How The Mighty Fall [INFOGRAPHIC]

Graduation is Close, Too Close

I haven't blogged in a while and this isn't going to be a long post.

It's the last few weeks of school before graduation and things just keep snowballing. Don't get me wrong:  I am excited to graduate and to be living it up in college, but there is a massive and growing amount of tasks that I need to complete before graduation. It's getting to the point where I can't quite wrap my head around everything and I kind of just want to sit back and "forget it, I'm a senior." The rumors are true. Senioritis is a productivity and motivation killer. I am finding new ways to take my mind off of things. I'm reading more journal article and stories and am even developing a mild case of Twitter addiction.  

Right now, I am torn between two stellar alternatives. A job overseas or a position close to home. They are both completely opposite in scope and kind, it's hard to fairly assess the pros and cons between the two. When I ask for advice, people tell me to choose the best decision for me...Well, thanks for pointing out the obvious. I am struggling to determine what that best choice is! It's hard to see which position will land me where I would like to be in a few years down the road, but that was probably the best advice given so far.

So that's where I am in my life right now, trying to figure things out, weeks before I graduate. I think that is pretty typical, though. Anyways, wish me luck in my decision-making; I should be deciding by the end of the week.

QR Codes, Get on Board

QR Codes:

Promoters and marketers are using QR Codes everywhere on advertisements these days, but I don't think people are using them to their full ability. Honestly, I am not positive that everyone even knows what they are. Simply put, they are two dimensional bar codes that link to some site. The picture search engine in the Google App and other code scanner smartphone apps can pick these barcodes up and use your mobile's internet to take you to the creator's desired site. This could just be simple text, a website or even a profile.

Recently, the Activities Board from the University of Evansville attempted to use a QR Code to connect students with a survey on what activities they should host and financially support. A great attempt at being tech savvy! Unfortunately, only a handful of the students knew what the weird box thing posted throughout campus actually was and the survey can pretty much be viewed as a failed attempt. Despite the average person's lack of understanding for the QR Code, this concept is slowly catching on.

Personally, I have created a QR Code that takes you to my LinkedIn profile. Looking for a job as a senior to graduate in May of this year, I decided it would be unique and cool to have a quick link to connect and network with people through my business card directly. In addition to this, I have a link on my profile that pulls up my full resume. So on this tiny business card, I have the ability to walk around and hand out my resume to pretty much anyone with a smartphone and who knows what the QR Code does. I ended up printing off about 50 of these cards and have been handing them out. Of course, not everyone is tech savvy; we experienced this with undergraduate students at the University of Evansville:  a group most people would think is up to date with their technology. Furthermore, many employers, at least in the Midwest, are behind the times when it comes to this kind of stuff.  And that really should be expected. However, for those who did receive a card and understood what it was and what it did, thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread. 

So, while it takes some time for these codes to catch on, utilize that time to create unique ways to benefit from it. QR Codes on business cards are a great idea, but I am sure that there are even better ideas out there.  



let's exceed 1,200 characters...

I was trying to fill the "About Me" section of my profile and I apparently exceeded the 1,200 character limit. So, here is what I think you should know "About Me:"

An animated movie enthusiast; I tend to be a kid at heart. I have a preference for semi sweet wines and almost any kind of cheese over Swiss. I love photographs that capture unique intricacies of different cultures and that unite you with another part of the world. As an amateur photographer, I have done a little freelance shooting, but nothing worth bragging about. In regards to my iPhone, my laptop is now nearly obsolete. I am a drinker of coffee and a connoisseur of all kinds of knowledge. My tweets range from world news all the way to what my sister is doing in the kitchen. I have a Facebook profile and use LinkedIn to professionally network. People seem associate me as a “natural” when it comes to sports, but I would consider myself more of a Country Club Athlete; I prefer a round of golf or a friendly yet competitive tennis match. My fraternity brothers ask for my advice when it comes to doing business, how to professionally network and on looking good. My shorts are 9” Club J Crew and my pocket tee is a Polo Ralph Lauren. For three years I filled the airways with my preference of music as a disc jockey and radio personality and I have a passion for anything with a good beat. I spent 18 years of my life as a competitive swimmer and competed at the Division I level. My GPA ranks me as a Dean’s List student-athlete and I will graduate with honors. My smile has been known to win over the cougars and charm the rest. I am genuinely a friendly person and I my parents who gave me a biblical name taught me to love and respect everyone for who they are and how God made them.

That is pretty much me in a nutshell.

the intro

It seems appropriate that my inaugural post be a brief introductory piece and/or autobiography of myself to clue you in on who I am and how I got here. My name is Zachariah Daniel Kanet and I was raised as an upscale suburbanite of Evansville, Indiana.  Newburgh, or really Paradise, Indiana for those of you that know the area, is known mostly for it's population of upper-middle class income families who try and live a ritzy and lavish lifestyle. This hilly, pine and oak laden slice of heaven is what I called 'home' for the majority of my life. Most other people of the Tri-State area don't feel as positively toward this side of the greater metropolitan and have even nicknamed and redefined the Castle High School mascot from a Castle Knight to the more endearingly known Castle High Cake Eaters. Regardless, of people's preconceived notions of the place, it is truly a great community to actually raise a family, retire and ultimately expire.

I grew up in the country club and learned quickly the difference between new and old money, classy and pretentious, trendy and gaudy. Here, I was schooled in the art of being suave, having savviness and keeping my overly judgmental thoughts to myself. However, the more I learn about the world, the more opinions I seem to gather and keep in. Therefore, this blog will serve to help fill the void of not being able to verbalize thoughts, opinions, criticisms and simple general ramblings that I have about a variety of different topics. Additionally, my inner tech-geek should help to keep my posts and the medias used to distribute them a little more interesting.

Before I conclude my introduction, there's about a handful of other things that you might as well know about me in order to help you better understand my personality and what is to come from this blog. First, I have been an athlete all my life. Competing in a number of different sports up to and through high school, I have been proud to represent the University of Evansville Aces as a Division I butterfly swimmer. After years of sports, it's only natural that I tend to approach most situations in a competitive mindset and nature and that I try to turn most things into a competition. I've also learned over the years that this trait has the uncanny ability to place me in unique situations, sometimes more or less desirable than most people would appreciate, but those unique occurrences can be looked at as learning and growing experiences.  To continue forward, I'll also admit that my competitive spirit is what contributes to one of my other character-defining tendencies which is to be highly involved and active in many things. This quality happens to lend itself to me having a multitude of experiences within a wide variety of activities and, thus, allowing me to be highly opinionated on all of them including fraternities and Greek life. One last thing to know in efforts to better understand me is that I have an entrepreneurial spirit and am pretty business minded. I'm interested in personal and professional development, yet I have a quirky side and can be pretty light-hearted. I know when to get serious, but I also know how and when to have a good time. Everything else is for you to find out...