23 Apr. 2013

Since this blog can be written about anything I want, I’m going to talk about what I want to do with my life. Sometimes I feel like I should do what I have told people what I will try to do, which is go to college and become an engineer in advanced weaponry, work with a firm for a few years and go back to college to get my degree in business management to start my own advanced weaponry firm that builds weapons for the armed forces. But there is also a side of me that wants to go to college and get my degree in musical engineering so that I can produce music. I would love to build weapons because my “brother” Justin is in the army as well as my real brother Austin, I would like to be able to help them out by giving them weapons strong enough to take out a fully armed tank in two shots but light enough that they will not get very tired while carrying them. But I love music, it is my life music is what inspires others to do great and be happy. Without music life wouldn’t be worth living. I would like to be able to mix and mash music from different genres together that make a beautiful symphony that everybody will love. I’d also like to make my own music that famous singers can make the songs hits, because I’m not that good of a singer myself.

       This second paragraph is going to be about baking. I love to bake, it doesn’t matter what it is I can bake it. I can bake anything from chocolate mousse to gooey butter cake to pineapple upside down cake. I have learned over the years from my grandma that baking is an art. She always told me that if you aren’t having fun and you aren’t putting love in it then it will never come out right. I used to always cook with my grandma before she moved. Every year before Christmas my brother sister and I would help her make her famous Christmas sugar cookies, they were show stoppers, and her fruit cake cup cakes, I didn’t particularly like them but I still liked to bake them. In my Russian class we were supposed to make a meal or drink for the class for a grade. When I heard this I was ecstatic, I immediately started searching for recipes. I found a Russian apple pie, this pie was different than any other pie, and you would cut up the apples and pour the dough over the cut apples. It created a kind of apple pie cake so to speak. After I had told my mom about how to make it she thought it would be a good idea to make a backup southern apple pie. So I baked the Russian pie and what I was excited for most was that I got to bake a pie with those cross hair dough pieces. I cut them out and placed them on the pie. The next day when I brought the pies to school everybody went crazy I didn’t have any left over.

2 April 2013

Throwing In The Towel

Amberlin Rudnicki

       This article explains that in this NBA season there are only five teams that can still be considered legitimate title contenders, most of the others aren’t truly trying. The Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando magic have won at least 70% of their games, and only the San Antonio Spurs have better than a 10% chance of winning the NBA title. This is the first time in NBA history that tem owners, executives, and fans in multiple markets say they have resigned themselves to the idea that their teams aren’t going to be competitive this season. Besides the obvious disappointment for fans, the most troubling thing in this situation is that the majority of the teams in one league have no financial incentive to improve. In the last 2 decades the NBA has boomed in size, popularity and profitability. The average player salary skyrocketed from $275,000 in 1982-1983 to $5.6 million today. NBA teams are concerned about their ability to raise their sponsorship revenue and sell the expensive premium seats and skyboxes. The Detroit Pistons traded arguably their best player, Chauncey Billups, to Denver. His trade disrupted the Pistons’ solid lineup, and the Pistons stumbled through most of the rest of the season. When the article said the teams “weren’t really trying” it meant that they weren’t certain of their future revenue and that they wanted to win but they are waiting to save enough to bid on the better players. More and more teams are hesitant to spend money because the teams are losing more and more money because of the economy. The NBA can lower prices on the players and give larger salaries to the teams so the team can make everything better. In my opinion I think the teams should still try to win no matter what. In conclusion most NBA teams aren’t trying to win anymore.

Part 2

       The very first player in the NBA to be drafted was Clifton McNeely in 1947 for the Pittsburgh Ironmen from the University of Texas at El Paso. A draft is a process used to allocate specific players to sports teams. The NBA draft has two rounds, but instead of immediately granting the top pick to the worst team from the previous year, the NBA holds a draft lottery to see who gets to pick first. The top three picks are designated by chance between 14 teams that didn’t make playoffs the year before. The NBA teams choose from the NCAA and teams from overseas. It was previously common for players to be chosen right from high school, but the NBA required that players must wait a year before playing in the NBA. Some think it isn’t fair because they could have been the worst team and still not get the top draft.

21 March 2013

What’s A Degree Really Worth?

       This article talks about how a college education might not be worth as much as they are said to be or as much you may think they may be. It shows that people have always used student loans to pay for college and assume that he job they end up with will enable them to pay for all expenses including student loans. But now that more and more people are getting a college education, there aren’t as many jobs open so graduates won’t be able to get the jobs they need in order to pay expenses and their parents are stuck paying for them which can put the parents under. This article also explains about how tuition fees are skyrocketing and people are going back to school to change jobs, a few researchers are questioning the methodology backing up the high projections. The estimated lifetime total is $780,000. I believe college is definitely “worth it”. I will absolutely be going to college, I will pay for it by scholarships and if I can’t get scholarships I will go to college through the military and go in as a ranking officer before I even do my service. In my opinion this article is void because it seems like they’re trying to stop people from going to college by saying it’s “no worth it” when it really is “worth it”. In conclusion this article tells about how college may not be “worth it” by giving statistics on how much, on average, college graduates make in their lifetime.

Part 2

       When I researched for my first college, which is UCF, it told me that for 1 year it would cost $208.23 for one year. When added for four years the cost would be $832.92… that’s not as expensive as I thought it would be. Then when I researched for my second school, which is UF, it told me that for one year it would cost $20,580 for one year and when multiplied for four years it would cost $82,320 which is a lot like the cost I thought it would be. Neither college offered to me on the website I used any scholarship or grant help. In UCF it can cost up to $70.00 and in UF it can cost up to$1,080 for books. In my opinion UCF seems like the best school for me to go to, to get my education because it costs less for the same learning. I think that UF should lower their prices a little or offer more scholarships so that students who are underprivileged can get into a good school and get a good education.

Part 2 Tattoos 15 Jan. 2013

Part 2

Amberlin Rudnicki

       This case is about a woman 25 years of age and her name is Rebecca Holdcroft. She has 2 “sleeve” tattoos that cover up her arms, a chest tattoo of a pair of wings and a heart, and an upper back tattoo of Japanese cherry blossoms. When she went to the interview for her new job she had some tattoos covered and some showing, her second day at work she was told they were “unprofessional” and was told to cover them up. Before she had that job she had another one that where they made her wear a cardigan even though it was blazing hot. She passed out from heat exhaustion and”cracked” her head against the toilet bowl. That same job didn’t let her take off the cardigan but gave her a desk fan instead, but in a couple of days the fan was taken away for health and safety reasons so they allowed her to not wear the cardigan. The job she now has allows her to show her tattoos when she is seated but they must be covered when she is walking around even though she doesn’t see the customers. Her new works is planning on looking over their dress code policy and are going to keep her story in mind when they do. She is happy they are doing this but is still upset that no matter how hard a person works or how well they are at their job, companies will still discriminate against people.

What Will My Employer Think Of My Tattoo? 14 Jan. 2013

What Will Employers Think Of My Tattoo?

Amberlin Rudnicki

       This article explains that job hunters hide their body art to do interviews with employers because they don’t want the employers to change their mind about the job hunter because of what is on their body. This tells us that many people pretend to be someone else when being interviewed. I myself do not agree with employers changing their minds on how they think a person will work due to the fact that they have body art. When I get older I know I am going to get a tattoo and I will most likely try to get it in a place that wouldn’t affect my business and the way people think of me unless my employment allows for tattoos. This article tells about how a teacher hides her tattoos so that she can stay in the job she loves.

       I believe this is not ok because the job hunter with a tattoo may be more qualified than a person without a tattoo. This is similar to sexism or thinking a woman can’t do the same job as a man when she very well may be more qualified or can work harder and longer and will love to do it. Business owners Do have a right to who they want but if that means not hiring someone that is the best at what they do because of body art then that shouldn’t be allowed. If I owned the business I would let anyone join my business as long as they had the education and the qualifications. The standards now are very different than from 15 years ago. 15 years ago we wouldn’t have been able to get hired for any job if our tattoos were showing unless you were a tattoo artist or the job was specifically allowing it. In my opinion employers shouldn’t discriminate against job hunters because of the art they have on their bodies. Business owners should have the right to an opinion but to an extent.

       In conclusion, job hunters hide who they are during interviews so they won’t lose the chance of that job. I think it is wrong for companies to do that to people even though they are the most qualified. I think this is similar to thinking women can’t do the same as men. And finally 15 years ago we wouldn’t have the strictness of not being able to have a tattoo in certain jobs.

Dog Town 8 jan. 2013

Dog Town South

Amberlin Rudnicki

       In this article it tells about a Brazilian skate boarder named Lincoln Ueda skating in the slums that made it to the top by winning competition after competition. At an extreme-sports exhibition that Tony Hawk was producing the event Lincoln flew 10 ft into the air off a towering ramp and spun 540 degrees before landing gracefully on his skateboard. Lincoln is only five feet and five inches and he had made it four feet higher than the average pro skater. In the article it explains that skateboarding was a pastime for most Brazilians while others used it to get out of Brazil. After that he article says that an immigration lawyer named Carl Shusterman “fostered” the growth by taking on the Brazilian immigration cases. Lincoln was one of Carl’s clients. Lincoln started off doing skateboarding as a teen with two of his friends. Lincoln started of sports with soccer but couldn’t excel because of asthma and then moved on to bicycling. His father bought him a skateboard after he destroyed his bicycle from doing stunts and figured it would be less dangerous.

       Skateboarding is popular in Brazil because it, at first, got them out of the country but it was also an interesting and fun sport. It is important for businesses to know what’s popular in other countries because it would be a great business opportunity to earn money from other countries as well as in America. Lincoln’s first sponsor was a Guarulhos surfing shop and that is important because without that sponsor he probably wouldn’t have made it as far as he did in the sport. In general I think skating is popular because it is a stress releaser that isn’t very dangerous. In my opinion I think Lincoln will make it far in the skateboarding world.

       In conclusion a man named Lincoln Ueda got away from Brazil by doing a sport he loved since he was young. Carl Shusterman, an immigration lawyer, had a business boom because of how many Brazilians wanted to leave the country with skateboarding.

Over Involved Parents

Over Involved Parents

Amberlin Rudnicki

       Colleges are worried about helicopter parents because there has been an increase in parent attendance to orientations. Most of the orientations are for students only and parents still come. Parents have started to fill out registrations for students without the student even being there. Colleges have attempted to distract parents from student orientations. Colleges have started a program by itself to answer calls, emails and questions of JUST parents and not even the students. Some students are thankful for their parent’s help while others wish to be left alone to get the experience of college by themselves. Most of the parents do this to help their child succeed and let the child know that their not alone.

       Colleges are doing this so the students may have the experience of college and so the STUDENT will have the major, degrees, and business associates, Etc. that THEY want not what the parents want. The students would benefit from this because it lets them figure out how to live on their own and so that they may have a growing and learning experience.

       My parents will try their best to help me as much as they can but will not hover over me and take away the experience. They will let me find my own way but will still be there if I get “lost”.

       In my opinion I think Parents should try their best to help their child succeed but not fill out their application for without them. I think parents should always be there for their child but let them have the experience of going to college and learning how to be on their own. If parents would help their child keep a safe distances but let them know they “got their backs” that would let the student have the best chance of succeeding in college.

       In conclusion colleges are trying to prevent helicopter parents, the colleges are doing his so the students may better succeed, it would benefit from this, my parents would be helicopters, and I think parents shouldn’t helicopter but still try to make sure their child succeeds.