Internship

The professional skills that were acquired in my time here studying in Year Up are what I think will be displayed when I first start my internship. The others skills that willed be displayed during my internship will be my email etiquette skills. The one question that I have regarding my internship, which has not been answered, is there any possibility that we are not prepared for or not ready for in any area in our internship. Like are there any areas where we as students have not been prepared for that we might encounter in our internship. The environment I hope to work in is an open, friendly, and welcome environment that will be glad to have me along as an intern and future employee. The skill I would like to develop over my internship is the networking aspect of computers. The only anxieties I think I would have is not being welcomed and being mistreated as an intern. I plan to stand out by being professional at all times of the day, introducing myself to everyone first day, remembering everyone's name, and never missing a day of work or being late. My tentative plan after my internship is to continue work and continue studying for my associate’s degree.

In and Out

The whole holiday break I had been vigoursly craving an In-n-Out burger. I contemplated taking a jaw breaking, mouth watering bite into that double stacked sesame seed bun for days after we got out from Year Up on thursday. No thanks to my procrastination, I finally decied to wait a couple of days and let the appetite sit in my brain for a while. December twenty-sixth came around, and this was my day of redemption. I take a twenty dollar bill out of my wallet, got in to my car, and drove to the nearest In-n-Out burger joint next my house. Upon arriving, my mouth was already watered with saliva, so I knew I had to order a large drink as well for I was going to be thirsty. I walked in to the building, chest up, and head high. When I heard the words "Next," I knew that was the end of the road for me. The journey was nearly finished. All I had to do was order, and so I did. "Can I get a double double and a cheeseburger on the side for here," I said, gave the man my money and sat as I waited for my order. Seven minutes passed, by this time I was already suffering from anxiety, my heart was racing as they called my number "Number Sixty-Four," she said. I run up to the counter, grabbed my red tray, and sat down at the closest table. I blessed my food, then, well you know what happened.

Project: 2000 DC2

DC2, the begining VIN numbers, vehicle identification number, for my new automobile. Having lost my previous car, due to an accident involving my new nieghbors and a Uhaul truck, I came across my new car on the wanted ads for the city of San Francisco. "She was not perfect when I first saw her, but there is always more than meets the eye," I said. I just used personification there. The car needed new shoes, upholstery in the interior, a good paint job, an alarm, and some beat to hear my music better. So far I am almost half way done with the things on my list. I have to pick her up on thursday from the paint shop. So I thank Year Up Bay Area Faculty for awarding me with this time off; I got a lot done. Nick, from LCO, claims he can beat me in a straight way race; I highly doubt it though. If the race does go on, I willl make sure to record it and post it on youtube for all to see.

Happy Holidays

Over my christmas break, the only thing I was doing was sleeping. Just kidding; I did need my rest though. Spending quality time with my friends and family seemed all that mattered to me this christmas. I used to miss out in previous years, but now I come to reliaze that family is what matters the most. The seconds that pass by every second can never be redeemed. So I take advantage of my time, and hope for the best. My father and I saved money over the past months so that my mother could go back to her country, Costa Rica, and spend quality time with her family. I have never in my twenty-one years of being alive have spent so much time with my old man. I guess you can call this bonding time. Either way, I would not be any where else In the world right now. We get up every morning and make fun of each other, eat breakfast, playing card games for money, and enjoy eachothers company. The only word I can use in this point in time to describe my happiness is, "Happy Holidays."

Internship Readiness

Someone who is deemed internship ready needs certain qualities to portray this charteristic.  First, you need to have your professional skills up to par. Second, you must have expierince, you need the quality or backround knowledge to posses to be "internship ready." Third, being serious, motivated, and commited are qualities someone must have to go into or be placed in an internship. I personally am going to try to be more interpersonal with others, proactive in in-class work/group activites, and am never going to give up, but strive to learn more as I go on day-to-day. I plan to exercise more at home to keep up my energy in the mornings. I plan to pray more to be at peace and reflect positivity in my attitude. As for organizational methods, I plan to use my binder and daily planner to organize my homework and personal thoughts.

"Everyday Hustle"

My first and worst job was when I was working at a Pete's Coffee about 2 years ago. It was inside Montgomery Bart station. I had never worked for a coffee shop so prior to my hire they took me on anyways. I was trained for my first two weeks learning how to work the cash register, how to make the coffee, wash the dishes, set up the pastry goods, and lastly make and serve drinks as a barista. The interaction with the customers was an enjoyable experience for me. A lot of people I knew were actually regulars there. But my coworkers were not cool at all. Since I was fresh to the team, they did not deal well with "new". Since they all drank coffee from sun up to sun down on a regular basis, work other jobs, and probably didn’t get any sleep, I understand maybe why they looked and acted the way they did towards me. I did not receive any companionship whatsoever from these people. I was actually put at the Montgomery station because my boss wanted me to work there, but the manager at the Pete's Coffee in the Embarcadero station wanted me as well. I personally wanted to work at the Embarcadero station, but the position was for the Montgomery station. Although my coworkers and my boss were huge jerks, I did learned how to make a good Frappuccino. I learned that sometimes you cannot help the situation you are in especially the people you have to work with on a day to day basis.

My second job was working for a rental car company called Payless at the SFO airport. I got the job because of three classmates from college had worked there previously and put a good word in for me. I was hired to work the front desk working with customers opening and closing contracts, selling insurance, and bring cars to the front for the customers as well. I also parked and washed cars. I was later asked by my boss to help him with the sales inputting and filling transactions through Microsoft Excel, fixing his computer, updating his iTunes. I, along with my manager, took cars to be sold to auctions. I would say the best part of working there was the pay, although I later quit the job because I found out I was not being paid fairly. All the other employees were being paid five dollars more than what I was making an hour. I was doing the job of all the people in that place, and for the bare minimum wages. The sad part was that I did not even notice. The truth is how could you? I was robbed about five thousand dollar or more. I felt like a slave. I did enjoy what I did though. I love the interaction with the customers; my coworkers were pretty cool people for the most part. I learned how to take credit card information, develop my customer service skills file accident reports, and strategies to getting good tips. The most important thing I learned was to work for me, not for the company. The effort I put in was going to be shown on my resume and on my check at the end of every two weeks.

Freedom of Rights

In the CNN article titled "Jailed Afghan rape victim has sentence reduced, remains in jail", the sources describe the tragedy of an Afghan rape victim who due to her country's law of bearing a child out of wedlock, she is being given the choice of marrying her attacker to stay out jail (http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/23/world/meast/afghan-rape-victim/index.html?hpt=hp_c3). She was given twelve years in jail, but has now received a reduced sentence of three years. She has given birth to the child, and the child is being imprisoned with her her mother at the Badambagh Prison on the outskirts of Kabul. Gulnaz, the twenty-one year old rape victim, at first tried to hide evidence of her pregnancy to avoid bringing shame to her community, but she obviously could not. Gulnaz, four months pregnant, was incarcerated for not reporting the crime on time even though she was raped. The officials say there was not enough time to investigate to prove her innocence. Gulnaz's attacker has denied ever having sex with her, and told CNN that he was in jail because he had been "accused" of rape. Records show that he is in jail for "zina", it's a Dari word that means "adultery." Last wednesday, the head spokesman for the afghan attorney general said her sentence will be reduced by another court hearing to the three years, but the charge remains against Gulnaz for not reporting her attack early enough. Gulnaz's lawyer, Kim Motley, said that her client on Tuesday was not made aware of the reduced sentence, because there had been no official notification of it. The attorney general spokesman, Rahmatullah Nazari, said their investigation is concluded and that there was no rape, but sex outside of wedlock. The laws in Afghanistan are cruel because of their mixture of politics and religion. Gulnaz pliedid innocent. Any who is sane would go to the authorities when a family member has sexuly assualted them. I think the fear of her possiblly being convicted of adultery, delayed her from going to the authorities. I mean, twelve years in jail for adultery sounds idiotic. The people in Afghanistan need to have their freedom from such laws as these. The reason this case was made a scandel is because the fact thaat soeone got raped and is now being incarcerated even though they are innocent. There is no way she could have made money from this. If she did have an affair of some sort she would have never came to the authorities with this because she knew she would have being covicted of adultery. Rahmatullah Nazari needs to check his facts one more time. This is unfair.