I’m on vacation here at my Uncle’s bed and breakfast, the Iris Inn, and all week I’d been thinking about the books I would bring and the reading I would do as I relax here among the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I forgot them. All of them.

I literally left my apartment with my suitcase, my Chrome bag, laptop, DSLR, clothes, and everything I would need… except my books.

Why is that I can’t make the time in my life to sit down and enjoy some of the literally hundreds of books on my reading list? There’s so much knowledge there, and so much to learn, yet I constantly find myself consumed with something else. By the time the thought of reading a book enters my mind it’s often one or two A.M. and I’ll read about half a page before I fall asleep with the book on my lap.

Am I the only one with this problem? Here’s hoping I can start making more time for books in my life when I get back to D.C.

As evidenced by my conspicuous lack of updates this week, it’s been busy around here! I’ll do my best to catch up quickly and get back to writing a bit this weekend.

First, D.C. Media Makers! I attended my first event on Wednesday evening at NPR’s headquarters here in Washington, and it was fantastic! Got to see some very cool people I’ve gotten to know over the past few weeks, and got to hear the amazing Jen Consalvo (@noreaster on Twitter) speak about her photography work, how to get into photography, and some tips on how to get better shots–even on an iPhone (for what it’s worth, she recommended CameraBag as excellent filter app, pretty cool!).

As a side note on DCMM, this semester I’ve obviously been trying to get out in the city and meet people, go to events, hear speakers, get involved in unconferences, etc. It’s already paying off, and in a big, big way. I’ve met some absolutely amazing people and developed some good friendships already. I feel like I can go to any event now and usually see someone I know. This city is huge, but the community is smaller than it seems, and everyone has been so incredibly welcoming! I can’t encourage my fellow students, and professionals, enough: get out there and take advantage of this amazing city. Meet some of the incredible professionals out here and say hi, get to know them. I know I’ve learned so much just in the past few weeks from these people, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Thanks so much to all of you who’ve taught me, even indirectly, and I’m already looking forward to the next event!

Now, in a more general life update, things have been pretty crazy for me lately. School is piling on the work and the reading, and unfortunately that still has to be pretty much priority number one. However, there’s a couple cool things happening in my life:

• Soon I will be contributing my first post (of many, hopefully) to shamable.com. Seeking to be the no-B.S. guide to social media, it’s a new Web site being developed by some of the best people in the business. I’m seriously honored to be a part of it and I’m hoping I can make some valuable contributions from my perspective as a student here in D.C. during this social media revolution.
• I’m hard at work on my communications honors capstone. The first of two (I’ll do my business honors capstone next year), I’m really excited about the project and overjoyed that I have an absolutely amazing professor advising me with it. The project will ultimately be a social media case study in digital form, and will be appended to this Web site. Expect plenty of updates on that throughout the semester, especially towards the latter end of it.
• Internships, scholarships, awards, oh my! Yes indeed, it’s already that time and applications are littering my desk. This weekend I hope to make a fair bit of headway into scholarship applications for my senior year (gasp, can’t believe it’s almost here already) and internship applications for the summer. Speaking of which–do you know of any opportunities (preferably paid) for a young communications professional to work over the summer? Location not a factor, let me know! All tips are sincerely appreciated!
• It looks like it’s going to be a busy Saturday for me, as I’ve already got several things on the docket. In the morning I’m hoping to get down to the Washington Auto Show, especially since it’s garnered so much buzz this year. At 1:00pm I’ll be heading over to Politics & Prose bookstore here in northwest Washington for an event with one of my former professors, Robert Lehrman. He just had his book on speechwriting published (it’s amazing, by the way) and I’m eager to say hi again! Finally, Saturday night at 5pm the AU PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) will be holding a networking event at American University. If you’re a communications professional in the area and would be interested and coming to network with some eager public communications students, please let me know! We’d love to have you (and there will be free food).

And alas, I think that’s all I have time for this morning. I hope everyone has a fantastic day!

First off, no this isn’t any of the posts I was planning on writing tonight. Unfortunately, it looks more and more like those will have to wait for the weekend (I’m so sorry SocialJusticeCampDC! I promise it’ll be a good one when it’s up). Today’s been a long and crazy day, but a very, very good one.

Work today was good. I won’t delve into that much more because before too long I’m going to be writing blog posts for the American University Career Center about my internship experience, which I’ll crosspost here. After work, I attended my very first ever Social Media Club DC event, and it was fantastic! The event was held at the Consumer Electronics Association headquarters in Arlington and featured two speakers from the CEA, Megan Pollock and Joe Gizzi, as well as Frank Gruber, entrepreneur and co-founder of TECHcocktail, shinyheart and thankfulfor, among others.

But enough links and name-dropping–what did they talk about? Well, fresh back from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, they talked about tech of course! And, naturally, how it all fits in with social media. Joe Gizzi, especially, had some really interesting things to say about the CEA’s social media strategy to build buzz and deal with attendee complaints/suggestions at the conference. He talked about software they use (namely, CoTweet) as well as how they keep track of much of their dizzying analytics (mostly Google Analytics and CoTweet). For the next few days, you can see some of the livestream from the event here on Twitter. Needless to say, it was enlightening and fun, and I’m already looking forward to the next SMC-DC event (which just so happens to be a Social Media Breakfast next Monday morning!).

Anyway, one last thing I’ll leave you with–an entry from One Day At A Time In Al-Anon. No, I’m not crazy. I just picked it up for free at the Social Justice Camp last weekend (they were giving out free books–all in the name of literacy!) because it looked like a fun thing to have on my bookshelf. It provides some inspirational little passages for each and every day of the year, and today’s seemed particularly relevant given my hectic schedule as of late. Here it is:

No matter what the problems are that we’re trying to cope with, a major source of frustration is trying to encompass too much at once. We forget that we need to deal with only one day at a time, and try to crowd too much into the waking hours of that day–or we even extend it beyond the point of weariness. We can get more out of each hour–and accomplish more–if we try to cope with only as much as is possible in that one day.

Appropriate, no? Always learning.

I’m failing you, blog. As always, there’s simply too much to do! If only we could have, ya know, 26 or 28 hour days. That might make things a little easier.

Just a quick update tonight with a rapid-fire overview of what my weekend has been like. Friday and Saturday I devoted purely to Social Justice Camp DC, which was absolutely incredible. I met a ton of amazing people, learned a lot of amazing stuff and well, got inspired. But I really hate skimming over so much important information, so I’m going to do a great big write-up of the experience tomorrow or Wednesday and get that up here and out for all of yall to read. I’ll probably highlight a few of the causes I’m really excited to get involved with (probably this summer, when I have some more free time) and explain some of my own, personal, key takeaways from the (un)conference–I’ll explain the “unconference” part later too.

In addition, I got to spend some time with two of my best friends in the world who just recently moved back to D.C. In kind of an odd coincidence, they both moved away (one to Seattle, the other to Tampa, Florida) shortly before I left to go abroad. Now that I’m back in D.C., they’ve moved back as well! I couldn’t be happier about it. We had a great time hanging out and needless to say, I really missed them. I can say with 100% certainty they are going to make this semester much more fun and hopefully a little stressful than it might have been otherwise. Thanks guys, glad you’re back!

Finally, on my desk right now I’ve got no less than five post-its screaming at me with variations and extensions on my main to-do list. It’s long, diverse and about half-fun. Unfortunately some of the things on my list are pretty tedious: “update résumé”, “sort through Twitter favorites”, “finish AU merit awards profile”, “scholarship applications”… But others are pretty fun, things like: “evergreen column for The Eagle“, “make cookbook binder”, “write blog posts!” You get the idea.

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Today I’ve been relatively productive, and it’s been a fun day. I slept in a bit (yes, yes, I know–I promise I’ll get up and work out tomorrow), then went to our first rush event for my professional business fraternity, Alpha Kappa Psi. It was a bit odd, since I had to spent equal amounts of time meeting rushes and new brothers, since I still haven’t met everyone who joined while I was abroad! After that I biked downtown (biked about 13 miles today!) to meet my bestie Paul (the one who just moved back from Seattle) and our friend Michael at Eastern Market for lunch. We ate at Tortilla Cafe and it was amazing! I ordered an order of chips and guacamole for the three of us to split–it was $4 for guacamole and $2 for chips, which I thought was a little pricey at the time but figured it wasn’t a big deal since we were splitting it. Turns out, they gave us a tupperware container of guacamole and an entire, industrial-sized bag of home-made tortilla chips. It was like a dream come true.

After that we walked over to Capitol Hill Books and geeked-out wandering around stacks and stacks of amazing old books. They also have hysterical signs. And try as I might, I can never resist books–I picked up a copy of “The American Presidency” by Clinton Rossiter, published in 1956 (I believe I’ve got a 1959 edition–awesome). I don’t know when I’ll have time to read it, but I read the intro right there in the bookstore and I’m already engrossed.

Finally I wound up in Peregrine Espresso which is a fantastic little coffee shop with pretty lattes AND they have a Twitter account. I’m sold. I’ll be going back. I did a little reading and then biked back to Union Station so I could be a wuss and metro up the hill instead of having to bike up Massachusetts Ave. (it’s rough, okay?!).

Anyway, next up will be two exciting blog posts:

1. A good, thorough recap of Social Justice Camp DC (#sojuca!)
2. A look at the power of public relations as it can be related to the dissident media of early civil rights movements in America and the current news cycle + social media (that’s a little broad and vague yet, still working on it)

Keep your eyes peeled. Also, I’ve got my first story (story, not column–as in I’m playing the “reporter” role this time) coming out in The Eagle this Thursday! You’ll know it’s online when I do.

Networking. Theoretically, that’s why I’m in New York City today, tomorrow and Thursday. But I like to think of it as making new friends… who just so happen to be working in fields and for companies that I think are absolutely fascinating.

Each year (now in its 8th), the American University Career Center, School of Communications, and Kogod School of Business host a three-day networking and site visit trip in New York City. The program, specifically geared towards communications and marketing students, consists of one opening event, one evening networking reception, and six site visits to companies in the city, most with AU alumni.

It’s a fantastic event. And I’ve been lucky enough to attend every single year of my college career so far.

It’s also a fantastic learning experience. My freshman year, I was completely overwhelmed. To be honest, I was absolutely terrified. I was (I believe) the only freshman to attend the trip that year, and I’m glad I did, but boy was I chicken. At the orientation I thought I’d be ok. I was obviously the youngest one attending (and probably the only one not really looking for a job or internship–hell, at that point I didn’t even know what I wanted to major in) but I got along OK with the other attendees and I figured I’d be brave enough when the time came.

Not really. I talked a bit at the opening dinner event, but at the networking reception I pretty much stuck to myself in a corner, halfway-accidentally-wandered into a few drunken conversations, and ducked out early. Huge wasted opportunity, as I quickly found out last year.

Last year, I was quite a bit braver. I put myself out there. I still wasn’t looking for a job or internship, really, but I’d come to realize the value in knowing people and making new, professional friends and contacts in my chosen fields of interest. I passed out business cards, I took down names and e-mail addresses, I followed up–I did all the things you’re supposed to do with these sorts of things. And I loved it. I discovered that deep down I kind of have a passion for networking–perhaps that’s why I’ve taken so eagerly to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and the like.

This year I’m really ready to step it up. I feel like I’ve truly evolved as a networker in the past two years. Also, I’m really excited about my site visits, as well, which include:

• The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum - at this famous museum we’ll get an hour to wander and explore the exhibits and then witness a presentation and discussion regarding all the internship and job opportunities at the Guggenheim.
• Mediavest - this marketing agency site visit will consist of “a panel of employees from across the agency and in-depth media-related Q&A”. Can’t wait!
• MS&L Worldwide - at this “leading communications firm” (soon to be my new employer for a semester internship–more on that next week) we’ll get a look at the MS&L workplace and information on job and internship opportunities.
• ABC - specifically, we’ll be attending a live broadcast of “Good Morning America” as well as getting a quick tour and information session in ABC’s New York studio. Look for us on TV, we’ll be up bright and early at 6:30 for the visit!
• GroupM - a “leading global media investment management operation”, we’ll see how the firm works and be able to discuss entry-level opportunities with them.
• The New York Times - here at one of the world’s largest media companies, we’ll hear a panel discussion and I’ll be able to indulge my not-so-secret interest in journalism (as evidenced here by my blog and my upcoming bimonthly column to appear in The Eagle, our university newspaper).

Getting here today was a bit of an interesting experience. I left my apartment at 7:00am sharp, expecting to arrive at Union Station around 7:45 (allowing for the usually-inevitable delays with the bus and metro). Much to my surprise, I arrived at around 7:30, way early for my 8:35 train. Especially since the train ended up delayed and we really didn’t depart until closer to 9:00am.

Everything was going smoothly until we hit Baltimore, and tragedy struck. A 14-year-old girl was struck and killed just 11 miles north of Baltimore’s Penn Station by a southbound train headed to D.C. from New York. You can see my updates from the train in this Twitter search.

We ended up sitting at Baltimore for almost three hours before our journey could continue. Naturally, that wasn’t the only delay we’d face for the day. We had an additional 20 minute delay in Trenton, NJ after the train just ahead of us broke down and all passengers were transferred to ours.

But in the end we (my bestie Jacquie and myself) arrived around 3:00pm. I checked into my hotel, Jacquie dropped off her luggage at her friend’s apartment building and we made it to the opening event for the NYC trip just in the nick of time. And it worked out, I used all the spare time to get over 100 pages into my newest book of choice, Bill Byron’s Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language of the United States (my review of that to come in a couple weeks, or whenever I finish).

The opening event tonight was a pleasant surprise. Although no AU alumni or networking contacts attended the event, we had an absolutely incredible opening speaker: Lindsey Pollak, “Gen Y Career and Workplace Expert”, also a spokeswoman and national campus representative for LinkedIn. She gave us five great tips for networking out of her book, Getting from College to Career: 90 Things to Do Before You Join the Real World, and even postponed her own dinner to answer more questions from us while we ate. I even had the chance to chat briefly with her after her talk about social media and we agreed to mutually follow each other on Twitter! Check out her blog and her Twitter account to read more from her–I know I’m following!

Anyway, keep an eye on my Twitter for updates on my site visits tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll have time to give yall a quick update, but I make no guarantees.