I'm addicted to my smart phone.

I know it's pretty sad, but what do you expect? I got a smart phone for the first time last week, and I haven't been able to put it down.

I'll try to blame it on my majoring in Public Relations and needing to be in constant contact with social media and news and all, but let's be honest. I spend a lot of time playing games. A LOT of time.

Before I got this smart phone, I had a prepaid phone, which was pretty reliable for calling people. I also had an iPod Touch that I could basically use as an iPhone when I had WiFi. I always carried both of these devices around with me, and they worked pretty well, even though it could be a little awkward to carry both of them around when wearing dresses without pockets, and all.

After all, most of the buildings here at Tech have WiFi throughout them, so I could check social media and everything on my iPod in between classes and when going to meetings that have been cancelled while I was walking across campus in areas without WiFi.

But now! I no longer need to switch between my devices to text and be connected to social media. I have it all on one marvelous android device.  And I'm addicted to it.

It is easy to make phone of people absorbed in their phones and not socializing with people right in front of their faces. However, it is all too easy to become one of those people. The important thing to remember is that there is not substitute for face-to-face communication and socializing. Even if we have the power, through these small devices, to keep up with every constant update in world events and friends' lives, not to mention apps that provide entertainment galore.

I enjoy watching dog shows.

The sequence of my favorite cooking-competition dogs was over, so I switched from the Food channel to watching the dog show tonight. Well, to be more exact, it's a rerun of the 2013 dog show (137th Annual Westminster Dog show), before the 2014 dog show starts tomorrow.


So many pretty (and some not-so-pretty) dogs! It reminds me how much I want to have a dog. Someday I will be finished with school, have a stable job, and have a house so I can have a dog (or three, along with some cats, who even knows).

Looking off into the distance -  not just for human models

Anyhow, one of the announcers for the dog show mentioned
that one of the dogs was the state dog for some state (I forget which state). That made me wonder if Texas has a state dog, and guess what - we do!

Texas' state dog is the Blue Lacy.

That is one pretty dog.

Apparently this breed was developed in Texas in the nineteenth century, so it makes sense that it was made the state dog breed in 2005.

The "Blue" Lacy dog can actually be several different colors , but the charcoal/gray coats look a bit gray-ish, so the breed name still makes sense.


According the Wikipedia, the Blue Lacy breed is a mix of "English Shepherd (or perhaps coyote), greyhound, and wolf." So, that's cool.

They're pretty dogs, so I'm glad that Texas has the Blue Lacy as the state dog breed.

He looks so friendly

Looking forward to dog-sitting this next weekend,
The Purple Writer

It's amazing what one more layer can do.

Baby, it's cold outside.

Really.

It's cold and I don't want to go outside. 

Okay, I'm generally pretty weird because I've always loved cold weather. And I live in Texas. But after enough time at college, I've realized that I enjoy cold weather a lot more when I don't have to trudge through it to classes across campus. 

One of my biggest wishes right now is that it will snow. Yes, that may seem strange to you, especially if you live somewhere up North and are surrounded by a ridiculous amount of snow right now. But just a little bit of snow here, and classes might be cancelled. We get plenty of freezing weather during the Winter out here in Lubbock, and every once in a while there is enough moisture to create ice, which is a pain to deal with. But usually there is not enough freezing weather and moisture at the same time for classes to be cancelled. 

Just last week, the weather jumped from a high of 34 degrees one day, to the high 70s for a couple days, then back down to the 30s. Today the low was 9 degrees, and on Saturday it will get up to 60 degrees and melt any remaining snow that we might get tonight. 

Lubbock weather is confusing, but one thing you can always count on is the wind. Lubbock is windy. And usually very dusty as well, but mainly windy. No matter what other kind of cold-weather clothes you bring out here, a windbreaker is probably the most important. It's the wind that can take an average-temperature day and blast you with deathly chilliness. (Although rain boots are also very important to have in Lubbock - whenever we do get rain, everything floods because there is no drainage)

I generally just walk around with my wind-breaking coat when it gets cold. I can wear boots, a scarf and a hat to add some warmth, but usually a wind-breaker is all I really need. Today, however, it was too cold. After walking around to classes all day, I came to the conclusion that I needed another layer. So, before heading back out to go to my Sigma Tau Delta meeting, I put on a sweater underneath my windbreaker, paired with a warm-knit scarf and hat, and I was much happier. I guess it doesn't take too much to combat coldness, especially in Texas, but it is good to be prepared and know how to add some layers.

Although, even knowing how to layer, I really hope classes are delayed tomorrow. I don't want to walk to the Rec tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. That would not be fun.

Wishing for snow,

The Purple Writer

P.S. It started snowing while I was writing this post! <3

I guess I'm becoming a good PR student.

I had a moment of realization today, while working with my classmates from PR Strategies to decide what our group project should be. My realization was that I am up to date with current events. Maybe for some people that would not be such a shocker, but I was pretty surprised.

I mean, through high school and even through my first three semesters at college, I really didn't know much about current events. They bored me. I didn't care what celebrity did something dumb last week, or what was going on in politics. I would know the president's name, and whatever random bit of news that my friends talked about. I suppose my reasoning was that whatever is "current" one day will be old news the next and it would therefore be pointless to try to keep up with everything.


Last semester, sometime in late August, I got a Twitter account (@LydiaClink). I didn't really think about it much, but my awesome roommate tweets pretty frequently, and I figured I might as well join in. I followed my friends and a couple different Texas Tech groups, and left it at that.

Then, I went to the amazing Career Development Conference in Dallas, held by Tech's College of Media and Communication. I heard about the importance of having a Twitter, and the importance of keeping up with social media altogether, from multiple successful PR professionals. I realized that it was probably a good idea to be a little more professional, and to be more active with Twitter.


It hasn't been a full month yet, but I now follow about 300 people on Twitter and actively keep up with news, announcements, and releases. Apparently it is possible to go from being completely clueless about current events to being aware of national and international news within 5 minutes of events occurring, in just about three weeks.

Now I just need to get through my News Writing class this semester, and I think I'm on my way to becoming a decent Public Relations student.


Returning to my Twitter feed,
The Purple Writer

Sometimes it's hard to live on campus.

Mainly because I do not have a stove in my current residence hall. Not a single stove for student use. In an upperclassman dorm. I suppose that's my fault for choosing this dorm, instead of the others that do have kitchens, but I wanted to live with my awesome roommates, so here I am. A person who loves to cook and bake, without an outlet.

At least this semester should be better. I got a small crock pot from my parents for Christmas, so I can make chili, meatballs, pasta, random meat things, dips, etc., and I want to try making a cake in my crock pot. I'm not sure if that's a good idea, but that won't stop me from trying it.

Anyhow, I moved back out here to Lubbock last Monday, and have been settling in and starting my classes and all. I still need to go get most of my textbooks, but I think I might do that Tuesday. Until I start filling up my schedule with tutoring hours, I just have aerobics for an hour in the morning, and then have the rest of Tuesday off. Yes, it's pretty sweet. The rest of my days are awful, but let's not focus on that.


So, last Friday, I did my last baking of the Winter break. Now, just to clarify, I never make a single batch of cookies. When I make cookies, I make at least double batches of my main kind of cookies, and usually end up making multiple different kinds. I already have the baking stuff out, have my apron on, and am blasting the music, so why not? This last time I made Egg Nog cookies and M&M cookies.

I have a system for cooling cookies

Both were super yummy. I hadn't ever made Egg Nog cookies before, but there was egg nog in the fridge, and I didn't want to just drink it, because I would drink the whole thing, and that's really not good. I found the recipe on Pinterest, of course, and here's the link to the wonderful recipe -> link

The M&M cookies are just generic, M&M cookies, but then I ran out of M&Ms, so I added semisweet chocolate bits, and just filled the cookies with chocolate goodness. It was a success.

I love baking. Especially cookies, because they're so easy (almost foolproof) and I can turn out multiple batches in one afternoon. But now I must wait until my next break at home before I can bake again. I love the convenience of my residence hall, but I really wish it had a stove/kitchen for student use.


Wanting some cookies now,
The Purple Writer

I knitted a hat today.

Well, correction, I've been working on this hat all break. Kind've. It's one of those things where I have a project but I only work on it while watching Netflix, and while not also playing computer games or doing anything else.

This afternoon/evening I finally got to the point of lethargy where I went to Netflix and watched Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, Avalon High, and some of Lego: The Adventures of Clutch Powers. I enjoyed the first, although it was a bit unnecessarily bloody. I would not recommend that anyone watch the second. For the third. . . just don't. Unless you are at the point where anything mindless is amusing -- such as a sleepover with your best friends when you've all had way too much sugar and caffeine -- there's not much to gain. But while watching these movies on Netflix, I remembered that I had an almost-finished hat sitting in my knitting bag. I picked it up again and kept knitting.

It's purple.

Now, I learned how to knit last Thanksgiving from my grandmother, because one of my best friends was knitting at school, and I thought it would be cool to pick up. I had crocheted forever ago, but have no current understanding of the process. My grandmother showed me a stitch, and I copied that stitch, somehow doing something completely different from what had been shown to me. Apparently I invented my own stitch, but I thought I was doing what she showed me. I don't know. I'm just special sometimes.

Look at my hat, not me.

So, I know one stitch, which is apparently a weird stitch, but it works. I've looked at instructions and seen other people doing other stitches, and purling and all that jazz, but it's too complicated. I stick with my one stitch. I've been doing pretty well with it. I can whip out long, fluffy scarves pretty easily while watching the multiple TV shows that I regularly keep up with, and all the other Netflixing, of course.

Oh, side note -- my friends and I started a knitting club at Texas Tech. We meet, knit things, watch movies, eat food, and generally be awesome. We're going to have yarn sales to support our chosen cause, Big Brother Mouse, and will eventually start doing some cool things like knitfitti. Yes, you should be jealous for a moment, and then come join us. Unless you don't attend Texas Tech, in which case you should start your own knitting club.

So yes, I am not a great knitter. I realized this while looking at my hat. It has multiple botches, a very visible seam, weird lumps, etc. Because it was made with a single color of yarn, instead of the colorful blends I prefer, every mistake is quite a bit more obvious. But you know what? I like my hat. Why?
1. It's purple. I love purple.
2. It's comfortable, and fits my head perfectly. Which makes sense, as I sized it around my head.
3. I made it. Somehow that makes all the mistakes okay. Also, it's purple.
4. It will keep my ears warm as I walk around campus in the snow. And yes, I do plan on wearing it out in public. I am proud of my purple hat.

Knitted purple hats are cool

I like purple

Just kidding - I love purple!

Experimenting With Selfies,
The Purple Writer

Smoothies are messy.

I mean, I've made messes while drinking a smoothie, absolutely, but not while making a smoothie. Then again, I guess I've never really made a smoothie before. That's probably the problem right there.

I asked for kitchen appliances for Christmas this year, and I got them! I got a convection toaster oven, a small crock pot, and a food processor/blender. Pretty exciting stuff. I probably won't use them much until next Fall, as I will still be living in a dorm residence hall this next semester, and will have dining bucks to spend. I can still get in some smoothies and chili and such. I think crock pots are one of the best inventions ever. You can put food in them, go to classes, forget about it, and come back to a wonderfully yummy meal.

But it turns out that it's not quite so easy to make smoothies. Or maybe I'm just pretty bad at it.

First off, I open up the box, and there were all these different pieces. Two different types of blade-contraptions, and lots of cups in plastic bags. Yes, I realize that it would be very difficult to do cool stuff without those things, but I wasn't expecting quite so many different parts.

Why do plastic bags make things smell odd?

But no matter, I washed the components, tried to put them together, found the manual and read it, then put figured out how to put my blender together. I cut up my mangoes and made sure I had all the ingredients. Now I was good to go. Except, I wasn't sure how much each different plastic cup/mixing container thing could hold, so I decided to split the recipe up (after already cutting it down, because I only had one mango), and put equal amounts in three different cups. That was interesting

It's not good to spill gooey liquid.

After pouring the smoothie liquid from cup to cup, adding more ice, water, and then honey, I think they turned out pretty well. I had a healthy lunch and both of my parents had refreshing afternoon snacks, but it was not worth it. I think I need a lot more practice, and preferably not with greek yogurt, coconut milk, and honey all at the same time.

They look so innocent, but don't be deceived.

Here is the original recipe, in case you don't have super vision which would allow you to read the card in the picture. The card said that it was "Compliments of Round Rock Honey Company and Panera Bread Co."

3 mangoes, peeled, pitted, and chopped (abbout 4 cups)

1 can (14 oz.) light coconut milk

1 cup plain low-fat Greek yogurt

1 cup ice

1/4 cup Round Rock Honey

1/8 tsp. grated nutmeg

Pinch of salt

Mint Sprigs (optional) <- I don't understand this part

Anyhow, it said to mix the stuff together and blend it all (except the mint, which you add later as a garnish). Maybe I will come back to this recipe when I'm a pro at blending and smoothie making, but that is not anytime soon.

Admitting Failure In The Realm of Smoothie-Making,

The Purple Writer