andrewnagy's Xanga

Anyone out there?

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:39:44 GMT

I have no idea if anyone still uses Xanga and is subscribed to me, but if you're still out there, I just wanted to let you all know that I have officially moved my writing activities to my own personal website. That's right, you can visit the official website of Andrew Nagy! I don't write on there a whole lot, but I've moved over some of my favorite stuff from here as well as written some new things. Check it out, if you like.

Cya.

Don't Let it Die Yet.

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 17:30:54 GMT

I answered (or tried to answer) your objections and am very interested in your responses to my response of your... response... yeah....

C'mon!

Extreme Language

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 14:34:57 GMT

I know it's been a while... I've been getting into Facebook because you don't have to do as much to stay connected. But I think Xanga will remain useful for my deeper thoughts and ideas. So here's one.

The issue:
Ever notice how people can't seem to find the words to explain just how crazy, how cool, how amazing, how beautiful, how horrible, now super evil, how boring, or how lame something/someone/some(when?) is? Why is it that we feel the need to qualify our story/experience using the most extreme language possible.

The cause:
I think the root of it is we want people to believe our story is great and we're great because we're telling it. In an age where everything is competing for the attention of everyone, we feel it necessary to hold the attention of our friends and family with our amazing stories and experiences.

The effects:
This has a drastic (oh no! so amazingly crazy awesome extreme!) effect on the way we communicate daily. I'm reminded of the boy who cried wolf. I think we abuse severe language and make it commonplace. We want our story, our experience to be unique, so we use the extreme, unique language. The end result is that these words that we use begin to actually mean very little to the person on the receiving end. In the end, not only do our stories no longer achieve the unique extreme effect we wanted, but no one's does, even when there are times when they should. If extreme language is overused, it becomes non-extreme and loses its meaning. Then, when there actually is an event that requires extreme language, it is not understood properly. That's a problem.

The solution:
Easy. Stop using extreme language so commonly. It's a problem we all suffer from, myself included. I think we should be consciously thinking about how we can correct our language to accurately convey the message we want to with no frills or excessivity. I'm pretty sure that's not a word, but due to all the good words having been used already, I had to make one up. As Jesus said, "Let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no' be 'no.'" I think this has far reaching implications.

Your thoughts.

The Answers...

Sun, 28 Jan 2007 15:54:03 GMT

Since the participation rate in this inquiry was abysmal, those who answered (though all wrong) all get the promised e-props. Here are the answers.

SEM - Search Engine Marketing. This is an all encompassing term for any kind of marketing that has to do with search engines... obviously.

SEO - Search Engine Optimization. This is the particular aspect of SEM in which marketers optimize there web site using various means (sometimes simple, sometimes complicated) in order for search engines to show their site as results for key terms.

PPC - Pay Per Click. This is the more disliked form of SEM which involves all those sponsored ads you see on Google, Yahoo!, MSN, et al. Marketers bid on key phrases so that when a user of a search engine searches for that phrase, the marketer's ad will show up. If the user clicks on the marketer's ad, the marketer is then charged the bid amount (roughly) for that click.

That's about as simple as I can put it. But that's my job. I focus on PPC more, but I do all of it. Not that any of you really care, but I don't really get to talk about my job to anyone so my last post was almost a plea for help to see if I could find someone who knew what I was talking about. Sigh.

Hey...

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:38:17 GMT

Does anyone know what SEO stands for? How about PPC? SEM?
1,000 e-props to anyone who can tell me what any of these mean without cheating with Google... which would be ironic. That's your only hint.

A couple of things...

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 17:53:02 GMT

First off... preaching went well. I think. I'm never sure about it, but I felt convicted and more in love with Christ afterwards, so pretty much regardless of how it helped anyone else, it was good. I took the "Jesus wept over sin and death in general" line because I think it's the truth. More thoughts will be forthcoming.

Secondly, my mother is moving on February the 10th and would like to know if any of my friends (read: guys who can move couches even though girls are welcome) would like to help out in exchange for free pizza and soda (and of course hanging out with yours truly). So... anyone?

I'm preaching tonight...

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 14:59:08 GMT

on John 11:35. Shortest verse, probably not the shortest sermon. What are your thoughts on John 11:35? What does it mean to you?

Today's Quote

Thu, 18 Jan 2007 16:00:40 GMT

"To have wit is to be funny,
To have humor is to have fun."

Discuss.

Trust...

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 09:56:45 GMT

You know how marriage depends upon a certain level of trust?

Yeah... trust or no, never give your Xanga password to your wife. Good thing I caught it before many of you saw it.

Sacrifice, Pt. Whatever...

Sun, 07 Jan 2007 18:34:07 GMT

As mentioned in previous segments of this discussion, I'm pulling my ideas of sacrifice and leadership from Ephesians 5, the famous husband and wife passage. So as to continue our discussion in a most linear fashion, let us now discuss a little about sacrifice and its marital counterpart, submission. Do these two behaviors have a common root attitude? If so, what is it?