Dating 2.0

A couple weeks ago I posted an article on dating using the popular apps on our smart phones. I got good feedback from it and I was even questioned by one of my friends who read the article as to why I didn’t select them! I told them it was just at random to whoever replied to my posting on Facebook.

Well ladies and gentleman get ready for another exciting round of Dating.

In this interview we meet Andi. She is a 22 year old Senior here at Texas State who is about to graduate in spring 2017. She is majoring in Public Affairs and International Relations.

She has been using dating apps like Tinder and Bumble for her dates and just recently enrolled in Match.com.

What made you want to try the apps out?

• Well at first it was because it was something new and wanted to see what all the hype was about. I had a lot of friends who met a lot of guys on tinder and I thought, you know what, let’s keep it going. On tinder I deleted it and reinstalled it over a hundred times because I get frustrated with it.

What caused the frustration?

• The quality of people on it. There was a lot of douche bags and unattractive pictures.

How long have you been doing the apps?

• Like five years. Since I was 18 I download it the. At the age of consent LOL.

What’s your favorite app?

• Bumble, the guys are hotter and there’s no creepers messaging you.

What’s your least favorite app and why?

• Tinder because of the douche bags, dicks and they have adds now. And Dicks, I mean every sense of the word.

Any crazy stories or hoe stories you want to share?

• What rating do you want? Pg-13, NR 17?

Whatever you want share, or whatever your most comfortable with?

• I’ve had a lot of tinder dates, and I’ve only had first dates. So I had one breakfast date which I loved, it went great, which I thought I think it did.

I’m gone tell you the frozen one, so I had a tinder date, let’s call him Scot. He was a 27 years old. He lived in the air force base. So we hit up all the eating places at the mall and after we decided to watch a movie. But I live in New Braunfels and he lived in San Antonio. So I was like, well the movie theaters are kinda closed, but he insisted on watching a movie, so I was like, yes, no. So I said yes. He was like, lets go to my place we have a home theater system and again I was like, yes, no… so I said yes. And like half way down the road I start thinking, FUCK I JUST GOT INTO A CAR WITH A STRANGER OMG.

So we get to his house which he shared with other pilots, it was a nice house. He goes away and says, I know just the thing, you’re gonna love it! I go to the restroom and come back, he has pillows and blankets on the sofa and he goes and pulls out Frozen…FUCK…. It was when it was just released. It was awkward but whatever I was down. He wanted to cuddle all night but it was awkward because I wanted to unbutton my pants, I wanted to let it out, you know! We had eaten a lot.

So just weird, us cuddling, and my feet my cold so hes like I have socks in my room and I was like, OKAY!. We go to his room and he shows me pictures and videos of him doing you know, plane stuff.  I was sitting by his desk and he was like, here come to my bed its more relaxing and I was like, (Heavy breathing).. OKAY!

So we start to make out and he had a good body so I like, alright, I can do this for a while! But at the time, mind you I was not deflowered yet so I was like nerves. We go to the point where he wanted to you know, have sex but I was like, UHH no! So he was just like we don’t have to have sex and I told him my situation and he was like, oh no I totally understand and he drove me to my car. It was awkward at first but we played music and later he was like, I didn’t wanna be awkward I didn’t wanna pressure you. He dropped me off and we exchanged numbers and started talking but after like day three he started sending me dick pictures so I was just like, BLOCKED!. Sooo yea, I never go in touch with him again and I learned my lesson. Never swipe right with pilots because they want something more casual, which I get but I want something more permanent.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years in the dating world?

• Hopefully my masters and I’ll be in the same sphere as the people with my schooling. So hopefully in a relationship with someone whose good looking and can dick me down good! Someone who likes to travel, I don’t want to be married by then. I wanna be 30, flirty and thriving!

“The best way to meet people is to go out to the bars, have a few drinks and grab people’s butts!”- Andi

Do you have pro-tips for first tinder dates?

• Don’t set your expectations
• Don’t go into it with high expectations, regardless of what you see on their tinder profile.
• If you do go drinking, don’t drink too much, you may regret it or you may have a good time, who knows!
• Lastly, don’t put yourself in awkward situation and try to avoid a potential awkward situation.

In closing, dating is something that can be either fun or weird. Andi decided she did not like the situation and removed herself from it. We learned that the best way to meet people is to go out and socialize. Talk to people. Maybe the best way to find “The right one” is to be out and about but who knows if they are swiping away.

 

 

Let Them Eat Cake

For this blog post I decided to change it up a bit and write about my first event and social media account management. My major here at Texas State is Public Relations with a minor in Business Management. Having some experience under my belt I decided to ask my sister, who is a small business owner, if I could help her out with the Instagram page for her baking business (Pastelitos SA) . She accepted the offer and let me handle the account and coach her on presenting her business for her weekend events downtown and at Salon Lumen. I quickly went over her page and counted the average number of likes per post and how she managed it. The average likes per picture ranged from one to nine. She also had 88 followers before I took over. One could say that the account needed a major overhaul since it was hardly ever used and when it was it was used sporadically and not consistent.

For this weekend she had 2 events. One was a birthday party downtown at Mi Tierra Café (Friday) and one major event at Salon Lumen (Saturday). The event on Friday was a small gathering but presentation is everything in business. Her cake had to be over the top because the traffic of people that are out eating on a Friday night. With the cake in one hand and my camera on the other we headed out to deliver. As soon as we walked in people noticed the cake and glanced at it like a small piece of art walked in. We waited and waited until her client arrived. The client was overwhelmed by the cake and was over all happy for the purchase. As all of this is going on I am taking pictures left and right to make sure that I get the correct angles and images for her Instagram account. The delivery is complete and we go on with our night.

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On Saturday evening we had a second event at Salon Lumen. This event was for the salons third year anniversary and there was going to be vendors there promoting their business along with the celebration. We had one day to get things ready for this even. I gave her some notes and pointers on questions that may be asked during the event. There was a total of five vendors in total and a crowd of 100 people throughout the night. We brained stormed ideas for her booth and where she was going to place her pastries for display. The ideas were set and it was time to execute. I had prepped her on some questions that she may be asked so she is not caught off guard by any future clients.

We show up to the event and set shop. The people start to pour and I start to click away with picture after picture. Her booth is swarmed with clients trying to get a taste of the home made cheesecake, cherry bombs and cake shots. As the night goes on I give her tips on how to pass out business cards more effectively and smoothly rather than making it like a transaction. I also give her points on how to bring up her social media profile so that she can gain traffic on it. By the end of the night her table was completely empty and she had a list of prosperous cakes in hand. All night I was taking pictures and thinking about how to place them on her Instagram account.

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As the weekend came to an end, her Instagram gained 16 followers and the likes on her pictures increased to 20 plus per post. In closing, the tips and pointers I gave her paid off. She managed to increase her Instagram followers and presented her business in a different way in order to make herself stand out from the rest of the vendors. She also managed to snag some future sales on one of the events. Overall her events were a success and her Instagram is slowly growing day by day.

Salon Lumen Anniversary Event

Don’t forget! The holidays are around the corner and its time to place the cake orders for the holiday parties. Make sure to shop local and help small businesses grow and make sure to check out her Instagram to check her cakes and to place an order send her a message directly at PastelitosSA@yahoo.com.

Photography or Photo-Phony?

In the past if you wanted a good quality portrait of you taken you would go out and hire a professional photographer. Now, cellphones are slowly catching up. Apple and Samsung are making it easier so that the average Joe can point and shoot. The well-built and quality of the camera is making it so everyone can play photographer. Instagram was first used to post pictures of your lunch and selfies but it has evolved. The small foody app has turned into a massive hub for photography. It grew from sharing your lunch to big names such as Gucci dominating the user base.

Filters are the main reason the app is so successful. Users can snap a picture of a rock and add the Lo-Fi filter to make it more appealing. With the availability of filters and impressive mobile cameras at hand one stops to think, is photography slowly dying?

In this post we talk to Remo, a Southern California based photographer whose daily rock-climbing posts makes me feel tired just by looking at them.

 

Remo Remo

 

How long have you been a photographer?

• …I’ve developed my photography over the span of 10 years. I can’t believe its even been that long. Obviously I wasn’t very good for the first odd amount of years and progressed with practice and education.

What’s your opinion of Instagram?

• You know I tried to steer away from Instagram for quite some time. This was largely because of the feedback that I got from my fellow photographers. Because of the accessibility of phone cameras and the filters on Instagram, self-proclaimed amateur photographers were popping up everywhere. For photographers that put so much time, effort, dedication, money, and heart into their practice, it devalued the art. And with a lot of self- proclaimed amateur photographers also comes amateur pricing which ultimately damages the industry. But we were all amateurs at some point and many of us went through this.  Eventually I caved and made an Instagram because I heard about it’s value in marketing. Since them my view of the app has completely changed! It is a fantastic marketing tool, research tool, a closer window to the beautiful things in the rest if the world, and inspiration tool along with a great way to see what your friends are up to. And as far as the amateur photographer issue many of my friends had qualms with, I don’t see it.  Who are we to limit the growth of creativity in this world? If Instagram exposes people to more creative outlets then that is a great thing!  

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Do you think apps like Instagram make it difficult for photographers to be original?

• I think peoples own limitations will make it difficult for them to be original. Yes, trends reign on Instagram just like everywhere else. And as we connect to the rest of the world more and more we may find that someone else has maybe already thought of the same concept. But there is always always always room for more. There is always room for growth. You can always do something a little different. And ultimately creative limitations come down to the mind and how much you nurture it as the most instrumental tool to your art. 

Just like the internet and cellphones brought print down, do you think cellphones and apps like Instagram will do the same to photography?

• I guess to some capacity they already have. Phone cameras  have advanced so much in recent years. But they could not replace the quality of a film or DSLR camera so perhaps we are saved because of this cap. What they can do though, and what they have done to an extent, is replace quality with qty and efficiency in the mind of the greater public. The art itself won’t be completely lost. Music technology has advanced changing the industry but music itself prevails.

 

Have you had any bad encounters with amateur photographers?

• ….You know, I can’t say I’ve had any particularly bad encounters with a developing photographer. Every once in a while you might find someone with an inflated ego and that isn’t exclusive to amateurs. But the people who truly value the art will put in the effort to keep growing and share their experience. Those are the people that will succeed. If you think you are already the best then you are limiting your own growth. Myself included.

Whelp, there you have it folks. You heard it from the artist herself. Professional photographers and Instagram photographers can coexist and live in harmony. The only problem we may experience is the quality of the art. Will photography hit an artistic cul-de-sac or will it grown and evolve like the music scene? Only time will tell.

If you like to see more of the photography posted on this blog PLEASE make sure and check out and support the artist!

Don’t forget to check out her social media profiles!

Instgram: @space.mango

Photography: @dreamland.remo

Art: @ebg_artcollective

 

Dating!

Say adios to the days when everyone was getting married by 18 and welcome the new era of swipes.

Along with not having  good paying jobs and a decent economy, millennials are also not getting married. The dating game has changed and it is making dating more accessible to everyone. Some may say that the accessibility is a bad thing because it’s now overcrowded but others may disagree.

Along with social media apps like Instagram or Facebook, dating apps are not a fad and are here to stay. Dating applications are an escape from the regular dating scene that allows its users to always have a good first impression. It allows them to weed out the people they don’t find attractive in hopes to either meet someone for a quick date or a happily ever after.

https://www.apptentive.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/tinder-app.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/609116656955179008/5vlKkLVj.png

(For privacy: The name and locations were changed)

Meet Olivia!

She’s a 26 year old New Yorker who at the moment is on two very popular dating apps. Her most used app’s are Tinder and Plenty of Fish.

How has using dating apps changed your life?

• In general or in my love life?

Both!

• In general, it keeps my life interesting. Waiting on a message, or hoping for a connection. I go out and socialize a lot more than I would normally. In my love life, it allows me to connect with single people that I wouldn’t normally meet. And it’s boosted my self-esteem and self-confidence.

So do you think it’s making the dating scene easier or harder?

• Easier for me, but I hear it’s harder more on males.

Do you have any funny stories or using the app?

• Plenty of those. I had someone try to bring their sister on a date with me once.

What did you tell him?

• I basically stopped responding.

You mentioned that it boosted your self-confidence. Do you ever feel pressured to look a certain way since everyone on social media kind of looks the same (Kardashian lips, make up etc.)?

• Well, I take the best possible picture of me and post that one. I do feel pressured though. I wear makeup and have my hair done in mostly all my photos, but I have one without any makeup as well.

Last question, do you see yourself using the app for a long run or deleting it any time soon?

• For now, I do see myself using it in the long run, especially since I’m just dating right now and not looking for anything serious. Both of my recent exes were found online though. When I find someone serious and long term is when I’ll delete it.

I’ve said before and I’ll say it again, our phones are changing our daily routines. In closing the dating scene has changed and we as a population must learn to adapt whether we like it or not.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

Welcome back to another post on my little blog for Texas Sate!

“The following post is brought to you commercial free by Mid-Terms. Mid-Terms, where crying is allowed”.

For this post I will be talking about other blogs out there in the internet universe that I like or visit on a daily basis. I am supposed to look at my classmate’s blogs but sadly there was no other technology blogs on the list. I did see a lot of healthy lifestyle blogs that I would like to follow along as we go by with this semester.

So I decided to write about Mashable.com. This blogs follows a bit of everything in technology and pop culture.

Mashable Logo

They cover technology, social media and post the latest videos.  Sometimes it’s just random postings that keep me logged in for hours. One article can be the ‘Masculine culture in STEM fields’ or it can be about ‘Ron Swanson is deeply offended that Donald Trump went into politics’. The topics are endless and there is something for everyone. The blog is also international so you can get news from Asia, Australia, France, India and The UK.

The reason I selected this blog is because all the articles are short and to the point. They don’t really like to waste the readers time and are direct and to the point. It’s like they know me on a personal level, because if the content is not good I will be clicking out that page.

Ron

Having all these options makes this blog unique because it keeps people entertained at all times. It also created a blogging community within the blog. It allows the readers to leave comments and talk to one another. They even let you share the article on plenty of Social Medias for as little as nothing! You can Pin It, Post it, Tweet it, Stumble it and for some reason post it on your LinkedIn. Mashable let us the users spread the word and this is why this blog is one of my favorite ones out there.

This blog is the main reason why I picked technology for my personal blog.We don’t pay attention to it but technology is a very important part of our lives and we must learn how to adapt to it. Our phones are the main source of entertainment and Mashable learned how to adapt to the users and provided content that is effective and enjoyable to read. They were able to adapt in order to move forward with the fast changing scene of the internet.

In closing Mashable is a blog that inspires me to learn more about technology and report it to the public or if I want to just post a random video. I want to model my blog after Mashable so one day I can manage to entertain and inform the people of the internet.

Pokemon Go or Pokemon No?

The first topic I want to talk about for my blog is Pokemon GO!

I wanted to meet the people behind the Pokedex! Just recently Pokemon Go was released and it was a big success with people of all ages. The game was such a success that kids and adults play it on a regular basis. I got the idea for this post when I saw a video on Facebook of this man making fun of the adult players saying that they need to “Get a job” or “Find a better hobby” That really stuck to me because there I was, a grown ass man playing a kid’s game. I do have a job and a hobby so I wanted to meet other “Trainers” and get a better idea of who else walks around city trying to Catch Them All.

The first person that came to mind for this interview was my co-worker who plays this game on a regular basis with her son.

 

Erica (with Glasses) and Ian

 

Meet Erica!

Team Valor

Occupation: Banker

 

 

 

 

Erica has been playing the game since it was released. She is a mother of one who has been playing on a daily basis. She enjoys playing this game along with her son and both have bonded together while playing this game. I got to ask her a couple questions regarding the game and her experiences with the game.

The first question I asked her was, How did she hear about the game?

• My brother in law told me about the game at first… I was skeptical but after I downloaded it was fun to play with Ian. We have had a great experience with it.

Have you had a bad or good experience with it, such as meeting new people or being nagged on by people for playing it?

• We’ve made some friends. Noticed how others get along with each other from all different ages and races. 

Have you gotten any critique for playing a “kids” game?

• I have gotten some rude people who ask why I play because it’s a waste. And also some people who don’t play but tell me it seems interesting but they just don’t have the time to do it.

Did this game effect your life?

• Yes. I think it created another talking point with my son which I feel since playing has brought us a lot closer.

After talking to Erica about her experience with this game I learned that a small game can cause a big change in your life. Since she started to play, her relationship with her son grew even bigger and that is something most people can’t say.

In closing, technology had a positive impact with her and her son. Better yet, it proved that ranting man wrong which is something that we as Pokemon Go players can all agree.

P.S.

Team Instinct is better!

 

 

First Post!

Hello everyone out there!

My name is Jose Lira and I am a Junior at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. Here is a little about myself, I’m single , Bilingual and ready to mingle (kidding). I live out in South San Antonio near Floresville in a ranch so I commute to school. I have one dog (husky) and 1 horse with a couple of chickens.

I am majoring in Public Relations with a minor in Business Administration. I work part-time and go to school full time. I’ve been working at J.P. Morgan Chase for five years but decided it was time to further my education and I enrolled in college. I am a transfer student from San Antonio College and this is my first semester here at Texas State and loving it. Everyone here is nice and friendly which makes my day even better.

The topic that I decided to write about on my blog was the changes we are experiencing with technology. Our daily routines are being changed by technology so much that we have gotten to a point where we stopped thinking about it. Everything has changed for us. The way we communicate, watch Tv or simply call someone. The one item that has changed the way we live is probably within a 2 foot radius of you and that is your cellphone. This small device has changed the game completely and I want to know how it has effected everyone.

The reason I picked this topic is because I want to go out to the world and talk to people about there experiences with technology. We don’t pay much attention to it but the apps we have on our phones determine our day. With this blog I want to pick apps or a certain technology and go around the city or campus and talk to people about it. I want to know if they had a good experience or bad one. My audience for this mini experience is everyone. I want to talk to both the young and old generations so I can get an insight of there experience with technology.

To gather my information I will either be walking around the city  or ill be using all the social medias available to me, so do not be surprised if you get a message or a @ from me. My primary app’s will either be Twitter or Facebook. Although I have a feeling that I will be more on Facebook since everyone and there mamas (literally) is on there.

If you’ve made it this far I want to say thank you and sit back and enjoy the ride!