Blessed in Bountiful

As some of you know, I have an older brother who is a quadriplegic. Layton lives in Bountiful, Utah in a rehab hospital. On Thursday, March 18th he had the wonderful privlege to go to the temple. It was a wonderful experience and the first time the all of my family (except for my sister, Emilee) had been together in the temple. I was so overcome with joy. The Lord has truly blessed my family.

After some inspiration from my roommate, I've decided that I need to update my blog. I am making a new goal to update once a week. I know I will need to blog again for an upcoming class so why not start now!

Hmmm....where do I start? How about snowboarding. I tried snowboarding last weekend and I had an absolute blast. I was on the ground a large portion of the time but I still had so much fun. I usually ski and am definitely a better skier than snowboarder but I think it is fun to be able to do both. It's almost too late to really learn how to snowboard this season but it's something I will do a lot more of next season. I can't wait!

I guess I also need to give an update about what I am up to now. I am still living in Rexburg and am enjoying a good semester. It is my off-track season at BYU-Idaho right now so I am currently taking two online classes and working a little at Melaleuca. Even though I'm not a full time student right now I stay pretty busy. I've enjoyed going home a few times and also taking time to go to Utah every once in a while. I will be taking classes full-time again in the Spring. It's going to be a busy and hard semester. Spring Semester starts the middle of April...so soon!

Well, I hope I can do this...I'm going to post a picture. I think it's very St. Patty's Day appropriate with my green top.

Oh Yeah, Don't forget to set your clocks ahead for Daylight Savings this weekend. That's all for now.

Listening...Bridge or Barrier

This week we've been studying communication barriers. Oh my goodness! There have got to be a billion barriers to effective communication. A skill I am constantly learning and relearning. The specific thing that I would like to become proficient in is that of repeating the information that I just heard back to the sender. Instead of worrying so much about getting my information heard. Effective listening can be very difficult but can create better understanding and more efficient task completion. Missing the skill of listening can also be identified as two combined barriers known as inadequate receiving and lack of feedback. Ask yourself if your listening skills are more of a barrier than a bridge. Listening is definitely a skill worth practicing!

Missing Time?

Last Thursday we did our first case studies on all the Organizational Theories. The man in our case study seemed to have a problem that I believe we have all encountered and that is not enough time in the day to accomplish our goals. How does that happen? We are all allotted the same 24hrs in a day. Why do some of us feel more productive as others. As I pondered the situation and applied it to my personal life I realized that it is all about efficient time management and efficient management and use resources. The example I encountered over the weekend was when I was visiting my brother in the hospital a family friend came to visit us. Not only did he bring himself but he brought his new family which consisted of his wife and eight children. As he went on to explain the difficult tasks that his family encounters each day I realized that they are able to accomplish all the difficult daily tasks just by doing those two things managing time and resources effictively. It definitley takes creativiy and compromise to experience those win/win situations in such difficult circumstances.

I'm Me, Raised In My Culture

It is often said that if you want to understand a people you must study their culture. In our most recent class period we talked about the Culture Theory. This theory suggests that we are, who we have become largely because of the Culture that raised us. As a class we divided into groups and acted as outsiders studying the culture of BYU-Idaho. My group came up with 3 subcultures of the students here at the university. Fist, Married/Family Students next, Steady Dating Students and also Single Students. It was a great experience to learn why some of us act so different from eachother just because of our current relationship status.

Following Good People

Okay, now that I've figured out how to post a few things. I've decided I should clarify some stuff. Yes, I created this blog for a class but I also created this blog because honestly everybody else I know is doing it. So it must be a good idea right!

Back to Comm 250...Yesterday in class we talked about the humanistic theory versus the classical theory of organizations. While both have their individual disadvantages and benefits, I've decided I like the humanistic approach better. This would probably explain why I am following the example of awesome people and using a blog. Just like the humanistic approach teaches us to adapt to change I have found adapting to change has come easily in my life, even though it is not always preferred.

p.s Being a people person and noticing how pictures help us relate to others I will be posting pics that relate to my blogs as soon as I learn how. Thanks for the great examples of blogs to all those whose own blogs have inpired my own.

Comm 250 and Me

I'm NaeDene Funk a BYU-Idaho communications student and am creating this blog for the purpose of expanding my growth and learning in my Organization Communications Class. While I created this blog for a class, I intend to use it mucher longer than the lenth of this class. I've always had the mindset that blogs were for married people announcing the growth of their families. Currently single myself, I am learning that my own prejudices are haunting me but also teaching me.

Having attended the first few days of Brother Embree's class, we are currently studying how to become efficient Organizational Consultants. Who would want to consider themselves with such a long boring title you ask. Maybe a better way to put it is to say I would like to not only become a master learner but in my quest to become a master learner I must become a master teacher.