EDT 321 Blogs!

1.      What blog could you use to find a good place to eat in Tempe?

a.       Feasting in Phoenix blog reviews restaurants throughout Arizona and outside states.  http://feastinginphoenix.com/

2.      What blog could you use to learn about how to invest in the stock market?

a.       24/7 Wallstreet. http://247wallst.com/

3.      What blog could you use to learn about social media tools?

a.       Flowtown has a blog section dedicated specifically to assisting small businesses in utilizing social media and social networking.  http://www.flowtown.com/blog/

4.      What blog could you use to learn about ne video games?

a.       gameinformer contains various user and editor blogs on gaming.  http://www.gameinformer.com/

5.      What blog could you use to read movie reviews?

a.       Cinemafunk offers movie reviews, film criticism, and “funk”.  http://www.cinemafunk.com/

6.      What blog would you use if you wanted to learn about where your favorite ban /musician were playing?

a.       The Trunk Space is a venue for local artist, which also blogs about upcoming shows.  http://thetrunkspace.blogspot.com/

7.      What kind of information is found on the following blogs?

a.       Gadling: Travel tips

b.      Gawker: Opinion based humorous news articles

c.       Failblog: Sharing site for funny videos and pictures

d.      Rotten Tomatoes: Site for movie reviews, trailers, and box office results.

e.       Grantland: New site about sports, gaming, and Hollywood.

8.      What is the difference between a blog and a micro-blog?

a.       Micro-blogs are much smaller, usually between 140-200 or less characters. 

9.      Is Wordpress a blog or a micro-blog?

a.       Wordpress is a host site for blogs as opposed to Twitter which is a host site for micro-blogs.

10.  What is an “Enterprise Micro-Blog”

a.       An Enterprise Micro-Blog is a site that provides thread replies, RSS feeds, photo and file sharing and more collaborative tools.

11.  Name one enterprise micro-blog.

a.       Socialcast

12.  Out of all the blog sites you visited, which one was your favorite? Please explain, why?

a.       I would say that Gawker is my favorite out of all that I have looked at.  The information was presented on a quick and concise manner but was humorous as well which made me want to read more stories.   

           

Forming Working Relationships

Beyond the perks of my job, the easiness of it, and the flexible schedule I must say the best part of my job is the people that I work with.  Even the ones that get on my nerves constantly help to form a working environment that I think makes the job.  There are people who I can have a long meaningful conversation with and others that I can act like a total fool with, but no one takes themselves too seriously.  In fact, last week we pranked our new manager’s desk.  Our director loved it and our manager, I think, has a new found respect for us.  I think most of all this is what I would miss if I would get a “real job”.   I really do love the people that I work with and I am so appreciative everyday of being able to work with them!

Lovely Mercado

As I stated before in a previous post, the downtown Phoenix campus UTO is responsible for classrooms in four different buildings.  One of the buildings that I have grown to love the most is the Mercado.  Guessing from its name I am going to venture and say that the complex was once to home to shops, but somehow I have a hard time believing that.  It is know that home to ASU classrooms and office space.  The UTO department is housed in a quiet little corner “office”.  Office is in quotes because I have a strong feeling that it is a converted closet (very small and no windows).  But this is why I love this building.  No one really knows about it so it is never packed and since I have been working the classrooms for so long I can easily solve much of the issues that arise.  Plus, everyone thinks it is haunted. 

“Working Adult…?”

I don’t know if it is the same for other departments in universities that hire on student workers, but everyone in my office has a very unique definition on what a “working adult” is or what an “adult” is.  I have been working full time and going to school full time since I was sixteen.  I have been paying my own bills since I was eighteen and going to school, yet I have never really felt like I was an adult.  Even now, I live by myself, pay my own bills, and take care of myself 100% I still have a hard time telling myself that I am a “working adult” and I think it is because of my current job.  The same goes for the other student workers and staff member who are still completing a degree.  We all talk about how we don’t want to graduate because then we will have to enter the “real world” and get a “real job”.  Yet, we are all adults and could easily find work elsewhere.  Perhaps we are all in denial. 

Plans for the final semester

The closure of this semester has really put in perspective how horrible my studying habits have become.  I owe this to the fact that all of my classes this semester were online and I had to one physically to be accountable to.  Not to say that I did horrible this semester, I will be fine, but I definitely feel that there was a big change from previous semester.  Thankfully there is always time to start a new.  I am currently mentally and physically preparing to plan for next semester, the final semester.  Whether this means deleting my Face book account or dedicating all of my spare time to reading and writing then so be it.  I don’t want to look back after I graduate and think. “I did well enough.”  I don’t want to do good enough.   I want to do great.  I want to completely understand and enjoy what I am learning and the only way to do that is commit myself 100% into my studying.  I know that I can do it I just need to create a habit out of studying rather than procrastinating. 

Promotions

I think that I have mentioned something about pending promotion before, but just in case I haven’t I am madly jonesin' for a promotion.  As stated in my previous post, in August it will be two years that I have worked in this position for ASU and I really don’t see myself leaving in the near future.  That being said, it is hard not to wonder if there is something out there that I might not benefit more from.  Don’t get me wrong I really enjoy my job, but I always have the mindset that I should be constantly moving.  If I am not moving and progressing in a company within a certain amount of time I feel like I am wasting my time and will be relegated to the depths of “good enough”.  Meaning, you are a good worker and we trust you so we don’t want to lose you as good worker in the position that you are currently at.  So there is talking around the office of changes and promotions and   I really hope that I am able to showcase my abilities in a way that will finally get me that promotion!

Trade Secrets

In August I will have worked in the University Technology Office for ASU for exactly two years.  Before that I would not have even dreamed that I would ever be considered as “IT”.  I, like many who only deal with IT when something drastic goes wrong, had a limited view on what exactly they did.  If they were called I suppose I thought that they know what they were talking about and were able to easily solve the issue at hand.  Very soon after starting this position my mindset changed.  To be very honest, when you call IT, even when you call IT that have degrees in tech related fields they have no idea what they are doing when they first approach a problem.  Yes, they may know what goes wrong with the system or equipment, but that does not mean that that is what is going on in this specific instant.  After they have eliminated that they problem is not one that is common it is a simple act of guessing and trial and error until a problem is solved.  So, please, next time you interact with and IT person give him or her benefit of the doubt that they do not know everything.  And a little trade secret, when we say, “Let me check my knowledge base.” That just means we are looking it up on Google.