#dodd3

     If one of your friends tries to claim that rock music is dead, you need to bring that person to an Alter Bridge concert. The platinum-selling band, now on the road to promote their fourth studio album, Fortress, demonstrated to a sold-out crowd at the House of Blues that rock is alive and just as powerful as ever. Vocalist/guitarist Myles Kennedy, lead guitarist Mark Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall, and drummer Scott Phillips were all smiles and in top form for their sole 2013 performance in the United States before heading over to the United Kingdom to play Wembley Arena.

     Opening for them was Chicago-based Man the Mighty and Orlando's own Soulswitch, both of whom also opened for Tremonti's solo band last year at The Beacham. Since the doors opened late, the time for these two acts were cut down, but both were able to keep the crowd entertained as the anticipation for Alter Bridge's performance continued to build.

     Kicking off with their new single "Addicted to Pain", the band captivated the audience with fist-pumping anthems, brilliant musicianship, and a constant interaction with the audience. From song to song, the crowd was singing along and cheered for the classics and were just as excited for the selections from Fortress, all of which were being played in front of an audience for the first time. The epic-sounding "Cry of Achilles" distinguished itself as a highlight and was a major hit with the crowd, proving that it will likely become a new favorite amongst the Alter Bridge legion of fans. Closing out the show was an incredibly uplifting and exciting performance of "Open Your Eyes". For as excellent as the concert was, it was obvious that the people could have stayed there for hours on end and listen to the band play their entire catalog.

Websites such as Pinterest have become a marketing and advertising channel for hundreds of thousands of companies.  Being a marketing major, I find sites such as Pinterest as a type of genius. 

I am an active user of Pinterest and have ordered numerous products from sites that have been pinned by the people I follow.  Small shops like boutiques and online retailers get a great amount advertising just from Pinterest.  I, personally, have at least five boutiques I keep close tabs with just because of Pinterest.  They seem to always have what I am looking for for a special occasion.  Not to mention, some of them are inexpensive!  One of my favorites is Dainty Hooligan. They have an awesome selection of game day merchandise as well as cute dresses and tops for a reasonable price.  Check them out when you get a chance!

Another think I look for on Pinterest is Recipes.  I love to cook, especially bake, and Pinterest always seems to have an awesome recipe for me to try.  I like to try and eat as healthy as possible, my favorite food is salad, don't judge!  When I am on Pinterest, I like to go to the Health and Fitness tab to find new healthy recipes for me and my boyfriend. We have found some that are actually really tasty. For example, pulled buffalo chicken in a crock pot, or protein pumpkin muffins.  Again, this is a great way for chefs to market themselves and their recipes.

Last, my favorite thing to do on Pinterest is plan my wedding.  People post thousands of wedding ideas that are just mind blowing! I cannot wait for the day I get to put all of my ideas on paper! When people post these wedding ideas, it links to the company website or where the idea came from.  This is awesome and free marketing for numerous companies.For someone who plans to have a beach wedding, fun ideas are always on my mind!

Ladies and gentlemen allow me the pleasure of introducing you to the artist formerly known as Destiny Hope Cyrus, I mean Miley Cyrus, crap Miley Stewart, wait Hannah Montana, oh we are back to Miley Cyrus now? Alright finally Miley Cyrus!!!

*cue the applause*

  Now that I have got the MANY introductions out of the way we can finally get rid of the elephant in the room. Yes, Miley Cyrus is here to take over the world and no there is nothing you can do about it. Now that you have got that point we can begin to talk about this potential pop juggernaut. For the sake of my own sanity though we are going to skip over the tired debate of whether Miley has lost her way and or sanity and focus on the music.

#BANGERZ

The album that is on everyone's minds is called "BANGERZ" and its Mileys 4th studio album (9th if you include Ms. Montanas albums but since Miley isnt, we wont either). After taking a break following the release of her FIRST rebellion album "Can't Be Tamed" and getting engaged to actor Liam Hemsworth, Miley is ready to show the world who she is. Attempting to show a more mature and adult sound Miley has enlisted a list producers like Pharrell, Dr, Luke, and Mike WILL Made it to create her latest disk. "BANGERZ" is due worldwide on October 8th and its looking to be the biggest release of Miley's life. First two singles "We Can't Stop" and "Wrecking Ball" have already made their homes in the upper regions of the Billboard Hot 100 (Wrecking Ball went number 1. Congrats!) and Miley is just getting started. Guests on the album include Big Sean, Nelly, French Montana, and the QUEEN Britney Spears. Every single eye is on Miley. We shall soon see if she folds under pressure of rises to the occasion. 

This week I was tasked with making sure that, for the e-commerce website that I manage, every primary product be place in the back end. This was a hard task, since I had to organize every products: descriptions, meta key words, meta descriptions, links to appropriate parent categories, and every other unique modifications under the sun. But this week I was armed with more wisdom then ever before. I had subscribe to a couple of blogs discussing marketing and e-commerce, and I stumbled upon some great information that came it to play with this task. The article explained a key aspect that I had not previously researched, which dealt with the infinitely important customer perception, and how price was to be organized. It laid out 9 ways to explain the pricing of your inventory, so that the customer could not fall back on the price objection (http://blog.kissmetrics.com/a-total-steal/). This gave every item in my online shop a more favorable perception, and proper placement. Though It is funny how placement and perception play out in real life.

While normally I enjoy the task of being pushed to learn something new   (this week was learning what those meta key sections meant), I found myself in an awkward place. My girlfriend planned a party for no special reason, which makes them really casual, for almost 1 week. She had been talking about the plans with me, which made my situation worse when I completely misunderstood the details of the event.

In the past we had pool parties at night, so I figured the same for this event. This weekend was different, and it was planned for the afternoon. When I finished posting all the products and was satisfied with my work for the day, I retired to my girlfriends house. Though the day was not finished, since I had still a lot of school work to complete. When I stopped at her house I was greeted with such glee that my vision was centered on her excited face. Unfortunately I shifted my attention down at my phone and saw the online to-do list I created the night before. This party was going to have to wait. I left her house with my school books, and headed for my home. 

I was surprised to hear when I arrived home that she was dissatisfied with that decision, since she had expected me to stay for the night and relax with everyone still attending. I mistakenly explained how I was looking to finish my homework, and would rather enjoy the company of books than her embracing smile. I feel this is where I made a mistake. Many times in our life we will have to make the decision between responsibility and leisure, and normally responsibility should win. But this time was not most times. I should have seen things from my girlfriends perspective, and given myself proper placement right next to her in the living room's couch. So my lessons to anyone still reading is this blog is: pay attention to the details, other people perceptions matters, and always look for proper placement.

                  I met my Canadian boyfriend through a mutual friend, at a college party. He lived in Canada; I lived in Venezuela at the time. Everyone would think it was weird to keep talking every single day with someone that lived so far away, but I still did. It was so easy, just by clicking “send” on my phone, free of cost and pretty much free of anything anyone can think of. Currently, we have been together for two years and counting (after spending a long time together). It is a struggle, but we manage to spend as much time together as we can. If it wasn’t for Skype, iMessage, or Facetime, this relationship would never would have happened. Some people still think it is strange, I mean, we live in different countries! But it is more than just a “cyber” relationship. Although social media has provided us all the means to keep maintaining our relationship, it has been a two-way struggle and effort from both of us, especially on how to learn how to use these tolls!

Last week, Adam and I purchased through Skype- sharing screen, airplane tickets to go see each other and them come back, I was amazed on how easy it was! It is way more simpler than talking on the phone, and each one going to a travel agency on our separate ways in order to buy the same airplane tickets, and then to be able to have seats next to each other, or even wait at the gate and ask the attendant to put us in the same place. That type of situation is no longer an ordeal since we did everything in less than half an hour picked the seats next to each other and paid at the same time, all in such a short amount of time!