Back to School at 40

First grade back

2008-05-13T22:36:00.000-07:00

I was just checking up on my final grades for this past semester and I was pleasantly surprised. First up was my Principles of Management and my grade is...(insert drum roll here)...A! Yes that's right I got an "A" which was kind of surprising given how I felt about the final exam. Almost want to contact the teacher and be sure but who am I to argue. I'll take it and run. Now I'm just awaiting the final results of my Lean Manufacturing class. I'm hoping for the best in that one. My GPA stands now at 3.66. Time for some happy music......

School's out

2008-05-10T08:31:00.000-07:00

Well my final for Lean Manufacturing was an experience. I think I passed ok but after not really being tested all semester and teacher being out 5 weeks(2 on vacation + 3 out for surgery) it was a challenge. I enjoy school but I was looking forward to a break to a normal schedule. Well now I can focus on other things(cars, computers etc...) > Well I thought I'd share this ballad from Alice Cooper which I thought was appropriate. I hope you enjoy!

Final day of school

2008-05-08T07:07:00.000-07:00

Yes today is my final day of school. I have my final exam/class for Lean Manufacturing later in the afternoon. I must say I'm looking forward to a break from school. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy going to school but it wears on you a bit. Especially when it's between family, work and other stresses. I had my other exam yesterday in Principles of Management and boy I don't feel like I did very well. Even though I did the essay on the movie "Gung Ho" (part of the exam) . The rest of the exam had to do with our textbook reading (which I did do). Only thing is that come test time it's as if I came up blank. One part was a matching terms type which wasn't so bad. The killer was three essay questions. I absolutely hate those. Like I said I had a very, very tough time with them. I know my answers weren't that good. I think I did well enough in my other exams and work that I'll pass, but it just felt crappy finishing off like that. Oh well I hope to do better with today's exam.

Executive Suite

2008-04-25T09:19:00.000-07:00

This is the essay I did for the movie "Executive Suite". My teacher seemed to like it so I thought I'd share it here. For more info about the movie you can check out this.

Thanks,

Bob

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When Tredway Furniture's President suddenly dies we are taken behind the scenes to see the power struggle that ensues. What I'd like to show here are the people involved and the situation they are thrown into. Then I will cover how and why they come to choose the President they choose. What are the ideals and principles they live by? What you may discover is that they are not much different from ourselves. None are perfect with strength's and weaknesses like the rest of us.

It's hard to describe Tredway without first mentioning Avery Bullard. Avery Bullard was the President of Tredway furniture for many years. He had rescued the company from it's dark times in the past. He took great pride in his work but had perhaps lost his way in the last few years in which he was heavily influenced by Loren Shaw's way of efficiency and maximized profit. He ran the the company with a firm hand. He had apparently a close relationship with Julia Tredway, the founder's great-granddaughter who was also a major stockholder. The exact nature of this relationship was never revealed.

We first meet George Caswell who was one of the last to see Bullard alive. He is an investment banker who is also a member of Tredway's Board of Directors. He believes he sees Bullard on the streets below being taken away apparently dead. In which he first tries to make a shady insider deal. This reveals what kind of character he is. He likes to make a fast buck and lives life lavishly.

Frederick Alderson is Tredway's Vice President, Treasurer. He's a close friend of Avery Bullard's and is considered the number-two man in the company. Upon the news of Avery's death he tries to take command of the situation only to find Loren Shaw already making moves. At which point he realizes that he was never to be President of Tredway. Though he is unsure of who should be President but, he is sure who doesn't want. Loren Shaw.

Jesse Grimm is the Vice President of Manufacturing and member of the Board of Directors. He's very proud of his work but has grown weary. He's somewhat resentful of Don Walling's education and probably feels jealous of it. He's now feels ready to retire.

Walter Dudley is Vice President of Sales for Tredway. He's a people pleasing type of person usually avoiding confrontations. He's married but is having an affair with his secretary. Loren Shaw finds out about this and tries to bully Dudley for his vote. Though he does overcome this in the end.

Erica Martin is the Executive Secretary. She is very professional in her work and in her demeanor. She is not intimidated by Shaw but shows no preference for who the next president should be. She was also close and respectful of Avery Bullard.

Julia Tredway is the great-granddaughter of Josiah Tredway founder of the company. Her father had committed suicide after which the Avery Bullard took over the company and built it up to what it is currently. She apparently had a very close relationship Mr. Bullard but was very jealous of the time and attention he gave to it. She is a major stockholder and member of the board of directors. She is so despondent over Bullards death that she is ready to sell her share of the stock.

Loren Shaw is Vice President Controller of the company he's very proactive and attention to

detail orientated. I perceive him to be a very nervous and insecure person inside and tries to overcome this by getting every detail, fact or figure about whatever he is to encounter. In this manner he tries take advantage of Caswell by assuring him he'd cover his insider trader deal. He also find's out about Dudley's affair with his secretary. Also he takes advantage of Julia Tredway's depressed condition to gain control of stock and vote on the board(by proxy). He is of the opinion that stockholders “return on investment” is the most important thing for the company.

MacDonald Walling is the Vice President of Design and Development. He's an idealist designer devoted to his work. Despite the feelings of his wife he's reluctant to blame Bullard for failings and lack of funding of recent research and development projects. At first he has no aspirations for the presidency though like Alderson he is certain it shouldn't be Shaw. He comes to realize the company lacks pride in workmanship and overall vision for the future. He comes to realize this and that he should be the one that leads Tredway into the future.

The climax of the drama takes place in the meeting boardroom to elect a new president in Bullard's place. Don Walling is waiting for his one known ally Fred Alderson and Jesse Grimm whom he's having trouble reaching. Shaw seems to think he's got the votes needed. Both literally and figuratively in his corner are Caswell held by an assurance to cover his insider deal. Dudley with the knowledge of his personal affairs. Also in hand is Julia Tredway's vote by proxy. In the other corner is Walling and the neutral Erica Martin.

Just as the meeting begins the security Shaw had starts to come unraveled. Julia Tredway decides to enter the meeting taking a sure vote away from Shaw. Loren Shaw is nominated by Dudley but the voting is inconclusive in the first round. Alderson arrives with Grimm before the second round has begun. Alderson had been unable to sway Grimm's opinion. Walling then challenges Shaws to exactly spell out his vision for Tredway. Loren then spells out what he believes. His belief is that the stockholders are the most important ones to please. In which profit and stock dividends are most important. He also believes strongly in return on investment.

Walling then outlines his vision. He feels in recent years Bullard had perhaps lost his way and became focused on profit's and dividends. He had reached a plateau. What was lost was a sense of pride in accomplishment not only by Bullard but by many in the company. They had even resorted to producing inferior but highly profitable products like the “KF” line. Walling essentially envisions a balance between profit and investment in the future. Then he feels that Tredway had reached a turning point. That just trying to gain profit will starve a company. Arguing that profits must be used for future research and development for new products. Growth of the company is important as well as profit and dividends. He in turn assures Grimm, Dudley, Shaw, and Julia Tredway how this would effect them. He encourages them all to work together as a team to reach this next goal of the company. Uncharacteristically and with enthusiastically Walt Dudley nominates Don Walling for President. Perhaps caught up in the moment the move is made unanimous and he is made president of Tredway.

In all it was an interesting insight into what goes on in the boardroom. No one person is perfect each with there own strengths and weaknesses. One thing it does teach is that a company it's not just about reaching a profit. To also grow and sustain itself is important. Companies need to invest in the future as well as profit. Just like in personal finances if you work and spend your pay without saving for the future. What will happen when retirement time comes and you have nothing to show for it. Another observation is that one should have pride in your workmanship. To reach for goals that are important and that we care about. Without this type of compass in our lives we can perhaps lose our way like Avery Bullard had.

Update

2008-04-20T21:24:00.000-07:00

It's been a strange semester. Well I did end up finishing my project for Lean Manufacturing. the only thing is that after seeing what other peoples projects were I realized I should have put more effort into it. I didn't go deep enough into the project as I felt I should have. I was disappointed in myself to some degree. What makes that class a bit different is that the teacher went out shortly after that for surgery and we haven't had classes for the last three weeks. We only have three weeks left in the course.

My Production Management class has been a bit mixed. I finished up the essay for Executive Suite and and took the test too which I did well with both(a 92% on test as a whole including essay). Since that point we've been working on formula's for which I barely have a clue how they work. Fortunately the teacher broke us into groups which helped. I certainly hope they aren't on the final exam. We had our spring break week last week but were back this week which he says we'll be watching another movie. Which we'll probably have to write on our final exam like the last one.

Stuck

2008-03-06T08:49:00.000-08:00

I've been in a rut as far as school work in concerned. I've got an essay to write for an exam in one class I haven't even started. My Lean Manufacturing class I have a project due in less than two weeks and I haven't even started. It has to be a 5S project, Process map or Value-added map. I had originally thought of doing a 5S project at home in my garage but I haven't followed through yet. Though I did take some photo's to show beginning point. I may still do that but I have to set aside the time to do it. I thought of doing a project at my job but none seem to come to mind. I'll probably go with the garage idea.

Re: I suck

2008-02-27T22:03:00.000-08:00

Well I got my test back today from Production Management and I was pleasantly surprised I got an 88% on it. Plus he liked my essays I did on them too. Sometimes I doubt my own abilities. Today we watched "Executive Suite" which I found very interesting. I wrote some quick notes about it which I'll probably share here at some point. I'm glad I bought the movie off of Amazon. Since I've got to write a paper about it it'll be easier to review rather than try and remember it. The grade I got was a good ego booster.

Salient

2008-02-27T08:31:00.000-08:00

Now that I've been back to school I've forgotten how interesting(or not) that teachers can be. My teacher for one of my courses for instances loves the salient. As in "I will go over the salient points of the chapter". This word I'd have to admit is probably not one used in normal conversation(at least not in my small circle). I kind of got the meaning of the word by the context in how he used it. Just for the heck of it I decided to check out the true meaning of it. Here's what I came up with:

Click here for link to page.

sa·li·ent /ˈseɪliənt, ˈseɪlyənt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[sey-lee-uhnt, seyl-yuhnt] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective
1. prominent or conspicuous: salient traits.
2. projecting or pointing outward: a salient angle.
3. leaping or jumping: a salient animal.
4. Heraldry. (of a beast) represented as leaping: a lion salient.
–noun
5. a salient angle or part, as the central outward-projecting angle of a bastion or an outward projection in a battle line.
6. Physical Geography. a landform that extends out beyond its surroundings, as a spur projecting from the side of a mountain. Compare reentrant (def. 4).
[Origin: 1555–65; < L salient- (s. of saliéns, prp. of salīre to spring, jump), equiv. to sali- verb s. + -ent- -ent]

—Related forms
sa·li·ent·ly, adverb

—Synonyms 1. important; striking, remarkable.
—Antonyms 1. inconspicuous, unimportant.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

The way the teacher was using is the first definition. Pretty close to what I thought it was or at least in the ballpark. As we used to say in high school "Oooh SAT word" .

I suck

2008-02-21T07:13:00.000-08:00

Had my first test in Production Management yesterday. The questions part wasn't so bad but the two essay question I totally BSed my way through. I think I probably will pass the test but not as well as I'd like. Obviously I've got to redouble my efforts in this class. At least that's the way I felt about it. Can't win them all I guess.

On writing by Stephen King

2008-02-19T10:01:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite authors is Stephen King. He has been since I can remember. Carrie was probably the first one I read. I'm probably more of a fan of his earlier work until probably the mid eighties. Since then not a lot of what he has written has captured me much. The last one I got (From a Buick 8) a few years back and I still haven't finished it.I did pick up his book "On Writing" from the local library recently. It has been an interesting book so far and I'm about halfway through it. The first section of the book is more of a personal memoir from his early childhood to when he broke into the big time with Carrie. Which I found interesting and humorous at times. The later half so far on how he writes. Now I certainly don't fancy myself a writer but this is also interesting. The book has kept my attention and interest and I'll probably end up purchasing this one to keep.

This week

2008-02-15T10:06:00.000-08:00

Not a lot to note this week. Lean Manufacturing class still is the more interesting of the two classes this semester. This week it was on the use of flow charts and such. Basically on how to map out a process and learn where all the waste is and how it could be improved. It's more interesting because it has more immediate implications at our work.

Ironically I'm still trying to figure out what exactly my Production Management class is all about even after three weeks. The teacher is OK but a bit on the boring side. We have our first test this coming week so I'll be studying this weekend for it.

Now for the lighter side of life. A scene from one of favorite movies growing up "Fast Time at Ridgemont High". Please enjoy....

Lean Thinking

2008-02-09T06:03:00.000-08:00

I'd have to think that my Lean Manufacturing class is the more interesting of the two I'm taking this semester. I even picked out some extra reading from the library. "Lean Thinking"(Womack & Jones) tells some interesting stories of companies using older methods of production. Some well known companies are included like Pratt & Whitney and Porsche(yes the car company). Well at least I've found them interesting. I messed up though and forgot to do my 5S assignment last week for class. I must do that this weekend.

Additional reading stuff I've picked up this week were "In the pursuit of Happyness" by Chris Gardner(library book), "On writing" by Stephen King(library book), "World According to Garp" by John Irving(yet another library book) and "First things First" by Stephen Covey(Amazon). The good thing about library books is that you've got somewhat of a time limit to do your reading. It sort of keeps you from just getting the book and forgetting about it.

What's on your bookshelf?

2008-02-04T22:55:00.000-08:00

Just recently I've wanted to start cataloging my books. I started a spreadsheet but it was a bit tedious plus with a touch of procrastination it hasn't gotten very far. I came across LibraryThing.com which catalogs your book collection. All you do is enter the ISBN number on your book and it does the rest. You can even enter one manually if it's not found in the database. I cataloged 33 books in a short amount of time. I only did the ones around my desk I haven't even touched the ones on the other bookshelves. I found it to be a cool way to keep track of your books. Give it a try. My list can be found here. A special thanks to one of my favorite blogs Geeks are sexy for finding this one.

Lean Manufacturing: 5s

2008-02-02T06:04:00.000-08:00

This week in class we learned about 5S. Many of the 5S items may seem like a no brainer and may even be in place at your work or home. The probability that all are in place at once is probably slim one. What was interesting to me is that it not only at work these items can work in the home too. I immediately saw how I could apply many of these tools to my garage, basement and even around the home. What are the 5S's? They are Sort,Set in order,Shine,Standardize, and Sustain. Like I said it's an interesting concept. I believe I'm going to do our basement and or garage as a project. I'll post here along when I do. It should be interesting.

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

2008-01-31T09:22:00.000-08:00

I don't usually write about movies or reviews. I rarely watch them myself. I did happen to watch "The pursuit of happyness" this morning. I can't help but to be touched and inspired by this movie in many respects. If your not aware of the story it is inspired by the life of Christopher Gardner who overcame unbelievable hardship in his pursuit of happiness. Why write about it here? Not only was I very touched by his dedication to his son but he had set goals in his life and he pursued them unrelentingly. I've covered goal setting in this blog so I thought it would be appropriate.

What first got me was his dedication to his son and his reasoning behind it. Apparently he had no father while growing up so he made a vow to always be a part of his son's life which he did. Even when his wife left him and he insisted his son stay with him. I can relate to that in my own life regarding my son. My dad unfortunately was not a part of my life in later childhood. One of my goals in life has been to always be a part of my son's life no matter what may happen.

The main part of what can be learned from his story is his focus on his goals. Despite the many hard ships he and his son endured he remained steadfast in his goals which was to become a stockbroker. I almost feel embarrassed to complain about my own situation compared to what he went through. I highly recommend this movie.

Follow up

2008-01-29T06:30:00.000-08:00

I had written here last month how much my "Student Success" teacher liked my final essay and was going to pass it along. It came back yesterday with some positive notes on it. It apparently was shared with someone from the English Department some comments and corrections. "this student is on their way to being a great writer! It's organized, coherent, and more importantly - inspiring." that is a direct quote from the note attached to the essay. If that isn't compliment I don't know what is then. I haven't talked directly with the teacher yet but he did leave his number and I will call him by this weekend. Do I have a hidden skill I didn't even know I had? I'll work on revising it with some corrections that were recommended. I'm actually thinking of taking a summer writing course(at the same school). Something to brush up on my basic writing skills as I'm sure they are a bit rusty. Maybe I can look up some books to help me out. Well got to go. I just thought I'd share that here.

The Ultimate Student Resource

2008-01-28T07:40:00.000-08:00

I discovered this list over at Lifehack.org. I thought it may be of use to some. It's a pretty extensive listing . I've got a few items already but it's a handy reference.

Influence of Stephen Covey

2008-01-27T19:32:00.000-08:00

I just started new classes this week and still see the influence of Stephen Covey in at least one of the classes. My instructor for Production Management used phrases such as "proactive", "reactive and "paradigms". Which to me are Covey keywords. I doubt if I hadn't read his "7 Habits" book that I would have even picked up on those. I do have one of his other books "First things First" on order from Amazon coming soon and I can't wait to read it.

Toyota Production

2008-01-27T06:37:00.000-08:00

Our teacher for Lean Manufacturing talked about Toyota Production System or TPS. I found this video that kind of explains it. It's kind of interesting.

Lean Manufacturing

2008-01-25T06:56:00.000-08:00

Last night was my first class in Lean Manufacturing. It's about waste in the working environment. Not the waste you throw in the trash can per say (though that can be a part of it). It can be wasted time, material, money and etc. Boy do we have a lot of that where I work. It should be an interesting class with a lot of relevance where I work. To give an idea of what it's about the teacher gave an example of the way Toyota manufactures automobiles and such. Well at least I got some reading to do now.

Back to school

2008-01-24T05:55:00.000-08:00

Well yesterday was my first day back to school. First up is Production (or Operations) Management BUS 3091. As the course description goes it introduces student to basic concepts and techniques in the manufacturing/service areas of a business. Last night was more or less an introductory session. The teacher was a bit I would say interesting to say the least. It's hard to describe him. The course itself sounds interesting and now I have some reading to do again. Today will be my other class which is Lean Manufacturing. What that is exactly I'm not sure. Nice to be back in the classroom again.

New Classes

2008-01-17T07:14:00.000-08:00

Well it's back to school next week for me. I found out my schedule yesterday. On Wednesday I have Production Management and Thursday I have Lean Manufacturing. Not sure what they have to do with engineering. I'll have to check my course outline again to be sure. My major is suppose to be engineering. I was hoping for Technical Writing or Intro to Computers.In any event I'm actually looking forward to hitting the books again.
I'm still working on my typing skills and finish the Tom Brokaw book I've been reading(The Greatest Generation). I'm about half way finished with it and I'm enjoying it very much.

SpongeBob Squarepants Typing

2008-01-16T09:37:00.000-08:00

While I have a little time between semesters I decided to work on my typing skill's (or lack of is more like it). I had bought a SpongeBob Squarepants Typing software several month's back for my son. It's actually for kids older than he so he didn't show much interest it. I had tried a few online tutorials without much luck or improvement. I decided to give SpongeBob a try. I disciplined myself to do at least 30 minutes a day. I believe after about 10 days my typing has improved dramatically. Granted It's geared for children but it does work for adults too. It puts a little fun into learning typing which can be boring. I'm up to lesson 17 with 96% accuracy at 12 WPM. I watch my wife do it and she's at least 4 times as fast and she's says she's out of practice. I have a way to go but I'm determined to catch her. Anyway if you don't mind SpongeBob it's a fun way to learn typing!

The Greatest Generation

2008-01-12T20:39:00.000-08:00

My Grandmother circa 1942

My Grandparents(on right), Great-Grandmother(left),one of my uncles(being held by my grandfather) and my mother in front. Circa 1944

While reading Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation" I can't help but think of my grandparent's. Maryann Ellis my Grandmother (pictured above) for some reason in particular. She was the last pass to the next world. She wasn't very tall in size nor very loud. Although she could be strong willed and opinionated when she wanted. She was the daughter of Portuguese immigrants born in New England. She married William Ellis (my Grandfather) in 1941 and would go onto have nine children(my mother being one of them) something to this day I still find amazing.

While growing up little did I know they were part of this generation. It was probably something not really spoken of at the time. The full scope of what they had lived through wasn't fully realized yet. I still don't have all the details on what they did during the depression and the second world war. There wasn't a hole lot of evidence around there house to give it away. It was in bits and pieces we would figure things or give us a clue. One was a picture of my Grandfather in a navy uniform. Later we also came across some old uniforms and patch's. No details of what exactly they did though. I don't believe they were thinking in grandiose way we think of that era today. They were just trying to live life without much fanfare.I think that was a trademark of there generation. Were they perfect? No they had there faults for sure but they worked hard for what they had because that's the way they were brought up.

I'm not exactly sure where I was going with this bit. These were just some thoughts that came to mind while reading this book. It has certainly made me wish I had maybe taken the time to know them better.

The local library

2008-01-09T22:03:00.000-08:00

After reading this article on one of my favorite blogs I was inspired to visit the local library. I've been meaning to do this for awhile but for one reason or another I didn't. I signed up for a card and I was off looking around. The one I visited was actually a branch off the local city (Providence,RI) library. I used to love the library when I was younger. Somehow I fell away from them. Libraries are a place where I can lose all track of time. For one year in high school I was a volunteer at the school library so I really feel at home. The first day I went it was full of kids and plus I was running off to work so I just got my card and left. I went back the next day to really look around. I had seen one computer book I had my eye on so I picked up that one. I had a problem with a second one though. I couldn't decide what to pick out. I looked up some Stephen Covey books but they didn't have any but I did ask them if they would get one from another branch so I'm waiting on that one. I wanted another for some casual reading so I did find another. Here's what I ended up getting:

1. Absolute Beginners Guide to Computer Basics(4th Edition) by Michael Miller
2. The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw
3. First things first by Stephen Covey (on order from different branch)

These should keep me busy until school starts in a couple of weeks. I had fun I'll be sure and be a regular visitor. I can't wait to go again.

Setting some new goals

2008-01-02T09:48:00.000-08:00

This is the time of year most people make resolutions. I'm in the process of reviewing my goals for the new year. Here are some that come to mind first.
1. Finally end the smoking habit.
2. To achieve A's in my college courses I take this year
3. To become closer to my family this year
4. To learn to type which will help in my school work and plus it's a good skill to have.
5. To become a better employee at my work.
6. To read at least one new book a month.(other than school books). Current reading is All the Presidents Men by Woodward and Bernstein.
These are just a few that I could shoot off at the moment. Now I've just got to break them down into achievable and set a date. Wish me luck.

Book Review - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

2007-12-30T20:59:00.000-08:00

Back in October I recommended this book and now here's a review I did of it. I hope you enjoy!

One of the things that stuck with me from this book was the example of thinking ahead to your own funeral many years from now and wondering what people would say of you. What would your family say. How would co-workers and friends remember you. To me it likened back the story of Scrooge getting a a visit from the third and final ghost. After seeing what would happen if he stayed on the same path what would happen he had what Stephen Covey calls a paradigm shift. A Paradigm is a term to describe a theory, perception or way of thinking. A paradigm shift then is a shift in that thinking or belief. Stephen Covey discusses this in great length in the beginning of the book. I found out about this book through a college course whose textbook* borrows and quotes Stephen Covey's ideas heavily. Though it wasn't required for my course I decided to check out the book because I liked the ideas it presented. I read through it once already and I'm now going through it a bit more slowly the second time. Granted even though Stephen Covey even says it's not a book just to read once and tossed aside and expect miracles. It's a book to learn from and be reference guide in the future.

For those who don't know Stephen Covey is. Besides The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People he has also written follow up books like First things First, The eighth habit and so on. At last count I believe the seven habits book has sold over fifteen million. He also has a M.B.A from Harvard and a Doctorate from Brigham Young University. He is well respected speaker with engagements around the world.
In the book he covers the now famous seven habits of highly effective people. The seven are:

1. Be Proactive - He talks of being proactive rather than reactive to situations and tasks. In his own Proactive model we have stimulus->response vs. Stimulus->Freedom to choose->Response. Stephen describes it from the book as " It means that as human beings , we are resonsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions."** In other words we should not be effected by outside stimuli but rather be guided by our values and beliefs. Reactive people are affected by outside forces. An example would be a reactive person having a lousy day because it's raining where as the proactive person would not be affected or would find a solution around it rather than let it effect him. The chapter does go much deeper into such things as taking responsibility for our decisions and that where we are today is due to decisions we made in the past. You are not forced to do anything and that you always have a choice. He also talks about what he calls is the circle of concern/circle of influence. He contends that many of us spend way too much time with stuff that is the outside circle of concern. Much of this is stuff which is out our circle of influence which is in the middle. We should work on what we can influence and change not what is only a concern. I've seen this many times at my current employment with many people worried or concerned what others are doing rather than being just concerned with what they can do. To me this is just a trememndous waste of time and energy.

2. Begin with the end in mind - I kind of covered this in the introduction. His basic idea is the have an idea or or picture in mind of where you want to go and how to get there. This is where you make your goals and then figure out how to get there. Much like planning a trip on a map. You begin with point A which is where you are today and then point B where you want to go. You then map out your best route. You also make your own mission statement in each of your life roles.
A particular quote from this chapter that struck me was "Through imagination, we can visualize the uncreated worlds of potential that lie within us".** To me that tells that we can create our own potential and that the only limit to our potential is ourselves.

3. Put first things first - This one is about setting priorities in our lives. This is where come to find out about the four quadrants of time (or self Management)>. In quadrant one we have Important/Urgent. Quadrant two we have Important/Not urgent. Quadrant three we have Not Important/Urgent. In the Fourth Quadrant we have Not Urgent/Not Important. In the first quadrant we have Urgent and Important which are items that need our immediate attention. These are things we can't ignore. In quadrant two we have which are Important but not urgent. These are items that though are important but they can be put off. These are preventative actions, planning ahead and maintenance type of items. In Quadrant three we have items that though are not important to us personally they are made urgent. These can be urgent meetings that have nothing to do with us and our goals. Doing urgent favors to cover for a friend or coworker may fall into this category. In the fourth quadrant we have the unimportant and not urgent. These are what I call time wasters. These can be trivial items such as playing too many video games , watching endless ours of TV or surfing for hours on the internet (I stand guilty as charged).
Of course Stephen urges us to concentrate our activities in quadrant two activities. Though Quadrant one activities will still have to be dealt with. As time goes by these urgent activities(or crisis) will be fewer and when they do arise you'll be better prepared.

4. Think Win/Win - This is the philosophy and frame of mind that seeks mutually beneficial outcomes to all our interactions. This is opposed to the idea of Win/Lose, lose/lose, Win,Lose/Win and so on. It means means both parties walk away satisfied and feel good about the agreement or outcome.

5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood. - What this boils down to is to listen with empathy. To fully understand the other person totally before making yourself understood. I know I catch myself trying to but get across my idea or thought before the other person has finished what he or she has said. Therefore I wasn't totally listening or trying to understand them first. How can you fully make someone understand you if you don't understand what they want first? That I believe is what Stephen tries to get across.

6. Synergize - To me this comes down to is teamwork. Stephen's definition is that the "the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts".** An example of this can be the New England Patriots football team. As of this writing they had just completed a perfect sixteen wins in the regular season and are heavily favored to win the Superbowl. They weren't always like this for many years in there infancy they went through being a laughing stock, poorly managed, cheesy stadium and so on. In the mid 1990's new ownership took over with a commitment to win and build a dynasty. Through a series of coaching and player changes they started winning Superbowl wins didn't come at first. Then it seemed with coach Belichek and quarterback Brady things seem to come together. Now they have a state of the art stadium complex, three Superbowl Wins and looking for a fourth and now have management that's committed to win.

7. Sharpen the Saw- This one is about self renewal. This is about taking a break once and awhile to maintain your balance. It talks of renewing yourself not only mentally but physically, spiritually, socially and emotionally. Physically you should take time to take care of yourself. To eat well, get checkups and of course exercise. Mentally we should be reading,visualizing, planning and writing. Spiritually would should be studying, meditating renew or strengthen values. Socially and emotionally we should be emphatic to others. Taking time to develop relationships and such.

A basic them through the book is to work from being dependent on others. To independent then finally interdependent. I have thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it it to others. There are many more inspirational and deep thoughts that Stephen comes up with throughout the book. I carry the book wherever I go now. I've got ton's of stuff outlined underlined and so on through out the book. I don't look at it like some kind of bible but more as a reference book. I read through the book and had countless "aha" moments when ideas or thoughts I agreed with or had discovered something new. This book won't be on my bookshelf long enough to collect dust as it generally goes where I do.

Reference:

* - "On Course" 5th Edition by Skip Downing

** - "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey

Voices in my Head

2007-12-29T07:04:00.000-08:00

You lock the door

And throw away the key

There's someone in my head but it's not me

-Pink Floyd “Brain Damage”

We all have an inner conversation going on within in ourselves. It’s probably going on right now as you read this deciding whether to read on or not. Just right now mine told me to go take the chicken out of the freezer, like my wife asked before she comes home and kills me for not doing it. Some of you may hear voices that give a constant running commentary, criticism or guidance. What I hope to explain here is the different types of voices and perhaps some guidance on which to listen to. I recently learned about these through a book called “On Course” by Skip Downing. Which I read for recent college course I took called Student Success. Although it was geared for college success it also has good advice for other aspects of your life. Why is it important to learn these? These are the voices we tend to listen to the most and base most of our decisions on them.

The first one we’ll cover is called the Inner Critic. This is the voice that deems us weak or inadequate. This one tells us I’m no good at math, I’m ugly and, my nose is too big. It blames you for whatever is going wrong in your life. It's not to say that the inner critic is always wrong, but it does tend to go overboard with self criticism. Self awareness is a good thing if done with care. The idea is to learn from your mistakes and not to do the same thing again.

What creates the inner critic? You may say it sounds like an adult criticism from your younger years. Perhaps you can even recall the specific incident when it happened. I know a lot of my life I've been called shy and quiet. Many times I found myself using this as an excuse to not perform my best or at least speak up when I should have.

On the other end of the spectrum we have the Inner Defender. This guy is the poster child of passing the buck. Instead of looking to ourselves for responsibility it plants the blame squarely on others. Like say blaming a teacher for a lousy grade. Another is blaming your boss or coworker because his job stinks. Basically not taking responsibility for ones own situation.

I see this one as the most prevalent at my current job unfortunately. One fellow I worked with for awhile would groan and complain about a job and constantly ask why another shift hadn't (in his opinion) done the job. In fact he seemed more concerned about what they were doing (or not) than what he himself was doing. Which to me is worrying about something that is out of your control and one should be focused( in my opinion) on your job at hand. He would spend quite amount of energy asking why or complaining to anyone who would listen about what someone else had or hadn't done right. To me it was silly and a waste of time and energy.

This has it's root probably in childhood when we were scared or defensive. We all know many children will blame siblings for things they have done. My grandmother would say “Did Gigi do it?” when asking who did something wrong. Assigning blame to an invisible person. Sure we went along with it when we could.

The last one we'll look at is the Inner Guide. Like Luke Skywalker had the ghost of Obi Wan Kenobi as his inner guide in Star Wars. It's usually the voice of reason and wisdom. It seeks to make the the best of a situation. Think of it as the “No Spin Zone” inside your head. Often giving you the impartial truth. Do I always listen to him? Not always. I've made just as many mistakes as anyone else.

The Inner Guide often finds the middle ground between the Inner Critic and Inner Defender and usually asks how you can find a sane solution to your problem. Instead of spending a lot of time blaming others or criticizing themselves, the Inner Guide almost takes a step back and analyzes the situation to find a solution.

So who should we listen to? Most often enough the Inner Guide is the one we should listen to most often. Many times in haste we turn to the inner critic or defender for advice. Not all of us are perfect but it does help to be aware of these inner voices inside our head that guide us in our daily lives. Remember that the inner critic tends beat ourselves up over issues. The inner defender will be blaming everyone else, including President Bush for there situation. The Inner Guide is your best bet in my opinion. He tends to be the voice of reason. It usually makes the most sense in many cases if we are listening. How many times have you realized you did something wrong and said I should have listened to myself beforehand? I know I have.

All the presidents men

2007-12-25T09:58:00.000-08:00

I've never read this one but it should be interesting. It's a Christmas gift I got today. I love reading in general and I'm on vacation this week so I could catch up on my personal reading. Hope your all having a great holiday. Talk to you later.

Final Grade - Student Success

2007-12-24T10:03:00.000-08:00

I just checked online and I found out my final grade in my Student Success class. I got an "A" !!! Boy that made my day! I'm still waiting on my Oral Communications class final grade. Hopefully I'll find out by the end of the week. What a Christmas present.

Three rules of success

2007-12-24T08:30:00.000-08:00

Ever wish you had a simple plan for success? I recently read about in a book about three simple rules for success. They do make sense and maybe they could help you out. This was done by polling college professors and they identified three rules of success. These can not only be applied to school but in the rest of your life at work, play, family etc. Here's the list:

Rule #1 Show up. - Kind of makes sense doesn't it. If you skip classes miss work you miss out or have to play catch up when you come back. This past semester I missed the the first class of exch class because I didn't read the schedule correctly. I had to play catch up for a couple of weeks after. After that I made it a goal to attend every class after that. The only class I missed was canceled because of snowstorm. I also did well in both classes to boot.

Rule #2 I do my best work. Another no brainer perhaps. Granted your best work isn't always possible but you should make it a goal. In doing some assignments this semester it was acceptable to hand some papers hand written but many times I went the extra mile to type and print them out to make a better appearance. I felt more pride handing those in then handing in a sheet of notebook paper for an assignment.

Rule #3 I participate actively. Be committed to participate actively in your tasks and roles in life. If you don't your just being reactive and have no control over the outcome. Be prepared in class or work, Listen attentively and plan ahead. Like Stephen Covey would advise to be proactive. Don't be a bump on a log.

Even though I haven't perfected these three I've at least got some guidelines to go by. To me they make sense and can be applied to all facets of life. Remember to show up,do your best and participate! Thank you and have a Merry Christmas!

*Sources: On Course (5th Edition) by Skip Downing, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

Lessons learned

2007-12-22T22:00:00.000-08:00

Well this past week I had my final Oral Communications class this week. I took the final and I believe I did ok. Probably will know within the next week what my final grade is. I haven't heard anymore on my Student Success class yet. It's the holidays so I probably won't find out the final grades until after Christmas. I liked both of my teachers and felt I came a long way since September. Even the Oral Communications teacher was very positive and felt I had come a long way. The whole experience itself was personally uplifting. I feel energized by feeding my brain is one way to describe it. I'm hoping in the next couple of weeks I hope to share some of the things I learned before my next classes start in mid January. I actually going to miss school in a way but a break isn't bad to recharge my batteries. I'll be able to catch up on some personal things and enjoy a week off from work and spend time with my family as they are the most important things to me. Being on the opposite shift that my 5 year old son goes to school is tough. I miss him a lot and many times go all week with seeing him. He's growing so fast and he's doing well in Kindergarten. I got to see him at school sing for a Christmas program. I was so proud of him as he sang with his class. You definitely can't pass up those moments. Not to forget my wife I miss her too. I see her a bit more during the week so we try and catch up on things then. She's very understanding about me going to school and gives me a lot of slack even when I don't deserve it. Well I hope you all are able to enjoy this Christmas season. I'll be a away for Christmas for a couple of days but I'll be around online just not as much as usual. Take care and Merry Christmas!

Plan ahead

2007-12-19T07:02:00.000-08:00

Here's some simple advice from motivational author Jack Canfield. Sounds like good advise . I'm working on it my self . I usually email myself a to-do list and I've found it helps. I haven't gotten to the point of planning each hour out.

Final Week

2007-12-15T08:08:00.000-08:00

I had my final Student Success class yesterday which I turned my final essay in (70% of total grade). Before we left while we were doing some class work apparently our teacher read our essays. He was very impressed by it and even thought it worthy of being published in the textbook(On Course by Skip Downing)which has similar stories. Needless to say I was very flattered and somewhat speechless. He was going to share it with his department head and see what he or she thought. Not bad for a guy that hasn't written an essay in probably twenty years. That pretty much made my day. Even if nothing else happens with it, it was the highlight of my semester.
I've got one more class on Thursday for my Oral Communications final, and I'll find out my grade from my last speech(i almost don't want to know). So I'll be concentrating on that until then.
I'm actually kind of sad and glad the semesters ending soon. I thought I've learned a lot and actually can't wait to find out what I'm taking next semester. I also know it'll be good to take a break and recharge my batteries. I have another Stephen Covey Book on the way from Amazon called First Things First. That should give me some reading material over the holidays. That's it for now and see you later.

Healthy Stress reduction

2007-12-13T13:56:00.000-08:00

Here are some healthy stress reduction tips. These are adapted from my Student Success textbook "On Course" by Skip Downing. I can see the heavy influence of Stephen Covey's 4 quadrants theory. Here we go.

Sail Away - Separate your self from your external stress. Seek some solitude to reduce stress.
Make a list of priorities you have.
Assign priorities to each task : A= important & important, B = important & not urgent, C = All unimportant items.
Cross the C's off the list as they are pretty much a waste of time.
Delegation- Wherever possible delegate(A's and B's) to someone else to a task. Ask a favor from a friend relative. Have someone help you with some of your items.
Complete remaining A's and B's yourself.
Look for time savers. Consolidate errands or tasks whenever possible.
Just say No - Say no to any unnecessary commitments. Do it in a polite way whenever possible.
Keep Finances organized. Finances can be a big stress do best to keep in order.
Exercise - Oops I really slack on this one. Helps reduce stress and is good for you to boot.

I hope these can help you out among these stressful holiday season. Thanks for coming by.

Victims and Creators

2007-12-12T23:04:00.000-08:00

My Student Success book teaches us about people who are Victims and Creators. This is similar to Stephen Covey's Proactive and Reactive people. Victims tend to keep doing what they are doing whether it works or not. They blame outside forces and or are heavily influenced by them. Creators change beliefs and behaviors to create solutions. They also take responsibility for there actions and such.
The reason for my intro was to bring about this incident at my work place. At my work we have crews of people who work for different supervisors in different trades. Trading of workers does happen from time to time if someone switches a job(sometimes against there will). Our crew short on people many months ago took on some new members several months ago. One such member came from another crew who was interested in our trade and seemed like a good worker. Also it was well known he didn't get along with his last boss. Over the past several months there have been several incidents involving him and other crew members. Not always his fault but he was in the thick of it. Well just this night while leaving for work he shouts over to me and my friend who were headed for out cars "You guys got me switched back to so and so's (back to his old boss) department next week." Blaming us for his departure from our crew. We had ourselves little if any decision or impact on his leaving. I just thought this illustrated the Victim persona so well.
How often do we our selves blame others for our misfortune, rather than looking into ourselves for our own responsibility? This class and book has made me see the difference in my own thinking and seeing it others.

Been awhile

2007-12-10T22:34:00.000-08:00

Since I've been around here. Been busy with other things I guess. I've been working a lot at my PC repair blog. As far as school news has been I've been doing pretty good. I gave my last speech last week for Oral Communications. Mine was a speech of persuasion to read Stephen Covey's book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It went ok. My time was a little short and there were a few things like actually using the blackboard for visuals. Not sure what I was thinking not using visuals it may have helped my time issues. It also didn't help that I had changed the subject at the last minute. Oh well. Got my final test next week. My other class Student Success I've got to finish up my final essay this week and that will be last of that one. I wonder what next semesters classes will be?

Speech results

2007-11-16T07:36:00.000-08:00

Well I got my grade back from last weeks (oil change) speech and I was surprised to get an A-. I couldn't believe it. This was despite being a bit short in length and failing to mention my sources. Otherwise I did pretty well. I've got some other items to work on too but it was a huge boost to my self confidence to do well on that one. Made my day.

Veteran's Day

2007-11-10T12:36:00.000-08:00

I'm a veteran myself(peacetime U.S. Army) and I have relatives who served in Vietnam and now have cousins who served (maybe serving) in the current conflict. I can't help be touched by the stories of sacrifice veteran's have made. If you have a chance this weekend no matter how you feel about our current situation. Thank a Veteran. It's the least you can do and that's all many ask. What sparked me to write this was this story. I hope you read it. Thank You and God Bless America!

Update

2007-11-10T07:32:00.000-08:00

This week I did my presentation on an oil change in my public speaking course. I think I did Ok. I was glad to get it over with. I have such anxiety about public speaking that in consumes me days ahead of time. It's such a relief when it's over. Glad there is only one more to go for this semester.

My other class (Student Success) we discussed things from our text book. We covered stuff like the scripts we tend live by. It's that little voice in your head that tells you what to do, not to do,how to behave, your values and beliefs. Well I think you may get the picture.This course really does make you think about yourself and how to become more self aware. Like actors(or actresses) scripts tell them what to say or do in a performance. We do that in our everyday lives. The script has been written by your past experiences. It's quite deep if you really think about it. The course text(On Course by Skip Downing) follows closely with Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I'm still reading it and I still highly recommend it. Well that's all for now. Thanks for reading this boring blog. Come back again if you like.

This weeks update

2007-11-03T08:20:00.000-07:00

Oral Communications: This week we covered items from our textbook. Covered was presentation aids and such. We are in preparation for our demonstration speeches next week. My homework is continue to develop, practice it.
Student Success: We have the resume project that's an ongoing project due at the end of the month. Plus we got two short essays and a journal assignment due next week.

In a funk

2007-10-30T07:49:00.000-07:00

I'd have to admit lately I've been in a funk lately as far as school work goes. After getting some decent grades around midterm last week I've been lazy about school work. I have managed to work out my oil change outline for my speech and I've got a resume to start for my other class.

Re: Midterm

2007-10-27T08:25:00.000-07:00

I got my midterm grade for my Student Success class and and I got an "A". So far so good. This calls for another celebratory music video....

Midterm

2007-10-25T22:50:00.000-07:00

I got a 92 on my Oral Communications midterm. It made my day! It seems I'm off to a pretty good start. I was happy with it. Next up is a demo speech. I'm thinking of doing one on changing the oil in a car. I've already got an outline done for it. Got my Student Success class tomorrow.

In celebration here's a tune from one of my favorites groups.

Week in Review

2007-10-20T08:25:00.000-07:00

Oral Communications: This week was our midterm exam. I think I did pretty good. It was multiple choice and covered mainly the terms from our book on public speaking. We also got back our grades from last weeks speech. I got a "C" with some good comments from the teacher. I was happy with it. Not bad for someone who absolutely feared this class. Only 4 of us showed up. A few guys we haven't even seen the last couple of weeks. Next up will be a speech of demonstration. I'm thinking of doing one on an oil change. I actually don't fear as much getting up to speak as more nervous of the material itself.
Student Success: I'm still enjoying this class very much. It's hard to explain what exactly this course does. It's very insightful and I'm feeling I'm learning much more than can be put into words. I'm learning as much about my self and how to change my ways from a victim mentality to a creator. A lot of it is about setting goals and how to reach them. We just had a quiz and did an assignment in class this week. Grade wise It's not that hard the quizzes we get are fairly simple.

Just some thought's

2007-10-17T23:30:00.000-07:00

Being back in school has enlightened me in some ways . My "Student Success" class has been probably the most eye opening one. The main theme seems to be personal responsibility. Dealing with "Creator" and "Victim" personality type. It's usually easy to spot someone else's fault's but to spot your own isn't alway as easy. After reading the book it made me more aware of peoples different personality types(creator or victim ) usually a blend of both leaning usually more to one or the other. Of course I was almost thinking I was above all that, but I soon realized that (usually with some help from my wife, she's good for that) my own faults. I'm usually quick to go on the defensive about things especially when confronted with something(my fault or not). On the good side I do feel that going to school now I've decided to take some direction in my life (a creator action). It's a start. Reading through my book some times I see subject's I'd love to write here about. perhaps I will some time in the near future. It would give me a chance to share some insight.

On a different note(pardon the pun). I'm not sure if there is any correlation between school and music. I've found I'm listening to a lot more music along with actually purchasing CD's again. I guess it's a harmless distraction from all the studying.

Here's one from a CD I just bought:

This weeks summary

2007-10-12T23:26:00.000-07:00

Oral Communications:
This week we did our presentations. I think I did OK. I fumbled a little but didn't panic which was a good thing. Only three of us showed for the class (out of about 7 we have small classes). Between the three of us I think mine was about in the middle of the pack. One guy just froze right up in the middle. He needed a bit more practice, I kind of felt bad for him but I give him credit for trying. My big thing was giving it a bit more practice I think it would have been better. We've got our mid-term next week so I'll be reviewing my notes and book this coming week. I think I'm actually working through my fear of public speaking. I was more worried about my material than the speaking part.
Student Success: I'm actually enjoying this class. I'm learning a lot about motivation, attitude and self management. I'm almost finished reading the book, lol. We did a bit of catch up work this week because of last weeks lightly attended class.
After class I had a chance to do some reading from our book On Course by Skip Downing. In chapter in came across a section about Flow . It described as a state of mind when your in a zone of where your totally absorbed into whatever your doing. Be it work, play or whatever you may be doing. It's when time passes by quickly. What came to mind was that Kevin Costner baseball movie called "For love of the game". About a pitcher playing his last game before retiring and he was pitching a no hitter. When he was in the act of picture everything around except for himself, batter and catcher was zoned out. Ok the movie wasn't the greatest but I do remember that part of it. It really made me think about what I'm doing when I get in the "zone". It's been a tough question for myself. Times I remember being in sort of a zone would be doing things like working on fixing a computer, detailing or working on my car and similar stuff. How many of us spend our life not being able to find that zone?It made for interesting thinking.
Well I've got to go to bed for now. Thanks for reading. I'll leave you with a quote from the above book...

"Being able to enter flow is emotional intelligence at it's best; flow represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing the emotions in the service of performance and learning" - Daniel Goleman

Another one I liked...

"The best career advice to give the young is "Find out what you like doing the best and get someone to pay you for doing it" - Katherine Whitehorn

Stuff

2007-10-06T20:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a summary of what I've been working on.
Oral Communications: This week we went over basic stuff for organizing speech's covering support material for a speech. We also covered basic stuff that we'll have in our mid-term exam in about two weeks. Our next speech will be a 5-6 minute speech on a subject that has duel viewpoint. We have to present both sides of a current hot button topic unbiased. My topic I chose was whether to pull troops out of Iraq now or later. I've got the basic outline almost done and now I just have to put the supporting material in a cohesive manner.
Student Success: This week we didn't really cover too much. It was a lightly attended class to say the least. Me, myself and the teacher. Three day holiday weekend too tempting for the other two students. Class was only an hour and we didn't cover too much. I'm actually ahead in my reading and homework in this class. I'm really enjoying this one.

Redemption...

2007-09-30T19:44:00.000-07:00

In my first post I mentioned this being my shot at redemption. You might wonder what exactly I meant by that.Please let me elaborate.
When I was younger just out of the Army I enrolled at New England Institute of Technology to study Architectural Drafting. For the first couple of semesters I did ok between a part-time job and being at school full-time. I was going out with my high school sweetheart at the time who was going to University of Massachusetts in Amherst. I used to visit her on weekends or vacations whenever I could whenever I could. I believe she came up with the idea of getting an apartment close to her school. So we did. Of course the plan was that I would find a school close by and continue my studies. For one reason or another I never did get around to that plus their wasn't much that I could transfer to at that location. Paying rent and basic living expenses became the focus and so my schooling dropped from priority. After eventually falling behind in rent due to lack of work through a temporary agency we decided to both move out. Of course she went back to her parents and so did I. Unfortunately by that time my grace period for my student loans expired so I had to work to pay them in the mean time. I eventually went back to school again. For some reason it didn't work out and I dropped out again. Now student loan people were hounding me for money of course so I had to work full time to pay them.For some reason I decided to give school one more try but this time I decided to do a different major this time in Automotive/Autobody Technology(at the same school). I believe I made it through two semesters before dropping out a third time. By this time through confusion by my student loan creditors who for some reason didn't get my paperwork to defer my loan payments I was being hounded to pay back my loans of course. Shortly after my girlfriend(at the time) broke up and kicked me out our apartment. One of her complaints was that I had no goals and would end up in a dead end job. I felt like I was in between a rock and a hard place. Eventually we both moved on.
I ended up working various jobs until I'm where I'm at now. For years I partially blamed her for my past failures and for giving up on me. Can't say as I really blame her for I really didn't have a set goal in mind from the start. I lost sight I've my goal and I never found the focus again(until recently). She really wasn't wrong and she doesn't hold any of the blame. I made the decision to move and drop out originally. It was a poor decision at the time perhaps motivated by love(or lust) and not completely thinking things through.
In retrospect I can't say I total regret anything because if things had been different I would have never met my wonderful wife and have a son whom I wouldn't trade for anything. Now I'm a lot more focused on getting my degree to better my self and to perhaps set an example to my son on the importance of an education. Also to never give up your dreams. I will walk across that podium in about 4-5 years and accept my diploma and from there who knows perhaps I'll go for the next one.

Time

2007-09-29T20:13:00.001-07:00

"You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun"
-Time, Pink Floyd(Mason,Waters,Wright,Gilmour)

I've been on a Pink Floyd kick lately. This song though tied into my Student Success course I'm taking. In the book "On Course" I've come to the chapter on Time Management(or lack of) which is covered in Chapter 4 of the book called"Mastering Self-Management". It's really opened my eyes as to how much time I waste. Either it be on the computer surfing too much (on unimportant things). Also speaks of spending time on things that don't help you towards your goal. It also touches on using calenders, action lists and tracking forms. I'm already started using my online calender at Yahoo. The book and course has been an eye opener to say the least. Very helpful especially since I haven't been to school in many years.

Outline

2007-09-28T07:48:00.000-07:00

I'm sure this is a basic thing for those who've just completed high school and enterring but It's been 20 years for me. Though I had a basic idea on how to do an outline I needed some help or a refresher. My book on Public Speaking did show a way to set one up it was kind of complex. I found this one here to be a bit more basic and helpful from Purdue University.

Essay?.. Outline..?

2007-09-27T23:25:00.000-07:00

For the record I'm taking two classes this semester. One is Oral Communications and the other is Student Success. Oral Communications is about public speaking. It was perhaps the one course I saw on my required classes that perhaps I feared the most. Last week we had our first practice speech that I feared like the plague. After going through I thought this wasn't too bad. I do feel like I'm learning a lot so far in the course so far. Student Success is an interesting course also taught by a soft spoken 74 year old gentlemen. The course is basically to ready yourself for college life. Setting goals, being responsible, time management etc... I'm actually finding it pretty interesting.
Toughest part of all this is doing basic stuff like doing an outline for my communications class. I haven't done an outline in perhaps over 15 years so it's been a learning experience all over again. Also for the Student Success I'm suppose to do a short 3-5 paragraph essay. I can't remember the last time I've done an essay probably around last time of my last outline.

Well I've got to get back to my studies, see you later.

Introduction

2007-09-23T21:28:00.000-07:00

My name is Bob and at the age of 40 I decided to go back to school to get an Associates Degree. Though I'm sure I'm not alone in this venture I'm hoping this may encourage others to this themselves. I did attempt to do this at a younger age but did not complete my task. No one else was responsible but myself. What makes it perhaps more of a challenge is that now(unlike before)I'm now married with a five year old son, mortgage, car payments, and a full time job. Why now? I say why not. It's perhaps a shot at personal redemption and proof to myself that I can do it. Also I perhaps see my current job position as just that a "job". Not particularly my choice I would have chosen but it's one I've ended up with. It's physically demanding and doesn't have a whole lot of job growth. My goal is that this would open up more opportunities for me in the future. I'll be adding more details in the near future.

Back to School at 40

First grade back

School's out

Final day of school

Executive Suite

Update

Stuck

Re: I suck

Salient

I suck

On writing by Stephen King

This week

Lean Thinking

What's on your bookshelf?

Lean Manufacturing: 5s

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

Follow up

The Ultimate Student Resource

Influence of Stephen Covey

Toyota Production

Lean Manufacturing

Back to school

New Classes

SpongeBob Squarepants Typing

The Greatest Generation

The local library

Setting some new goals

Book Review - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

Voices in my Head

All the presidents men

Final Grade - Student Success

Three rules of success

Lessons learned

Plan ahead

Final Week

Healthy Stress reduction

Victims and Creators

Been awhile

Speech results

Veteran's Day

Update

This weeks update

In a funk

Recommended Reading

Re: Midterm

Midterm

Week in Review

Just some thought's

This weeks summary

Stuff

Redemption...

Time

Outline

Essay?.. Outline..?

Introduction