Hello everyone and apologies for the long absence. I hope everyone's holiday season is going well and that everyone did well in the fall semester. I unfortunately did not do as well as i could do to some work related injuries but i vow to come back in the Winter and do excellent to help bring back up my GPA. Christmas was ok as far as i had little time to actually relax and enjoy my three days off. My wife and kids made out well over Christmas while i did alright. Now we are all preparing for the New Year and with it a lot of things that will be set in motion.
I was scheduled to graduate this Spring but do to some errors on my degree audit report i am being pushed back a year. I am in the process of getting it fixed and i hope to still be on schedule to graduate. I am sure i will get the same great support that i normally receive from the advisement staff. I am still proceeding though as if i am graduating and that entails me going for my GMAT exam. I will let you guys know how that goes as i know many of my fellow classmates want to pursue a masters degree. A word of advice, do not skip taking the GMAT, any Grad School program that does not need a GMAT is not a school or program to enroll in. I have had friends not take the GMAT and get into a Graduate program and they all said it was a waste of time and money.
The next major goal for next year is to achieve my CCNA and get a better job with it. Simultaneously my wife will being her search for a job since i am not getting any raises this year but i am grateful to have a job. Getting my CCNA will be a challenge because i will be technically studying 6 different things at once, My four classes, the GMAT and the CCNA. Hopefully i will be able to achieve all of these goals by the middle of next year, or at least that is the plan. If i am able to achieve my CCNA by June i will then work on my CCNA Security exam and hopefully achieve that by the end of the year. January looks promising as many companies are releasing their hiring freezes and hopefully i can cash in. Anyway see you guys next year.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Weekend Review
Hello everyone and welcome back. Hope everyone's weekend was great and that they accomplished everything that they needed to do. My weekend was hectic since Friday as i had a bunch of homework and household issues that i needed to tend to. I can honestly tell you that i do not know how i am functioning right now given the fact that i got very little sleep this weekend due to a combination of homework and letting my wife sleep in. The good thing about this past weekend was i got to spend a lot of time with my kids just the three of us. It is a rarity that i get to enjoy because of school and work but i can see the light at the end of the tunnel of my college career here at Berkeley College. I am scheduled to graduate in April and i am just counting down the days until the big graduation day. Of course my education will not stop there as i intend to pursue a Master's degree in my field and possibly a PhD down the road. I cannot believe that it has been two years since i not only entered Berkeley college but have been blogging as well. It only seems like yesterday that i received that phone call from Ms. Carol Covino, who is the head of the Berkeley Bloggers. It has been enjoyable to have taken part in something that Berkeley College was just implementing and i will have to determine if i will continue to Blog post-graduation.
That is all still a long way off and we are currently rushing toward the end of the fall semester. I cannot believe how time flies but it does and it seems like those two years went by in a blur. I am currently sitting in my Persuasive Communication class waiting for the class to begin in about 30 minutes. It is an interesting class to say the least as we have covered so far many different types of persuasion, everything from debates to movie reviews. Many may not think that a movie review is a form of persuasive communication but think about how many people refuse to see a movie because it got bad reviews? Many movie goers rely on the movie reviews to determine whether they will see a movie or not especially since the price of a movie ticket is between 10 and 11 dollars. In other news the director of my department gave us some news that GE sold their Security branch to United Technology. This is important to my company as we are a Security System provider and our monitoring and business software is support by GE Security. It is going to be interesting to see how this sale will effect us moving forward. Our director also told the department that we should be proactive in learning new IT trends and software and to stay as current in our knowledge as possible. This is extremely ironic given the fact that it is very difficult for us to find time to do that during work hours and even if we do there is a good chance it will be disturbed. There has also been times where i have tried and it has been looked down upon so i don't know what is the right thing to do. I figure now i can do it because if someone tries to punish me for it i can always say my director said i could, barring that it is not affecting any of my other tasks.
Well time seems to be crawling ever so slowly toward the beginning of class. I have no idea what will be in store for tonight but i am sure it will be interesting. I have my second exam on Thursday in abnormal psych and i am hoping to do a lot better than i did on my first exam which i was not fully prepared for. If you like psychology then you have to take abnormal psych with Professor Suchoviki. He is thorough and in depth and will give you all the information you can handle. This is actually my second psych course and i have to say over all i think the whole department is great so pick and choose who you like. Anyway i have to wrap it up, join me again next time.
That is all still a long way off and we are currently rushing toward the end of the fall semester. I cannot believe how time flies but it does and it seems like those two years went by in a blur. I am currently sitting in my Persuasive Communication class waiting for the class to begin in about 30 minutes. It is an interesting class to say the least as we have covered so far many different types of persuasion, everything from debates to movie reviews. Many may not think that a movie review is a form of persuasive communication but think about how many people refuse to see a movie because it got bad reviews? Many movie goers rely on the movie reviews to determine whether they will see a movie or not especially since the price of a movie ticket is between 10 and 11 dollars. In other news the director of my department gave us some news that GE sold their Security branch to United Technology. This is important to my company as we are a Security System provider and our monitoring and business software is support by GE Security. It is going to be interesting to see how this sale will effect us moving forward. Our director also told the department that we should be proactive in learning new IT trends and software and to stay as current in our knowledge as possible. This is extremely ironic given the fact that it is very difficult for us to find time to do that during work hours and even if we do there is a good chance it will be disturbed. There has also been times where i have tried and it has been looked down upon so i don't know what is the right thing to do. I figure now i can do it because if someone tries to punish me for it i can always say my director said i could, barring that it is not affecting any of my other tasks.
Well time seems to be crawling ever so slowly toward the beginning of class. I have no idea what will be in store for tonight but i am sure it will be interesting. I have my second exam on Thursday in abnormal psych and i am hoping to do a lot better than i did on my first exam which i was not fully prepared for. If you like psychology then you have to take abnormal psych with Professor Suchoviki. He is thorough and in depth and will give you all the information you can handle. This is actually my second psych course and i have to say over all i think the whole department is great so pick and choose who you like. Anyway i have to wrap it up, join me again next time.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Midseason Review
Hello and welcome back to the blog. I still need to come up with a better name for my blog, any way before getting down to business I and every Yankees fan in Berkeley would like to congratulate them on their World Series win. It will be an interesting off-season as the Yankees will look to fill holes needed to make a run at the 28th championship. Registration is now open for the Winter semester so register now and avoid any issues with Financial Aid and Student Accounts. We have now made through half of the Fall semester and most of us have already gone through our midterms. Lucky for me I do not have any midterms in any of my classes so that helps ease off any mid-semester stress.
I have register for the Winter and I now realize that the closer you are to graduation the harder it is to find classes. I am down to internships and electives and personally i do not feel like taking all my electives in the building but it is difficult to find any open online classes. My hope for the future is that after week 6 or 7 that online classes will be made available for all students. The other interesting thing i noticed is career fairs and professional business panels. All of these events take place in the daytime which means evening students have to take a full or half a day to attend these events. Personally i would like to see if some of these events can take place in the evening or on a Saturday. Most of the evening students have jobs but maybe looking for a new one and these events can be crucial to achieving that goal.
In other business, Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching and that also is the official beginning of the Holiday season. The time where we reflect on the year that has passed so quickly and plan the future. It is a time where we spend time with those that love and care for us and it is a time that we are to reflect on what we are thankful for. This has been a tough time for the economy and i know for one thing is i am thankful to have my job both at DGA and here blogging for Berkeley College. Think about what your plans are for next semester and remember to always aim high.
I have register for the Winter and I now realize that the closer you are to graduation the harder it is to find classes. I am down to internships and electives and personally i do not feel like taking all my electives in the building but it is difficult to find any open online classes. My hope for the future is that after week 6 or 7 that online classes will be made available for all students. The other interesting thing i noticed is career fairs and professional business panels. All of these events take place in the daytime which means evening students have to take a full or half a day to attend these events. Personally i would like to see if some of these events can take place in the evening or on a Saturday. Most of the evening students have jobs but maybe looking for a new one and these events can be crucial to achieving that goal.
In other business, Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching and that also is the official beginning of the Holiday season. The time where we reflect on the year that has passed so quickly and plan the future. It is a time where we spend time with those that love and care for us and it is a time that we are to reflect on what we are thankful for. This has been a tough time for the economy and i know for one thing is i am thankful to have my job both at DGA and here blogging for Berkeley College. Think about what your plans are for next semester and remember to always aim high.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
New Semester-Count Down Begins
Hey everyone and welcome back to the blog. We are entering week 3 at Berkeley and so far so good. Before i continue a reminder to all new and current students, registration for the Winter begins week 4 so start looking at what you want to take. Another announcement is that classes are cancelled on Monday in observance of Columbus day so enjoy the day off. This semester is a big semester for me as i am counting down the days until graduation. I am scheduled to graduate in the beginning of next year and i cannot weight. If i followed the standard 4 year plan i should have graduated in 2007 but better late than never. I am now faced with the issue of what i am going to do after i graduate with my bachelors? My ultimate goal is to go for my Masters in Information Systems Management. My ideal school would be NYU and i know that it is going to take a lot of work to get into it. Even if i have the GMAT score a lot of these Master programs want some sort of company sponsorship for the program and my job does not have any tuition reimbursement. I am hoping to not only speak with my boss about the possibility of getting some assistance but i am also prepared to speak to the Vice President himself. It is a good thing that i am taking Persuasive Communications this semester.
There are a lot of factors that are going to make this semester as difficult as last semester. The biggest obstacle i face is what i will do with my knee. As you can recall my late night blog last week about awaiting results for an MRI i took, well i got them last Monday. I have tears on both of my meniscus's and a Grade 2 sprain of my MCL. The MCL can be rectified through therapy and strengthening of the knee. The meniscus's are a different stories that has two paths that i can take. One road will be not doing any surgery, rehab the knee to strengthen it and live with it torn. The issue is with that is that it will hinder me from any athletic endeavors such as playing baseball or any sports. It will also make it more difficult to lose the weight because i cannot do any hard exercise. The more important aspect is that i have two kids and they are going to play some sort of sports and i want to be able to help them practice. The other road i can take is by having surgery on the knee to repair the damage in the knee which will allow me after a few months of rehab to return to normal activities. I am leaning toward surgery which will have me out of work and school for approximately 2 weeks. I will be meeting with my orthopedic surgeon on Tuesday to discuss options that i may not know about.
As i begin my count down to graduation i look back at the two years i have spent at Berkeley College. I can recall some students having issues, that eventually got resolved and i am glad i did not really have any issues. All my encounters with the staff and faculty at Berkeley have been great. It has to be the second best school i have been to with my first going to Penn State where i spent a year at. I can honestly say that Berkeley has prepared me for what i need to do when i graduate in a couple of months. If i could offer some suggestions i would like to see the Information Systems program expanded a bit. I would like to see more computer classes other than Office and Web Design as being the only mandatory classes that an ISM major needs to take. Classes such as Server, A+, and maybe an intro to Cisco would help round out the ISM student. Working in the IT department for almost 3 years i have seen how important it is to understand these things as it will help when it comes time for us to take positions of management in an IT department. Anyway i hope you enjoyed tonight's blog and i hope to see you guys later on this week.
There are a lot of factors that are going to make this semester as difficult as last semester. The biggest obstacle i face is what i will do with my knee. As you can recall my late night blog last week about awaiting results for an MRI i took, well i got them last Monday. I have tears on both of my meniscus's and a Grade 2 sprain of my MCL. The MCL can be rectified through therapy and strengthening of the knee. The meniscus's are a different stories that has two paths that i can take. One road will be not doing any surgery, rehab the knee to strengthen it and live with it torn. The issue is with that is that it will hinder me from any athletic endeavors such as playing baseball or any sports. It will also make it more difficult to lose the weight because i cannot do any hard exercise. The more important aspect is that i have two kids and they are going to play some sort of sports and i want to be able to help them practice. The other road i can take is by having surgery on the knee to repair the damage in the knee which will allow me after a few months of rehab to return to normal activities. I am leaning toward surgery which will have me out of work and school for approximately 2 weeks. I will be meeting with my orthopedic surgeon on Tuesday to discuss options that i may not know about.
As i begin my count down to graduation i look back at the two years i have spent at Berkeley College. I can recall some students having issues, that eventually got resolved and i am glad i did not really have any issues. All my encounters with the staff and faculty at Berkeley have been great. It has to be the second best school i have been to with my first going to Penn State where i spent a year at. I can honestly say that Berkeley has prepared me for what i need to do when i graduate in a couple of months. If i could offer some suggestions i would like to see the Information Systems program expanded a bit. I would like to see more computer classes other than Office and Web Design as being the only mandatory classes that an ISM major needs to take. Classes such as Server, A+, and maybe an intro to Cisco would help round out the ISM student. Working in the IT department for almost 3 years i have seen how important it is to understand these things as it will help when it comes time for us to take positions of management in an IT department. Anyway i hope you enjoyed tonight's blog and i hope to see you guys later on this week.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Fall is in the Air
Hello everyone i am back from my little break. I apologize for the long break but i had to handle a lot of stuff in my personal life and i was beginning to fall behind in classes. Now things have calmed down a bit and i am able to get back to blogging and other activities. It is currently 1 in the morning Sunday and i cannot sleep so i decided that i will blog a bit to see if i can tire myself out. This semester is starting to look that it will be just as hectic as last semester. I have currently have classes in the building on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. The big issue with that is i now live in New Jersey so it is a little longer to get home and costly also as i need to take a cab from the train. Hopefully when i go for my retake of my license on Thursday i will pass and be able to finally get a car and just drive from the train myself. I also have to contend with the possibility that i may need surgery on my left knee. About two Friday's ago i fell and landed wrong in the stairwell of my job. Now if you can recall awhile ago i said my company bought a building and we were preparing to move in, well on September 8th we moved in. So the stairwell was not done so when i fell i landed on my feet but i twisted my knee on the uneven concrete. I will find out on Monday if i have a tear or not.
The biggest thing is that i am preparing for graduation. I have finally handed in my transcript so i will be able to get those transfer credits but the problem with being so close to graduation is that i am running out of classes to take. This semester alone i am taking two elective classes and as i get closer to the big day i will be taking more and more electives. I want to take this time to thank Primetime which is now the Dept. of Continuing Education, for all their help getting me the classes i needed for this semester. My only issue that i do have is that there is not enough room in the Department of Continuing Education to fit everyone that needs to see Advisement, Student Accounts and Financial Aid. The reason why spacing is an issue is because since most Continuing Ed students have jobs they tend to bottleneck and go to the department between 5 and 8 in the evening. Sometimes there is a 30-60 minute wait to see some one. What also makes it difficult is that they reserve days for new students which furthers limit the time continuing students have to get things settled. I personally believe that if we had the whole floor instead of one room it would allow for more students to be seen since you can now fit more advisers, financial aid personnel and student account personnel. It will also allow the department to be divided in half so that way one wing can handle new students and the other wing can handle continuing students. Anyway that is all for now i will catch you guys later on in the week.
The biggest thing is that i am preparing for graduation. I have finally handed in my transcript so i will be able to get those transfer credits but the problem with being so close to graduation is that i am running out of classes to take. This semester alone i am taking two elective classes and as i get closer to the big day i will be taking more and more electives. I want to take this time to thank Primetime which is now the Dept. of Continuing Education, for all their help getting me the classes i needed for this semester. My only issue that i do have is that there is not enough room in the Department of Continuing Education to fit everyone that needs to see Advisement, Student Accounts and Financial Aid. The reason why spacing is an issue is because since most Continuing Ed students have jobs they tend to bottleneck and go to the department between 5 and 8 in the evening. Sometimes there is a 30-60 minute wait to see some one. What also makes it difficult is that they reserve days for new students which furthers limit the time continuing students have to get things settled. I personally believe that if we had the whole floor instead of one room it would allow for more students to be seen since you can now fit more advisers, financial aid personnel and student account personnel. It will also allow the department to be divided in half so that way one wing can handle new students and the other wing can handle continuing students. Anyway that is all for now i will catch you guys later on in the week.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Summer Break
Hello everyone and apologies for not posting. Due to some personal issues i have to take a break for the Summer Semester. I will be back in the fall God willing. Thank you once again for your patience and i will see you guys in September.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Mid-Spring
Hello Everyone and welcome back. A lot has happened since i last wrote, between my birthday and mothers day it has just been one thing after another. To top it all off i had some issues with the school but that was resolved to my satisfaction but more on that later. Some administrative stuff, registration for the Summer semester is now going on so if you have not registered please do so. For those that have registered make sure you clear before the end of the spring semester to avoid any extra headaches.
Midterms were last week and boy did i have some tough ones. Finance had to be the hardest midterm i have taken to date in all the exams i have taken at Berkeley college. I think what made it so difficult is because many of us were not properly prepared for the exam. It really wasn't completely the professors fault as some of the students in the class just either cant remember basic accounting or basic math. As an example he uses PowerPoint to teach the class and we got stuck on 1 slide for almost 45 minutes as he had to keep repeating himself to the same group of students. I understand you want everyone to get what you are teaching but there has to be a point where you tell those students see me after class and not hold up the other 20+ students who do get it. I will be getting the results to that exam today so lets see how that goes.
Math seems to be the easiest since we got a take home exam for math. He is a good professor but the same thing that happens Tuesday in finance happens on Wednesday in Math. A lot of the question evolve around basic college algebra which most of these people either cant remember or never took. I don't know if college algebra is a pre-requisite for the class but if it isnt it should be. The other question i have for the person that creates the Primetime schedule, why do you have essentially two math classes back to back? That is very difficult for some students and is one of the biggest complaints i get from my fellow students.
Computers seem to be going smoothly although he has been unable to get the simulation software he needs installed on the computers at Berkeley. The techs blamed it on the executable file not running properly. Despite the set back we are proceeding through the chapters at a decent pace. I personally do not think we will get through the entire book in the 12 weeks we have but who knows. The online class i am in has been going surprisingly well. It is going to well that i made the majority of my classes next semester online. This will provide me the ability to spend time with my kids, work out with my wife and focus on my business. I am looking forward to next semester as there are some interesting management classes that i am taking.
Now it is time for the Rebecca and Jose corner. My lovely Rebecca is turning two on Saturday and i cannot believe how much time has flown by. I can still remember waiting in the hospital for her arrival in this world. She has become so smart and is picking up phrases and words quicker than i would have ever thought a child her age can do. She continues to be a loving sister to Jose and an excellent daughter to me and my wife. So i want to wish her a very Happy 2nd Birthday!
Midterms were last week and boy did i have some tough ones. Finance had to be the hardest midterm i have taken to date in all the exams i have taken at Berkeley college. I think what made it so difficult is because many of us were not properly prepared for the exam. It really wasn't completely the professors fault as some of the students in the class just either cant remember basic accounting or basic math. As an example he uses PowerPoint to teach the class and we got stuck on 1 slide for almost 45 minutes as he had to keep repeating himself to the same group of students. I understand you want everyone to get what you are teaching but there has to be a point where you tell those students see me after class and not hold up the other 20+ students who do get it. I will be getting the results to that exam today so lets see how that goes.
Math seems to be the easiest since we got a take home exam for math. He is a good professor but the same thing that happens Tuesday in finance happens on Wednesday in Math. A lot of the question evolve around basic college algebra which most of these people either cant remember or never took. I don't know if college algebra is a pre-requisite for the class but if it isnt it should be. The other question i have for the person that creates the Primetime schedule, why do you have essentially two math classes back to back? That is very difficult for some students and is one of the biggest complaints i get from my fellow students.
Computers seem to be going smoothly although he has been unable to get the simulation software he needs installed on the computers at Berkeley. The techs blamed it on the executable file not running properly. Despite the set back we are proceeding through the chapters at a decent pace. I personally do not think we will get through the entire book in the 12 weeks we have but who knows. The online class i am in has been going surprisingly well. It is going to well that i made the majority of my classes next semester online. This will provide me the ability to spend time with my kids, work out with my wife and focus on my business. I am looking forward to next semester as there are some interesting management classes that i am taking.
Now it is time for the Rebecca and Jose corner. My lovely Rebecca is turning two on Saturday and i cannot believe how much time has flown by. I can still remember waiting in the hospital for her arrival in this world. She has become so smart and is picking up phrases and words quicker than i would have ever thought a child her age can do. She continues to be a loving sister to Jose and an excellent daughter to me and my wife. So i want to wish her a very Happy 2nd Birthday!
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