GIO TUTTO TO GIO FINUTO.

Gio TUTTO (everything) to gio FINUTO (finished)

I had a boss

His name was Gio Tutto

He liked fine cigars

Cheese and Prosciutto

His Personality?

Type D

Dominant, the Don, it's all about me.

He'd send us out, package in hand 

Left the rest up to us, maybe too much trust?

One day his son Mario came back to the shop

bad news, bad news

The mission was flop.

Gio put down his coffee,

looked him straight in the face

Said sorry paizan

Get out of my place.

Mario kept "that package" and went on his way

to open his own bar the Italian way

Getting fired by his father

Best thing to happen to him by far.

But he learned one thing

about being a boss

stay on top of your people

Or the money may get lost.

THE END

how about a little bloggin' in your life?

The blog that I have created here has been my first experience into the blogging world. While I have been aware that it is a very popular and new way to publish your thoughts on various different subjects for people to access all over the internet, I had never taken the time to actually look over or get into it myself. As far as meeting people online, I don't feel like it was something I was super interested. While it was nice to see what others had to say about my opinions, I prefer the old fashioned method of simply writing papers and then discussing in class rather than doing it online.

One way in which the blog did interest me was that I enjoyed being able to express my feelings on what we did in class. Some of the experiments were quite challenging, and it was good to see that others in the class felt the same way. Also, it forced me to think about the assignments we did in class afterwards, and often I realized where I went wrong and how I could do better next time. I also notices that most often what I had posted was very similar to what others had to say. One other aspect I enjoyed was that it allowed us to get a little personal about ourselves, and that was interesting to read and comment back and forth on throughout the semester.

Unfortunately, I did find that because the due dates seemed to slip my mind; mostly because they were posted online and I often forget to check, I didn't always get to the blog on time. Which will affect my grade I'm sure. I have never been required to write online and respond to others for any class before, so although this was my first attempt, it was a good experience and I'll definately be able to do better should another teacher require blogging in their class..(which I'm sure they will!)

I liked that our professor allowed us the 20% of our grade to be strictly directed at blogs. Sadly I did not gain all of these points since I missed one blog and another was late. For that reason, I wish there were more papers that we could have written in order to boost our grade. I know its the age of electronics and internet, but sometimes books and papers are just better. Just my opinion!!

I will probably not continue my blog after this class. I appreciate the fact that I learned what blogging was about, and may possibly get into it in the future, but at the moment I find that with work and school full time I don't have time to blog as effectively as I'd like to.

In all, I do think it's a nice part of the class, and wouldn't suggest you take it out completely. Just maybe consider those old fashioned students to enjoy writing the plain old paper and handing it in hard copy. =]

D I S or C?

While I was not in class for this personality assessment, I did take a short quiz online about the DISC system for categorizing personalities, and I believe it to be quite accurate after only answering ten short questions about myself. I received a D result, meaning I have a Dominant personality. I 100% agree with this. I am very direct, and never hold back my thoughts and opinions, whether appropriate or not..=/ It mentioned that I am fearless, which is for the most part true because I rarely let worries stop me from doing what I want to do. I am also very energetic, and also like to keep busy. This is very true of me. I like to be around people, keep myself occupied at all times, and avoid doing nothing at all costs. So in all, I believe the test gave me a correct result.

As far as becoming another type, I do not believe that a persons total persona can change. They may choose to act a certain way at a certain time, for example I may hold my tongue, or try to, which is not a trait of a D personality, however that does not mean I am no longer of that category. A person may also do the opposite, and decide to be forward in order to achieve or gain something that they want, however that does not mean that they are not of the Conscientious group. People often ACT in ways that will benefit them at a particular moment. This, however, does not change how they feel inside or who they REALLY are.

I don't think it is all that important to understand someone's type in order to interact with them, however it is important to always remain respectful. I imagine that certain personality types take sarcasm and jokes well, while others are much more serious. In that manner, it would work better for everyone if that was understood and accepted. By taking a test like this, you can be categorized into a group, but that is not who a person is in whole. Interacting with a person in a specific manner just because they are of one group or another would probably lead to stereotyping, and wouldn't result in as real of a relationship as would develop if you just treated everyone in the same general manner that is of YOUR personality type, and then letting the rest fall into place.

Vision of MY future.

After watching the video in class about vision, and how it is the most important component to achieving your goals, I realized that most of what was said is true. When I take a look at my friends, and consider why some are more successful than others, it usually comes down to who has goals and a future thought out already, and who doesn't. For example, many of my friends from High School didn't go to college. Instead, they knew they wanted to become professional dancers, and they began auditioning right away. Today, more than a dozen of them have achieved their goals. That's because they had a vision for their futures, and they did what they had to do in order to make it happen. After high school, however, I decided to give up dancing and go to business school. I couldn't see myself becoming a professional ballerina in five years time. However, I do have visions for my future now. And here are some of my thoughts.

1. GET MY MASTERS DEGREE---While I don't see myself working 9-5 in a corporate office enviornment, I know having a masters degree in Accounting will open many doors for me. It will give me security, and a back up plan, should any of my other visions fail. Also, It will help me with my second vision.

2. OPEN A DANCE STUDIO---I never made it to broadway, or the American Ballet Theatre, or even bothered to join a small company. However, opening a studio would allow me to do something I love, while running my own business and working for myself. Two things that are very important to me. And my business degree would simply allow me to be in control of both the teaching aspect of the studio, as well as the finances and back of the house.

3. BECOME MORE INVOLVED IN MY FATHER BUSINESS---My father owns a restaurant, and unfortunately I'm not as involved in it as I would like to be. Within the next five years, I'd like to develop a stronger relationship with my father, possibly expand his business, and bring in more money. I know I could bring an abundance of good ideas to the table, and although we may butt heads, it will be a great way to bring in extra money for my family.

4. HAVE A FAMILY---Growing up in America with only my mother and father has given me the strong inclination to want a big family. I would like to have at least three kids, and hopefully give them the family support and closeness that I lacked. Family is very important to me, probably even more than money. As long as my family is financially stable, I'd say I'll be a very happy woman.

After getting my CPA, I'll be able to financially support myself, get married, and have children. By working hard, sticking to my plan, and preparing myself for any obstacles, I think I can successfully achieve all the visions I have for my future.

REPOST: our UNBREAKABLE egg

Our group did not begin with a formal planning process whatsoever.  Instead, we jumped right in to brainstorming ideas on how we would successfully drop an egg from ten feet without it breaking.  When the Professor posted the directions on the blackboard, we failed to note down what our complete assignment was.  According to the planning process, we did miss a few things.  For example:

Defining goals and objectives::We did pay close attention to the deadline, and were very focused on getting the plan completely organized before the straws were handed out.  However, this was the only thing we really focused on.  We did not pay attention to the other directions, such as drawing a sketch, naming the egg, and recording all the team member names on our paper.
Determining current status compared to objectives: We knew from the start that because our group had some experience with egg-drops (some of us had done similar exercises before), that we did not have much of a problem with that aspect of the assignment.  The weaknesses that held us back were our lack of focus, and the fact that we did not choose a team leader, or someone to record what we were doing as we went along and to write out the paper that was to be handed in.
Developing alternative strategies: We did come up with a few alternative strategies.  We had two or three ideas on how we were going to balance the egg inside the contraption we made out of straws.  We also had multiple ideas on how much tape we would use to hand the egg from, and how much we would need to hold the egg contraption together.  We also considered halving the width of the tape, so that we would have more of it, but we also had to consider that if we did this then the tape would not be as strong.
Analyzing alternatives and making a tactical plan: Once the straws were handed out, we went straight to work.  I built the contraption, because I was the one with the most experience.  The other teammates gave me input as to where the tape would hold best, and how to attach the tape we would be hanging the egg from to the actual casing around the egg,  This was successful, and within the ten minutes we had finished our contraption and headed up to the front of the room.
Implement and Evaluate results: Our results were positive as far as the breaking of the egg.  The egg did not break. However, had we not missed out on one of the most critical steps in the planning process, we would have gained the extra credit points.

In conclusion, our team failed to follow the planning process perfectly.  It may not be that obvious, but the first step seemed to be the most important for us.  If we had defined our goals, and realized that we needed to choose a leader, and follow ALL the given directions, we would have been completely successful.  Unfortunately, I believe we got caught up in the moment and were so excited about the creation of our egg contraption, that naming the egg, and creating a team list did not seem important to us.  Next time, we must make sure to follow all the directions and steps in the planning process, because even though it may not seem that way, each of them is equally important.

our UNBREAKABLE egg

The steps of the egg project seemed to slip right by my group.  Once the time started, instead of choosing a team leader and a notetaker, we all began to brainstorm ideas.  After we came up with about two or three decent ideas, someone mentioned that we needed to draw a sketch of our design.  After we did that, the straws were handed out, and we all focused on beginning our contraption.  Without a team leader to make sure we were following the correct steps, we had left out a large portion of the task.  When we arrived at the front of the room, we had not even written the name of the egg on our piece of paper.  Once it was our turn to drop the egg, I stepped onto the table, let it go, and plop. egg was FINE. 10 extra points were a NO GO.  We had forgotten to record all our team members names on the project sketch.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is why you follow DIRECTIONS.

Scottish and Italian. Living in America.

Growing up in America with two European parents, I have noticed a few differences, mostly in mentality.

I'll begin with the main differences I see between the Scottish culture and the American culture.  Each year I visit Scotland at least once.  First, I notice that the Scots mentality is much more blunt.  American's, not so much in NYC, but definitely throughout the rest of America, seem to be more fake.  Also, the British humor is much more dry and not as politically correct.  Television in Scotland, as well as the advertisements, are much less edited than here in the states.  The last major difference between the culture in Scotland vs. the American culture is that in Scotland it is the norm to visit the pubs quite often, while in America visiting the bar each day is unusual.  Drinking in America is taken much more seriously than in Scotland, where it is more of a social thing.

Italy, on the other hand, is more relaxed than both America and Scotland.  I'm from a small town in Puglia called Brindisi.  In the summer, during the day everything closes because it is very hot, and everyone goes home for lunch and a nap.  Then, when the weather cools down, everything opens up again and people shower and get dressed up for the night.  The main attractions in Brindisi are not the "pubs", but are the "bars", which are not like American bars.  Bar's in Italy are coffee shops, and while they do have alcohol, most people just drink espresso or beer.  At night, the Italians get dressed up and walk to the coffee shop where they meet up with their friends and stay out fairly late.  They probably have the most laid back mentality of all three cultures.