Next Goal

I'm overjoyed because I'll finish my Associate of Business degree by the end of this week. This goal was achieved through hard work, dedication, sacrifice, and perseverance. I'm the first person in my family to go to college and obtain an Associate of Business degree. It feels amazing to be able to show my family's younger generations that anything is possible if you set your mind to it and follow through. I'm grateful to have many people in my life who have inspired and pushed me to achieve my goals and dreams. I want to continue giving my all and make everyone who believes in me proud.

During my studies, I had three professors who had a significant impact on my life. They inspired me and taught me that I shouldn't doubt myself and that I'm more than okay. Professor Wu is one of them. Mr. Wu, I want to thank you for going above and beyond for your students and for all of your help. You truly made my semester memorable. Your lectures were excellent, and I learned far more than I expected. You go above and beyond for each student to ensure we all pass your class. I appreciated your teaching style and want to thank you for it.

This year, I accomplished many goals while encountering numerous challenges. I will continue to fight for my dreams. The next educational goal will begin at UNLV in January 2023.

Slide Design Facts

A PowerPoint presentation can easily become distracting if you use poor color choices and include slides with irrelevant information to your topic. It is critical to understand how to create a PowerPoint presentation, beginning with the slides.

By giving you a variety of design options, PowerPoint presentation program simplifies the process. Slide layouts, themes, background designs, and sizing options are among the options. Widescreen 16:9 PowerPoint slides are perfect for a large presentation screen. The slide size should be changed to Standard, 4:3, to fit a smaller, narrower screen. The slide size dialog box allows you to customize the dimensions of your slides. For your presentation to display properly, it is crucial to format the slide size to match the size of the screen it will be shown on. Choose the 4:3 standard size if you are unsure of the screen size.

More Rest

I intended to get back to work as soon as I returned from my vacation, but my body decided it needed more rest. I started feeling sick as soon as I got home. My eyes keep closing, and I'm exhausted. I dislike being sick because it makes me feel like I'm wasting time doing nothing because it’s hard to stay focused. I'm going to go rest now and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. 

You need to listen to your body because your body is listening to you. - Phil McGraw 

Thanksgiving Break

So much has happened in the last few months, and I'm looking forward to finally relaxing. Normally, I spend Thanksgiving with my entire family, but my wife and I decided to do something different this year. We decided to spend Thanksgiving out of town, just me, my wife, and my daughter. I'm hoping everything goes well because if it does, this will be something we do every year. Thanksgiving is really the only time when I don't have to think about anything other than eating too much. Taking a break is extremely beneficial to me because it allows me to return stronger and focus on what I need to focus on.

Grateful

The picture above is the home my parents left behind when we decided to come to United States. They brought me and my brother to the United States when I was 2 years old. Years later, in 2016, I returned to find our old clothes and furniture still inside, covered in spiderwebs. Our town still doesn’t have any running water, water is collected in barrels when it rains or when the city distributes it. The more I saw how people lived in my hometown, the more grateful I became for everything I have. I'm grateful for the life I have and the sacrifices my parents made to bring me to America. Looking at old photos of my hometown inspires me to keep moving forward and to never lose sight of where I came from. Never lose sight of your goals, accomplishments, and everything you have gone through. 

Not too many people could walk a mile in your shoes. Only you know your struggles, challenges and obstacles; so be proud of how far you have come. - Edmond Mbiaka 

Next Step

One of my goals is to transfer to UNLV next semester so I started to plan ahead. The first thing I did was schedule a quick meeting with a CSN academic advisor to establish my academic objectives. The academic advisor designed a schedule so that I can complete my degree in the timeframe that I wanted. I scheduled another meeting with my advisor soon after I completed my summer semester. My CSN advisor informed me that I was on track to graduate which I was happy to hear, but that wasn’t true. I scheduled a meeting with a UNLV/CSN transfer program advisor, the advisor explained to me the transfer process and reviewed my classes. That’s when I was told that I needed to repeat a class even though I was under the assumption that I was on track to graduate and transfer.

I was slightly irritated because the fall semester was about to begin so I had to start looking for any open classes, which I was happy to find one and I enrolled immediately. I notified my UNLV/CSN advisor that I enrolled in the class that I needed to retake, and she was surprised that I was able to find an open class. The advisor later sent me a checklist that I must follow to transfer to UNLV. The checklist included how to apply as a transfer student, sending official transcripts, submitting immunization records, accepting admission, completing FAFSA, and activating the UNLV student email. I followed those steps and got accepted to UNLV as a pre-business student. I just need to apply for my major and send my transcripts as soon as this semester is over.

After being admitted to UNLV, there are a few more steps to take. You need to participate in a 3-hour mandatory advising session before you can enroll for classes. Attending orientation and taking the online pre-orientation course are both highly recommended. Although my journey has just begun, I plan to work hard and reach one of my lifelong goals of obtaining my bachelor’s degree.

“If you really want to do something you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse." – Jim Rohn

The last day of October

Thanksgiving and Christmas are almost approaching. These two holidays are among my favorites. These holidays are my favorite because I get to spend so much time with my family eating and having fun. During these holidays, we follow a lot of traditions.

It's been a busy week; I wish I could have written more. Tomorrow will be a new start.

“Remember how far you’ve come, not how far you have to go. You are not where you want to be, but neither are you where you used to be.” ~Rick Warren

Sacrifice

 It's been one week since I began a new routine of getting up at 4:00 a.m. and working out. It's been difficult getting up earlier than usual, but I'm beginning to enjoy it. I've learned over the years that if you want to accomplish something, you must make significant sacrifices. One of the sacrifices I had to make in order to continue my education was to spend less time with my family. It was difficult at first because I had to prioritize my schoolwork over attending birthday parties or other social gatherings. I'm grateful that my wife is understanding and does not make me feel guilty for not spending as much time with her or my daughter. Limiting the amount of time I spend watching television and on social media has also been beneficial for me.

The start of a new habit

I was up earlier than normal today. Instead of waking up at my usual 5:00 am time, I woke up at 4:00 am. I made this a part of my morning routine because I had made the decision to start working out and it was the only time I had. I needed to set aside extra time for myself because I've been feeling a little overwhelmed. Each day, we are given 24 hours, and we choose how to spend them. I think that in order to accomplish our goals, we must manage our time well and make sacrifices.

5.7.10 Advanced Function Tips

Excel has been a difficult section for me to learn, especially when it came to learning about the advanced functions. It took me some time to complete section 5.7 (using advanced functions). What really helped me were the advanced functions tips. I believe reading these tips before doing the labs for this section will be helpful. The two tips that helped me were:

Functions

-Use the Functions Arguments dialog box if you are not sure about the functions. Once you gain more experience you'll be able to enter the functions directly into the cell.

-You can search online to see how to use a particular function.

Logical Functions

-Ask yourself what you want the function to accomplish.

-Restate the problem in the same order as the function you want to use.

-Put anything you want to display as text in quotation marks.

4.12.4 Collaboration Facts

The collaboration feature in Word lets users share a file with multiple users. The feature lets people comment on a document or spreadsheet. Users can comment on the shared file and all changes in the document can be tracked to increase accountability. Some collaboration tools include adding comments, deleting comments, comment navigation and the ability to collapse and expand the comments in a document. Another great advantage of this feature is that it allows you to track changes, and who made the changes. The collaboration feature is a great feature that can help everyone in school and in their place of work. 

2.7.10 Computer Science Career Facts

Computer Science is a career that is very popular right now. Computers have become more a part of our everyday life. One of the most popular career choices for computer science graduates is Application Developers but also includes web developers, QA engineers, and database programmers. 

Application Developer – Create applications for computers and mobile devices. Most of the time they work in teams and create all kinds of software. 

Web Developer – Create websites and other technologies that are delivered through the internet. There are three main types of web developers.

Front-end developers use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create websites.

Back-end developers do the behind-the-scenes coding that you don't see directly.

Full-Stack developers do both front-end and back-end work.

QA Engineer – Specialists that monitor software development to ensure the finished product meets the standards of the company.

Database Programmer – Specialize in a specific discipline within programming. Databases store vital information that must be accessible and secure. Database programmers are vital for most large companies.

Having a background in computer science can open doors to other careers such as data science, product management and system administration.

LabSim 1.2.11 Cloud Computing

Professor Wu presented a lecture on Hardware, Troubleshooting, and EU Cyber Security on September 17, 2022. This lecture reminded me of how different things used to be and how far our society has progressed. We discussed the IPOS life cycle (input, process, output, storage). Storage has significantly changed throughout the years. Floppy disks and CD/DVDs were two items that I recall using. We now use more cloud computing, which is like using someone else's hardware over the internet to perform computing tasks. The common uses are file storage, website hosting, web applications and gaming services.

The following are cloud computing's benefits and drawbacks:

• Provides trustworthy backup options, so you won't lose your data if a storage device malfunctions.
• All you need is the appropriate program and an internet connection to view it.
• Data breaches and hackers can access cloud-based storage.
• A big problem is when the internet connection goes down.

Overall, cloud computing has advantages and disadvantages, just like everything else.

09/12/2022

I got up early this morning at 5:00 A.M. and started my morning routine. Before leaving for work, I try to accomplish as much as I can. I started making my breakfast and lunch. I finished setting everything up and headed outside with my hot tea. I set aside at least 20 to 30 minutes each day for meditation. This has been a huge benefit. Focusing was challenging at first, but I soon discovered how to relax. After finishing my meditation, I quickly showered, got dressed, and left for work. I returned home from work and started working on my schoolwork right away. Even though I encountered numerous challenges throughout the day, I tried to concentrate more on the good. We have the power to shape our lives daily in order to achieve our goals. Every day marks a fresh start.

Time

My last semester of college, hopefully all goes well. It took me a while to reach this point, but I’m finally here. I started school a few years ago, taking one to two courses per semester and I stopped when my daughter was born. I started again in 2020 and decided to go full-time. What really helped me reach my goal was that all my classes were online. Online classes gave me the freedom to work at my own pace and work ahead. This semester I decided to register for an in-person class and it’s going great. The first week of this semester just passed and I’m looking forward to the weeks ahead.

First Week of IS101

The beginning of this semester has been surprisingly different.

I received my first email from my IS101 professor Saturday night. At first, I thought he was just sending me the syllabus like most professors do. To my surprise it wasn’t just the syllabus, it was also a quiz, and the first two assignments. Along with that came a request to have a meeting. I responded to meet with him the following day early morning. Morning came, and so did the scheduled meeting with my professor. As we started talking the professor made me feel like he genuinely wants his students to succeed. He asked me questions to get to know me, which no other professor has ever done. This reassured me that I chose the right professor. The workload for this class looks very time consuming, but it’s doable. This semester will be the beginning of a new journey.