PERSONALITY TRAITS

Like many of my peers, I did enjoy with the Diagnostic test. It was fun sitting in class, figuring out which word best describes you. You have to take a very objective look at yourself and them be honest as to which response best suits you. The problem is, that it was too open ended. I may agree with my word or personality choices in one avenue, but then completely disagree if the situation or context changes. The test was both specific and ambiguous at the same time. It also has the potential to pigeon-whole people. If businesses make employees take this test, they may ignore some employees based off of their answers while embracing others. There is a lot to be said of a person on how they actually perform at work. Not test can tell you if that person will ultimately be successful or creative. The test may give you some indicators, but not definite answers.

COMMUNICATE

I love communication. I am a communication freak. I am that person that enjoys sending email, talking on the phone, communicating in person, and posting comments on peoples Facebook (I admit it. I LOVE Facebooking). Having said all that, I found this blog assignment EXTREMELY difficult. The very act of blogging isn’t hard, but training yourself to do it when it hasn’t become a mainstream part of our culture IS difficult. MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook are thrown in our faces daily. The have become part of mainstream culture. Hell, even my mom and dad have Facebook accounts. Blogging hasn’t been as openly or widely accepted and adapted as the before mentioned media. I often forgot about the blogs or forgot to do them al together. I agree with some of my classmates when they suggested that the blogs would be a wonderful way to earn extra credit, but making it a requirement makes the act of communicating and socializing an arduous and resented task!

Ode to Management 3120

When I reflect on Management 3120,
I try to remember my favorite interactive activity
The first was planning the staffing of a pizza store,
Where the goal was to create an organized structure and get guests in and out the door.
We learned in detail about types of power and leaders and teams
And how striking a balance is more difficult than it seems.
If stranded in Alaska, during grizzly season, with a blizzard and few supplies,
Creative thinking taught my group to eat Crisco to survive.
Innovation is great. We created new product lines, but “OH BOY,”
Who the hell would use a Jell-O sex toy?
Co-operation and communication were the focuses of late,
But using them to build a Lego’s structure proved quite difficult to re-create.
This class has been informative and exciting this semester.
Don’t worry Mr. Kurpis; from us you’ll get a good score on rate-my-professor.

Ever changing Vision

Everyone has dreams, goals, and aspirations for their life. As a child my mother used to ask me, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” My response was always the same, “A table a chair, and a clown.” In “The Power of Vision,” the speaker pointed out that adults ask children these questions in order to help them envision a future for themselves. Although I think my personal childhood responses are comical, it id foster early in me to think about my future and what career path I should take
Just six short years ago I ha a vision that I am thankful to say came true. I wanted to be a performer on a national tour and off-Broadway. I always dreamed of being a Broadway actress, and as such I took the appropriate steps to fulfill my vision. . I went to a conservatory, moved to NYC; I auditioned for parts daily, and eventually got an agent and manager. These actions all led to my success in many shows, independent films, voice over’s, recordings, and theater. But like many things in life, as we grow older, our vision for the future changes. What we wanted at one point in life isn’t necessarily what we desire later on.
This brings me to the dilemma I am in now. I know there are some things I envision for my future – a family, a career I enjoy, and personal success – but how I get there and which vehicle I use are still a blur. I am sure, like many things, my vision will reveal itself at the appropriate time.

What should I do??

I have a very unique perspective of this activity because I was the class leader. Once the challenge of the task was given, I knew chaos would ensure if we didn’t get organized quickly. I had no initial desire to be the group leader, but I knew that if an effective leader wasn’t chosen immediately, then the entire class would miss out on this opportunity. Not to mention, we would spend the entire hour bickering. Several people stood p to take charge, but were being overpowered by the group’s demands. The one advantage I have over my fellow classmates was the gift of vocal projection. I can be extremely loud when I need to be; I can MAKE people hear me. I tried to come up with a way for those individuals who had ideas and solutions to be able to express their ideas without the mob overpowering them. My solution was as follows:
1. Raise your voice if you had an idea.
2. I would go in order from my left to right across the classroom calling on individuals that have their hands raised.
3. I would write potential solutions on the board.
4. I circled solutions the group agreed with and erased ones that did not have 100% consensus.
If given the opportunity to change my actions, I would do one thing differently. Instead of immediately erasing a solution, I would give one or two people the opportunity to explain why they thought it was a good or bad solution. Then I would amend the proposed idea and re-vote. I will say that I found the situation frustrating because I am not a superior to my classmates; I am their equal. A teacher deserves respect from students because he/she has earned that status through merits/accomplishments that enabled them to receive the teaching position. It is difficult to have the same respect for a student that self appoints them self the leader.

My egg was a cabin in VT!

I unfortunately was not in class on the day of egg-citment. In fact, I was experiencing my own activates that required much planning and group cooperation – a vacation in Vermont. For the past four years, my friends and I have made an annual pilgrimage to Mount Snow, VT to enjoy the beautiful weather, drown our livers in ungodly amounts of bourbon, and ski or snowboard on the slopes of a pristine mountain. This trip is a prime example of group planning and organization that I will write about in place of the egg-periment. The goals and objectives of my trip were simple; create an affordable vacation package for myself and 13 of my closest friends that included transportation, housing, food, and alcohol.

The first part of this trip was securing the house. Since this is the fourth year we have done this trip, housing is quite easy. My friends and I have created a rapport with a man that owns a house in Mount Snow and have rented from him the previous three years. All that was required in securing the house was to call the owner, make sure the house was available the week we wanted it, and then booking the reservation. The house cost $1100. Split equally among the 14 individuals. I emailed all of my friends and gave them a date by which I needed their money. Once I had all the money collected, I sent the owner of the house a check for the total amount.

The second part was finding transportation for 14 people plus luggage. Being that Mount Snow, VT is often inundated with snow; the only viable option was getting several SUVs. From previous experience, I realized that 2 large SUV would be a tight and uncomfortable squeeze when combined with everyone’s luggage. I opted to find 3 SUVs that would also be inexpensive. This part proved to be quite difficult. I needed to search the Internet for possible options. After exploring various travel engines (such as Expedia and Priceline) AND visiting rental car websites AND constantly re-looking for the newest web deals AND searching various different pickup locations for the cheapest combination, I decided upon Enterprise Rentals. I chose Enterprise for 2 reasons. First, they were the only car company that could guarantee me 3 SUVs at a reasonable price. Second, I live in Washington Heights in upper Manhattan. Most car rental locations in NYC charge additional city fees. Enterprise is located just across the George Washington Bridge in Fort lee, NJ. I rented in NJ because it costs half the price then renting the same cars from a Manhattan location – hence keeping my objective of being economical forefront. After including the price of the car, taxes, insurance, and gas (the only estimation), the price per person was $145.00. Again, I sent everyone an email informing them of the latest date they could give me their portion of the car price.

The third part of the trip was food. Feeding 14 people three meals a day plus snacks is not an easy task. The best solution to this problem was to create a meal plan. My friend and I created breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus for a week along with the list of ingredients we would need for each of those menus. We then searched on the Wal-Mart website to estimate the costs for the menus. After which, we created several itemized shopping lists. When we arrived at Wal-Mart, we divided our friends into groups of 4 and told them to collect only the items on their particular list. This made shopping quite effective and fast. Once we reached the checkout counter and received the total ($518.15), we quickly divided this total by 14 and each paid our part ($37.01).

The fourth part of the trip was alcohol. Everyone who went is of legal age. Creating a list of alcohol products/brands that individuals wanted to drink was easy. I had everyone email me their favorite beverages or the alcohol they would most want to drink while on vacation. I then took those responses and found the most popular answers. I created a list of alcohol brands, sizes of the bottles, and mixers we needed to buy. Like the food, we each had an itemized list of alcohol brands/mixers to get and then met at the checkout line. Once all items were scanned, we again divided the total bill and each put in 1/14^th.

This is the fourth year I have done this trip, so I find it to be very systematic at this point, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have backup plans available. I had a second reservation at another car company in case we encountered any problems at Enterprise. I also asked everyone to put an additional $10 dollars into a large communal pot in case we ran short on food/alcohol supplies – a good thing considering we drank 2 bottles of vodka the first night! All in all, practical planning is the key component to a successful trip or a successful egg-cage. Without carefully considering all possible options, you will not arrive at the best solution.

Southern sensabilities!

I am from Richmond, Va. Some people consider that southern; some don't. For all intense purposes, I consider myself a southerner. It doesn't matter that I have lived in NYC for seven years and all of my adult life. I will forever be proud of being from the southern part of the United States.
Having prefaced all of the above, I will say that I am still shocked by the native New York culture. I know there are a million jokes about southerners being slow or lazy, but New Yorkers fast pace or speed is oftentimes to their detriment. What truly ticks me off is the total disregard for the people around them as they operate that those fast speeds. Southerners may be slow, but sometimes taking a step back and moving at a relaxed pace enables you to be aware of your surroundings. Too often New Yorkers "GO, GO, GO" and don't realize - or don't care - that they run people down as they do!
Another thing that frustrates me sooooo incredibly much is the total disregard for manners. Manners distinguish and set a person apart from the rest. As a child, most southern families emphasize the importance of manners; it is yet another example of respecting those individuals who have to occupy the same space as you at the same time. Many New York's are completely devoid of this concept. I can not tell you how many times I am walking out of a Starbucks, or a clothing store, or a restaurant, or anywhere and the person in front of me lets the door slam in my face. LOOK BEHIND YOU BEFORE YOU LEAVE! It is common human courtesy - let alone manners - to be so self absorbed! Also, if you see a pregnant women or someone elderly, I was always taught that it was a sign of respect to give them your seat. I can not tell you how many times I have witnessed a teenage/early 20s guy literally push a pregnant woman out of the way to get the last seat. IT DISGUSTS ME!
I'm not trying to badmouth New York culture. There are tons of people who are natives that have manners and there are many southerners that don't. Being the simple fact that there are millions of people crammed into just a few square miles and not vice versa, just we aware and respectful of your overcrowded surrounding. Thank you so very much y'all!