I think for this topic I'll write about one thing I love: music. From a very early age I was surrounded by music. My parents had a massive record collection and I remember seeing things like trippy Grateful Dead record sleeves. I'm somewhat of a musician myself, having played the drums for a few years. I wonder why I didn't start earlier, because I feel like it's something I was always meant to do.
Some of my favorite musicians right now include: Animal Collective, The Antlers, Arcade Fire, The Flaming Lips, The xx, Grizzly Bear, Ratatat, Kid Cudi, MGMT, Led Zeppelin, Blue Man Group, Beach House, Fleet Foxes, and the list could go on ad nauseum. I have about 10,000 songs on my iPod. When you click 'Shuffle,' you could be listening to "Fantasy" by Mariah Carey one minute, then "The Number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden the next, then "Got Yo Money" by Ol' Dirty Bastard the next, then "Girls" by Animal Collective the next. It's not like I'm going for representing every genre on my iPod; everything on there is music I like listening to and have no shame about listening to it.
If someone told me I couldn't listen to music for the rest of my life, I'd punch them in the face. Music has always meant a lot to me and still does.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
#4 What did you see?
On my way home from school this evening, I'm sure I saw a lot of things. Nothing really struck me as being very notable, but that's probably because I enter into a zombie-like trance when I'm driving. Driving down 123 into Vienna I'm sure I saw a countless number of banks, maybe a few large grocery stores. I did see the Oakton Public Library and remembered I have to return a book on Tuesday; crap, I am nowhere near finishing it.
#3 Types of Writing in Your Field
There's a few different kinds of writing required for my major and for my career. The first that comes to mind is the kind of writing would be in one the engineering journals/publications, like IEEE's. This kind of writing is very matter-of-fact and straight-forward. No extraneous information is provided if not needed. This kind of article usually details the efforts a group of people made toward achieving a goal and then documents their results. A lot of these are produced from academia.
Another kind might be popular articles found in something like IEEE Spectrum, which is IEEE's magazine. This kind of writing may be done by journalists or by engineers with strong writing skills, and may be speculative in nature. An example would be: http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/biomedical/bionics/enhanced-imagination-drives-braincomputer-interface.
A third kind of writing would be documenting results of a design project for a client. A lot of points may be bulleted for brevity.
Another kind might be popular articles found in something like IEEE Spectrum, which is IEEE's magazine. This kind of writing may be done by journalists or by engineers with strong writing skills, and may be speculative in nature. An example would be: http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/biomedical/bionics/enhanced-imagination-drives-braincomputer-interface.
A third kind of writing would be documenting results of a design project for a client. A lot of points may be bulleted for brevity.
#2 What are your strengths?
I think I will bring a few unique strengths to the metaphorical table that is the professional world. First, I'm good with numbers on a freakish level. And I'm not just talking about being good at math; I already know your cell phone number. That's what I'm saying.
Second, I can communicate well. You might have gained that I am not a shy person, maybe through my writing style. I consider myself a fairly sociable person, and I think I'm pretty keen to the emotions of others. I can usually detect when someone is hesitant about something, or enthused with something, or whatever else have you. I think this skill will serve me well in the engineering world, where much of the working force sometimes lacks the ability to have a social interaction with others or read the expressions of others (sorry, fellow engineers, but this is the general opinion of our kind).
In my current workplace, I have a work-appropriate sense of humor, and I think people respond positively to it. I think a fun work atmosphere is the one most conducive to getting real, quality work done. I also think it helps people work together better than in an environment that is uptight and just generally wack.
Second, I can communicate well. You might have gained that I am not a shy person, maybe through my writing style. I consider myself a fairly sociable person, and I think I'm pretty keen to the emotions of others. I can usually detect when someone is hesitant about something, or enthused with something, or whatever else have you. I think this skill will serve me well in the engineering world, where much of the working force sometimes lacks the ability to have a social interaction with others or read the expressions of others (sorry, fellow engineers, but this is the general opinion of our kind).
In my current workplace, I have a work-appropriate sense of humor, and I think people respond positively to it. I think a fun work atmosphere is the one most conducive to getting real, quality work done. I also think it helps people work together better than in an environment that is uptight and just generally wack.
#1 Researching/Writing Goals and Aspirations
This semester, I'd like to hone my skills in researching and writing and use these new-and-improved skills to my advantage in the professional setting. I've learned this semester that writing as if you were trying to draft a story for a novel is something entirely different from professional writing for, say, a scholarly article that will be under review by your peers. I feel pretty comfortable writing in the former style, but I have a lot of room to improve in the latter writing style.
A very large part of engineering work is documentation: recording anything and everything, marking down any obscure little detail and whatever else have you. In this way, if a client or a boss comes back to you and asks you about some mistake here or there, you can reference your notes or state that the mistake was properly recorded. I know that in my professional career as an engineer I will have to carefully document every bit of progress that is made, so I really want to improve my skills in this area. And like I stated before, this kind of writing is entirely different than writing a story about how, for example, two brothers find a pot of gold in an abandoned cabin in the woods and go to Las Vegas with it and use the actual gold pieces, not cash, for all of their purchases. For example.
I expect that as we progress further in this course, my writing skills will improve markedly. In the typical engineering curriculum I don't get to write that much, or use that side of my brain at all, so I enjoy the opportunity to write.
A very large part of engineering work is documentation: recording anything and everything, marking down any obscure little detail and whatever else have you. In this way, if a client or a boss comes back to you and asks you about some mistake here or there, you can reference your notes or state that the mistake was properly recorded. I know that in my professional career as an engineer I will have to carefully document every bit of progress that is made, so I really want to improve my skills in this area. And like I stated before, this kind of writing is entirely different than writing a story about how, for example, two brothers find a pot of gold in an abandoned cabin in the woods and go to Las Vegas with it and use the actual gold pieces, not cash, for all of their purchases. For example.
I expect that as we progress further in this course, my writing skills will improve markedly. In the typical engineering curriculum I don't get to write that much, or use that side of my brain at all, so I enjoy the opportunity to write.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
#6 Open Topic
So, for this freewrite I am allowed to write about ANY topic. LOST, I choose you.
LOST (that's how it's written) is not a TV show. It's more like watching a movie on TV. LOST is great because it demands the attention of the viewer. If watching some robot guy give a rose to women who are dead on the inside every week is your cup of tea, you probably won't like LOST (sorry).
LOST is about a group of strangers who were on board a flight that took off from Sydney, bound for LA, and that crashed somewhere in the South Pacific. At first, they were strangers, but they had to figure out how to survive. Oh, and the island they're on is supernatural/scary/alive/mystical. There's a smoke monster that thrashes people around because it doesn't like you. There's also indigenous people that have been on the island for thousands of years. The island can't be found by normal means -- one character even goes so far to say that "not even God can see this island." In subsequent seasons since that line was delivered, we came to learn that the reason why the island can't be found is because it's constantly moving in space -- and time. I know, dude.
A research group called the Dharma Initiative came to the island sometime in the 1970s to conduct experiments and to exploit the unique scientific properties the island has to offer. Sometime in the early 90s, this group was wiped out by the indigenous "Others" in an event called "The Purge."
Those are the most memorable events from LOST. I know it seems that I am unhealthily obsessed, but it's not true. I just respect the creativity of the writers, directors, actors, etc. LOST stands out in a landscape of mindless television. You should give it a try sometime.
LOST (that's how it's written) is not a TV show. It's more like watching a movie on TV. LOST is great because it demands the attention of the viewer. If watching some robot guy give a rose to women who are dead on the inside every week is your cup of tea, you probably won't like LOST (sorry).
LOST is about a group of strangers who were on board a flight that took off from Sydney, bound for LA, and that crashed somewhere in the South Pacific. At first, they were strangers, but they had to figure out how to survive. Oh, and the island they're on is supernatural/scary/alive/mystical. There's a smoke monster that thrashes people around because it doesn't like you. There's also indigenous people that have been on the island for thousands of years. The island can't be found by normal means -- one character even goes so far to say that "not even God can see this island." In subsequent seasons since that line was delivered, we came to learn that the reason why the island can't be found is because it's constantly moving in space -- and time. I know, dude.
A research group called the Dharma Initiative came to the island sometime in the 1970s to conduct experiments and to exploit the unique scientific properties the island has to offer. Sometime in the early 90s, this group was wiped out by the indigenous "Others" in an event called "The Purge."
Those are the most memorable events from LOST. I know it seems that I am unhealthily obsessed, but it's not true. I just respect the creativity of the writers, directors, actors, etc. LOST stands out in a landscape of mindless television. You should give it a try sometime.
#5 Learning Styles
Taking this 24-question survey about Learning Styles was very engaging. I hadn't ever thought if I liked working on gardening, but I think I would.
It turns out that above all else, I am a musical learner (94%). I'm surprised it won out over interpersonal learner (88%) and logical-mathematical learner (88%), the two learning methods I thought best describe me.
According to this survey, a musical learner's mantra is "That sounds good to me!" That does very much describe me -- almost everything sounds good to me! …except country music…except Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline and a few others. Other than them, blah.
The interpersonal learner's mantra is "I understand what you mean." I'd like to think I am a good listener, and that I am keen on others' emotions and feelings. I think I read body language and speech tones well. I suppose I'm highly social -- I like meeting new people, learning about their experiences and the like. The survey suggests I might do well in a career involving sales; I've thought a little bit about going into technical/engineering sales. I think I'd do well at describing a product technically and enticing a client as to why purchasing said product would be advantageous to them.
Lastly, and my personal favorite, the survey claims I am a strong logical-mathematical learner, whose mantra is "Why? Well, because it's logical." I wouldn't necessarily say I'm a robot without emotion, but I guess I do make decisions based in reason and logic (Have you ever seen Forbidden Planet?). I'd like to imagine that I think about decisions and that I rarely act impulsively (excluding that time last Friday when I bought a round of Jager-bombs for a group of friends; that was impulsive and illogical).
Even though this survey is only 24 questions and took less than 5 minutes, I think it revealed a great deal of information about my learning style. It strangely described my learning styles quite accurately.
It turns out that above all else, I am a musical learner (94%). I'm surprised it won out over interpersonal learner (88%) and logical-mathematical learner (88%), the two learning methods I thought best describe me.
According to this survey, a musical learner's mantra is "That sounds good to me!" That does very much describe me -- almost everything sounds good to me! …except country music…except Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline and a few others. Other than them, blah.
The interpersonal learner's mantra is "I understand what you mean." I'd like to think I am a good listener, and that I am keen on others' emotions and feelings. I think I read body language and speech tones well. I suppose I'm highly social -- I like meeting new people, learning about their experiences and the like. The survey suggests I might do well in a career involving sales; I've thought a little bit about going into technical/engineering sales. I think I'd do well at describing a product technically and enticing a client as to why purchasing said product would be advantageous to them.
Lastly, and my personal favorite, the survey claims I am a strong logical-mathematical learner, whose mantra is "Why? Well, because it's logical." I wouldn't necessarily say I'm a robot without emotion, but I guess I do make decisions based in reason and logic (Have you ever seen Forbidden Planet?). I'd like to imagine that I think about decisions and that I rarely act impulsively (excluding that time last Friday when I bought a round of Jager-bombs for a group of friends; that was impulsive and illogical).
Even though this survey is only 24 questions and took less than 5 minutes, I think it revealed a great deal of information about my learning style. It strangely described my learning styles quite accurately.
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