#9 Favourite Christmas Song

Shakin' Stevens - Merry Christmas Everyone

Enough said I think! If you would like to argue with this, feel free to do so, but I will not be swayed on this!!

#8 Things I Miss About Uni

This a list of things that I miss most about uni life. Feel free to add any more if you can think of them:

1. High school started before 8am, but now anything before noon is considered “early”.
2. You have more beer than food in your fridge.
3. Weekends start on Thursday.
4. 6am is when you go to sleep, not when you wake up.
5. Instead of falling asleep in class, you stay in bed.
6. You know how late McDonald’s, Dominos, Pizza Hut, Kfc open.
7. You think it’s the weekend on a Wednesday and you don’t know what month it is.
8. Your underwear/sock supply dictates your laundry schedule.
9. You check Facebook more than once a day.
10. You talk about beer pong like it’s a sport.
11. Finding random people in your house is perfectly normal, and you even sympathize with them… sometimes when you wake up you have no idea where you are.
12. Your primary outlook on everyday life is Jeremy Kyle and Cash in the attic.
13. You open a beer at 10 am and your flatmate asks you if there’s more.
14. The standard of meals per day falls to two, sometimes just one.
15. Your bin is overflowing and your bank account isn’t.
16. You wear the same jeans for 13 days without washing them.
17. Your breakfast consists of a coke or cereal bar on the way to class… anything with caffeine will do.
18. You live in a house with three sofas, none of which match.
19. You try to study but seem to procrastinate by eating, going to study breaks, talking to people, etc…
20. You talk to your roommate on instant messenger when you’re both home.
21. You ask people what YOU did last night.
22. Certain things are now deemed “Facebook worthy.” When friends take pictures of you, you wonder how long it will take them to post them.
23. You see people you know you’ve met but can never remember their names or how you know them.
24. Your idea of a square meal is a Weatherspoons Sunday roast with a pint.
25. You’ve travelled on a train with bags of dirty clothes.
26. You go home to do your laundry because you’re too poor to pay the £1.20… or too lazy to go to a change machine.
27. You pay £50 for a book you don’t read once, return it four months later, and get £10.
28. You throw out bowls and plates because you don’t feel like washing them.
29. Your beer pong table is nicer than all your other tables.
30. It takes preparation… and 3 people… to take out your rubbish.
31. Going to the library is a social event.
32. You start joining clubs because of the free food.
33. Visits home depend on how much money you have for the train fair.
34. You skip one class to write an essay for another.
35. You have no idea where your tuition money is going
36. Getting post becomes an ego booster/breaker.
37. You never realised so many people are smarter than you.
38. You never realised so many people are dumber than you.
39. You craft ways to make any game into a drinking/stripping game.
40. You meet the type of people you thought only existed in movies.
41. Printers break down only when you desperately need them.
42. Anything can be cooked in a microwave.
43. Going to Tesco at midnight is completely normal.
44. You call restaurants that deliver more than you call your own family.
45. You’ve paid bills over £5… in coins.
46. You can’t imagine life without your laptop/mobile/ i-pod.
47. Hoodies and trackies become the norm – jeans are considered “dressy” at certain occasions… like school.
48. A cancelled class is almost as exciting as Christmas.
49. Taking a nap in the library is perfectly acceptable.
50. Your lecturers speak English… as a second language.
51. Your lecturers swear in class and no one cares.
52. You take condiment packets and napkins from fast food restaurants – hey, they’re free.
53. You bring back socks from the laundry room that may or may not be yours.
54. The lifts take forever but you’ll wait 10 minutes just so you don’t have to climb stairs.
55. You press the automatic door opener instead of simply grabbing the handle when you approach a door.
56. Christmas lights seem to be acceptable all year round.
57. Class size doubles on exam days, or before class tests
58. You are no longer thankful that fire alarms are here to protect you.
59. You begin to include ketchup on your list of acceptable vegetables.
60. You stay on campus for hours in between classes when it’s too cold to walk home.
61. There’s always a “question guy” in at least one of your classes, and you really wish someone would just tell him/her to shut the f*ck up.
62. You no longer find it uncool to take naps. In fact, you quite enjoy them.
63. You find your list of acceptable napping places expanding daily to increasingly uncomfortable locations.
64. You fill out credit card applications for the free food.
65. You’ve eaten cereal out of a cup… with a fork.
66. Dressing up for Halloween becomes cool again.
67. You know at least one person who has dropped his/her mobile into a toilet.
68. You become increasingly annoyed with the “old” people in class – well done to them for going back to college but they generally ask really, really annoying questions.
69. You admire people’s alcohol bottle shrines.
70. You set your clock 5-10 minutes ahead so you can potentially make it to class on time.
71. You text faster than you type.
72. You only find out a class is cancelled after you get there and sit for about ten minutes.
73. You run out of black ink and, instead of buying a new ink cartridge, decide blue is a nice substitute… adds a little flair.

#7 Favourite Chuck Norris Facts

I thought I would compile a list of my favourite Chuck Norris facts (mainly due to boredom), feel free to add more if you like!

• Chuck Norris doesn't sleep, he waits!
• Chuck Norris destroyed the periodic table, because he only recognizes the element of surprise
• Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one bird
• Chuck Norris counted to infinity - twice.
• There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live.
• Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.
• When Chuck Norris does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down.
• Chuck Norris can lead a horse to water AND make it drink.
• Chuck Norris CAN believe it's not butter.
• Along with his black belt, Chuck Norris often chooses to wear brown shoes. No one has DARED call him on it. Ever.
• Chuck Norris doesn't wear a watch, HE decides what time it is!
  
• If at first you don't succeed, you're not Chuck Norris.
• Google won't search for Chuck Norris because it knows you don't find Chuck Norris, he finds you.
• Chuck Norris can judge a book by its cover.

#6 Book Review: The Face of Death

The Face of Death: Cody McFadyen

ISBN 978-0-340-84010-8

This book is the second in the series from McFadyen, featuring the leading character Smoky Barrett.

After reading what I believe to be the first book, Shadow Man (although I could be wrong!!), I could not wait to read the next thrilling installment from McFadyen, and I can confidently say I was not let down. This book is a real page-turner, and for a guy who doesn't like to read too much this really kept me going.

The story centres on a young girl who is discovered by the police in her foster parents house, ready to end her life with a pistol and demanding that she will unless she talks to Smoky. The girl claims her life is being ruined by a mystery 'stranger' and all events leading up to this day have been recorded in her diary.

McFadyen keeps the reader in suspense from then on by switching between Smoky reading the diary and the present events following the opening of the investigation. The continuous back and forth between past and present keeps the reader poised and craving to for Smoky to read more so that she can uncover the truth before it's too late.

Also, unlike the first book, I didn't manage to be able to guess who the murderer is until the very end, which I particularly liked. If you haven't read the first one then the book spends the first few chapters introducing the characters once more, and a brief background.

As usual, McFadyen is incredibly descriptive when it comes to both the murder scenes and the prolongued sex scenes, which when reading this while eating your lunch at work, can prove to be a little intense!!!

All in all, a great sequel to the first book. If you like murder mysteries then you will love this, it keeps you gripped from begginning to end. I now can't wait to read the next book and see if McFadyen can keep it up!

If you have read it, let me know your thoughts too

#5 The serious cat

This guy has helped me through some serious times in work! I hope it helps you!

#4 Rejection letter

This one goes out to all the graduates, who like me have recieved a rejection letter from a potential employer. This is what I reply with:

Dear ......,

Thank you for your letter rejecting my application for employment with your firm.

I have received rejections from an unusually large number of well qualified organizations. With such a varied and promising spectrum of rejections from which to select, it is impossible for me to consider them all. After careful deliberation, then, and because a number of firms have found me more unsuitable, I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your rejection.

Despite your company’s outstanding qualifications and previous experience in rejecting applicants, I find that your rejection does not meet with my requirements at this time. As a result, I will be starting employment with your firm on the first of the month.

Circumstances change and one can never know when new demands for rejection arise. Accordingly, I will keep your letter on file in case my requirements for rejection change.

Please do not regard this letter as a criticism of your qualifications in attempting to refuse me employment. I wish you the best of luck in rejecting future candidates.

Sincerely,

Huw Williams

Feel free to use this as your own, it may make you feel somewhat better!!!

#3 Current take on mobile marketing

The iPhone is easily the best phone on the market, but most official stats indicate that the iPhone is only making up around 9% of the UK market, leaving the other 91% open to more traditional mobile content.

This 9% is obviously going to grow, but what is important to remember is that this current 'app' market is pretty saturated already, and with Nokia's Ovi and Windows coming to join the party, it is only going to get harder to compete.

At the moment the success of direct email campaigns as an acquisition tool is declining, due to advancements in spam filtering and the general awareness of people to differing subject lines. And with social media becoming more widespread and with opinions of people like myself clogging channels, it is becoming harder to reach individuals directly, aside from personal selling. Even cold calling is declining, as not only do people unsubscribe through their land line providers, but there are now less people with actual land lines due to advances in mobile internet. So therefore one of the only means still readily available to organisations is mobile.

Let's face it, everyone reads a text before they delete it!!!

With email, the issue once the email has reached an inbox, is whether it will then be deleted. With a text however, the guarantee is that a recipient will at skim the text before deleting it. And with the success of Twitter becoming ever more apparent, there is proof that people not only read 140 chracter messages, but that the message can generate a huge amount of interest.

Therefore in my opinion, it seems that smartphones have quite simply stolen a lot of the media spotlight. This has taken away the emphasis on the very real and cost-effective vehicle that is text marketing.

#2 Independent review of Zombieland

If I'm totally honest, I thought this film looked less than average in the trailer, and to my surprise I was proved correct!

The film is an American take on Sean of the Dead. Although funny in a few places, overall this was always going to be a poor mans version.

Aside from that, entertaining at least, with a cameo from Bill Murray.

I would probably rate this 6/10.

#1 Who am I?

As I'm sure many of you both read and write blogs, often wondering who is this person and are they indeed credible.

Well to answer both of those my name is Huw Williams and I am indeed credible. I am currently a Marketing Launch Manager for a mobile content provider. Fresh out of university and without a care in the world, until I realised the world wasn't too keen on employing me! So here I am, working in South Wales and loving it. For the company I work for I am solely responsible for the marketing, especially involving all things social media. Therefore in order to become at one with social media, it is imperative that I try this for myself!

I am the youngest of three, my parents are both older. Unfotunately my mother left before I was born. Not many people know this but I'm actually mixed race, my father prefers the 100m, and my mother is Pakistani!

If there are any prospective employers reading this, then I would like to say that my skills include marketing, through all channels but especially new media, and in reading future posts you should start to get an idea of what I'm into. If not, then you are seriously bored if you are reading this!