"Mamaw"

Toughness and determination. Normally not two words associated with a ninety year old woman, but no two words sum her up better. She said what she wanted, when she wanted, to whoever she wanted. Some called her blunt, I called her honest. I know it's human nature when you lose someone to go back and think of what you personally could've done differently. It's really difficult when you lose someone tragically vs. expectingly. I'm going to miss that sometimes grouchy, but also very sweet woman telling me how much she hates my haircuts and all of her stories that I can quote verbatim because I heard them so many times. I guess as I sit here and write this, I realize how I always made an excuse to not go see her. It's easy to make excuses for, but sometimes you have to be honest with yourself. Especially the last couple times I went home, I was too busy with my schedule to make time for her. Too busy to stop what I was doing- which wasn't important, to do so much as pop my head in the door and say hey. I was selfish. I gambled and lost. I thought I could put it off until my next visit because she was 90 years old and if she made it this long, she had at least 5 more years. I was wrong. And I could beat myself over it all day, but I'm not. I'm not because as cliche as it may sound, it taught me to not take my time with people for granted. As much as this situation sucks now, I think in 5 years I'll look back on it and laugh. What 90 year old woman still works in her garden? A pretty stubborn one. Mamaw did things her way, she didn't care what you said. If she wanted to go outside and work in the yard you better believe she would do it. Stubbornness is what did her in, as hard as that is to cope with now, I can't see her going out any other way.

Hide n' Seek

Speech. I feel like I'm playing a long, drawn-out game of hide n' seek. My brain hurts when I try to think about anything advertising/school related, but my head hurts even worse when I put it off. Im close, really close, but I'm also really far. Personally, I think I'm trying too hard and in doing so, sucking all the fun out of it. I'm using my blog as my therapy. There is no structure to this blog. It is simply me rambling. Now that I think about it, I have no clue why I titled this blog hide n' seek. Possibly because I feel like I'm seeking creative solutions, but they're hiding. Bad analogy. Anyways, if anyone, anytime, ever reads this, my advice for you is, Have fun doing what you're doing. Mix it up, I'm a firm believer in having a routine, but don't be scared to break it. I'm done.

Mike

http://www.eternalmoonwalk.com/

An eternal moonwalk? Genius. Thousands of video clips sent in by people from around the world, cut together and turned into a never ending moonwalk. It was an encouraging site for me personally because it restored confidence in my moonwalking skills. I'm actually considering sending my moonwalk in, I think the world deserves a blueprint.

The Open

As an avid sports fan, I'm very enthused about what could happen at Turnberry today. A sixty- five year old man is in contention at The British Open. Amazing. This is what I love about the game of golf. It's a game that you can play competitive for a lifetime. Tune in today on ABC and hopefully we will witness history as the "old man" gets it done.

Charles Chuckles

This guy is hilarious! I've got to say, I'm not a fan of the Windows operating system, but this is some really funny stuff. I tried to get a link to the banner ad that they are running on Pandora Radio right now, but I couldn't. It has some great one-liners. Christian Lander, the author of, Things White People Like is getting his own show on Justin.tv. Check it out.

http://www.justin.tv/pchookupshow?CMXID=2120.CCFB431E-25B3-4DF3-8E62-61A2CF6DC1E9&WT.srch=1

Humble pie.

Thank you Ms. Jenny Burrows for stepping up to the plate in becoming my campaign manager. I think you are a perfect fit for the job and I know that you will represent me in an exemplary manor. I am humbled to have you join my staff. Take a look at the first leg of my campaign to get followers. http://www.jennyleighbee.blogspot.com

Wow, this is pretty accurate.

http://thingsmarketingpeoplelove.blogspot.com/

This website is hilarious, it's so true. From the Fish tacos and over-priced sushi to the moleskin notebooks, it was right on point.

Check it out.

"Follow off"

As of right now I have no followers on my blog. I haven't really advertised my blog because quite frankly I could care less. Ok, that's a lie so I want to call out one of my classmates and challenge you, Mr. Bill Woodard to a "Follow off." This competition consists of different levels; the first level is to get 10 followers, the person that gets the first 10 gets to humiliate the other via their blog. We will then try to get 20 and so on and so on. If your up to the challenge blog it for I will give you a head start by being your first follower. Good Luck, Douche.

Don't read this.

I could try to be insightful, but I have no insight. I could talk about myself, but I would come across as either arrogant or self absorbed. I could talk about current events, but nobody cares what I think. Do I write as if I'm writing to the world, or do I make the mistake of writing as if it's my journal and look like a douche? Does anyone really care what Charles Kevin Steele II, the eldest of three children from Charlotte, NC thinks? Sadly enough, yes. Someone somewhere will read this blog and if that someone is you I apologize.

I sell inspirational cassette tapes if you want one.

I was at Caribou Coffee about a month ago and I started talking to a lady that was recently laid off at a local Atlanta Agency. We chatted for a while about the “industry” and she went on a rant about how she wanted to get out of advertising because she wanted to do something that, “actually helps people.” I didn’t think much about what she said then, but over break I pondered on it.

Advertising grants the opportunity to have ones voice heard by hundreds, thousands or millions. As cliché’ as it may be, it’s what one does with their voice that determines whether or not they help people. There is every opportunity one could ask for to do something positive in the world. I try to look at advertising as a show. Essentially, I want to sell a product or service, but the challenge is to do so in an entertaining manor. Whether my “stage” is a print magazine, billboard, banner ad, newspaper, or the side of the building. I have to be ready to perform at my utmost level each and every time. Taking each project seriously with the attitude that even the boring and monotonous projects can be transformed into pieces of art that touch consumers in a way that makes them feel privileged to have seen my work.

Changing lives and helping people; two of the many things I love about advertising. Much love to the woman in Caribou. I hope the humanitarian thing works out for you, thanks for inspiring me to look at advertising the opposite way you did.