Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act...

So we learned this week in Finance 310 about the Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act, which falls under the Federal Tort Reform. Basically, what this act states is that food companies are not responsible for a customer's overconsumption of--and resulting subsequent weight gain from--fast food and/or other foods that are considered unhealthy. This personal responsibility falls on the customer, who should use knowledge and judgment before deciding whether or not to proceed with a high-calorie, heart-unhealthy diet. I personally agree with this bill.

The chapter goes further into this discussion, stating that "consumers love hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries, and similar high-calorie foods, which they often purchase from fast-food restaurants. Undesirable weight gains have resulted in a number of lawsuits against fast-food restaurants." I think that it is unfair for consumers to suggest that the fast-food companies pay for their choice of an unhealthy lifestyle; because ultimately, the insurance money comes from our tax dollars. And it doesn't even state that they feel that they've become unhealthy because of consuming mostly fatty foods; it just says that undesirable weight gain has caused many consumers to file lawsuits against fast-food companies. They could just as easily stop consuming these foods and choose low-calorie, heart-healthy foods and increase their physical activity. I agree to some extent that fast-food companies should be more forthcoming with the caloric and health information involved in producing their foods, allowing consumers to make more informed choices. But don't expect fast-food companies to pay for your choosing to continue with an unhealthy diet.

Verbal tones and cues....

This week in Sociology, we're learning about verbal and nonverbal cues. The discussion question deals with how you perceive someone based on their tone of voice and speed of speech. Do you judge people based on how fast, slow, loudly, or softly they speak? Well, my response is that if someone approaches me and they appear somewhat stern and sound somewhat annoyed, then more than likely I'm anticipating a confrontation. Of course, many times I've misjudged, and they're just coming to ask me for something, but sometimes I'm right and brace myself.

On the flip side, because I'm a soft-spoken individual, many people feel that I'm a pushover and that they'll get their way. However, my soft-spoken tone can take on a firmness that lets a person know that unless they come to me in honesty and explanation, then I will stand by my company's guidelines and regulations.

This week in statistics, we're going over the z-curve. This is the one chapter that has really stumbled me the last time, but thank goodness I have the notes and I have the practice sessions on the computer to really help me understand the information. I really want to do better in this class this time around, and I really feel that I will with the method of study that I've assumed.

The limits of language continued....

So I was reading some of the other comments from my fellow students in my Intercultural Communication class, and the professor and one other student pointed out that the "limits of language" are not necessarily limited to just learning about other languages and cultures. We can have subcultures right within our own culture; for instance, the youth culture has its own set of rules and speech that they tend to follow, which adults often fail to understand. We can bridge the gap by attempting to understand adolescents and the way they speak and relate to each other. Slang was another topic that was brought up; for instance, many words that were once used in a particular way in the English language are now used to mean other things. So this is a really interesting discussion board topic that I'm learning a lot from.

I cannot believe that we're in week 7 already; in five more weeks, we'll be starting a new quarter. And speaking of which, if you haven't done so already, you might want to fill out your FAFSA either by paper or on the website (it's much quicker that way). So get to filing your taxes so that you can apply for financial aid. The sooner you take care of it, the better off you'll be, financially and academically. I've already completed my taxes, but I definitely intend to take care of my FAFSA over the weekend. I do not want anything to be a deterrent to my being able to take classes.

The limits of language....

So in sociology, we're learning about language and what part it plays in intercultural communication. We were asked to discuss what this quote meant to us: "The limits of my language are the limits of my world." This quote was given by linguistic philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. To me, it means that you're only confined by what you are willing to be confined to with regard to learning about other languages and cultures and effectively communicating with people of different languages and cultures. We can choose to expand our knowledge so that we can be effective communicators, or we can choose to limit ourselves to only what is familiar to us. However, in this day and age, it is wise to be well-versed in cultures other than our own.

Why do I say this? It is because we communicate globally with others on an almost daily basis, and in order for us to be effective communicators, we have to really understand the language and culture of the people we choose to have dealings with--whether it be on a personal or business level. In fact, when we think about most positions today, the human resources manager usually requires a person to not only be the right person for the job, but to be able to speak the language of the clientele; and so some jobs require a person to be bilingual. So we do well to take these things into consideration.

Uh-oh....

I'm struggling a little bit with statistics now. I was doing good, but then I did the homework this past week, and when I checked the results of the homework with the results I came up with, I missed a few. So I realize that homework is practice and that this will allow me to see my mistakes before I repeat them on the test; but I have to be honest--it's shaken my confidence to some degree. I had been doing well for the past few weeks, and now I'm faltering a little. But I'm just gonna keep on trying my best to do the work, and whatever I don't understand, I'm going to post on the "Questions" section of our weekly discussion boards.

This week in Finance, we have our first mid-term assignment, which will likely encompass all that we've learned in the past six weeks. I am feeling pretty confident about this mid-term, as I've been keeping up with the readings, as well as the assignments. So this afternoon, I'm going to devote about three hours to statistics, and just re-read the other material as a refresher. I also found out that I misread the requirements for our discussion board sessions in Intercultural Communication; I've been earning less points because of a misinterpretation of the syllabus. But I plan to do better from here on out. I do well on the GHAs, but I could do much better on the discussion board section.

So I got a nice surprise....

I got a refund that I was not expecting on my Berkeley BlueCard. How I even discovered that I had it was, I was checking my emails and I got a message that said that my refund had been issued. As far as I knew, I wasn't due a refund; I just felt that my expenses had been taken care of, and that would be that. I'm kind of afraid to touch it, though, because it all seems so surreal. But I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so thank you, Berkeley, and I will be using it for school-related expenses in the future.

As far as my academics go, I'll be honest and say that this week I've slacked off a bit. But I made up for it tonight and did a majority of my assignments. Next week, I'll get back to the good habits that allowed me to achieve the academic success that I have so far. My sociology professor sent me an email to steer me in the right direction with regard to my discussion board postings, which I appreciate. After all, any good professor wants to see that his or her students grasp the material and the concepts that are being presented in each lesson plan. So I'll learn from what she sent me via email and apply that for the rest of the course, as well as to my other courses.

So I got my progress report from one of my professors....

It was my Finance professor, and I seem to be doing well; the only thing is, for some reason, I'm having trouble getting one of my assignments to her. So what I'm going to do is email her the assignment as an attachment. I don't want any unnecessary incompletes. But aside from that, it seems that I am doing well in all of my classes; and if I keep on the current track that I'm on, I will pass all three successfully.

But as we all know--from my postings here in my blog--my biggest success story is in my statistics class. I am averaging an A- for the course right now; a little more hard work, and it'll be an A. I'm telling you, the class notes and examples given really help, as well as reading the chapters that the assignments relate to. This week, we're doing probability, and from my last time taking statistics, I'm actually pretty good at probability. At the same time, though, I won't relax my study standards simply because I'm doing good so far. I'm gonna keep up the same level of study that it took to get me to this point, and I'm not gonna slow down. If I know I can do better, then I'm going to. I'm not going to pass the class for the sake of not having to take it again; I'm going to study it and understand the concepts so that they're useful to me in later life.