Here comes the "POEM"

Here is my last blog entry for this class. I feel kind of sad, but I am so glad that I took this class - it was my best decision for this semester :).

Professor Kurpis gave us all.
The Lego class and simple blogging project.
But what we learned from all in all
Is to create our own magic.
To be decisive and evaluate
How good we are, if not the best already.
How we should manage everything in life.
He even gave desired extra credit!!
We were persistent and came to class en masse.
Sometimes were late on our blog assignments,
But all of it soon will be just a past
And now I wish it can be everlasting.
The class is over in a week or so
But we'll remember that egg protection structure
And also will remember how to trow
Those starfish as a life adventure.

Sharing feels good

   It seems to me that blogging is very popular these days. My co-workers is following some fashion blogs and I thought to myself - "those people have nothing to do with their time besides blogging?". So at first I was thinking that this blog thing as a class activity was a weird idea. I have never had a blog in my life and the chances that I would ever get one were very slim.
   What should I write? What language is appropriate for the blogging? What kind of people are my classmates? Would they like to read my posts or would they not? What this will give me besides 20% of my grade? These kind of questions were rising in my mind every time there was an assignment.Nevertheless with every new blog entry my questions were answered.
   With every new entry it became more of a fun game, where you can go home and right about things that you couldn't say in class or maybe just enough time past to reevaluate your thoughts. Especially after the extra credit assignment it became a piece of a cake and did seem a a drag anymore. The fact that this is was not an every week assignment made it much more enjoyable. Plus, blogging it just so much more better then a standard, boring assignment for writing a paper - you don't have to be official and give facts, it is free thoughts expressing.
   Blogging is one of the things that made this class unforgettable for me. I have never experienced such a unique approach of teaching. It definitely helped to learn about people in this class. When there is no time limit then writing about your experiences becomes more honest and more focused.
   Will I continue to write a blog? Now I wish i could, but I don't want to give any promises. But now I understand why people keep posting about their lives, about fashion, about anything what they have in their lives - they just want to share, and sharing feels good.

To Pickle Or Not To Pickle

I was kind of uncomfortable to go to McDonald's and order a McGangbang. So I’ve decided to go with pickles. A week ago I went to McDonald's at 9:30 and was kindly asked to come back later, because they were serving breakfast – who would know?! Not a regular any fast food customer I was pleasantly surprised by this discovery, and went home empty handed that day. As the due day was approaching I was getting more and more anxious about the project, so I took a trip to the same McDonald's restaurant, which is located in Bay Ridge Brooklyn. I was hoping to avoid the crowd after work, but by the time I got to the restaurant it was busy, so I took the line anyway. When the young girl call for next customer I stepped up and took my phone out of the pocket so I could find the exact instructions for the project. She took my order without even blinking, not even after I requested to have a receipt that reflected my entire order with all extra wishes. Then she excused herself and stepped to the “kitchen” where she was asking if guys can manage to insert some extra pickles into my burger and she came backed seemed satisfied with an answer. On a way back she asked a girl who was on a frying machine to get her small unsalted order of well done fries.

After I exchanged my money for the receipt I took a step aside so I could see what my girl will be doing to complete my order. She stepped back to the kitchen area again and it took her 3 minutes to comeback with the small package in her hand, not sure what she was doing there but it seems that there was a group of people deciding on how to arrange pickles. While she was gone I was monitoring a girl who was in charge of the frying machine. She was making new fries so I can have it unsalted, despite the fact that while I was about to place my order she finished making it. So she took fries out of oil and she absolutely forgot what my girl have asked her and she put salt on everything again.

“Thank is nice!” – I thought to myself, “Will they give me salted fries pretending it is unsalted, or they will fry another pack of potatoes?” Then I saw an alder woman coming to me and asking me what was I waiting for, and I told her pointing on my girl that she got my order. She smiled to me and went back to serving next customer. I took a look at my watch – seven minutes have past since the moment of my order, not very impressive for a fast food restaurant. When my girl was asking for the unsalted French fries small order they both realized that they have to make more fries to complete my order. Only after this my girl came by and apologies for the delay, and explained what I was observing all this time. Two or three minutes later the older woman asked my girl why I am still waiting and I was very pleased with her concern.

Fourteen minutes later I received my order and more apologies for waiting. I can say that my overall experience with McDonald’s service was not negative at all; nevertheless the waiting time was not acceptable for a fast food restaurant. My order was exactly what I’ve requested it to be – my fries was unsalted and my pickles were arranged in a pretty flower pattern. Even though I am not a fan of a burgers in general and I have no one to share it with I placed it straight to the garbage bin, but I did enjoy the fries which I had to sprinkle with some sea salt at home.

While I was waiting for my order I noticed that some people from personnel were constantly going to the “kitchen” area to ask some specifics about orders they were placing. Were they checking on a kitchen staff handling their orders or just checking if they have specific food for serving I am not sure, but there was a constant collaboration among everyone within personnel of that restaurant. The place was very clean and brightly lit. I also saw one manager briefly walked around to check on everyone, but no one seemed to paid attention to him since there were lots of people in lines. Everyone who was taking orders looked very attentive to their customers and smiled, which I think is not really common in fast food, which game an impression that good training made it happen.

And this is my actual small hamburger, it didn't look very edible to me.

CAN YOU TEACH AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS?

I really enjoy any class of our activities, because it is exciting, not monotonous, and not by the book kind of thing.  That is the reason I like this class the most of my other classes, even though exams are not so easy. So the test we took was interesting as well. The questions are pretty simple - you just have to describe your personality. But how objective we are in terms of self-evaluation?

Did you ever had a moments when you mother tells you one of you character traces and you go “WHAAAAT?!?!” Or when your friend tells you – “You are so ….!” and you begin to think if this really true. I had couple of moments like that, and it is a real discovery how other people see you compared to how you see yourself.

But let come back to what I need to write about. So I am a strong SC type, which stands for “Steadiness” and “Conscientiousness”. And that is when I had my moment of “WHAAAT?’. Am I tending to perform in predictable manner, or demonstrating patience…hmmm, how do you measure patience? I can tolerate some things more or less, but I cannot call myself a strong patient person as this test showed. I also tend to flame fast and want things to be my way if I see that it will make things better. I also loose interest really fast in something that I do day after day. I have to drag myself to the gym, because I think of sports more of a game and not pulling up weights, but I just have no other time to sign up for other activities besides what I have right now and I like to stay in shape. I am absolutely conscientious but don’t go crazy on it. Thinking analytically and being diplomatic that is what I am. But I have a soft character and I am kind of missing dominance, and maybe some influence. But it also I think it depends on a situation. When I am with my boyfriend he is totally and absolutely dominant and strong character, or maybe I am the one who is giving him this power over me. But with others I am much stronger and have some partial influence on others if I am the expert of the situation. Nevertheless, I tend to make things appropriate for everyone, or I would feel selfish and disrespectful to other people wishes.

When I came to USA by myself I felt that I am little baby – I had to learn how to speak, how to understand, and how to read. I also was very shy and for some reason was afraid to look people straight in the eyes, which wasn’t helping me at all. But one day I realized that it is keeping me down and I’ve decided that I have to change and forced myself to look in the persons eyes when communicating. I also was reading out loud anything that I could lay my hands on, so I could get used to my own voice when speaking foreign language. I would dare myself to something small every time I was afraid of doing. And believe me it gave results, which I did not expect at all.

There is a Russian saying that I can prove wrong - it is impossible to teach an old dog new tricks. I think that people can develop DISC types of character with work and practice. We gain experience and expertise, we can become better or worse. We all change constantly over time throughout our lives and only we in control of it.

DO YOU HAVE A SCENARIO FOR YOUR LIFE?

 Growing up I had a dream of becoming pediatrician. I saw my friend's mom being one and I thought to myself that it would be cool to help little kids. Once she asked me who do I want to become when I am grown up, so I shared my idea with her. She looked at me and said - "If I were you, I would think of something better, because this job is very unappreciated". And she was right - doctors in then USSR were making pennies for the job they were performing and the hours they were putting into this profession. I remember that it was very sad to hear her saying that and dropped the idea.
 It is very sad to see people not enjoying what they do professionally and when I came to United States I wasn't sure what I want to do either, first of all the choice is limitless. You can basically do anything you want, anything is possible in USA, given that you have a desire for it. I feel that the movie we saw in class was not created just because someone wanted to get some money out of it, but because it is a big problem among young and not only people to decide on what their purpose in life. I was among that people and I can still relate to them in a sense that I do not see the clear image ahead of me, but I can feel that I heading in a right direction.
 I am an accountant and I have a decent job right now, but I constantly asking myself questions - "is it something I want to do for the rest of my life?", "am I happy in what I do?". And the answers I am getting are not completely satisfactory. I am enjoying the college time, because it will take me where I want to be, I just know that, but it is not enough for the vision of my future. I almost feel myself on an interview, when a potential employer asks "where do you see yourself in 5 years from now?".
I have a friend that is 13 years older that I am, and I recently met him when he was briefly visiting US . I first met him when he was occupying a position of a regional manager for one of the top selling gum companies in Ukraine. Apparently he learned English language while studying international economy in Harvard, he created a franchising consulting company and he is trying to expend his business abroad, and at this point he is a self made millionaire. We've met for about 2 hours and we could not eat because our conversation just floated above us,destructing out meal. I shared the story of my life with him and at that time I was very preoccupied with my grades I told him that my goal is to get an A in class. He looked at me and told me that I am smart (which is always nice to hear), but I have to grow up and see beyond my small goals. He told me that I have to create something bigger and try to accomplish it no matter how big it is. At the moment I realized that I simply afraid to dream big. I am scared that my dreams are not going to come true, and that this fear is blocking me from my success. My friend also shared a little trick he does if he wants something to become reality - he creates a detailed scenario in his mind. It can be a day long, a year long or as long as you want. He said that it really works and he is enjoying the process of creation.
 When it comes to my own goals - I am still working on them, but I have some ideas on a back of my mind. The first one is - I want to create a tax consulting company for foreign investors, since I am in a field of accounting that can help me to achieve my idea. I already talking to the same friend of mine which steps we have to make in order to accomplish it. Second dream of mine is to build a house - the step for getting this one done is coming after the first goals is in WIP. There is also a desire to travel the world.
 My goal for everyday life is to keep the vision for all of the above consistent. We can watch a lot of movies and hear a lot of songs that keeps us inspired for a minute and maybe half an hour, but the hardest task is to be inspired for a life time.

How We Managed to Make a Decision

   On the weekend before the class I looked at the syllabus to get an idea about what we will be talking in class and  maybe just to briefly read through the material. It says "Review Exam #1 / Decision making". Hmm, I wondered to myself, how professor can manage to put these two together if mostly he has not enough time to cover entire chapter in class? But I still took my text book and reviewed the chapter.
   The class didn't promise anything extraordinary until I heard professor saying  - "You have time to decide...". I instantly knew that it was one of the class activities and I told this to one of my classmates. It was a pleasure to see all these people come up to the blackboard and try make 80 people to listen to what they have to say. But the best job did the girl from the first row (sorry, do not remember the name) - not only I enjoyed her voice, but she also seemed so calm along the whole process, successfully leading the mass of overexcited people, trying to avoid the chaos.
   I personally don't like openly participate in discussions where such a mass of people involved, because you never know the outcome. Plus I do not like scream over someone who is already speaking loud. That is making me not being aggressive, nor assertive. But there were more then enough people wanting to win over the audience and have their voice heard.Some people tried to come up and eventually gave up and went back to their seats, but some stayed and proved to be real leaders.
   I was avoiding the process - I was very participant amount my neighbors-classmates. We shared our opinions left and right, what would be good for us and what else could be added to the list of "MUST HAVE" or "MUST HAVE NOT".
   I was not a mediator among extreme opinions, but our number #1 leader was able to manage it very brilliantly. I liked that she was not demanding, but was asking "what if..." - that kind of questions are very soothing to everyone's ears. Than I was absolutely shocked in a good way when one of the girls said "his opinion is important", referring to that person who did not want to vote on our proposal. Usually people in large quantities tend not to pay attention to those who do not agree with majority, and if not for professor mentioning that only unanimous vote will count it would probably be the case.
   When it comes to accommodation I think that in our decision making class everyone was trying to accommodate their own interests. And there is an example - when someone proposed to the class to make first exam to be worth less overall points, people who got more was complaining because their didn't want to loose their good grade over people who did do that good on the test.
   I believe that collaboration was more between the group and professor. Everyone were still looking at the professor and his reaction on what we were trying to get out of this, and some of the stuff got shut down eventually in a process of decision making. There were also voices among people sitting at the back of the classroom screaming "how about this?" and "how about that?"; at the end of the class I felt that everyone just wanted to get something then nothing and that is how we agreed to what we had written on a board, which wasn't a bad scenario for all of us.
   I am absolutely positive that every single one of us learned something new from the "experiment". It is a real life situation and I am glad that no one got hurt along the way.

Egg-cellent planning

   I want to begin with saying "thanks" to amazing group of people I had a pleasure to share this interesting activity. It was truly an experience for me.

   At first we begin to talk about how we can create a structure that would be able to save an egg from breaking when being dropped. Each of us shared an idea of what is the best architecture would be and why it would be good. We came up with 3 main structures and argued about how we can build each of them with given materials, then tried to estimate how each of them would benefit our main goal - get the egg to the floor intact. So I guess I can check off steps 1, 2, and 3 from the list on the steps in the planning process.

   When it comes to allocation of jobs then we totally skipped that. But we still managed to do a great job and all hands were working very organized. Though we change our egg-protection along the way, because we realized that some parts of what we thought would work did seem not work at all. I felt adrenalin running through my veins and I liked it, though it made my hands a little shaky when I was applying masking tape to our creation.

   At the end we evaluated results as successful, because our egg did not break. (here comes my victory dance) - YEEEY!!!

Blog Topic #1: Culture Shock - How I've met PJ's

  I came to United States 9 years ago and since then I have traveled through out Europe couple of times. Being born and raised in one country and come to stay in another country is always going to impact the view of the country, and change you as well.
  I have a friend in Ukraine who has to dress up and wear make-up before going to the store. Not all women do this but the prevailing  majority. People expect you to look good no matter where you go. But when I was walking streets of Brooklyn I saw women not only having no make-up at all but they were wearing pajama pants. Let me note that I don't judge, I've always felt that people should do what they pleased to do the most, but when I told my friend about it she was stunned. I mostly felt that Americans just enjoying their lives and feel more free. Sometimes I do not have time or desire to put make up on, and I do not like make-up, but i still feel a little guilty for not doing it, i guess it is a cultural guilt.
 Someone mentioned in class that it is not recommended to look people in the eyes, that it is not safe. I could argue to that – I have no problem to look at people eyes in New York. I would probably be more scared to look at someone’s eyes in Russia or Ukraine. When I look at people they just smile to me. Or maybe it depends on the face expression you have at the moment.
 A negative moment is that people do not offer their seats to pregnant and elderly on the subway or bus, though it is highly encouraged right now. I do not remember seeing someone in my native country sitting on a bus or train and having grandmother standing next to that person. There was always someone who would get up to offer a seat.

Let's do this...

Hello EVERYONE,
 Let me admit right away that this blogging thing is a little frightening...First of all, English is not my first language, so I will probably be making tons of mistakes that I will be trying correct as we walk along our spring semester. Second, all of it just feels that I am talking to my computer, even though some of you will be reading my posts (including professor).
 So let's get started - my name is Maryna, and I am an accountant/student. I work in a high end Italian jewelry company called Damiani and as an employee I have 50% discount (if someone interested :). But we not here to advertise, so I am moving on - I live in Brooklyn, love to exercise, take pictures, sew, swim, dance, sing and all that good stuff, but on the other hand I do not have enough time to engage in everything, so I try to do it when I can.
 I also can share with you about the moment when I realized that managerial path is inescapable for me. Not that it frightened me, it's just I've never thought of it till that moment. We have interns coming in every semester and person who had an experience sharing space and professional knowledge with someone new every 3 month knows that it is tiring and sometimes painful process. Last fall we had a group of people coming in from Italy and I had to figure our what they speak with their thick accents. Not that my speech abilities are perfectly fluent and correct, it's just I do not used to "Itanglish". So my company came up with this project that our interns have to complete and I was helping them to get accustomed with our accounting system. My boss asked me to come in for a little chat before we begin and told me - "You will be their [interns] manager and I believe in you". At that moment I felt every hair on my head. The idea of being in-charge scared the hell out of me. I was there only for 6 month and do not want to have this responsibility, I thought to myself. But no one gave me a choice. I totally realized that if something was to go wrong I was the one to blame, but if it goes right I really hoped that I was to be rewarded.
  Let me tell you - It is a challenging task to be a manager... That group of interns finished their 10 weeks curriculum requirement, but new group is coming this spring and I am really hoping that this class will help me to improve what I was given to do. In any case I will keep you posted on my progress.