Internship, The Final Countdown

The technical skills that I've learned at Year Up that will add value to the company are my abilities to think on my feet with troubleshooting and to assemble and reassemble a computer with ease.  The skills that I'll probably display first are my tech skills.  I would need to show off my troubleshooting abilities and my knowledge of hardware.  Those are probably the most important skills that I've learned in tech class.

I'll probably work well under a really chill friendly manager.  One that doesn't talk down to his employees or isn't too strict.  I'm a pretty laid back person so if I had a manager that acted the same then things would be really smooth and would take a lot of pressure off of me.  

The soft skills I wish to develop are my speaking abilities.  I want to become more charismatic and confident when I talk and not come off as awkward.  It's something that I've struggled with at Year Up, but I believe if I'm put into an environment where I have to talk to people a lot then I should be fine.  The only anxieties I have are not knowing what to do during a problem or running into a situation where I feel pressured and I choke.  I'm not really one that does well under pressure.

I plan to stand out during internship by going above and beyond with my work.  I want to be the guy that people can rely on and turn to when they need help.  I also want to take every opportunity that comes my way so my work will be noticed. 

My plan for after internship is to try and earn a job.  If that doesn't work out then I'll try and find a job using my network at Year Up.  After I do find a job, I want to learn as much as a can there to gain actual work experience.  When I feel confident enough, I want to move to San Diego to work at Sony.

Internship tips

1)  Time management:  This is pretty self explanatory.  While being an intern, you'll either be really busy or have lots of down time.  What you do with your time is really important.  This leads to my next point.

 2)  Work fast yet efficient: This is something you learn in retail but it also applies towards internship.  You want to work at a good pace so people dont think you're a slow worker.  But, you also want to be efficient  and not miss any details.

3) Taking initiative: This will show to your manager and other colleagues that you're there to work and that you're hungry to learn more.

4)  Networking:  This is at utmost importance.  After your internship is over, you want to have established a good network in case you dont get hired. Making a large network during your internship can potentially lead to more job oppurtunities.

5)  Ask questions:  Dont be afraid to ask questions about something you dont know or something you're curious about.  This is how you learn more about your job. 

6)  Always have a notebook handy:  Keeping a notebook on you will be life saving.  You shouldnt rely on just your memory to remember meetings or what tasks need to be done.  Having a notebook on you will help you stay organized.

7)  Make yourself known:  Attend meetings and any social event that may be going on during your internship.  Make yourself known to your colleagues.  Also, making yourself known through your work isnt a bad idea either.

8)  Be enthusiastic about getting work:  Dont get mad if you're getting tons of work.  All it means is that your manager or colleagues trust you with handling the work so you better be appreciative. 

9)  Ask for feedback:  Asking your manager or other colleagues for feedback will greatly improve your work performance.  By knowing what you need to work on, you can make yourself a more well rounded intern.  Also, asking for feedback can help create professional relationships with colleagues.

10)  Learn from your colleagues:  Try and learn as much as you can from who you're working with.  You should be like a kid in a candy shop during your internship.  Learn as much as you can from whoever you can.  This will make you more valuable towards the company in the long run.

11)  Keep an open mind:  Try to keep an open mind about learning new things.  There may be some tasks that you may not like but after learning about it, you may end up loving it.

12)  Dont be a negative nancy:  Always come in with a smile even when you're dead tired or in a bad mood.  Don't let a bad day or anything affect your work or how you interact with your colleagues. 

Matthew Valdez: Ace Sushi Chef

My most enjoyable job was when I was hired at a Japanese restaurant called Suruki's. I had one job and one job only, to make sushi. Some other responsibilities I had were to wash dishes and fill the fish tub with ice. Besides that, making sushi was all I had to concentrate on. What made the job enjoyable was that lots of my friends worked there and Chris Aguda from LCO was the manager that hired me so I was able to have a really flexible schedule. Fun Fact: I was actually hired to replace Andrew DeMesa after he left. So yeah anyway. We had tons of downtime in the morning and after lunch. All we did was talk and listen to Japanese electro music and anime songs. The only thing that wasn't that great was the owner of the restaurant. He was really mean and by far the worst manager I ever had. I believe that the experiences I had at this job will help me at my internship because I would be able to deal with mean managers. The lessons I learned were how to have patience with an extremely rude temperamental manager. This is a great lesson I learned because angry managers are ubiquitous.

The worst job I ever had was my first job at Target.  My job was to take items and put them in their specific aisles in their proper place.  I also had to fix up the aisles and make all the items look all clean and tidy.  I was really fast at this job and my managers liked that.  Because of this, they put me in the toy's section during the Christmas season.  I hated it.  It was seriously like cleaning your room and having people come in and mess everything up.   What I can take from this job is patience to push through a very mundane task.

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Freakonomics is about not believing conventional wisdom and thinking of things from a different point of view. The author probably wrote this book to show what economics will be like if applied to controversial topics. The message trying to be conveyed is again, to think of things from a different point of view and not believing conventional wisdom. There were lots of passages that left different impressions on me. I was mostly shocked about how much money a drug dealer makes and how it's compared to someone trying to become a major league baseball player. The chapter that inspired the richest discussion in my group was the chapter about names and parenting. We discussed what makes a good parent and the fine line between being a tough parent and a friend to your child. After the reading, I believe that my interest has been piqued. I'm starting to think of things in a different light. The book wasnt really written in a way where it was easily enjoyable. I enjoyed the author's witty sense of writing, but I didnt like how he skipped topics around so much. Also there were a ton of stats and facts that you would tend to get kind of lost. I would recommend this book to anyone that actually enjoys reading.

Take a look, it's in a book

Reading has been super easy for me so far but it hasn't been for some other people.  Get ready for some venting.  It's kind of annoying when people are always like "Man why we gotta read so much!?  This is too much to read in one week and blah blah blah blah".  Seriously, were just reading one chapter a week.  It's really not that hard.   Do people really need some incentives just to read a chapter in a book?  I mean, it would behoove everyone if they read something that isn't a Facebook post or a text message.

 What I usually do is just read the book when I'm on my way to Year Up or whenever I have nothing else to do, and before I know it, I'm already done with the chapter.  I also make sure not to read in my bed because I would end up falling asleep.  Another tip is to not read when you're sitting in front of a computer.  You would end up going on Tumblr or Facebook instead of reading.   If you're watching TV, you can read during every commercial...be warned though, if you do this you might not get anything out of the reading.  But yeah, even if you really don't feel like reading, just take an hour out of your day just to read the chapter and really understand it.  Even if you're a slow reader, you should be able to finish a chapter in about 3 or 4 hours.  That's about what...like an hour out of 3 or 4 days?  Some annotation advice would be to circle or highlight any word, phrase, or a part of the reading that sticks out to you. You could also mark any parts that are confusing to you so you could talk about it in the book discussions.

Um, so for anyone reading the book, to help you understand it more, try and relate it to you.  I know that with the way Freakonomics is written, it jumps around a lot and you could get lost.  But think of it as a confusing movie that only makes sense at the end.  It's kind of like Inception or the Saw movies. Everything always connects at the end. That's really how each chapter is written.  You have to get through the whole chapter to understand what the authors are talking about.  So yeah, dont be discouraged if you have no idea what they're trying to say. Just stick to it until you finish and the author makes his final point.  Then you'll see how all that jumping around ties together in the end.  You'll be like "Ohhhhh that is so cray cray! Freakonomics is my new favorite book!". 


Take a look, it's in a book. A reading rainbow.

Anorexia

The article that I read is about a 19 year old model that died in her sleep due to eating disorders.  This whole article is really depressing because it's mostly about how a girl didn't realize how beautiful she really was, so she tried eating less to gain what she already had.  This article should really send out a strong message to would be and up and coming models.  There are a ubiquitous amount of women who think that the only way they can be beautiful or make it in the modeling business is to have a stick thin body.  That is definitely not the case.  Women should realize how extremely beautiful they really are, whether they are plus sized or skinny.   The other thing is, in the article the writer mentions that the girls loved ones kept telling her she had to eat more, and that mentioning food to her would lead to an argument.  Sometimes people need to just really listen to feedback and what people are telling them.  If the girl listened to her parents from the start then maybe something wouldn't have happened.  Sometimes people are too prideful and think they know themselves the best, this isn't always the case.  People in general just need to learn how to listen to advice and know that it's coming from a good place. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2137423/Bethaney-Wallace-Anorexic-cover-girl-model-19-dies-sleep-weight-drops-6-stone.html

Rainbows aren't just for skittles

So this blog post is about stigmas.  To be honest I didnt really know exactly what to write about, but then it hit me.  This post will be about sexual orientation and the stigmas that go along with it.  This is a topic that I feel pretty strong about because it has somewhat affected my life.  Ok, no I'm not gay, but someone in my family is, to be more specific, my younger brother.  It's sort of a shock when a close family member comes out of the closet to you.  You start to feel more protective of them because you already know all the stigmas and stereotypes that comes when people think of gay people.  That last sentence sounded weird.  But anyway, one stigma would be that all gay people listen to and enjoy songs like this...because apparently, songs like this are "gay".



Some people think that you a guy can't be friends with a gay guy because they might start liking you or something like that.  That's completely untrue...or from what my brother tells me.  Another thing that's sort of stupid is how gay people can't get married.  Dude, if gay people get married nothing bad is going to happen.  People act like World War 3 is going to break out.  I mean, I can see some of their reasoning...like how they think kids growing up with gay parents might end up being gay or be confused when they're older.  But seriously to me, that's just ignorant thinking.  I dont know the stats or anything but I dont think the percentage of kids growing up in a gay household and becoming messed up when they're older is that high.

 Another stigma would be how people think that lots of gay people enjoy dressing in drag or putting on make up.  Again, that's another ignorant way of thinking.  Yeah there are some people that are into that, but that doesnt mean that people should assume that all gay people are into that.  My brother would never put a dress on or anything like that.

Gather 'round and I'll tell you guys a short story. There was a time when I made fun of brother,  I told him that our mom was giving away some clothes and that he should see if any of her dresses fit him.  He responded back by saying "No, that's gay".  Yeah, short story.  But the point is that just because someone is gay or lesbian or whatever doesn't mean that you have to stereotype them with whatever you see in movies or something.  Not all homosexual people like dressing in drag, not all lesbians are butch, they dont all listen to musicals, they dont all watch Ellen Degeneres, they dont all talk with a lisp.  I could go on and on with different stigmas and stereotypes that goes along with gay people...but like I said before, most of it is ignorant thinking.  So yeah, stop that way of thinking because it's not cool.