Work IT Baby!

New York City Schools’ Blended Learning Experiment

2011-04-16T11:35:00.000-07:00

Online learning is on the rise, particularly in blended learning environments, as educators find ways to leverage the specific advantages of both virtual and traditional classrooms.

New York City Department of Education’s iZone is taking the lead with iLearnNYC, a virtual learning pilot program that allows participating students to take Advanced Placement (AP) classes and recover missed credits online (using certified, NYC public school teachers certified in their subject areas), as well as experiment with digital technologies in a mix of face-to-face and online platforms.

Read Full Article.

Twitter as an Educational Tool

2011-03-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

I found this post on how Twitter may be used as an educational tool for teachers. It's a great blog as it is in-depth and a wonderful resource for educators on how to use Twitter and create their own personal network to find colleagues and followers. Take a look at: Twitter – A Teaching and Learning Tool.

Computer science programs use mobile apps to make coursework relevant

2011-03-09T13:40:00.001-08:00

My family and I were at Disney waiting for buses to come and we were complaining about how we wish there was a way to tell exactly when the bus is coming so that we wouldn't have to wait for uncertain amount of periods. Well, guess what? We were not alone in our wish. Students at Virginia tech have partnered with the local transit system and solved the problem.

This is one of the many ways Computer Science programs can make life easier to the average citizen and the possibilities are endless! The classroom of the future is rapidly becoming the present.

See: Computer science programs use mobile apps to make coursework relevant

So Far Rivals Can’t Beat iPad’s Price

2011-03-07T17:56:00.000-08:00

The iPad 2, unveiled on Wednesday, offers several sleek improvements over its predecessor. But its most attractive feature is perhaps the same one its predecessor had: the price tag.

See New York Times Article: So Far Rivals Can’t Beat iPad’s Price

Will the iPad Revolutionize Education?

2011-03-07T12:37:00.000-08:00

Interestingly there are several companies, such as XOOM, who have the same capabilities to create something similar to iPad2. Apple is not the only company with that capability. However, it could be a case of "we got there first."

See: How the iPad 2 Will Revolutionize Education by Greg Ferenstein

Agile Development Certification in the Works

2011-03-01T13:15:00.000-08:00

Oh la la - One more certification to earn...PMI is creating a certification in agile development.

See: Agile Development Certification in the Works by Susan Hall

K-12: AUPs shape Web 2.0 use, guidelines

2011-03-01T13:13:00.000-08:00

This article reminds me of the good old days that we worked on coming up with the perfect AUP for K-12 schools. It now seems they must be updated to meet the demands of Social Networking...

See: AUPs shape Web 2.0 use, guidelines
by: Jenna Zwang

As educational technology transforms teaching and learning, many districts are finding that once-solid acceptable use policies (AUPs) must be updated to reflect students’ and teachers’ increasing use of Web 2.0 technologies and other digital media tools.

Playing in the Clouds

2011-02-01T07:24:00.000-08:00

Unnamed sources have tipped off the gaming site Kotaku that Sony will soon be granting PlayStation 3 gamers service the ability to dump their save games to a Sony server instead of their home consoles.

See: PlayStation 3 to Allow Saved Games in the Cloud

Google Jumps Into the Art World

2011-02-01T07:20:00.000-08:00

Google is bringing its "street view" technology indoors. With the launch of the Google Art Project, announced at a press conference in London this morning, Google jumps into the online art arena with tools that will allow web surfers to move through 17 of the most prominent art galleries in the world, with the option to look more closely at individual art works, including some that will be digitized so exhaustively that individual paint strokes and hairline cracks in the surface will be visible.

Included among the institutions that have teamed up with Google are some of the most prestigious museums in the world. In New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art and the Frick Collection are participating, as is the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art in Washington. Museums in London, Madrid, Moscow, Amsterdam and Florence, among others, are also contributing.
By Philip Kennicott

For more see: Google Art Project

Egypt Turns off the Internet

2011-01-31T11:51:00.000-08:00

On Thursday January 27, the Egyptian government did something extraordinary--it "turned off the internet" within the country's own borders. There's no mystery about how this happened -- the Egyptian government owns the largest service provider in the country and had only to make a few phone calls to bring the remaining ISPs in line.

For more see: Egypt Turns Off the Internet. Now What Happens?
Mubarak's regime is about to come face to face with the "Dictator's Dilemma."

How to use the Droid 2 Smartphone

2011-01-25T06:50:00.000-08:00

How To Use The DROID 2 Smartphone From Motorola (25 Video Tips)

If you own the Motorola DROID 2 smartphone, it's probably safe to say it will NOT explode in your face, since this was an isolated incident. And to make better use of your overall Android experience, Motorola has put together some helpful tutorials to help you get started using your DROID 2 phone. If you're worried about your phone exploding, then maybe the most important tutorial to pay attention to here is Managing Your DROID 2's Battery Life.

Check out all 25 of these great tips from Motorola to start using your DROID 2 to the fullest.

Twitter Fights US Court Demands For WikiLeaks Details

2011-01-11T10:20:00.000-08:00

Micro-blogging site Twitter is opposing an order from a US court, to reveal the account details of supporters of WikiLeaks. Twitter has called on Facebook and Google to reveal whether they also received similar court orders.

As part of the US government’s investigation into WikiLeaks, a court ordered Twitter, in mid-December, to give details of accounts owned by supporters of the whistle-blower site. Twitter has protested against the subpoena and informed the individuals whose account information has been requested, while raising the possibility that other social networking players have received similar orders.

For more see: Twitter Fights US Court Demands For WikiLeaks Details - Article is by: Brian Prince

Love My Droid! Android passes iPhone in the US!

2011-01-11T10:08:00.000-08:00

http://www.techspot.com/news/41896-android-passes-iphone-in-the-us.html

I'm so glad that my research pointed me to the Droid versus iPhone. I feel validated in my search for that perfect Smart Phone!

Finding Ways to Learn from Wordle

2010-07-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

Earlier today, I gained a whole different insight into my own resume. How you ask? I used Wordle to take a look at my resume as a word cloud.

It resulted in my being rather surprised that it was not precisely communicating what I had aim to communicate. It isin't the exact representation of who I think I am professionally. How intriguing... and pretty cool, I'd say. What can I learn from this? Use other descriptions and words for the cloud to become precise? Is it possible to have a precise cloud? Do I even want to do that?

I then remembered being surprised in the same way a few months ago regarding something else that is dear to my heart. And that is reading. I know what kind of books I like to read. But the tag cloud had showed me differently.

I have tagged many of my books in LibraryThing and when I looked at the cloud it did something to me that was something in between amusement and annoyance. My own personal idea of what I like to read is different than what the tag cloud showed me.

For example, the tag cloud shows that a majority of the books I've read are set in England. That is not how I would have identified my reading. Yet it gave me a different perspective on myself in a silent and subltle way. In a powerful way, I'd even say.

Still what does it mean? What can I learn from it? Not sure how to approach this new way of looking at myself or the things I do and produce in a word format. According to this technology how am I then represented? Do I even know myself?

What are the thoughts from others who will look at my cloud? Does it mean next time I send my resume a prospective employer they will plug it into wordle to see if my experience is giving them what they are looking for? How will this change things?

So now, I have an urge to put everything I do into Wordle! Can't help myself. I composed a detailed email earlier and it went into Wordle! My latest presentation? Sure! Why not honey? Put it in Wordle. This Blog entry? You bet! See for yourself!

Cisco Cius

2010-06-29T12:25:00.000-07:00

The innovative Cisco Cius (pronounced "See Us") is an ultra-portable, mobile collaboration business tablet that offers access to essential business applications and technologies.

It can be held in a wired docking station for desktop use and then carried as a mobile tablet when needed.

Tablet Highlights:
• 7” diagonal, high-resolution color screen with contact-based touch targets delivers an elegant, intuitive experience
• HD Soundstation supports Bluetooth and USB peripherals, 10/100/1000 wired connectivity and a handset option
• Detachable and serviceable 8-hour battery for a full day of work
• Highly secure remote connections with Cisco AnyConnect Security VPN Client
• HD audio with wideband support (tablet, HD Soundstation)

Update to my evening at WIT

2010-06-25T08:10:00.000-07:00

I was blown away by how good the evening turned out to be at WIT (Women In Technology). The ladies I met were so highly professional and friendly. Made three awesome contacts and looking towards many years of being a part of this wonderful group.

The evening's format was that a moderator would ask the panelists for real life situations when they were not in managerial positions and how they dealt with those work related issues.

Many topics came up some of which were the following:
- How to be aware and avoid making political mistakes. How to deal with the after effects of having put your foot in your mouth.
- How to align and identify mentors
- Prepare mini elevator speech
- Do not dis-associate with an out of favor boss
- How to avoid office gossip
- How to deal with difficult bosses and possible reasons for their being so difficult
- How to use humor to help you survive difficult situations

- You are not what you do, you are many other things: Mother, Wife, Daughter, Aunt, Friend - Remember that

- If all is tough in your department, for example, your boss is being devalued still remember to do a good job and let your work shine through

- Never be complacent, always have a plan

- Stretch vertically/apply yourself horizontally

- You have a lot more power than you think

Many of these topics are also discussed in "Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office" written by Dr. Lois Frankel. I highly recommend it.

The Office Chessboard: How to Play a Win-Win Game

2010-06-23T08:50:00.000-07:00

How to Play a Win-Win Game. Hmmm. It seems to be the story of my life lately. How do you play the game? How to stay at the top? It seems the rules are different for women. I'm increasingly worried about not being marketable and doing everything I can to stay in the game and to be on top of the game.

Recently, I started reading: Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office. The sub-title is: 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers.

101!!!??? Really?

When you talk about 101 mistakes you know you might find something of yours in there, so I decided to give it a shot and read it ... and I did find mistakes that I make. And let me tell you, I didn't like finding it. And it made me cringe. But I'm glad someone actually could tell me and fortunately it is a book -- and it's only you and the book that will know how to improve yourself.

Going back to my event this evening, And being in a win-win world, I'm hoping to get a better grasp on the following and hear what professionals have to say. Whether they have different ways of dealing with the following and what can I learn from others: Dealing with Conflict at Work

Handling Personality Struggles
Coping with Sabotage in the Workplace
Managing High-Performance Teams
Understanding Low Performers with Connections

Sounds like it'll be a great evening and lots to learn.

Useful Firefox Plugins for Web Product Managers

2010-05-26T13:41:00.000-07:00

I found a great article on the Web Product blog listing the top 11 useful Firefox plugins for Product Managers. See full article here. They are:

1. Webdeveloper: Allows you to manipulate any web site easily.
2. Firebug: Allows you to quickly inspect and analyze the HTML code of specific parts of a website. (Can I say that I love it???)
3. Fireshot: This Firefox plugin allows you to quickly make and edit screenshots of webpages. (Excellent for Bug Reports)
4. Colorzilla: Analyze the colors of websites
5. FireSizer: Makes it possible to switch to common browser screen resolutions

6. FireFTP: Easy FTP tool ( I personally use CuteFTP)
7. LinkChecker: This one helps you to avoid broken links on your page
8. MeasureIT: Simply measure the size of an element in your page
9. SEOQuake: Answers SEO questions, such as PageRank and Keyword density.
10. Seledium IDE: Allows you to record and replay every action you do with your Browser

11. Stumbleupon: A great source of inspiration...

Social Web: 10+1 changes for 2010

2010-05-25T07:57:00.000-07:00

Below is a great post on the expected trends in the Social Web for 2010. Top Three are:

1. Twitter becoming the leading News system. I can totally see that happening. Specially in arenas such as sports where you can have direct access to people twitting from the locker rooms which later on make their way into the sports sections.

2. Advertising Avalanche. Makes for an interesting thought with a billion people involved in the social web.

3. LinkedIn. About time this app makes it's way into being more of a social web networking. I'm always trying to figure out what is acceptable and what is not. Should be interesting to see the developments with this app in 2010.

For more of the article see: 10 +1 Trends and changes for the social web 2010 by Axel Schultze.

Foursquare becoming Mainstream?

2010-05-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

There is speculation on how successful will Foursquare be? Will it be as mainstream as Facebook? Or Twitter? We shall wait and see.

A few days ago I wrote about Foursquare and I just read that it has past the 1 million mark and adding 15,000 users a day. The company is up for sale and it was recently offered $10mm. However, this offer has been rejected. And I can see why. It has huge potential for making money. Can you imagine as stores offer exculsive discounts to Forsquare users? Or they can fill their stores during off hours? What a great way to have people come your way. And I'm sure I'm not even thinking of the apps' full potential in social networking.

I'll eagerly be following this company and it's successes. http://foursquare.com/

TwitPic! How cute - And how successful!

2010-05-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

I just love the name Twitter and now there is TwitPic. Can you guess what you can do with TwitPic? With 9 million users and a name like that, then ofcourse you'd know. It's a service that allows Twitter users to easily share photos.

According to Mashable - "Noah Everett, founder of TwitPic recently turned down an offer “much higher than $10 million” from an undisclosed buyer, according to an interview by Andrew Warner of Mixergy. TwitPic’s growth is also an indicator of how well the service is doing. Everett says that TwitPic has almost reached 10 million users and is growing by 35 to 40 thousand users a day.: -- WOW

See the full article.

Foursquare a fun new app for the phone

2010-05-11T07:25:00.000-07:00

I just found out about this new exciting app on a Linkedin Post on ISM (Intelligent Social Media). It's called Foursquare and it's a location-based social network app.

Foursquare creates a game-like environment for people to explore their surroundings using a mobile device and sharing it with their friends. You can think of it as tweeting about your environment and where you are physically as opposed to just tweeting about yourself.

Below is the blog that explains this app in detail and why this is a great idea for area businesses and why we should be using it:

What Is Foursquare And Why Should I Be Using It?

End of an Era? Newsweek for Sale

2010-05-11T07:05:00.000-07:00

I find it so sad that this informative and substantial magazine is up for sale. I hope it finds a worthy buyer that can bring it to a life it deserves. As long as I can remember this magazine has been a part of our family. The issues that stand out most in my mind are the ones around the Vietnam era. Every week a new cover in a country that did not speak English but connected us to the US culture and politics.

"As the American conversation has become harder to sum up in a single cover, that era seems to be ending. The Washington Post Company announced Wednesday that it would sell Newsweek, raising questions about the future of the newsweekly, first published 77 years ago, Stephanie Clifford reports in The New York Times."

See: New York Times article

Mystery Revealed: Google's Book Scanning Technology

2010-01-07T10:08:00.000-08:00

I can't pretend to fully understand it, nor did I realize that no one knew how the system worked. I hadn't even thought to question it.

For diagrams and an explanation along with Videos you can take a look at SiTeDaily's Google Book Scanner post.

Google can make you FLIP!

2009-12-18T08:10:00.000-08:00

Google News adds 55 more newspapers and publications to its Fast Flip lineup. Take a look at this simply awesome application! May I say that I just LOVE it???? I heart you Google!

http://fastflip.googlelabs.com/

KINDLE is HOT HOT HOT

2009-12-18T07:51:00.000-08:00

I own a Kindle and I want to make sure that it stays on top of the newly competitive E-readers. See Article on Reuters.

Amazon says that the Kindle is the most wanted product across the company during the holiday gift season of December. And with good reason. Kindle is wonderful. It really has improved my reading experience as I can take as many books as I want in one small device. I can instantly download most books and many of the magazines that I like. I'm really happy that I was an early adopter and able to watch the market for e-readers take off and guess where it might be headed.

You may have also heard that Stephen Covey, the author of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, has signed an exlusive deal with Amazon to sell two of his most successful books on the Kindle Platform. This deal will open the door for a whole new slew of articles and legal opinions (probably) on who actually has the rights to sell the content. Is it the publisher? Or the author??? But I digress. The point of this blog is that Kindle is snuffing out the other e-readers for now. As the Doors like to say, "Come on baby, light my fire..."

The time to hesitate is through

No time to wallow in the mire
Try now we can only lose
And our love become a funeral pyre
Come on baby, light my fire
Come on baby, light my fire
Try to set the night on fire, yeah

I think the lyrics apply to Kindle. Don't you? For the full article without my personal opinion see: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1719909920091218?type=marketsNews

CR: Vote for the FWA Site of the Year

2009-12-18T07:33:00.000-08:00

Here is a shortlist of the 12 best websites chosen by Creative Review. You are invited by CR to vote for your Favorite Website for 2009.

There is a Website for each month of the year. Take a look and vote for your favorite!

People's Choice Award: http://www.thefwa.com/pca2009/

Google's Barcode of Favorite Places

2009-12-15T06:29:00.000-08:00

Anothe cool tool application by Google! It is something I never thought about although now that I have the information, I like it and I find it fascinating. Here you can explore the favorite places of local experts from cities around the world. And you can find out where they like to go, and why, from their own perspectives.

Favorite Places: Introducing a collection of favorite places around the world

Here are my favorite places. These are the places that shaped me into who I am today. Warning: Some of my comments might make you gag!

5 Top Publishers Plan Rival to Kindle Format

2009-12-10T12:28:00.000-08:00

You know I love my Kindle!!! I love to read books on it. And books only!

I do confess to reading magazines on it but it really is not as much fun as reading books on the Kindle. One of the reasons is that the Magazine format is still clumsy and does not feel as if you are really reading a magazine.

And then forget newspapers. I won't even try and I'm not about to buy a Kindle DX. I'm not even interested in seeing a demo. I'm of the generation that wants to read her newspaper articles on the Web. If I want to catch up on the daily news in print form I'll quickly check the front page at work on the Web. It'll give me an idea of what's going on around the world and then I'm fairly happy. I can do this with newspapers from other countries as well. All in one setting.

Now five top publisher are looking to create digital newspapers to rival Amazon's Kindle DX as a joint venture. I found the following article on ABC. Will it work? Will this be profitable for the Newspapers? Will the cost of newspapers go up since it's being read on a digital device?

5 Top Publishers Plan Rival to Kindle Format
by: RYAN NAKASHIMA AP Business Writer

Mapping the Geographies of Wikipedia

2009-12-08T06:14:00.000-08:00

This map displays the total number of Wikipedia articles tagged to each country. The country with the most articles is the United States (almost 90,000 articles). Anguilla has the fewest number of geotagged articles (4), and indeed most small island nations and city states have less than 100 articles. However, it is not just microstates that are characterised by extremely low levels of wiki representation. Almost all of Africa is poorly represented in Wikipedia. Remarkably there are more Wikipedia articles written about Antarctica than all but one of the fifty-three countries in Africa (or perhaps even more amazingly, there are more Wikipedia articles written about the fictional places of Middle Earth and Discworld than about many countries in Africa, the Americas and Asia).

For the full article and additional images go to: Mapping the Geographies of Wikipedia.

Program management meets Web 2.0

2009-12-07T11:20:00.000-08:00

Dec 3, 2009 - By expanding the ways in which people share information and collaborate, Web 2.0 promises to open the workplace to a freer flow of ideas and spur innovation. But despite proponents’ enthusiasm, constant communication and crowd-based creativity don’t fit every situation.

See: Program management meets Web 2.0

Article by Federal Computer Week

Glossary of Project Management Terms in French, Spanish & English

2009-12-07T10:39:00.000-08:00

Here is a URL to a great site with Project Mange,emt Terms in three languages. They are all basic terms but still very useful.

Here are some terms you are to learn:

English: Project Management, French: Gestion de Projects, Spanish: Gerencia de Proyectos
English: Planning, French: Planification, Spanish: Planeamiento
English: Activity, French: Tâche, Spanish: Actividade

And a lot more terms... Enjoy!

'Ink And Paper' Technology

2009-10-27T06:21:00.000-07:00

Since I've had my Kindle, I've been asked if I don't miss reading a book, holding it in my hands, flipping through actual paper pages. And I've honestly said no. My goal in reading books is not holding bound paper but reading the content. The only thing that I do miss from time to time is the way a paper book may fit into your hands.

I did, however, wonder why the Kindle feels so good? I love the contrast of the ink against the creamy white background. And here may be the answer. It's in the Ink!

E Ink is responsible for the Kindle display and their goal was to make the text on the Kindle look more like a real book and I'd say they've come pretty darn close! Here is more on "Ink and Paper Technology" an article from NPR.

Plagiarism-detection software settles centuries-old mystery?

2009-10-21T06:18:00.000-07:00

How Plagiarism Software Found a New Shakespeare Play

Plagiarism-detection software was created with lazy, sneaky college students in mind - not the likes of William Shakespeare. Yet the software may have settled a centuries-old mystery over the authorship of an unattributed play from the late 1500s called The Reign of Edward III. Literature scholars have long debated whether the play was written by Shakespeare - some bits are incredibly Bard-like, but others don't resemble his style at all. The verdict, according to one expert: the play is likely a collaboration between Shakespeare and Thomas Kyd, another popular playwright of his time.

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1883770,00.html

Pigeons give the Internet Superhighway a whole new meaning...

2009-09-11T09:06:00.000-07:00

Talk about old fashioned methods of communication. Today my husband faxed a document to another company and I realized I don't even remember the last time I needed to use the fax machine. It just seems like an old technology to use compared to my email and all the other things I can do via the Web.

Then I hear this incredible story about pigeons in South Africa who were able to transport information faster than the Internet. Yes, pigeons who were faster the the Internet Superhighway... What a laugh. What is going on in South Africa?

The race started by a frustrated South African business which decided to use a pigeon to demonstrate the slowness of their Internet connection. They needed to transfer 4 gigabytes of data from their business to another office which was just 50 miles away. So they had the little pigeon (Winston) fly to the destination. Guess who got their faster? Can you believe it was Winston?

At the same time that Winston took off the button on the computer was pushed to send the document throught the Net. The pigeon made it before the 4 gigabytes of data did. It took Winston over two hours to make the trek. By the time he was there only 4% of the computer data had made it's way to the other business.

I'm simply baffled by the irony of this whole thing. What is even more surprising is that South Africa, a relatively developed country, pays some of the highest fees for Internet connectivity. Unfortunately for them they also experience the lowest reliability. Maybe at this point it would be cheaper to invest in more pigeons???

Slate Magazine: Seeking

2009-08-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

Seeking

How the brain hard-wires us to love Google, Twitter, and texting. And why that's dangerous.

By Emily Yoffe

Seeking. You can't stop doing it. Sometimes it feels as if the basic drives for food, sex, and sleep have been overridden by a new need for endless nuggets of electronic information. We are so insatiably curious that we gather data even if it gets us in trouble. Google searches are becoming a cause of mistrials as jurors, after hearing testimony, ignore judges' instructions and go look up facts for themselves. We search for information we don't even care about. Nina Shen Rastogi confessed in Double X, "My boyfriend has threatened to break up with me if I keep whipping out my iPhone to look up random facts about celebrities when we're out to dinner." We reach the point that we wonder about our sanity. Virginia Heffernan in the New York Times said she became so obsessed with Twitter posts about the Henry Louis Gates Jr. arrest that she spent days "refreshing my search like a drugged monkey."

We actually resemble nothing so much as those legendary lab rats that endlessly pressed a lever to give themselves a little electrical jolt to the brain. While we tap, tap away at our search engines, it appears we are stimulating the same system in our brains that scientists accidentally discovered more than 50 years ago when probing rat skulls.

To read the rest of the article, see: http://www.slate.com/id/2224932/pagenum/all/#p2

MIT Technology Review: A Deeper Look at Iranian Filtering

2009-08-10T17:49:00.000-07:00

Thursday, August 06, 2009

A researcher finds telltale signs that the Iranian government has become more efficient at filtering.
Looking into Iran's portion of the Internet is not an easy task.
But the network security firm Arbor Networks recently released traffic data for both internal and external-facing Internet service providers in the country. This data shows that the country continues to filter Internet traffic and that its ISPs can filter larger quantities of data than before.
Arbor Networks uses data gathered from distributed network sensors to monitor the data going to Iran from the global Internet.
In a post on Sunday, the firm showed that the overall trend for the first three weeks of July was an increasing amount of traffic headed into Iran. The country has a single national provider that handles Internet traffic, but a handful of internal providers. The picture painted by the data is of an ISP that is becoming increasingly skilled in filtering, says Craig Labovitz, chief scientist for Arbor Networks.
"It was speculated early on that they lacked capacity," Labovitz says. "It wasn't that traffic was being filtered, it was that it was being dropped because they lacked capacity. Now, it looks like they are navigating 5 gig of traffic again, and I don't think they have turned off filtering."

For more see: http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/unsafebits/23946/

Launching Your Career?

2009-08-02T16:31:00.000-07:00

As Special Report by BusinessWeek and Technology is still HOT!

The Best Places to Launch a Career

To lure and keep young talent when cash is tight, companies of all stripes are appealing to Gen Yers' ambitions for speedy advancement—and their desire to do good while doing well

by Lindsey Gerdes

As career choices go, the hotel business isn't one that will put new college grads on the path to riches. With few exceptions, new employees can expect an annual salary of less than $40,000, a figure that has barely budged in recent years. So when Marriott International (MAR) visited the University of Delaware campus on a recruiting trip, it didn't wave a big wad of cash in front of Claire Pignataro. It didn't have to. It had already hooked her with something she considered far more valuable: a chance to help run a hotel.

More

Amazon's '1984' Deletion From Kindle Examined

2009-07-29T12:09:00.000-07:00

From National Public Radio:

After Amazon learned that it was selling George Orwell's novel 1984 to Kindle owners though it had no right to do so, Amazon deleted the novel and others from the devices of the people who had bought the works.

Amazon founder and CEO apologized for the move, calling the solution "stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles."

Jonathan Zittrain, professor of law at Harvard Law School and co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, says devices such as the Kindle check in frequently with the mother ship.

"To be really useful you'd want to leave that wireless connection on," Zittrain, the author of The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It, tells Robert Siegel. "An unanticipated feature of that though is that you can have Amazon or the vendor that runs the device be able to reach into the device and make changes to the way it works."

Bill Gates Weighs in on Education and Global Competitiveness

2009-07-29T07:46:00.000-07:00

Bill Gates has been a longtime critic of American public schools and has used philanthropy to advocate for a better educational system. This is a great article by eSchool News.

The U.S. must improve its educational standing in the world by rewarding effective teaching and by developing better, universal measures of performance for students and teachers, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said on July 21.

Speaking at the National Conference of State Legislatures' annual legislative summit, Gates told hundreds of lawmakers how federal stimulus money should be used to spark educational innovation, spread best practices, and improve accountability.

USA Ranks 3rd in The Global Information Technology Report 2008-2009

2009-07-29T07:33:00.000-07:00

The Report stresses the importance of ICT as a catalyst for growth in the current global turmoil

See the Full Report

See the Presentation (44 min 22 sec)

Denmark and Sweden once again lead the rankings of The Global Information Technology Report 2008-2009, released for the eighth consecutive year by the World Economic Forum. The United States follows suit, up one position from last year, thus confirming its pre-eminence in networked readiness in the current times of economic slowdown. Singapore (4), Switzerland (5) and the other Nordic countries together with the Netherlands and Canada complete the top 10.

The Report underlines that good education fundamentals and high levels of technological readiness and innovation are essential engines of growth needed to overcome the current economic crisis. Under the theme “Mobility in a Networked World”, this year’s Report places a particular focus on the relationship and interrelations between mobility and ICT.

With record coverage of 134 economies worldwide, the Report remains the world’s most comprehensive and authoritative international assessment of the impact of ICT on the development process and the competitiveness of nations.

The Report is produced by the World Economic Forum in cooperation with INSEAD, the leading international business school, and is sponsored by Cisco Systems.

The Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009

2009-07-29T07:22:00.000-07:00

The United States tops the overall ranking in The Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009. Switzerland is in second position followed by Denmark, Sweden and Singapore. European economies continue to prevail in the top 10 with Finland, Germany and the Netherlands following suit.

The United Kingdom, while remaining very competitive, has dropped by three places and out of the top 10, mainly attributable to a weakening of its financial markets.

The rankings are calculated from both publicly available data and the Executive Opinion Survey, a compre-hensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum together with its network of Partner Institutes (leading research institutes and business organizations) in the countries covered by the report.

Handshakes and their messages

2009-06-09T08:27:00.000-07:00

Handshakes have always fascinated me. I was about 11 or 12 when my mom's friend told me that I need to have a firmer handshake and to not shake hands like a dead fish. She practiced a few handshakes with me and ever since then I've had a good firm handshake and forever grateful to her for caring and showing me early in my life how to approach people with a confident smile, look in their eyes and shake hands.

I had a personal incident happen to me see Tuesday June 9 entry. Which made me want to go and explore the types of handshakes that are out there.

Here is an interesting entry that explains the top ten types of handshakes. Very interesting. My incident was with a bone crusher. Had my mom's friend not said anything I may have still been the dead fish type. Hand Wrestler and Teacup are pretty funny but they do exist. I'm amazed at how many different ways people can express themselves through a simple handshake. Too bad we are not all Vulcans.

Remember to be professional in your handshake. Make yourself memorable in a positive way. :-) Peace and out...

A "OH" L

2009-05-29T13:30:00.000-07:00

AOL is dominating the Tech news today. After a 9 year old marriage. Some of it good but mostly bumpy the two will be going their own ways by the end of the year. -- Oh I wish I was back there to witness the separation and continue to be a part of that history.

Things are still not looking good for AOL - However, the separation from what I hear will give AOL a better chance to survive.

For more go to: Time Warner, AOL to Split by Year-End

SCORM! Sounds scary but it's not!

2009-05-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

In all the years that I've done training or have been part of the training world I had not heard of SCORM (Shareable Content Object Reference Model.)

SCORM is a tool for anyone involved in online training. "Content can be created one time and used in many different systems and situations without modification. This plug-and-play functionality can be powerful within an organization but even more so across organizations. Content can be sold and delivered to the user more quickly, more robustly, and at a lower price." Wow! I could have used this in a previous position when we were planning to have online security awareness. Sounds awesome.

In December 2004, the US Department of Defense mandated that all its e-learning purchases must comply with SCORM standards.

When is SCORM a Good Fit?

You want to integrate with other vendors
You are creating a large library of learning objects
You are using an LMS to deliver and manage learning content
You are designing learning content that might be reused in other contexts
You are designing learning content that tracks learner performance
You are designing learning content that will monitor the learner and adapt according to the learner’s needs

Trip to Mars! Check Expedia

2009-04-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

Expedia now has flights to Mars available! Check:

http://www.expedia.com/daily/mars/flights-to-mars/?mcicid=Mars_home_us

The Net is abuzz with all sorts of special deals today! Why? Happy April Fool's day! Check out more fun stuff at Techcrunch:

April Fools: YouTube Flails, Amazon Cloud Computing In A Blimp, 3D Chrome Browsing, Google Masters A.I.

Apple's Developer's Conference in June

2009-03-27T06:47:00.000-07:00

Apple is busy getting it's June Conference together. The high point will be the much anticipated Snow Leopard OS. At Learning Tree International, my Mac course on Integrating Mac OS into a Windows Environment will closely coincide with the new developments.

In addition, Apple released iPhone 3.0 Software last week and the anticipation for the Dev conference is a new model of the iPhone. Now that is exciting...

To learn more go to:

Apple World Wide Developers Conference or check the Washington Post article wire by Reuters.

NYT's 10 Rules for Blogging

2009-03-23T14:04:00.000-07:00

The New York Times's 10 Rules For Blogging

by Nicholas Carlson|Mar. 21, 2009, 6:00 AM

This week, the New York Times standards editor Craig Whitney wrote a memo on style for bloggers.

It's cranky and pompous. But our main gripe is that it's just packaged wrong.

13 paragraphs? 4 pages?

Any decent blogger knows that a how-to memo has to be presented in bullet-pointed, listicle format.

So, because we care, here are the New York Times's 10 rules for blogging (in a format people will actually read):

What should be avoided in all of them is any hint of racist, sexist or religious bias, or any suggestion of nasty, snide, sarcastic, or condescending tone — “snark.”
If something could easily fit in a satirical Web site for young adults, it probably shouldn’t go into the news pages of nytimes.com.
Contractions, colloquialisms and even slang are, generally speaking, more allowable in blogs than in print.
Obscenity and vulgarity are not.
Unverified assertions of fact, blind pejorative quotes, and other lapses in journalistic standards don’t ever belong in blogs.
Writers and editors of blogs must also distinguish between personal tone and voice and unqualified personal opinion.
A blog or news column has to give readers the arguments and factual information that led to the writer’s conclusion — enough argument and fact on both or all sides of the issue to enable the reader to decide whether to agree or disagree
That does not apply to editorials or Op-Ed columns, which “are not intended to give a balanced look at both sides of a debate,” as the Readers’ Guide says.
Headlines on analysis should try to capture the debate rather than taking sides in it.
If the comments contain vulgarity, obscenity, offensive personal attacks, say that somebody “sucks,” or are incoherent, moderators are advised just to chuck them out.

IE 8 is out!

2009-03-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

Here is a snippet from C|Net on the new IE 8.

It's no secret that when judged by several popular Web browser speed tests, Internet Explorer 8 doesn't hold up well. Beta versions of IE 8 have been available to the general public for more than a year, and today's release of the stable build didn't include anything revolutionary.

In addition to the browser being slow it seems they got a lot of their ideas from Firefox. I thirst for innovative products and was very curious to see what IE would come up with. I was hoping it would just blow my mind away. Oh well

9 Websites for Book Lovers

2009-03-19T06:51:00.000-07:00

I've been a Shelfari user for about two years now and I like creating a list of my books as I go along and share it with my friends on Shelfari and other members of the site. One of my favorite features is when members ask if they should reading a particular title and whether it's worth their time. Books are so subjective that I don't know if someone would want to ask this question from strangers.
I found an article on iLibrarian which lists popular online social cataloging websites. These are sites outside of Shelfari and the well known LibraryThing. The popular sites mentioned in the article are:

1. BookSprouts
You can join and create book clubs.

2. Blippr
You can add short reviews of books, movies, music, games, and applications.

3. 22 Books
The primary goal of this site is to collect book lists.

4. Book Cover Archive
The site has a collection of over 1,000 book covers.

5. BookJetty
You can use the site to organize your book.

6. Book Glutton
The name is unappealing but I like the idea of a site where you can read public domain books and discuss them with others.

7. Listal
Based around entertainment including Movies, TV shows, games, DVDs, Music and books

8. GoodReads
Members can create lists, write reviews, form groups, create trivia questions which is fun.

9. Paperback Swap
This site is a community hub for trading all formats of books.

Branding My Strengths

2009-03-13T08:16:00.000-07:00

I took the StrengthFinder2.0 online quiz and I was nicely surprised by the strengths I found. Not bad! And I can't disagree.

They are:

Adaptability: Prefer to “go with the flow.” They tend to be “now” people.
Input: Have a craving to know more.
Ideation: Are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.
Communication: Find it easy to put their thoughts into words. They are good conversationalists and presenters.
Context: Enjoy thinking about the past. They understand the present by researching its history.

I'll be working to make these strengths work for me as I'll be thinking about these strengths. The site has provided an action plan on how to improve on these areas. I wish they also provided another sub-set of 5 or so. That would be nice to know.

StrengthFinder 2.0

2009-03-12T07:45:00.000-07:00

Last year about this time I wrote an entry on my other blog regarding the book: Now Discover Your Strengths. The book really didn't grab me and I soon put it aside.

Then when I was going through the list of the Personal MBA reading list, I saw StrengthFinder 2.0. So, it made me groan - just because the other book was so boring to me . Am I going to read another book that may or may not be worth reading... But guess what I'm reading it now. Part 1 is short. All I need to do now is take the online test. Then once my strengths are discovered I consult part 2 for more information.

So, I've put down what I think my strengths are and once I take the test, I'll check it against StrengthFinder 2.0.

I think it'll be fun to follow-up this post with what I'll find. Unless, I really don't like what I find. :-)

"Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade?"-- Benjamin Franklin

Inbox Zero

2009-03-05T09:59:00.000-08:00

As I was reading more on GTD (see book cover on the left) and doing online searches, I came across the following presentation called "Inbox Zero."

Here is a brief description:
Merlin Mann, a well known productivity guru and creator of the popular 43 folders website will talk about Getting Things Done, the importance of getting your inbox to zero, and strategies for dealing with high volume email.

This is a relatively short video and it amazed me at how in a very small amount of time I was able to manage my Inbox. He has used a lot of the processing recommendations from David Allen's book.

Getting Things Done

2009-03-04T09:08:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, I wrote about reading a series of book to see if getting an MBA is for me. I referenced the following site:

Personal MBA

The site recommends 77 best business books to read. I've started with Getting Things Done. I had heard a lot about GTD and it intrigued me. Now I have a real reason to read it. Besides, I'm trying to layoff the fiction. :-) Balance is good!

Here is a video on this concept. The author made a great presentation at Google and Google has put the video for everyone to benefit from this talk:

David Allen: Getting Things Done

Obama faces Technical Challenges in the White House

2009-03-02T06:50:00.000-08:00

About a few weeks ago I heard through IT friends that the White House is in need of a technical overhaul. So I was not surprised to see the following article in The Washington Post.

Web-Savvy Obama Team Hits Unexpected Bumps

Issues of Technology, Security and Privacy Slow the New Administration's Effort to Foster Instant Communication

Getting an MBA

2009-02-25T11:29:00.000-08:00

I've been toying a lot with the idea of getting an MBA lately. But with the economy being what it is, I am not sure this is the right time. To get a start and to see if it is even for me. I'm exploring this reading list by: Personalmba.com's 77 Best Business Books. It is the Personal MBA Recommended Reading List:

http://personalmba.com/best-business-books/

There are so many books on that list that I've wanted to read. The categories are:

Scrum Testing: Lessons Learned from Scrum Implementation at Google

2009-02-24T08:22:00.001-08:00

This is a long video but definitely worth your time if you would like to learn further on Agile Software Development's Scrum Methodology. I've done this at only one company and it was overall very successful. I liked how it set clear roles, I think there was less confusion. I loved having access to all the different people in the different roles. I love love the fact that anyone can contribute. At least that's what we did. On a side note: I truly enjoyed the sometimes silly banter on who is the "Pig" and who is the "Chicken." :-)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8795214308797356840

The New Kindle 2.0 is out

2009-02-10T14:22:00.000-08:00

You may recall that I purchase Kindle 1.0 back in October when Oprah Winfrey had that special. What I didn't say and I should have said is how I justified the purchase. Most kindle books are sold for $9.99 so after a while I'll make up the price of Kindle! Instead of paying $25 for hardcovers, etc. I know not all the books I'd purchase are that high in price but not all of them would be around $9.99 either.

Anyhow. Here is an article, I'd like to share:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10159955-1.html?tag=txt

Updating your Resume

2009-01-21T07:43:00.000-08:00

I love these tips. Take a look at:
http://www.dumblittleman.com/2009/01/how-to-write-resume-that-will-land.html

I think I'll go back and rework mine. My favorite tip is delete the objective statement. I never had one up until a few years ago when I was told I need to have it. I know think it pigeon holes you. So I agree with the advice that you can find here.

I don't agree with taking out your mailing address. Specially if you are looking for a job near your home. It indicates to the employer that you have a good commute. When I interviewed this was one of the top things I looked for in a candidate. I wanted the person to come into work fresh and stress free from traffic. One less stress in the candidate's life means that that person can do a better job for me.

Alright, I'll let you be and enjoy the post!

What a Good Resume might look like

2009-01-21T07:41:00.000-08:00

I love these tips. Take a look at:

http://www.dumblittleman.com/2009/01/how-to-write-resume-that-will-land.html

I think I'll go back and rework on mine.

-- Sepi

Change has come

2009-01-20T10:47:00.000-08:00

What a glorious day. Tears were shed and joy has been shared. After tonight's dancing and celebration the new administration has to look at all the work that needs to be done. This Administration will have to work hard to pull us out of all the much and misfortune caused by the previous Administrator.

An item that is high on Barack's list is Education. I checked the White house today and I have been reading the Education Agenda.

See: http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/education/

I want to be a part of this change. I will be a part of it!

What says "Hire Me!"

2008-11-18T09:35:00.000-08:00

After several long months of unsuccessfully posting his résumé and applying to jobs online, Alex Ballin, 24, decided to take his job search into his own hands.
The 2008 graduate from Radford University planted himself at a busy intersection in downtown Roanoke, Virginia, sporting a white sign that read, "Talented B.A. Needs Career" along with his business suit.
He wanted to get employers' attention and it wasn't happening from simply submitting applications online. One employer thought Ballin's efforts showed drive and ambition and tossed a business card out of his car to Ballin. He got an interview a week later.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/worklife/11/17/cb.what.says.hire.me/index.html?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail

Over a Million Books Available for Kindle

2008-11-18T08:41:00.000-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/Million-Kindle-books-available-now/forum/FxBVKST06PWP9B/Tx15UAKRX5252A/1/ref=cm_cd_ef_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&asin=B000FI73MA

I LOVE my new Kindle

2008-11-17T07:49:00.000-08:00

OK, so I took the bite after I saw the Oprah Winfrey show on the awesomeness of Amazon's Kindle. Yes, I watch Oprah Winfrey and I love most of her advice and programs.

And boy am I happy about the decision to buy the Kindle. It's about three weeks that I have it and so far I've finished close to 5 books and I am reading a book that is about a 1,000 pages. This is something I've really missed doing since I was a young 'un. Reading a long long book. I had stopped reading them since it's so difficult to schlep them around. So now I'm back to reading books that are over 500 pages! Yay! And with Kindle I'm reading many books simultaneously.

My Kindle and I are inseparable.

Here are the pros and cons of the Kindle from my point of view:

The good:

It has changed the way I read.
I ended up reading three books this weekend simultaneously. I feel like I'm back in college!
I could previously not do this since logging around 3 books is not practical at all. :-)
There was a Kindle book I couldn't download from Amazon, I was able to download it through the Kindle device. It was available that way which I find it's weird.
The Kindle is small enough that it fits in my purse and I can read it anywhere. Very Obvious.
The best feature for me is that it has a dictionary. Which cuts down on my frustration when reading. I've already learned so many new words. Another reason I like this is that I'm reading a sixth grade level book for my son at night. And as soon as we come across a word he doesn't know he tells me to look it up! He is getting into the habit of looking up new words. I LOVE this!
Before purchasing a book, you can download the first chapter to see if you like it. Because of this feature I ended up not buying a book. But then the very same feature led me to buy about three other books! I liked that. :-)
Book are $9.99 or cheaper on the kindle! Wow! This thing will pay for it self.
I'll be cutting down on book clutter at home. Another awesome WOW for me, the clutter queen.
This is silly, but I love the screen saver on it.
Another silly thing. The packaging that it came with was just simply Divine! Oh and it comes with a cover to protect your device.

The not so good:

There are places in my house that I can not download books.
I wish it had a light for reading at night time. I'm an insomniac so this would be a GREAT feature for me since I read a lot at night time.
There is not enough keyboard shortcuts to get to the most used features Or at least I don't know them yet.
Sometimes the scroll wheel feels clunky as I need to navigate through the menus. But I'm getting used to it.
Reading it around water makes me nervous.
Finally, not all the books I want are on Amazon but at this particular point in time it's not a big deal. I already have enough books to keep me happy.

I personally think Kindle has still a long ways to go for improvement. If you can wait another year and see where the technology is going with something like this then wait. I've already seen prototypes of the next generation of Kindle. So something better should be coming soon.

Let me know if you're buying a Kindle!

Time Management from Ready to Hire

2008-09-10T05:29:00.000-07:00

I got the following 11 Tips to Take Control of Your Time in an email from Ready to Hire. I know many of these but I have to be reminded of them. I know them but I don't use them... Now there is a concept...

1. Know what is important. Clearly define the most important aspects of your job--the effort that generates key results. If you don't know what that is ask questions such as, "What has the greatest impact or value on your staff members or clients?" "What will increase sales?" Focus on the 20 percent that generates 80 percent of the results.

2. Prioritize and make "To Do" lists. Now that you know what is important about your job make a master weekly "To Do" list. Write a "A," "B," or "C" next to each item based on importance. At the beginning of each day make a daily "To Do" list. Stop and think--which item absolutely must be completed today? This does not include items you'd like to get done today, but only the item(s) that have to be completed today.

3. Avoid the "feel like its." Poor time managers base their actions on their feelings and moods. You know the type, "Yeah, I know the garbage can is overflowing, but I don't feel like taking it out right now." Effective time management is more about habit than feelings. Most people do the easy and simple elements of their job first... like reading their email, scanning the newspaper, cleaning off their desk etc. Good time managers do what is important first, regardless of their feelings. As Nike says, "Just Do It!"

4. Schedule your biggest project for your peak energy period. It took me many years to figure out not everyone is a morning person like me. I hop out of bed before the sun comes up ready to head off to the office, while others don't hit their stride until 3 p.m. Therefore, during your peak energy period focus your mental and physical resources on the largest projects.

5. Learn to delegate. A person who refuses to delegate will likely be a very busy, frustrated and heading for burnout. It is not necessary for a manager to personally handle every item. One very successful regional sales manager readily attributed part of his success to the fact that he trusted his administrative assistant to handle routine items that did not require his personal decision. This left him free to concentrate on working with sales personnel outside the office.

6. Toss it or file it. Follow the rule to touch paper only once. Know what is important and throw away every piece of paper you don't think you will need. If you want to keep it spend 10 seconds filing that important paper now rather than 30 minutes searching for it later.

7. Use folders to prioritize your work; sub-divide files. If you are a paperless office, use your computer to sub-divide files. For example, I created electronic folders for my articles titled, "Articles for 2001," and "Articles for 2002." This way I can quickly find what I am looking for. If you have paper files use colors folders to see which jobs need your immediate attention. I use red folders for hot projects and client files. Yellow folders are for new ideas and projects. Blue folders tell me this is for research. Get the idea?

8. Be realistic and stay flexible. One way to set yourself up for a panic attack is to plan an unrealistic amount of work for one day/week/etc. Use your common sense to recognize when you have over-scheduled yourself. Don't get so organized where you become unapproachable.

9. Schedule time for you. Schedule a "personal time" appointment on your calendar each day. If someone wants to see you at that time, just say, "I'm sorry, I have an appointment then." Whether you use this for personal reflection or as a few quiet minutes to catch your breath or simply time to think, it's a legitimate use of time. And you will still get as much, if not more, done.

10. Make sure your electronic planner does not cost you time. People who use electronics enjoy the orderly convenience of a digital assistant, but sometimes they take longer to enter and maintain information in a gadget than to jot it down with a pencil in an old-fashioned paper planner.

11. E-mail. Answer E-mail immediately. The same rule applies to email as paper. Read it once and do something with it. Don't read it and then let it pile up in your in-box thinking you will get back to it. Keep your inbox clutter free. Create a "keeper" folder and transfer the mail you want to keep for later. Create another folder for "Actions pending" etc. Respect other people's time and avoid forwarding those stories/jokes people love to send unless they agree to get them first. Use the delete key aggressively and delete junk e-mail without reading it. Learn to use your filters to eliminate spammers.Time is valuable, and time management can help you be more productive, successful and less stressed out so you have more time to enjoy your life more.

Ready To Hire team www.readytohire.com
Source: http://www.businessknowhow.com/manage/tm101.htm

Love this advice - How to ask for a Job!

2008-09-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

Advice from John Lucht from his book: "Rites of Passage."

When calling your network to find out about job opportunities, don’t ask for a job. Instead, ask for a reference.

If you call up your college friend, or your old boss, or a former co-worker, and say, “Hey Sally, you know I’ve decided to put out feelers and I’m think about looking for a job, and I was wondering, do you know of anything available in my field?”, it feels awkward and tense for both of you. People don’t like having to say “no” to their friends, and, unfortunately, that’s just the position you’re putting Sally in because chances are she hasn’t heard of anything in your field.
But if, instead, you call her up and say, “Hey, Sally, you know I’ve decided to put out feelers and I’m thinking about looking for a job, and I was wondering, if and when it gets to that point, would you consider being a reference for me?” is a much, much easier conversation, and of course she’ll say yes. Who wouldn’t be a reference for a good friend?

And what’s more, now that you’ve signaled to Sally that you’re looking for a job, and she’s agreed to help you in your search by being a reference, she is on your side. And we all have this natural tendency to want to see something succeed if we’ve agreed to be a part of it, no matter how small our part is (you know how true this is if you’ve ever found yourself rooting for your cousin’s co-worker’s husband’s band). And now that she wants you to succeed, she’ll be thinking about ways she can help you – other people who might be looking to hire somebody like you, jobs that might make sense for you at her company, etc. This is how you really activate your network in the job hunt.

So, remember, don’t ask for a job, ask for a reference.

If it's good enough for the CIA, FBI...

2008-09-08T07:20:00.000-07:00

Then it's good enough for me. I've surprised many of my younger family members by being active on Facebook. Hey it works for me to keep my socialization ties alive...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/09/05/facebook.spies/index.html

I Miss AIM:IM!

2008-08-14T13:12:00.000-07:00

While I have fully adjusted to a more formal work environment, strict hours, no jeans except Friday... there is one thing I can't get over not using. And that's my AIM! How wonderful were the days that I used to use Aim at work.

How I used AIM:
- Check to see who is online and working. If they are available to call or email or IM? Instead of calling - just ping see if it's a good time to contact them with a "yt?"
- Same thing with dropping by someone's cube. IM with a "Can I come by?" or "Can I call?"
- Ping other people in remote offices with quick questions. That are typically yes and no answers.
- Send URLs instantly
- Let someone know to expect your email - yes, we did that...
- Finally, a quick fast way to socialize with your co-workers with one liners... Lunch? 10 minute break??? etc.

Not having it feels as if one of my senses has been cut off.

One of my Favorite things in life is ...

2008-07-18T07:27:00.000-07:00

going to work happy. The moment I'm no longer happy that's the time I know I have to make a switch and look for something else. You know it's Sunday night and you dread it's Monday the next day... that is one thing I don't want to ever do again in life. Life is too short to hate what you are doing.

So, in the meantime, I do everything possible to keep myself happy at work. It helps being a moronically positive person... :-) But being a moron is just too negative so maybe it's "charming" that I'm so positive?!

Look at this site that I discovered last night. I loved so many of the articles. Take a look, learn a few things and find joy in your work!

http://www.workhappynow.com/

oooh Yea!

2008-07-16T07:39:00.000-07:00

Love Gadgets? So do I! Check this site out!

http://gadgets.originalsignal.com/

Has all the news you can imagine on Gadgets. Too cool!

We have been holdin out for the Wii

2008-07-15T12:53:00.000-07:00

Those darn boxes are so expensive. We wanted one for Christmas and could not justify the inflated prices of the thing. Then we found out that they bundle the box with so many useless games that you still have to pay a lot of money to get one.

Then I really wanted a Wii more than ever because on practically all the weight loss sites that I go to people are now begining to talk about losing weight with the Wii - Oh well -I guess that's awesome for them.

And now I see that Microsoft has made a deal with Netflix (we are Netflix users) to stream movies on the XBox through MSN. It's a brilliant idea cuz MicroSoft will definitely reach people who are not gamers this way. Maybe pull those of us who desperately want a Wii to purchasing an XBox? It'll be interesting to watch how this all plays out.

A few tools to help with Project Management

2008-06-30T10:15:00.001-07:00

This is a link to one of the instructor's Blog at The Learning Tree. This week he is teaching "How to use Sharepoint"... and he has really great tips. Ok enough talking and here is a link to the 5 essential tools for a Project Management per Dux Raymond Sy.

http://sp.meetdux.com/archive/tags/Project%20Management/default.aspx

I gotta start using Twitter and then he mentioned Twirl... So many wonderful things to learn!
:-)

A new word that I LOVE

2008-06-27T17:58:00.001-07:00

Specially in the light of some of the stuff I've been doing lately....

Wikidemia

An academic work passed off as scholarly yet researched entirely on Wikipedia."An A on my English paper? That's a fine piece of Wikidemia!

Go Wiki!!!!

First Window Washers, Next Glass Doors

2008-06-25T08:55:00.000-07:00

I'm amazed at this find. Why hadn't I ever thought of this? During my job search I frequented every Salary site possible and felt as if I had a good handle of what most positions might pay. But this site takes it to the next level. Glassdoor.com but to get a description go to:

http://www.springwise.com/life_hacks/transparency_tyranny_hits_the/

Here is the first Paragraph:

For those seeking a new job, honest information about salaries and workplaces can be near impossible to find. Taking a "give to get" approach to the problem, Glassdoor is a new site that aims to provide a thorough insider's look at what it's really like to work at a company, both financially and otherwise.

One Billion PCs In Use

2008-06-24T10:18:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh. I so remember the days when we use to talk about the number of computers out there and the number of users. The number of computers on Networks or just stand alone computers. Then all sorts of statistics would come up and we'd discuss them as well. Such as which are the countries with the most computers, the age of these users and the types of industries they might be in. And now in 2008 we are talking about a BILLION PCs in use. We have a number...A Billion... It just blows my mind. Such exciting times!

See the article on Reuters. Here are the first few paragraphs from that article:

According to analysts, the number of PCs in use has broken the billion mark, and growth means that could surpass two billion in 2014.

Analyst company Gartner has said that the number of PCs now in use has finally topped the billion mark. What’s perhaps surprising, though, is that rapid growth in the developing world means that the figure is likely to top the two billion mark by 2014.To date much of the growth has been in the mature markets of the US, Europe and Japan, which has accounted for 58% of demand, but that is likely to change.

I need a Window Washer

2008-06-20T07:39:00.000-07:00

Look at what I found on Washingtonpost.com... So exciting... yes, I'm a geek and this is my world. Welcome!

If the subject of my blog is confusing then read on!

14 Vital Internet Tools

Enjoy,
-- Sepster

Learning Tree in Top 100!

2008-06-16T08:26:00.000-07:00

Learning Tree International is at a respectable #71 in Fortune Small Business (really? It's considered small?) as one of the fastest growing small public companies in America.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/fsb100/2008/snapshots/71.html

Learning Tree provides training courses for managers and technology professionals. The company has a global reach, working with 11,500 organizations last year alone. Since its founding in 1974, Learning Tree has trained more than 1.8 million participants.

Tim Russert RIP

2008-06-16T08:04:00.001-07:00

It's been way too long

2008-06-12T16:57:00.000-07:00

I'll soon resume my updates for my blog. I've been bad bad bad. Since the last time I logged in, I've quit one position and started another. I'm now with Learning Tree International as a product manager. Check us out at: http://www.learningtree.com/! Yea!

An inexpensive PMP Prep Audio Cast

2008-04-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

The Project Management Prepcast - $49.99:

I am not affiliated with them whatsoever. However I've listened to other PM Podcast by Cornelius Fischner - I can never get his name spelled correctly.

You can use your MP3 player to study for the PMP ® Exam with this 35-hour, full-featured PMP Audio Workshop.

The claim that their episodes are interesting and engaging. They won't bore you! they will help you understand PMP concepts instead of memorizing them.

Top Ten Ways to Be Happy at Work!

2008-04-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

I think this is a great article. Lots of good tips - well, 10 good tips - on how to be happy at work!

http://humanresources.about.com/od/success/tp/happy_work.htm

check it out!
-- Sepi

Google Coaching Series

2008-04-24T12:15:00.000-07:00

Take a look at this goldmine in YouTube presented by Google. Simply Fantastic! Some of the topics are:
- Impactful Communication
- What Tech Women Really Want
- Leading from Strength: Making a Difference
- Advancing Toward Your Dreams & Goals

Tough Times Don't Mean Tough Times on Salary

2008-04-23T12:59:00.000-07:00

According to this article, by SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN, despite a tough economy, employers are often willing to pay above and beyond the market average for candidates with skills that are in short supply.

Read More

Getting Ready to take your PMP?

2008-04-21T08:10:00.000-07:00

Check these sites:

PM Zilla - PMP Prep
An overview of PMP Topics - Will be updated continuously
More to Come!!!

Hate Your Job?

2008-04-19T14:08:00.000-07:00

You may be able to change it!

Take Oprah Winfrey's workshop offered by the well known Marcus Buckingham. Buckingham is the author of Now, Discover Your Strengths & Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance. The workshop will help you find your strengths and use those strenghts in your job or use those strengths to find a job that makes you happy.

See: Oprah's Workshop

Good luck!

It's Friday! Time for fun

2008-04-18T09:53:00.000-07:00

Take a look at these opening lines. So many of them bring back so many good memories... Even the one that says "Hello, Darkness My Old Friend"

Enjoy!
http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-25/

Oh Geek Girl where are you?

2008-04-17T13:16:00.000-07:00

A professor says he has only one girl in a computer science major class in 2008, down from 40 percent in 2000. What happened? eWEEK gets field experts to weigh in.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Careers/Where-Did-All-the-Girl-Geeks-Go/

How to ask for a raise?

2008-04-16T12:24:00.000-07:00

A Great Email From "Ready To Hire" ~ Read & Learn!

Once you have landed the job you want in the IT field, how do you go about asking for a raise and what the right amount is to negotiate? Ready to Hire offers the following ten tips on what salary surveys in the field are saying about how much your IT experience is worth and how to go about asking for a raise.

1. Survey Says
Before taking the step to sit down with your boss and have a conversation about a possible pay raise, look into what the salary surveys are saying about how much people are making in your field and position today. A great source is the Global Knowledge Salary Survey, as well as popular trade magazines, such as InformationWeek and CIO. These resources have useful information that will help set realistic goals based on experience, niche, and performance.

2. Certifications Can Help
Surveys have shown that those IT professionals who have obtained some sort of certification generally earn a higher base salary than those without the certification. Example: Since 2004, the average annual salary for those who hold a CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) has gone from $60,000 to $76,000, a whopping 26 percent increase.

3. One of Many
In the United States today there are 3.49 million IT professionals, and a recent survey shows that 7 out of 10 people say their number one reason for looking for a new job is the pursuit of higher pay. In many cases, the desire for a higher salary outweighs the importance of job stability.

4. Setting Your Salary
During your conversation, keep in mind your area of expertise and your level of experience. As with most jobs, your years of experience are a direct factor in your salary. Most professionals in the IT field that have 1-2 years of experience have an average salary around $47,000, while those with 5-7 years of experience can make $67,000.

When Asking for a Raise:

5. Be Aware
Before initiating a conversation, be aware of the state of the economy and how your company is doing financially. Also take into account when the best time might be to have the conversation. Often it is after you have had a great success or after you have been handed more responsibility in your current position. Sometimes the best time to talk can be during a review when you are already in the midst of discussing your job responsibilities.

6. Show You Deserve It
Make a list of what you have accomplished while working within the company, and then have someone else review it before presenting it with your raise request. Reminding your employer of your contributions reiterates your commitment to the company and encourages your employer to believe a raise is a valued investment.

7. Prepare to ask for "It"
"It" is not only about the conversation for the raise, but what you have shown your employer before beginning the conversation. Ask for more work that you know you have the ability to handle and stay late to meet deadlines.

8. Avoid the Simple Mistakes
Once you enter into the conversation with your supervisor, avoid emphasizing why you need the money, instead focus on your worth and contribution to your employer and why you deserve your requested raise.

9. Stay Away from Comparison
Keep your request for a raise specifically to your own needs without comparing yourself to another employee who may have a similar position. Most importantly, avoid threatening to leave the company unless that is something you are prepared to do.

10. Be Confident
Have confidence in yourself and what you are asking. If you have done the research in what salary surveys are currently saying and what kind of positive contributions you have offered to the company, then know that you are ready for the conversation.

Our recruiters are here to help you get noticed by our premier clients. Reach out and let us know how we can help by calling 215-657-4473.

Sincerely,

Your Ready To Hire team

www.readytohire.com

Great Templates for Free!

2008-04-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-websites-to-get-any-document-for-free/

I've found all sorts of wonderful documents and templates from the three sites on this page. Enjoy!

How much are you willing to pay for a service?

2008-04-15T10:53:00.001-07:00

In the recent months I've been looking for the perfect job and I'm sure all the people who interviewed me were doing the same thing. And I always considered their part in the interviews and how much are the willing to pay for my work. Some of the offers were truly ridiculous and I wondered how they are going to find a person to fill that position with that kind of a salary. Demands being high and pay being low...

And then something interesting occurred. On my ew six week contract in DC I started looking for the perfect place to park my car. A car that I'm very attached to. A car that I actually miss on my vacations and long to hear it purr beneath me as we go through short and long journeys and errands in the town. Anyhow you get the point. I love my car.

I looked around for a good parking garage - tried as many as 10 different places in the course of 3 weeks and I was amazed that I actually ended up going to the same place over and over. A parking place that charges $16 a day. Why? Because they took really good care of me and my car. After a few days when the parking attendant learned my daily habits he always had my car ready for me right by the entrance. One day he actually apologized for not having the car ready for me! He didn't waste my time with going and finding the car in the parking lot.

And so I was/am still amazed that I'm willing to pay $16 a day for parking where I can easily find $13. But the cheaper ones did not offer the kind of unexpected service that this parking lot gives me. The smiling faces with the nice greeting I get each day. I come back to it day in and day out and I know once my work contract is over, it's the Parking Lot attendants that I'm really going to miss. I'll miss Omar & Julio.

There is a lesson to be learned. It doesn't matter what kind of business you are in. As long as you do a great job at it you'll be appreciated and no matter what is it you do there is always room for improvement and the improvements don't have to "wow" you. The can be simple things such as just saying hello and remembering your customers. I love these guys. If you are ever in DC you really should park there and see what I mean:

Central Parking
1250 Connecticut Avenue
Washington, DC 20037

The Red Tent

2008-04-14T13:08:00.001-07:00

On the get go you may not think of The Red Tent a book written by Anita Diamant as a book to be read by professional woman. I always loved this book and I was pleasantly surprised that while working at AOL, the women's networking group recommended this book for their book club. The discussion at AOL was lively & wonderful, specially since I hadn't thought to see it as a book to help me professionally.

The book's title refers to the tent in which women of Jacob's tribe must, according to the ancient law, take refuge while menstruating or giving birth, and in which they find mutual support and encouragement from their mothers, sisters and aunts.

Take a look at the book on my favorite website, The Wiki!!! See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Tent

The following is from SparkNotes:

The Red Tent

As its title indicates, the red tent is one of the most important and recurring images of the novel and symbolizes the private and magical world of women. It is the red tent in which each of the children in Dinah’s family are born, and it is the red tent where each girl becomes a woman. But it is more than just a place of birth and maturity; it is also a sacred gathering place for women. In the red tent, the women sequester themselves for several days each month, taking time out from their daily duties as mothers and wives to spoil themselves with cakes and rest upon the straw. It is in the tent that they forge, break, and rebuild their bonds to one another, as occurs between Leah and Rachel. Outside of the tent, men rule society and the families. But inside the tent there are only women, and therefore women make the rules. They share special songs and rites that only the sisters of the tent are privy to. In a story that uncovers the bonds between women, it is fitting that so much of the action occurs in the red tent.

For the full article go to: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/redtent/themes.html

Project Manager!!! Most Wanted Jobs

2008-04-03T12:25:00.000-07:00

Jobfox.com ranked project management 12th in its Top 25 most-wanted professions in a March survey tracking more than 4,000 job openings in a 120-day period ending Feb. 28. See this Article posted on PM port.

MS Project Tips and Tricks

2008-02-16T08:47:00.001-08:00

Here is a great site for Project Managers using MS Project for some useful tips and tricks!

http://www.criticaltools.com/Tips.htm

Have you used Task Freak?

2008-02-04T10:54:00.000-08:00

Hey ~ Looking at the Web 2.0 pages I was reminded of one of my favorite tools! Task Freak. It's a wonderful tool for Project Managers and to keep the team moving forward on projects. Once you have this tool, there is absolutely no excuse for any of your team members to miss their deadlines!

http://www.taskfreak.com/

Add it to your repertoire tools! You w.i.l.l. LOVE it!!!

Web 2.0 - The Complete Directory

2008-02-04T10:39:00.000-08:00

http://www.go2web20.net/ - Soooo Cool! Enjoy.

Top Security Threats of 2008

2008-01-30T11:01:00.000-08:00

SANS has released the following information. One of them is social threats and I worked a lot on this aspect of security at AOL and helped deliver weekly presentations and training to AOL's newcomers on Social Engineering that may be conducted through IM, Email or Phone. We even taught the newcomers on how to set secure passwords and how to keep themselves physically safe. It sure was good & exciting times!

http://www.itsecurity.com/features/Top-IT-012308/

Here is a good lesson for PM's - Don't Assume!

2008-01-26T07:46:00.000-08:00

A number of these assumptions have happened to me. Take heed and don't repeat the same mistakes. Take a look at this great article on what not to Assume when you are putting a team together.

http://www.pmi.org/eNews/Post/2008_01-25/TIPS_InSelectingTeamMembersDoNotAssume.html

Awesome ways to make LinkedIn work for you

2008-01-25T08:57:00.000-08:00

I love LinkedIn. In the recent months it has allowed me to find old friends and stay connected with them. I just love this reconnection and find it comforting that they are all now just an email away. Here are some great ways to make LinkedIn work better for you! Enjoy!

http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/01/ten_ways_to_use.html

The Value of a friend @ work

2008-01-19T08:52:00.000-08:00

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/12/the-value-of-a-friend-in-the-next-cubicle/

Can you play this game?

2008-01-17T13:52:00.000-08:00

Here is a fun tool to test your knowledge of PMBOK's Project Life Cycle! Have fun...

Work IT Baby!

New York City Schools’ Blended Learning Experiment

Twitter as an Educational Tool

Computer science programs use mobile apps to make coursework relevant

So Far Rivals Can’t Beat iPad’s Price

Will the iPad Revolutionize Education?

Agile Development Certification in the Works

K-12: AUPs shape Web 2.0 use, guidelines

Playing in the Clouds

Google Jumps Into the Art World

Egypt Turns off the Internet

How to use the Droid 2 Smartphone

Twitter Fights US Court Demands For WikiLeaks Details

Love My Droid! Android passes iPhone in the US!

Finding Ways to Learn from Wordle

Cisco Cius

Update to my evening at WIT

The Office Chessboard: How to Play a Win-Win Game

Useful Firefox Plugins for Web Product Managers

Social Web: 10+1 changes for 2010

Foursquare becoming Mainstream?

TwitPic! How cute - And how successful!

Foursquare a fun new app for the phone

End of an Era? Newsweek for Sale

Mystery Revealed: Google's Book Scanning Technology

Google can make you FLIP!

KINDLE is HOT HOT HOT

CR: Vote for the FWA Site of the Year

Google's Barcode of Favorite Places

5 Top Publishers Plan Rival to Kindle Format

Mapping the Geographies of Wikipedia

Program management meets Web 2.0

Glossary of Project Management Terms in French, Spanish & English

'Ink And Paper' Technology

Plagiarism-detection software settles centuries-old mystery?

Pigeons give the Internet Superhighway a whole new meaning...

Slate Magazine: Seeking

MIT Technology Review: A Deeper Look at Iranian Filtering

Launching Your Career?

Amazon's '1984' Deletion From Kindle Examined

Bill Gates Weighs in on Education and Global Competitiveness

USA Ranks 3rd in The Global Information Technology Report 2008-2009

The Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009

Handshakes and their messages

A "OH" L

SCORM! Sounds scary but it's not!

Trip to Mars! Check Expedia

Apple's Developer's Conference in June

NYT's 10 Rules for Blogging

IE 8 is out!

9 Websites for Book Lovers

Branding My Strengths

StrengthFinder 2.0

Inbox Zero

Getting Things Done

Obama faces Technical Challenges in the White House

Web-Savvy Obama Team Hits Unexpected Bumps

Issues of Technology, Security and Privacy Slow the New Administration's Effort to Foster Instant Communication

Getting an MBA

Scrum Testing: Lessons Learned from Scrum Implementation at Google

The New Kindle 2.0 is out

Updating your Resume

What a Good Resume might look like

Change has come

What says "Hire Me!"

Over a Million Books Available for Kindle

I LOVE my new Kindle

Time Management from Ready to Hire

Love this advice - How to ask for a Job!

If it's good enough for the CIA, FBI...

I Miss AIM:IM!

One of my Favorite things in life is ...

oooh Yea!

We have been holdin out for the Wii

A few tools to help with Project Management

A new word that I LOVE

First Window Washers, Next Glass Doors

One Billion PCs In Use

I need a Window Washer

Learning Tree in Top 100!