Internships

Some technical skills that I have learned Year Up that would benefit the company would have to be, being able to troubleshoot computers with windows operating systems, writing clear and detailed bug reports, and being able to use both Mac and Windows operating systems efficiently.

Having a manager that is fun and on my case at the appropriate time would be ideal for a fun loving guy like myself. With my strong sense of humor I feel that a manager that gets my jokes and wit, will be great for my personality, but also being able to buckle me down will keep me steady during internship.

I have a couple anxieties going into internship. One being that I don’t know if I am going to be able to meet the standards, but I will try my hardest to fill my duties. Another one will have to be the fact that I expect so much out of myself that I might bite off more than I can chew. But with addressing this growth area I feel that this will be a piece of cake to get over.

Displaying that I am dependable, positive, and eager while I am at internship will be a hard task, but I am up for the challenge. I will make a routine of completing any tasks assigned to me on the due date, be flexible to change, and strive to find answers to questions or errors I have during my time at the company.

Internship Survival

1. Set personal goals- I will apply this to internship just as I applied this to everything else. I feel that you should always have a goal with everything, no matter what you are doing.

2. Tackle all tasks with enthusiasm and positive attitude- Applying this to internship will be easy. By showing hard work and dedication in my work with no errors and turning in assignments on time, along with opening up to change and additional assignments.


3. Network, network, network- Networking is a big deal in the corporate world, so I will apply this in internship by meeting new people, having lunch with more new people, and maybe even buying coffee for some people in order to meet new people at work and maybe even potential friends.

4. Take initiative- Applying this into internship will go along well with setting personal goals and tackling tasks with enthusiasm and positive attitudes because in order to do this a lot of initiatives will be taken. All this takes is hard and dedication.

5. Don’t be afraid to ask questions- Picking the time and place for questions is key. Making sure that I ask questions that help me with the assignment and internship will be the way I do this.

6. Have regular meetings with your supervisors- Having meetings with the higher rankings will prove to be a great choice in the long run because they can give me information on how I can do my job better maybe. So setting appointments every 2 weeks is how I see myself achieving this goal.

7. Find a mentor- Finding a mentor will have to be done by asking for help on certain projects and asking people to lunch and forming a bond to where they “show me the ropes” and this is important to me because mentors are there for your growth and I feel that growth is very important in internship.

8. Enjoy yourself- I feel that enjoyment in the workplace is very important because if you don’t love what you’re doing then you will be miserable. Enjoying yourself is easy, just at the right time.

9. Leave with tangible accomplishments- Leaving with all that I have learned by recording everything in my journal, and putting those skills on my resume will be easy. The hard part will be making sure I do learn great things during internships.

10. Never shun a chance to learn more about the company-By attending meetings, corporate parties, or invitations to lunch or after work activity I can ask for more insight on the company.

11. Avoid negativity-Being positive and proactive all the time, I can keep away from negative people or even being negative myself. This will help in the long run by teaching me how to avoid situations and keeping my cool in tight situations.

12. Get as much exposure as possible- Joining social events with colleagues and networking with other departments can provide me with different information on their departments. This is important so I can not only have information in my own department but expand more on the company.

Good and Bad of Cheese

The best job I ever had was working in Quality Control, while the worst job I ever had is a draw between working at Wendy’s.

Quality Control-

Some of the primary responsibilities working in quality control were being detail orientated, data entry, and editing images and text.

What made the job enjoyable was the pay of course, but also just working with cool people. My day consisted of 5 hour energy drinks, water, chewy bars, good music, and great laughter.

I developed the ability to type at an exceptionable speed, being somewhat detail orientated, and computer experience are very robust to take with me to internship.

I learned that you can work hard and play hard during work, but I also learned that I can sit in front of a computer all day if I had to.

Wendy’s-

Some of the primary responsibilities working in foods were cleaning the grill, counter, tables, and floors.

The rude customers and lack of respect made this type of work experience very hard to enjoy work.

Skills that I will take with me from this job and bring over to internship are being a team player and being 

able to interact with different kinds of people with different kinds of moods.

Some lessons I will never forget, are to know when to listen to reason and when to use your voice for reason and to deliver those words very lucidly.

Rest In Paradise "Freakonomics"

Now that the reading assignment is finished, I would recommend “Freakonomics” to my cousin. I would recommend this book to her because she likes finding things out through statistics and numbers especially things that she would have never thought about looking over.

I would like to share a passage from the book that left a good impression on me that I used in an assignment in class.
 “He also reportedly told a college audience that 45 homeless people die each second-which would mean a whopping 1.4 billion dead homeless every year.” Page 86
This passage has made me question myself. I have never given thought to homeless people other than spare change in my pocket. Now this entry made me think of how many different homeless people I’ve seen over the years, and how there are so many out there. Something that will, probably never leave my thoughts again.

I believe that chapter 3 “Why Do Drug Dealers Still Live With Their Moms?” in “Freakonomics” was a good chapter in the group discussion because we could all fantasize on becoming as rich as J. T was. Everyone had an opinion about the main point in the book and because we all agreed that we have known drug dealers who did live with their mothers and also agreed upon how smart J. T and his business decisions were and how amazed we were on how he got to the top with being educated and using that education to sell drugs and invest as well.

Reading Process And How To Get Through It

As an exuberant reader, I found the process of reading very entertaining. The only thing about the process I am not too fond of is the reading material itself. 

Steven D. Levity
&
Stephen J. Dubner

The book “Freakonomics” By Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, which we are reading in class, have ideas that bounce everywhere that makes summaries even harder.

Reading the chapter multiple times would help put a better understanding in my mind along with asking myself certain questions about the chapter and of course reading the chapter little by little instead of all at once.

During my reading time, annotating each paragraph with a summary made things a bit easier with the help of underlining words that was new to me and listing key points in the chapter.

Keeping up with the assigned chapters is easy if you set an amount of pages to read before Friday. Being Moderator you would have to sacrifice a weekend in order to comprehend what you have read before Wednesday.

Appange
(Apple Orange)

I would read waiting for Bart, on Bart, in the kitchen and in my room, all was done during different times of the day, which were after school, during a meal and before bed. All of these sessions took no more than a couple hours per session.

Bullying

The article I chose is about bullying. In the New York Times article, it goes in detail about Mitt Romney’s admitting and apologizing for taking part in bullying a homosexual almost 50 years ago after President Obama’s pushing the issue, endorsing gay marriage (Ashley Parker May 11, 2012).

I think that this was out of publicity but out of guilt as well. Just a day after Obama spoke about gay marriage Romney decides to speak about bullying, which happened during his study at Cranbrook, a private school in which he attended in the 60’s. A couple of boys held down a boy by the name John Lauber, while Mitt took a pair of scissors and cut off a chunk of Lauber’s hair just because Lauber decided to dye his hair blonde. This is an example of taking things a little too far in my eyes. Who in the right mind would even touch someone’s hair, let along cut it off?! Sick.

Everyone has taken part in some type of bullying, whither it being as the bully or as the victim, but some more than others. Even though you take part in that action I think it’s fine just as long as you don’t take it as far as most people do. Some victims end up committing suicide, which I find very hard to see anyone doing, but it does happen.

Although It took Romney 65 years to apologize for the action he took during his studies at Cranbrook. I believe this was supposed to be a good move for his position but will end up back firing in his face in time, due to the fact that the family of John Lauber felt that they were wronged with even bringing up Lauber after all this time, in that type of manner.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/11/us/politics/years-later-a-prep-school-bullying-case-snares-romney.html

Stigma

What is Stigma?

Stigma in my own understanding can be wrong and right at the same time. From the reading that was given to me a seventeen year old young man was killed due to wearing the wrong clothes at the wrong hour at the wrong time of night. He was identified by his clothing as a trouble maker due to a sweat shirt with a hood. If wearing clothes was to make the man then I would be a different type of person every single hour, every single day. I would be a business man during the morning, and a gang banger by afternoon, and a bum during the night.

The reactions of stigma are funny in ways my eyes while other times it just doesn’t seem right. High school kids can be seen as trouble by wearing an outfit seen on TV in some ways.  How the labels emblazon onto some of the youths foreheads for having their pants worn almost falling to the ground. The times when I, myself have gotten stares like I was going to just take some lady’s purse and run or when a girl grasps onto her boyfriend’s arm once I walk past. Even when the time comes when someone just crosses the street to avoid contact when I was about to walk passed them. It sucks.

I think that society is on the way to simply not caring about any of this stigma now days. People still wear what they want to wear knowing the fact that it may seem intimidating, while others wear the clothing to make people intimidated. No matter the occasion people judge people. The way they carry themselves after that fact is the deciding factor.

I Pledge To.....

This blog is a little different than what I’m used to blogging about. This blog is regarding a couple Pledges I plan to keep that deals with the Year Up program and how I plan on keeping myself motivated with my studies and other areas in this program.

I The Adventures Of Jourdan, PLEDGE to NOT PROCRASTINATE by:

•  Completing my assignments on the day given to me.
•  Setting reminders for myself on when to get my assignments done by.
•  Pushing myself to get work and home work finished as soon as possible.

I PLEDGE to TRY and NOT EARN any INFRACTIONS by:

• Turning in assignments on time.
• Arriving on time.
• Maintaining a professional attitude.

I PLEDGE to NOT STRUGGLE to STAY AWAKE in class by:

• Getting a good night rest the night before school.
• Eating a light breakfast most mornings.
• Eating a light lunch during the day.

North Vallejo Living

My neighborhood can be described just as any other can be described. Some people can bovine. There are roads with ditches, potholes, and graffiti on the outsides of fences, groups of young people walking around with no destination, boards on some houses and cars on blocks and violence everywhere and anywhere that’s concealed. My neighborhood is called Rancho or referred to as “The Swamps” or “Swamp Side” Vallejo California. I moved around a lot and finally anchored into Hayward California also known as “The Stack” to some. Although living here is quite different I have learned to adapt to this lifestyle and neighborhood. Like the swamps, West Hayward is home as well. The streets are a little better than Rancho, but the people on this block are the same as any other block in Vallejo but there are more stores that aren’t closed down close to home.

           I am a product of my neighborhood. I am who I am because of the neighborhood I grew up in. Some of the upbringings I went through in my neighborhood were fun and willing as others were hard and something I didn’t want to do. Although each and every single one was necessary. If you take a look at anyone I grew up with you would find little difference in the way we carry ourselves, the way we talk, and our decisions with life. Maybe even in the way we look. Although some of the experiences we have had are the factors on which made the kids on the block to who they are today like myself. With some of the hardships that went on where I am from pushed people from my neighborhood as well as myself into a whole new direction or lifestyle. Which is a good thing for most.
           

Advertisement. Love Or Hate?

Mmmmmm

Advertisement is a double edge sword in my opinion. You either want what they're talking about or want to throw it out the window. For me certain advertisements that pull me in have to show me what I like in an instant. Some things that strike my interest are new music, tasty looking food, or new technology, which I find predominant. Some forms of advertisement that interest me are billboards, something with humor/catchy phrases, or teaser commercials (commercials that don't say much but show the product).

Ha Ha Ha

Some ads that I run away from or makes me change the channel are infomercial type of performances, or when they try and introduce something I know that I would never need or know that wouldn't work, something that stops me from playing music after a couple songs like on "Pandora", or the commercials about starving kids, such propaganda strikes me as sick. The worst of all to me has to be spam. How can something so delicious be named as the same thing that is so irritable? Once I see an email with something I don’t recall applying for like becoming a dentist or doctor or even the simple “get rich quick schemes” I instantly delete the email.

There are plenty of ads I just simply ignore. Being a smoker, I always turn my eyes to something else when the advertisements for quitting smoking comes on the TV, or anything that has to do with telling me that I’m doing something wrong with my life like not wearing my seatbelt although it’s true I should be wearing my seatbelt, I’m a rebel. There are other kinds of advertisement that I avoid which are the ones on the radio due to the fact I can’t see what they're offering me so the product doesn’t appeal to me at all.

The New Guy

Have you ever walked into a job interview, a new school, or even a new city unprepared at that?

I have.

I’ve been to plenty job interviews and HAVE’NT gotten a single job because I wasn’t prepared or even properly groomed. I’ve been the NEW KID six times at six different schools. I’ve only moved once but that wasn’t very fun either.

Now I’ve become the new guy at a job and a new school in a new city all at once. Talk about a tough break.

That’s not even the tough part. I’m taking classes that I haven’t even heard of before. I’m lost and have no clue of what I’m doing. I’m in a totally different scene. Talk about first day gitters.

I’m skeptical about plenty of things being new to all these things at once. How would this turn out? How can I make things better? How can I succeed?

I’ve come up with goals and ways to achieve those goals for each class so that these questions can be answered.

Business Communications

• ·      Build correct grammar

o   Practice everyday and eliminate the grammar that isn’t proper.

• ·      Build larger vocabulary

o   Read different words everyday and use them in conversations with my colleagues

Pro Skills

• ·      Become more presentable

o   Request and accept any feedback while working on my posture

• ·      Obtain a great handshake

o   Shake hands everyday and practice with everyone

Tech

• ·      Become computer savvy (there’s a difference between computer savvy and computer literate)

o   Study hard and read the book cover to cover

• ·      Learn the hardships

o   Take notes and review everyday until it sticks

Each goal works towards my main goal, which is to become a great asset to the business community.

I hope I didn’t bore you too much.