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Media Pitch Final

Dear Mr. Riggs,

I wanted to briefly touch base with you regarding the Cache Valley Area Investors Association information I sent you last week.

We listen to KVNU's for the people almost every day, and we've heard you ask for some good resourceful material for your listeners. I think a segment on CVAIA would work perfectly during a weekday show. Helping Cache Valley residents to achieve financial independence is something listeners would value knowing about.

Here is the contact information for CVAIA –

Preston Parker, President and Founder
160 N. Main Street
Logan, UT 84341

If you'd like any additional information, or are interested in speaking with Preston directly let me know. Preston is obviously quite passionate about helping people learn how to generate passive sources of income.

Thanks Tyler

-Ty Mortensen
Ty.Mortensen@aggiemail.usu.edu
435-777-7777

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Megan Palmer Hadley

Memo

To: Megan Palmer

From: Ty Mortensen

CC: Preston Parker

Date: 4/18/10

Re: Online Reputation

A brief meandering through the internet turned up quite a bit of your personal information! You're currently studying journalism at Utah State. You're enrolled in Online JCOM this semester.

You're a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You're a fan of the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

You enjoy eating watermelon, or having lunch at Old Grist Mill.

You're engaged to someone with the last name of Hadley. ;)

Online Journalism Assignment #4

Media Pitch Draft

Dear Mr. Riggs,

I wanted to briefly touch base with you regarding the Cache Valley Area Investors Association information I sent you last week.

We listen to KVNU's for the people almost everyday, and we've heard you ask for some good resouerceful material for the listeners. I think a segment on CVAIA would work perfectly during a weekday show. Helping Cache Valley residents to achieve financial independence is something listeners would value knowing about.

If you'd like any additional information, or are interested in speaking with Preston directly let me know. Preston is obviously quite passionate about helping people learn how to generate passive sources of income.

Thanks Tyler

-Ty Mortensen
Ty.Mortensen@aggiemail.usu.edu
435-777-7777

Final Press Release 3: Cause Promotion

February 21, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact Information:
Cache Valley Area Investors Association (CVAIA)
Preston Parker, President and Founder
160 N. Main Street
Logan, UT 84341

Freedom Through Financial Independence
Local Cause Offers Financial Strategies

LOGAN, Utah--Achieving financial independence is possible. By generating sources of passive income time and resources are available to fulfill other life and career goals.

"If you don't know how to manage your money, more money isn't going to fix that." Says Preston Parker, president and founder of Cache Valley Area Investors Association (CVAIA). The non-profit organization was started in 2007 to help people in Cache Valley improve their financial well-being through education and networking.

CVAIA meets every other Thursday at the Cache Chamber of Commerce which is located at 160 North Main Street in Logan, Utah. Membership is free. For more information visit www.cvaia.com

Contact Information:
Ty Mortensen
Ty.Mortensen@aggiemail.usu.edu
435-777-7777

-END-

Draft Press Release 3: Cause Promotion

Preston Parker, President and Founder of Cach Valley Area Investors Associaciation
A Local Cause to Help Anyone Financially
For Immediate Release
Feb. 17, 2010

Achieving financial independence is possible. By generating sources of passive income, people can become free of the standard "9 to 5" earned income.

"If you don't know how to manage your money, more money isn't going to fix that." Says Preston Parker, president and founder of Cache Valley Area Investors Association (CVAIA). CVAIA was started in 2007 to help people in Cache Valley improve their financial well-being through education and networking.

CVAIA meets every other Thursday at the Cache Chamber of Commerce which is located at 160 North Main Street in Logan, Utah. Membership is free. For more information visit www.cvaia.com

SMCCV Press Release Final

Preston Parker, president of the Social Media Club of Cache Valley
Local Chapter of Social Media Club
Goals have been set, and the club is underway
For Immediate Release
Jan., 27, 2010

The Social Media Club of Cache Valley is a local chapter of a larger organization based in San Fransisco. Social Media has been a recent advent and includes internet websites such as Facebook.com, Twitter.com, and MySpace.com. The group meets every second Thursday at Borders to socialize with other club members and share ideas about how they can better utilize social media.

Preston Parker is president of the club, and is excited to see the local chapter take off.

"Social media is literally the wave of the future! I would encourage everyone to come on down and see what all this hype is about. You won't regret learning about this incredible new use of technology."

The Social Media Club of Cache Valley meet every second Tuesday and invite all to attend free of charge.

Ty Mortensen
Director of Public Relations, tymorty@gmail.com
-END-

Draft 1 Social Media Club of Cache Valley

Preston Parker, president of the Social Media Club of Cache Valley
Local Chapter of Social Media Club
Goals have been set, and the club is underway
Jan., 27, 2010

The Social Media Club of Cache Valley is a local chapter of a larger organization based in San Fransisco. Social Media has been a recent advent and includes internet websites such as Facebook.com, Twitter.com, and MySpace.com. The group meets every second Thursday at Borders to socialize with other club members and share ideas about how they can better utilize social media.

Preston Parker is president of the club, and is excited to see the local chapter take off.

"Social media is literally the wave of the future! I would encourage everyone to come on down and see what all this hype is about. You won't regret learning about this incredible new use of technology."

The Social Media Club of Cache Valley meet every second Thursday and invite all to attend free of charge.

Ty Mortensen
Director of Public Relations, tymorty@gmail.com
-END-

United Breaks Guitars!

I’ll start this out on somewhat of a philosophical principle: The endeavor of any company should be to deliver a quality product and leave the customer wanting more. That’s how things work in a free market economy. If you can’t deliver a service which the customer is satisfied with it will result in a lost customer. You will eventually go out of business.

United Airlines safely flew Dave Carroll, and his band Sons of Maxwell, from Halifax to Omaha. (With a layover in Chicago) Their checked luggage on the other hand didn’t receive such a safe delivery. United employees moving luggage were careless and damaged Carroll’s Taylor guitar ($3,500 in monetary value, more in sentimental). The band’s bass was also thrown and damaged.

Safe delivery of luggage is assumed by customers and airlines alike. United Airlines had no legitimate excuse for what happened.

According to Carroll’s first song, “United Breaks Guitars,” he tried for a year to get some kind of compensation for the damage done. The final answer was “No.”

United Airlines probably wouldn’t consider compensating a passenger $3,500 to be a feasible decision financially if they damage a great deal of luggage. So, it says something about the company’s luggage services that they wouldn’t offer any kind of compensation. Damage must occur frequently.

Obviously, United didn’t expect Carroll’s song and accompanying music video to take off like it did. With over 7 million views for the first song, and 800,000 on the second, the company has taken a huge hit.

Since all of this, United has finally stooped low enough to offer the Carroll the compensation which they’d been denying him for a year. As Carroll says in a YouTube statement “United has been in contact with me and they have generously, but late, offered some compensation and I’m grateful for that, but as I’ve said before, I’m not looking for compensation.”

Back to our philosophy talk; United Airlines was fully responsible for the damage of Carroll’s instrument. Regardless of the financial implications, they should have come clean with their mistake from the beginning. Only after significant damage had been done to their image did they seek to make amends.

Now onto Carroll… His tactics have proved to be hugely successful. As I’ve mentioned, he persistently tried to settled the dilemma with United Airlines. They continually said “no” even after he warned them about songs he would write about the incident. It all still ended up being fruitless. Carroll wrote the songs to prove a point and to poke a little fun at the situation.

Because of his campaign to make a statement and hopefully make a difference, Carroll and his band Sons of Maxwell have been featured on several television talk shows and their band has seen an increase in popularity. Using the vein of social media to get a message out became viral, and was a very wise move!

See video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

A letter to my dear Cousin, Delroy.

Delroy,

You asked about my major so I thought I'd give you a better idea about what PR is...

Public Relations - We're the people who supply information to the public on behalf of another entity. Public relations practitioners represent public figures, companies, and a whole slew of other kinds of organizations. Corporations, Nonprofit organizations, Actors, Athletes, Politicians, Schools, and Countries are just a few examples.

Tiger Woods has a whole team of PR people who were extremely busy last month when news about Woods' numerous extra-marital affairs surfaced in the media. Woods' didn't want to talk to the public about his shameful acts, but no matter. His PR staff probably had a better idea about what was going to have the smallest negative impact on his already poorly effected public image.

The Woods example serves as a nice segue into an explanation about the different roles in which PR professionals serve:

Crisis Management – During a time of crisis, a PR practitioner talks with media, the public, or whoever else is concerned with their representative. Messages are crafted about proposed solutions to the problem or whatever else will improve/lessen the damage done to the image of the body being represented.

Marketing – PR can be a very economic form or advertising via crafting press releases which are sent to news organizations, blogs, magazines, etc. These press releases can serve as the framework for a story or feature article used by a journalist or publisher.

Internal PR – Professionals who represent leaders in companies. This type of PR involves crafting messages within a company, from one group to another. Usually from the top down.

Bluegrass, Old-Time-Country, Folk, and a pinch of Rock n' Roll!

Last week I saw this incredible new local bluegrass group called Dry Lake Band. (named after Dry Lake in Sardine Canyon) They are probably the best local act I've seen; 4-part harmonies, banjo, mandolin, upright bass, and a fiddle!

I play bass for my friend Ben Hibshman's band, the Shuttles (Folk/Americana), and we're doing a show with Dry Lake Band along with another bluegrass girl-band called The Pretty Darns this Friday. Bluegrass, Old-Time-Country, Folk, and a pinch of Rock n' Roll.

If you like some twang or bluegrass, you should consider coming. If you can't make it it's no big deal, I just wanted to pass the word along. I think you guys would enjoy this music.

Here's a flyer I did, it should have all the information you need:



These groups appeal to a broad variety of people - Bring your friends and family!

$5 admission.

Date: Friday, January 15, 2010
Time: 8:00pm - 11:00pm
Location: Why Sound - 31 Federal Ave. Logan, UT

USU vs. BYU

USU played the undefeated BYU tonight in the Spectrum. It was the most entertaining basketball game I've ever been to! USU was behind by 3 points at half time, and I must say I was expecting an Aggie loss from the beginning. BYU just seemed so good this year... Well, we came back and won it in the 2nd period with the help of Jared Quayle! The Spectrum was electric. People were going NUTS! I was going nuts. My voice is still horse from it.

My good buddy Ben and I made signs for the game... We felt they were epic and huge.



Dave Rose, coach of BYU, refused to play in the Spectrum a couple years ago due to our over-the-top fans. (I'm so proud of that!) This was their first time back since then. Thus this sign.



And here's Ben, holding his MASSIVE sign (3'x4') referencing BYU's Max Hall and his recent comments towards the Ute's. (See video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvLdPk-H94Y)

And one last thing. Here is a great link to a photo gallery which wonderfully documented all the signs being held up at the game. Look for Ben and I at the end! ;)

Government solutions vs. Private sector solutions

A good friend recently said: "Here, I'll make it easy: Not all problems can be solved by a market, and some problems can only be solved by a market. Just figure out which."

I don't believe free markets are the one fix for all... I mean, it's entirely possible for EVERYTHING to be privatized, but is that the most feasible and efficient way to do things? I don't think so.

That said, government should be the exception to the rule. It's not that I'm against government and pro markets so much as I'm pro-pragmatic, and typically markets seem to do a better job than government.

More discussion ensued, and he had some excellent points.

"You guys are right, in most cases. But you need to acknowledge that markets are dynamic systems, and like any dynamic system, they have their failure modes. There are certain cases where markets break down and stop working. This is just game theory, and really isn't controversial I would hope.

Markets indeed do better jobs than government, for specific jobs, given specific conditions. But I don't think that health care is one of these jobs. A health insurance company improves its bottom line when it figures out ways to get people to pay in without paying back out. This creates incentives for all sorts of loop holes and "pre-existing condition" nonsense. The less claims they pay out, the higher their profits."

This was an excellent point, one which I'm still figuring out.

Bottom line:
I pretend to know things, but am constantly changing my mind on these matters. I guess that's good, right?

An Interesting Letter to the Editor...

I was flipping through the Herald Journal today and this letter to the editor caught my eye. It was written by someone in Hyrum named Kendal Bates. I agree with much of what Kendall is saying and I think it is something people around here (and all of Utah) need to hear. I'm interested to see what your thoughts are. Here's the letter with a bit of my commentary inserted in parenthesis.

"To the editor;

To my fellow LDS citizens,

(Ok, Warning! The first half of Bates' letter is heavy with LDS terms and doctrine which he uses to back up a few key principles. He obviously knows the demographic of the HJ. Regardless, the overall principles of liberty and freedom can be appealing to all people. So, to the non-believers: Don't let the church-jargon turn off. To the believers: You may find that these words challenge your political beliefs.)

In the beginning there was a philosophical “war” centered around two plans concerning agency. The first would allow people to come to Earth and exercise free thought with the liberty to choose. The second would allow people to come to Earth, but would ensure their safe return to heaven by taking away liberty and forcing obedience and righteousness. The choice boiled down to safety vs. liberty.

This philosophical conflict was observed and commented on by founding father Benjamin Franklin when he wrote, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” After the war in heaven the many who chose safety over liberty were stripped of both and cast out. Apparently they deserved neither.

The conflict over the two plans didn’t end with the war in heaven, nor with our country’s successful revolt from England. The two plans vie for your affirmation today. Here are several recent examples in our own community.

This past week the UHP conducted a checkpoint wherein 800-plus people traveling through Sardine Canyon were stopped and inspected without probable cause, a blatant affront to the 4th Amendment of the Constitution. (I felt like omitting this example, because it doesn't really apply. Driving a car isn't a right, and even if it was, when a person's actions impose on someone else' rights there's opportunity for amendment. So, I think Bates might be reaching a little far on this one.)

Recently the Cache County Council passed a daytime curfew which allows police officers to detain, question, and arrest any person who looks like they belong in school unless they can prove otherwise; again an affront on the 4th Amendment and an infringement on parental rights and responsibilities.

An alcohol license was denied a Logan property owner based on an ordinance prohibiting the sale of alcohol within a set distance from church or school properties.

The laundry list also includes daily micromanaged choices such as using seat belts, cell phone use, alcohol sales, who is or isn’t allowed to marry, etc.

All of these examples reference “safety” as a justification to deny liberty and choice. It’s an enticing call, this siren named “safety.” But can you really legislate safety and morality? The intentions are good, but isn’t the road to hell and bondage paved with such? Originally we all chose liberty knowing that the price would be occasionally steep. The choice for liberty means that some will be lost along the way. We need to remember what we knew then, that risk is inherent to liberty. To sell it for a little safety has never been the right choice and never will be.

Kendal Bates

Hyrum"

Ok, so he used regulations on car-drivers a little excessively. But, I really think anyone who values free will and liberty would be cautioned. Why do we attempt to have our government enforce morality when every individual has a different concept of what is right and moral?

I love Los Aggies!

89 - 49 over SUU! It feels great to go to these games and scream your head off at a team who has no chance of winning... Poor sportsmanship? Yes. Fun? ...Yep.

Yay for free stuff!

I've been meaning to switch over from Zions to US Bank since my loan was sold to them... Well, today I opened a checking account with US Bank and got $75 in groceries and 2 free jazz tickets for Monday! WAHOO!

First post!

First blog posting! It'll be interesting to see what comes out on this thing... Not sure what thoughts I oughta keep private, and which ones I can speak to the masses.

As if masses will be visiting here, hah!