Friday, November 30, 2018

Throwback Blog: 1996

Blogger’s Note: Throwback blogs are blogs from my past. I start posting past blogs reflecting what I wrote. It's like my "A Second Look" blogs for which I give myself feedback.

Today's throwback blog is titled 1996 in Dec 2013. It's good timing to remind myself life flows my way. The stars are aligned. The wind blows at my back. I have good luck. I have good timing. There are fortunate events. New experiences. New hobbies. All of the above happened in 1996 except for my Modern Geometry class. Life is not perfect. The next time I experience a 1996 like year I promise I take nothing for granted. I always have the never stop acquiring wisdom and knowledge attitude.


The year was 1996. It was a good year. I was a junior at San Jose State University. I changed majors from Mathematics to Economics in the Fall Semester 1995. On the one hand, the change of major started my rise to the best semesters and best life as a college student. On the other hand, I failed to realize I was learning life lessons outside the textbooks and outside the classrooms. I continued to act like a sixteen year old high school student. The lessons were there. The experiences were there. I failed to learn from them.

The good life was given to me on a silver platter. I took everything for granted. What could I have done? I was naive. I still had the wisdom of a high school student.

Let's take a look at my top moments with feedback. Today's blog is an example to learn from the past to prevent repeating the mistakes for the future.

I started the Spring Semester in a good and bad way. One of my required Economic classes was cancelled last minute. I added Mathematical Methods for Economics to replace the cancelled class on the first day of instruction. I just found the class that worked with my class schedule. The class involved calculus which I learned from my lower division math classes. I earned an easy A.

The three other classes I enrolled were Religion In America, Economic Statistics, and Modern Geometry. My moment in Religion In America was I crammed on the day of the final. The final was during the evening. I woke up early, drove to school, and crammed everything in the library. My final grade was a B+. I called that final "The Miracle Final". The professor who taught Economic Statistics was a good professor. I heard rumors he was a terrible professor. My grade proved otherwise which was an A-.

The best life lesson I failed to learn happened in my Modern Geometry class. The class was the first time I experienced a person after high school who disliked me. The person was the professor. He had a conflict against me. The professor didn't hate me. He wasn't out to get me. It was a relationship where there was no connection. It was minimal respect, at best, between a professor and a student. Nothing more. Nothing special. The lesson I should had learned was some people can't get along with others. There were people who don't like me for whatever reason.

For instance, all students gave a 15 minute presentation. My presentation was one of the best. I knew my material and I communicated well. My presentation grade was a C. There were some students who did worse than me. They earned higher grades. My final grade was a C+.

The semester was my final semester as a math tutor. All of the tutors moved furniture around the old Mathematics & Computer Science office which was the new location for math tutoring. The department office moved upstairs. The pay was a little bit above minimal wage. It was easy money because very few students asked for help.

My summer was very active. I started working at Blockbuster Video. It was my first retail job. I got the job because the store manager went to my high school. Working in retail was a great experience for better and for worse. I learned a lot about human relations I didn't learn in school from a customer and from a coworker points of view. I also learned there are many types of people observing all the customers. Some customers were friendly. Some customers were understanding. Some customers were rude. Some customers were irrational. And there were a few with short tempers. I always thought I never experience weird, crazy, and moronic people. I was wrong. I encountered many different types of people.

My Blockbuster Video store was pro-employee. If an employee had a problem, then management fixed it quickly. On the contrary, I heard stories from my friends today their management didn't care in their retail jobs. My friends were surprised when I tell them my positive retail stories. My retail experience was rare. Employees were treated terrible and management didn't care in most retail stores.

Furthermore, all Blockbuster Video stores were managed differently. One might think all the stores were the same such as New Releases at the back of the store and food in front of the cashier. Every store I substituted when shorthanded was managed differently; for example, closing procedures, cash drops, and priorities when helping customers.

I was introduced to new hobbies during the summer. I became a Japanese anime fan. I was hooked on Sailor Moon. I woke up hearing Sailor Moon on TV in the afternoon because I had a closing shift the night before. And I started rollerblading. I purchased a pair of rollerblades, wrist guards, knee pads, and elbow pads at Big 5. I wore my bike helmet.

Japanese anime and rollerblading were my new hobbies and interests throughout the 1990s. (Gym was the third hobby that happened in 1999.) Board games, reading fiction books, hiking, ballroom dancing, and much more new interests and hobbies started happening in the late 2000s. I failed to learn that living a good life involved seeking new adventures and experiencing new experiences. Japanese anime and rollerblading were two great examples.

I quit my Blockbuster Video summer job to focus on my Fall Semester. Best semester ever. My classes were Macroeconomic Analysis, Writing Workshop for Economists, Human Sexuality, and Environmental Economic & Policy. All four classes were taken continuously on Tues and Thurs. There were no breaks. I had a natural four day weekend. Thanksgiving holiday was the best since I had no school on Wed before Thanksgiving and the following Mon.

I called the professor who taught Macroeconomic Analysis "The Marine". He was a person with a strong upper body, buzz cut haircut, and a firm voice. Open book and open note exams graded on a curve. My Writing Workshop for Economists professor taught me how to write. All my English professors failed to teach me. Human Sexuality class was kickback easy. We finished early for some classes. I used the free time to play the shooting video game Area 51 with an art major in the Student Union arcade. It was a miracle I stayed awake during Environmental Economic & Policy class. I earned a B+ on Macroeconomic Analysis and an A- on the other three classes.

I should have introduced myself with the art major. We could have been friends. Another lesson I failed to learn. Always meet new people and make new friends.

I went back to Blockbuster Video after Halloween because I needed income. The store manager agreed to my requested part-time schedule since I was a full time student. Blockbuster was more fun during the Christmas holiday compared to the summer. One reason was I met new coworkers who were more sociable. We were on the same level working in retail providing customer service to every type of behavior from friendly to rude. We watched each other's back well. Another reason was great movies to rent from the summer blockbusters including Independence Day, Mission: Impossible, Twister, and The Rock.

Other events that happened include my first Animerica anime magazine purchase; I attended Slug-A-Thon, my first gaming convention; visited Japantown in San Jose for the first time; and purchased Ranma 1/2 VHS tapes on clearance at a closing comic book store. These events were more examples of experiencing new experiences which was a lesson I failed to learn.

Email: feedbackininblog@innovateinfinitely.com

Saturday, November 24, 2018

Common Knowledge Is Not Common

If there is a book on all of the knowledge in the world, the length and width are bigger than China and Russia and the height breaks the atmosphere. There are also volumes in the millions--perhaps, billions. Does everyone know how to perform medical surgery? Does everyone know how to change a car's tire? Does everyone know how to fly an airplane? Does everyone know ancient history in the BC years?

We react shockingly when someone doesn't know common knowledge such as Tom Hanks is an actor, LeBron James is a professional basketball player, oxygen is in water, CPU stands for computer processing unit in a computer, paper comes from trees, the north-east-south-west directions, and Thomas Jefferson was never a President naturally. Call it trivia. Call it knowledge. Call it professional skills. Nobody knows everything. Common knowledge may be common from one person's perspective. Common knowledge may not be common from another person's perspective. It's a judgment call. We should never be shocked when someone doesn't know Easter holiday celebrates the return of Jesus from the dead, Lima is the capital of Peru, and zero is an even number. We're really not stupid. There is too much knowledge.

Update On A Past Blog

I listen to podcasts. Car Talk is one of my four first podcasts. I started listening on Mon Feb 23, 2015 at my workplace Work Sat Mar 7, 2015. I'm retiring Car Talk. Car Talk has been airing reruns. I'm listening to reruns I listened in the past. I assure the reader I'm listening to reruns for the second time because I have an above average long-term memory. Thank you Car Talk!

The three of my four first podcasts are Sex With Emily, Awesome Etiquette, and Freakonomics. I started listening to Awesome Etiquette on episode one.

Email: feedbackininblog@innovateinfinitely.com

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Too Much Stimuli Or Too Much Screen Time

I'm going back in time to my grade school years. There were books, magazines, television, radios, board games, and arcades. There were video games such as the Atari and Pong, personal computers such as the Apple II and Commodore 64, and any games played on a table such as role-playing games and dominos. The term "tabletop gaming" wasn't said in my past. People socialized face-to-face and with the telephone. People communicated paper and pen writing letters and notes.

Books, magazines, television, radios, board games or tabletop games exist today. Video games exist today. There's no need to leave the house to play video games at arcades; although, arcades still exist in fewer numbers. Personal computers can be laptops. People continue to socialize face-to-face and with the telephone. People continue paper and pen writing letters and notes.

There is little change between my grade school years and today. What is the little change? A screen--rather, more screens. Everything above is completed on a screen. The screen comes from a desktop, laptop, tablet, and smartphone. The four technology hardware gives us more choices to read books and magazines, watch television, listen to the radio, play video games, play tabletop games, and communicate such as email, text, and social networking. Today's information age technology gives us more choices.

There have been a few new changes doing everything on a screen. One can say the changes are many. One can say the changes are huge. I stand by my simple opinion. There isn't too much stimuli. There is too much screen time. Everything I mentioned above still exists today. Shopping existed in my past. The change is shopping at home using the internet. Workers must work to earn an income. The change is some workers work remotely anywhere. We have been writing letters. The change is emailing. Podcasts are like 60 Minutes on TV. YouTube video tutorials are like borrowing a how-to video at the library. People can invest such as stocks and bonds on the internet without a financial advisor. People share opinions writing blogs instead of writing to a newspaper opinion column. Everything is done on a screen. One negative factor with too much screen time is too much isolation. Social isolation is another conversation.

Email: feedbackininblog@innovateinfinitely.com

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Reward Failure In Schools



I remember my school years teachers rewarded students who answer questions correctly. Teachers penalized students who answer questions incorrectly. Maybe I slipped through the cracks nobody taught me to learn from failure. I'm fortunate I self-discovered learning from failure years later.

I defend my past teachers. I defend most teachers today. How do teachers teach failure is good? Maybe the answer is impossible. Learn from failure is a self-discover life lesson. Disregard the high grades. Disregard earning big points. Focus on the concepts. The better way to learn is make mistakes. Wisdom is acquired making the last mistake. Intelligence is acquired doing something and doing anything to eliminate wrong solutions. Life experience is acquired by trial and error.

Side note: The number 40 in WD-40 means the inventor failed making WD-40 39 times. They discovered WD-40 on their 40th attempt.

Email: feedbackininblog@innovateinfinitely.com

Saturday, November 17, 2018

The Green Steno Notebook 3



The picture above is the notebook I acquired on the first day of my new white collar job. I wrote notes during my job training. I wrote other notes, reminders, and knowledge thereafter. I share many of them. Here is the third blog.

*Jan 2011. My friends and I stayed at The Wilshire Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles June 30, 2010-July 5, 2010. Room number 1178.

*Feb 2011. Cinderella Liberty the movie click here for IMDB information. Cinderella Liberty is also a navy jargon which means a sailor given a pass which expires at midnight.

*Apr 18, 2011. Avoid eating noodles on gym days.

*May 2011. ephemeral: lasting for a very short time.

*May 2011. Eat warm salami and rice together.

*May 2011. The most important lecture Arithmetic, Population and Energy by Professor Al Bartlett.

*May 2011. Junior is younger or subtract. Senior is older or add. A man is 40 and a woman is 20 years his junior means the woman is 20 years old. A man is 40 and a woman is 20 years his senior means the woman is 60 years old.

*Jul 19, 2011. Dental floss cut on my gum. Dental floss in front a mirror. Side note: it took me years later to resume dental flossing in front of a mirror.

*Aug 11, 2011. I listened to a song Take A Chance by ABBA on US Highway 101 Northbound in Sunnyvale, CA.

*Oct 3, 2011. Jean Nate body splash horse race commercial in 1984 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjTbgY7L49I.

*Apr 7, 2013. Garage door open with cover to block the sun. An idea is hang a tarp from the top of the open garage door. Secure the tarp with heavy rocks or bricks.

*July 27. 2013 The driving video game I saw at Chuck E Cheese's in 1981 or 1982 is The Driver by Kasco. YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLRKkzcWIpU. I have strong confidence the video was a red car and not a racing track depicted on the YouTube Video . One scene was a truck spilling tree trunks on the road. Here's a French version of The Driver https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwYqmaHw1UY.

*Aug 21, 2013. 1980s television shows. Click title for the Wiki. Lottery!, The Quest, Grand Slam released in 1990, Outlaws, and The Charmings.

*Sep 16, 2013. Colgate Peroxide good for minor oral health problems.

*Nov 12, 2013. Project A bicycle scene starring Jackie Chan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fl43rq3Zqw.

*Apr 18, 2014. Appu recommended personal projects to strengthen my resume. I started my personal projects in Aug 2014.

Email: feedbackininblog@innovateinfinitely.com

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Self-Esteem Blog

How does a person know he or she has poor self-esteem? It's hard for a person to self-asses himself or herself physically, mentally or intelligently, emotionally, financially, and spiritually. He or she does good living a good life for which he or she doesn't question how good. There are people who call out personal shortcomings accurately. How does a person respond when people or the world tells him or her you have poor self-esteem? The question is does he or she accepts the call out sincerely or denies the call out knowing it's true.
Take note of the conversation tone. It's a personal judgment call.

I'm no expert being a psychologist. I'm no expert teaching self-improvement. I know there is no quick solution to strengthen self-esteem. Time is required. Mistakes are made. Trial and error are required. Prepare to say good-bye to people, places, and things. Patience is necessary. Get healthy. Sleep well. Sitting in front of a television and/or playing video games eight hours a day are prohibited. Spend time with good people. If you don't have good people, then find good people. Good people are hard to find. Prepare for time being alone. Learn to be professional. Learn new skills. Relearn existing skills. Hope for good luck. Hope for fortunate timing.

Update On A Past Blog

Today's blog reminded me a past blog The Person Wants No Help on Mar 24, 2015. I wrote some people don't need help with their problems. Also, how long do people continue telling the problem people they need help? Helpers do the best they can. Some people accept help. Some people refuse help. Maybe the source of a person's problems and the personal choice to accept or to refuse help is poor self-esteem?

Email: feedbackininblog@innovateinfinitely.com

Wednesday, November 07, 2018

You're Smarter Than You Think

You may be smarter than you think. There are more people than you think who can't read. Never take reading for granted. 911 operators receive ridiculous emergency calls. I hope you call 911 for legitimate emergencies. You don't drive while intoxicated. A good parent never abuses his or her children. There are no felonies in your record. Everyone makes mistakes. Smart people pay for their mistakes. Smart people learn from their mistakes.

You don't embarrass yourself or other people when you're socializing. You're open to new ideas. You listen to opinions. You always meet new people. There is no complaining. There is no need for good self-esteem assurance via online social networks.

Desire Greater Than Knowledge

Schools teach book knowledge; however, one of the few life skills schools teach successfully is the quote, "I will is more important than I know." Motivation is more important than book smarts. If you don't know it, then you learn it. Innovate infinitely. You don't live a couch potato. You don't watch TV eight hours a day. You don't play video games daily. There is something missing you find it no matter how long it takes. Live life one day at a time intelligently.

Update On A Past Blog

The Prepare Multiple Conversation Subjects blog reminded me there are winners and losers in life. I actually realized nobody wins all the time years ago. Good people don't win all the time. Winners and losers apply to job searches, college applications, games, contests, and life in general.

Presidential speech writers prepare two speeches. The first speech is a winner. The second speech is a loser. The multiple speech preparation applies to CEOs, head of households, coaches, and ourselves.

Email: feedbackininblog@innovateinfinitely.com