I didn't miss a week of school. I wish I had though. I would have probably recovered from my illness faster. Quick recap of last week. Talked about more windows scripting components in my infrastructure class. My team worked on our report over the weekend and turned in the hard copy today. There is a lot of information for even so small a project. I took the test for security on Friday, the line at the Testing Center was pretty long. I'll have to remember that next time I need to take a test. We had a lab on port scanning. Today we began discussing other types of security threats. No class for Manec on Tuesday. On Thursday, we talked about trade policy, specifically tariffs. My group has decided to not do a 25 minute presentation, but instead write a paper about Russia that will need to be who knows how long. Oh well. It will probably require less collaboration than a presentation. For Japanese, we practiced the play. On Thursday, the room was locked and no one could find the key so we practiced outside. I am getting pretty comfortable with my lines. Which is good since the play is in like two weeks. For MBA 512, we had two other teams present on their cases and both of them brought Wiis. I need to work on my Mario Kart skills.
Today I registered for classes for next semester. Well, most of them at least. One of the required classes was already full. I've sent an email to our program coordinator to try and get some help with that. Anyway, I'm glad that I am mostly over my illness. It is so much easier to be productive when you just want to rest all the time.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
October 14th, 2009
Today I slept in. Whenever my wife goes into work late, I seem to follow along. We had orange rolls for breakfast. It was pretty nice. I was late to class and couldn't find a parking spot, so I parked in the A lot. In class, we talked about WMI and how it is used and how it works with Powershell and I didn't really pay attention. I was trying to get a better record for minesweeper on my VM. I moved my car and got a good spot right in front of the Tanner building. I then went to the lounge resigned to waiting for my next class without lunch, when out of nowhere someone told me KPMG was having their de-stress activity. Went up the stairs and had some Subway for lunch.
Went to the next class where we reviewed the material for the test which will be in like two weeks. Kind of weird to review so early but what can you do. I pretty much stopped paying attention in this class and played Mahjong Titans. Now I am at work trying to figure out how to test a new piece of software coming my way next week and chatting with one of my old coworkers that knows more than I what I should be doing. It has been helpful to chat and get an idea of what they have done before.
Tomorrow I am going to take my Manec test and present in my change management class. It will be an interesting day and I will be glad for the weekend. At least two good things will happen this weekend: my nephew Samuel's birthday party and bad movie night. Hooray!
Went to the next class where we reviewed the material for the test which will be in like two weeks. Kind of weird to review so early but what can you do. I pretty much stopped paying attention in this class and played Mahjong Titans. Now I am at work trying to figure out how to test a new piece of software coming my way next week and chatting with one of my old coworkers that knows more than I what I should be doing. It has been helpful to chat and get an idea of what they have done before.
Tomorrow I am going to take my Manec test and present in my change management class. It will be an interesting day and I will be glad for the weekend. At least two good things will happen this weekend: my nephew Samuel's birthday party and bad movie night. Hooray!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
October 13th 2009
Yesterday I only went to my first class. We discussed more Powershell and went through more examples. Professor Lindstrom showed us how to create functions. It is pretty cool stuff. I then spent time with my wife because she had the day off. I went to work and it looks like we will finally have some solid testing work to do. The new version of TALL will be ready to be tested next week.
Today I went to my first class. It was a review for the midterm and I really need to study because there is a lot I haven't been doing. I am supposed to be reading the Wall Street Journal but I don't. Anyway, I spent some time trying to make up the lab from yesterday and catching up on reading for change management. I met with Dr. Ball and talked about the next steps. I need to finish working on making sure I have data for all the programs on the list. We will probably start something new next week.
In Japanese we finished our first read through of the play. It will be pretty intense. Man I have so much stuff to do this week. I need to make cards for the play to help me memorize my lines. I then went to change management and listened for an hour. It was okay but I had a lot to do. My group is presenting on Thursday and meeting after class so I was trying to finish reading the article.
We met as Echo Team and broke up our presentation. We will do a review and play Jeopardy and then break into smaller groups to answer questions. It should be a good presentation. After we were done I went to finish my lab. It was a lab on IP security and it was pretty interesting. I then went to check on the information session for the church and it was packed and no pizza. Oh well.
Today I went to my first class. It was a review for the midterm and I really need to study because there is a lot I haven't been doing. I am supposed to be reading the Wall Street Journal but I don't. Anyway, I spent some time trying to make up the lab from yesterday and catching up on reading for change management. I met with Dr. Ball and talked about the next steps. I need to finish working on making sure I have data for all the programs on the list. We will probably start something new next week.
In Japanese we finished our first read through of the play. It will be pretty intense. Man I have so much stuff to do this week. I need to make cards for the play to help me memorize my lines. I then went to change management and listened for an hour. It was okay but I had a lot to do. My group is presenting on Thursday and meeting after class so I was trying to finish reading the article.
We met as Echo Team and broke up our presentation. We will do a review and play Jeopardy and then break into smaller groups to answer questions. It should be a good presentation. After we were done I went to finish my lab. It was a lab on IP security and it was pretty interesting. I then went to check on the information session for the church and it was packed and no pizza. Oh well.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
October 8th, 2009
I had two classes today. I spent the morning talking about my role with ASM. I am the VP of Special Interest Groups and had the task of creating small groups that would operate autonomously from the ASM core. Anyway, we are finally kicking it off and trying to get it to work. I went to class where we talked about the Asian crisis. It was interesting to see what investing in Asian countries has done to them. The inflation and devaluation of their currencies has decimated their economy. We then had two presentations. The first was on Brazil. It was pretty interesting to learn about the history of another country especially when I know people that are from there. It was a very good presentation. The next presentation was on the IMF, which does not stand for impossible missions force. Unfortunately, the only reference to what it actually stands for was on a slide. The International Monetary Fund is a pretty interesting organization and has a good purpose even if it has some issues in execution.
After class, I went to the ASM meeting. It was the normal thing. It seems sometimes we spend too much time talking about simple things and don't get much work done. Anyway, I discussed the SIG idea and nobody was that interested. But I think it is a really great idea. So I get to write an email and try to find some leaders for the groups.
I went to my Japanese class and we went over the play. We will be performing the play on November 6th. It will be interesting because I have always wanted to be in a play. Anyway, after Japanese, I had nothing to do until another ASM meeting at 5. I worked on some things and then watched some of my brother's youtube videos. The A-Team (Activities Team) meeting was less structured than it should have been. But I think it went well for the members. I stayed late and realize I have a lot to contribute on an individual level. I talked with one of the "leaders" of the team and discussed ways to improve activities. Overall, a good day. Plus no school tomorrow. Hooray.
After class, I went to the ASM meeting. It was the normal thing. It seems sometimes we spend too much time talking about simple things and don't get much work done. Anyway, I discussed the SIG idea and nobody was that interested. But I think it is a really great idea. So I get to write an email and try to find some leaders for the groups.
I went to my Japanese class and we went over the play. We will be performing the play on November 6th. It will be interesting because I have always wanted to be in a play. Anyway, after Japanese, I had nothing to do until another ASM meeting at 5. I worked on some things and then watched some of my brother's youtube videos. The A-Team (Activities Team) meeting was less structured than it should have been. But I think it went well for the members. I stayed late and realize I have a lot to contribute on an individual level. I talked with one of the "leaders" of the team and discussed ways to improve activities. Overall, a good day. Plus no school tomorrow. Hooray.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
October 7th, 2009
Today, I woke up early to give my wife a ride to work. I've been sleepy ever since. I only had two classes today, however, I did make an appearance at the career fair. First Enterprise Infrastructure. Professor Lindstrom went over more Powershell commands and examples. Powershell is extremely powerful. I really love the idea of multiplying strings. I kept making it print thousands of the same sting. It was awesome.
I went to the career fair for two purposes: to get a green, soft, chewy cookie from Omniture and to find a small stapler. I have to say mission accomplished on both counts and I even scored a Krispy Kreme doughnut. Happy day.
Unfortunately, Security was not as interesting as the rest of my day. Maybe it was the temperature of the room, rather warm, or the fact that I was on the declining side of a sugar high, but I had a hard time staying awake. I think the topics we are discussing are pretty interesting but my tiredness got the better of me. We were talking about different levels of security such as, SSL and IPSec. Both are pretty interesting and pretty cool. That was about it for school today.
I talked with my wife and decided to confirm my interest in a possible position in Japan. My boss from my internship three years ago may have something I can do. Well, at least the company he works for, Daifuku. It is a material handling and logistics company, but I think it is a really awesome industry. You get to see, make, sell cool robots that make businesses more efficient. Totally awesome. So if this works out I would move to Tokyo and be like a real businessman. I would get to travel the world, sell automatic storage and retrieval systems, bridge the gap between cultures, and live in Japan. Sounds pretty good to me.
I went to the career fair for two purposes: to get a green, soft, chewy cookie from Omniture and to find a small stapler. I have to say mission accomplished on both counts and I even scored a Krispy Kreme doughnut. Happy day.
Unfortunately, Security was not as interesting as the rest of my day. Maybe it was the temperature of the room, rather warm, or the fact that I was on the declining side of a sugar high, but I had a hard time staying awake. I think the topics we are discussing are pretty interesting but my tiredness got the better of me. We were talking about different levels of security such as, SSL and IPSec. Both are pretty interesting and pretty cool. That was about it for school today.
I talked with my wife and decided to confirm my interest in a possible position in Japan. My boss from my internship three years ago may have something I can do. Well, at least the company he works for, Daifuku. It is a material handling and logistics company, but I think it is a really awesome industry. You get to see, make, sell cool robots that make businesses more efficient. Totally awesome. So if this works out I would move to Tokyo and be like a real businessman. I would get to travel the world, sell automatic storage and retrieval systems, bridge the gap between cultures, and live in Japan. Sounds pretty good to me.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
October 6th, 2009
Today I drove my wife to work at seven in the morning. Way too early, but better than having to walk to get the car in the cold. I was honestly intending to work on my Japanese debate but ended up reading MyLifeIsAverage.com. I eventually went to my ManEc class. We discussed China and the homework we turned in. It is interesting to see how different teachers discuss the same events. My history professor taught about Mao Zedong much differently than my economics professor does. Anyway, it was interesting to look at America's dependence on China and how if they just slow the pace of buying treasury bills, it will affect the economy drastically. We talked about what China should do to continue growing and why everyone wants to get into China. 1.4 billion consumers is a pretty good reason.
I went to the MISM lounge and tried again to work on my debate but was distracted by students playing the Gamecube. While really hilarious watching my fellow students fail to beat certain levels of Smash Brothers, it was less than productive. At noon I met with Dr. Ball. We discussed what next steps I should take in preparing some data. We are working on examining information systems programs and comparing the courses to what CIOs are looking for in graduates. I need to go back through the data I have gathered and make sure I have both undergraduate and graduate programs if available for each school. Also, I will start working on condensing the data so it is easier to understand and manipulate.
Next, I went to my Japanese class early to work on the debate. I was pretty stressed out about it because I don't think I can debate well in English and my team had the more difficult position. The debate was an argument for and against the following statement: The reason that Japanese young people have no dreams is because of the Japanese social system. I was arguing against the statement. It was an extremely broad statement and my argument was that Japanese people still have dreams. Anyway it was pretty relaxed and not too formal. Next we will be working on a play. I am one of the main characters, there are only five but main is one of the two main roles. We will perform in front of the Japanese Club and anyone else that wants to show up. I am excited to participate in a play. I wanted to in high school, but always had conflicts with sports.
After Japanese, I went to my change management class. We picked cases to present on as teams and my team got the earliest presentation date despite our best efforts not to. Dr. Anderson discussed the grading rubric for presentations and my team is trying to find a time to meet. Our case is about Siemens. She then told us she posted our participation points up to this point in the semester. I have 52%. I need to talk more in class I guess. Oh well. We discussed the articles and the best part about that is hearing people's experiences.
After class, I went to the ISYS lab and finished my VBScript homework for Enterprise Infrastructure. That was a fun little script and it is true that you feel good accomplishing it even though it is a pretty small portion of code. The nice thing about arriving early to school was that I snagged a great parking spot. As far as I can tell I don't have any homework tonight. I think I will read and maybe look over my upcoming projects. That's all for now.
I went to the MISM lounge and tried again to work on my debate but was distracted by students playing the Gamecube. While really hilarious watching my fellow students fail to beat certain levels of Smash Brothers, it was less than productive. At noon I met with Dr. Ball. We discussed what next steps I should take in preparing some data. We are working on examining information systems programs and comparing the courses to what CIOs are looking for in graduates. I need to go back through the data I have gathered and make sure I have both undergraduate and graduate programs if available for each school. Also, I will start working on condensing the data so it is easier to understand and manipulate.
Next, I went to my Japanese class early to work on the debate. I was pretty stressed out about it because I don't think I can debate well in English and my team had the more difficult position. The debate was an argument for and against the following statement: The reason that Japanese young people have no dreams is because of the Japanese social system. I was arguing against the statement. It was an extremely broad statement and my argument was that Japanese people still have dreams. Anyway it was pretty relaxed and not too formal. Next we will be working on a play. I am one of the main characters, there are only five but main is one of the two main roles. We will perform in front of the Japanese Club and anyone else that wants to show up. I am excited to participate in a play. I wanted to in high school, but always had conflicts with sports.
After Japanese, I went to my change management class. We picked cases to present on as teams and my team got the earliest presentation date despite our best efforts not to. Dr. Anderson discussed the grading rubric for presentations and my team is trying to find a time to meet. Our case is about Siemens. She then told us she posted our participation points up to this point in the semester. I have 52%. I need to talk more in class I guess. Oh well. We discussed the articles and the best part about that is hearing people's experiences.
After class, I went to the ISYS lab and finished my VBScript homework for Enterprise Infrastructure. That was a fun little script and it is true that you feel good accomplishing it even though it is a pretty small portion of code. The nice thing about arriving early to school was that I snagged a great parking spot. As far as I can tell I don't have any homework tonight. I think I will read and maybe look over my upcoming projects. That's all for now.
Current Classes
I am currently taking 14 credits, the least I have taken any semester since starting college. I think this is the route I should have gone. Fewer credits means more time to prepare for each class and less stress about the work. Anyway, I am taking five classes, all of which are required for my academic aspirations. I am triple-majoring you could say. I am in an integrated program for information systems where I earn my bachelor's and master's simultaneously and I am also getting a bachelor's in Japanese.
Ok, now on to my class schedule. On Monday and Wednesday, I have Enterprise Infrastructure with Craig Lindstrom and Information Systems Security with Dr. James Hansen. These classes are pretty technical and involve labs and projects. So far they have been pretty enjoyable. Professor Lindstom is an enthusiastic teacher and really makes you think about the connections to industry in all the things we do. Dr. Hansen is very knowledgeable, but his teaching style doesn't mix well with the way I learn.
Tuesdays and Thursdays I have International Economics with Dr. Phil Bryson, Advanced Japanese Pragmatics with Dr. Masakazu Watabe, and Leading Change in a Tech Environment with Dr. Bonnie Anderson. I have always been interested in international economic interaction and still hold a dream of working internationally in the future. Dr. Bryson has a great sense of humor and teaches very well in a lecture environment. My Japanese class is a lot of work for two credits but it is also my most enjoyable class this semester. I should be working on the debate I will be doing in two hours, but oh well. Dr. Watabe is a great teacher and has a lot of patience dealing with his students. Change management is one of my least favorite classes this semester. I know that it is important to understand the change process and how to avoid the dangers that lie therein, but I am not a fan of reading case after case and analyzing what they did wrong or did right. That said, I think Dr. Anderson does a good job teaching a class with subject matter most students don't find interesting.
That is the line up for this semester and as of right now, about a month in, things are going relatively well.
Ok, now on to my class schedule. On Monday and Wednesday, I have Enterprise Infrastructure with Craig Lindstrom and Information Systems Security with Dr. James Hansen. These classes are pretty technical and involve labs and projects. So far they have been pretty enjoyable. Professor Lindstom is an enthusiastic teacher and really makes you think about the connections to industry in all the things we do. Dr. Hansen is very knowledgeable, but his teaching style doesn't mix well with the way I learn.
Tuesdays and Thursdays I have International Economics with Dr. Phil Bryson, Advanced Japanese Pragmatics with Dr. Masakazu Watabe, and Leading Change in a Tech Environment with Dr. Bonnie Anderson. I have always been interested in international economic interaction and still hold a dream of working internationally in the future. Dr. Bryson has a great sense of humor and teaches very well in a lecture environment. My Japanese class is a lot of work for two credits but it is also my most enjoyable class this semester. I should be working on the debate I will be doing in two hours, but oh well. Dr. Watabe is a great teacher and has a lot of patience dealing with his students. Change management is one of my least favorite classes this semester. I know that it is important to understand the change process and how to avoid the dangers that lie therein, but I am not a fan of reading case after case and analyzing what they did wrong or did right. That said, I think Dr. Anderson does a good job teaching a class with subject matter most students don't find interesting.
That is the line up for this semester and as of right now, about a month in, things are going relatively well.
Introduction
Just to give some background as to who I am for those of you reading this. I am Stephen Hawker, a masters student at Brigham Young University. I am in my last year and am working on applying to Ph.D. programs for next year. I am an information systems student and love fiddling with computers. I have been married for three "glorious" years, (that is an inside joke, don't tell my wife). I currently work at the Missionary Training Center for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as a quality assurance team lead and for Dr. Nicolas Ball as a research assistant. Both of these jobs are fun and useful and pay pretty well for a college kid with limited work experience and skills. Well that is me in a paragraph.
Purpose
The purpose of this blog is to review and record what I am learning in school and work. My goal is to write at least once per day about things that have been discussed in class, read in preparation for class, or learned at work. This will hopefully help me remember what I have learned and have an outlet for my related ideas. Applying what I learn in a practical way will help me further understand difficult topics and generate new ideas.
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