300 Blogs

Halloween is coming up next weekend. I plan to go to watch the parade in Manhattan with my fiancée. I went there two years ago and I remember that I was fascinated by the costumes people came up with. I was not able to take many good pictures that time because it was very dark and my flash was inadequate.

This year, I borrowed a flash from a friend for my new and better camera, the Canon 5D. I have never shot, alone, with a flash before so it will be interesting to see how well the pictures turn out to be. I have been thinking about buying a good flash but they go for around $200, which I do not feel like paying right now.

I usually shoot in manual mode but I will probably shoot in automatic mode this weekend because it can be extremely difficult to shoot in the dark with a lot of movement and at different ranges. I hope to post a good picture here after next weekend.

I turned in my group’s assignment yesterday. The professor seemed surprised by how many issues we had found in regards to the case, which is a good thing. I am still waiting for her to post the grades but I expect her to do so later today. Everyone in my group contributed to the assignment except one person.

Also, another person in my group sent me his material so late the night before that there was no way I could implement it into our paper. Next time, I will seriously consider not putting their names on the paper if they do not contribute. It is unfair to the group as a whole if some members have to do other members’ work.

My online class in group dynamics seems to be going rather well. I wished some of the members in my group could check blackboard more often so that we could discuss assignments with greater precision. It is a challenge to make a group work when people get online at different times, especially since you cannot meet them face to face either.

My small business management class is also an interesting class. We are in the progress of developing a business plan right now and the next step will be to work on a marketing plan. The professor is doing a great job because he discusses the format, step-by-step, prior to assigning homework. It is therefore easier to put the business plan together. Each week we do one part of the plan so at the end of the quarter, we will have a complete business plan of the company we would like to start.

This quarter is so far going very well. I feel a little worried about my group dynamics class since it is online and because it will be difficult to lead the group. However, I do believe that if I show participation, initiative, and innovation to the professor, I will be in a pretty good shape.

Time to Start Exercising Again

It is time for me to start loosing weight. I feel that I have neglected exercising for a long time and I am not in a mood to blame it on lack of time. I was first to blame it on various stores and how their sizes must have shrunk but that is also an idea I have given up on.

It hit me today when I went to Bay Ridge to visit Century 21, a department store. There are a couple of Century 21 stores around New York with the one in Downtown Manhattan being the most famous. I never liked the one in Manhattan because it is very messy and there are always a lot of people there who fight over different items.

The one in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn turned out to be much better. It is relatively big and it seems much more organized than the Manhattan store. I bought a tie and a new dressing shirt. The ties were only around $10 with brands such as Calvin Klein and Donald Trump.

After my shopping spree, my fiancée and I went to get some take-out at a Sichuan restaurant. We then decided to take the bus. However, before doing so we noticed that Burger King had a new deal, a double cheeseburger for $1. We had two each before taking the bus home.

When we arrived home, we decided to eat the Sichuan food too because we did not want to spoil it. After maybe 20 minutes of slow eating, I started to realize that what I was doing was stupid. Anyway, I have decided to start exercising again and to eat healthier. I am really tired of eating unhealthy and gaining weight. I hope to reach my goal in two to three months.

I have worked hard the last days to finish my homework assignments for this week. My group in my managing for change class has functioned pretty well with a few exceptions, but I feel that we have a good paper for tomorrow. The assignment was a case usually given to graduate students. We had to structure a change management program for a certain company and look over its procedures.

It has been very interesting and I feel that it is a great class. It is definitely interesting and I believe that what I learn will be of great benefit to me in the future. I was skeptical to the class at first but, fortunately, I have a much more positive opinion about it now.

I have also worked on a discussion board assignment in my market research class. I had to answer a few questions concerning secondary data and how it is distributed. Market research is also an interesting class. I thought I knew a lot about it but I learn new things every day.

That is really the advantage with online classes. They are active seven days a week so new material is presented to students every day. It, most often, also opens up opportunities to reach the professor faster and with less trouble than on campus.

Dinosaur Barbque

It looks like my group problems are coming to an end. I have received most of the material for the project and I am now waiting for one of the members to create a draft based on that material. I hope to have the draft by next week so that I can finish it. However, there will be a test after next week in that class so it will probably get busy at that time.

I went to a really great restaurant with two friends this weekend. The place is called Dinosaur Barbque and is located in Harlem. It is purely American with excellent food. I had a dish named “Big Ass Pork Plate,” and I loved it. I did not only like the food, the environment itself was great and it seemed like a lot of bikers went there as well as office guys.

I have been quite busy with my online classes this week. I had to do a test in my market research class, which included 50 true or false questions. It was pretty tricky but I was able to score 98 out of 100 on it. I also have to engage in group discussions about different topics and it is very time consuming.

I had to read an 18-page article for my group dynamics class this weekend. Following that was a paper asking four questions worth 25 points each. In other words, it was a pretty big assignment. I worked on it today and I think I did okay. However, I am curious what my professor will think about it.

I had a test last week in small business management. I did pretty well with a score of 94 out of 100 and I am, of course, happy with that outcome. We will have two more tests in that class and we will also have to create a business plan. Generally, I feel good about the class but I have a feeling that it will get extremely busy in the end.

The dollar is really weak right now. I read in the Wall Street Journal that the United States and the European Union had tried to lower the value of the euro in attempt to boost investment and increase the value of the dollar. This has obviously failed with the dollar being very weak.

I hope it will stay like this for another month or so because I want to transfer some money from Sweden. Thanks to the strong Swedish Krona, I will get a lot more dollars for my money when transferring them to New York.

I want to go to Central Park to take pictures soon. The colors are said to be excellent at this time of the year because of the fall so I hope to take some excellent shots there. Next weekend is Halloween and there will be a huge parade in Manhattan. I will probably go there this year even though I do not really like the crowd and the malfunctioning subway.

Group Project Issues

I am starting to have a few problems with my group in my class managing for change. We all had agreed to exchange papers last Thursday. Not to surprisingly, three out of five members did not show up with their paper. I agreed to have them do it for this weekend instead but so far they have not sent me anything. It will be interesting to talk to them on Tuesday to hear what they have to say.

I am done with my part and if they would be too, we would pretty much be done with the whole project, which is not due until week nine. It would feel terrific to have it done as early as possible, especially since it is so hard to work in groups when members do not seem to care about the outcome.

I feel very rested there days. I have a two-week break from my internship and the school projects so far have not been overwhelming. I have a test on Tuesday in small business management that I think I will have no problem doing. It is a very interesting class and the professor is very knowledgeable.

It is getting really cold in New York. The temperature is almost hitting the freezing point and I have had to wear a hat this weekend, which I by the way do not mind. Fall and winter is definitely my favorite times of the year.

My girlfriend had a cold a few days ago so I bought her Nyquil, which is a liquid cold remedy. It is interesting how powerful American drugs are compared to European ones. Both my girlfriend and I drank one dose each and briefly afterwards we fell asleep. We woke up at around 11 AM the next morning feeling good. This remedy is available without a prescription and I love it.

I need to plan my schedule for next quarter tomorrow. I am not sure which classes I have to take but I have a lot of electives to choose from. I hope that marketing logistics is offered because that is one of my last required classes. I also believe I need to take business strategy and development.

I am planning to go out with a friend to take some fall pictures in New York. We want to go to a place located in Upper Harlem, which is said to be a safe neighborhood. The view from there is supposed to be fantastic so I am excited to check it out. I also want to go to Central Park because the colors are beautiful at this time of the year.

I went out to eat at Chinatown in Manhattan with my girlfriend this weekend. The food is much more expensive than in the Chinatowns in Brooklyn and Queens because of the tourism and the food is not as “authentic” as there. I was quite disappointed by it and they were not generous in regards to the portions either. Luckily, there was a Burger King nearby.

Two Weeks Break

I have not written my blog for a long time now so I thought I should do it now. I have been very busy since I came back from Sweden but it will be a little calmer for me in the next two weeks.

I have two weeks of from my internship so I can focus on studying for a while now. I felt that I needed to relax for a while because I have had a lot to do lately. This weekend was wonderful and I have been taking it easy for most of the time.

I went to a Chinese restaurant in Flushing with my fiancée and a friend two days ago. My fiancée had read about it online and it had gotten great reviews. My first impression of the restaurant was a disappointment. The place looked pretty torn down and it did not smell too good.

We decided to give it a try anyway and the food turned out to be excellent. It was a pure Sichuan restaurant so the food was spicy and not greasy at all compared to all the Chinese-American restaurants around New York. I do not think I will go there again though because the environment was terrible.

My class in managing for change had to do an in-class case last Thursday. We had to use a model for change and try to find where certain activities should take place. I was the only one in my group with the book so everyone had to take turns reading it. This really frustrated me and I find it inexcusable.

We really did not have much time to understand and finish the material and I believe my group did really badly this time. We are going to talk about it tomorrow and since the case was worth 20 points, I really hope we will get an okay score on it. This really just strengthens my suspicions about group work.

I also read the syllabus for my online class in group dynamics. It looks like we will have a group work in that class too. This will be extremely difficult since I have no idea how to communicate successfully with people in my group. I really hope I will not have to do this.

It is getting really cold in New York now. I actually like it since the summer heat in New York is awful. I hope my landlord will turn on the heat soon and I do not think it will be a problem since he is a very good guy.

I have been thinking about going to restaurant Aquavit here in New York. It is a Swedish guy who owns it and the food looks terrific based on what I have seen on their menu online. I believe it is a pretty pricy restaurant but I want to try it since I am curious about how he has implemented Scandinavian food in the culture of New York.

Korean Food

This weekend, my fiancée and I celebrated our two-year anniversary. We decided to go out to eat Korean in Korean Town in Midtown Manhattan. There is a fabulous restaurant there called “Shilla,” which basically is a Korean Barbeque restaurant. I had been there ones before and so had my fiancée but we had never gone there together.

At first, I wanted to eat barbeque. I like the fact that they cook it on the middle of the table right in front of people. However, my fiancée wanted to eat something else and I found a few dishes that looked delicious so we decided to go for them instead.

I specifically wanted Job Chae, which is a certain kind of noodles that is served as an appetizer. I had it the last time I was there and I absolutely loved it. It was delicious this time also and the entrees we ordered were absolutely stunning.

They were served in some kind of hot stone bowls. I ordered beef with rice, which included all kinds of vegetables. We also ordered two other dishes that I forgot the name of. What I love about Korean food is that they give you several side dishes that are included in every meal.

I tried to replicate the Job Chae yesterday but it was not a hundred percent successful. It tasted great but I made it a little bit too spicy and I guess I used the wrong sauces. However, I will try again soon because it would be terrific if I could learn how to cook it since I like it so much.

I am still waiting for a book that I ordered from half.com two weeks ago. The seller does not respond to my emails, which is extremely frustrating. If he does not respond within a week, I am going to cancel the order and get a new book. Fortunately, I can borrow the book from our school library and do the assignments from there. However, I would prefer doing it from home.

I have also been unsuccessful in contacting one of my professor’s in an online class that I currently take. I have contacted the helpdesk and they were not able to contact him either. I talked to them again today and they provided me with the phone number to dean, which I will try to contact either today or tomorrow.

This has never happened to me before at Berkeley College and unless that professor’s email is not working, I will get extremely upset especially since it is an online class the only way of communication is through email or blackboard.

There is one question that, especially, Swedish people ask me regarding studying abroad. It is: “Is it hard to get over the language barriers?” The answer to this question is a big NO! Especially Swedish students have nothing to worry about and I have seen students that barely speak English do okay in class because they use some kind of translators.

First Week of School

My first week of school is finally over. I must admit that this probably felt like one of the longest weeks of my life. I came back from Sweden in the evening last Sunday and had to go to work the following morning. I was quickly assigned new work tasks so it was busy at work.

On Tuesday I had to go to my first classes, which was managing for change and small business management. I was very skeptical about managing for change since I had read we had to do a group work lasting for nine weeks. Now afterwards, I am somewhat more optimistic.

My group seems to be better than the one I was assigned last quarter. I am going to try to organize the work better too and I told everyone to bring back his or her part in two weeks so that we can put everything together in time. We are going to work with Boeing, which is a company that I find very interesting. It is definitely a plus that we were assigned that company.

The professor has a doctor’s degree and apparently very smart. I have not gotten to know her very well yet but I hope she will bring great knowledge to the class. However, we had to do something I thought was a very stupid exercise the first class. Everyone had to introduce him or her to each person in the class and write down something he or she found he or she had in common with that person.

This took maybe 20 to 25 minutes and after the exercise nothing was asked and the notes we had taken about common characteristics could be tossed away. This is something I will never understand. I understand that it is important to network and communicate with people but at this stage in college, I find it extremely ridiculous and unnecessary.

My professor in small business management is very interesting and entertaining. He is very smart and I definitely believe this class will help me get a deeper understanding of how to start a business, which is something I can think myself doing someday.

I also have two online classes this quarter. They are group dynamics and market research. Group dynamics is a class I had rather skipped because I do not think it will bring anything new to the table but I have to take it as a requirement. I should have taken it much earlier in my education but I never found it convenient.

Market research will probably be very interesting. I hope to learn a lot from it and I am looking forward to working with students and the professor to find new innovative ways of doing and analyzing research.

The weekend is finally here and I will try to enjoy it as best I can. I am planning to go out to eat a nice dinner with my fiancée to celebrate our two-year anniversary, which I am really looking forward to. Tonight, I will probably drink a glass of white wine, watch something on TV and just relax.