Reasons Twitter has Changed my Life @akguy2010

I love twitter... alot!

Here are the top 5 +1+1 reasons I heart twitter!

1. Twitter is information based. A lot of people draw the comparison between twitter and facebook. While they do have some similarities, twitter is a whole lot more simple than facebook. No pictures, creaping on others.

2. Everything you 'tweet' has to be in 140 characters or less. Sometimes this is sort of a game if you have something long you want to say.

3. I have funny friends I follow. For example, @makinUVbetter and @cmacmitch are two of my personal favorites.

4. You can follow businesses (most businesses have an account) and get coupons and insider information.

5. You can follow people/business that you have an interest in. I follow the @StateDept, @Mittromney, @Obama2012, @archjournal, @Jasoninthehouse @ldsinstitute @TheEllenShow ect all of which give me updates as well as information that I deem necessary.

+1. You can trend funny things like #mormongirlproblems, #byuzoobie, #areyoukiddingme and find like tweets which will make you laugh.

+1 Also there are all sorts of twitter related terms like "twette", "tweeting", "trending", "tweet at" ect.



In short, twitter has changed my life and I am on it way more than facebook. If you have a twitter account you should follow me @akguy2010 and I might even follow you back.

Hope you are all having a great day and if you don't currently have a twitter account/ do not actively engage in tweeting, you should repent and try it.

Career Path DECIDED!!!

After much research and deliberation I have finally decided what I want to do with my Political Science emphasis in International Relations degree which should be in my hands in December 2012. After reading about several of different opportunities and programs, I have decided that I would like to work for the Department of State. So what does this mean? Essentially the Department of State, or the State Department, is in charge of all 265+ embassies around the world. Once you are admitted to the program, a lengthy process, you will be given 2-3 year posts in any one of the embassies. The posting are kind of run like the military, or LDS mission calls in that you don't really know where your next assignment will be. Most of these foreign places have government housing and they pay for nearly everything, aka private schooling, transportation, travel home to the US ect. Also for 95% of the posts your family is more than welcome!! It is going to be a career full of adventures, foreign cultures, missionary work, and lots of surprises along the way I am sure!!

There are 5 main career paths in the Foreign Service Officer category. The one that I am most interested in is the political advisor. Starting out, a political advisor is responsible for communicating with and being informed on local politics and which political factions will most favor the US interests in the area. This is so they are able to advise the Ambassador one way or another. One great thing too, for me at least, is that no language is required!! However, for my degree I have to take 4 semesters of a language. So going in I will hopefully be bilingual.

I also have been able to put together a rough 2 year plan for myself:

Spring Semester 2012 - Continue working on my classes. Pass all 19 credits I am registered for.

Summer 2012 - Make bank in Alaska!! Whoop Whoop!!

Fall Semester 2012 -  Keep working on my classes, hopefully graduate in December

Spring Semester 2013 - Work on my resume so I am awesome on paper too :) Internship possibility

Summer 2013 - If I didn't do an internship in the spring then do it now

Fall Semester 2013 - Start the process for acceptance into the State Department

Also a couple of my long term professional goals are first, get accepted into the State Department as a political advisor. Complete a full- adventure filled career at the State Department retiring speaking 14 different languages (hopefully ha) and have one of those cool studies with a bunch of foreign stuff I have collected. After that I would love to teach at a college or university about my experiences in the foreign service.

So I came to this conclusion last week and it is amazing how having a specific professional goal has made me want to learn all I can from my Political Science classes even though they are sometimes really boring. I know that life doesn't always go as planned, but at least I have a plan now so I can tell if it is not going according to plan ha.

Right now I am at the networking point so if you know someone who is in or has been a Foreign Service  Officer and can e-mail me their contact information that would be great! My e-mail is jordan.giles03@gmail.com. I am also open to any other career advice you may have!

Thank you for reading and I hope that you have a great day!!

Jordan

Your Future is Perfect

I had a professor today in one of my political science classes make an interesting statement. He said, "Your future is perfect, meaning that you have not made any mistakes tomorrow." His comment caught me off guard because usually most of my political science classes are all fire and brimstone regarding past governmental decisions and not necessarily positive about current or future prospective ones. He then went on to tie his comment back to our discussion by explaining that as we learn from past mistakes we can avoid future ones (or something like that). His little tangent has made me think. The future has the potential to be perfect. In the future we can always make the right choice whereas in the past we haven't necessarily done so. I had never really thought that in the future I could always make the right choice. I feel that we as people tend to look at the past with regret and look towards the future with apprehension. Why are we not more optimistic? We have more opportunities for things such as education, employment, hobbies than ever before. We can have the perfect future starting tomorrow. What a hopeful thought in a time of hopeless thoughts regarding the future of most things.

My future is perfect. Your future is perfect.

The Race

Wow 9 months have gone by since my last post, not that I have actually ever been very good at posting, but still 9 months?

I have a great life, stressful, busy, but happy and good. My life has changed a lot in the past 9 months. I changed my major to Political Science (loving it by the way), I begun my first real relationship (and unfortunately put it on hold as she is serving the Lord), I got to spend 10 days in Alaska and visited 2 of my area/ went on a cruise, I purchased a soccer dad car, I moved to Orem, I bought an iphone, I went to my first mission reunion, started twitter (PS you should follow akguy2010) and on and on. Life is so good, but sometimes I have to remind myself of that.

Recently I quit my grown-up job and went back to my high school job in the fast food industry. There were a lot of contributing factors to that decision, but changing my employment has been a great thing because it has significantly lowered my stress level allowing me to move on. It has given me time to start planning my life and set some goals. I feel like since I return from my mission I have been in some sort of race, buy a car, go to school, get my degree as fast a possible, get married and raise a righteous family, get a real job, get promotions, serve in the church. Guess what, the race doesn't matter. I feel like I just came to that conclusion, dumb I know. There is no reason that you cannot enjoy life as it is right this very second. Yes things are going to be stressful, but when it comes down to it personal peace of mind and happiness are worth everything.

I am happy, life is good, things are going to work out.

Life Update

Once upon a time it was the first day of school and I thought that I knew all of my classes, and more importantly, the times. So I went to my evening Biology Lab at 5:00pm only to realize that its starts at 7:00pm. Bummer! Thus I am going to take this opportunity to update the cyber world of what I have been up too.

Things are going pretty good right now. In December I finished my first semester of school since I have been home. I officially became a Biology major with hopes of becoming a Microbiology major and transferring to BYU this coming fall as UVU doesn't offer a Microbiology major. School was good, chose to do night school and work at doTERRA during the day. Needless to say, I have was pretty busy! This semester I expect to be just about the same as the last one. I am taking Philosophy, Racquetball, another Biology, Biology Lab, Chemistry, and last but not least Institute. I am very excited to be in school again. I enjoyed the break but I seem to be happier when I am busy and stressed out :)

I am still living at my grandma's and it's working out pretty well. I am planning on moving out this summer with a bunch of friends. About a month ago I made a pretty exciting purchase, I bought a saltwater fish tank! I love it so much!! I literally could sit and just watch it all day/night. Over the last couple of weeks I have purchased my first specimens, I now have 10 hermit crabs, 10 snails, 1 starfish, 1 peppermint shrimp, and I yellow wrasse (my only actual fish). It has been very fun to watch my little ecosystem become more stable. I will be sure to keep you all up to date as well as post pictures soon! 

Work is going good. I recently moved over to a different suite in our building. I now work with people with real jobs ha. It also feels like I work in a library because it is so blasted quiet! I do however enjoy that I now have many less distractions and can do my work in peace. For those of you who don't know, I manage all of doTERRA's Professional Accounts, which are mostly spa's and salons who purchase product in bulk. I really enjoy it.

And last but not least, 2 weeks ago my parents surprised all of us and took us on a cruise/ Disneyland for  Christmas. It was wonderful! We had so much fun! I didn't think I was in such a need for a vacation, but I was. While on the cruise, when I wasn't eating or napping, I was able to read and finish the Hunger Games series. They were fantastic and I would suggest them for anyone who is looking for a good new series. Disneyland was fun as well, but crazy busy. Needless to say I have a fantastic family!

So, in a nut shell, things are going good.