Marketing World…

I went on my first business trip this past week for my new position as a Marketing Manager for a local finance company. I was a little nervous at first, but after day one, I was fine. The corporate office is in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and they had a summit for all of the Marketers throughout the states. This type of group meetings are helpful because you can listen to the other marketers and get creative ideas of what works and what does not work.

I was in Ft. Lauderdale for a week and they put me up in the Marriot. I had never been on a business trip before so I was not sure if was going to be able to do my schoolwork, but little did I know the hotel provided Wi-Fi for the guests. It was a good thing because finals were last week. Oh and I passed all of my classes, how exciting is that? I spent the day in the office for training and the evenings were for whatever I wanted to do. It was a lot of fun, but after a week, I was ready to go home. I am not sure I would like traveling on a weekly basis for work. Luckily, my new position is all locally so I only have to travel when we have training meetings.

Are you a Marketer? Can you provide some advice?
This is my first Marketing job ever and I am excited, but nervous about it. It will help me determine if I am going for the right degree at Rasmussen or not. I am hoping to become a marketer for a medical supply company after I get my bachelors in Business Management with Marketing and Sales emphasis. I have the personality of a marketer, and the drive to succeed, so I hope I do well. Do you market or know anyone that does? I would love to get some ideas and tips on marketing to apply to my new job.

Quote for the day…
“The game of life is real and is played between the ears. The way you think determines the decisions you make. The decisions you make determines what you do. And what you do determines how successful you will become.” Noel Peebles

It is a great feeling….

I am getting ready to end my second semester as an online student at Rasmussen and it feels really good. When I decided to start college online I was nervous about the whole thing. I was nervous about being able to do the assignments, nervous thinking if I was going to be capable of being an online student and I was nervous about venturing into a new life style change.

It took me a while to get comfortable with the Rasmussen portal and Angel platform (it’s how our classes are taught), but once I started using Angel it was fine. Everything else just seems to fall into place as time goes by. Don’t get me wrong, by thinking that it is really easy because it is not. However, if you can take the time to dedicate yourself to a couple of hours each week per class, you’ll be fine. My biggest challenges have been between work and school. I had to make changes for the better to accommodate my school work, but that is all a part of life.

Different perspective as I get older

As for the school work part it has been interesting, but I find myself being more dedicated than the average young college student. Let me know if you agree or not, but I think older college students can be more dedicated to their school work. At this stage in our lives we’re less likely to be distracted by parties, dorm rooms and the opposite sex.  I’m grateful for being over my boy crazy faze of my late teens.  I’m truly concerned about the grades I receive and work hard to get a B or better. If I have questions or problems figuring out school work I would email my teachers or ask a friend for guidance. Do any of you have challenges that you can share with me? I am curious to see if other students have ran into different challenges that I may not have come across yet. Also, let me know if you have a different perspective as an older student? If you’re a younger student please let me know how you’ve been able to overcome the distractions…

The End is Near…. For this Semester

I am getting ready to finish my second semester of online school here at Rasmussen and I absolutely love it! It is truly amazing what you can do online now a days. When I tell people that I am going back to school they always say “how on earth do you find time”. I find time because it is 100% online. There is no trying to make it to class; it is all on my time. 

Resources…

There are tons of websites for students to use when searching for information needed for assignments. Even though I still recommend the good ole’ library, lets admit it’s not always convenient. The great thing about being an online student is Rasmussen supplies their students with online resources in their Library. You can view books, articles, videos and images. They also have helpful tools to assist you with researching, there is still a Librarian to ask questions when you need assistance, and to check out that book it is just a click away and then it is mailed to your door. It does not get any better than that! When you really like something then you want to tell everyone you know about it… kind of like when you enjoy a good movie… then you tell all your friends to go see it. Rasmussen is like that good movie for me…by the way, while we’re on the topic of good movies, anyone seen Super Bad? It was super awesome… I think everyone should go see it!! Just as a disclaimer, it’s made by the same people as 40 year old Virgin and Knocked up…so the humor isn’t for everyone, but I thought it was hilarious!!

Besides the Library…

If you want to use other resources, I recommend checking out Wikipedia. Some teachers do not recommend you using this site because anyone can post information on it, but other teachers encourage you to use it. You can find anything you want to know on this website. It’s amazing!! The one thing I would recommend if you find info on Wikipedia to use in your assignments, do a little double checking and find information to back up what you are going to use. You can also search the internet for helpful information. My favorite is Google, but you may have a different favorite. However, I always seem to have more luck with Google when searching for information needed for school projects. All you have to do is go to the search engine bar and type related words of what you are trying to find information on.

Still Learning…

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me anytime. I am still learning as well so if any of you have ideas or tips, please let me know.   
    

Two weeks left…..

We have just two weeks left for school before break between semesters and I can’t wait. This semester has been a bit over whelming for me due to work. We do not realize how much things affect us on a daily basis until we have to deal with it. I have always thought of myself as a person who controls stress pretty well, but recently I have learned that I am not as strong as I thought I was. I do a great job with covering it up, but internally my body gets the affects of it all. This cause weight loss and little sleep which are not good while trying to get through each day. It has only been

Two Days…

As I am sure you read in a previous blog, I put my two weeks in at my job. The last two weeks went by pretty slowly, but they are over now. I have been off from work for two days now and it is amazing how great I feel. The stress has been lifted from me and I feel like a brand new person. Although I have another job, I took off until after Labor Day. This is the first time in twelve years that I have been unemployed. I have twelve days to do whatever I want and enjoy life as I sail through it.

Stress kills…

What I am learning as I grow older is that stress can be deadly. If you have something that is truly bothering you please make it a point to deal with it. If you choose to cover it up and go on about living life, it will only catch up to you. Stress affects our bodies more than we think, therefore we are hurting ourselves on the inside if we do not learn how to cope with things and deal with them when needed. Please reach out to friends and families to ask for support and remember you have me here too!

Could you imagine living in a world of sameness?

In my Foundation English II we are reading a book called The Giver by Lois Lowry. I am sure some of you have already read the book, but if you have not, then you must check it out. It is a great book! The book is about living in a perfect world where there is no pain, fear or war. I would love to live in a world with no hatred, but I could not imagine not feeling love or pain. You ask…why pain? We would not know what happiness felt like if we did not know what pain or sadness was like.

I love to be happy…

The main character is a twelve year old boy named Jonas. Everyone in the community is assigned a role. When Jonas turned twelve he is officially consider an adult and assigned his permanent role in the community of The Receiver of Memory. This poor kid now has to receive all the memory of pain, love, hate and fear of the past so the community can live in peace. The whole community speaks by precision of language to prevent anyone from expressing feelings.

Imagine Sameness…..What would be the advantages??
The advantages sameness might have for a community would be the fact that people would not judge others. Everyone in the community would be equal and it would prevent hatred. When thinking of this I think of children in school. Whenever there is a child that comes from a family with financial problems the child seems to always get the brunt of the shame. The students around him/her are all wearing name brand clothes and have neat school supplies while the less fortunate child has hammy downs and the supplies are the basic necessities. Students of today don't think of hurting ones feelings so they continue to make jokes at the child which embarrasses him. This can cause lots of trouble and can continue in through-out his future. However the loss of diversity to me would not be worthwhile because diversity makes us individuals. Diversity gives us the right to become who we want to be in life, who we chose to marry and how man children we want to have if any.  What do you think? Would you like to live in a world of sameness?

Business….

I am taking a Business class this semester and I love it! If you haven’t taken a business class yet, I highly recommend it. I just wrapped up my 5th week of business. We’ve covered everything from entrepreneurs to business trends and ethics. This class has provided me with a better understanding on how the economy works and the different levels of owning a successful business.

Money…money…money   
One of my assignments from the beginning of the semester is a stock portfolio. We were given $5000 to invest with (fake, of course). I chose to purchase stocks from 5 different   company’s through-out the US and Europe.  Then each week we have to log the activity and back it up with additional information. The teacher looks for things like: How did you stocks do during the week? Why did they increase or decrease in cost? I am able to find all of this information on several investment websites. This is great for me because I am learning so much about investing and will be able to do this on my own and raise money for retirement. 

Going Down….. 
The last couple of weeks the Dow NASDAQ have been dropping like crazy. I really feel for the people who have real money invested. The stock market is just like gambling and it is a risk that you take when you invest money. However, if you buy in at the right time you can make millions. Why is the stock market looking horrible? Not sure about where you live, but Florida Real estate has been slow for several months.

Here are a few website for you to check out if you are interested in the stock market.
www.fool.com
www.smartmoney.com

Grammar…Grammar

One of my classes this semester is Foundations of English II. This class is a mandatory for me since I was not able to opt out of it when I took my start up test. I never realized how difficult grammar really was. I’ve been struggling with this class and it is frustrating.

Half way mark….

I am going into my fifth week for the summer semester and I am hanging on with my bare hands. So far this semester we have discussed subjects and verbs, modifiers, connectors, adjectives, adverbs and prepositional phrases. I didn’t have trouble with subjects and verbs, but the other areas are really confusing to me. I guess what confuses me is certain things in one form of a sentence can be something completely different in another form of a sentence. I guess what I am trying to say is, nothing is consistent in the English grammar.

Any Suggestions…… 

I was wondering if anyone has used the tutor that is provided for online students. Also, if someone might suggest helpful books, I am open for anything ideas that might help me.

The Break is Over ...

My break was great, but it is time to get my nose back into the books. I decided to take three classes this semester. This decision was made after speaking with the Student Coordinator in regards to how many classes I need to take in order to graduate by spring of 2009.

The Lucky number

I think three classes is a lot on top of working a full-time job and trying to maintain balance in my personal life. However, I won’t really know if it’s too much until I give it a shot.

School...School….School 

I decided to start with English II, Intro to Business and Sociology. I asked Christine who is the Student Services Coordinator what classes she thought might fit well together and these were her recommendations. I'll keep you posted. Wish me luck!

Any advice on English II, Business or Sociology? Should I look out for anything in particular? Any study tips? I can use all the help I can get. Have you ever used Rasmussen’s Smart Thinking service? Did you like it? I haven’t used it yet.