Time Crunch, Wrapping Up

Closing In On The End Of 2022 Fall Semester

    The bittersweet ending of 2022 Fall semester has lead me to the end of this road.  Standing at this new fork in the road comes with having to make choices to start the next new journey in my life.  

    I learned that everyone has strengths and weaknesses.  This semester challenged me in ways I had no idea I could be challenged.  I struggled emotionally, physically and mentally, but I also made many amazing accomplishments.  Perseverance was my strength, lack of self confidence was my weakness.  It was worth the struggle to get to where I stand now with all I have achieved.

    As I close this chapter in my journey, I start a new one with positive thoughts and hope my journey will continue on till there is nothing else to accomplish.

    I leave the 2022 Fall Semester with a haiku I wrote.

Created by Silvia Heredia-Garcia

Slide Master, Powerful Tool.

 Chapter 6, PowerPoint Slide masters

    The most important knowledge I obtained from PowerPoint is the Slide Masters.  This is a powerful tool that helps save a lot of time when formatting and adding specific layouts to presentations.  For example, when you have the slide master open, you can select the text box of a title and select the font type, size, and color you want.  It will set the same format to all slide titles.  You can add predetermined backgrounds, pictures, or logos to one or all slides before starting with data entry to the slides in normal view.

    When you work in the Slide Master, you can add placeholders for content, text, pictures, charts, tables, smart art, media or online images as well as manage the header and footers of the slides.  The theme and colors can be added or modified as well before beginning the presentation.

Planning, Preparing, Weighing Options

Looking Ahead & Preparing

Spring 2023 Semester

    Long before open enrollment became available for Spring 2023, I had my classes selected.  After all, I need five classes to graduate.  The last three core classes are of high importance because I have to take those classes in order to graduate.  Electives gave me wiggle room to play with. 

    The biggest concern with classes at CSN in my personal experience, they are very limited.  Another concern is that there are classes that will not happen, even if you were enrolled.  A day or two prior to classes starting, you will notice the class was cancelled, then you can end up scrambling to find a replacement.  This is a fact! It happened to me for COM 101 for the Summer 2022 semester.  Luckily, I found a replacement for a later time of the day.  It could be due to low enrollment, change of staff, or any number of reasons.  Curriculums change occasionally.  

    My process to getting the right schedule and classes is long and tedious, but I've learned the hard way that it is a necessary process to get the classes you want and need.  If you don't enroll immediately, some classes can fill within the first few hours of open enrollment.  That happened to me twice already and it is frustrating to find classes to fit your schedule, especially if you want to have in person or hybrid classes, which I enjoy more than online classes.

    After enrolling, at least once per week, I check on the class enrollment numbers to get an idea of where the class is heading.  By this time, I noticed one class I really wanted to take was actually dropping in enrollments.  Another class changed and was no longer available.  To make a long story short, I had to change a total of three classes to get the schedule and requirements I need to fulfil my educational requirement for graduation.  I can say I am content with what I have now.  I am looking forward to graduation!

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/graduation-speech-examples/

Brag But Don't Brag

Keep The Accomplishments Coming!

    The purpose of this blog post is not entirely to "BRAG," but in a small way it is.  If that doesn't make sense to you by now, let me explain.  

    When I was a young child in school, I lacked the desire to be successful in school.  Not because I didn't try.  I had good grades all the way through high school.  My mother wasn't always an enthusiastic person who got happy to see my good grades.  Her response was always, "you could do much better."  Regardless of my good grades which were mostly A's, B's, and an occasional C, it was not good enough.  She might have been right, I could do much better.  Coming from a time where parent's weren't directly involved in kid's education and when kids fended for themselves, (latchkey kids) I believed it was the best I could do.

    This gave me a mindset that it didn't matter how much I tried or how well I did, I'd never make anyone proud of me for doing my best; therefore, I shouldn't try so hard.

    Being back in college has taught me that the only person I need to make proud of me, is ME.  The only person I can brag to about my accomplishments, is ME.  Sure, I can tell family or friends that I am doing great in college, but they are not really going to care.  After all, my accomplishments are not going to affect them in the long run.  Only ME! 

    The point I am trying to make is that even though there might not be anyone to brag to about your accomplishments, you always have YOU.  Brag to yourself, be proud of yourself.  And occasionally brag to the world that you are doing great things even if it doesn't affect them directly.  It doesn't make a person egotistical or self-centered.  It let's people know that we are proud of what we are accomplishing.

    With that being said,  as you know, I had a long project that some of you participated in.  The survey was for a professional report assignment.  I am grateful to those who took the time to participate by the way.  The second part of the assignment was a presentation which I completed.  I have my results from both assignments which I am very proud of and I want to share them with you all.

Graded Professional Report and Presentation Remarks.

    I was excited to see my results; therefore, I am proud of myself.  Those of you who took the time to participate are also the result of my grade.  I couldn't have done it without you.

My next brag, but not brag is my successful pass on my PowerPoint Presentation exam which I took this past Sunday.  This was the easy one.

Lesson in Obedience

MUSIC TRIGGERS MEMORY

    Before you read my story, I would like for you to listen to this song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXvQvDb1I7A&app=desktop           

    I’ve been listening to this song since 2009.  I’ve always found it fascinating in a bizarre kind of way.  At first, I didn’t pay much attention to the lyrics.  I like the almost psychedelic music and tone to it.  It wasn’t until a few years ago that I carefully listened to the lyrics.  Much to my surprise, I knew exactly what the song was about.  I knew about the story behind it.  A friend of mine’s family member was a participant in one of the original experiments.  This blew my mind in so many directions.  The attraction to the song made sense to me now.  I connected the missing link.  I’ve read so many of the articles and stories about it and it goes something like this..

    A psychologist at Yale University, Stanly Milgram.  In the 1960s conducted experiments on obedience.  An individual’s conscience can be overridden by a situation, he confirmed.

    From all social classes, people from different backgrounds participated in Milgram’s studies after they agreed to receiving a small hourly compensation.  They thought the study was on learning and memory.  A doctor in a white coat instructed them to act as teachers by reading a list of associations to a learner who was out of sight but could hear.  As soon as the learner got an association wrong, the teacher would shock him with an electric shock, increasing the voltage with each answer.  The first shock was labeled SLIGHT SHOCK- 15 volts.  After the last shock, it was labeled DANGER SEVERE SHOCK-450 volts.

    What they did not know, Milgram wanted to see how much pain the teacher would inflict on the learner.  This was the real experiment.  One of the participants, an actor, cried that he could not stand the pain.  At 300 volts, he refused to participate, there was silence at 330 volts.  It turned out that 65% of the teachers reached electrical shocks to 450 volts regardless of knowledge that the participant might have mild heart condition.

    The white coated experimenter encouraged the teachers to continue despite their moral reservations, despite their sweating and biting lips.

    According to Milgram's research, ordinary people can be persuaded to commit acts of violence simply by being in the presence of authority figures.  Milgram also discovered that the more psychological distance the subjects had from the victim, more likely they were to perform the acts.

    Later experiments with both men and women, despite of adult age, social ethnicity, level of education, and financial standing, followed in similar results. 

Where was all this found?  In a society that values independent thinking and free will.

Its Not Magic, Its Excel

It Has Come To Pass

Excel did not beat me, I beat Excel.

    Over the weekend, I put so much time and effort into completing my practice Exams A and B.  Oh my goodness, did I have a hard time on a few questions.  After much research, trial and error, teeth grinding, and headaches, I was at a point of giving up.  Sunday evening, I received an email from Mr. Wu saying he had an open slot for me to take the exam between 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.  I wanted to crawl under the darkest place of the universe. Fear!  My fear of the Excel exam tried to pull me down.  But no, I said to myself, I can do this.  I explained to Mr. Wu that I did not feel comfortable taking the exam because I was having issues with some of the questions.  After all, I hadn't even started on Form B at the time.

    Can anyone guess what happened next?  Correct!  Webex meeting. 👍  Mr. Wu helped me figure some of the problems in Form A by giving me subtle hints and I was able to get the problems correct after a few times.  By the time we finished, I decided it would be best to wait till today, Monday, November 7, 2022 to give myself time to Finish both Form A and B practice exams.

    Later this afternoon, I tackled Form A and got 100%.  I also started on Form B only to encounter a terrible =IF function on a couple of the questions.  These were strange, needless to say.  Then, I get a text.  Guess who from?  Correct again, Mr. Wu!  Webex meeting 2. 👏 <--(clapping)  We go over some of the problems I was having and figured them out.  After disconnecting, I worked on Form B some more to improve my score and eventually completed with 100% after a few more tries.  

    I contacted Mr. Wu, told him I was ready.  I completed and passed the exam on the first try.  What excitement I felt after my accomplishment.  I've never been so happy to finish an exam like today.  Thank you Mr. Wu.  You are the best.

    Excel has been tough on me, but I Excel'd and conquered.

Close Your Eyes and Let Go

 What Are You Afraid Of?

        The younger version of myself was trapped in constant fear because no matter what life brought, it brought fear with every step.  It kept me from seeing and achieving my true reality and the greatest version of myself I could have been.

    Life has taught me that fear holds us back from accomplishing many things.  Fear keeps us from realizing our visions and full potentials.  Fear keeps our inner critics alive and our excuses valid reasons for failure.  Fear makes us surrender to lesser greatness and can lead to isolation and depression.

    As the years pass, I continue to learn ways on how to let go of my fears.  Letting go of my fears is a lot of work, but believe me, it is worth it. 

    My biggest fear, like many of us is failure.  In my reality, I've learned that failure doesn’t mean the end of the road.  It doesn’t mean I have to stop trying.  Fear doesn’t mean that I can’t try again and succeed.  It means that I have to try harder, I have to stop my inner critic from negative talk, I have to stop lying to myself, and that I have to hold myself accountable for my actions.  It also means that I can positively reassure myself that everything is going to be okay and quitting is not an option.  I stand strong with that as you all might know by now.

    I love watching TED talk videos.  The first of two most inspiring videos I relate to on this topic is by Isaac Lidsky.  If any of you are familiar with the late 1980s to early 1990s show, “Saved by the Bell,” Isaac played as Weasel Wyzell in the show.  That was one of my favorite TV shows, so to see him as an inspirational speaker, WOWed me to the bone.

    In this video, Isaac Lidsky talks about the struggles with fears and how he overcame his.  I hope you are ready to be surprised by him.

https://www.ted.com/talks/isaac_lidsky_what_reality_are_you_creating_for_yourself?language=en

    The second most inspiring video I relate to is a more recent one by Dan Harris, a former anchor and correspondent for ABC News.  He talks about his journey to improving himself and his relationships with others and his journey to challenge his demons and how he overcame them.

https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_harris_the_benefits_of_not_being_a_jerk_to_yourself

    Moral of my story, be kind to yourself, let go of your fears, become the greatest you you can be.  For most of our lives, we firmly believe that we know what we want in the future but don't lie to yourself, because believe me, you don't.  Life changes at every turn and adaptability is our best friend.

Business Reports

 CREATING A CORPORATE STYLE INFORMATIONAL REPORT

Using Microsoft Word and Excel

    The biggest assignment of my entire college career is to create a corporate style informational report.  It is a two week project that entails using Microsoft Word and Excel.  Then, the following week's assignment is to create a ten minute PowerPoint presentation based on information from the report.  These two assignments are so exciting for me because they will allow me to use my creativity in a professional manner and expand on the knowledge of what I have already learned in IS 101-3012.

There are many elements that have to go into this assignment.  For example:

• Report Cover
• Table of Contents
• Executive Summary or Abstract/Synopsis
  
• Introduction or History
• Body of Information
• Graphics (pictures, graphs and charts)
  
• Primary Research (survey or questionnaire created by me)
  
• Secondary Research (comparable date from other sources)
  
• Summary or analysis
  
• References

    My biggest challenge with this assignment was creating the survey to fit my topic.  The rest is going to be fairly easy.  It is only a matter of organizing all my data and formatting the report using the Word features and using Excel to create my graphs and charts based on my survey or questionnaire results, then using PowerPoint to create my presentation.

    Will you kindly participate in my survey to help a fellow student out? Copy and past the link into your browser to complete the survey.  

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfPzBfzRvGQ2HVl8Xuu3mK-SqVorH7bryiPFgclevhqD5Lqkg/viewform?usp=sf_link

It is short and should take no more than 10 minutes of your valuable time.

     Going into week 10 of the semester, I know things were pretty chaotic at the beginning, now that I have finished with two classes an started my two new classes, I feel less stressed out and I am so excited to see the final product of these assignments.  

#STAYSTRONG #STAYPOSITIVE

What's Lost Is Lost.

It's Been A Long Week Of Recovery

Entering week 9 with a positive outcome.

    As a kid in school, perfect grades were not my top priority.  Believe it or not, perfect attendance was.  I don't know why, but good grades were my second goal.  If I was sick, I was still in school.  Back then, teachers did not send kids home if they were sick, unless they threw up.  It didn't matter how I got to school, I got there.  And yes, I did have great grades.  What's weird, I hated school, but I always wanted to be there.

    Ever since I came back to college, my grades are my top priority, but my attendance is still a top priority for me.  So far, I've had perfect attendance until this past Saturday.  There was no way I was gong to make it.  I was so sick, I ended up in the hospital for a couple of days.  Devastated that my perfect attendance record is gone didn't make it easier.  But I realized, this is the reason I worked so hard to get ahead in my studies.  My "falling behind barrier" came into good use.  Luckily, I am still slightly ahead.  I've recovered well enough to get back to classes and I look forward to seeing you all on Saturday.

    Passing the halfway mark of the semester with two completed finals and ready for the next two classes.

5.8.3 Chart Facts

Bars, Lines, Pies and Column Charts

    Excel can be complicated, frustrating, exciting, and sophisticated at the same time.  Section 5.8 of chapter 5 was fun and educational for me.  Learning how to create and modify charts is essential for businesses.  Charts in essence, give life to data that otherwise can be confusing on a plain spreadsheet.  In other words, charts provide visual representation of information making it easier to understand.  

    Charts are easily customizable, moveable, and re-sizeable.  The tabs in Excel make it so easy to manage data and charts.  They can be used to interpret many types of information such as sales, statistics, comparisons, analytics, gains and losses.  I mean literally the use of charts is endless.

 

Presentation and Pushing Forward

Explosion Of Creativity, Getting Ahead, Staying on Track

Welcome to week seven of the Fall 2022 Semester everyone! 

We are just about half way done.

As we all know, Mr. Wu requires us to perform professionally, so when he asked us to do the presentation, my initial instinct was to do it professionally.  In a professional presentation, it is suggested to keep transitions to a minimum or at least consistent and to minimize animations.  Little to my surprise, Mr. Wu suggested I add some creativity to my presentation (not in those exact words of course).  I was excited! I was given the opportunity to let my creativity explode again. 😊  My final draft of the presentation gave me an opportunity to explore my creativity with the slides.  Originally I added transitions but were all consistent and there was maybe one or two animations.  Mr. Wu edited the transitions to alternate in different directions and I added the finishing touches with the animations to the company logos and titles.  This was a fun project.  Thank you Mr. Wu.

So, I've been hesitant to post about this because I feel that I could have done a lot better.  Nonetheless, I did take the MO-100 exam and passed.  Even though I passed, I don't feel content because, I'll be honest, I suck at taking exams.  I didn't score as high as I wanted and hoped to, but the point is that I did my best and did pass.  

Now that MO-100 is behind me, I've moved on to Chapter 5 (Excel).  As of this post, I am slightly ahead of schedule and hope to stay ahead.  Not because I am rushing, but its an opportunity for me to create a "falling behind barrier" you could say.  Right now, I'm close to finishing two of my 6 classes and I have more tests and exams coming up within the next couple of weeks, then my last 2 classes begin.  So staying ahead even by a little will help a long way.

So close!

MO-100 Certification Exam, Here I come.

I am hoping that within the next two days, I will have completed my MO-100 exam.  I've just finished my Microsoft Word Practice - Form A practice test.  I'll be finishing Form B shortly after this post is published.

I'm excited that I'm so close.  Getting my MO certifications has been a long time goal for me, but I was never able to on my own.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/certifications/browse/?roles=business-user

To those of you who have already completed your exam, congratulations and good luck on the Excel exam.  I am right behind you.

Midterm Creeping Up Fast.

 Exams Make Me Nervous.

    This is already an extremely stressful week for me.  I have my first midterm for Business Law I (MGT 273) this coming Tuesday, September 27, 2022.  On top of that, I still have to manage my other three class assignments, another midterm for Letters and Reports (BUS 108) on Monday the following week and a quiz due on Wednesday of that same week.  I'm asking myself, how am I going to get through the next two weeks?  It is overwhelming!  My schedule is a little above my physical and mental capacity; therefore, I have to use caution with my time management in order to accomplish all my tasks in a timely manner.

    Exams give me anxiety because I can literally study for several days and still feel as if I didn't study at all.

For example: How I prepared for BQ4

• Studied the material
• Looked through the online material in Mr. Wu's website
  
• Reviewed the material
• Wrote down all the information with additional notes
• Practiced the exercises that were mentioned and took more notes
  
• Reviewed the material again the night before.
• Reviewed the material prior to going to class.

    Personally, I felt confident that I was prepared enough for the quiz, but my brain blanked out and I forgot some of the information during the quiz.  I know I didn't get everything wrong, but I also know I could have done much better.  I will be honest, even though I did prepare for the quiz, I understand what went wrong.  The last few days prior to Saturday's quiz, I'd been staying up late completing assignments due to working later than I expected, so I feel that I can ascertain that my lack of proper rest was part of the problem.  

    As we all know, rest may be the most important part of one's day.  Many of us accomplish so many tasks throughout the day, work, study, homework, family, chores, errands, and anything life throws our way, that sometimes, we do not have enough time in the day to finish everything.  Ultimately, we tend to shorten our rest requirement, which overtime, affects our thinking capacity.  A tired brain leads to faulty outcomes.  I neglected my sleeping routine for four days.

    I made this for my bedroom closet door when I first moved to Las Vegas.  It's always been one of my favorite quotes.

    Now, this midterm has me on edge because it is a two part exam.  The first part is in person which is the essay portion.  The second part is online and will take about two hours to complete.  The entire exam from beginning to end is a total of approximately 3-4 hours long.

For this exam, I've been practicing better study habits to make sure I pass.  

For example: Preparing for this midterm

• Study the material in sections (this helps break down the understanding of certain topics)
• Manage how much time is being spent on studying a certain topic (usually between 1-2 hours/chapter)
  
• Make notes on material I don't understand or is difficult to remember and go back to it after a break
• Make sure to take breaks between study sessions ( between 30 minutes to 1 hour)
  
• Use meditation during my breaks to help me relax (it is refreshing and helps clear the mind after a study session)
  
• Have healthy meals to properly fuel my brain and body
• After a long day of studying, get a good nights rest
• Keep a positive mental attitude no matter the outcome (this one is very important to boost self-confidence)

    Once all is said and done, I'll know I did the best I could no matter the outcome. I will keep telling myself that I CAN AND WILL pass this exam.

Chapter 3.1.8 Desktop vs. Web Applications and Chapter 4.3 Modifying Fonts

There is no right or wrong, just preference.

Chapter 3 Topic:

    3.1.8 Desktop vs. Web Applications

Web applications are good for when people are traveling.  Personally, I prefer desktop applications because they have better working features than web applications do.  Web applications are a temporary solution because they can’t be used when there is no internet available, such as on planes.  That can be difficult if someone has a deadline.  Desktop applications can literally be used anywhere as long as they are installed on a portable device; they don’t need to be constantly connected to the internet, except when saving to the cloud.

Chapter 4 Topic:

    4.3 Modifying Fonts

I think you can agree with me when I say that fonts are so much fun to work with, if you are a creative soul like me.  Customized invitations for all kinds of events were one of my specialties while my kids were growing up so fonts were and still are my favorite thing to work with.  For this blog, I’ve had to tone down my creativity to reflect a more professional look.  As can be seen, my posts are now uniform and not all mixed with many fonts. All in all, I am still being creative here and I am enjoying the freedom to explore different options.

LabSim Chapter 2.1.4 PC Hardware

New Hardware!

    I use an HP Envy 17" touch screen laptop for everything I do.  Last year I purchased a Chromebook just for studies and research, but ended up not using it much, mainly because it is not a touch screen laptop.  Boy, do I love my touch screen laptop.  I can convert it to a tablet and use it as a regular laptop. 

    This semester, my laptop just isn't enough because I need multiple opened windows to perform different tasks on different applications.  I feel that my screen is big enough, but it is strenuous on my eyes after a while. I noticed that now I have to upgrade my reading glasses.

    On Sunday, I decided it was time to get an extra monitor to help me with my computer multi-tasking.  I purchased a new piece of hardware and it is working just as I expected.  For the past week, my eyes haven't felt over strained and I can see clearer with my larger monitor.  I am so happy that I was able to connect and configure my new monitor to my laptop all by myself. 

Here is my upgraded home office workstation.

I really like that both screens have individual backgrounds.  I set them up to run a series of photos at one minute intervals, so both screens are always different. 

I am happy with my new hardware.

Discussed in LabSim Chapter 1.4.10, Ecommerce Safety

Passwords, Passwords, Passwords 

    This past week, many topics were covered, but my favorite one was from TD01 Part 1: Single Sign-On (SSO) = Single Point of Failure (SOF). The question was, how do we manage our "many accounts' addresses, usernames, passwords...”? All accounts to be exact. Everyone has their own unique way of managing their accounts and sometimes it may become difficult to remember all the information, so we save them, use password management apps, store them, keep a password journal or whatever means works best for us. 

    I found this article on leapfrog services titled Why Usernames Are Important and How to Choose Good Ones, posted on August 28, 2020. I found it to be a good read and a quick study as to what is safe and not safe to use for passwords and it includes links to username generators as well as password generators. I hope you all enjoy it.

https://leapfrogservices.com/why-usernames-are-important-and-how-to-choose-good-ones/ 

At one point in time, I literally considered this idea.

First In-Person Class

THE SCRIPT

    There you have it, the class script has been preached and taught to all of us by Instructor Wu.  Now that everyone, except one person that didn't show up for the first day of in person class, knows exactly what is expected of us and what we as students can expect from our instructor.  My opinion is that there is no excuse for not doing the work.  I think all of you, if not, most of you can agree with me when I say, failure is not an option here.

    Today marked a great milestone for all of us and we are all one day closer to obtaining our Microsoft Office certificate(s).

    Thank you Instructor Wu for being a dedicated teacher.  I personally am grateful for the opportunity you gave us today to correct our errors and resubmit our work as well as answering all our questions.  Most instructors will not go that extra step to ensure their student's success.  Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to say that those instructors are not good at their jobs.  All of my instructors have been great, but depending on the class, they are not all able to do what you have done for us so far and what you will do for us throughout the course of this semester.

I look forward to seeing you all next week.  Enjoy your Labor Day weekend and stay safe!

First Day of IS101-3012 Fall 2022

FIRST DAY OF CLASS IS 101-3012 Fall 2022 

First Days Are the Best Because They Are Always Great Beginnings.

 

    Today is the first day of this exciting course and I have already virtually met my instructor, Albert Wu.  He has already helped me get a little head start to the course which I am very grateful for because I do like to stay ahead of the work just in case something happens in the future during the semester.

 

    I am excited to learn everything and earn my certifications and I am definitely going to give my 200% to this class.