Thursday, July 12, 2012

A Glimpse into a summer class

To all my readers, I haven't updated in quite a while and I apologize for that. I wanted to share with you a post that I had to do for my Marketing summer class. I talk about the proliferation of communication using technology. I hope that you find it insightful and that it provides a glimpse into what an online class is like. I talked about the importance of the social and technological factors in the marketing environment:

"The way that we are communicating is evolving very rapidly. As a society, it seems as if we are currently caught up in the phase of using a new technological gadget every month. The proliferation of smart phones and YouTube has made social factor very powerful when promoting products and spreading information.

            Technology is more pervasive in our lives now because it is very difficult to “unplug” from Smart phones and from social media. It has become a fabric of our life as much as our careers, schooling and community involvement. We find out about many different things through various social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter. “In August of 2009, social networking and blogging sites accounted for 17% of the total time spent on the internet (http://socialnetworking.procon.org/).” Therefore there is now a trend to post something through an online medium where many people can easily access or stumble across the information that you have shared. On a different front, Android phones have the capacity to keep us up to date almost instantaneously in many different capacities such as updates on the news and cool events that may be happening in a city close to home.

Since the trajectory of the technological and social front is so unpredictable and random, it is difficult for marketers to choose and focus on important elements that consumers will find appealing. Whether it is communicating with another person using the iPad or developing a voice-command system, firms are looking for new and creative ways to reach a target audience. It is important enough where I could imagine larger businesses and some smaller businesses would devote a decent amount of manpower to addressing this need.

Therefore, the social factor should not be discounted or minimized in the marketing environment. It plays a major role in the dissemination of information to a wide audience in a quick and efficient manner."

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Spring Break


Spring Break is that time in the semester that everyone just looks forward to because most people have not been home in a while and a lot of people have been finishing term papers and midterms. My midterm’s week wasn’t terribly busy but I still had quite a bit of work to do. The second half of spring semester seems to just fly by and there seems to be so much going on.

Its been nice to be away from school and homework for a bit to spend some good quality time with friends and family. There has been a lot of time to reflect on how the semester has gone and to figure out what needs to be done for the rest of the semester.

I have filled out a March Madness bracket so I have been following the tournament trying to watch a game here and there.
I am excited to see how the tournament will end. I am curious to see how accurate my bracket will be.

The first book of the Hunger Games trilogy hit theaters this weekend and I am hoping that I will be able to go watch it and see it bring the book to life. It is definitely a series that resonates with a wide audience which is nice to see.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

My Trip to Colorado

My family and friends were wondering what I thought of Colorado so I thought I would share it with everybody through my Blog.

Over this Winter Break, I went to Estes Park,CO with some friends from school. It was my first time in Colorado and I would definitely love to go back again soon.

Colorado was a great state. The mountains and scenery were lovely. The weather was lovely and there was not much snow on the ground. We stayed in a cabin that was affiliated with the YMCA and people went to do different activities over the course of the trip such as hiking up a mountain and going to a nearby indoor swimming pool in town to play some pool football. 

The drive up to the mountains was breathtaking. There were streams that were still running and so many mountains and hills that seemed to be sculpted by an artist. The air is thinner because of the altitude but the people are nice and it seems to be a state that is kept very clean. It is very scenic and there are a lot of nature trails and places to explore. It was beautiful seeing the sunset and since we weren't in an urban area, the sky was so much clearer so I could see so many more stars than in the city.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Past the Halfway Mark- Update on my Life

It is the week before Halloween weekend. I have a big group presentation tomorrow in my Management class and an Econ exam on Friday. I am still trying to make sure that I give all the important areas of my life enough attention. Class registration is coming up. I am pretty sure I know what I want to take but I am going to talk to my advisor on Friday. One of the biggest skills I have tried to work on in college is public speaking and presenting the work I have done to a large audience. Tomorrow will be a big test. This semester has gone by quickly. I don't know if I am dressing up for Halloween yet but so far I do not have any plans to dress up. If I do, it probably won't be anything too fancy or complex.

Another Random note: It is getting chilly really quickly.

Friday, September 23, 2011

The Start of Junior Year

I have been at school for 5 weeks already and it has been difficult to find a good time to update everyone on my life but now is as good of a time as any. I am majoring in actuarial science now and I am enjoying it. Pure science was not my calling and I need to embrace and acknowledge my strengths. Tough times lie ahead but from what I hear actuaries tend to enjoy what they do. So let me begin by telling you the classes that I am taking this semester. I am taking Financial Accounting, Macroeconomics, Business Law, Organizational Behavior, and Calculus 3. I am enjoying all of these classes although they are certainly keeping me very busy.

Financial Accounting: I am impressed by the elegant system that makes up a financial statement. It is very important to know how to classify transactions. It requires good organization. There is a lot of analysis and interpretation that goes into it. My professor was a public accountant for 33 years. I am having my first exam in this class next week and I hope that it goes well. It has really helped me to understand how businesses classify their financial transactions better.

Macroeconomics: Economics is an interesting subject studied by curious people who make assumptions and enjoy asking questions. The material is enjoyable but quite basic. This is as good of a time as any to study this subject because of everybody going on in the US and the world. My teacher is enthusiastic about his subject and a very nice guy. The workload is not too bad and it has shed light on a lot of what policy-makers have been doing.

Business Law: This is a very new class where so many concepts are foreign. My professor has done a good job of distilling it down and making it interesting. He expects us to read a lot and to think logically. It is a different kind of logic from mathematics and one that will take some getting used to. It is insane how many different things a person can be sued for.

Organizational Behavior: One thing that I have wanted to do in college is take a few psychology classes before I graduate. I am curious to learn what this field is about since I enjoy chatting and meeting people. Well, this is a class with some psychology grounded into it. It has been interesting to learn all of the elements that are necessary to successfully manage an organization. I have learned a lot about different categories that are used to determine efficacy in managing people and working with others.

Calculus 3: This is a class that will be important to my major. There are some actuarial exams that require a good grasp of calculus. So far I have understood most of what has been presented. It has been nice to learn this material because it has an important basis in a lot of real-world applications. I am anticipating that it will get a lot more challenging and I am hoping that everything will click because I truly enjoy how conceptually rich this subject is.

Remembering 9/11

Twelve days ago it was the ten year anniversary of 9/11. 9/11 is still fresh on our minds and almost all of us remember what we were doing that day when it happened. Our thoughts and prayers go out to everybody that was affected by 9/11.

I still remember that day. I didn't hear about it until I got to school that day. I was in the fifth grade. My teacher asked us how we were and if we had heard what had happened. All of us did not. And then she turned on the t.v. and we saw. It was horrifying and sickening and my classmates and I will not forget what we saw. It was heartbreaking to see and it changed all of us forever.

So ten years later, it still impacts how we think and how we live. May those who were injured or killed that day not be forgotten.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II Movie Review

This is a movie review that I wrote for my cousin's blog. I just want to repost it here to let visitors of this blog know how I felt about the movie because I am a huge fan of the Harry Potter series.


The movie “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II” was a great way to close out the series. It was a great combination of epic battles and touching emotional scenes. The battle scenes were well done and very intense. You can see how much Daniel Radcliffe (Harry) has grown as an actor. The scenes in this movie require a lot of emotional range of Radcliffe. Whether it is when he needs to confront Voldemort and his Death Eaters but also when he is required to show his friends and peers how much it means to him that they are all fighting against evil, in other words fighting beside him.

Director David Yates was able to take the audience deeper into the heart of the story because Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was split into two movies. Small plot elements that are crucial for the story are able to be incorporated into the movie because of this. This allows those that love the Harry Potter series to feel more connected to what is happening on-screen. A more faithful adaptation was able to be produced. Splitting up the movie let the makers of the movie construct an appropriate final showdown between Harry and Voldemort. There are definitely liberties that they [the makers of the movie] took but I believe that most fans will think that it is a solid representation of the world that J.K. Rowling created but it is still easy enough to follow for those that are not fans of Harry Potter.