Category Archives: Blogs

About Me

07 Monday Jul 2008

Posted by in About Me, Blogs, Just for fun, Random, Redesign

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What’s A Little Spunk ?

Well, when I started this thing I had planned on writing mostly about higher education and marketing, Web 2.0 and technology. My plan was to essentially be one of those New Media D— (see this May post).

I discovered that I didn’t want to write about that stuff. I wanted to write about other topics – family vacations, neat things I found on the internet, making beer, and other stuff that just popped into my head.

So that’s why I decided to redesign. And toss out everything – url, title, etc. The only thing I’m saving is the layout (I like the simple design) and the photo of that special place of mine in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.

If you ever see a car with a NEK euro sticker, guaranteed they’re not originally from the Kingdom. They’re either from Connecticut or Massachusetts.

So why “A Little Spunk”?

Well, this blog idea has been through a couple of different redesigns. It has been Drew In VT, Millin’ in VT, Millie in VT, and in its latest installation, edu-Mill. Those were all pretty lame. I liked the edu-Mill the best out of all of them, but it stopped making sense when I stopped writing about higher ed.

So, I came upon “A Little Spunk”.

My Dad’s nickname is Spunk. He comes from a family where they were all given nicknames in addition to their Christian names. My mom, in her good sense, put an end to this with our generation.

My grandfather from time to time would call me Little Spunk or Spunky Jr., but otherwise, there were no quirky names for us.

So when pondering a quirky and witty title for his blog, I thought back to my grandfather calling me Little Spunk, and thought it would be a neat title. There’s a nice play on words in there too.

Like: It will add a little spunk to your day.

Now there is some sexual innuendo there. We’ve learned not to call my dad “Spunk” in say, England where it means something inappropriate. But I’ll live with it. Who knows, maybe it will drive more traffic to the site?

Now on to me.

I live in Northern Vermont outside Burlington where I work in the admission office in one of our many private colleges. My focus is mostly on social media and e-communications. I know a little html and css, but just enough really to get by, adjusting size, changing colors, etc.

My wife and I have two stupid pugs. You’ll see photos of them from time to time. I love traveling, skiing, beer, and my family’s camp in the NEK.

Writing for me is therapy. I write about what’s on my mind. I’ll try not to censure too much, but knowing who some of my readers are, I have to be smart. I clearly can’t write something like, “I hate my job and am desperate to GET OUT!” That could get me in trouble.

I hope you enjoy this.
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Now playing: Grateful Dead – Big River
via FoxyTunes

15 Tuesday Apr 2008

Posted by in Blogs, SMCBloggers, Web 2.0

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I’m starting to recruit students to be a part of a new division of our Founder’s Society (our student ambassador program). Members will blog, spend some time on Facebook, and participate in our Virtual Open Houses. Below is an overview of what the team will do and their responsibilities:

The Make Up
The Founders Society e-Team is a crack group of technology savvy Founders Society Members. Just as tour guides introduce potential students to our campus and campus life, the e-Team will do the same – in cyber space.

The group will be made up of eight individuals, plus at least one study abroad blogger. With the exception of the Study Abroad blogger, e-Team members are expected to fulfill the responsibilities listed below.

Responsibilities:

Blogging
e-Team members are required to write a blog post weekly and are encouraged to do more. A happy blog is a frequently updated blog. More updates give a reader a reason to check back regularly. They don’t to be epic posts either. Long posts get dull quickly, but a couple of hundred words every few days will result in people reading the blog more often. If you can tie them in to SMC that’s great, but non SMC posts are great as well. The most important thing is the frequency of the posts. The more posts the better. Have fun with it!

YouTube
e-Team will from time to time post videos to YouTube and imbed them in their blogs. These videos will provide another glimpse into the life of a Saint Michael’s College student. This is a great outlet for your creativity. Again, have fun with it and be creative!

Facebook, KnightSpace, etc.
e-Team members will monitor the Office of Admission page, any class pages, and KnightSpace. Their presence isn’t meant to be an overseer or a authority figure, rather to provide factual information when necessary and correct any misinformation posted to these sites.

Virtual Open Houses
e-Team members are required to be present and participate in all VOH’s that may occur throughout the year. These are two hour chat sessions with accepted students. They provide an opportunity for accepted students to ask questions and interact with current students without having to travel to campus.

Compensation:

e-Team members will be compensated in a similar fashion to Campus Tour Guides. Each significant blog posting will be compensated at the same pay rate as a campus tour. There is no limit to the amount of posts an e-Teamer may publish. As posting in a blog should take less time than an hour long tour of campus, e-Team members will also be expected to spend a variable amount of time (depending on the time of year) on the Social Networking outlets.

If you’re interested in applying, send me a brief 200 word or so essay explaining some things that you’re involved in on campus. Attach it in a Word doc and email is to amillikin@smcvt.edu. If you already have a blog, send me a link!

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Now playing: Grateful Dead – Dire Wolf
via FoxyTunes