New Week

Good morning Berkeley College students and potential students. I cannot believe that it is already the end of February and we are about to enter March. I still feel like it was New Years and i was just getting ready to go back to college. Now my first semester here is ending and i cannot wait until the next one begins. Now many of you may just think that i am a nerd or something but is just i want my degree as fast and soon as possible. I have to say my first semester here is probably one of the best semesters i have had in any of the universities i have been to. The professors have been very understanding and helpful throughout the courses and I am interested to see how next semester progresses. Anyway midterms are over and now it is the final push in all my classes. We have approximately 3 weeks or so left until we all get a much needed week off. Spring semester will be the most busiest time of the year for me as not only do i have to work full time and go to school full time but i also have a lot of personal events that start next month. The good thing about it though is that i will be able to share all of it with you guys and also many pictures to come, especially my daughters first birthday. I cannot wait for this upcoming week because i may find out the gender of baby #2 so everyone pray for a boy! Anyway back to school and as i stated we are almost done. In Accounting we got our midterm grades back and i was one of the few that did really good. As i heard how what other students scores were and even the scores for some of my friends i was afraid of my own score. Not that because i did really good but because everyone else did really bad. I guess that is the tutor part of me because i always want everyone to do well and succeed. Granted i have already taken accounting 1 in LaGuardia and got an A so this is all a refresher for me. People ask me why don't i just test out of the class and i am sure i could but i didn't feel confident in my ability to pass. It had been so long since i last studied accounting that i felt i might as well just take it again and if i remember anything then it is an easy A. I am glad to know that i have the ability to test out of classes but you have to use it wisely. Everyone wants to get out of college faster but you may just need that A to get your GPA up so students should use it when they don't really need the letter grade and they know they could go in and fully pass it, that's just my opinion.
Berkeley college has a lot of activities for daytime students which most of you incoming will be day time students. They have this movie night every week and i hope to attend one on a day i either don't have class or class is canceled. It is great to see that they have so many events and activities going on and they tell everyone about it. My poor blackberry gets flooded with emails about the happenings at Berkeley college. I can already see that this is a tight community despite the fact that all the campuses are spread apart. I think that is always important to keep unity in a college atmosphere when there is so much disunity in the world.
On to more happy stuff everyone that is a current Berkeley student i hope has already registered for spring. If you haven't you better get going before the good classes are gone. I remember in my old campus all the good stuff was gone by the first week but here at Berkeley if you waited until the second week you still had a shot at some of the those good classes. It feels sort of weird being a transfer student with credits. Most of the people in my classes it is there first semester in any college and they are all talking about the intro classes and here i am in my first semester taking second level classes. I guess most of my life i have never quite fit in with a particular group and that was fine with me. I think being unable to just fit in one group allowed me to be very diverse in my thinking and in my friends. When you are consistently around people who think and act like you, you tend to be very closed minded and unwilling to try different things. With businesses these days preaching diversity in their management the ability to work with different people is a very key asset that everyone says they have but don't. The key for anyone entering college as well that are in college is to stretch your boundaries and open your mind to different ideas and i truly believe that is how i have been able to attain many leadership positions over my collegiate career.
Now it is time for everyones favorite piece, Rebecca's corner. I cannot wait to add her sibling to the mix so stay tuned for that after the summer. Anyway my poor little one has been fighting an upper respitory infection the past couple of days so there is times she is not quite herself. Then there are times where she doesn't stop talking for five minutes but then again she is part latin and we all know latin women can talk. Anyway aside from being a little sick she is still trying to master the art of walking. She is almost there and i predict definitely before her first birthday se will be walking and running with no issues. She just turned 9 months yesterday and time just keeps on flying with her. Anyway i do want to leave you guys with a brief question to ponder, "What other skills are necessary in the workplace in order for someone to be successful?" What is your definition of success? Think about that and i will see you all next time.

It Rains, It Pours

Man oh man what a week. I tell you the week could not have gotten much worse and the funny thing is school and work weren't the issues. I know it is very strange to hear that but it is the truth. My personal life got torn to shreds with everything going but I got through it. Anyway Midterms are officially over for the most part. The only class somewhat remaining is Management because our exam is a case study that we must complete by Monday. I have aced the midterms in the other classes and I am just gearing up for the final push of the semester. I am glad that I was lucky enough to take relatively easy classes my first semester since it had been almost two years since i was in a college classroom. I have to give thanks most in part to the understanding professors I have. When you guys come to Berkeley hit me up on the post, I can give you some insight on whose good or not. On to more pressing matters such as the answer to the question I left in the previous post. I asked, "What is your definition of ethics and social responsability and how do you think it applies to business and your own personal goals?" Well the answer I gave to the professor was this,

"Ethics to me is based on what a lot of philosopher's believe in. I believe it is based on what is just and unjust and the virtues and reason behind the determination of what is just and unjust. As we stated in class about the person who exhausted all avenues to feed their starving child and goes and steals bread. To most of us that is unjust because they broke the law by stealing. Granted i do not think the person should go unpunished but if let say the punishment for stealing was getting your hands cut off well maybe that person should just go to jail or something. The reason why is because this person reason for stealing was of unselfishness and love for their child regardless of the consequences. That person is a good person because they didn't just steal from the beginning but they tried everything within the law to get their child food and nothing worked. Social Responsability in business is how you treat the neighborhood or community in which your business will take place. As stated in the example given in class about Johnson and Johnson immediately pulling all the tylenol off the shelves after just one isolated incident is taking social responsability. They showed the public that they didnt just want a quick buck but wanted to be in business for a very long time. They came up with new methods of making the bottles tamper proof and other such measures."
My own personal goals will be achieved without substituting my morals and beliefs. Trust me I have tried to do things that went against my beliefs and just couldn't do it. Everyday we see people in business and in life substitute thier beliefs for some sort of reward whether it be money or materialistic gains. People don't see by sacrificing those morals you may end up hurting a lot of people in the long run. Many people say that, "the way I am at work is not the way I act at home." The problem with that is your character will change at home because in the average week you spend more time at work than at home. Companies that have done well and have lasted for years were all build on certain values and beliefs and to this day they continue to carry it out. We look at businesses like P.C. Richards and Sons who have been around for over 100 years. How could they have stand the tests of time and the ups and downs in the market? They kept the same core value and just improved on them as time and technology enhanced. Think about that next time you decided to not stick to your guns. I will guarantee you will be a much happier person in the long run.
Well enough about ethical issues plaguing society on to much lighter news. Spring Training has officially begun in baseball. Soon America's Pastime will take center stage despite the steroid allegations and reports flying around it. For all the Yankees fans out there this is a monumental year. This will be the final year for the House that Ruth build before the House that Stienbrenner built is open for business. I am hoping that I am one of the people who get selected to have first crack at premium games this year. Especially the last game ever to be played in the regular season at Ruth's House. The best sending off is for the Yankees to win the World Series inside of it one last time.
As I wrap up this post it is time for us to take a little trip to Rebecca's Corner. She is going to be 9 months in 4 days and she continues to amaze me. Everyday she gets a bit braver when it comes to walking and grandma, daddy and mommy are new words to the vocabulary. She is extremely observant it makes me wonder what is in store for me and my wife in the future. I have no new question this week for you readers out there but I will be back with some more in the future. I will close this post and Rebecca's corner with a more up to date picture of the star of Rebecca's Corner. Enjoy!

My little Diva!

Midterm Week

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog. In my last blog I left all of you with a question. The question asked, “What is the difference between a manager and a leader?” Well the answer I gave my professor was this, “A manager is someone who can plan, organize resources and achieve goals. A leader is someone who can designate responsibility and is willing to let another team player take the spotlight from time to time. Some managers are bad leaders because they fear that if they designate responsibilities and be sometimes a servant leader they may be out of a job because someone out performed them. I think a good manager has to have the ability to do both.”
What do you guys think of my answer? Do you guys agree or disagree? My Management Professor thanked me for the insight and liked it.
Anyway to bring everyone up to speed with what has been going on in my life both inside and outside of Berkeley, this week is midterm week. I cannot believe that half of my first semester here has already gone by. More-over I can’t believe it is the middle of February. So far I have only taken one midterm and that was in CIS 120 Spreadsheets and Database Management. It was a relatively easy exam with some tricky stuff but I figured it out. Next midterm up is my Accounting 101 midterm which I should do well on because it is all multiple choices or multiple guess as I always say. I may suggest to the professor about doing it differently next time but let me see how the midterm goes first. I have done a paper in my Saturday class and got an A and I have another due this week. I don’t know how I will find the time but I got to do it.
Management has been a fun class and I suggest for those who have to take it take it with Dr. Mazzarese. He is a very thought provoking professor and keeps the class very alive and interesting. He doesn’t just settle with the correct answer but wants to go deeper into how we arrived at that answer. Like for instance for the past two weeks we have been discussing business ethics and social responsibility. The professor posed this question that I now pose to you, “What is your definition of ethics and social responsibility and how do you believe it applies to business and your own career goals?” This is a very interesting question because a lot of people these days will substitute their own morals and beliefs for the almighty dollar. Most of the time it is big companies that put these people in these positions but enough on my opinions I want to hear yours so post back.
Well enough about Academia lets move on to the Rebecca Corner. That’s right everyone I hope to end every post with an update about my little one. Since she is consistently do something new every day it seems, I should have plenty to write about. My little one is now 8.5 months and very, very energetic. She loves to crawl around and walk and explorer. My mother-in-law watches her and she loves to stare into the turtle tank and yell at the poor turtle. I think that turtle has learned to hide when he hears her coming. We are currently trying to teach her how to answer the question, “How old will you be in may?” Sometimes she put up one finger to signify her age but she hasn’t quite got it down completely. As she continues to observe I am more and more worried that she is going to be smarter than her daddy. It’s good as long as my wife and I raise her not to be arrogant as some people with higher intelligence can be.
Well that is all until next time. Remember to answer the question on business ethics and social responsibility. Any questions you have for me do not hesitate to post and I will try and check back as often as I can. Later everyone.

Opening Blog

Hello everyone my name is Isaac and the pretty little girl that is in my picture is my daughter Rebecca at 1 month old. Currently she is 8 months and her little brother or sister is due in July. I am a transfer student and I currently work full time and go to school full time. I have just completed three weeks of classes and I am really excited about my first quarter here. All my professors are easily approachable and understanding. I have spoken to many either personally or on Blackboard using discussion boards. For instance I had an issue with one of my homework grades. The professor graded it and left a comment that I didn’t show the data on separate worksheets, which I did. I spoke to him about it and he said, “I figured you did but maybe I didn’t see it. Send me an email to remind me.” It was that easy and he understood my problem instead of just brushing me off like some professors are known to do.
I have also already registered for the spring semester which is good because if you haven’t been cleared by Student Accounts then you have until March to pay off your spring semester which is good. I know schools that will wait until about three weeks before the semester ends to register and then if you had an issue you would have little time to fix it. Before I go I want to leave you guys with a question. In my Management class the professor gave a challenge to answer this question, "What is the difference between a leader and a manager?" It’s a very thought provoking question and i had never reallythought about it until then. What is your answer to the question? I encourage you to leave your answers as well as any questions you have for me, until next time.