I have been selected to be one of the first to host an online recessionista party!

This means that you will receive an additional 30% off already discounted Recessionista Shop prices on designer handbags, shoes and accessories.

There will also be new products available in the shop just for our party!

As of right now the party will be held this Friday from 7:00pm tp 9:00pm EST. Stay tuned to my blog for any changes! (I’m considering changing the date to Saturday during the day. Let me know what works for you in the comments. Thursday is also an option, but I fear it’s rather short notice.)

If you would like to join the fun, please provide me with your email address in the comments.

If you’d like a text message reminder, email me at chasingeducation@gmail.com with your phone number.

Rest assured that all of your personal information will be kept private!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fncll/ / CC BY 2.0

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find a respectable online Masters program? If you know the secret, please share it in the comments.

I’ve considered an online degree program because of it’s convenience. However, if I were to be accepted to Cornell’s Master of Management in Hospitality program (I think I have officially decided on Hospitality as my Master’s…more on this later), I would probably pack up and move to Ithaca. I mean, who in their right mind would pass up an Ivy League education. I have to wonder if it’s worth the $70 application fee just to say I applied and was rejected by Cornell.

but I digress

An online degree program gives me the freedom to move when I want to, to work where/when I need to and just seems like a more convenient way to pursue higher education at this point in my life. However, when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. I can’t seem to find a program (I’m currently exploring hospitality management programs…more on this later) that I am comfortable with.

I know that thousands of working adults get degrees from accredited online universities every year. I would not want to insult anyone pursuing any sort of education. I am a firm believer in seeking any sort of education, whether it be a trade school, on-the-job training or an Ivy League school. But I have to wonder what a potential future employer would think if I attended a four-year university, graduated with flying colors, scored above average on the GRE and then proceeded to go to University of Phoenix.

You can’t even get any information from the University of Phoenix unless you give them all of your information (address, phone number, etc…). Compare this to this. It makes University of Phoenix look like an internet scam. Ashworth also requires your entire identity before giving you any information on their degree programs.

Imagine…future employer goes to check out your “school’s” website and there’s nothing there!

I would never discourage someone from getting an education. If you have to go to University of Phoenix, because it’s the only way to better yourself, I support you. I know that my criticism of these psuedo-universities could be controversial or condescending–or both! The fact is that I have held myself to a very high standard academically and an online degree program, as convenient as it may be, does not uphold my standard.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/topgold/ / CC BY 2.0

While many of my friends might think I’m the Twitter Queen, it’s only because she with the most tweets wins! The truth is, I’m still new to writing web content and using social media to promote my work. The internet is a wonderful place that not only brought us Twitter, but also bestowed upon us Twitter tools that will surely fuel my [tweeting] disease. I did some research (courtesy of the fantastic sources cited) and found terrific tweeting tools!

1. The advanced search feature allows you to use special operators such as “or” and “and” to expand your searches, just like a search engine would! (NYTimes)

2. There are desktop applications that don’t require you to open a browser window to tweet, such as Digsby. (NYTimes)

3. If you can’t openly tweet around the office you can sneak tweets using sweet applications like SpreadTweet or OutTwit that look like MS Office programs. (Nytimes)

4. TweetBeep allows you to set notifications when tweets with selected keywords are published. (NYTimes)

5. Twitter Grader and Twinfluence allow you to measure how engaged your followers are and how influential they are (respectively). These are scientific processes– take that all you haters who think Twitter is silly! (Mashable)

6. Qwitter and Twitterless let you track the followers you lose–they even tell you what you were tweeting about when you lost them. (hint  hint stop tweeting about that!) (Mashable)

7. Tweet Rank lets you track your tweet quality. Which tweets resulted in a gain [of followers] and which ones were a total loss? You’ll never know until you use it!(SociableBlog)

8. TweetScan notifies you [via email] of your @replies so you (or I) never have to worry about missing something that might stroke your (or my) Tweego! Am I allowed to make social media terms up, or am I still too new to this? (SociableBlog)

9. Twitter Local and Nearby Tweets let you search for Tweeters in certain locations. For those (like me) who write web content about local businesses and events, this is a lovely way to promote. (SociableBlog)

10. Twellow allows you to find fellow Tweeters from your industry– an efficient way of networking, if I may say so!

I leave you now with these 10 tools in hopes that you will make use of them and also share your terrific Twitter tools with me [in the comments].

http://www.flickr.com/photos/conejoazul/ / CC BY 2.0

How well do you spell?

Is it ridiculous to pose such a question to an adult?

I think not!

Misspelled words and grammatically incorrect sentences really bother me. The thought that they are more widespread than ever is like nails on the chalkboard of my life.

I have often wondered how children turn into teenagers who turn into college students who still do not differentiate between there/their/they’re, to/too, you/you’re.

In the past, I’ve received a negative response to my rantings about the inability of Americans to spell simple words correctly. I’m not somehow trying to support my position as an aspiring intellectual. I actually believe spelling is a basic skill that cashiers and CEO’s alike should possess.

People are laughing at us! MedIndia published this article, earlier this year it reads, “The study also showed that nearly 78% of the men surveyed were unable to spell “friend.”

The question is: who’s to blame?

You could blame video games or the internet. After all, I’ve never seen creative spelling quite like that of the internet. You could blame parents, teachers or students.

I say it’s the system.

There are definitely crappy teachers, preoccupied parents and lazy students out there, but the system employs those crappy teachers and enables lazy students. The system allows children to graduate from high school, despite a mess of spelling errors on their college admission essays.

Individual teachers could start raising the bar, but that wouldn’t solve the problem across the board.

All “the people on top” need to do is raise the bar. Tell the teachers that their students must consistently spell [insert set of words appropriate for grade level here] correctly to graduate. If only they would do this, it would rid the world of misspelled tattoos and prepositions where they just don’t belong (e.g. Where are you at? What’s with the at? It’s not like it’s easier to add a word to your sentence.)

Who are you blaming? What’s your solution? A penny for your (correctly spelled and punctuated) thoughts!

TIME Magazine Annual Blog Index

If you’ve read about me, you know that I want to be a real freelance writer. I want to quit my day job and work from my bed. There are three major reasons for my burning desire to bid farewell to my life as a “Marketing Manager,” and start my new life as an employee of the world wide web.

1. I love to write

2. I need a flexible work schedule if I’m ever going to finish my Master’s

3. My current job will surely steal my sanity and my soul if I don’t escape it soon (more on this soon)

In my quest to learn the in’s and out’s of writing web content, I’ve done a lot of research. I’ve read a lot of blogs and I have to admit I have the tiniest bit of blog envy. You know by now that I have a ridiculous bit of an internet crush on Deb at Smitten Kitchen. She always has the words and the images to keep my occupied for hours. But today I have some new blog envy to share with you.

Blog Envy #1

Darren Rowse knows so much! He’s been making his living by blogging for 5 years. How fantastic is that? As soon as I have an extra $20 31 Days to a Better Blog will be on my reading list. The first lesson from Darren that I will put into action is from his post 13 Things I’ve Learned From Blogging. “Blog over the long term and blog regularly,” Darren says. I must admit that I have been an inconsistent blogger. I blogged about my life and I blogged about studying for the GRE. But I never blogged consistently.

Blog Envy #2

Lifehacker has everything I didn’t know I needed to know. This is what blogging is all about–making yourself useful! Sadly, I didn’t find any information on the site about how long it took to establish this award-winning gem. I am thinking I have years of hard work.

Blog Envy #3

Hey Lady! Watcha Readin? stirred up a great deal of excitement in my world. Check out books read in 2009! Need I say more? I think not!

If you’re looking for more blogs you can adore and envy, check out TIME.com’s First annual Blog Index.

Short-term, I need a more flexible career so that I can get a jump start on this higher education thing I adore so much. Working 8:00-5:00pm with an hour-long commute each way is really throwing the proverbial wrench in my operations. I have studying to do, meals to prepare, kitchens to clean, bills to pay and just 5 short hours between the time I leave work until the time I pass out.

Recently, I have started doing freelance writing for examiner.com and demandstudios.com (hardly a poetic endeavor). I am dabbling in a writing career with the ultimate goal of quitting my day job to work on the web. Before I pack up my desk and buy myself a comfortable chair for my home-office, I have a lot to learn.

I have started my journey by attempting to read Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content That Works. The premise of this guide is to focus on who your audience is and why they are visiting your site. The majority of people use internet for information, not to enjoy a nice fictional novel.

I haven’t quite made it through Janice Reddish’s Letting Go of the Words. I keep getting distracted by catchy blog titles like Jessica Randazza’s How to Become Internet Famous (nearly overnight). That’s it! I need to become just [internet] famous enough on the internet to be self-employed.

I have step 1 of Randazza’s guide to getting famous down– I started a blog! It’s step 4 I am going to have a problem with. I am a sleepy girl! I will keep this guide handy while working on my web content.

My last resource for this post, but definitely not the end of my quest for educating myself on web content, is How to Use Twitter.  Problogger is an excellent resource that I am soon going to spend dozens of hours perusing.

Here’s to internet fame and all of its geeky glory!