My Website

Well, after a lot of hard work and frustrating moments my website is finally done. I'm excited about this fot two reasons.
(1) I no longer have to work on it... I'm done, through, finished.
(2) It is a great way to communicate my abilities in design and other medias to prospective employers and clients.

In my Interpersonal Communications class we have discussed a little bit about how the internet has affected or improved communication. My website portfolio is a good example of the way the internet has improved communication. What used to take much printing, a scheduled interview, and a lengthy explanation can now be summed up, or at least introduced, by poking around a person's website.

Go ahead and check mine out. www.brittanybarney.com.

Self disclosure... wait what is that?

Imagine this. You are sitting at the library, or some equivocal public place, when a stranger sits down to your left. They seem normal, you have no expectations of strangeness or awkwardness, they may even introduce themselves in a perfectly acceptable manner. You think nothing of it right? But then... THEN the waterfall starts. They start spewing personal information and you don't want to hear any of it.

They start with their class load, still acceptable. Then they move on to their church activities for the week, a bit of an over-share. Next its their love life followed by their family problems and by the time you've finish listening to their story about the power ranger toy they lost in the third grade at their best friend Brad's house after their schoolboy crush ripped their heart apart in language arts, you are considering faking ill to get away from the intruder.
You were just trying to do your homework. You had no intention of things getting out of hand. No intention whatsoever of spending 45 minutes listening to useless personal facts about a person that you didn't even know an hour earlier. What went wrong here? What is the problem?

I argue that the issue here is self disclosure... or lack there of. Self disclosure is an interesting topic. These days it seems, to me, that either you can't get a person to open up to you or you cant keep them from exploding their life stories all over your new shirt or filling your backpack with with uninvited personal info.

Self disclosure, by definition, is an intentional sharing of personal information that the other person doesn't already know. I lobby that we be a self disclosing people but that we keep our self disclosure for the people we are close to. We don't need to tell our "bidness" to the poor unsuspecting people sitting next to us at the library, on the subway, or in the line at the grocery store. Lets be honest... they don't want to hear it. Instead take that time and energy and get to know your kids, your mom, or your best friend from high school a little better. They are the people who care about those kinds of things. They want you to share and to share with you in return.

Conflict or Contention?

A very important part of communicating well is dealing with conflict. I have had to do this a little more frequently in my life these days and I think its important to remember a few things. First we need to realize that conflict and contention are different things. Conflict is content oriented and is something we cannot avoid while contention is something personal that we bring to the communication. In class today I gained a better understanding of the different subjects. I saw that often we human beings bring contention into our conflicts. This is where things get hairy. Here is a very real example of the consequences that being contentious can bring.



I also learned that there are many different ways to handle conflict. I definitely need to remember this in my dealings with others. I sometimes just assume that everyone deals with things like I do when, in fact, that assumption is false. I could definitely be more understanding to others' ways of addressing conflict.

Let us all think twice about how we are dealing with conflict. And remember that contention is not part of conflict... contention is of the DEVIL.

I hate this...

I just want to put it out there that I hate this blog assignment, it has caused me more grief than originally intended. But I do like this video. Enjoy.

I'm doing terribly

Ok, so I really stink at remembering to post about gratitude everyday. So here is a post that will count for the whole weekend.

number one - the sabbath. thank you, Jesus, for this lovely day of replenishment and rest.

number two - katie grinder. always strong, always dependable, always a good example.

number three - jessica sloan. the most unique individual i know. probably the greatest person in the world.

i am grateful for.....

number one - last night after I went to a movie with a a good friend of mine we happened to catch a rare sight. Across the parking lot in the fluorescent light of a small frozen yogurt place there was a young lady kneeling down. What, pray tell, was she kneeling for? She just happened to be on her knees passionately kissing her wheelchair bound significant other. That's right. We caught them making out in the parking lot. Her on her knees and him in his wheelchair. I am thankful for that rare vision. As my roommate said- that's something that you don't see very... well ever.

number two - the delicious smelling soap in my bathroom. not only does this soap clean my hands and kill many germs but it also keeps my hands smelling nicely. Delicious.

number three - my friend Tyler Beus. He has made me so happy these last couple of days and I really needed that. Also, he is the one that shared the wheelchair incident above with me. How could I not be grateful for that?

Gratitude

So, my Aunt Karla, a very kindred spirit indeed, has been posting on her blog three things each day that she is grateful for. I'm not sure how long this is going to last for her, but I have decided to do it for a week. Hopefully I can remember to post every day...

number one - my sister Colby
She has always been there for me. But I guess that's her only option because she's my little sister and we both came a few years later than the rest of the kids. The last couple of weeks life has been hard and she has been right there living it with me even though she lives about 60 miles away. I am so grateful to her for coming to visit and for caring about me.

number two - my roommates
Ok, so it's not appropriate for testimony meetings but I think that being grateful for your roommates is very appropriate for a gratitude post on my blog. These eight girls have made my semester so much happier. They are always willing to be silly and absurd with me, and most of the time their harebrained ideas are more out there than mine. My favorite part about my roommates? Each of them has a strong testimony and is a great example to me. I can always depend on them for smart, honest advice and I really appreciate that.

number three - my targhee pass
This year I went all out. I bought a new snowboard, new boots, and a pass to Grand Targhee. Now, I haven't always been a huge snowboarder but last winter I hung out with the Targhee crowd in my singles branch and they definitely got me back in to it. Im so excited for the freedom that this $200, credit card sized, goofy pictured pass will give me on the weekends this winter. I never thought I'd say it, but PRAY FOR SNOW.