebook and letting my friends know what I am up to. When I need to start contacting other groups I will fire my twitter account back up and start tweeting. Unless some new website is created by then that becomes more popular than twitter, because nowadays that seems to be happening more and more often.

http://twitter.com/#!/mitchrainey

http://www.commcognition.com/blog/college-students-guide-twitter-101/

Me doing my best

I've never really ever thought of myself as being the best or being the best I could be at any particular thing. It took me a while to even think of a time in my life where I've felt like the best. I think that is because I am so hard on myself most of the time and usually don't think I'm doing good enough even when people say I am.

The only sport I've ever really been good at and participated in all four years of high school was track. It made me feel pretty good that I was running varsity meets my freshman year, but that's not when I felt at my best. At the very beginning of my junior year track season at the UNI indoor track meet I wasn't really expecting to do very well because it was the Monday after our spring break, over which I didn't do any running. Since I ran the mile I thought for sure that not running that whole week would hurt me, but it apparently did not. I actually ended up running the best time of my career at that time of a 5:03 mile. I was so ecstatic because before this I had never thought there was a chance I'd ever run under a 5 minute mile. My best before that was like a 5:20 so it was a big improvement. Since I was so close to going under 5, I knew I could accomplish it that year.

I was so determined after that to run under 5 minutes that I started working harder than I ever had before. I had a few track meets where I ran about the same time which disappointed me because I wanted to get under 5 minutes so badly. During about the forth or fifth track meet of the year I finally did it, and even better than I wanted. A 4:59 would have been good enough for me. I ended up running a 4:54 which I was so excited about. I'm actually not sure if I've ever been happier about anything I'd ever done. It was actually the best time I'd ever run even after that too. I felt on top of the world that day. I think I could probabably say that was the best I had ever felt in my life. It was just an overall great day just because of that.

Beloit College Mindset List

Beloit College made a list of random things that, to me, seem to be mostly true. In my opinion Beloit College has made a pretty accurate list of things that most of the class of 2014 could agree with. Although most of the list seems to be true, there most definitely are things on the list that I disagree with. 

Right off the start I found a statement I found to be false. I think that most people from our class still probably know how to write in cursive. I remember hating doing homework for school in elementary school because all the teachers made us write in cursive for years. Although I hated writing in cursive, it was burnt into my head because I was made to do it for so long of a time. So, I think that most kids in the class of 2014 probably still remember how to write in cursive even though many of them haven't done it for years now.

The second thing on the list I disagree with is that "Computers have never lacked a CD-ROM disk drive". I still remember back in the day the old Apple computers my school had for us kids to use. Those definitely did not have CD-ROM disk drives. They had the huge floppy disks that were necessary to even use the computer because the computer didn't have its own operating systems and all the programs were on the floppy disks.

The last thing I found not to be true is that "Nirvana is on the classic oldies station". One of the stations I listened to the most back home played Nirvana, and I definitely do NOT listen to the classic oldies station. This radio station was actually new just about four years ago, so it's not like this station has been around for years and is just playing the same old stuff they always do.

There were only a few things that I disagreed with but there were also a lot that I hadn't even heard of, so I'm not even sure about them. Of all of the things on the list that I knew of, I pretty much agreed with all of them. Over all I think this is a good list and I found it very interesting. I'm actually glad to have read this list because it reminded me of some things and fun times that I had forgotten about.