Presentations

I have not written any blogs for a while. I have simply been too busy to write. Being my last quarter, I had hoped for courses that contained less assignments and more discussion. However, I misinterpreted that.

I have a bunch of term papers to finish before the end of the quarter and a couple of assignment due in a few weeks. I also need to make a presentation next week on designing supply chains.

Seven students held presentations last week. In my opinion, one of them was well executed. Most other students were clueless about their topics and were overly tense or nervous.

One student definitely knew his topic. However, the presentation was not to exceed five minutes, this guy kept going for at least fifteen. I really hope that the professor will keep the standards high and not lower the bar just because many students did badly.

Another thing that I am not too happy about is the fact that many students in my political science class are way too free-spoken. The professor many times stands passively observing or interrupts himself because he believes that students think the topic is uninteresting.

I think it is important that professors believe in their methods of teaching and do not become intimidated by some students’ inability to learn or stick to policies. For example, if a presentation is to be five minutes, students who do less than four or more than six should lose points.

The reason that I feel this way is because the reputation of the school will be shaped, not only based on students’ performance, but also by the quality of the education. It does not matter if 90% of students get Cs as long as the school is rated top class by agencies.

Weekend

I scored top in class on last week’s test in my world civilization class. I got 92 out of 100 after getting two of my answers wrong. One of those two wrong answers confused me because I thought that I had answered that question differently. Ultimately, it does not matter since I was the only one getting an A on the test.

Since we have tests every week, I had another test yesterday. This time, it covered subjects regarding the Greek empire and the Fertile Crescent. Some of this material is pretty heavy to get through but I find Greek and Roman history pretty interesting. I am currently looking for a good book about Greek mythology so if you know an entertaining, yet factual book, let me know.

My professor suggested books by Edith Hamilton and Robert Graves but they have not come out with a new edition in more than ten years, which scares me off a bit. The positive effect is that they are fairly cheap. They go for about $15 each online so I might buy a copy just because of that.

I might go out for dinner with my friends this weekend. I only have two days so I try to utilize my time effectively. I will go to get a haircut after work and take out my girlfriend for dinner later tonight at a Sichuan restaurant. Luckily, I do not have any classes on Friday’s so I have plenty of time after work before bedtime.

The weather seems to be getting cooler. I have not used the air conditioner for a week now and every morning is chillier than before, which is wonderful. One thing that really bothers me is that all weather people seem to assume that the hotter it is the better it is. The truth is that most people in New York hate the humidity and the excruciatingly hot subways. At least I know that I do.

This will be my last quarter of blogging. I graduate in September and will be pursuing my career within the transportation industry after that. I have not decided whether to entirely give up blogging or not. However, it is time consuming so I will have to see whether the time allows for it or not.

Political Arguments

My class in political science yesterday reminded me of how liberal people in New York are. In other words, a wide majority of people would vote for democrats in elections. My professor openly announced that he was registered as a republican and this lead to an uproar of questions by students. I think this is unfortunate because it shows how bigoted people can be.

If a person does not like someone’s opinion, he or she should not become aggressive and suddenly turn against that person. Instead, they should listen and learn from that person. Many people in New York grow devil horns when they hear the word republican. It is really that bad. This leads to some sort of discrimination where people start to automatically assume that everything republicans do is bad.

One problem for the republicans is that they do not have a strong spokesperson in New York at the moment. Also, schools especially are dominated by democratic professors and textbooks written by liberal journalists.

I am not trying to advocate for the republicans. Instead, I want to raise awareness that both political parties should listen to each other. Having a balanced House of Representatives and Senate can lead to exceedingly innovative solutions and this also pertains to classroom discussions. Most importantly, neither party should look upon the other with despise. That only proves that there is a lack of knowledge and understanding.

There are of course republicans in the classroom. The problem with having 90% of the class yelling out anti-republican statements is that the other 10% rather sit quiet than challenge their statements. It takes a courageous person to step up because he or she will most likely be looked down upon for the rest of the quarter if most other students are narrow-minded extremists.

However, if another left-wing stream of arguments occurs again, I am going to speak up. It will be interesting to observe whether students can actually start accepting others’ opinions or if they will go berserk. The professor is fairly neutral although he did announce his political standpoint. I do believe that he would appreciate some balance in the classroom though and I do not mind being the target of criticism in that class.

Nyquil

I actually really enjoy my operations management class. I thought the math part would make me lose interest, but the math makes sense and I can see several uses of it in a professional environment. We talked about supply chains yesterday and I find that stuff really interesting. We also learned how to calculate the indifference point and more, which is useful in situations where companies plan to outsource.

Eight students will present next week about their topics, which have been selected from the table of contents in the textbook. I do not really enjoy classes like that because they take time and include so many subjects that it is impossible to stay focused on all of the presentations.

I was really lucky last weekend. I was watching television and a few of electronics suddenly stopped working including my television. I checked the power cord and one of my adapters had melted. I bought the adapter from Sweden so that I could charge my Swedish cell phone a while ago. However, I recently used it as an extension cord.

I am really thankful that it did not start a fire and I now only use two wires in my bedroom. Apparently, it is not good to use too many adapters and extension wires. I plan to turn off all my extension cords in the future before I leave home. That could actually also save me some money.

I got a fever last Friday and I still have a cold. I drank some Nyquil last night, hoping I would feel better today. However, I do not think Nyquil has ever worked for me. It was really hard for me to get up this morning because it makes you quite drowsy. I will probably stick to Excedrin and other aspirins in the future.  

Swedish Meatballs

I cooked Swedish meatballs this weekend. I got the recipe from my father because I wanted it to taste like home. I was afraid that it would not be the same, as the meat and all other ingredients come from a different place. However, it turned out really well. It was probably the best meatballs that I have ever made myself.

IKEA’s meatballs are okay. Some people say they do not taste good but I disagree with them. Making your own meatballs can take a while especially since you will have to roll them manually. I think it took me about hour to cook but it was worth the time I put in.

My weekend was pretty quiet. I do not have much homework to do so far. I only have one class online and online classes are usually quite demanding in terms of assignments. Right now I am studying value chains and supply chains in my operations management class. I find that very interesting especially since I am working with that at my internship.

I will probably start to prepare for a couple of future assignments that are due the last week of this quarter. I need to conduct a competitive analysis for the current company that I work for and I also have to make a presentation about designing supply chains. Both assignments are very interesting so I am looking forward to doing it.

Berkeley College rewards two students at the end of every quarter with the Robert Maher Outstanding Student Award. This is the greatest award a student can earn. I am highly interested in being awarded this so I am currently looking into how I can be considered for it.

There is a board that votes for which student that should receive it. The student must show a strong commitment towards his or her education and have achieved personal, as well as professional goals. I believe that I match this criteria and I strongly hope that I will be considered.

Phoenicians

All my classes except my internship class are electives meaning I chose to take them voluntarily. Most students would prefer taking less difficult classes their last quarter. I picked classes that I wanted to take and thought would be interesting with one exception, world civilization.

My professor has now made up his mind in regards to testing. He has decided to test us every week through multiple-choice tests containing 24 questions. Our weekly lectures are very significant and contain a lot of information. I used my laptop yesterday because I knew that I would have to take a lot of notes.

During class, I could hear students sighing because of tired hands. That was how much we had to write down. Of course for me it was not a problem thanks to my laptop. In any event, the professor could have made all this much easier by uploading the PowerPoint slides to blackboard, but he is not a very technical person unfortunately.

The test yesterday was not easy. It pretty much contained everything we talked about the last two weeks. That might not seem like very much but it really was since the material covered everything from Phoenicians to domestication.

I hope that I did well. The good thing with having tests every week is that it is easier to get a good final grade. In practice, you can miss one test and still get an A if you get a 100% on the rest of the tests. Of course, this is unlikely to happen, but the professor will be able to judge with more accuracy if he assigns several tests.

Today is Friday and I am looking forward to the weekend. I am going to a Chinese Sichuan restaurant today that is within walking distance from my home. Sichuan food is definitely my favorite kind and it will be interesting to see if this new restaurant is good or not. Let us hope so.

Freedom Tower

The One World Trade Center is taking shape. Actually, I prefer to call the tower by its original name, Freedom Tower. Looking at the artificial pictures and what the tower will look like is always a pleasure. I never got the chance to see the original World Trade Center so I am thrilled to be here in New York for the inauguration of the Freedom Tower.

I took the picture this morning on my way to work. There is another building under construction where the second World Trade Center stood. This building will not be as tall as the Freedom Tower however. There are always a lot of people in this area during rush hour and space is limited. It will be a pleasure walking there when everything is complete.

I honestly do not understand why it is taking so long for them to complete the tower. It is scheduled to be done by 2013, seven years after construction was started. The Empire State Building only took 16 months to build and that was in the 1930s.

I had political science yesterday. It is an enjoyable class, but it can be frustrating at times. For example, some students start spontaneous debates with one another. Being quite loud and with the professor taking a passive stance, not much progress is made in terms of learning. These students let their opinion direct the conversation instead of discussing topics backed by facts.

However, this class will hopefully teach them about the American government, its laws, and policies that will help them to understand why certain procedures exist and how the political system works. The professor is very lenient. Instead midterms, we will have take-home exams. I actually believe this is a good way of testing for the purpose of this class. A well thought-out term paper probably means more than a multiple-choice test.

Math

I am starting to like my operations management class. First of all, I was lucky in the selection of presentation dates and topic. I will go the week after the midterm with the topic of my choice. I choose supply chain design, which is something that I am involved with at work and find exceedingly interesting.

We also went over some mathematical problems and they were not very difficult. The professor focuses more on understanding the results of the calculations than doing the math, which I feel is very useful. That way, we can improve our abilities to analyze outcomes.

I believe that many math geniuses are great with calculations but lack the ability to study the results and to compare it with real time situations. I guess since I cannot compete with “Einsteins”, I prefer competing on the level of analysis.

I have a test in world civilization on Thursday. It has not been easy to prepare for it. I have typed down my notes but that is pretty much all. I study these notes on the train to and from work and hopefully that will be enough.

I also found it difficult to find good facts about the constitution of Sweden. Since the professor only wants to discuss the topic and does not require an actual paper, I will bring a printout from Wikipedia. This is something that students should avoid and always do since Wikipedia is full of inaccuracies. However, for Tuesday’s class, it was my best alternative.