Mergers and jumpy accountholders....

So in finance class this week, we were asked to discuss which current mergers of publicly traded companies were of interest to us. I mentioned the merger and acquisition of Wachovia bank by Wells Fargo Bank, and one of classmates mentioned the merger and acquisition of her bank by Citigroup and some of the policies that they're already implementing that have a negative impact on accountholders of that bank. I mentioned that banks will also be imposing fees on customers for transactions such as transfer of funds from one account to another (and in some case, the fees would be doubled). This is enough to make investors very nervous and somewhat frustrated, as many are feeling the strain of unemployment and underemployment and a failing economy. The banks' excuses are that they have to recoup losses as a result of these very factors, so it seems that they're blaming the accountholders for the failing economy.

In feminism, we're still discussing sexual terrorism with regard to women's fear and men's intimidation and efforts to control female sexuality. Rape is one such way some men feel that they can control women's sexuality; by forcing a woman to submit to his will, a man takes away her voice and her control. By physically abusing a woman, a man asserts his distorted view of what it means to be a man or to be in control. Until men learn to see women as deserving of respect and treated fairly, this type of thinking and behavior will continue to permeate male/female relationships.

Choose your investments WISELY!!!!

Whether you plan to take business and finance courses for business purposes or you're looking for a way to balance your finances, remember one important rule: double-check your investments thoroughly before you make them. Then double-check them again, and again, and again. This will help you to avoid careless mistakes and save you a great deal of money and headache. One word in particular comes to mind: Enron. The employees trusted the company stock because they worked for the company and invested most or all of their retirement money. When the company declared bankruptcy, the bottom fell out on these investments; and not only were the employees without jobs, their entire savings and investments were gone.

While such a drastic scenario may never occur with you or I, Berkeley students, we may still lose a substantial portion of our investments if we don't do the homework (background checks on the company, etc.). My professor shared with us that a friend of hers bought stock in a company without doing the background check on that company, and it cost him his entire investment. So the point is, just because you're familiar with a company does not mean that you should invest in said company until you do a thorough background check on the company: years in business, financial standing, liquidity, etc. If you have to learn a lesson, at least make it cost as little as possible.

The more challenges I face....

The more successful I'm sure I'll be in business. This Access assignment covers weeks 7 & 8, and it is a really challenging assignment. But I like challenging assignments; they allow me to work that much harder to successfully conquer that information and complete the tasks assigned. Each assignment is just a building block to the next assignment, and if even if you have to refer back to the previous assignment once or twice, once it clicks, it sticks. And as they--and I--always say: Practice makes perfect. I'm hoping to be able to use my new knowledge at my current position to move up the ranks, or to take my newly acquired skills to another place of employment and advance in my career.

Speaking of advancement in careers, this week's topic in feminism is a pretty spirited one. We are talking about the disparities with regard to men and women in the workplace and how certain fields are still pretty much dominated by males. We also discussed how even when women enters these arenas, they are still not given the proper compensation or even challenging work to do, despite their education and qualifications for these positions. This is something that we all have to work to change; there will never be true equality for anyone if one group is continually looked at as inferior and treated as such in virtually all aspects of life.

I feel great!!!

I just got my grade back for my last Access assignment, and I got 4 out of 4 points on the assignment. Also, I got a 100 on my last feminism GHA. This is really making me feel good, seeing the outcome of all my efforts and hard work. I'm also working to keep up with the assignments for my finance classes, as well.

Speaking of feminism, I didn't think I'd like the class when I first switched into it; I went into the class with the assumption that I knew what feminism was all about, and my perception was mainly negative. But reading the material and measuring myself in regard to the situations presented in the chapters really gave me a different and better perspective and understanding of true feminism. While feminism is concerned with the equal advancement of women in the workplace and elsewhere, ultimately, feminism is concerned with equality for all people--whether male or female, regardless of race. At least, that's what I'm getting from the material that I'm reading each week. This week, we're discussing women in the workplace and how there are still huge disparities in hiring practices for women in certain male-dominated fields. We also discussed how even though women may enter into fields that are largely dominated by men, they may still face sexism in regard to advancement and types of work and pay that are offered to them. So while we have come far, we still have a long way to go.

Classes all set for summer quarter....

I'm all set, and I hope you are, too, Berkeley online students. Today was the absolute last day that online students could register for classes and avoid the $100 late fee. Thank goodness I got a call and a reminder from the school that it needed to be done; otherwise, I'd owe one hundred dollars in addition to any balances that I owe to Student Accounts. After the summer quarter, I'll have one more quarter to go before I graduate. But I'll always remember Berkeley College and what it gave to me.

Speaking of graduation, another fellow blogger is leaving us soon. I just wanna say congrats to Vanessa Gomez; she's hard at work at her internship, as well as keeping up with her studies and her part-time job. As anyone knows who's ever gone to school and worked at the same time, it's a true juggling act. You have to be on top of things in every regard; and the two actually go hand-in-hand. The more you prove how responsible you are with your studies, the more you prove your mettle when you get out into the working world. Employers are looking for those who are disciplined and focused on the task at hand, and Berkeley trains its students to be the types of employees that companies are looking for. I can't even begin to say how much I feel that my work ethic has improved; not that it was shoddy before, but I definitely feel that my confidence level is up because of what I've learned in classes.

Got a message from Berkeley College....

I have to get my summer schedule to this by this Friday in order to avoid the $100 late fee (that I've been reminding my fellow students about). So I'm going to look through the course catalog tomorrow and email my selections to Advisement and then I should be set for the next quarter. I'm so glad I finally have my own laptop; this way, when I go on vacation, I can carry it with me and get my homework done on the plane, on the train, or in the automobile (however I get to travel this summer). All I know is that it will be so much more convenient this time around. I would be able to read and take in the information and type it out in Word, print it out, and study it again so that it would stick fresh in my mind.

I got a 100 on my first finance GHA. Go, ME!!! It was all essay questions, and it was pretty lengthy; but I was able to explain the concepts well enough for each question asked. The other thing I have to focus on is our portfolio project. I want to do well on this project--unlike the Building Your Own Financial Plan that I did last quarter; I could've done much better than I did, but I did pass the course. And I learned a bit about my spending habits (I'm still working to curb my frivolous spending; it won't happen overnight, but it will happen eventually). For the same money that I'm putting into the vending machine every single day, I could buy snacks for the week (or even the month, depending on what I'm looking for).

Two finance tests....

So, remember when I said that the information in my two finance classes seemed to overlap? Well, turns out the two tests I took did, as well. Both seemed to touch on almost the exact same information; I got an 80 on the first test, and I have to see how I did on the other test, as that one was an essay test.

But it's good for reinforcement; what I learn in one finance class only serves to recall to mind what I learn in the other finance class, and therefore will stay fresher in my mind. But I will say it again: finance is HARD work!!!! It's not just crunching the numbers; it's understanding why money works the way it works and why financial systems and procedures work the way they work.

Taking two finance courses....

You REALLY have to be on your toes and good with numbers (or at the very least, know how to work out the problems assigned to you) in Finance; and multiply that times two. Well, that's what I'm doing this quarter. And I'm noticing that the information sometimes crisscrosses from one class to the next, as no matter which finance class you are taking, you'll always have some of the same basic elements and foundations of finance. It is not without challenge, however, but I'm up for the challenge. So as they say in that cheerleader movie, "Bring it on!!!"

I just finished my Tutorial assignment for CIS 203 tonight, after working non-stop on it. Some of it was a little confusing at first, but when I went back and saw what I had done instead of what I should've done, I was able to catch and correct my mistakes before submitting the database to the instructor. That's the good thing about giving yourself enough time to make mistakes and correct them--something you can't do if you wait until the last day/hour/minute/second to do your project. I'm someone who speaks from experience, and I've learned from past mistakes that prior, proper planning prevents poor performance.

In my Feminism class, we discuss Bartky's "tyranny of slenderness" and its overall affect on women and how women seem themselves in society. It really is very interesting when you look at the effect that the media can have on the way a woman views herself.

Assumptions are a death knell for any class/student polls on Blackboard....

Why do I say that assumptions are a death knell for any class? Well, because you come into the class with preconceived notions about the work and how difficult/easy it will be, and it's nothing like you thought...particularly a class that you thought you could coast through and get an easy A. Not that my grade is suffering right now or anything; I just noticed that with regard to my CIS 203 class, in particular, I can't just assume that Access 2007 is Access 2007. There IS a reason that it's called "Advanced Databases". It's not simply entering information into a database, running queries, creating forms, and reports. We now have to import external data into the databases that we use so that all of our information is up to date. To my credit, I've seen a few ways that this could be applied to someone's job function, particularly with regard to updating customer contacts and information, as well as saving one from having to recreate separate databases for external data. So in this regard, I'm learning a lot. And so far, it's paying off.

With regard to the polls that are on Blackboard currently, I'm really liking them. They really are in touch with what students are faced with on an almost-constant basis, such as purchasing NetBooks for school, the latest Apple technology, and whether or not all books have been received and used for class (this is particularly crucial right now, as this is the fifth week of the quarter; and a good portion of the grade has already been earned). So I will continue to tune in and add my voice to the opinions polls set out by Blackboard.

CIS 203...

So I had a little bit of trouble with the last few assignments in CIS 203, particularly this last one. I let my professor know that when I sent in this latest project. The tutorial itself was no problem; it was the case assignment that I had some considerable trouble with. But I'm still doing pretty good for the most part. I've only had a few points taken off the last couple of assignments, and I'm keeping up with the discussions. Plus, I get to see and relate how these functions may come in handy in business someday, facilitating and speeding up certain job functions, allowing a company to be more efficient and customer-friendly, thereby making the company more profitable.

In my feminism course, we are discussion images in the media with regard to women and sexuality. Two articles suggested that a woman's body type is directly linked to her happiness (or unhappiness). "The thinner you are, the happier you are and the more successful you are in life" seems to be the common refrain in the media--popular movies, music, t.v. shows, magazines, etc. If you happen to be a woman with a "little meat on her bones", you're viewed as "fat, overweight, and unattractive". This type of thinking is detrimental not only to grown women and teenagers, but to girls and boys as young as five and six years of age.