Color Run Fun!

Posted on November 8, 2012 by badelhoyo

Starting line

The San Diego Color Run took place last Saturday and I’m still finding tinges of blue and green in my ears. Both Nicole and I participated for the first time in this fun event, but on different teams. Nicole and her team, Hell on Heels, ran early at 8:30 a.m., while I ran with team Colorly Love during the 1:30 p.m. race.

So, as incredibly fun and hilarious as this event turned out to be, we learned a few tips and tricks we will be employing during next year’s run.

Race Packets

GET SOMEONE TO GO PICK THESE UP PRIOR TO RACE DAY! The lines were edging on 2 hours long and you don’t have time for that on the day of the event! To be nice you should probably send a group, and possibly a little flask of Shiraz or something of the sort (I mean, not that we’d ever do anything of the sort, that’s only a joke, I mean we don’t even drink). However, remember that the sucker (ahem, BEST GROUP MEMBER) that goes to pick up the packets must have a signed document saying they’re allowed to pick up race packets for someone who is not present. We did hear whispers of people forging signatures and text messages being accepted in place of documents – not sure if this would work in every city since we here in the beach cities are pretty laid back

Face Masks

If you’re sensitive to breathing in dust or other types of particles, I would recommend running with a mask. Your pre-race packet will also recommend that, but since our team was primarily worried about looking “cute”, we didn’t pay attention to this part. Along with having multi-colored Kleenex for a few days, breathing in the dry powder may hinder your fun on the day of the event – remember with ANY slight breeze and this stuff billows into huge clouds that you cannot get away from. To ensure that your team still has a cute “uniform” you can use some of these ideas we saw floating around:

Painter’s Masks: These folks really stood out, plus since these masks are meant to be worn for a while I assume they weren’t as hot as some other options.
Bandannas: This option looked cool (a very robber-esc look) but I’m not sure it worked in the long run since it seemed that the colors were attracted to moisture – which I assume would accumulate with the breathing.

Eye Wear

Before and After

Same issue as above, the billowing power can get into your eyes and cause irritation. Plus, some of those color sprayers don’t quite adhere to keeping it below the neck (I will let some of it slide because they were little kids and their aim may not be quite up to par). Our teams both just wore glasses (both sunglasses and clear lenses), but we also saw some people wearing goggles, both the swimming type and science lab type!

Team Uniform

Obviously if you’re running this race, you and your team must determine an outfit strategy. However, remember that EVERYONE will be

Team Hell on Heels

wearing white, TONS of people will have on the event T-shirt, and there will be rainbow-colored tutus in masses. Many people opted to keep their cellphones safe from the color, so if your team is separated, it was almost impossible to find each other. Find SOMETHING that will stand out… whether it be little horns like Nicole’s team or matching headdresses.

Tutus

At the post-race event dance party there is a special dance set aside for those wearing tutus. If you want to shake your stuff while everyone looks on be sure to be wearing one!

Becoming Color-fied

Team Colorly Love

We were slightly disappointed that we weren’t more color-ific at the end of the race. If you just run the race and dance around in the color packets they give you, you will NOT be as intensely colored as all those pictures on the event website – you need to strategically color yourself. We found that the damp spots made the color stick to your clothes better, whether it be sweat or the cups of water we dumped on ourselves. Also, try and position yourself to be colored with the “pretty” colors. Yellow and orange give you a weird dirty look while the pretty pink is soon covered up as it is the first color-station of the race (at least for our’s). When you pick up your race packets and your 1 free
color-pack make sure you get the pretty colors: purple, pink, blue – the rest soon turn you into a brown mess. When you’re throwing your color-packs ensure you have DIRECT contact with a team member, I’m talking a handful of color literally smacked on there and rubbed in for maximum color saturation.

We also saw evidence of people bringing in their own color (we’re talking empty Ziploc baggie proof)!!! Team Colorly Love decided that our next go-around we’ll be smuggling in our own colors, and making sure they’re the pretty colors (no ugly yellow or orange!). I found a website with a recipe to make the colored powder. I haven’t tried it yet but feel free make some and leave us a comment on how it worked!

What do you Think?

Any other tips we missed? Could we have had an amazing inside experience and missed it? Let us know in the comment section so our next 5k or next Color Run is EPIC!

(We’d also like to give photo credit to team Colorly Love’s photos to Little Miss MBA and her “good-sport-bearded-photographer-boy friend”)

Halloween Hubub

Posted on October 12, 2012 by badelhoyo

Homemade witch costumes…Gotta love the awkwardness.

While romantically drinking champagne and brainstorming blog ideas we began discussing the upcoming Halloween holiday. As children we LOVED Halloween and ALWAYS had the most kick-butt costumes, none of those cheesy store-bought outfits, ours were handcrafted masterpieces that stood out from the crowd (to see proof of our amazing abilities – strongly influenced by our mothers – we included some pictures for reference). However, while discussing this Halloween we came up against some difficult questions: are we too old for Halloween? How can new professionals incorporate a costume into the workplace?

ISSUE 1: Halloween Age-Appropriateness

This is the second time in our lives we have had to re-evaluate our Halloween practices due to our age. The first time around we had to determine when was the right time to STOP trick-or-treating. This time we must decide the right time to STOP dressing in super revealing outfits.

A few years ago we did Day of the Dead faces.

We’re 24 and 25, not super old, but not still undergrads, we’re not super fit but not hideous, we still like to go out, but are past the point of drinking just to get drunk. What do we do? Every time we look at the costume stores the outfits are divided into super slutty or long-sleeved boringness – we don’t want to look like grandmas, but we like our tushes covered. Plus, the most important issue is our situation of being broke-as-a-joke. These slutty costumes can cost $70+ buuuuut are more likely to get you free drinks at the club (which here in San Diego can be upwards of $13 a pop) – so should we be calculating our break even point?

ISSUE 2: Halloween in the Workplace

In thinking about this issue, one of our favorite TV shows, Modern Family, popped into our heads. Did you happen to catch the episode when Mitchell is stoked to wear his elaborate Spiderman Halloween costume to his new office and then quickly regrets his decision? If not, watch the clip here. That’s the situation we’re afraid of. Co-workers are telling us that they will be in costume but what if people don’t dress up at the office? What if we end up hiding out in the bathroom? Our thought was to go as something very understated, but again our whole being-poor issue gets in the way: we don’t really have money for TWO costumes.

ISSUE 3: This Post Made us Confused

So what do we do blogosphere? We need help here! We have no costume ideas even in the hopper and the 31st is looming. Please leave any ideas in the comment section or feel free to Tweet us at @blakedelhoyo or @lee_nicole

Stop These Social Media Practices! (PLEASE)

Posted on September 6, 2012 by badelhoyo

Being young professionals in the PR and marketing worlds, we are basically FORCED to keep a constant eye on social media and the emerging trends. With our continuous scanning of various social media platforms we have developed our “social media pet peeves.” This post is to plead all of you out there in the online world to help us lead the charge to stamp out the following social media practices:

Om Nom Nom, #OmNomNom: I don’t care how you insert this, you don’t say it in real-life (Oh God, please don’t tell me you say it in real-life), so don’t put it online. All I can imagine when I read this is that you are currently shoveling that meal you just shot with the Toaster filter in Instagram into your face and are talking with your mouth open.
Linking posts to all your outlets: (Thanks to LinkedIn for already doing their part to stop this!) All social media outlets are different, people! I don’t want to see your hashtag on Facebook. Write different content and stop announcing to the world that you’re social-media-lazy.
YOLO: Give it up people, this trend has outlived its welcome.
Notes to self: I am not your virtual post-it note. I will not keep your diet on track or give you kudos for your 1,590 mile run that you completed in 1.5 hours.
Rambling multi-part tweets: I’m following hundreds of peeps, your first segment probably got lost as I’m scrolling through my feed and now I think you are spurting out incomplete thoughts. If you must do this, PLEASE include some indication that the Tweet is either the first or second or third part.
#FF: Really, we’re not over this yet? If I can’t figure out how to follow interesting people through their interesting connections, I don’t deserve their insights.
Linking to your blog…that’s about a year old, with no new relevancy or reason: If I didn’t read a year ago, I don’t want this old info now! Update! Make it applicable to a current trend or at least tell me why you are sharing it now!
Liking every picture someone posts on Facebook: You have the ability to like the album. I don’t need 1,000,084 notifications on my Newsfeed that you like Stan’s last trip to Vegas.

If you do any of these, we don’t hate you. Some of the things we do on social media might be just as annoying to some people. What are some of the social media practices you think must end?

Random Business Acronyms

Posted on August 30, 2012 by boththemasters

So, out and about in our semi-professional lives we have heard people spewing out random letters. We believe that most of these acronyms are made up by professionals in order to sound cool and important, rather than to actually serve a purpose. Regardless, when those around you are speaking what seems to be a different language, it can cause some confusion or the feeling that you are being left out.

Initially, when we heard or saw these random letters, our faces looked something like this:

Curiosity rather than necessity has driven us to look up some of these silly acronyms and others we figured out on our own. Here are some we’ve heard over the last few years that may help you out:

MOU – We’ve looked this up 5 times to remember while writing this blog…short and sweet it stands for Memorandum of Understanding. Still lost? So are we. Let’s dumb it down further. Wikipedia enlightens us with this description: “a document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between parties.” Glad we cleared that up.
EOD – “The delivery is expected by EOD.” Hhmmm, does this indicate a time or location? Not to worry, we’re here to help, your package will get to you by the End of Day.
COB – Kind of like EOD, you can tell this is a point in time because when you see COB, it is usually in an email that says, “I need this by COB” (yummmm, corn?). Those context clues should help you out, but just in case, COB=close of business.
Random “J” in emails – Oh yes, finally, that perfect employee made a typo on their email! Nope, yet again she’s perfect and sending you a smiley-face to “emphasize” her point (some email systems would turn the smileys into this awkward J so many people have simply reverted to inserting the letter)…damn her J
TB – Oh, here’s one that sounds familiar! I’ve definitely heard TB before… Oh wait, they couldn’t possibly mean tuberculosis. Nope, TB is not the disease. So, if your manager says she wants to “TB” you have nothing to fear. She just means she wants to have a chat or get an update on something, but likes to say it in a cooler biz jargon way therefore she uses “touch base”.
KPI – “Let’s get those KPIs up or we may lose that client!” WTF?!?!? I’m going to lose a client based on something I don’t even understand! Well, they’re Key Performance Indicators, so get those metrics up and keep your new-professional job!
OOO – You will see this in an email or automatic reply that says something like, “I’ll be OOO Friday.” Sounds like a good time right? It could be, but it just means out of office.
V/R – This one is a formal email signature meaning “very respectfully”. They may respect you, but you aren’t tight enough to get a “thanks”, “take care” or even the semi-stuffy, “best”. They couldn’t at least write it out?

Now that we’re all on the same page we’ll TTYL!

PR is Math

Posted on July 12, 2012 by nlee8315

We’ve all heard it at least once, “I got into PR because I suck at math”. Sorry, but if you suck at math or don’t like math, you probably aren’t going to get very far in your PR career. There, I said it. Now stop making the rest of us look bad.

You can be a great communicator and have creative ideas, but unless you can show your organization or client the impact of your efforts through research and evaluation, they will have no reason to keep you around. Research means measurement and measurement means math. You have to be able to understand statistics to show your client their ROI.

So, now that we agree that you need to at least tolerate math if you want to be a successful PR practitioner, what about those who love math (yes, we’re out there)? You know, the few of us who get giddy over statistics. Well, one option is academia. There will always be a need for passionate PR professors who give back to the field through research and education. But, that’s not the only option for math lovers.

Somewhere between traditional practitioners (media relations, community relations, etc.) and academia is the world of applied research. This is a world that I will explore this summer in Ann Arbor, Michigan at PRIME Research as part of a research fellowship I was rewarded. PRIME’s services include advanced media analytics and stakeholder surveys to aid in planning and evaluation.

PRIME is not the only agency out there that values research. If you love stats and PR, but aren’t sure about teaching, a career in applied research may be something to explore. I suggest checking out the Institute for Public Relations to learn more about the research side of PR. Are you now drooling over these possibilities? If so, get back to analyzing some data on SPSS!

What to do When Your Friend Gets YOUR Dream Job

Posted on July 5, 2012 by badelhoyo

Yup, that just happened. Even if it’s not your EXACT dream job, it seems like it. They just signed on for a full time gig: salary, benefits, cubicle, coffeemaker in the kitchen, all that grown-up job-y stuff.

What do you do? In one way you’re happy for them, “Yeah, they’re my friend… Good for them… The economy must be picking up, I’ll get a job in no time… This means I’ll get better Christmas presents…” (obviously my mind wanders, my train of thought is often exhaustingly annoying). But, on the other hand, that little devil on your shoulder is screaming, “WHY NOT ME!!!!” Often, you have gone through school with these people, attended the same networking events, applied for the same positions, and all you can think is, “Aren’t I just as good?”

Instead of giving you all the obligatory, encouraging “your day will come” statements, I plan on giving you some advice you can actually use. You have to keep in mind that although they have started a bit ahead of you, they are still your peer and you may need to call on their help and connections one day, so you must keep the relationship a good one.

Generally, I have discovered that a hearty congratulations will usually suffice in this situation, but how you look when you hear their exciting news is what it really comes down to. It’s all about how you control your facial expressions.

Acceptable “Happy” Faces:

A pained face of happiness is ok, as long as you can hold it.

Try for a truly happy face – this is the hardest but most fail-safe method.

Stay Away From These:

Don’t do this face – I mean look at it, it’s hideous.

I love a good eye roll as much as the next gal but this will not keep your contacts intact.

DON’T CRY! Hold it in, whatever you do, hold it in until you get in your car/home.

If you keep your face plastered in one of the first category expressions, you’ll probably make it out of the situation with most of your dignity intact. Immediately following the interaction you need to calm yourself down and get back to basics, this usually will require either a beer or glass of wine. However, I highly encourage you to politely decline to grab celebratory drinks with this person, lest you embark upon an alcohol-infused evening of explaining to all the patrons of the bar that someday you will make it too.

Welcome to the Masters’ World

Posted on June 28, 2012 by boththemasters

Welcome!

If you couldn’t tell, this is our first post. As most first posts, it is just an intro. We will try to keep it short and entertaining.

We are two life-long friends in related industries making the transition from grad school to the “real world”. We each have a bachelor’s and master’s degree from San Diego State. Blake is the marketing girl and just finished her MBA. Nicole is in public relations and will soon have her MA in Mass Communication and Media Studies (after she defends her thesis). For people in our industries, our friendship is surprising, because, for some reason, marketing and PR people don’t always get along (like most business-related issues it probably has to do with fighting over the same money and power).

Although that was a really long description, filled with boring words like “funds”, “degree”, ” and “industries”, we mainly plan to keep you entertained and to write about our experiences as students, new professionals, friends, and in general, a couple of broke (<;– hee hee see, we're in the red? God, business humor is awesome) young adults.

That’s us now, but lets go back to where it all began… Nuevo, CA. Twenty-some-odd years ago, two young couples each bought land in this dust-hole of a town and built houses back to back. They each happened to have young daughters. The Del Hoyo’s with three-year-old Blake and the Lee’s with two-year-old Nicole. As many parents do, without the consent of their children, they decided that these two girls must be friends and have play dates and be cute together. This decision was probably made so they only had to watch the children half of the time. We were quite annoying as young children. But, just this one time, we have to admit, our parents got it right.

Nicole moved from the IE (the Inland Empire for those less hip) to SD immediately after high school and Blake transferred from UCR to SDSU the following year.

So, that’s how we ended up here. Only the divine will tell where we end up, but we’re determined to keep you all abreast of the changes in our lives – don’t get too excited now!

As a bonus, here’s an embarrassing video we made a couple years ago in hopes of winning a trip to Mexico. We did not win the trip to Mexico.

Masters of What?

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