Spring Break Reflection

We headed down to Florida with high hopes. Everything was going perfect. The spring storms were contained in the Carolinas and Georgia. The weather in the Keys was going to be flawless according to the news. It was almost too perfect; too good to be true. Sure enough, my luck ran out. As soon as we reached the house and unloaded our luggage, things started to go badly. I started the trip by chipping a tooth biting on a fishing rod instead of using a pair of pliers. Half an hour later, we decided to go out for dinner in an attempt to improve my morale. While backing out of the driveway, I ran into a tree. I was barely moving when I hit it, but to my continued misforture, a branch was perfectly positioned to miss the bumper and hit the rear glass dead-on. After dinner, I prayed for better luck the next day. The next morning I had to pick up the boat. To my luck, it was low tide, and the boat owner decided to pick the shallowest boat ramp in the area. Five minutes after leaving the ramp, I ran aground. We spent the rest of the day trying to manually push the boat in futility. Not until the tide rose again were we able to get out with the help of another boat. I wasted a day of fishing wallowing in a saltwater flat. At this point I was losing all hope. Everyone assured me my streak of bad luck must have run out, but I doubted. Unfortunately, I was right. The rest of the trip was cursed with bad weather. We were able to reach open water once in five days. On that day, we pressed our luck to reach blue water, only to have most on board get sea sick. We ended the trip with two mackerel and a small shark. This was by far my most disappointing fishing endeavor.

Resume Cheating

At first, I did not fully understand how someone can expect to lie and get away with it on a resume. My assumption was creating positions not held, which in fact was mentioned. Predominantly, however, the article focussed on smaller "white" lies. At first, one must wonder why should there be the need to lie in order to get a job, since experience is gained as time goes by. When considering the situation of someone who has been rejected over and over, and the period goes into months of unemployment, it is easy to see why such a person would lie about something so trivial as expanding the timeframe of a job held. It is human nature to try to mask the imperfections. More shocking, however, was the mentioning of elaborating on job titles, and how this can be viewed as lying, leading to termination. It is easy to see how one can expand on a previous job position. Speaking from experience, if certain tasks performed are not part of the position's description or title, one can easily be tempted to expand on the title to include those tasks. The scary thing is that is still considered dishonest, even if it were meant with honest intentions. I guess the best thing one can do is thoroughly understand the description of a title, and ask for modifications to that title if certain tasks are not part of that position. Otherwise, don't mention those tasks in the form of a newly invented job title.

Presentation Response

Last week we were busy in class giving presentations. The presentations could be about anything, from persuasive to instructive. Personally, I chose an instructive presentation on the preparation of the perfect burger. I felt that appealing to the audience's sense of taste would be the force behind my presentation, and the reason to be attentive. Hence, I chose the most vivid pictures of what I would expect a burger to look like. Surprisingly, I had someone talk to me about cooking after class because of my presentation. I thought the other presentations were excecllent. I especially liked the one on the presidential election. I felt that she addressed an issue that is always ignored because of ignorance. Many people, especially students, ignore the election because of the crazy terminology that comes with it, such as "superdelegates," "caucuses," and "primary." The student did an excellent job of explaining most terms and procedures of both parties. She kept it concise, and managed to remain unbiased in her presentation of the two parties. In the end, she stressed the importance of voting, which I thought to be a nice ending.

Interview Reflection

I felt the interview went very well. I was relaxed, and Angie seemed to sense that. We conversed freely and casually at the beginning, discussing issues such as my origin and travels. She incorporated my foreign experiences into several questions, which I feel I used successfully to show my broad knowledge and experience of Architecture. I was limited by my clothes (I only had jeans, leather shoes, and a nice sweater at my disposal) but was comforted by the fact that Angie, herself, was not in extremely formal attire. Coincidentally, Angie shares some of my experience in French. Both of us have been involved in the Clemson Declamation, she as a coach and I as a student. We shared some memories of competition, and Angie recited some of the popular poems used. Overall, it was a comforting experience. I never felt choked up or nervous to converse and share my thoughts.