No use crying over broken eggs...

Okay, so I know the saying usually applies to milk, but hey! They're both in the dairy isle of the grocery store, right? I think it counts.

In our class project, " An Eggs-cellent Way to Play", the class was assigned to plan, design, and create a devise that would protect an egg from breaking in case of a fall. My group failed this group project but it wasn't all bad. With the bad, there was also some good, and the bad is always there to teach us a lesson for the future. Here are the pros and cons of our strategic planning:

Step 1: The goals and objectives in our project were clear: design a contraption that would protect the egg in the case of a fall. We understood that at least fifty percent of the egg must be visible and what resources and the amounts that would be given to us. However, there were a lot of things we weren't clear in while planning, such as "HOW MUCH is fifty percent?" and "Are there any UNFAIR designs?"

Step 2: As for determining our resources and current project status, we knew what our resources were, eight jumbo straws and two feet of tape. Nevertheless, I don't think this was enough to plan a good design for the device. We didn't know how strong the material of the straws were, which affected how it would bend. We didn't know how long they were exactly, which affected our decision in whether to cut them up or not in order to make more pieces and how long the pieces should be. We knew how big the egg was and we figured the shortest person should drop it because it would mean a shorter fall. I guess it is also inevitable that a group leader would stand out, but we seemed to have two group leader, or more of a president/vice-president sort of thing. This leader thing sort of just happened, and because nobody else spoke up, their voices were barely heard.

Step 3: When one's voice is barely heard, it also means your input will most likely not count. Our team leaders decided on a plan and because they were so sure that it would work, there was no use refuting it. Some attempted but they were shy and their voices were overshadowed. I tried to make an input and it seemed like it was considered for a few seconds, but the time limit seemed to pressure everybody to get one solid plan and get it done with. We certainly didn't explore different options and designs, and perhaps if everyone's opinion had been considered, we could've came up with a mix of all ideas and integrated it into one solid idea. But as I previously mentioned, time puts pressure on people (besides, it was worth five extra points on our exam if we succeeded!)

Step 4: Since we didn't have "alternatives", we just ran with the one design that was decided on. As soon as we were given our resources, our plan changed slightly. There was a little bit of panicking because some of us became unsure of how much tape we would use. Some thought it wasn't enough tape, others thought it was enough. We decided to cut our straws and forgot pieces when they started falling off the desk and forgot, which resulted in a different device at first. We later found the missing pieces but it was no longer the same device we had originally designed. There was one person assigned to design and draw the device out, and later I noticed that it slightly resembled what we had designed, but it wasn't exactly what I had pictured. There was too much tape, inefficient placement of straw pieces, some improvisation as to how the rest of the egg would be covered, and by the end I was afraid we had covered more than fifty percent of the egg. Everyone was looking so confident that I thought maybe I was being the paranoid one so I let it go. When it was our turn to drop the egg, we failed. Our plan was not idiot-proof.

Looking back at it, there were many things we should've done that we failed to do. We should've planned different alternatives in case our vision changed once we had received our resources. We should've had more input from everyone and others' opinions should've been considered. We also should've taken longer to decide on a plan, the best ideas come later in the planning process. We should've asked if some ideas would've been unfair (the majority of the people complained about the winning group because their device didn't seem fair but it did indeed play by the rules). However, this will only serve to remind us on our next planning project on the steps should be taken in order to create a successful plan in the future. Thank goodness this time it was only an egg.

"Find yourself, I'm right here": Living through the culture shock

My father lived in New York during his teens and later served in the United States Air Force, so having spent a substantial part of his life in the U.S, he had developed an "American lifestyle". I was raised under this hybrid of American and Ecuadorian value system, which might explain why every time I would watch Home Alone, I'd ask my father "Daddy, when are we moving to the U.S?"

At the age of nine, my family and I moved to New York. Even though my household was relatively Americanized, the culture shock still impacted me. For nine years, I only truly knew one world and that world was Guayaquil, Ecuador. It only took a seven hour plane ride to change everything.

This new land was amazing! It had all four seasons, not just two, which was pretty exciting to tell you the truth. I mean, shopping for four seasons? The thought of it was just nuts to me! It was also the first time I had heard the now familiar summer jingle of the ice cream truck, a jingle that soon replaced the simple bell ringing from the ice cream man riding his bicycle around the unpaved neighborhood. But the biggest change wasn't material but more of a change of perception of the world.

When I started the fourth grade classes in the Middle of February, classes were already in session and I was put into this elementary school in Brooklyn, New York, in a bilingual classroom that was supposed to make it easier to learn English. In a classroom full of bilingual kids, you'd think they'd have some sympathy for someone who only knows one language? They didn't. No mercy. I was on my own when it came to learning the language, and I learned that the key was repetition. One thing I kept hearing kids say was "I don't feel like doing this" or "I feel like doing that". I didn't know what this meant exactly and I asked my parents, but they didn't really know how to explain it. Even once I learned what it meant, I didn't know how to translate it into my own language.

The idea of an inner motivation that was so intense that it could keep you from doing your chores or wanting to eat the liver stew your mother made for dinner was so strange to me. It's not like people in my culture didn't voice their choices of not liking something or doing something because they liked it. The difference was, or at least what it seemed to be, that when you "feel like doing something" or "don't feel like it", you're indirectly showing preference for no apparent reason. You just did it because you did it and that was that.

As I got accustomed to the American culture, I understood the concept better, and later I realized that Americans valued the individual and his or her points of views and input much more than my culture, where the value and focus was more on the family and not as much on its individual members. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Being raised as an Ecuadorian in a place where American values must be adapted was much more intense than the original mixture of American and Ecuadorian values. It made figuring out life and my priorities a whole lot more difficult. However, it made me a stronger person because of it.

It's been eleven years since I stepped out of that plane. Seeing myself as a bilingual Hispanic woman, getting an education and working hard towards my career, i realize the culture shock was not in vain.

Internet comic book aficionado seeks a stable internet connection that won't break her heart

" I just wanted to say that I'm a nerd, and I'm here tonight to stand up for the rights of other nerds. I mean uh, all our lives we've been laughed at and made to feel inferior. And tonight, those bastards, they trashed our house. Why? Cause we're smart? Cause we look different? Well, we're not. I'm a nerd, and uh, I'm pretty proud of it."

-Gilbert Lowell, Revenge of the Nerds

I don't know when it became so cool to be a nerd but it wasn't when this movie came out though. I just like the quote, hehe.

My name is Pam and I'm an online comic book fan. The only reason why I don't often pick up a REAL comic book is due to 1) this is cheaper and 2) there's too many to choose from, I never know where to start from. Last illustrated novel I read was Watchmen, which was fantastic (and way better than the movie, of course!). My only problem with the internet is that I have an awful connection at home. This also might be the reason why I've never had a blog before. It seems like everyone has had one or has one nowadays. One of my favorites is Overheard in New York, which is basically posts of weird things people overhear in trains, street, or just anywhere in New York. I haven't found anyone who doesn't love that website because we've all gone through most, if not, every "overheard moment" posted there!

These are some of their one-liners:

Girl reading sign at Frank Lloyd Wright museum: Oh... He was an architect!

--Guggenheim Museum

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20-something girl correcting her friend's text message: No, you don't need an apostrophe there. It's "hos," plural, not "of or pertaining to a ho."

--M15 Bus

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Tourist: I read about this place in that New York book I got from the library.
Guy in line: Did it also tell you that when it's a full moon everything is half off?
Tourist to friend: Dude! We should just both get the large, then.
Friend: I love this town and its little quirks like this.

--Gray's Papaya

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Comics aren't the only things that consume my spare time. I'm also a movie fanatic, write a lot and read [things that don't have drawings on them]. My favorite books are The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides and Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut. I'm the Marketing Director at WBMB Baruch College Radio [it is that room next to the game room and the USG offices] and our doors are always open to students and faculty [except for those days that..you know..no school, ha]. Music is my life and I hope to be able to work in the music industry in the future. I also hope this semester is a good one. This year seems pretty promising in general.

:D

-Pam