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.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
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!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Anniversary and Week 3
Hello everyone and welcome back. I know it has been awhile since the last post and i apologize but i think i will be more regular now that i have figured out my schedule for doing work. Hopefully every ones spring semester is going well and that you are ready to register for the summer semester which i believe registration begins next week but i will verify in a later post. Today's main topics are anniversary and what motivates us.
This past weekend was my 2 year wedding anniversary. It has not been at all the best two years from a financial point of view but the good thing is i think it is building character in our marriage. A lot of stuff has gone on over the past two years including the birth of both my children, starting Berkeley College and a whole bunch of boring stuff that i will not mention. Through it all i did not have a relapse of a bipolar episode or did i once think this was not going to last. See i have always been a pessimist so the only think i keep telling myself is the prize at the end will be worth it. That's what has kept me going through my marriage and through going to school full time. Any Primetime student will tell you that it is physically taxing to work full time and go to school full time. It is even more taxing physically, mentally and emotionally when you are a parent. Having to balance all these jobs is very difficult in it of itself. Yet my motivation are the two smiles i get when i come home from my children. They keep me energized and wanting to finish what i have started.
When you have children your whole world changes. Your focus changes and that anything you do is for your children solely. As i told my wife our marriage can end at anytime but the one constant is our children and all we do will be for them and them only. Hearing daddy from Rebecca and dada from Jose keeps me going more than any energy drink out there and that is how i get through it. So any students out there whether your primtime, daytime or online and you are feeling a little tired sit back and realize what is your motivation? When you need an energy boost just remember why you are doing, what you are doing? If you cannot answer that question then you may want to look to see what is your motivations.
Week 3 is upon us and that means we are a quarter of the way through and approaching midterm week. So far a lot of information has been thrown at us and it is time to start dissecting and putting stuff together in order to better prepare ourselves for the midterm. So far I have learned a lot about Information Systems and Finance. Finance appears to be another math class that uses a lot of ratios and formulas that i hope that the professor will give us for the exam. Information Systems appears to be packed with a lot of information and hopefully I will be able to dissect it enough in order to do a term project on it. This is my first semester that i have two group projects. One group project is in Information Systems and the other is in Finance.
Now it is time for the Rebecca and Jose corner. As part of our anniversary we took Rebecca to the Bronx zoo on Saturday. She loved it especially the monkeys as that is her favorite animal. She loved it so much she kept my mother in law up by making animal noises in her sleep. Jose is not in a good mood as his two top teeth are trying to break through. I am hoping they come through with in the next couple of days so that he can be back to being a happy boy. Anyway that is all for now stay tuned to next time when i update Professor Montlacks book information and his appearances.
This past weekend was my 2 year wedding anniversary. It has not been at all the best two years from a financial point of view but the good thing is i think it is building character in our marriage. A lot of stuff has gone on over the past two years including the birth of both my children, starting Berkeley College and a whole bunch of boring stuff that i will not mention. Through it all i did not have a relapse of a bipolar episode or did i once think this was not going to last. See i have always been a pessimist so the only think i keep telling myself is the prize at the end will be worth it. That's what has kept me going through my marriage and through going to school full time. Any Primetime student will tell you that it is physically taxing to work full time and go to school full time. It is even more taxing physically, mentally and emotionally when you are a parent. Having to balance all these jobs is very difficult in it of itself. Yet my motivation are the two smiles i get when i come home from my children. They keep me energized and wanting to finish what i have started.
When you have children your whole world changes. Your focus changes and that anything you do is for your children solely. As i told my wife our marriage can end at anytime but the one constant is our children and all we do will be for them and them only. Hearing daddy from Rebecca and dada from Jose keeps me going more than any energy drink out there and that is how i get through it. So any students out there whether your primtime, daytime or online and you are feeling a little tired sit back and realize what is your motivation? When you need an energy boost just remember why you are doing, what you are doing? If you cannot answer that question then you may want to look to see what is your motivations.
Week 3 is upon us and that means we are a quarter of the way through and approaching midterm week. So far a lot of information has been thrown at us and it is time to start dissecting and putting stuff together in order to better prepare ourselves for the midterm. So far I have learned a lot about Information Systems and Finance. Finance appears to be another math class that uses a lot of ratios and formulas that i hope that the professor will give us for the exam. Information Systems appears to be packed with a lot of information and hopefully I will be able to dissect it enough in order to do a term project on it. This is my first semester that i have two group projects. One group project is in Information Systems and the other is in Finance.
Now it is time for the Rebecca and Jose corner. As part of our anniversary we took Rebecca to the Bronx zoo on Saturday. She loved it especially the monkeys as that is her favorite animal. She loved it so much she kept my mother in law up by making animal noises in her sleep. Jose is not in a good mood as his two top teeth are trying to break through. I am hoping they come through with in the next couple of days so that he can be back to being a happy boy. Anyway that is all for now stay tuned to next time when i update Professor Montlacks book information and his appearances.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
New Semester, New Ideas
Hello everyone. Finals week has gone and passed and i did ok. Unfortunately i suffered my first C+ but it didn't drop my GPA to much. We are now in the Spring semester and I am looking forward to all the classes that I am taking this semester. I am taking 4 classes, three at a building and one online. It is my first online class so anyone that has taken online classes i would love to hear feedback such as what are good professors to take and not to. On a side note i want to shout out a professor that is having some big things coming this month. Awhile back you may remember i interviewed a professor named Michael Montlack. He is an English professor that teaches Oral Communication among other English classes. Well this month his new book My Diva : 65 Gay Men on the Women Who Inspire Them has been released. You can order your copy from Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. He has two public appearances promoting the book one of them is April 27th at the Barnes and Noble located at 2289 Broadway, 82nd & Broadway. There will also be a Big Diva event on May 13th. There is also a possibility for an event at Berkeley College so pay attention to the posters around the campus and come out to support our professor.
This is the first week of classes for the Spring semester and i have gone through 3 out of 4. The interesting thing about my schedule is that i have Finance and Finite Mathematics back to back. The reason why it is interesting is both classes are math classes. What makes it more interesting is there were only two Finance classes for night students, one on Tuesday and the other on Thursday, sandwiching the Finite mathematics class. Personally i think that is too much math in to little of time frame. The last class i have taken so far is Management Information Systems. I got the textbook for that class yesterday and after reading the table of contents it appears to be a great class. I think a lot of the chapters will apply to what i am experiencing right now with the move to the new building. One of the chapters is on telecommunications and networks and deciding what to use. This is key as my task so far in the new building is to punch down phone wire. Obviously decisions were made to use certain types of phone blocks, what type of cable to use, etc. I am hoping that this class will give me a little more of an inside view into a managers mind as i hopefully will be in that position on day.
The class that still remains is my network management course. I bought the textbook and started looking at what it has in store. I actually brought it into work to show my server administrator and he turned to me and said, "are you trying to take me job?" I said, "no but someone has to know what is going on in the new building when it comes to servers," and he agreed. My hope is that this class will prepare me to be a good server administrator, especially when we move into the building.
Now it is time for the Rebecca and Jose corner. Well Rebecca is getting ever so close to her second birthday. Jose continues to grow and is crawling all over the place. One day me and my wife were sitting watching TV and Jose was in the kitchen playing with the soda bottles. No more than 2 or 3 minutes later it went quiet and me and my wife looked at each other knowing that silence and kids don't mean something good. So i look in the kitchen and he is no where to be found so i go hunting for Jose. I found him all the way in our bedroom! All me and my wife could do was laugh. Well that is all for now i will see you guys next time.
This is the first week of classes for the Spring semester and i have gone through 3 out of 4. The interesting thing about my schedule is that i have Finance and Finite Mathematics back to back. The reason why it is interesting is both classes are math classes. What makes it more interesting is there were only two Finance classes for night students, one on Tuesday and the other on Thursday, sandwiching the Finite mathematics class. Personally i think that is too much math in to little of time frame. The last class i have taken so far is Management Information Systems. I got the textbook for that class yesterday and after reading the table of contents it appears to be a great class. I think a lot of the chapters will apply to what i am experiencing right now with the move to the new building. One of the chapters is on telecommunications and networks and deciding what to use. This is key as my task so far in the new building is to punch down phone wire. Obviously decisions were made to use certain types of phone blocks, what type of cable to use, etc. I am hoping that this class will give me a little more of an inside view into a managers mind as i hopefully will be in that position on day.
The class that still remains is my network management course. I bought the textbook and started looking at what it has in store. I actually brought it into work to show my server administrator and he turned to me and said, "are you trying to take me job?" I said, "no but someone has to know what is going on in the new building when it comes to servers," and he agreed. My hope is that this class will prepare me to be a good server administrator, especially when we move into the building.
Now it is time for the Rebecca and Jose corner. Well Rebecca is getting ever so close to her second birthday. Jose continues to grow and is crawling all over the place. One day me and my wife were sitting watching TV and Jose was in the kitchen playing with the soda bottles. No more than 2 or 3 minutes later it went quiet and me and my wife looked at each other knowing that silence and kids don't mean something good. So i look in the kitchen and he is no where to be found so i go hunting for Jose. I found him all the way in our bedroom! All me and my wife could do was laugh. Well that is all for now i will see you guys next time.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
The End is Near
-March 11th-
Hello everyone and welcome back to the blog. A reminder once again that registration for the Spring is still going on and to clear as soon as possible. Time is running out and you don’t want to get stuck with classes you do not want or need. I personally have to clear and I intend to do that on Saturday so I will let you know how that goes.
The end of the semester is quickly approaching as students all around Berkeley are gearing up for final exams. It is going to be difficult for me as I have a lot of personal and family events that are coming up that is going to sap my strength, hopefully with proper time management I will be able to handle it all. As we begin the wind down I handed in my final 8 page paper today in Multimedia Business Presentations. The final step is to take that paper and turn it into a PowerPoint presentation that is due next week. If I get an A on the paper and the presentation that should net me an A for the class since I got nothing less than an A- on any assignment. I am still waiting to find out what I got on my midterm in Taxation but I guess that may have to wait until Friday. I still have to do homework for chapters 5 & 6 that is due next Friday, week 11.
In International Business I saw I got 29 out of 30 on my paper which makes me feel great since I worked hard on that paper. If I am able to get an 85 or better on the final I think I can come away with a B or a B+ for the semester which I am happy to take. Microeconomics I did not go to yesterday because I was physically exhausted from the hectic weekend and I also had to get up early Tuesday morning. I went to a BNI meeting at 7 am in order to promote the business that my partner and I are forming. BNI is a professional networking group that allows only one of each particular field into a chapter. For example in one chapter there can only be one tax lawyer, one graphic designer so on and so forth. This is extremely helpful in the fact that any referrals would go to you and only to you. Despite missing the class I did find out that she did move up the final to week 11 so we don’t have to show up week 12 and also take away one class to study for during week 12. I got a break out of Taxation because I found out from a classmate that the final will only be on one chapter and that is chapter 6. That makes it easier to study for and prepare for so I am hoping to knock the final out of the park.
It is now time for the Rebecca and Jose corner. Rebecca continues to surprise us with her grasp of the English language. The other day my wife and mother in law were taking Jose and Rebecca for a walk. Rebecca was already in the carriage when she saw that her brother was coming along. She turns to my mother in law and says “he’s coming to?” My mother in law replied “yep” and Rebecca goes “nnooooo.” She did not want her brother to come along and seemed to act like it was her time only with mommy and grandma. Another thing she did was on Sunday morning she woke up and saw her brother sleeping upstairs. She asks my mother in law if Jose slept there last night and when she was told yes she said, “oh” and seemed annoyed. That night he stayed upstairs again but this time Rebecca saw him and asked if he was spending the night. My mother in law said,”yes” and Rebecca gave it her ok for good measure. Makes me wonder who the boss really is upstairs? Anyway that is it for now I will see you guys next time, hopefully I will be able to post all of these back blogs this weekend.
Hello everyone and welcome back to the blog. A reminder once again that registration for the Spring is still going on and to clear as soon as possible. Time is running out and you don’t want to get stuck with classes you do not want or need. I personally have to clear and I intend to do that on Saturday so I will let you know how that goes.
The end of the semester is quickly approaching as students all around Berkeley are gearing up for final exams. It is going to be difficult for me as I have a lot of personal and family events that are coming up that is going to sap my strength, hopefully with proper time management I will be able to handle it all. As we begin the wind down I handed in my final 8 page paper today in Multimedia Business Presentations. The final step is to take that paper and turn it into a PowerPoint presentation that is due next week. If I get an A on the paper and the presentation that should net me an A for the class since I got nothing less than an A- on any assignment. I am still waiting to find out what I got on my midterm in Taxation but I guess that may have to wait until Friday. I still have to do homework for chapters 5 & 6 that is due next Friday, week 11.
In International Business I saw I got 29 out of 30 on my paper which makes me feel great since I worked hard on that paper. If I am able to get an 85 or better on the final I think I can come away with a B or a B+ for the semester which I am happy to take. Microeconomics I did not go to yesterday because I was physically exhausted from the hectic weekend and I also had to get up early Tuesday morning. I went to a BNI meeting at 7 am in order to promote the business that my partner and I are forming. BNI is a professional networking group that allows only one of each particular field into a chapter. For example in one chapter there can only be one tax lawyer, one graphic designer so on and so forth. This is extremely helpful in the fact that any referrals would go to you and only to you. Despite missing the class I did find out that she did move up the final to week 11 so we don’t have to show up week 12 and also take away one class to study for during week 12. I got a break out of Taxation because I found out from a classmate that the final will only be on one chapter and that is chapter 6. That makes it easier to study for and prepare for so I am hoping to knock the final out of the park.
It is now time for the Rebecca and Jose corner. Rebecca continues to surprise us with her grasp of the English language. The other day my wife and mother in law were taking Jose and Rebecca for a walk. Rebecca was already in the carriage when she saw that her brother was coming along. She turns to my mother in law and says “he’s coming to?” My mother in law replied “yep” and Rebecca goes “nnooooo.” She did not want her brother to come along and seemed to act like it was her time only with mommy and grandma. Another thing she did was on Sunday morning she woke up and saw her brother sleeping upstairs. She asks my mother in law if Jose slept there last night and when she was told yes she said, “oh” and seemed annoyed. That night he stayed upstairs again but this time Rebecca saw him and asked if he was spending the night. My mother in law said,”yes” and Rebecca gave it her ok for good measure. Makes me wonder who the boss really is upstairs? Anyway that is it for now I will see you guys next time, hopefully I will be able to post all of these back blogs this weekend.
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