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Posts Tagged ‘Local College’
Thursday, August 13th, 2009
Earlier this month I uploaded an entry talking about how I was going back to school to finish up a certificate program at the local college. One of my purposes of going back to the local college to get this certificate was that it seemed like it would be very easy to attain. Or, as I put it:
I was hired at my job and I began to look into Doctoral programs as well as certificate programs. Lo and behold, the program that I was previously enrolled in where I only finished one class had a certificate available for being a Public Relations Specialist. At the same time, my company was looking to have me and some of my coworkers get trained on some other aspects of our business. Since the local college (where I was enrolled and only finished one class) was offering a fundraising course, I took the course and completed it. Well, as a part of my research prior to taking the course, it turns out that both the course I had previously completed and the fundraising course were two of the four courses needed for this certificate. But it gets better…
I researched when the other two courses were offered and they are being offered this fall and next spring. And since I’m teaching at the local college this fall and next spring, I can take these courses for no charge. In essence, I can received this certificate in public relations free of charge.
Yes, I’m quoting my blog on my blog. Welcome to the nexus of the universe.
Anyway, as it turns out one of the courses that I previously enrolled in was taken as a non-matriculating student. In other words, that means that it does count towards the certificate goal. If I want that class to count…I need to take it again. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the definition of stupidity.
Those of you reading this entry who know me from my days at college might expect me to raise all hell and get this stupid clause reversed. Well, I’m not going to do it this time. I’m not interested in the fight nor am I interested in getting myself all wrapped up in an argument that I really don’t care about in the long run.
Speaking of the long run, I’m still getting a blockbuster deal. Assuming I teach this fall (which is locked in already) and next spring (which is 50/50 at this point), I’m still taking two of the required four classes for free. Plus, I still have the one course I took years ago that counts toward this program. That leaves one course that I have to pay for – not bad. I plan on working with my employer to split the cost of that one course (which should equal about $1,000 each). Either that, or I’ll just see if I can teach another course in the spring or next fall, which will allow me to take the necessary class to complete the certificate.
In any event, since this is somewhat a vanity certificate (in other words, I’m getting a credential that I don’t need for my current job and may only tangentially need in the future), I don’t see the need to fight what would be the good fight in this situation. At least this time…I’m just going to go with the flow.
Posted in College & Fraternity Life | No Comments »
Monday, March 9th, 2009
How long has it been since I uploaded an entry with no specific rhyme or reason other than to get thoughts out of my head?! Sit back, relax, and enjoy some random comments on various things that are floating around my noggin.
The Joe’s Journal & JerseySmarts.com Merger
Without getting into too many details, the merger of Joe’s Journal and JerseySmarts.com has been nothing short of a major success. On any given day, either of the two blogs averaged some 40 or so hits (JerseySmarts.com would get 5 or 10 hits each day and Joe’s Journal would range between 60 and 80 hits each day). With the new, merged site, there are some days where we’re over 300 hits, some days over 200 hits, and we’re now averaging between 100 and 150 hits each day. What’s exciting is that these hits aren’t really people reading the blog in the morning, afternoon, and night (though you should be checking in as often as possible). Rather, the hits are largely being generated by unique visitors. That’s awesome!
Also, the financial end of this blogging business has been great. Between the sponsors that you can find all over this blog and the program-specific advertisements that I’ve been setting up here and there, Joe’s Journal on JerseySmarts.com is making a healthy living for a small, personal blog!
The Stock Market
What a mess!? Many of you know that I started investing in earnest a few months ago and since that time I’ve taken a hit in the market just like everyone else. The difference, though, is that the hit that I’ve taken is small compared to those folks who have big time money in the markets. First, I don’t have big time money to invest at this point in my life! Second, I started investing after the market was already down.
When I began investing I knew a few of my stock picks for sure. I knew that I was going to invest in Sirius XM because – no matter what the biased internet media may say – this is a good long-term stock for the small time investor’s portfolio. I also knew that I was going to invest in the automobile industry and that I would probably go in to Ford heavier than GM…which turned out to be a good move!
I’m invested in a few other stocks, but what I didn’t know when I started investing (and I still don’t know now) was how I would diversify the industries represented in my portfolio. Right now I have all of my exposure in the retail sector. I’m thinking of investing in some smaller, solid banks to get into the financial sector. Just a thought at this point, though…
Usable Web Solutions, LLC Doing Well
My small business is doing very well in this rough economy. All of my clients have signed on to extend their business relationships with my company and I’ve actually begun to bring in a few new clients; only two clients at this point, but two very strong organizations. For the longest time I stopped taking on new clients because I was getting some of the weirdest requests from some shady characters. But it’s good to be back creating new websites again.
The other part of the website business that is doing well is the advertising revenue. Perhaps my suite of sites has been lucky, but we’re all doing very well with selling ads and getting some income from those ads.
Teaching at the Local College
Two quick points on my adjunct professor position at the local college. Number one – I suggested a new course for my department and it was accepted! Starting next spring I’ll be teaching Community Public Policy (i.e. Community Development)! This is pretty exciting because I designed the course from the bottom up. Very cool!
Number two – well, here we go. Remember a few months ago when I had a problem with a colleague of mine at the local college? Turns out that for the class I’ll be teaching next fall, not only will this person be teaching in the same classroom that I’m scheduled to be in on Monday, but on Wednesday, too. What joy (sarcasm)! I’ve already filed a request to have my room changed because no one should have to put up with racism, sexism, or ageism – especially not on a college campus of all places!
Update – April 13, 2009: My class reassignment request was granted. Thankfully, I won’t have to deal with this person again!
There you have it, folks. A quick, random update on some of the things going around in my head. I’ll be sure to put some more random ideas up soon!
Posted in Computers, Internet, & Technology, Money, Jobs, & Finances, Random Entries | No Comments »
Sunday, January 18th, 2009
Last month I made the decision to step down from my biggest volunteer role with Sigma Pi Fraternity. Since August 2006 I’ve served as the Province Archon (Regional Director) for New Jersey for Sigma Pi Fraternity. It is a huge job that has so many details and points of interest that to list them all here would take forever. Briefly, a Province Archon has to visit his chapters once per semester (there are 8 groups in New Jersey), hold a workshop for the entire state each year, organize regional alumni events, attend nationwide events, and (of course) help to mentor the young leaders around the state.
It was a very rewarding job, but a very time consuming one. I really liked giving presentations at the workshops and making the visits to my chapters, but with increased responsibility at my job and the local college assigning me more courses to teach as an Adjunct Professor, I was no longer able to give this volunteer position the attention that I feel it deserves.
There is a great new Province Archon in New Jersey and he’s going to do an amazing job. I’m still involved with my fraternity as a Trustee on our national Educational Foundation. The goal, as always, is to rise to the top of the Foundation and serve as its Chairman at some point in the near future. It is in this position that I believe I can affect the greatest change on the fraternity as I work to increase donations and build our national endowment to a level where we can begin to reverse the recent trend in national fraternities of raising their membership fees. I want my fraternity to stay affordable for all of the current undergraduates and all of the potential new members who have yet to enter college. It’s going to be fun!
Posted in College & Fraternity Life | No Comments »
Sunday, December 7th, 2008
So this is an interesting entry to write and I think you’ll understand why after a few lines (read on). Being an adjunct professor at the local college puts me in a weird situation where I am now the person standing in the front of the classroom. It’s awkward at first, but you get over it in a matter of minutes. In fact, I find that I actually love teaching and if the pay was respectable (it is not), I would pursue it full-time. For some reason I don’t think that it’s logical to pursue a doctorate at this time so I can enter a profession what would require me to take a major pay reduction.
Not a smart move, right?
Anyway, now that I’m the guy in the front of the room I have a much greater appreciation for what professors have to go through. As the title of this entry suggests, I now have an appreciation for some really ridiculous student excuses when it comes to handing in their work on time. Some background information: my students are made aware that an 8 – 10 page paper is due on November 26. And since we don’t have class on that date, I even told the students that since November 26 ends at 11:59pm, they have the entire day to send me the e-mail with their paper attached. What a nice guy!
My students are also made aware that every day the paper is late, the student loses 10 points from their grade (some professors say that you lose a letter grade for each day that a paper is late, but I prefer to use points because it gives the students more time to send in the paper and still earn some credit). All of this is spelled out in the syllabus as is required by the university. So what can you expect between 11:30pm and 11:59pm on November 26? That’s right – tons of e-mails from the students. And I’m fine with that! It’s part of the deal – I get it and I understand completely.
But what I do not understand is when students hand in a paper 5 days late and expect to not lose 50 points from the paper’s final grade. I repeat in every class that if the paper is late, you lose points. Yet when points are lost, students are confused…which, in turn, confuses me. And what really gets me are the students who give me ridiculous excuses as to why the papers are late. The most ridiculous excuse that I get these days is, “I sent my paper by e-mail – I KNOW I did! But I don’t see it in my sent folder, so here it is again. Please do not mark it as late.”
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!
Riiiiiiiiiiiight! And I’m the Easter Bunny! What’s great about these students is that they send you a Microsoft Word document that actually tells you when the document was created. In other words, I can go in to an area of Word and have it tell me that the document was created on November 30. This is the same document that was due four days earlier!
I felt compelled to write this entry because when I was an undergraduate I never handed in anything late. And if I had a problem getting something in on time, it was a real situation and I was sure to get the item in on time by any means necessary. Who spends all of that money to go to college and then doesn’t actually hand in a damn 8 to 10 page paper on time – especially when you have three months to write it?!?
It’s amazing, really.
Posted in College & Fraternity Life, Idiots, Morons, & Fools | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008
When I was in graduate school I studied nonprofit management heavily. I’m in the process of designing a course for a local college in nonprofit organizations. As such, I was interested to read today’s New York Times article which discussed the increase in those studying nonprofit management. From the article:
“There are people like myself who will be retiring in the near future,” said Paulette Maehara, the chief executive of the Association of Fund-Raising Professionals, who started her career in 1977 as a fund-raiser for the March of Dimes. “It is a serious concern because we can’t keep up with the demand. Getting more people in the pipeline is one of our top priorities.”
A 2006 survey of nonprofit executives done by the Meyer Foundation and CompassPoint found that 75 percent said they would be leaving their jobs within five years. Many nonprofit educators hope they will be followed by idealistic college graduates armed with an industry-standardized set of skills.
For some reason I feel like our beloved state of New Jersey bucks this trend. I’ve been working for nonprofits for the last four years and there is almost no turnover in the sector. First, salaries for nonprofit workers in New Jersey are not substantial enough to retain skilled talent. Most nonprofits in this state only give cost of living salary adjustments that equate to a 3% or 4% bump. Certainly not enough to retain skilled workers over the long-term. These young, idealistic college graduates will learn about the vicious nonprofit salary abuse sooner or later.
Second, you never see people actually leave the nonprofit sector in New Jersey. The good part about this is that the sector, as a whole, keeps experienced workers involved throughout the state. This offsets the need to bring in new people, which is one of the bad parts about this issue. The other bad part is that some nonprofits run the risk of rendering their thoughts or stances on issues affecting citizens obsolete. Further, some of the nonprofits can render their operations obsolete by not churning talent and bringing in younger workers. For example, I refused to finance a school last spring because their leader didn’t “do” e-mail. He was well into his seventies and came to a meeting with a piece of paper and a pencil so he could draw out the school’s budget. I appreciate the gusto of the old man, but in today’s world you need to know how to use Excel or Calc and you absolutely need to have an e-mail address.
The New York Times article is a good one and I recommend that any college students out there take a read and consider whether or not a nonprofit management degree might be for you.
Posted in Money, Jobs, & Finances, The State of New Jersey | No Comments »
Saturday, October 18th, 2008
Today begins a much-needed 9-day break from my job. I’ll be off this weekend, the entire coming week, and the next weekend before I head back to work on October 27th. As I normally do, I overbooked myself in September and October between my day job, my two-hour daily commute, teaching at the local college, serving on a national Board, volunteering, and running my website company (among other things…like LIFE)! I’m feeling good, though – just ready for a few days of relaxation and being away from the office.
It’s worth mentioning, though, that I put together a large “to do” list for myself during this vacation. That’s right – I have tasks to complete during my time away from the office. I’m not going away on a vacation, I’m doing one of these newly popular “staycation” things where I stay around my house for a week. I’m doing this partly out of necessity (while I’m on vacation from my day job, I still have to teach twice this week) and partly due to the tremendous cost savings associated with not going away. Initially, I wanted to take a few days and go down to Nashville. Then I realized that I would go down to Nashville and spend a bunch of money on a flight only to get down there and wind up doing more work for the national Board that I sit on. I figured that I can do that from home so why spend the money on the flight?
To keep busy over the next few days, I’ve given myself four small pages of notes on things that need to be addressed. Everything from figuring out the problem with my truck to reading a stack of the books that are sitting in my room to making certain foods that I like to getting ready for next week’s classes that I have to teach.
It’ll be a busy, yet somehow relaxing week!
Posted in Random Entries | No Comments »
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Random Ramblings on a Monday
Monday, March 9th, 2009How long has it been since I uploaded an entry with no specific rhyme or reason other than to get thoughts out of my head?! Sit back, relax, and enjoy some random comments on various things that are floating around my noggin.
The Joe’s Journal & JerseySmarts.com Merger
Without getting into too many details, the merger of Joe’s Journal and JerseySmarts.com has been nothing short of a major success. On any given day, either of the two blogs averaged some 40 or so hits (JerseySmarts.com would get 5 or 10 hits each day and Joe’s Journal would range between 60 and 80 hits each day). With the new, merged site, there are some days where we’re over 300 hits, some days over 200 hits, and we’re now averaging between 100 and 150 hits each day. What’s exciting is that these hits aren’t really people reading the blog in the morning, afternoon, and night (though you should be checking in as often as possible). Rather, the hits are largely being generated by unique visitors. That’s awesome!
Also, the financial end of this blogging business has been great. Between the sponsors that you can find all over this blog and the program-specific advertisements that I’ve been setting up here and there, Joe’s Journal on JerseySmarts.com is making a healthy living for a small, personal blog!
The Stock Market
What a mess!? Many of you know that I started investing in earnest a few months ago and since that time I’ve taken a hit in the market just like everyone else. The difference, though, is that the hit that I’ve taken is small compared to those folks who have big time money in the markets. First, I don’t have big time money to invest at this point in my life! Second, I started investing after the market was already down.
When I began investing I knew a few of my stock picks for sure. I knew that I was going to invest in Sirius XM
because – no matter what the biased internet media may say – this is a good long-term stock for the small time investor’s portfolio. I also knew that I was going to invest in the automobile industry and that I would probably go in to Ford heavier than GM…which turned out to be a good move!
I’m invested in a few other stocks, but what I didn’t know when I started investing (and I still don’t know now) was how I would diversify the industries represented in my portfolio. Right now I have all of my exposure in the retail sector. I’m thinking of investing in some smaller, solid banks to get into the financial sector. Just a thought at this point, though…
Usable Web Solutions, LLC Doing Well
My small business is doing very well in this rough economy. All of my clients have signed on to extend their business relationships with my company and I’ve actually begun to bring in a few new clients; only two clients at this point, but two very strong organizations. For the longest time I stopped taking on new clients because I was getting some of the weirdest requests from some shady characters. But it’s good to be back creating new websites again.
The other part of the website business that is doing well is the advertising revenue. Perhaps my suite of sites has been lucky, but we’re all doing very well with selling ads and getting some income from those ads.
Teaching at the Local College
Two quick points on my adjunct professor position at the local college. Number one – I suggested a new course for my department and it was accepted! Starting next spring I’ll be teaching Community Public Policy (i.e. Community Development)! This is pretty exciting because I designed the course from the bottom up. Very cool!
Number two – well, here we go. Remember a few months ago when I had a problem with a colleague of mine at the local college? Turns out that for the class I’ll be teaching next fall, not only will this person be teaching in the same classroom that I’m scheduled to be in on Monday, but on Wednesday, too. What joy (sarcasm)! I’ve already filed a request to have my room changed because no one should have to put up with racism, sexism, or ageism – especially not on a college campus of all places!
Update – April 13, 2009: My class reassignment request was granted. Thankfully, I won’t have to deal with this person again!
There you have it, folks. A quick, random update on some of the things going around in my head. I’ll be sure to put some more random ideas up soon!
Posted in Computers, Internet, & Technology, Money, Jobs, & Finances, Random Entries | No Comments »