My management communications class has quickly come to a close. While in this class I have learned many skills to improve my business writing capabilities. I hope to incorporate them into my future careers and upcoming blogs.

Does this mean I will stop writing on my blog now that it is not required of me? No, well at least I hope not. Writing on my blog has been entertaining. I have especially enjoyed activities we were assigned in order to help our blogs be more entertaining. I hope to think of my own activities I can do and write about for future blog topics.

Thank you to my frequent website attendees. I appreciate your support and comments. Please leave posts or send emails if you have any suggestions for my blogs.

Does how you dress affect your customer service experience? This was the topic for our blog assignment this week. After an hour at the gym, I stopped by a cell phone dealer. In my car I put on a “wife beater” t-shirt, stained jeans, and muddy shoes. I stepped into the store and pretended to be interested in acquiring a new cell phone. The salesman quickly escorted me to the low end cell phones, and introduced me to the cheaply priced calling plans.

A couple hours later I returned to the store. However, this time I was dressed in shiny black shoes, a crisply ironed shirt, and a power tie. So where did the salesman take me this time? You guessed it, he b-lined it straight to the smart phones. I was never offered a cell phone that offered a rebate, or was priced less than $100 dollars.

While driving back home, I pondered if this is unacceptable discrimination. I believe that it is not. The salesmen were making judgments about my employment, and were tailoring their marketing skills around my different profiles. If I were interested in a particular cell phone, all I need to do is ask.

In an effort to stimulate our blog writing experiences my business writing professor asked the class to perform an experiment. The assignment was entitled “buy someone a Coke.” The task was to buy a stranger a Coke, watch their reaction, and then write about the observations.

I decided to begin this assignment while waiting in line at a local fast food restaurant. I stated my order and then asked the cashier to add a large coke to my order, and give it to the next person in line. The cashier responded “is that legal?” I was baffled. Completely unaware of any laws associated with food safety I confidently responded “ya, of course it is!”

I took my order, bolted out the door, and looked through the window as the next customer received their Coke. The confused gentleman looked side to side as he took his cup and went to the soft drink station. It was an interesting experience to observe the confusion that can arise from “buying someone a Coke.” I plan to do this again in the future.

For my post this week I have decided to write about my favorite summer vacation destination.  Over all of the places I have visited in the world, Lake Powell is by far my favorite. While at the lake I love to wakeboard, water-ski, tube, air-chair, and soak up the sun.  There is nothing that compares to waking up at six in the morning, putting on your swimming suit, strapping on your Connelly ski, and tearing up the glassy water.

I was blessed with the opportunity to be introduced to water sports at a young age. I learned to slalom as soon as my arms were strong enough to pull myself from the water. When my legs were long enough to reach the ski, I began to air chair. The idea of wakeboarding was first introduce to me by the invention of the “skurfer,” which eventually evolved into the wakeboard as we know it today.

Lake Powell has always been a popular destination for my family. I have many unforgettable memories of taking the houseboat out to a sandy beach for a few weeks out of the summer.  This summer, I hope to make a few trips there with some of my friends. Likewise, I will be heading down there for a week with my family just before the fall semester starts.

From an earlier post you can read about the creation of jasonstowell.com. In summary, for my twenty first birthday my brother Chris created the website for me to keep in better contact with friends, family, and those I meet while serving in the Baltic States. Due to an increased focus on my education for the last two semesters, I have not found the time to express my thoughts through blogging. Well the time has come.

I am currently enrolled in classes for the spring and summer terms at BYU. While attending my Communication in Organizational Settings class, my professor informed us that we will be writing blog posts to improve our writing capabilities. Therefore, you can all read thrilling updates on my website weekly. We will be writing posts on various subjects and I hope to see my writing skills develop over the course of the term.

I am enjoying the classes I have chose and feel they will all be very beneficial for my career. I am relieved that I have officially completed my general education requirements and now I can work towards graduation in December of 2010. I hope to see your comments and suggestions on my upcoming posts.

I am hoping to gain the support of volunteers and donors to help struggling youth in Utah. The Sandy Club “A Safe Place for Boys and Girls” is an independent non-profit organization that provides a safe, educational, and fun place for children and teens to hang out after school. This organization is similar to the Boys and Girls Club of America, but operates under the city of Sandy. They strive to teach struggling youth the importance of using appropriate language, dressing properly, self-confidence, and positive leadership qualities.

The time I was able to spend at the club with the director was very touching. The director and staff are fabulous people who work tirelessly for all the club members to provide them with the best environment possible. In an attempt to give back to the community I have organized a service project to help the club. I am raising money to buy a domain and build the Sandy Club a website. The website will provide information about joining the club, online donations, upcoming events, and helpful links for the club members.

I am currently looking for volunteers that would be willing to make monetary contributions, spend a few hours taking pictures with the kids, or provide assistance with web design. Any donations that exceed the necessities of website design will be presented to the club.

This is an excellent opportunity to give back to the community in a time of harship. If there are any questions about the club, or an interest to donate please leave a post or e-mail me through my website. It is as easy as donateing 5 dollars. Please send a message using the website for instructions on how to donate.

I must say that I undoubtedly have the best group of friends on the face of the earth. The story began as I moved down to Dixie State College with Tyler, Marc, Matt, Trevor, and Chris who was later replaced by Steve. We soon came to be known as the “Pink Flamingos”. Shortly after moving in we meet Logan, Rob, Courtney, Cierra, Julee, and many others. We Two years later and we are all still good friends keeping in close contact. Included are some fun pictures ranging from past to present.

Now that I am back from my mission the school year has begun. Despite the unforgettable moments being a “Flamingo” at Dixie State College, this year I have transfered to BYU. This past semester kept me very busy with homework. I am going to school full time again this semester and I am enjoying it so far. I am currently majoring in Business Management. I am planning to do an internship over the summer and continue on with my education!

WELCOME to Jason Stowell.com.  I hope you enjoy your visit to my website.  To give you a little bit of background, this site was given to me as a birthday present in 2008.  The primary purpose for the gift is to help me stay in contact with all those that I come across through my life.  It is also provide a way for people to contact me directly in the event we somehow become disconnected.

When the site was launched I was living in Tallinn, Estonia where I served as a Missonary for the LDS church.  During my time in the Baltics, I became acquainted with many wonderful individuals who are now part of my life long family.

I left the Baltics in June of 2008 and returned to the US.  While I may not be physically in Estonia, my mind, heart, and love will always be there as it has been a large part of my life.  So for all our you - past, present, and future, stay in close contact and let me know how I can help you.

JASON STOWELLL

- Please feel free to comment and make posts as you would like.  Please be appropriate and respectful in your comments.  I am new to the web/blog world and will work to keep SPAM and other garbage of the site as much as possible.  In the event I don’t respond to your public comments or if you would like to contact me directly, please email me directly at jasonstowell@gmail.com. [posted by Chris Stowell May 19, 2008]