Final Blog

 

My freshman year at Ohio Northern is essentially concluded at this point, and let me tell you it was a confusing time for ol’ Caiden A. Bush. This was a year marked by decent grades and being very confused at what I want to do with my life. I’ve changed majors three times already. I changed my major from music education to writing and multimedia and then to communication after that. I think I’ve found my home with communication though. I find it bodes well with my goals to become a lawyer in that it teaches me how to argue well, teaches me the basics of American communication law, and many other helpful tools. I’m happy with how I’ve done this year, and I’m very excited for next year. Next year I’ll be taking a large amount of pre-law courses that will give me a jump in my career plan, as well as a ton of my general education requirements. Truly I think that Northern is going to be home for the next few years, and I’m very excited for the future.

 This year has been a success. I’ve discovered more about myself than ever before, and I feel I’ve set a foundation to succeed upon in the future. I’ve had wonderful professors who have been very supportive of me in my endeavors and I am thankful for each and every one of them. This will conclude my blogs unfortunately, but it was fun while it lasted. This is Caiden A. Bush signing off.

 Go Bears!

Phineas and Ferb

 I was thinking about this earlier on my car ride to school, the old Disney television show Phineas and Ferb was criminally underrated. That show was one of the cornerstones of my childhood, with my favorite character being Heinz Doofenschmirtz. I just feel like the show did a lot in terms of making me as a child realize how awesome it is to be creative. The whole show revolved around that concept really. Phineas and Ferb used their creativity to produce all sorts of mind-boggling inventions, which inspired kids all around the country to use their brains, including me. I feel like I drew a lot of my motivation to do well academically from this show in particular.

 Not only this but the soundtrack to the show as absolutely fire. I still listen to the soundtrack on a daily basis, because it’s honestly just so well made. I love how many genres of music the show showcases within its time running, because it’s a very diverse pallette. Just one episode can have 3 songs all ranging from prison blues, to pop, to even pretend Bollywood productions. They’re all bops and have allowed me as a musician to actually be able to practice some vocal techniques that I struggle with because they’re in the songs. One song titled “Chains on Me,” is a prison blues song that is sang using just rasp. I’ve always struggled with rasp so this song allowed me to practice it and eventually become much better at it. I like Phineas and Ferb and will continue to watch it until I am senile enough to not understand it.

I was thinking about this earlier on my car ride to school, the old Disney television show Phineas and Ferb was criminally underrated. That show was one of the cornerstones of my childhood, with my favorite character being Heinz Doofenschmirtz. I just feel like the show did a lot in terms of making me as a child realize how awesome it is to be creative. The whole show revolved around that concept really. Phineas and Ferb used their creativity to produce all sorts of mind-boggling inventions, which inspired kids all around the country to use their brains, including me. I feel like I drew a lot of my motivation to do well academically from this show in particular.

 

TikTok is Pretty Rad

 I use TikTok pretty regularly and it makes me feel bad sometimes. I hate when I catch myself doom scrolling and I realize how much time I’ve wasted on literally nothing. Although, I’m just like many other people of my generation that find TikTok to be very addicting, which plays into why this platform is so good for marketing online.

 The way TikTok works is very unique and has propelled forth a revolution of content that is seconds long, rather than longer content that must keep audiences invested. As someone keeps scrolling they are exposed to a wide variety of different media. So as I, as a avid TikTok consumer, continue to scroll through my feed it would make complete sense for companies to get in on this short-term content action to make a profit. They do just that. I see ads all the time on TikTok, and they’re in the exact same content structure as regular content. I see this fact as very beneficial because they play into the addictive nature of the app, and even I sometimes see myself getting sucked into the ad because I just see it as regular content. TikTok’s addictive nature plays a key role in advertising on the app, and I definitely see the benefit.

Better Call Saul is Pretty Good Too

 Okay, this is a follow-up to my post expressing how much I loved Breaking Bad. I started binging Better Call Saul about a week ago with my dad after we bonded about how much we loved Breaking Bad. Basically this series is a spin-off of the original series Breaking Bad, but while its set in the same universe it focuses on another character; Saul Goodman. In this universe Saul Goodman is a crooked lawyer in Albuquerque, New Mexico that aids criminals by laundering money, setting up meetings, establishing business connections and of course lending a legal hand if any of his clients end up in jail. Naturally, since I aspire to be a lawyer this character stood out to me.

When I found out he got his own show, one which was deemed to be on-par with Breaking Bad, I nearly lost it. I was so excited to watch, and so far it has not disappointed. I just finished the first season and it’s already got me hooked. The plotline of this is very deep, the production is well done, and the acting is brilliant. Truly this series does not feel like a spinoff in the slightest. I love being able to see this character as a lawyer being able to be so entertaining because lawyers tend to get a bad rap for being very boring people. Saul in this series is energetic, witty, and downright hilarious. I have loved watching this series so far, and cannot wait to see more.

My Experience With Youtube

 

I can’t imagine that anybody has gone to YouTube specifically to watch their top-of-the-line advertisements, and I am definitely part of that “anybody.” I grew up on YouTube, it was the best form of entertainment for me by fair. I was raised in the advent of Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, Pewdiepie, and other gaming YouTube channels that brought joy to my adolescent day-to-day. I loved theses creators, and honestly still do, but never did I truly understand the untouchable wealth they made from the platform until my young adulthood. Markiplier, my favorite YouTuber, has a net worth of thirty-five million dollars as of 2023. That is from making videos on a social media platform of him playing video games. This wealth is largely due to the way YouTube’s advertising works. YouTube allows creators to monetize their videos by allowing ads to play during them, creating a significant revenue stream for large creators. Creators like Markiplier who have an average of 2-3 million viewers per video can make some absolute bank by including just one advertisement per video. When I was young, I never realized it but I contributed to their advertising strategy just by being a devoted fan to their channel. This is a very unique way of advertising using social media, being very similar to watching television. Television shows have commercial breaks just like YouTube videos do. I think it’s very effective and engaging, and I’m excited to learn more about it.

Paper Popper Panic

 

I was bored this past weekend and so were my dogs so I decided I wanted to expose them to some sort of new experience, that way they’re seeing something new and interesting. So I dug through the internet until I found something that caught my eye, and eventually I found what I thought would be perfect. I found a tutorial on how to make a paper popper. Now, if you don’t know what a paper popper is, it’s essentially a piece of origami you can swing that creates a loud noise when you do.

So, I got to work. I spent twenty whole minutes of my life watching a YouTube video on how to create this popper and I did it with relative ease. By the end I had a solid product, the folds looked great and there was only one thing left to do: test the product. So, without any second thought I brought my dogs into the kitchen with me and let it rip. With a thunderous crack, I swung the popper through the air. I expected the dogs to be bewildered, perhaps even a little nervous but I was wrong in that assumption. They went ballistic. It was as if I was holding a live squirrel in my hand after the paper made that noise. They chased me all around the house, barking, begging, doing anything within their power to get the paper away from me. Eventually I ran back to the kitchen table and had my arm over it to prevent the dogs from getting to the paper when Khloe jumped 4 feet into the air onto the table and snatched it from my hand. She then ran away, and I had to chase her down to retrieve the paper.

 I have never seen my dogs so feral for an inanimate object before. I was happy I was able to entertain them, but I did not expect this degree of success in doing so. What is worrisome, however, is that I think I have now conditioned my dogs into having a significant prey drive for paper. I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it I guess.

LinkedIn, more like AWESOME

 I can’t say I have a ton of experience with LinkedIn but I do want to just talk about what little experience I do, because the small experience I had was very positive. So early in this semester we reached out to some successful social media people, and one actually responded to me. His name was Dennis Yu, and he marketed himself as this “business mentor” kind of person. I told him about my aspirations to become a lawyer and he said he could introduce me to some of his colleagues over LinkedIn. So, naturally, I made one. I liked the interface a lot, I found it very accessible, and I enjoyed the direct messaging that came with the platform. Dennis advised me on the proper way to create a profile and I did just that. I never finished it, but I know what to do when I do.

 

I think this kind of interaction is something that LinkedIn is very good for. I’ve never received this kind of information from someone before, and I could definitely appreciate the presence of a business mentor or even friend at some point. I think this is very useful in not just its physical interface and online presence, but in just the idea of a professional networking service. It lets people young into their careers have easy, seamless interaction with veterans in their respective professions, allowing for easy advice and potential connection in real life. I like LinkedIn a lot, and I cannot wait to finish that profile.

I Love Breaking Bad So Much.

 This has nothing to do with my dogs but I need to rant about how great Breaking Bad is. I just finished the series a couple of days ago and this is the first time I have ever been sad to see a television series go. In particular, the sheer amount of literary techniques that went into this show is something that I really appreciate.

 I was in AP Literature in high school so I studied a lot of literary techniques that authors use to demonstrate themes, and I loved doing that. So when I saw Breaking Bad and how much thought went into each scene I was in love. I love the use of symbolism throughout the show to convey different traits of characters becoming more prevalent. Some of my favorites were Walter’s “Heisenberg” hat, Gus’s suits which represented his temperament at any moment, the use of shadows in the show to represent deceit and confliction and my personal favorite: Walter’s pool.

Walter’s pool was possibly my favorite part of this whole series. Any time Walt would contemplate his own actions he would stare into the light blue glow of his pool. I don’t want to spoil this series, but the pool’s color is very important and represents a key component of Walt’s life. Whenever things are going awry Walt stares into his pool and just thinks in silence. I love the tranquility of these scenes which parallel the chaos elsewhere, and I love what these scenes lead to.

Anyway, this was my favorite show of all time. Easily.

Khloe.

 One thing that is a little odd about having a formally abused dog is how they display their affection. It varies from dog to dog and their respective situations, but Khloe in particular displays her affection in a way that is very endearing but at times annoying. She loves kisses. The word “loves” may even be an understatement here. Khloe would love nothing more than to shower our faces in kisses at all times; and when I say “all times,” I mean it.

 There are no limits to when, how, why or where, if she sees a face it is getting licked. Last night was a great example of this phenomenon. I allow my dogs to sleep in my bed with me because they’re good and they also deserve the comfort of my sheets and blankets. I wrangled them into my bedroom and got under my covers when suddenly above me there is the shadow of a dog staring down at me. Not even a second went by before she started licking my face. I pushed her away because I wanted to sleep but there’s one minute detail about Khloe that I have not yet mentioned: she abhors rejection. So, in retaliation to my rejection of her licking, she decided to jump onto my body WWE style and continue her licking. I once again pushed her off and I was victorious as she went to sleep, but I still petted her to ensure that she felt loved. Either way, it just goes to show some of the difficulties of having a formally abused dog, because in my case personal space no longer exists.

Pinterest Has Blown My Mind

 

I’ve used Pinterest before. I like Pinterest. In my time I’ve found it to be a great platform to find memes on, and to find a nice recipe or two to try cooking. Never would I ever consider before this class that there would be legitimate marketing potential on this platform. This is just due to my own experience on the app when I was a kid. I loved memes, and Pinterest was full of them. I downloaded them and showed my friends for a laugh, and never once did I take notice of an ad or go onto the platform for any sort of corporate exchange.

 

So when I say that I was shocked at the statistics in the textbook concerning the spending habits of Pinterest users, I am understating the world-shaking shift in view I undertook. This is just one that I found absolutely crazy, the textbook states that “93% of Pinners use Pinterest to plan purchases.” I have never once viewed Pinterest as a platform that would ever get even remotely close to my wallet, but there is a whole 93% of users of the platform that would heavily disagree with me. This is mind-blowing to me. I think a large part of my shock comes from the fact that I don’t think I’m exactly the target audience. I have little to be interested in on Pinterest anymore, so chances are that they got heavier on marketing over the years, but still that shift is completely unprecedented in my brain. Yet after reflection I guess it does make sense. My mom uses Pinterest for many different clothing purchases and such so I suppose I have experienced a real world example of that marketing working. After all, Pinterest is marketed heavily towards fashion and health and beauty products, so it adds up after all. Regardless, I am just completely flabbergasted at the effectiveness of marketing on Pinterest, and cannot wait to learn more about it.

A More Chaotic Walk

 Walks with my dogs have been going well as of late. They’ve kept their composure and I’ve not had to discipline them much on our walks as a result. Honestly it’s been relaxing and makes me feel better as a dog owner knowing they can have this privilege that seems rudimentary to owning a dog. It has all been going increasingly well and it came to a head on yesterday’s walk.

 For starters, the reason I am so nervous about them going on walks is because they were attacked by another dog once while we were on a walk and they fought back and their owner called the warden on us. If we had another “incident,” they would assuredly be put down, despite it not being our faults the first time. My family has been stressed out about this for a long time, and I’ve been always of the opinion that regardless of what happened we should still let them do dog things and enjoy standard luxuries of pets.

 So yesterday I took them on yet another walk up and down our block, when suddenly a labradoodle came storming down the street at my dogs. This has always been what my family has been scared of. So naturally, I tighten down on my dogs’ leashes to keep them near me and away from the dog. The ‘doodle approached and sniffed my dogs and they sniffed back, but nothing aggressive happened. My dogs were scared at first, but they quickly realized there were no ill intentions by this lil’ guy. So what was once a gigantic fear ended up being a gigantic opportunity yesterday, and I think my dogs may be becoming less temperamental.

Workshop Time

Last week I had the opportunity to attend PRSSA’s 2023 Social Media Workshop! I’ll be honest, going into this I was not in the least bit excited. I’m a commuter so this workshop equated to being at school longer than I had to be, without me even thinking of the opportunity that was ahead of me. I couldn’t have been more wrong of my initial impressions that this would be some sort of “waste of time.”

 

I arrived late. It was very embarrassing. It had completely slipped my mind that I had a quiz for another one of my classes at ten in the morning, so before going to the workshop I took the quiz as fast as I possibly could. After that, I rushed over to Mac, ran up into the ballroom and got to the sign-in desk. Dr. Aggie was there, and she seemed happy to see me. She gave me my materials for the day, and I then was left to finding a seat in the packed room which was already listening intently to the seminar that I was late to. Naturally, I went to the nearest table which was full of women I didn’t know, asked if I could sit, and sat after being greeted kindly. The speaker was phenomenal. He was a big PR guy at Disney and explained to us what his journey had consisted of to get to where he was. He had many wise words, so many that I actually took notes on what he had to say. After this, I went downstairs to attend two more seminars, one being on podcasting and the other being on social media audits. Both of these were incredibly informative and really showcased the speakers’ expertise of their subject matters. This is where I did my live tweet assignment for my Social Media class, which actually served well in helping me remember the information that I had been listening to. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay for long because I had work in the afternoon, but I was very happy that I had went and I learned a lot in my time there.

The Calmness of the Night

So a little known fact about my dogs is that walking them has been a rare occurrence for a long time. I know, it sounds bad, but it’s not as bad as it seems. I take them outside every day to play and take them on car rides whenever I can for enrichment, they are happy and active. It is solely the act of walking down the neighborhood that is viewed as risky. This is because of how excited they get. Sincerely, they get so amped up about taking a walk that they will begin to pull as hard as they can on the leash and it’s an overall embarrassing experience.

 With this being said, last night I wanted to take them on one anyway. So I did, and it was the calmest walk I have ever taken them on. They were slow, calm, and simply interested in what was happening around them in a way that is not aggravated. They were just happy to gently walk around, which is a luxury I had never experienced with them while walking. I was so happy to finally see them come around to walking in a calm way that allows it to be easy for everyone involved.

 I wonder if it was because I walked them at night. Maybe that was less overstimulating for them. Either way, I’m going to continue to try things out and see what works because that is definitely a privilege I would like them to have. I want them to have the best lives I can afford them, and taking them on nightly walks would fit in nicely with that goal. I’m pleasantly surprised at how good they did, and I hope to see that behavior more in the future.

Snapchat: A Secret Treasure

To the younger generations, many social media platforms of old have grown stale. They’re unused, undervalued, and are on their way to a grave that is dug by new generations. Snapchat is not one of these. Snapchat, though viewed as a platform that is unprofessional, is one of the most effective marketing tools on the internet.

I was at one point unaware of the success that digital marketers have had on Snapchat. I always have used the app as more of a chatroom of sorts, only to answer DM’s and text with people I’m not comfortable enough with to give my number to. Never did I bat an eye at the multitude of ads that are quite literally sneaked into my viewing. My mind is seriously boggled at the statistics I saw on the successes of Snapchat marketing. Ads are 2x more viewed than that of Facebook, they have an astronomically low cost, and they’re extremely effective in sales due to the fast-paced nature of the network.

 Not only this, but marketing with Snapchat plays into the role that I personally have lent it. I don’t like giving out my phone number, but Snapchat is a more comfortable medium for communication. The same goes for marketing. Snapchat is a very accessible, comforting platform for one on one interaction with a potential customer. This can make advertising much more personal, and can provide for blossoming relationships that are not seen on other social networking platforms. I’ve been a big fan of Snapchat for a long time, and this adds onto that respect. Snapchat is a fantastic network for advertising and their statistics shocked me to say the least.

Instagram RULES!

 In this post in particular, I want to talk about something that Meta is doing on all of their platforms (for the most part.) This is providing a shopping feature on their social media, such as Facebook and what I want to touch more on in particular: Instagram. Instagram Shopping is a very intuitive way of marketing products and partaking in social e-commerce.

 This concept is just as it sounds: it’s a place where you can shop on the actual Instagram platform. What makes this so effective, however, is the interface on which they provide it. Each line of products is able to create their own “storefront,” on Instagram in which they can put different pages of items that include the details that a customer would see on a more complicated website. It can be very personalized to be able to fit the branding for particular products, even to the point of producing themes and seasonal trends to help boost sales concerning seasonal morale. It’s convenient to both the consumer and the producer, allowing for a smooth feel on both sides of the transaction.

What is most interesting to me about this concept is the convenience of being able to purchase items directly from the social media platform, rather than having to go to a website or different address to fulfill a purchase. This is taking social media marketing to the next level. Not only are products being advertised on Meta platforms, but they are also readily available to purchase with minimal effort involved. There is no seeking anything out, being able to purchase advertised goods on Instagram is about as bare-bones as it gets. A customer sees, clicks, buys. It’s that simple, and with this simplicity comes the obvious effectiveness that comes with providing convenience to the consumer. I am absolutely in love with the way that Meta is tackling online marketing and e-commerce, particularly on Instagram.

Fun Ride in the Car WOOHOO!

 My dogs are very big fans of car rides. They always have been and always will be. Hearing the words "bye-bye in the car” immediately triggers a state of upmost bliss in them, and Sunday was no different. My day started off very lazily, I woke up and watched a couple episodes of Breaking Bad while cuddling the dogs and then began to clean the house. The process of cleaning my house is one that takes several hours as well as vacuuming expertise. So while I was cleaning the dogs took advantage of the two hours of sleep that were readily available to them. After I was done, I woke them up and that is when the fun began.

 My dad and I wanted pizza Sunday, but not just any pizza. We wanted Cassano’s Pizza in Sidney, Ohio. This is my family’s favorite pizza and the margin of likability between this pizza and the next is not close. This is a treasure to behold, and whenever we bring home one of these pies it’s cause for celebration. So, before me and my dad embarked on our pizza pilgrimage, I had the idea of taking the dogs with us so they could go for a fun ride. Begrudgingly, he agreed and I got the opportunity to tell the dogs and watch literal smiles grow on their faces. They hopped in the car and we hit the road.

 Being honest, the ride wasn’t anything special but seeing Apollo happy was. I turned
around in my seat about halfway to Sidney and I sincerely do not think I have ever seen Apollo as happy as I saw him in that moment. I even took a picture, which is in this post. It was the brightest smile I have ever seen on that little guy’s face. It made my day. After about an hour we arrived home with the pizza and feasted, and the dogs had their share was well.

Khloe is Sick

 Of all the tribulations of being the owner of two active dogs, them being sick is probably the most difficult. I do not mean this from an actual work perspective as much as I do from an emotional perspective. Seeing them not feeling well absolutely breaks my heart, because I want to help them but I do not know how. This past weekend was one of those instances.

 I woke up Saturday morning at about eight in the morning to find that my bed had been surrounded by a moat of vomit. I then looked up from the puddles to find Khloe looking directly at me as if to say, “my tummy hurts.” While I remain adamant that this is more emotionally tiresome than physically, the vomit still was quite a hassle to clean up. Even with my heavy duty carpet-cleaner, it took a solid hour to make my carpet look as though there wasn’t a bomb that went off on it.

 After a very fun hour of cleaning vomit, I then tended to Khloe’s needs. I made her drink water, tried to get her to eat (albeit unfruitfully) and tried to lighten her spirits with some pets. While she did drink water, it did not help her attitude about the day. Khloe spent the entirety of Saturday laying on the couch with her head in her paws huffing, and seemed to have the mentality that nothing was going to deter her from doing so. All that time Apollo was the equal and opposite. He was bounding with youthful energy, constantly wanting to play and to interact with his grumpy sister. Once I knew Khloe was going to be okay, I gave Apollo the time of day and played with him for a good hour or so. Then my mom got home and was able to sit with Khloe and form a covalent bond on the couch with her.

 At the end of the day Khloe finally got up from her spot on the couch and ate. This was a relief to me and my family who had been worrying that she would not until the next day. Then she briefly took a drink of water and receded into my bedroom to call an end to her bad day. The next morning Khloe was the same Khloe I always knew. She was energetic, hungry and her normal self. Yet that still did not take away from the bad day that was yesterday, as well as the trauma of cleaning up those oceans of vomit.

Facebook: A World of Opportunity

 We all know Facebook for its reputation of being the social media platform for the elderly, but we fail to acknowledge it for what it truly is. Facebook is a marvel of human ingenuity and a beacon for marketers looking for an opportunity to get ideas out there in a quick, affordable and understandable way.

 For starters, Facebook is by far the most popular social media platform in the world. With over 2.91 billion monthly users, Facebook absolutely dwarfs the competition in terms of usage and is versatile in that it is popular on a global basis. Wherever there is a popular concept such as this, marketers should immediately be looking in that direction for their advertising ideas. 2.91 billion monthly users could quickly become millions of people directed towards whatever one is trying to market on that platform.

 

The way to go concerning marketing on Facebook is viewing how posts are doing via their intuitive business suite. Here, one can post and schedule postings, access a commerce manager, view activity on any Meta accounts, view insights into how posts are doing and create ads. With this easy-to-use interface, managing social media marketing becomes a breeze as everything is made accessible through neatly organized metrics displayed upon the screen. Rather than diving through statistics oneself, Meta produces the statistics for the content producer, allowing users to easily manage, organize and promote their content. This is not even mentioning the paid-advertising feature that is on Facebook, which allows users to pay (at a rather cheap price) for their content to be shared with other users as an advertisement. These will show up on feeds more often, allowing more exposure.

 Overall it is evident why Facebook is held with such a high regard in the digital marketing community. With an easy interface to manage marketing alongside a very large and diverse audience, ideas can flow easily and effectively via this platform. Facebook definitely receives high-honors in my book from a business angle!

 

A Riveting Chapter Three

 Marketing on social media platforms is one of the most effective ways of spreading a business’s message today, and this chapter of Essentials of Social Media Marketing explained that remarkably well. I feel much more well informed about not only why social media is a fantastic marketing platform, but how it can become utilized to its maximum potential via targeting markets and optimizing social media platforms in order to coordinate a good social media marketing plan.

 Establishing a target market is crucial to marketing effectively on social media. This concept is all about identifying demographics of people that would be most interested in your good or service. These could include age, gender, behaviors, spending habits, and many other identifiable characteristics online. After this, one can make a company persona of the top traits of their target market and market from there. This is so important because it sets a foundation for the rest of a marketing strategy to set upon. Without identifying the target market, marketing would be unfocused, uncoordinated, and most importantly ineffective.

 Different social media platforms have different strengths and weaknesses. We see this by the demographics that use them. A common example is that younger people tend to lean towards Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok, while older people tend to stick to Facebook. We, as marketers, can use this information to optimize the way we market on different platforms. The book did an excellent job of showing which networks are good at marketing for certain industries based upon how they present information on their specific platforms. For example, Pinterest is a great platform for the Health and Beauty industry due to its prominent visual components, but it is lacking in the Finance industry due to its lack of textual focus. Finding what social media platform is the correct one to market for your specific industry is crucial to a good marketing plan.

 Overall, it’s not the social media networks themselves that provide marketing opportunity, but rather the way we use them that provides that opportunity. By making the correct choices and being selective in matching our target demographics with the appropriate social media platform, we as marketers can establish an effective plan to bring our product to the people most likely to engage in it. I have learned a lot about social media marketing this chapter.

These Crazy Dogs!

Today was a wacky day to say the least. Apollo and Khloe got into some mischief that had my hair falling out in clumps! Today started off like any other day in my existence. I woke up, I took them out to go potty, and then I allowed them to stay outside to play while I got ready for my exciting classes at Ohio Northern University. After getting ready, I took them back inside and said my goodbyes to them as I embarked upon my educational journey. Classes were going well today, I love my Interpersonal Communications class and my rehearsals for University Singers got cancelled so I was having a fantastic day. It was when I arrived home that my world flipped upside down.

 When I walked in the door of my lovely home the dogs immediately rushed past my feet to a nearby tree in the front yard while the door was open. There, atop the tree, sat a fat squirrel that was the bane of my dogs’ existences in that moment. I tried to corral them, but it was already too late. They made a break for the squirrel. I rushed out after them but then they immediately thought that we were playing a game and dashed down the street as fast as they could. Needless to say, I was not amused. I chased after them as fast as my feet could carry, but alas it proved fruitless. The dogs were D1, 6’4” wide receivers for the University of Washington in that moment, while I was still a 5’10” scrawny white boy from Ohio. I was in pursuit for many minutes that seemed like hours, hoping that they would not get hit by any oncoming vehicles. Eventually they ran to Shawnee High School, which is just down the road from me, and they quickly found the school’s track and field which was full of, believe or not, high schoolers. When I saw that they were running for the track my heart nearly stopped. What if they bit someone? What if someone bit them? What if biting occurred in general? Lots of biting was running through my head when one of them stopped to go number two right before they got to the field. Now was my chance! Like a lion stalking prey, I bounded over to who I could now see was Apollo and grabbed onto him by his collar while I had the chance. I had one now, but the problem that came about was how could I get Khloe while still hanging onto Apollo. This problem was solved by the middle-aged man (approximately 39 years old) across the street. He must’ve seen my plight through his window. I had my back turned to his house wrangling Apollo when I heard his heroic voice boom, “I’ll save you, stranger!” He sprinted across his front yard and safely yet swiftly grabbed Khloe by her collar. I thanked this man for his courage in the face of two pitbulls, and took my dogs back to my house.

 When we got home, I finally breathed a sigh of relief, and the dogs were panting like they had run a marathon; because in all reality, it felt like we did. As they were getting a drink of water, I did as well. Then I lied down and contemplated my life choices that lead to this experience, and as the day died I fell softly asleep.