Laugh at my "skill"

Humpty Dumpty fell from a desk
Humpty Dumpty made a great mess
all to teach us a lesson
boy this class inspired second guessing
boy i wish those test weren't so hard
but alas, 4 pickles came to the rescue
We even threw starfish in the sea
Of course, figuratively
one of the most interesting classes yet
i class i will not forget
all that's left is that final test
i wish you all the best
lets break a leg
like we broke that egg

Communicating via Blog

Blogging is an interesting form of communicating in the class. After reading the reasons why Professor Kurpis chose to do a blog for this class I can somewhat agree with his reasoning. My thoughts on blogs are somewhat similar albeit a slightly different. I think blogging is especially good for those people who are not particularly talkative in class. I feel like it allows for more people to express their opinions especially if they are shy. I think blogging is also a good way for a person to earn a certain portion of their grade although admittedly I personally had trouble always remember to do my blog, particulary the commenting aspect of it. I think that part could just be my problem although I can definetly see people forgetting to comment on other peoples blogs. Although I do the purpose of commenting on other peoples blogs cause it at least assures someone having to go out and read your blog. For me however blogging is a very impulsive thing however. I feel like blogging is something I would do out of impulse as opposed to by a certain date. I suppose that could just be my lazy side talking seeing as I forgot comment sometimes, but I feel like blogging is an impulsive act.

All that being said, I think the blog should remain an active part of this class for semesters to come and I hope that other professors will somehow include blogging in their classes as a form of particpation.

DISC

The DISC test was quite interest and accurate. My results for the DISC test turned out to be I-D, which is Influential-Dominant. While the test was going on I noticed a trend in my answers and that trend proved to be quite true. I think I agree with the assessment although I thought I was going to get Influential and Conscientious. I would consider myself a conscientious person and have been told by many close people that I am so. Do I wish I was another type? Not really, I think the types I have gotten are quite good in the position of leadership. I think the ability to influence is extremely important in the role of leadership.

Ultimately I think one needs a combination of all 4 to be a successful manager, but a certain level of dominance and influence are probably the most important. As I said earlier I was surprised I did not get conscientious because I think a manager has to be very analytical. So do I think I can become another type? Well I think the conscientious part applies to me, so I guess the answer to that question would be yes.

I think it's important to know how a persons type to understand the way they manage. It's a very insightful way to look at how decisions are mad once you know how a person thinks. However you can also see the way a person thinks and it can be different from their results.

The Oracle

1. Establishing a Successful Programming Board in Baruch College as part of USG.

Currently I am a senator in the undergraduate student government and one of the things our government did was start a programming board like most other colleges have, but Baruch does not. This was the stepping stone to what I hope to be something much bigger and grandeur. There were recently elections for next years USG and I managed to win a seat and with that seat I hope to take charge of the programming board. One of the things I want the programming to do is bring in an A-list artist to perform at Baruch because our school doesn't have a good track record of bringing in these artists for exposure. We almost managed to do that this year but it didn't work out because of funds. However with the student activity free increase, there will be a lot more money for concerts of this sort to happen. I hope to have set some kind of precedent with this programming board.

2. Travel the the countries on my "To Visit List"

This may be generic and probably on many peoples lists, but it is something I really want to do. My first goal to accomplish this is studying abroad in Australia next winter or working abroad in Turkey next winter. Either of these will be a stepping stone to keep on crossing names of countries of my list. My lists goes from famous well known tourists places such as France and Spain to lesser known destinations like Nepal. I guess a top three for me would consist of Egypt, New Zealand and Greece(as of right now). It would help if I made decent money in the future to accomplish all this traveling of course.

3. Getting a job at a top-marketing firm.

Again, pretty generic but I suppose college is to help you get to these places. As an international marketing major I'm still sort of all over the place of exactly what I want to do, so I guess the first step would be to sit down and really think about what aspect of marketing I want to focus on. Advertising is where I'm leaning now, but I have to continue to research different firms, network and build my resume so I when I apply, I'll be as ready as I can be.

Decision Making

During the 3/15 class, I used accommodation to handle the situation. Time was very short and we had to either come up with a decision or get nothing out of the entire class and constant back and forth. It was probably the only method that could of been used as time was winding down. If we including myself did not accommodate to some sort of agreement we would of all been stuck with the mean of 65. I think we could of stuck with a little more collaborating though. I feel like some of the ideas were shut down to quickly and never discussed. For example for open note, a few people were against it, however there was no sort of remote discussion to say if we could possibly sway them to approve open note. It was just a "oh one person voted against this", let me erase this. That I thought was the biggest issues more so then anything. I think there could of been a great deal of compromise had we at least discussed the issues a bit before shutting it down, especially since so much of what was shut down had plenty of potential to be accepted.

Cultural Differences

A few summers ago I visited Ottawa, Canada. Being a New Yorker, the concept of slowing down is a tough one. Every time I stop to slow down in this city, I feel the city rushing by me. However, the 2 weeks I spent in Ottawa I never once felt that kind of urgency. Maybe it was because I was on vacation and didn't have any deadlines to meet or hours to fulfill. However I think it had more to do with the culture around me changing. No longer was everyone in a rush to beat someone to the closest cab or try to fight their way onto the crowded train. There was a sense of tranquility in air. Everyone knew where they were going but they were in no hurry to get there. One of the things I've always heard about Canada was how nice the people usually are, and I found this to be true. I think the slower paced lifestyle there certainly allows more time out of ones day to be nice. A little time manages to go a long way. My cousins have adjusted to the slower paced lifestyle of Ottawa. They too used to be one of those people that always seemed in a hurry. I guess being New Yorker, I sometimes take slowing down for granted.

As a Bengali American there are other cultural differences. I grew up in Brooklyn, so my values and cultural up-bringing have been very 'New York'. However one thing I've noticed about many people that have come here from Bangladesh is that they eat with their hands (the right one always). I grew up eating with utensils so it is different when I went to Bangladesh and saw many of the people eating with their hands there. It's pretty fascinating how the tiniest differences can vary so greatly across the globe.

First Post

My name is Abid Anwar. I'm a junior at Baruch College, and majoring in International Marketing. I'm doubling minoring and psychology and film. Film is one of my passions in terms of art and I have a pretty extensive knowledge of older and foreign films. I'm also a senator in USG(the Baruch student government), so my schedule throughout the week is pretty busy. I'm always a big sports fan, and fan of the Giants, Mets, and Knicks. Two of those those teams suck currently, so it's been a rough ride. I used to play the saxophone but since coming to college I haven't really had much time to ,but it's one of those hobbies I plan on taking up again.