Dolly Parton and Podcasting

I am so pumped about this podcasting assignment! I was really nervous and hesitant to start it because I've never even listened to a podcast before! I did it, though, and I'm very happy :)

After looking through all of our choices, I decided upon Yodio. It seemed like the most user-friendly website, and as I found out, it was! Yodio allows you to create a slideshow of pictures and then let you record a narration. The first thing I asked was, "how am I going to record a narration after putting a slideshow together?" Well, they use a very modern technology: cell phones! They give you a number to call, and a pre-recorded prompt tells you exactly what to do. The recordings are then sent to your profile on the website, and you just click and drag the audio clip over the pictures you want to narrate! It is unbelivably easy, even for those who don't regularly use technology. I can see where this would be helpful for classroom demonstrations, giving instructions for projects, or even useful for student projects. It might also be helpful for classroom unity, as older kids could create projects to introduce themselves to the rest of the class!

For this particular Yodio, I decided to create a "How To" video. You all are going to learn how to make a dish called the Dolly Parton Salad. I can see where Yodio would be helpful for me in the future when I have my own class, but at this point I don't see myself using Yodio very often.

Here are some tips that I think might be useful:

• When you first upload pictures, rename them in a way that will help you organize them in the right order. The thumbnail is very small, and if your pictures all look similar, like mine do, it will be hard to distinguish them.
• When you finally upload audio, listen to each clip and then rename them. The thumbnail will just tell you the length and what phone number from which it was recorded. If you have a lot of recordings, it's hard to keep track of them.
• Make sure you record in a place that is quiet and doesn't echo. Because you will be recording from your cell phone, the sound quality depends on where you're recording.

Here's the link!

Dolly Parton Salad

Enjoy!

Dear 2 am...

Does anyone else get severe insomnia during the summer? I do. I'm perfectly normal during the school year; I'm in bed and asleep no later than midnight unless its a weekend or I have a huge assignment due. During the summer, though, I can't sleep. So, here it is, 2:08 in the morning, and I'm writing a blog post...and I never thought I'd blog. Ever. haha

I switched in some new pictures. :) I don't know if I'm the only having this much fun messing with my page or not, but I'm thoroughly enjoying it!

Other than that, I'm just trying to figure out what exactly we're supposed to do for our podcasts. Does anyone know what exactly the podcast is supposed to be about? I'm assuming it's kind of up to us? Any helpful suggestions are welcome! :)

...and I hope you all are getting more sleep than I am!

The Sea's Wine Red..

I can't find a job. I've applied to like fifteen places and have had a total of two interviews. I didn't get either job. This whole job search is just so frustrating! I've talked to a bunch of my friends and they're all having the same luck. It's unbelievable. I had an interview with Starbucks yesterday, and as soon as the manager found out I live in Bloomington during the year, he said he couldn't hire me. He followed that up with, "It's too bad because you were exactly what I was looking for." UGH.

On a much happier note, its been gorgeous weather lately! I love it! Yesterday was a little bit too hot for me, but I would rather have the weather super hot than super cold.

Also on a happy note, my best friend, Ryan (the one in the quite unattractive picture at the right), and his friend Tommy just finished a cover of the song Wine Red by The Hush Sound. First of all, I love love love The Hush Sound, and Wine Red is one of my favorite songs by them. Tommy and Ryan put a different, unique spin on it, but I really like it. Tommy is at IUPUI for music production and management, so he did all of the editing and background stuff, and Ryan's at IU for Biology and Pre-Med. His passion is performing and singing, so he's on main vocals. If you're interested, here's the youtube link to their cover: Wine Red. If you want to compare it to the original here's that link: The Hush Sound. I think their music video is pretty cool :)

I'm working on my Podcast assignment right now, but I honestly have no idea what I'm doing! I've just been browsing around different websites on how to podcast, so we'll see how it goes! I'm honestly really excited to see what everyone does!

What? A post that's not an assignment?

Yeah, I definitely didn't think I'd be posting without it being assigned to me, but here I am. I can't help it!

So far I like this blogging thing. I used to have a Myspace, and the only thing I ever cared about was being able to customize my own page, and now, look! I have my own page to customize. :) The only thing I can't figure out is how to put up a slideshow. I've been trying to get the gadget to work for two days now, and I give up. So, I resorted to posting some pictures on the side instead. My plan is to take them down and post new ones every now and then, but we'll see if I actually follow through with that. haha Like I said before, my friends and family mean the world to me, and those pictures give you look at my family (everyone always says my mom, sister, and I look alike, and my brother and dad look alike, see if you agree) and some of my closest friends. I'm especially in love with the "oreo" picture. Claire and Ashley (the girls in the picture) were obsessed with it for a very long time. On that particular instance, we were on Kirkwood Ave., which is super popular in Bloomington, and we stopped in a new candy store, Campus Candy. We thought we'd try it out, so we went around the store with the little plastic bag they give you and filled our bags with chocolate, jelly beans, and other candies. I expected to pay maybe 8 or 10 dollars, and had decided that would be fine since it was almost finals week, but when we got to the counter, my total was $21.13, and Ashley's was $19! I was astounded, and we vowed to never go back.

I'm not entirely sure why you needed to know that entire story, you probably don't even care, but I think it's somewhat of an entertaining story. So, if you're reading this, hopefully it put a smile on your face or at least distracted you from whatever you were doing for 5 minutes.

Also, if anyone has any idea how to make the slideshow gadget work, let me know! I love pictures, and would love to put up many more :)

More About Me...

Hey! I'm Taylor and I just finished my freshman year at IU. I actually transferred to IU at semester this year; I started college at Hillsdale College, a small town school in Michigan just over the border of Indiana. I am, as probably many of you are, an elementary education major, and I absolutely love teaching so far! I have two younger siblings, Allison, who's finishing up her Sophomore year in high school, and Michael, who's finishing up his sixth grade year. If I could do anything with my life without worrying about making money, I would be on Broadway. That sounds entirely too cliche, but it's so true! I love singing and dancing, and to be able to live my life playing characters like those in Wicked, Hairspray, and Avenue Q would simply be a dream. I love all of my friends, especially my sister, who happens to be my best friend. We love spending time together, and often will just spend a day playing Mario Kart Wii, watching movies, taking ridiculous pictures, and dancing to loud music in our rooms.



Creating this blog was surprisingly easy! I have never ventured to create one before; I have a Facebook like virutally everyone else, but I have never been interested in blogging. I will admit that I don't really know what I'm doing, but I can't wait to get started. :) I really like that we can post pictures because I have plenty of them, trust me. I'm really excited to see everyone else's blogs and get to continue to write mine!